May 6, 2026 • 33 mins
This podcast edition of Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness features journalist Holly Hansen. ( @KennethRWebster )
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
That ganic government sucks. Pursuit of habbiness radio is deluxe.
Liberty and freedom will make you smile. The a suit
of habbiness us on your radio. Tol Justice cheeseburg is
a liberty Rise. At f food of.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oreo Oreo the snack food, they're gonna release red, white
and blue cookies to celebrate America's two hundred and fiftieth
birthday and Americans average two hundred fifty pounds per person.
Wig Ty, I'm Kenny Webster, Thanks for joining us. Who's
here this after We're gonna get very local this afternoon.
I mean we'll get international and domestic too, but we'll
(00:41):
get local. Holly Hansen stopping by. There's a local judge
who's helping out child sex offenders. That's interesting. We'll tell
you the story of that. And uh, with the Republican
State Convention coming up and the World Cup all taking
place in Houston, some people are wondering what's that going
to do for traffic and crime. Local city official will
be joining us, so stick around for that. Before we
(01:03):
get to anything. Donald Trump is back where he belongs,
hosting the biggest episode of the Apprentice ever. Okay, not
exactly the Apprentice America. Well, he's the president, but he's
kind of running the country the way the host of
The Apprentice would, in the sense that he's firing people
that suck. This time, the boardroom is the White House,
(01:24):
and Donald's doing what he does best. He's pointing that
finger and telling under performers, you fired. Right now. The
firings are coming faster than a bad sequel. To take
the recent spectacle involving Christy Noms's former number two at ICE.
Christine Noms, fresh off her scandal involving her husband's fake
prosthetic breasts, now she's got another problem. Madison Sheehan is
(01:46):
a twenty eight year old rising star, or she was.
I guess she quit ICE recently so she could run
for Congress in Ohio. You may recall this was the
You remember there was kind of a masculine lesbian woman,
young woman at ICE, Remember her? And then she disappeared
from the news. Well, the Daily Mail just dropped what
could only be described as the least surprising tabloid story
(02:08):
of the year. This young woman had spent two years
in a messy, allegedly controlling sexual relationship with a junior
female staffer who was nineteen when it started. During the
twenty twenty campaign, lesbian stuff, oh Lesbians. According to the X,
we're talking jealous rages, hotel room screaming, matches, enough personal
(02:30):
drama to make a telenovella look restrained. Madison's team says
it wasn't a subordinate relationship. The voters in Ohio's ninth
district didn't particularly care about the fine print. They looked
at the headlines. They looked at the candidate. They sent
her packing in third place with under twenty percent of
the vote. Sorry about that. Trump did not endorse her.
(02:50):
He'd endorsed Derek Marin Derek One turns out the primary
system still works when people decide they don't want their
next congresswoman starring in the re Housewives of Deportation Office,
Christy Knum herself didn't escape the cleanup. She was supposed
to be the toughest nails border officer, but her deputy
(03:10):
was generating soap opera headlines. Christy's own husband, Byron, was
back in South Dakota living his best secret life. He
was sending pictures of himself in pink spandex and comically
large fake breast online fetish models. I guess he told
one of them he was falling in love with her
right around the time Christy got the axe Tough break Lady.
(03:32):
The family claims they were blindsided at this point. I
think the only thing not blindsided was the American public
something to think about. Trump took one look at the
circus and he did the obvious. Christie you fied. He
replaced her with Mark Wayne Mullin. I preferred Christy, but
Christy had scandals. I don't know if Mark is as
a scandal prone we'll find I don't love him either,
(03:54):
But whatever, no longer buys no protecting the brand just
results over drama. And then, of course there was Pam Bondy,
the Attorney General. Oh yes, named Attorney general to be
a junkyard dog against the deep State. Not quite how
it went down, obviously, the Epstein files became a political
headache instead of a weapon. The deep state still very comfortable.
(04:17):
Trump fired her back in April. You fired, simple as that.
I miss Matt Gates. He would have been great. He
actually pulled his own AG nomination before that became a circus.
And then there was Labor Secretary Lourie Chavez Dreamer. You
remember her. Laurie was out after staff misconduct and an
IG probe. Surgeon General nominee Casey means nomination withdrawn when
(04:42):
it started smelling a little troubly. None of this looks
too tidy, but this is what Trump does. Trump hires
the best and then fires him. I mean, that was
what the TV show is about. The early Trump administration
had more turnover than a food truck and a hurricane.
