February 13, 2026 • 42 mins
This podcast edition of Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness features journalist Michael Quinn Sullivan and Kenny's mom. ( @KennethRWebster )
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Giganic government sucks. Suit of happiness. Radio is DeLux. Liberty
and freedom will make you smile of a suit of
habing and us on your radio tol justice, cheeseburgers a
liberty fries at.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
The food.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
All right, it's it's time kids. It's World Radio Day.
If you want to get your all time favorite radio
hosts something I am registered at Nordstrom Rack. Hi, Welcome
and thank you for turning on the radio. It's also
International Condom Day. Unless you're a parent, then every day
is a reminder of the importance of birth control. We've
(00:52):
got a lot going on on the show today. Michael
Quinn Sulomon is here and he runs a website called
Texas scorecard dot Com. Also stopping buying this after noon
will be my good friend Brandon Darby from Breitbart Texas.
We're going to talk about the drone or weather balloon
or party balloon or whatever it is. It just got
shot down at the border by the Department of Homeland
(01:13):
Security in Alpaso this week. Something weird happened. And also
an article published by yours truly just today in the
Houston Chronicle. I'm going to talk about that as well.
It involves the county judge and what I think could
be arguably the most important local election happening in Houston
in twenty twenty six. So we'll get to all that soon.
(01:34):
But first I want to tell you I very rarely
talk about abortion on the show, much less in the
opening segment of the show. But I do often talk
about absurd things said by rich, powerful people, and so
in that regard, this topic is right on brand for us.
Chelsea Clinton says she left a church when she was
(01:54):
six years old because the church opposed abortion. She made
the conscious decision to quit going to a church as
a six year old because the church was pro life.
I'm gonna just keep saying this sentence a couple more
(02:14):
times in different ways to dissecting it for you to
point out how absurd this was. A six year old
understood enough about abortion and was an independent enough thinker
and had enough control over her own life to decide
not to go to a church because she had very
polarizing opinions about schmish Morshen. It doesn't sound like it
(02:36):
makes any sense, does it. Well, we'll get to that.
Let's start with this. Puerto Rico's governor is Jennifer Gonzalez.
Jennifer is a committed Republican, a strong Trump backer, recently
signed Senate Bill nine two three into law. This amends
the territory's penal code to explicitly define an unborn child
or fetus as a human being when it comes to
(02:56):
murder charges. So if a criminal assaults a preg woman
and causes the death of her unborn baby at any
stage of pregnancy, that perpetrator can now face an additional
homicide count on top of whatever else they did to
the mother. The bill carries the name of Kishla Rodriguez,
the youngest pregnant woman murdered in twenty twenty one, a
(03:17):
very heartbreaking case. It shocked the island to Puerto Rico.
Her killer was sentenced to two life terms, one for
her death one for the child's. This new law builds
directly on last year's Civil Code amendment that granted natural
person status to the unborn from the moment of conception,
plus another measure treating the killing of a pregnant woman
(03:37):
and her fetus's first degree murder if found to be intentional.
So the goal here is pretty straightforward consistency. If the
law already sees the unborn as persons in civil contacts
like inheritance rights or wrongful death that suits, then criminal
law should match that reality when violence Strikes's not that crazy.
I'm not even sure that's a pro life argument if
(03:59):
in isn't that the law in most states? If you
murder someone while they're pregnant, you're killing two people. I
don't know. Maybe I don't know enough about abortion law,
or I guess murder law to understand, but I was
my understanding that was already the case in most states.
So this approach ties straight into Trump's states rights framework.
I am very much in line with Trump's position on
(04:20):
this issue. It remains one of the smartest paths forward.
After Dobbs was overturned Roe and returned the power to
decide abortion policy to the states, Trump's consistently said, let
the people in each state vote, pass laws through their legislature,
put it on the ballot. No heavy handed national mandate
(04:41):
from federal bureaucrats. That's how the founding fathers would have
intended it, had they have known about the controversy in
the twentieth and twenty first century involving you know, schmish
Morshin they would have said, look, just decentralized respects federalism,
lets local values guide the outcome. I'm pro, but I'm
also pro realistic. We need to protect fetal life, sure,
(05:04):
but when women are facing genuine medical emergencies, they should
have access to procedures that save their life. And Trump's
always supported those exceptions for the life of the mother,
rape and incest, echoing the position Ronald Reagan had. It's
not extremism. I think that's balance. Protect the unborn as
much as possible while ensuring no woman dies because the
(05:25):
law ties doctor's hands in a crisis. So Texas's laws
are supposed to illustrate both the strength of this model
and where implementation can hit snags. I think our state's
laws include explicit, workable exceptions. Physicians can use their reasonable
medical judgment to perform procedures that would otherwise fall under
(05:47):
abortion restrictions if the goal is to save the woman's
life or prevent impairment of a major bodily function. I
think the danger here it doesn't have to be right,
this second imminent. It's about preventing serious harm. The Texas
Medical Board put out updated training in recent months, with
some very concrete examples, and I'm not a doctor. I
(06:09):
don't understand, and I won't claim to understand what pre
et lampshia is. I have no idea. I couldn't tell you.
I understand. I read about life threatening infections from ruptured membranes.
I get that that's important. Ectopic pregnancies, I understand those
can be life threatening. Makes sense to me. But I'm
(06:30):
not a doctor. Guys, I write jokes for a living.
It's my understanding that these laws are, these policies, or
these procedures state plainly that the risk of prosecution for
legitimate emergency care is extremely low when doctors document properly
and follow evidence based standards. As of today, twenty twenty six,
(06:50):
Friday the thirteenth, ooh Eerie, no physicians ever been prosecuted
or convicted in Texas for a true life saving innovation
vention under these rules. Now, despite all of that, we
have unfortunately seen some cases where pregnancy complications led to delays, sepsis,
hemorrhaging outcomes that might have been avoided with faster intervention.
(07:12):
The question is why when the law allows action. The
answer isn't hidden in the statutes, It's in the fog
of fear that sometimes settles over hospitals like a thick
morning mist rolling in off the Gulf of America, making
every decision feel like walking through quicksand doctors and administrators
(07:35):
get cautious, They seek extra consultations, they wait for fetal
heartbeats to stop, or transfer patients unnecessarily because the left,
people on the far left, very much pro choice advocates,
have this relentless fear campaign that keeps the spotlight on
the worst case stories. They're framing every delay as proof
(07:56):
that pro life laws are inherently deadly. Let's face it,
some of the blame here falls on the right as well,
for people that are not explaining clearly enough that you
can get these procedures or perform these procedures without getting
into trouble. Read an article today It said that Chelsea
(08:19):
Clinton quit going to a church when she was six
years old because the church was pro life. You read
this and you're like, how on earth she made this statement.
It was now to be clear, it was in Life
News headquarters. Maybe they're taking her comment out of our contrast.
She did an interview and made the comment at a
(08:41):
recent fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. In an attempt to address
evangelicals who question her mother's faith in God. She said quote,
I find it quite insulting sometimes when people say to
my mom, my dad, or me that they question our faith.
I was raised in a Methodist church, and I left
the Baptist Church before my dad did because I didn't
know why they were talking to me about abortion when
I was six and Sunday school. That's a true story. Wait,
(09:07):
so did you quit the church at age six or
did you quit later? It's confusing, right, Maybe she meant sixteen.
I don't know, but I do know in our effort
to push a political agenda, sometimes people will sometimes lose
grip on what the truth is. Whether we're trying to
convince people that late term abortions were very common before
(09:27):
Roe v. Wade was overturned, I don't actually see any
evidence of that. It was explained to me pretty clearly
last night by a friend who is pro choice. Her
and I don't see eye to eye on this, And
in the same regard, I think there are some people
on the left on the other side who make it
sound like you're going to get prosecuted for performing a
life altering procedure. Life saving procedure if because the procedure
(09:52):
itself is adjacent to what an abortion looks like. I
guess what I'm saying is, in our effort to push
pro life or pro choice agenda on both the left
and the right, sometimes the truth takes a backseat, and
the consequence is that someone will delay healthcare, delay medical care,
(10:16):
and they could die or get killed, or get very
sick or become permanently injured because of it. I can't
control what the left does. I can't control what the
pro choice people do. But I know a lot of
pro life people listen to this show, and maybe we
could do a little good by getting better messaging out.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
We're not passive aggressive like some people.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
We know.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
This is Kenny Webster's pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
All right, So tomorrow's Valentine's Day. If you haven't got
anything for your lady yet, fellas, it's not too late.
It's actually really too late, so enjoy the single life.