But here's the part worth remembering. Trump is treating government
like an actual business. You hire aggressive talent, you give
(05:04):
them a shot, and when they start generating more problems
than solutions, you fire them. That used to be considered
basic competence. I know the media spins it like it's
very controversial. It's a little controversial. Isn't it more controversial
to keep people around when they aren't any good because
it looks better. The alternative is the democratic way. Protect
(05:26):
your scandals forever, promote the incompetent, turn every mess into
a celebrated identity victory. They would have thrown Madison a parade.
They would have given her a book deal. They would
have kept Pam Bonding around until she retired and given
her a nice pension with a Netflix special. They would
have shrugged to Christy Nowans's husband and called it personal freedom.
(05:49):
The Republicans don't do that. These people served a purpose
for a while. They helped get Trump back in, But
the second they started generating more tabloid heat than actual results,
they got cut loose. That's not chaos, that's called leadership.
It's not perfect right now, far from it. But I'll
take Trump's messy, ax swinging management over four more years
(06:11):
of commalist style communism, open borders, government operated by feelings
instead of logic vastly better. That's why people voted for Trump,
not because he hires perfect people, because he's willing to
fire the ones who aren't. And right now he feels
like a lot of people are getting fired.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So we're supposed to live within our income, so we
can afford to pay taxes to a government they can't
live within its income. Yeah, that Kenny Webster's pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Hey, everybody, Kenny Webster here with a quick reminder. There's
a reason why I endorse Lear Capital. There's a reason
why Rush Limbaugh endorsed Lear Capital. You guys know Gold
and Silver recently soored to record highs. And the thing
about gold and silver is the Earth's already made all
of it. It's not like fiat currency where they keep
printing out new stuff. That's why it's always a smart investment.
(07:04):
If you want to get into investing in gold a silver,
you know the AI industry is doing it, the solar
panel industry is doing it. There's a demand for this stuff.
Call ear Capital right now for your free coinkit and
find out how you could qualify for up to twenty
thousand dollars in bonus coins. Call eight hundred three six
four nine two zero zero. Lear Capital standing by right
(07:26):
now at eight hundred three six four ninety two hundred.
I endorse them. Rush Limbaugh endorsed them, and you can
get started today doing it too at eight hundred three
sixty four ninety two hundred for lear Capital. Oh, this
is interesting. Kellogg Cereal Company is bringing back toys and
cereal boxes. That's cool. I want to use my decoder
ring to figure out what John Fetterman is talking about.
(07:48):
I cannot make any sense about. Also as RFK Junior
bringing back measles. The seventies are back. Everybody. Hi, I'm
Kenny Webster, Thanks so much for turning on your radio. Unfortunately,
another problem that doesn't see to go away. Letting dangerous
criminals out of jail here in Harris County. Yeah, we're
still doing that again. Harris County District Judge Melissa Morris,
(08:09):
a Democrat, a former criminal defense attorney, has illegally terminated
probation early for four convicted criminals. What kind of criminals,
don't worry, it's just child sex offenders? Oh, what that concerned?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I guess that is concerning. They illegally they were legally
required to register as sex offenders. I guess she didn't
think that was important. Texas law prohibits this. Gosha, she
did it anyway. It's almost like Democrats just don't care.
Apparently she did it anyway, dropping their registration requirements and
freeing them from supervision despite not completing the conditions. That's
(08:47):
a gosh I wish I got. Could you imagine if
you could get what like the discount on your car
insurance without taking the defensive driving course. No, you don't
get to know. But for some reason, special seal services
here for the child sex predators. It's actually worse than
it sounds. Here with all the details is Holly Hansen
of the Texan Dot News. Holly, did I explain this correctly?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I think you did a great job. And it's interesting
to note that Judge Melissa Morris is not the only
one that did this. And just to kind of further
explain what happened here, these are terminations of probation. So
these guys pled guilty to these sexual offenses with minor children,
(09:32):
but they did not comply with the conditions of those probations.
And so what should have happened, probably under most judges,
what would have happened is their probation would have been revoked.