I am taking a look at all the different things
our Attorney General is doing right now. Pretty impressive, from
what just took place with doctor Mary Bowden and the
(11:04):
Medical Texas Medical Board to a lesser discussed lawsuit in
Dallas over city officials there defying voters police funding mandate.
And then there's this, what I think is a maybe
the most important news story in the state of Texas today,
although I don't know if everyone else knows that Liberty County, Texas,
just a little north of Houston. A lot of you
(11:26):
are a stone's throwaway. Some of you might live right
down the street from Colony Ridge. The DOJ just announced
to sixty eight million dollars settlement in a suit over
Colony Ridge. And what's been going on there? A developer
in Liberty County, you guys know, it's the largest housing
development for illegal immigrants in America, has been accused of
(11:47):
a targeting Latino borrowers. They reached a million, multimillion dollars
settlement with the DOJ. Here with the news and his
take on it is Michael quinn Sullivan, one of the
most fascinating people in the tech sis political media. Michael
always knows what's going on, often five minutes before the
news breaks. Michael, were you surprised by this?
Speaker 6 (12:08):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So?
Speaker 6 (12:10):
Surprise is probably the right word, only in that it
is a far better deal than I would have thought.
The federal government and the state government would have gotten
and these aren't really clear going to think, oh, I'm
gonna go to jail all those kind of things with this,
and that may be true, but that would not be
(12:32):
This action has actually actually started under the Biden administration.
This action was purely a civil complaint. No one goes
to jail on civil complaints, and the deal that was
reached specifically allows criminal matters to proceed if there are
any other did This has not change any of that.
(12:53):
This is this is essentially a state and federal nuisance
civil action, right about Colony Ridge being a nuisance, so
you know, that's kind of what it was. So the
fact that you got all these agreements out of it
tells you that the that the Colony Ridge developers knew
they were doing bad things and want really really badly
(13:17):
for the state of Taxes and the federal government to
see them as repenitent ahead of future civil action and
future criminal action. And I think that's one of that
deal ended up being as big as it was, and
with Colony Ridge having to foot the bill for law
enforcement for the next decade, I think it is having
(13:39):
to stop any new developments there in Colony Ridge. They
have to begin verifying all buyers coming in using a
very restricted criteria that you don't find in kind of
a general housing area. Right, So I'll say you the again.
(14:00):
So this is a strong agreement that was reached the
Trump DOJ and most importantly Attorney General Ken Paxton underpromised
and over delivered.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Okay. So if Colony Ridge is in trouble now for
their predatory treatment of Latinos, the Hispanic community, whatever the
term you choose to use, and you're part of the
neck of the woods, why aren't liberals celebrating this? I mean,
on its surface, when you remove Trump from the equation,
if you remove Ken Paxton from the equation, that sounds
(14:33):
like something they'd normally be happy about.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Yeah, except that what they are unhappy about is the
fact that one they're unhappy that Trump got it done
and Biden did it that did not. That's part of
it too, though. What they're more unhappy about was the
left really wanted Colony Ridge to succeed as a magnet
(14:58):
for illegal aliens so that it could be replicated elsewhere.
I know this is uncharitable, and people will say, oh, Michael,
you're just being mean to the Democrats. I probably am,
but but I think it bears out looking at the
way the Democrats have behaved vis a v You know
that anything that reeks of border enforcement they're going to.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Be on the wrong side of.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
And going after Colony Ridge, they'll ride into that category
of border enforcement.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, just incredible, right, And I don't I'll be honest
with you. I've not spent much time out there looking
at it, but you know, it's just a little off
the beaten path I've I don't know. If I'm not
a journalist, I'm a comedian, what am I going to
go do there? But it's my understanding that the people
that have gone and done videos and look, there's straight
dogs running around, there's crime, there's trafficking of drugs, trafficking
(15:51):
of humans. How long could it's It almost kind of
amazes me that it's existed as long as it has
without any punishment. I mean, how much longer if not
taxed in the DOJ doing something about it? How long
could it have gone on without people, the general public, average,
non political people getting upset? Yeah, Look, I'll tell.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
You it's the I have been out there about there
a couple of times. We did some reporting on it
in kind of the early days, and it is as
bad as you said, probably worse, and just a later
on you had school because of this massive explosive growth
of illegal aliens bringing their kids in everything else. You
(16:33):
had all these schools being built, this massive amount of
infrastructure being done there that's borne by the general taxpayer.
But I think to answer your question of the reason
why you didn't why you did not have you know,
kind of the people nosing and seeing it is is
kind of the the tragedy of our nose, right. We
(16:54):
tend to focus on the things that are right in
front of our nose. Colony Ridge. You said it, Well,
it's just outside of Houston. It's just far enough. And
again if you if you go up there, you're not
going to notice it. You have to you have to
go to it to notice it, right, You're not going
to just drive by and notice it. And so it's
(17:15):
a The people who would drive by and see it
are people who have small voices, sheriff's deputies, you know,
be if they exist, the stray conservative teacher will will
notice it, but they.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Tend to be shut down.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
It's only because the right kind of media groups and
by which I mean daily wire us the blaze. We're
looking at it and talking about it that folks started
paying attention to it, and I think this is This
is again, I think is what the Democrats were hoping.
Oh hey, if we can make it work there where
(17:54):
it's just outside of where the pretty people of Houston
will notice it, but it's close enough that the they
can benefit from it, maybe we could do another places.
Unfortunately it was stopped.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Okay, here's another interesting headline today on your website from
the Office of the Attorney General suing Dallas officials, accusing
them of defying a voter approved mandate to boost police
funding under what was called Proposition You. This goes back
to November two years ago, not last November, but the
year before, and it amended the city charter to require
(18:30):
at least fifty percent of excess annual revenue to be
directed to public safety, whether that be the Dallas Police,
the fire pension system, whatever. Actually, the charter language ear
marks those dollars first for the Dallas Police and the
fire pension system. I'm confused. I thought that the Dallas
mayor was supposed to be a Republican. Now, why would
(18:50):
the Attorney General have to do something about this if
he's supposedly on our side.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Well, so, do you have to remember in city, any
government in Texas, you have two kinds of cities. You
have a mayor, you have a mayor council city, and
you have a council city manager city, with the mayor
being kind of the spokesman for the city council. And
that holds true whether the mayor is elected statewide, I
(19:19):
mean the citywide, or the mayor is selected by the council.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
The council city manage.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
And in most cities and certainly all the big cities
are all council city manager style, so which means that
the city manager actually runs the day to day operations
and the mayor does not have the kind of control
that you would expect. You know, you kind of think,
if you're thinking governor or president, you think the mayor
has control. In Dallas, you don't have the mayor doing
(19:52):
these things. And if you look at the structure of
the lawsuit, the lawsuit is specifically noting all these kind
of you know, senior city staff are the ones responsible,
including the city manager.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, imagine that. Okay, here's one more Attorney General, Ken
Paxton stepping in to fix a mistake made by the
Texas Medical Board. In Texas, we should not be punishing heroes.
Doctor Mary Bowden has been a guest on this show before.
She is well known by our radio listeners here in Houston.
I am one of the many, many people, Michael, who
(20:25):
got sick during or at the end of the pandemic there,
and I got help from doctor Mary because I didn't
trust the mainstream medicine industry at the time. And amazingly
Mary turned out to be right. What she was saying
back then was very unpopular. You could be punished for
saying these things, and now six years later, nobody listens
to what she's saying and thinks it sounds crazy. Weirdly,
(20:48):
she was punished by the Texas Medical Board, and Paxton's
office stepped in to support Mary. A big headline today
authored by a journalist named Brandon waltons, I believe you
and I both know him, says Paxton is in to
avoid the Texas Medical Board's reprimand of doctor Boden. This
has been It's crazy how far this woman has come.
The story of the what this woman went through over
(21:09):
the last six years, and now it finally has a
happy ending.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Yeah, well, the happy ending has not yet arrived, but
you could. But you now, the bright light at the
end of the tunnel that she has been slogging through
might actually be daylight rather than an approaching freight train,
and I think that is a huge win for her.
But look, I've been talking to since since PACs made
this announcement yesterday. I've been talking to a lot of
(21:36):
friends who are doctors, including my own doctor just a
little bit ago, who who are so excited by this
action being taken because it kind of says that we
have a we have a state government that will ultimately
colected officials who will ultimately have doctors backs when they
(21:57):
are trying to treat their patients and give their patients
the best possible individual care as opposed to, you know,
doing the bidding of big pharma and big medicine. And
that's precisely what doctor Mary call the Balbin was doing.
She was giving the best possible care for a particular
human being, not you know, you know, kind of cowing
(22:21):
to the wishes of big pharma, and that was her
big sin. And I think that Attorney General Paxton, by
taking on this case, is and doing the work that
he's doing now is signaling Texas is going to have
your back and is going to sing signals to the
medical board. You got to stop doing the nonsense.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
There is pulling out that says Wesley Hunts in second
place in the Senate race. There's pulling out that says
Cornings in second place in the Senate race. One thing
that's been very consistent is Paxton seems to be in
the lead in any any of the polls that I've
looked at recently. I'm I don't. I think it's been
months since I've seen a poll that even suggested Cornan
(23:02):
has a chance of winning this thing. And great, you know,
Paxton's better than Cornyn. I think most of our listeners
either like Wesley hunt or Paxton. I don't know anybody
that's into right wing talk radio who knows anything about
John Cornan who seems to like him. But given what
took place with Pam Bondi this week and how badly
that Epstein hearing went with her, it is just another
(23:23):
reminder that Paxton is unequivocally the best attorney general in
the country right now, probably in years, in any state,
on any level, and no matter what happens in the
Senate race, one thing is for sure. You know, May's
Middleton seems fine, Aaron Wright seems fine. You know, Chip
Royce seems to be winning. I know he's not popular
(23:43):
with our listeners. I know Joan Huffman is not popular
with our listeners right now. But you know, no matter
what happens, it sounds like we are going to lose
having the best attorney general we've had of our lifetime.
And there's something that's very bittersweet about that, Michael, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Yeah, there is, I'll tell you. And then this is
where I think everyone needs to take a step back
from their personalities and they're they're kind of the cults
that we created in politics. I know all for these individuals.
I've covered all for these individuals for a long time.
And and here's a very unpopular take for you, the
(24:23):
worst of the four. And you can pick who you
think is the worst of the four, and all your
listeners can listen to they think is the worst of
the four. I can absolutely tell you, without a noah
second of hesitation or doubt, that the worst of the
four candidates for Attorney General on the Republican ballot will
all be at a minimum, the second best attorney general
(24:47):
this state and this nation has ever had. They are
all all of they all come with different strengths and weaknesses.
They all come with things are going to focus on,
you know whatever. But at the end of the day,
Joan Huffman, Wrights, Chip Roy Mays Middleton, they will all
be much stronger attorney generals than any attorney general in
(25:10):
Texas history, with the within Kayers, the Asterric exception, with
maybe the exception of Kim Paxon. But Ken Paxton has
primed the pump in a way that the four of them.
I don't care how badly any of the four of
them wants to perform as attorney general. The expectation that
Ken Paxson has now put in place has solidified in place,
(25:34):
is they are going to have to perform at that
level or the consequences for them and anyone that they
you know, have in their orbit are going to be
going to be severe. Texans are going to expect the
Attorney general to be a leader and a fighter and
to be aggressive, not be a John Cornyn or you know,
(25:56):
kind of go through the different ags that we've had
in the past. They're going to expect someone operating like
Ken Paxton, And in fact, I think there's on a
couple of issues. I think there's an opportunity for Mays Middleton,
Ship Roy, Aaron Wright's Joan Huffman to in some areas
be better than Ken Paxon was in part because Ken
(26:18):
Paxson has already cleared the initial path for them to
do so. So I am so freaking excited about these
about this AG's race and what it means for Texas.
That is your happy clappy end of the week, Kenny Webster.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
You know what, Michael, we needed it right now. And
to that, I say, hey, Happy President's Day, Happy Valentine's Day,
Happy Friday the thirteenth, Happy Black History Month, and happy
Marty Grass because I don't know how to all stand
this discussion. Man. I hope you're doing good, brother, You
doing anything fun? Tomorrow?
Speaker 6 (26:51):
Hey, you know what, I am looking forward to a
fantastic weekend. You know I got you know, I do
reluctantly observe valenti Times Day, my Valentine's Day.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
I do have to you.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
Look, so I'm not going to spoil what I'm doing
here because my lovely Bride is a listener of Pursuit
of Happiness Radio. But I will say uh to to
all you dudes out there here we are the middle
of Friday afternoon. If you are just going in the
tomorrow's Valentine's Day, Uh, today, today got a lot more
expensive for you, buddy. But you could do something for
(27:26):
your do something for your wife. You'll, you'll, you'll order
your girlfriend whatever you'll, you'll benefit from that.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Amen to that. A limited amount of tickets still available
for our comedy show tomorrow night at the Community field
House in Spring Texas. And while you're going online to
purchase those, if you're going to be there, go subscribe
to Texas squarecard dot com and follow Michael Quinnsullivan on
social media.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Radio shows are so hot you'll literally burn your eyes.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Fortunately, this is it one of those shows.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
I feel I never listening with you all again.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Pursuit of Happiness Radio. Today is Friday the thirteenth. So remember,
if you encounter a scary person in a mask, just
show him your citizenship papers. It'll be fine. If you're
allowed to be here, it's no big deal. Hi, everybody,
welcome back from break. If you don't read the Houston Chronicle.
(28:18):
Maybe you'd be surprised to learn I actually write for them.
I've written for them several times over the last few months,
and today they published an article I wrote about Marty Langton.
If you don't know who that is, he's a firefighter
union leader and he's running as county judge right now.
The primary for Harris County Judge shows how Republicans won
(28:40):
the working class. It's the headline of the article I
wrote today. Firefighter union leader Marty Langton is proof that
Republicans are no longer the party of Mitt Romney Good.
I met Marty Langton back when Sylvester Turner was mayor
here in Houston. We were still opping up after Hurricane Harvey.
(29:02):
The firefighters, you know, those guys who literally pulled people
out of rising waters while the rest of us were
staring at our phones refreshing the flood map app. The
firefighters had campaigned for Turner in twenty fifteen. There was
a fight over pension reform and voters passed Prop B.
Back in twenty eighteen, it was supposed to get firefighters
(29:23):
pay parody with police. Suddenly, Turner was threatening hundreds of
layoffs in a hiring freeze for those people who save
our lives and hurricanes and fires. Sylvester Turner, God Rest
his soul, treated first responders like they were optional extras
in his administration. In the poststorm glow of gratitude, that
(29:45):
betrayal hit pretty hard, and even people who normally ignore
politics couldn't ignore this. Marty the president of the Houston
Professional Firefighters Association. He didn't just complain, He he organized,
He rallied the city, He led protests at city Hall.
He turned a labor fight into a community wake up
(30:06):
call several years ago. I interviewed him many times on
this radio show during all that chaos, even showed up
to some of his demonstrations myself, one in particular, where
I threw on a firefighter helmet, grabbed a bullhorn outside
a city hall while the mayor was inside deciding the
fate of those firefighters, and I started telling yo mama
(30:27):
jokes to the onlookers. Yo Mama so slow she got
lapped by a flood. Warning people laughed. Sort of, The
point landed, and the disconnect between the people and the
politicians was impossible to miss. Mayor Turner eventually headed to Congress,
(30:48):
but his move pushed a bunch of lifelong blue collar Democrats, cops, firefighters,
paramedics hard to the right. So when Marty jumped into
the twenty twenty six race for Harris County Judge is
a Republican, it felt like a party switch. While less
like a party switch and more like common sense catching
up with reality. And that change isn't just happening in Houston.
(31:12):
Plenty of hard hat unions across the state, including the
Texas Teamsters, have abandoned Democrats and endorsed Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
Like I said, so it's no longer the party of
Mitt Romney and George Bush and John McCain. So why
what happened? Republicans started to focus on the things that
(31:34):
mattered public safety, enforcing immigration law, supporting the real industries
that drive this economy, and the first responders who keep
us safe. Over make work jobs where the heaviest lift
is sending an email. And it turns out that people,
no matter who you are, where you come from, care
(31:54):
more about these basics than whatever handouts Democrats promise. No
wonder President Trump is sitting in the Oval Office right
now thanks to working class Americans and the most diverse
coalition of voters that Republicans have had in generations. We
now have the MAGA movement, at least for the time being.
(32:16):
And if I was to place a bet, I'm guessing
that Marty Langton will not have much trouble riding the
same sort of way to victory in November. But while
Republicans welcome the working class, the Democrats have become the
party of Lena Hidalgo, a graduate student turned politician who's
leaving the County Judge's office after two scandal plagued terms.
(32:39):
Her time in office has been a masterclass in how
not to run things. A bid rigging scandal had staffers
indicted for funneling an eleven million dollars COVID contract to
a buddy. You remember that the cases got dismissed, but
taxpayers still ate nearly nine hundred thousand dollars in legal bills.