They probably would have been sentenced, you know, and faced
more serious consequences. But instead, Judge Melissa Morris and some
(09:53):
of these other judges created a new code. They called
it unsatisfactory termination of probation, and so it effectively wipes
their record clean as far as that offense goes. And
the real problem here is that for the reason that
some of them ended their probations is because they were
(10:13):
being deported. So now if they come back into the
United States, let's say they get apprehended in Harris County,
they're here illegally but there's no actual criminal warrant from
the state of Texas or from Harris County for violating
those probations. So it really created a big problem here. Now,
(10:36):
what we had is the State Commission on Judicial Conduct
issued a warning to Judge Morris that was published yesterday.
It doesn't remove her from office, but it's kind of
like a you know, a black mark on her record,
and it could be a factor since she's running for
a re election this year. But again, she's not the
(10:59):
only one. She also was sanctioned for violating grand jury secrecy,
which could in effect be a criminal complaint. But in
this case, you know, she gets this reprimand from the
State Commission and maybe not as the best judge presiding
over some of these Selny cases and as you pointed out,
(11:20):
these very serious sexual offenses with minor children.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Okay, hang on a second. She called her actions unintentional
mistakes by a novice jurist. From your review of the
court records and the Commission's findings, does that explanation hold
up or did something more systematic appear.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, it looks a little more systematic. Now she is
blaming her actions on you know, being a new judge
at the time and so forth. But as you noted,
I mean, she has a history of being a criminal
defense attorney, and we would think that she knows the law.
And it sounds like the State Commission on Judicial Conduct
not buy her excuse. Now, what she could do is
(12:03):
appeal this. We did have another judge in Harris County
by the name of Natalia Cornelio who's also been sanctioned
by the Commission, and she's been fighting it in court
and trying to get that sanction lifted. But you know, Morris,
I don't know, you know, this sounds like a kind
of a then excuse. Now, she's not the only Harris
(12:25):
County judge that had sanctions published yesterday. There was another one.
Now he's actually a Justice of the Peace, and this
guy a couple of years ago just issued a blanket
recall of every single warrant in his court and it
just kind of undid a lot of police work that
went into, you know, prosecuting, granted, lower level crimes. But
(12:51):
here you have another judge who's doing some kind of
strange things with his judicial power there in the courtroom.
But a lot like Morris, he blamed his mistakes on
what he called his initial chaotic months in office since
he was a new judge. Basically, what they were saying is, oh,
excuse me, I just made a rookie mistake here.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Okay. Back in December twenty twenty four, you and I
have been doing this song and dance for a while.
You did an investigation. You found at least a dozen
sex offense defendants, so many involving children, getting early or
unsatisfactory probation terminations for multiple judges. I'm looking at a
list here on my screen, a lots of judges in
(13:32):
the Harris County that have done similar things. Has that
never grown since then? Are any new judges now involved?
Is it getting better or worse? What do you think?
Speaker 4 (13:41):
You know, it's hard to say. At that time when
I got those records, I had filed an open records
request at the Harris County District Attorney's office, and we
had a district attorney in office at that time who
was a Democrat but was a little more I don't know,
how would you say it compliant with open record request
and willing to share some of these records that were
(14:03):
a concern. Now we have a new district attorney, also
a Democrat, but it's been a little more difficult to
get some of the information. So whether it's improved or not,
I don't know. But certainly the State Commission on Judicial
Conduct issuing this sanction sanction in pointing out that this
(14:23):
is a violation of the law, that should probably warn
some of these judges that this is not a good idea.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Okay, So there are other judges here, other Harris County
Criminal District judges Cornelio, Morton, Hill, Jones, Nelson, any of
these other judges. Have you documented them doing this? How
many other cases are there like this?