Law enforcement booed her when she left a Commissioner's court
(33:02):
meeting early rather than talk about giving raises to first responders,
throwing ethics fines, a censure for her fellow Democrats for
her disruptive behavior and reports of outbursts that would make
a reality show blush, and you've got a leadership style
heavy on headlines, light on fixes. Hidalgo has talked a
(33:24):
big game about wanting to help the underserved, but voters
aren't out there begging the county government to spend millions
in one time funds to provide a handful of pre
k spots. Whether you're rich or poor, you want a
county government that will stop the bad guys, prevent flooding,
keep taxes low, and maybe figure out how our toll
(33:45):
road dollars are being spent. Wouldn't that be nice? For
the last eight years, Democrats have been led by an
out of touch grad student who can't even get along
with the members of her own political party. Meanwhile, Langton
works with everyone from Democratics, socialists to maga guys like me.
He understands that the county judge's job isn't a charity
(34:06):
option or a ted talk stage. It's the command center
for lining up local, state and federal money to tackle flooding, infrastructure,
public safety, and the quality of life. That's why he's
leading in fundraising and landing endorsements from people like the
governor and first responders and business owners and oh, by
the way, maybe you've heard of him, Jim mackinval aka
(34:29):
Mattress Mac. Expect those blue collar workers to stick around
if Langton makes it to the general election in November,
especially if he faces off with an East Parker, the
former mayor eyeing a sequel. Parker supporters like to frame
her up as a steely CEO type, but that's just
a nice way of saying she picked fights with firefighters
(34:51):
and tried to limit their vacations. There's a reason why
blue collar guys don't like CEOs. A showdown between Parker
and Langton might as well be Houston version of Hillary
Clinton versus Donald Trump. Don't be surprised if voters decide
that the firefighter is the best way to make Harris
County great again.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Our doctor told us the pills we took were just
a placebo, but he must not know what he's talking about,
because man, those suckers worked. This is Kenny Webster's pursuit
of happiness, all.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Right, Kettos, This just dan Instagram CEO says you can't
be addicted to social media. However, his statement does show
you can be addicted to lying, so there's something to
think about there. Thanks for tuning in. Everybody, y'all know
who I am, and the week is almost over. But
(35:45):
one thing we didn't talk about this afternoon is the
thing everyone's talking about a little too much. I think
Nancy Guthrie does get a lot of TV time, and
I don't wish any harm on this woman. Conn I
hope Savannah and her siblings find their mom. I think
it's terrible whole news story. He is very horrible. The
FBI's released details on a suspect in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.
It is a mail somewhere between five nine and five
(36:08):
ten with an average build, wearing a black twenty five
Leader Ozark trail Hiker pack. Backpack reward increase to one
hundred thousand dollars as agents review thirteen thousand tips. That's
a lot of tips. The FBI released a description of
the suspect and they apparently are putting on a statement
through the Pima County Sheriff's Department for ENSIXS team searching
(36:30):
the brush off a road near Nancy Guthrie's home. The
search for the missing eighty four year old mother has
entered it's I think, what are we in the thirteenth day. Now,
for some reason, TMZ founder Harvey Levin has become a
spokesperson for this whole thing. He didn't have that much
to do with it, but he says, America's newsroom is
(36:50):
receiving a third letter claiming to know who Nancy Guthrie's
alleged kidnapper is. The person then sent a follow up
message saying, I am not being taken seriously. Maybe you
shouldn't email TMZ. I don't know, just a thought. The
FBI conducted in extensive search this week along multiple roadways,
and they've found nothing. We've all seen the glove. The
reports are that there's going to be micro DNA inside
(37:13):
the glove or they had some weird way of describing it,
and that's going to help us find the guy, assuming we,
you know, have his DNA on record somewhere, which I
don't know that we do. Maybe we do. Maybe that's
one of the benefits of the pandemic. They got your
DNA when they were giving you that COVID shot. I
don't know. We've all seen that video now, and you know,
the whole thing makes me a little worried about my
(37:33):
own mom. I love my mom very much. Tomorrow is
Valentine's Day, so I decided to give her a call. Mom,
you don't know where Nancy Guthrie is, do you?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
I would know not at all. Of course.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
That okay, well, isn't it. That also exactly what the
Nancy Guthrie kidnapper.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Would say, I would think, So yeah, all.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Right, So so how do we know you're telling us
the truth?
Speaker 2 (37:59):
I think it should have happened, but in the first place,
because I would have thought was a woman with that
much property would have had at least a caretaker, not
a caregiver, but more security than she had for the
amount of you know you are. What kind of acreage
did she have there? I don't know, five ten acres
in the middle of the desert. I'm a widow and
(38:22):
an older woman, and I think I would have taken
more precautions than she did my own opinion.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Do you remember when I gave you for Christmas?
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yes, I have another camera or two. Yes, I bought
one on the back, one on the front. I got
them all.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
I bought security cameras around your house. And we subscribe
to the service that's important, so we can make sure
we know who's at your house. Are they all set
up now.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Oh yeah, I've already talked to them and it's good.
I noticed I have a lot of weird animals in
the middle of the night that comes through my patio
in the back, because I got one looking out my
office window. That's interesting. I had a possum. I had
a raccoon at two in the morning. Interesting. But whatever, Mom,
do you and I'm just living in a suburb.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
What would be your advice right now to Savannah Gotthrie
and her siblings. Do you think one of them could
be in on it?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
I still from all I've read, I'm still a little
bit leery about the brother in law, which would be Nancy.
Some of the law I think would be Anne Gotthrie's husband.
But I don't know. I don't know. I don't know
enough about it. But I understand that they're not ruling
that out. I don't know what that means.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
Okay, So Savannah got Thrie's brother in law is a
gay named a guy named Tamaso SIONI. There's a lot
of vowels in that name. Doesn't that make you a
little nervous? All those vowels? Mom?
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Yeah, but I'm thinking that the guy wanted to get
full inheritance from this woman, because first of all, Savannah's
got enough money. But it looks like they're kind of
taking care of her again a little bit out there
in Arizona. I don't know, I don't know. I don't
know if it's suspicious.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
It's true. Now when you say that all the vowels
in his name make him nervous, isn't that kind of
racist against Italians?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah? I don't like that either, but whatever.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Okay, I you know I joined the Knights of Columbus
this past week. Are you excited about that?
Speaker 2 (40:20):
I know you did. I used to belong to them too,
so did your father.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Well, you were part of the granda. You were the
auxiliary member. Women can't join the Knights. There's only two genders.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Yes, but they did fundraisers. We did a lot of fundraisers.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Okay, well that's good. All right. What are you doing
for you? What are you doing this weekend? For Valentine's Day?
And Marty Grass?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Well, we're going out tonight instead of tomorrow night. You
can't get preservations anywhere, but my brother and I think
Greg and his wife were going to see a band
in downtown Lenton. Nights we're going out tonight.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Okay, Well, I just want you to be I want
you to be safe and careful.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Mom.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
I love you, the only mom I've got. I worry
about you and uh one. Just promise that you just
promise that you'll be careful this weekend. Okay.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
That's why I have a people out the front window.
I don't let anybody come to my front door. And
I would never let a guy like that come in,
especially with that mask at two in the morning. I
couldn't believe it.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
Okay, well, I agree. Should we pray right now for
Nancy Guthrie on the radio? Do you want to lead
us in a short prayer? We only have a minute
left here.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
What kind of prayer do you want to say?
Speaker 3 (41:31):
A Catholic prayer? A Catholic prayer, Mom.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Hail and Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with you, blessed.
You say it. Go ahead, you do.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
It, Mom, you're started.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I thought you were going to do it with me.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Okay, Mom, I'll lead us in a prayer. Hail Mary,
full of grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art
thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Jesus,
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for sinners now and
and at the hour of our death. Amen. Yeah, hopefully,
Please God, please be with an Ancy got three, and
please protect my mom. I love you, Mom, I'll call you.
(42:09):
I hope you have a good week on have you
Valentine's Day? Mom?
Speaker 2 (42:11):
I love you, Happy Valentine's safe and I love.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
All of you listening. I pray for all of you.
We'll be back bright and early Monday month. We'll be
back bright and early Monday morning for more of what
you bought a radio for.
Speaker 5 (42:28):
You are listening to the Pursuit of Happiness Radio. Tell
the government to kiss your ass when you listen to
this show.
Giganic government sucks. Suit of happiness. Radio is DeLux. Liberty
and freedom will make you smile of a suit of
habing and us on your radio tol justice, cheeseburgers a
liberty fries at.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
The food.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
All right, it's it's time kids. It's World Radio Day.