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Well, as far as we could tell from the records
we obtained, there were at least twelve defendants that were
given these early terminations. And what's interesting too, is that
Harris County seems to be the only jurisdiction in the
state to Texas who have sort of discovered this code,
this unsatisfactory termination of probation. Again, typically if you have
(15:09):
someone who's not complying with the terms of their probation,
then they're supposed to face more severe consequences. But we
have seen these other cases. You know, something that's been
in the news for the past couple of weeks or
these juvenile offenders who were either on probation or parole
and in some cases not complying with the terms, and
(15:32):
now sadly have been charged in additional cases, including murder.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Okay, so is it possible you're just doing all these
investigations against these judges because you didn't like the rulings
they did against you for the multiple crimes you've committed
in Harris County, thus explaining why you recently had to
flee the city ally andson.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Yeah, no, I have never been charged with the crime,
is a yes? So yeah, right, Well, we keep doing investigation,
so I don't know. You could could become a target,
I suppose, but no, I do have a clean record.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
So well, I believe you so far. If I was
a radio listener, I would follow Holly Hanson on Twitter
and subscribe to the Texan Dot News.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Wait.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Last night, after a few beers, we discovered the art
of deceiving politicians. Just tell them the truth and they'll
never believe you. Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
That's me. I'm Kenny. We'll be right back. I have
Aerosmith News. I know you didn't expect that, remember a
while back, how there was a ride at Disney World
in Florida, the Rock and Roller Coaster and the Aerosmith's
Rock and Roller Coaster. One day it just disappeared. They
never really explained why. Okay, listen to this story. Stephen Tyler,
(16:49):
lead singer of Aerosmith, is sweating bullets right now over
one leftover hot tub claim from nineteen seventy four. Yeah,
there's a lawsuit. The judge booted ninety nine point nine
percent of a teen bride lawsuit because apparently statute of
limitations finally did what decency couldn't. But that single California
(17:12):
night is dragging his scrawny scarf wearing ass to trial,
and it's going to happen in August, fifty two years
after this guy did something creepy with a teenager. You know,
he's almost eighty, so this is a long time ago.
But the dude is still one bad deposition away from
becoming Aerosmith's biggest greatest hit. Dream on that the jury
(17:33):
believes you. This is exactly how Hollywood works. Entertainment degenerates
treat the seventies like their personal Roman orgy. He is
accused of grabbing a sixteen year old at a concert
and getting the parents to sign her over like a
rental car, slapping the words guardianship on it so the
copstone ask questions. Then he hauled her around on a
(17:55):
tour bus for three years and did sex and drugs
and even worst and abortion. Steven Tyler bragged about it
in his own autobiography. The man wrote the receipt, then
he acts shocked when somebody cashed it decades later. The
girls' parents are absolute creeps.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
By the way.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
The mom and dad basically sold their daughter to a
rock star in his late twenties for the clout and
probably a few backstage passes. Today they'd be canceled faster
than a bud Light commercial. But back then it was
just hey, cool man far out. Now the same people
clutch pearls when some teacher in Nebraska gets caught with
(18:34):
a student. But I digress. This never really goes away.
When you do something creepy a long time ago, how
many It doesn't matter how many Grammys you stack or
how many times you scream walk this way in a
key that sounds like a cat and a blender. Your
sins don't expire just because you aged into being a
judge on American Idol. This is not the first guy
(18:57):
that this has happened to. Steven Tyler did something creepy
a long time ago. Now he's in trouble for it. Well.
Roman Polanski still gets standing ovations after supposedly drugging a
thirteen year old Woody Allen married his own stepdaughter. They
keep handing him oscars like their participation trophies. Bill Cosby
played America's dad while allegedly running a one man roofie factory.
(19:20):
Harvey Weinstein. He treated Starlet's like in All you Can
Grab buffet until the bill finally came. These guys didn't
get caught because they changed. They got caught because the
statute of limitations finally ran out of patience. Hollywood isn't liberal.
Hollywood is libertine. Zero rules for them, Puritan roles for you.
(19:45):
They preached tolerance while they mainline degeneracy. Then they act
bewildered when the bill arrives in their golden years. But
it was the seventies, Oh in the cell power fame,
zero consequences, scarves and lip gloss. What's the big deal?
Speaker 6 (20:03):
You know?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Even Disney bailed on this guy. There was a thing
called the rock and Roller coaster in Disney World. Gone.
Now it's a Muppets ride because apparently Kermit's got morals.
They never really explained why. They just said, oh, the
contract expired, the band's old. It's more like, okay, I
think we can't have Stephen Tyler's face on a family
(20:27):
ride while he's dodging hot tub lawsuits from the Ford administration.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
Years.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
One day you're the Soundtractification Fund, the next day you're
Yesterday's news replaced by felt Puppets. Sorry, muppets. Muppets is
a muppet, not a puppet. It really is poetic justice.
The same industry that mide him rich quietly airbrushed him
out when the creep factor got a little too expensive. Look.
(20:54):
I like Gerosmith's music, but when I was in my twenties,
I didn't have a teenage bride. This is another example
of separating the art from the artist. Stephen Tyler thought
he could outrun it all, write a book confessing the
whole sordid mess, then cry it was consensual. Unfortunately, the
(21:15):
plaintiff showed up. Reality doesn't have a dream on button.
The culture that Steven Tyler helped rot is finally rotting
him back. These are powerful sleeze balls in Hollywood, and
they always figured the party would never end. Turns out
the hangover lasts a little longer than the high and
(21:37):
now the check is due with compound interest. Hollywood is
full of these dinosaurs thinking their stardust makes them untouchable.
Here's a news flash, it doesn't. The same freaks who
normalize sleeping with teenagers now clutch their pearls about protecting
kids while their own closets overflow with skeletons. And the
(22:02):
parents who pimped out their daughter, yeah, they're creeps too.
They were creeps then they're creeps.
Speaker 6 (22:06):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
The whole ecosystem is creepy as hell. Predators, enablers, fans
who look the other way for a guitar solo. What's
a guitar solo? Exactly, Steven. If you're listening, and I'm
sure you're probably not, but if you are, that one
remaining claim is your cultural participation trophy. You helped build
(22:29):
a very sick industry and now it's eating its own
and no amount of screaming into a microphone is going
to make this go away. Walk this way straight into
the discovery of evidence. Stephen, congratulations, you're a very creepy man.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
The only thing that hurts more than paying taxes not
paying taxes. Kenny Webster's pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Everybody. Kenny Webster here with a quick reminder. There's a
reason why I and Lear Capital. There's a reason why
Rush Limbaugh endorsed lear Capital. You guys know, gold and
silver recently soored to record highs. And the thing about
gold and silver is the Earth's already made all of it.
It's not like fiat currency where they keep printing out
new stuff. That's why it's always a smart investment. If
(23:19):
you want to get into investing in gold, a silver,
you know, the AI industry is doing it, the solar
panel industry is doing it. There's a demand for this stuff.
Call ear Capital right now for your free coinkit and
find out how you could qualify for up to twenty
thousand dollars in bonus coins. Call eight hundred three six
four nine two zero zero Lear Capital standing by right
(23:41):
now at eight hundred three six four ninety two hundred.
I endorsed them, Rush Limbaugh endorsed them, and you can
get started today doing it too. At eight hundred three
six four ninety two hundred for Lear Capital. Now this
is interesting. Rolling Stone, rolling Stone magazine that still exists. Yeah,
they just published a list of the one hundred greatest
(24:02):
guitar solos of all time. Or as people under thirty
are probably asking, what is a guitar solo? Yes, exactly. Hey, everybody,
we still got a little bit of time left. I
want to do a quick update on some of the
stuff that's going to be going down in Houston over
the next month or so. You guys have probably heard.
We're doing a big comedy show one month from next week.
(24:23):
That's gonna be Friday, June twelfth at the House of
Blues the Bronze Peacock Room. If you've never been to
that venue, it's a great venue for stand up comedy.
You're gonna love hanging out with us. There are that
is more than half sold out. I guarantee that comedy
show will sell out. Tickets available at Live Nation or Ticketmaster.
It's Friday, June twelfth at the House of Blues, Bronze
(24:44):
Peacock Room. It is the same weekend as the Republican
State National Convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
So when that's going on, it's gonna be a little
busy downtown, not a lot, it'll be a little busy downtown.
But of course, if you're going to the convention, you're
want to come to this anyway. This is going to
be the best party, the most fun thing going on
(25:04):
that whole weekend long. And if you're not going to
the convention, it'll still be fun to come hang out
watch us roast politicians. You will love it. It's going
to be a lot of fun the day after the
convention ends, like that weekend ends, and then the very
next day. You guys, know what is coming to Houston,
right You've been hearing about this for months. Some of
you are thrilled about it. Some of you are less
(25:25):
than thrilled. It is the World Cup, the World Cup.
FIFA is coming to Houston with all their balls and
all their kicking and all their soccer glory. And I
get it. Some of you prefer football, some of you
prefer basketball. Some of you just hate traffic. You don't
like traffic. You don't like paying exorbitant amounts of money
to fund services for people from out of town. You
(25:48):
don't care for the crime that could be coming with it.