If you want to get your all time favorite radio
hosts something I am registered at Nordstrom Rack. Hi, Welcome
and thank you for turning on the radio. It's also
International Condom Day. Unless you're a parent, then every day
is a reminder of the importance of birth control. We've
(00:52):
got a lot going on on the show today. Michael
Quinn Sulomon is here and he runs a website called
Texas scorecard dot Com. Also stopping buying this after noon
will be my good friend Brandon Darby from Breitbart Texas.
We're going to talk about the drone or weather balloon
or party balloon or whatever it is. It just got
shot down at the border by the Department of Homeland
(01:13):
Security in Alpaso this week. Something weird happened. And also
an article published by yours truly just today in the
Houston Chronicle. I'm going to talk about that as well.
It involves the county judge and what I think could
be arguably the most important local election happening in Houston
in twenty twenty six. So we'll get to all that soon.
(01:34):
But first I want to tell you I very rarely
talk about abortion on the show, much less in the
opening segment of the show. But I do often talk
about absurd things said by rich, powerful people, and so
in that regard, this topic is right on brand for us.
Chelsea Clinton says she left a church when she was
(01:54):
six years old because the church opposed abortion. She made
the conscious decision to quit going to a church as
a six year old because the church was pro life.
I'm gonna just keep saying this sentence a couple more
(02:14):
times in different ways to dissecting it for you to
point out how absurd this was. A six year old
understood enough about abortion and was an independent enough thinker
and had enough control over her own life to decide
not to go to a church because she had very
polarizing opinions about schmish Morshen. It doesn't sound like it
(02:36):
makes any sense, does it. Well, we'll get to that.
Let's start with this. Puerto Rico's governor is Jennifer Gonzalez.
Jennifer is a committed Republican, a strong Trump backer, recently
signed Senate Bill nine two three into law. This amends
the territory's penal code to explicitly define an unborn child
or fetus as a human being when it comes to
(02:56):
murder charges. So if a criminal assaults a preg woman
and causes the death of her unborn baby at any
stage of pregnancy, that perpetrator can now face an additional
homicide count on top of whatever else they did to
the mother. The bill carries the name of Kishla Rodriguez,
the youngest pregnant woman murdered in twenty twenty one, a
(03:17):
very heartbreaking case. It shocked the island to Puerto Rico.
Her killer was sentenced to two life terms, one for
her death one for the child's. This new law builds
directly on last year's Civil Code amendment that granted natural
person status to the unborn from the moment of conception,
plus another measure treating the killing of a pregnant woman
(03:37):
and her fetus's first degree murder if found to be intentional.
So the goal here is pretty straightforward consistency. If the
law already sees the unborn as persons in civil contacts
like inheritance rights or wrongful death that suits, then criminal
law should match that reality when violence Strikes's not that crazy.
I'm not even sure that's a pro life argument if
(03:59):
in isn't that the law in most states? If you
murder someone while they're pregnant, you're killing two people. I
don't know. Maybe I don't know enough about abortion law,
or I guess murder law to understand, but I was
my understanding that was already the case in most states.
So this approach ties straight into Trump's states rights framework.
I am very much in line with Trump's position on
(04:20):
this issue. It remains one of the smartest paths forward.
After Dobbs was overturned Roe and returned the power to
decide abortion policy to the states, Trump's consistently said, let
the people in each state vote, pass laws through their legislature,
put it on the ballot. No heavy handed national mandate
(04:41):
from federal bureaucrats. That's how the founding fathers would have
intended it, had they have known about the controversy in
the twentieth and twenty first century involving you know, schmish
Morshin they would have said, look, just decentralized respects federalism,
lets local values guide the outcome. I'm pro, but I'm
also pro realistic. We need to protect fetal life, sure,
(05:04):
but when women are facing genuine medical emergencies, they should
have access to procedures that save their life. And Trump's
always supported those exceptions for the life of the mother,
rape and incest, echoing the position Ronald Reagan had. It's
not extremism. I think that's balance. Protect the unborn as
much as possible while ensuring no woman dies because the
(05:25):
law ties doctor's hands in a crisis. So Texas's laws
are supposed to illustrate both the strength of this model
and where implementation can hit snags. I think our state's
laws include explicit, workable exceptions. Physicians can use their reasonable
medical judgment to perform procedures that would otherwise fall under
(05:47):
abortion restrictions if the goal is to save the woman's
life or prevent impairment of a major bodily function. I
think the danger here it doesn't have to be right,
this second imminent. It's about preventing serious harm. The Texas
Medical Board put out updated training in recent months, with
some very concrete examples, and I'm not a doctor. I
(06:09):
don't understand, and I won't claim to understand what pre
et lampshia is. I have no idea. I couldn't tell you.
I understand. I read about life threatening infections from ruptured membranes.
I get that that's important. Ectopic pregnancies, I understand those
can be life threatening. Makes sense to me. But I'm
(06:30):
not a doctor. Guys, I write jokes for a living.
It's my understanding that these laws are, these policies, or
these procedures state plainly that the risk of prosecution for
legitimate emergency care is extremely low when doctors document properly
and follow evidence based standards. As of today, twenty twenty six,
(06:50):
Friday the thirteenth, ooh Eerie, no physicians ever been prosecuted
or convicted in Texas for a true life saving innovation
vention under these rules. Now, despite all of that, we
have unfortunately seen some cases where pregnancy complications led to delays, sepsis,
hemorrhaging outcomes that might have been avoided with faster intervention.
(07:12):
The question is why when the law allows action. The
answer isn't hidden in the statutes, It's in the fog
of fear that sometimes settles over hospitals like a thick
morning mist rolling in off the Gulf of America, making
every decision feel like walking through quicksand doctors and administrators
(07:35):
get cautious, They seek extra consultations, they wait for fetal
heartbeats to stop, or transfer patients unnecessarily because the left,
people on the far left, very much pro choice advocates,
have this relentless fear campaign that keeps the spotlight on
the worst case stories. They're framing every delay as proof
(07:56):
that pro life laws are inherently deadly. Let's face it,
some of the blame here falls on the right as well,
for people that are not explaining clearly enough that you
can get these procedures or perform these procedures without getting
into trouble. Read an article today It said that Chelsea
(08:19):
Clinton quit going to a church when she was six
years old because the church was pro life. You read
this and you're like, how on earth she made this statement.
It was now to be clear, it was in Life
News headquarters. Maybe they're taking her comment out of our contrast.
She did an interview and made the comment at a
(08:41):
recent fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. In an attempt to address
evangelicals who question her mother's faith in God. She said quote,
I find it quite insulting sometimes when people say to
my mom, my dad, or me that they question our faith.
I was raised in a Methodist church, and I left
the Baptist Church before my dad did because I didn't
know why they were talking to me about abortion when
I was six and Sunday school. That's a true story. Wait,
(09:07):
so did you quit the church at age six or
did you quit later? It's confusing, right, Maybe she meant sixteen.
I don't know, but I do know in our effort
to push a political agenda, sometimes people will sometimes lose
grip on what the truth is. Whether we're trying to
convince people that late term abortions were very common before
(09:27):
Roe v. Wade was overturned, I don't actually see any
evidence of that. It was explained to me pretty clearly
last night by a friend who is pro choice. Her
and I don't see eye to eye on this, And
in the same regard, I think there are some people
on the left on the other side who make it
sound like you're going to get prosecuted for performing a
life altering procedure. Life saving procedure if because the procedure
(09:52):
itself is adjacent to what an abortion looks like. I
guess what I'm saying is, in our effort to push
pro life or pro choice agenda on both the left
and the right, sometimes the truth takes a backseat, and
the consequence is that someone will delay healthcare, delay medical care,
(10:16):
and they could die or get killed, or get very
sick or become permanently injured because of it. I can't
control what the left does. I can't control what the
pro choice people do. But I know a lot of
pro life people listen to this show, and maybe we
could do a little good by getting better messaging out.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
We're not passive aggressive like some people.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
We know.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
This is Kenny Webster's pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
All right, So tomorrow's Valentine's Day. If you haven't got
anything for your lady yet, fellas, it's not too late.
It's actually really too late, so enjoy the single life.
I am taking a look at all the different things
our Attorney General is doing right now. Pretty impressive, from
what just took place with doctor Mary Bowden and the
(11:04):
Medical Texas Medical Board to a lesser discussed lawsuit in
Dallas over city officials there defying voters police funding mandate.
And then there's this, what I think is a maybe
the most important news story in the state of Texas today,
although I don't know if everyone else knows that Liberty County, Texas,
just a little north of Houston. A lot of you
(11:26):
are a stone's throwaway. Some of you might live right
down the street from Colony Ridge. The DOJ just announced
to sixty eight million dollars settlement in a suit over
Colony Ridge. And what's been going on there? A developer
in Liberty County, you guys know, it's the largest housing
development for illegal immigrants in America, has been accused of
(11:47):
a targeting Latino borrowers. They reached a million, multimillion dollars
settlement with the DOJ. Here with the news and his
take on it is Michael quinn Sullivan, one of the
most fascinating people in the tech sis political media. Michael
always knows what's going on, often five minutes before the
news breaks. Michael, were you surprised by this?
Speaker 6 (12:08):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
So?
Speaker 6 (12:10):
Surprise is probably the right word, only in that it
is a far better deal than I would have thought.
The federal government and the state government would have gotten
and these aren't really clear going to think, oh, I'm
gonna go to jail all those kind of things with this,
and that may be true, but that would not be
(12:32):
This action has actually actually started under the Biden administration.
This action was purely a civil complaint. No one goes
to jail on civil complaints, and the deal that was
reached specifically allows criminal matters to proceed if there are
any other did This has not change any of that.
(12:53):
This is this is essentially a state and federal nuisance
civil action, right about Colony Ridge being a nuisance, so
you know, that's kind of what it was. So the
fact that you got all these agreements out of it
tells you that the that the Colony Ridge developers knew
they were doing bad things and want really really badly
(13:17):
for the state of Taxes and the federal government to
see them as repenitent ahead of future civil action and
future criminal action. And I think that's one of that
deal ended up being as big as it was, and
with Colony Ridge having to foot the bill for law
enforcement for the next decade, I think it is having
(13:39):
to stop any new developments there in Colony Ridge. They
have to begin verifying all buyers coming in using a
very restricted criteria that you don't find in kind of
a general housing area. Right, So I'll say you the again.
(14:00):
So this is a strong agreement that was reached the
Trump DOJ and most importantly Attorney General Ken Paxton underpromised
and over delivered.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
Okay. So if Colony Ridge is in trouble now for
their predatory treatment of Latinos, the Hispanic community, whatever the
term you choose to use, and you're part of the
neck of the woods, why aren't liberals celebrating this? I mean,
on its surface, when you remove Trump from the equation,
if you remove Ken Paxton from the equation, that sounds
(14:33):
like something they'd normally be happy about.
Speaker 6 (14:37):
Yeah, except that what they are unhappy about is the
fact that one they're unhappy that Trump got it done
and Biden did it that did not. That's part of
it too, though. What they're more unhappy about was the
left really wanted Colony Ridge to succeed as a magnet
(14:58):
for illegal aliens so that it could be replicated elsewhere.
I know this is uncharitable, and people will say, oh, Michael,
you're just being mean to the Democrats. I probably am,
but but I think it bears out looking at the
way the Democrats have behaved vis a v You know
that anything that reeks of border enforcement they're going to.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
Be on the wrong side of.
Speaker 6 (15:23):
And going after Colony Ridge, they'll ride into that category
of border enforcement.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, just incredible, right, And I don't I'll be honest
with you. I've not spent much time out there looking
at it, but you know, it's just a little off
the beaten path I've I don't know. If I'm not
a journalist, I'm a comedian, what am I going to
go do there? But it's my understanding that the people
that have gone and done videos and look, there's straight
dogs running around, there's crime, there's trafficking of drugs, trafficking
(15:51):
of humans. How long could it's It almost kind of
amazes me that it's existed as long as it has
without any punishment. I mean, how much longer if not
taxed in the DOJ doing something about it? How long
could it have gone on without people, the general public, average,
non political people getting upset? Yeah, Look, I'll tell.
Speaker 6 (16:11):
You it's the I have been out there about there
a couple of times. We did some reporting on it
in kind of the early days, and it is as
bad as you said, probably worse, and just a later
on you had school because of this massive explosive growth
of illegal aliens bringing their kids in everything else. You
(16:33):
had all these schools being built, this massive amount of
infrastructure being done there that's borne by the general taxpayer.
But I think to answer your question of the reason
why you didn't why you did not have you know,
kind of the people nosing and seeing it is is
kind of the the tragedy of our nose, right. We
(16:54):
tend to focus on the things that are right in
front of our nose. Colony Ridge. You said it, Well,
it's just outside of Houston. It's just far enough. And
again if you if you go up there, you're not
going to notice it. You have to you have to
go to it to notice it, right, You're not going
to just drive by and notice it. And so it's
(17:15):
a The people who would drive by and see it
are people who have small voices, sheriff's deputies, you know,
be if they exist, the stray conservative teacher will will
notice it, but they.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Tend to be shut down.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
It's only because the right kind of media groups and
by which I mean daily wire us the blaze. We're
looking at it and talking about it that folks started
paying attention to it, and I think this is This
is again, I think is what the Democrats were hoping.
Oh hey, if we can make it work there where
(17:54):
it's just outside of where the pretty people of Houston
will notice it, but it's close enough that the they
can benefit from it, maybe we could do another places.
Unfortunately it was stopped.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Okay, here's another interesting headline today on your website from
the Office of the Attorney General suing Dallas officials, accusing
them of defying a voter approved mandate to boost police
funding under what was called Proposition You. This goes back
to November two years ago, not last November, but the
year before, and it amended the city charter to require
(18:30):
at least fifty percent of excess annual revenue to be
directed to public safety, whether that be the Dallas Police,
the fire pension system, whatever. Actually, the charter language ear
marks those dollars first for the Dallas Police and the
fire pension system. I'm confused. I thought that the Dallas
mayor was supposed to be a Republican. Now, why would
(18:50):
the Attorney General have to do something about this if
he's supposedly on our side.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Well, so, do you have to remember in city, any
government in Texas, you have two kinds of cities. You
have a mayor, you have a mayor council city, and
you have a council city manager city, with the mayor
being kind of the spokesman for the city council. And
that holds true whether the mayor is elected statewide, I
(19:19):
mean the citywide, or the mayor is selected by the council.
Speaker 3 (19:25):
The council city manage.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
And in most cities and certainly all the big cities
are all council city manager style, so which means that
the city manager actually runs the day to day operations
and the mayor does not have the kind of control
that you would expect. You know, you kind of think,
if you're thinking governor or president, you think the mayor
has control. In Dallas, you don't have the mayor doing
(19:52):
these things. And if you look at the structure of
the lawsuit, the lawsuit is specifically noting all these kind
of you know, senior city staff are the ones responsible,
including the city manager.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, imagine that. Okay, here's one more Attorney General, Ken
Paxton stepping in to fix a mistake made by the
Texas Medical Board. In Texas, we should not be punishing heroes.
Doctor Mary Bowden has been a guest on this show before.
She is well known by our radio listeners here in Houston.
I am one of the many, many people, Michael, who
(20:25):
got sick during or at the end of the pandemic there,
and I got help from doctor Mary because I didn't
trust the mainstream medicine industry at the time. And amazingly
Mary turned out to be right. What she was saying
back then was very unpopular. You could be punished for
saying these things, and now six years later, nobody listens
to what she's saying and thinks it sounds crazy. Weirdly,
(20:48):
she was punished by the Texas Medical Board, and Paxton's
office stepped in to support Mary. A big headline today
authored by a journalist named Brandon waltons, I believe you
and I both know him, says Paxton is in to
avoid the Texas Medical Board's reprimand of doctor Boden. This
has been It's crazy how far this woman has come.
The story of the what this woman went through over
(21:09):
the last six years, and now it finally has a
happy ending.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
Yeah, well, the happy ending has not yet arrived, but
you could. But you now, the bright light at the
end of the tunnel that she has been slogging through
might actually be daylight rather than an approaching freight train,
and I think that is a huge win for her.
But look, I've been talking to since since PACs made
this announcement yesterday. I've been talking to a lot of
(21:36):
friends who are doctors, including my own doctor just a
little bit ago, who who are so excited by this
action being taken because it kind of says that we
have a we have a state government that will ultimately
colected officials who will ultimately have doctors backs when they
(21:57):
are trying to treat their patients and give their patients
the best possible individual care as opposed to, you know,
doing the bidding of big pharma and big medicine. And
that's precisely what doctor Mary call the Balbin was doing.