So I had a lot of people emailing me, contacting
me about this, asking, yeah, Kenny, what is going on?
Is Houston doing anything to prepare for this? And I
get the impression they actually are. I actually reached out
to someone from the Metro. You guys have the public
transit system, some of you use it, some of you don't.
(26:10):
Maybe that's why you're into talk radio. Interestingly enough, they've
got a plan to make the World Cup a little
less obnoxious for those of you local people who just
don't care about soccer at all. Or maybe you do
care about soccer. You want to get downtown and you
don't want to sit in soccer at traffic the whole time.
So I reached out to Anna, who's actually the director
(26:31):
of communications over at the Metro. Anna, do you love
soccer as much as our listeners may or may not.
Speaker 6 (26:38):
I actually do love soccer.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
I grew up playing soccer, So yes, I am a
soccer fan and I am excited about this. But I
will be working.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
I will not be attending the games.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
I will be.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
Working and watching the games. I guess when I can.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
That's okay. This is a safe space. We're not here
to judge you, some of our listeners like pickleball. It's okay,
big deal. I think the thing our listeners are really
we have a lot of listeners. They drive pickup trucks
and they like right, they like football, and they get
confused when people call soccer football. So could we just
be straightforward with it? Is the World Cup going to
make traffic worse in the city? Do you guys have
(27:15):
anything you can do about this?
Speaker 5 (27:18):
This is the thing that the World Cup is going
to affect our region. Whether we like soccer or not.
We're going to have visitors coming into our cities, into
Dallas and to Houston, into the region and coming to
Energy Park to watch these games. So yes, it's going
to affect us. There's going to be more visitors and
influx of traffic and we all hate that traffic and
(27:40):
we know how to navigate it as locals, but a
lot of people from the outside won't.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
So there will.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Be an increase of congestion, an increase of traffic accidents,
and just an increase in traffic in general.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Okay, So with that being said, what can you do
about it?
Speaker 5 (27:58):
So Metro, which which is the transportation agency for the region,
we have kept our fares the same. We're not like
New York or New Jersey that are increasing their fares.
Our fares are the same for everybody. Our local service
is the same, just enhanced to receive that influx of folks.
And we are also expanding our services so people from
(28:19):
you know, the suburbs or the outside the loop who
come into town can do so without adding to the congestion.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
I take the park and.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
Ride every day to get downtown from Katie, and I
do so and that cuts down all these full buses,
which are like coach buses. Right, it's not like your
local city bus. It's a direct a direct drive in
on the hov very comfortable, you can work, you can
take calls. We are opening those up for the weekends
for people who want to come in and go to events,
(28:48):
want to go to see this comedy show that you
were speaking about, or any events downtown. So we're opening
them up weekends and evenings to help ease that congestion.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Well, that is re right, That is good to hear,
and I think guess the other concern would be if
you're not raised, it isn't that weird? The weirdest thing?
What do they call that? Surge pricing. If I go
to happy hour when it's busy at the bar, they
charge less money, but for some reason Uber charges more.
That makes no sense.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
It absolutely makes no sense.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
And we were able to do that because.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
We have been working with our partners. Metro's board chair
Elizabeth Brock has worked very closely with the city, our Mayor,
John Whitmeyer with the funding that we received in order
to be able to make this possible, and all of
our private partners too from the private sector that working
together has been able to build this smart plan to
(29:40):
keep our region moving in spite of all of this
influx that we're going to be getting. We don't only
have buses and trains, but we have micro transit and
on demand vehicles as well, so that people can take
those short little rides if they're in the area, if
their bus route or the train doesn't go by there.
So we have a variety of services that can service many,
(30:02):
many people.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
All right, So you're madding more trains, you're adding more buses. Houston,
I'm told got nine million in federal money for this.
What's the total cost to taxpayers?
Speaker 5 (30:13):
We don't have the total costs right now because we
are still putting everything into place. We don't know exactly
the number of people that are going to be coming.