She was giving the best possible care for a particular
human being, not you know, you know, kind of cowing
(22:21):
to the wishes of big pharma, and that was her
big sin. And I think that Attorney General Paxton, by
taking on this case, is and doing the work that
he's doing now is signaling Texas is going to have
your back and is going to sing signals to the
medical board. You got to stop doing the nonsense.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
There is pulling out that says Wesley Hunts in second
place in the Senate race. There's pulling out that says
Cornings in second place in the Senate race. One thing
that's been very consistent is Paxton seems to be in
the lead in any any of the polls that I've
looked at recently. I'm I don't. I think it's been
months since I've seen a poll that even suggested Cornan
(23:02):
has a chance of winning this thing. And great, you know,
Paxton's better than Cornyn. I think most of our listeners
either like Wesley hunt or Paxton. I don't know anybody
that's into right wing talk radio who knows anything about
John Cornan who seems to like him. But given what
took place with Pam Bondi this week and how badly
that Epstein hearing went with her, it is just another
(23:23):
reminder that Paxton is unequivocally the best attorney general in
the country right now, probably in years, in any state,
on any level, and no matter what happens in the
Senate race, one thing is for sure. You know, May's
Middleton seems fine, Aaron Wright seems fine. You know, Chip
Royce seems to be winning. I know he's not popular
(23:43):
with our listeners. I know Joan Huffman is not popular
with our listeners right now. But you know, no matter
what happens, it sounds like we are going to lose
having the best attorney general we've had of our lifetime.
And there's something that's very bittersweet about that, Michael, you
know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
Yeah, there is, I'll tell you. And then this is
where I think everyone needs to take a step back
from their personalities and they're they're kind of the cults
that we created in politics. I know all for these individuals.
I've covered all for these individuals for a long time.
And and here's a very unpopular take for you, the
(24:23):
worst of the four. And you can pick who you
think is the worst of the four, and all your
listeners can listen to they think is the worst of
the four. I can absolutely tell you, without a noah
second of hesitation or doubt, that the worst of the
four candidates for Attorney General on the Republican ballot will
all be at a minimum, the second best attorney general
(24:47):
this state and this nation has ever had. They are
all all of they all come with different strengths and weaknesses.
They all come with things are going to focus on,
you know whatever. But at the end of the day,
Joan Huffman, Wrights, Chip Roy Mays Middleton, they will all
be much stronger attorney generals than any attorney general in
(25:10):
Texas history, with the within Kayers, the Asterric exception, with
maybe the exception of Kim Paxon. But Ken Paxton has
primed the pump in a way that the four of them.
I don't care how badly any of the four of
them wants to perform as attorney general. The expectation that
Ken Paxson has now put in place has solidified in place,
(25:34):
is they are going to have to perform at that
level or the consequences for them and anyone that they
you know, have in their orbit are going to be
going to be severe. Texans are going to expect the
Attorney general to be a leader and a fighter and
to be aggressive, not be a John Cornyn or you know,
(25:56):
kind of go through the different ags that we've had
in the past. They're going to expect someone operating like
Ken Paxton, And in fact, I think there's on a
couple of issues. I think there's an opportunity for Mays Middleton,
Ship Roy, Aaron Wright's Joan Huffman to in some areas
be better than Ken Paxon was in part because Ken
(26:18):
Paxson has already cleared the initial path for them to
do so. So I am so freaking excited about these
about this AG's race and what it means for Texas.
That is your happy clappy end of the week, Kenny Webster.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
You know what, Michael, we needed it right now. And
to that, I say, hey, Happy President's Day, Happy Valentine's Day,
Happy Friday the thirteenth, Happy Black History Month, and happy
Marty Grass because I don't know how to all stand
this discussion. Man. I hope you're doing good, brother, You
doing anything fun? Tomorrow?
Speaker 6 (26:51):
Hey, you know what, I am looking forward to a
fantastic weekend. You know I got you know, I do
reluctantly observe valenti Times Day, my Valentine's Day.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
I do have to you.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
Look, so I'm not going to spoil what I'm doing
here because my lovely Bride is a listener of Pursuit
of Happiness Radio. But I will say uh to to
all you dudes out there here we are the middle
of Friday afternoon. If you are just going in the
tomorrow's Valentine's Day, Uh, today, today got a lot more
expensive for you, buddy. But you could do something for
(27:26):
your do something for your wife. You'll, you'll, you'll order
your girlfriend whatever you'll, you'll benefit from that.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
Amen to that. A limited amount of tickets still available
for our comedy show tomorrow night at the Community field
House in Spring Texas. And while you're going online to
purchase those, if you're going to be there, go subscribe
to Texas squarecard dot com and follow Michael Quinnsullivan on
social media.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Radio shows are so hot you'll literally burn your eyes.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Fortunately, this is it one of those shows.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
I feel I never listening with you all again.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Pursuit of Happiness Radio. Today is Friday the thirteenth. So remember,
if you encounter a scary person in a mask, just
show him your citizenship papers. It'll be fine. If you're
allowed to be here, it's no big deal. Hi, everybody,
welcome back from break. If you don't read the Houston Chronicle.
(28:18):
Maybe you'd be surprised to learn I actually write for them.
I've written for them several times over the last few months,
and today they published an article I wrote about Marty Langton.
If you don't know who that is, he's a firefighter
union leader and he's running as county judge right now.
The primary for Harris County Judge shows how Republicans won
(28:40):
the working class. It's the headline of the article I
wrote today. Firefighter union leader Marty Langton is proof that
Republicans are no longer the party of Mitt Romney Good.
I met Marty Langton back when Sylvester Turner was mayor
here in Houston. We were still opping up after Hurricane Harvey.
(29:02):
The firefighters, you know, those guys who literally pulled people
out of rising waters while the rest of us were
staring at our phones refreshing the flood map app. The
firefighters had campaigned for Turner in twenty fifteen. There was
a fight over pension reform and voters passed Prop B.
Back in twenty eighteen, it was supposed to get firefighters
(29:23):
pay parody with police. Suddenly, Turner was threatening hundreds of
layoffs in a hiring freeze for those people who save
our lives and hurricanes and fires. Sylvester Turner, God Rest
his soul, treated first responders like they were optional extras
in his administration. In the poststorm glow of gratitude, that
(29:45):
betrayal hit pretty hard, and even people who normally ignore
politics couldn't ignore this. Marty the president of the Houston
Professional Firefighters Association. He didn't just complain, He he organized,
He rallied the city, He led protests at city Hall.
He turned a labor fight into a community wake up
(30:06):
call several years ago. I interviewed him many times on
this radio show during all that chaos, even showed up
to some of his demonstrations myself, one in particular, where
I threw on a firefighter helmet, grabbed a bullhorn outside
a city hall while the mayor was inside deciding the
fate of those firefighters, and I started telling yo mama
(30:27):
jokes to the onlookers. Yo Mama so slow she got
lapped by a flood. Warning people laughed. Sort of, The
point landed, and the disconnect between the people and the
politicians was impossible to miss. Mayor Turner eventually headed to Congress,
(30:48):
but his move pushed a bunch of lifelong blue collar Democrats, cops, firefighters,
paramedics hard to the right. So when Marty jumped into
the twenty twenty six race for Harris County Judge is
a Republican, it felt like a party switch. While less
like a party switch and more like common sense catching
up with reality. And that change isn't just happening in Houston.
(31:12):
Plenty of hard hat unions across the state, including the
Texas Teamsters, have abandoned Democrats and endorsed Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
Like I said, so it's no longer the party of
Mitt Romney and George Bush and John McCain. So why
what happened? Republicans started to focus on the things that
(31:34):
mattered public safety, enforcing immigration law, supporting the real industries
that drive this economy, and the first responders who keep
us safe. Over make work jobs where the heaviest lift
is sending an email. And it turns out that people,
no matter who you are, where you come from, care
(31:54):
more about these basics than whatever handouts Democrats promise. No
wonder President Trump is sitting in the Oval Office right
now thanks to working class Americans and the most diverse
coalition of voters that Republicans have had in generations. We
now have the MAGA movement, at least for the time being.
(32:16):
And if I was to place a bet, I'm guessing
that Marty Langton will not have much trouble riding the
same sort of way to victory in November. But while
Republicans welcome the working class, the Democrats have become the
party of Lena Hidalgo, a graduate student turned politician who's
leaving the County Judge's office after two scandal plagued terms.
(32:39):
Her time in office has been a masterclass in how
not to run things. A bid rigging scandal had staffers
indicted for funneling an eleven million dollars COVID contract to
a buddy. You remember that the cases got dismissed, but
taxpayers still ate nearly nine hundred thousand dollars in legal bills.
Law enforcement booed her when she left a Commissioner's court
(33:02):
meeting early rather than talk about giving raises to first responders,
throwing ethics fines, a censure for her fellow Democrats for
her disruptive behavior and reports of outbursts that would make
a reality show blush, and you've got a leadership style
heavy on headlines, light on fixes. Hidalgo has talked a
(33:24):
big game about wanting to help the underserved, but voters
aren't out there begging the county government to spend millions
in one time funds to provide a handful of pre
k spots. Whether you're rich or poor, you want a
county government that will stop the bad guys, prevent flooding,
keep taxes low, and maybe figure out how our toll
(33:45):
road dollars are being spent. Wouldn't that be nice? For
the last eight years, Democrats have been led by an
out of touch grad student who can't even get along
with the members of her own political party. Meanwhile, Langton
works with everyone from Democratics, socialists to maga guys like me.
He understands that the county judge's job isn't a charity
(34:06):
option or a ted talk stage. It's the command center
for lining up local, state and federal money to tackle flooding, infrastructure,
public safety, and the quality of life. That's why he's
leading in fundraising and landing endorsements from people like the
governor and first responders and business owners and oh, by
the way, maybe you've heard of him, Jim mackinval aka
(34:29):
Mattress Mac. Expect those blue collar workers to stick around
if Langton makes it to the general election in November,
especially if he faces off with an East Parker, the
former mayor eyeing a sequel. Parker supporters like to frame
her up as a steely CEO type, but that's just
a nice way of saying she picked fights with firefighters
(34:51):
and tried to limit their vacations. There's a reason why
blue collar guys don't like CEOs. A showdown between Parker
and Langton might as well be Houston version of Hillary
Clinton versus Donald Trump. Don't be surprised if voters decide
that the firefighter is the best way to make Harris
County great again.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Our doctor told us the pills we took were just
a placebo, but he must not know what he's talking about,
because man, those suckers worked. This is Kenny Webster's pursuit
of happiness, all.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Right, Kettos, This just dan Instagram CEO says you can't
be addicted to social media. However, his statement does show
you can be addicted to lying, so there's something to
think about there. Thanks for tuning in. Everybody, y'all know
who I am, and the week is almost over. But
(35:45):
one thing we didn't talk about this afternoon is the
thing everyone's talking about a little too much. I think
Nancy Guthrie does get a lot of TV time, and
I don't wish any harm on this woman. Conn I
hope Savannah and her siblings find their mom. I think
it's terrible whole news story. He is very horrible. The
FBI's released details on a suspect in Nancy Guthrie's disappearance.
It is a mail somewhere between five nine and five
(36:08):
ten with an average build, wearing a black twenty five
Leader Ozark trail Hiker pack. Backpack reward increase to one
hundred thousand dollars as agents review thirteen thousand tips. That's
a lot of tips. The FBI released a description of
the suspect and they apparently are putting on a statement
through the Pima County Sheriff's Department for ENSIXS team searching
(36:30):
the brush off a road near Nancy Guthrie's home. The
search for the missing eighty four year old mother has
entered it's I think, what are we in the thirteenth day. Now,
for some reason, TMZ founder Harvey Levin has become a
spokesperson for this whole thing. He didn't have that much
to do with it, but he says, America's newsroom is
(36:50):
receiving a third letter claiming to know who Nancy Guthrie's
alleged kidnapper is. The person then sent a follow up
message saying, I am not being taken seriously. Maybe you
shouldn't email TMZ. I don't know, just a thought. The
FBI conducted in extensive search this week along multiple roadways,
and they've found nothing. We've all seen the glove. The
reports are that there's going to be micro DNA inside
(37:13):
the glove or they had some weird way of describing it,
and that's going to help us find the guy, assuming we,
you know, have his DNA on record somewhere, which I
don't know that we do. Maybe we do. Maybe that's
one of the benefits of the pandemic. They got your
DNA when they were giving you that COVID shot. I
don't know. We've all seen that video now, and you know,
the whole thing makes me a little worried about my
(37:33):
own mom. I love my mom very much. Tomorrow is
Valentine's Day, so I decided to give her a call. Mom,
you don't know where Nancy Guthrie is, do you?
Speaker 2 (37:43):
I would know not at all. Of course.
Speaker 3 (37:46):
That okay, well, isn't it. That also exactly what the
Nancy Guthrie kidnapper.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Would say, I would think, So yeah, all.
Speaker 3 (37:55):
Right, So so how do we know you're telling us
the truth?
Speaker 2 (37:59):
I think it should have happened, but in the first place,
because I would have thought was a woman with that
much property would have had at least a caretaker, not
a caregiver, but more security than she had for the
amount of you know you are. What kind of acreage
did she have there? I don't know, five ten acres
in the middle of the desert. I'm a widow and
(38:22):
an older woman, and I think I would have taken
more precautions than she did my own opinion.
Speaker 3 (38:27):
Do you remember when I gave you for Christmas?
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yes, I have another camera or two. Yes, I bought
one on the back, one on the front. I got
them all.
Speaker 3 (38:37):
I bought security cameras around your house. And we subscribe
to the service that's important, so we can make sure
we know who's at your house. Are they all set
up now.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Oh yeah, I've already talked to them and it's good.
I noticed I have a lot of weird animals in
the middle of the night that comes through my patio
in the back, because I got one looking out my
office window. That's interesting. I had a possum. I had
a raccoon at two in the morning. Interesting. But whatever, Mom,
do you and I'm just living in a suburb.
Speaker 3 (39:06):
What would be your advice right now to Savannah Gotthrie
and her siblings. Do you think one of them could
be in on it?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
I still from all I've read, I'm still a little
bit leery about the brother in law, which would be Nancy.
Some of the law I think would be Anne Gotthrie's husband.
But I don't know. I don't know. I don't know
enough about it. But I understand that they're not ruling
that out. I don't know what that means.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
Okay, So Savannah got Thrie's brother in law is a
gay named a guy named Tamaso SIONI. There's a lot
of vowels in that name. Doesn't that make you a
little nervous? All those vowels? Mom?
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Yeah, but I'm thinking that the guy wanted to get
full inheritance from this woman, because first of all, Savannah's
got enough money. But it looks like they're kind of
taking care of her again a little bit out there
in Arizona. I don't know, I don't know. I don't
know if it's suspicious.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
It's true. Now when you say that all the vowels
in his name make him nervous, isn't that kind of
racist against Italians?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah? I don't like that either, but whatever.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
Okay, I you know I joined the Knights of Columbus
this past week. Are you excited about that?
Speaker 2 (40:20):
I know you did. I used to belong to them too,
so did your father.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
Well, you were part of the granda. You were the
auxiliary member. Women can't join the Knights. There's only two genders.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Yes, but they did fundraisers. We did a lot of fundraisers.
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Okay, well that's good. All right. What are you doing
for you? What are you doing this weekend? For Valentine's Day?
And Marty Grass?
Speaker 2 (40:41):
Well, we're going out tonight instead of tomorrow night. You
can't get preservations anywhere, but my brother and I think
Greg and his wife were going to see a band
in downtown Lenton. Nights we're going out tonight.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Okay, Well, I just want you to be I want
you to be safe and careful.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
Mom.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
I love you, the only mom I've got. I worry
about you and uh one. Just promise that you just
promise that you'll be careful this weekend. Okay.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
That's why I have a people out the front window.
I don't let anybody come to my front door. And
I would never let a guy like that come in,
especially with that mask at two in the morning. I
couldn't believe it.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
Okay, well, I agree. Should we pray right now for
Nancy Guthrie on the radio? Do you want to lead
us in a short prayer? We only have a minute
left here.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
What kind of prayer do you want to say?
Speaker 3 (41:31):
A Catholic prayer? A Catholic prayer, Mom.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
Hail and Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with you, blessed.
You say it. Go ahead, you do.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
It, Mom, you're started.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
I thought you were going to do it with me.
Speaker 3 (41:46):
Okay, Mom, I'll lead us in a prayer. Hail Mary,
full of grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art
thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Jesus,
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for sinners now and
and at the hour of our death. Amen. Yeah, hopefully,
Please God, please be with an Ancy got three, and
please protect my mom. I love you, Mom, I'll call you.
(42:09):
I hope you have a good week on have you
Valentine's Day? Mom?
Speaker 2 (42:11):
I love you, Happy Valentine's safe and I love.
Speaker 3 (42:14):
All of you listening. I pray for all of you.
We'll be back bright and early Monday month. We'll be
back bright and early Monday morning for more of what
you bought a radio for.
Speaker 5 (42:28):
You are listening to the Pursuit of Happiness Radio. Tell
the government to kiss your ass when you listen to
this show.
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