You know, the forecast is anywhere from five hundred thousand
to two million, so it really varies there in the
numbers that we're getting. But we do know that there
is going to be a cost, and we do know
that we've gotten this federal funding that has been hugely
(30:33):
invested into safety and in operations. Those are the main
investments where these funds are going to be going. We've
increased our partnerships with HPD, which with the Sheriff's office,
with our Constable's office.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
We will have daily all day long.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
People in our emergency centers are joint operation centers, you know,
watching for emergencies and coordinating to respond in a timely manner,
and we have emergency plans in place. And for operations, well,
we've increased you know, our operators are We've made sure
that our rails are on tiptop shape as well as
our buses, and all of that is going into the
(31:12):
functionality of our system and the safety of it as well.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Okay, so you've got Metro ambassadors. They're out there to
help with directions and trip planning. But what about stuff
like fights, rowdy crowds, late night people. Apparently, I am
told FIFA World Cup fans enjoy beers. Apparently, sometimes people
do not behave well after they've consumed a few.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
Yes, and that's true. And with every big sporting event,
you know, we people can get out of hand, and
we do know that soccer fans and are notorious for that.
We will be leaving a couple of rowdy teams. But
we do trust that our coordinated efforts with again our
other law enforcement partners and our emergency response systems, including
(31:57):
our invested technology, are mo during capabilities and the way
that we have crowd control exercises that we've already been
going through for months prior with all of our enforcement
agencies combined, will help us respond to that. Of course,
we also work with nrg's security directly and we have
round tables with them. We have been for months, at
(32:19):
least once a month to go over all of these
scenarios and be prepared.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Well, Anna, I feel like you have answered all my
questions and we are about to run a time run
a time because of commercial breaks. So thank you so much,
and I appreciate the work that you do for the city.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
Absolutely, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Hey, thanks again. Hey to the rest of you all.
I hope you have an awesome afternoon. I am Kenny Webster.
We'll be back brain early tomorrow morning for more of
what you bought a radio for.
Speaker 7 (32:50):
You are listening to the Pursuit of Happyness Radio. Tell
the government to kiss your wait you listen to the
show
That ganic government sucks. Pursuit of habbiness radio is deluxe.
Liberty and freedom will make you smile. The a suit
of habbiness us on your radio. Tol Justice cheeseburg is
a liberty Rise. At f food of.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Oreo Oreo the snack food, they're gonna release red, white
and blue cookies to celebrate America's two hundred and fiftieth
birthday and Americans average two hundred fifty pounds per person.
Wig Ty, I'm Kenny Webster, Thanks for joining us. Who's
here this after We're gonna get very local this afternoon.
I mean we'll get international and domestic too, but we'll
(00:41):
get local. Holly Hansen stopping by. There's a local judge
who's helping out child sex offenders. That's interesting. We'll tell
you the story of that. And uh, with the Republican
State Convention coming up and the World Cup all taking
place in Houston, some people are wondering what's that going
to do for traffic and crime. Local city official will
be joining us, so stick around for that. Before we
(01:03):
get to anything. Donald Trump is back where he belongs,
hosting the biggest episode of the Apprentice ever. Okay, not
exactly the Apprentice America. Well, he's the president, but he's
kind of running the country the way the host of
The Apprentice would, in the sense that he's firing people
that suck. This time, the boardroom is the White House,
(01:24):
and Donald's doing what he does best. He's pointing that
finger and telling under performers, you fired. Right now. The
firings are coming faster than a bad sequel. To take
the recent spectacle involving Christy Noms's former number two at ICE.
Christine Noms, fresh off her scandal involving her husband's fake
prosthetic breasts, now she's got another problem. Madison Sheehan is
(01:46):
a twenty eight year old rising star, or she was.
I guess she quit ICE recently so she could run
for Congress in Ohio. You may recall this was the
You remember there was kind of a masculine lesbian woman,
young woman at ICE, Remember her? And then she disappeared
from the news. Well, the Daily Mail just dropped what
could only be described as the least surprising tabloid story
(02:08):
of the year. This young woman had spent two years
in a messy, allegedly controlling sexual relationship with a junior
female staffer who was nineteen when it started. During the
twenty twenty campaign, lesbian stuff, oh Lesbians. According to the X,
we're talking jealous rages, hotel room screaming, matches, enough personal
(02:30):
drama to make a telenovella look restrained. Madison's team says
it wasn't a subordinate relationship. The voters in Ohio's ninth
district didn't particularly care about the fine print. They looked
at the headlines. They looked at the candidate. They sent
her packing in third place with under twenty percent of
the vote. Sorry about that. Trump did not endorse her.
(02:50):
He'd endorsed Derek Marin Derek One turns out the primary
system still works when people decide they don't want their
next congresswoman starring in the re Housewives of Deportation Office,
Christy Knum herself didn't escape the cleanup. She was supposed
to be the toughest nails border officer, but her deputy
(03:10):
was generating soap opera headlines. Christy's own husband, Byron, was
back in South Dakota living his best secret life. He
was sending pictures of himself in pink spandex and comically
large fake breast online fetish models. I guess he told
one of them he was falling in love with her
right around the time Christy got the axe Tough break Lady.
(03:32):
The family claims they were blindsided at this point. I
think the only thing not blindsided was the American public
something to think about. Trump took one look at the
circus and he did the obvious. Christie you fied. He
replaced her with Mark Wayne Mullin. I preferred Christy, but
Christy had scandals. I don't know if Mark is as
a scandal prone we'll find I don't love him either,
(03:54):
But whatever, no longer buys no protecting the brand just
results over drama. And then, of course there was Pam Bondy,
the Attorney General. Oh yes, named Attorney general to be
a junkyard dog against the deep State. Not quite how
it went down, obviously, the Epstein files became a political
headache instead of a weapon. The deep state still very comfortable.
(04:17):
Trump fired her back in April. You fired, simple as that.
I miss Matt Gates. He would have been great. He
actually pulled his own AG nomination before that became a circus.
And then there was Labor Secretary Lourie Chavez Dreamer. You
remember her. Laurie was out after staff misconduct and an
IG probe. Surgeon General nominee Casey means nomination withdrawn when
(04:42):
it started smelling a little troubly. None of this looks
too tidy, but this is what Trump does. Trump hires
the best and then fires him. I mean, that was
what the TV show is about. The early Trump administration
had more turnover than a food truck and a hurricane.
But here's the part worth remembering. Trump is treating government
like an actual business. You hire aggressive talent, you give
(05:04):
them a shot, and when they start generating more problems
than solutions, you fire them. That used to be considered
basic competence. I know the media spins it like it's
very controversial. It's a little controversial. Isn't it more controversial
to keep people around when they aren't any good because
it looks better. The alternative is the democratic way. Protect
(05:26):
your scandals forever, promote the incompetent, turn every mess into
a celebrated identity victory. They would have thrown Madison a parade.
They would have given her a book deal. They would
have kept Pam Bonding around until she retired and given
her a nice pension with a Netflix special. They would
have shrugged to Christy Nowans's husband and called it personal freedom.
(05:49):
The Republicans don't do that. These people served a purpose
for a while. They helped get Trump back in, But
the second they started generating more tabloid heat than actual results,
they got cut loose. That's not chaos, that's called leadership.
It's not perfect right now, far from it. But I'll
take Trump's messy, ax swinging management over four more years
(06:11):
of commalist style communism, open borders, government operated by feelings
instead of logic vastly better. That's why people voted for Trump,
not because he hires perfect people, because he's willing to
fire the ones who aren't. And right now he feels
like a lot of people are getting fired.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
So we're supposed to live within our income, so we
can afford to pay taxes to a government they can't
live within its income. Yeah, that Kenny Webster's pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Hey, everybody, Kenny Webster here with a quick reminder. There's
a reason why I endorse Lear Capital. There's a reason
why Rush Limbaugh endorsed Lear Capital. You guys know Gold
and Silver recently soored to record highs. And the thing
about gold and silver is the Earth's already made all
of it. It's not like fiat currency where they keep
printing out new stuff. That's why it's always a smart investment.
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If you want to get into investing in gold a silver,
you know the AI industry is doing it, the solar
panel industry is doing it. There's a demand for this stuff.
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find out how you could qualify for up to twenty
thousand dollars in bonus coins. Call eight hundred three six
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now at eight hundred three six four ninety two hundred.
I endorse them. Rush Limbaugh endorsed them, and you can
get started today doing it too at eight hundred three
sixty four ninety two hundred for lear Capital. Oh, this
is interesting. Kellogg Cereal Company is bringing back toys and
cereal boxes. That's cool. I want to use my decoder
ring to figure out what John Fetterman is talking about.
(07:48):
I cannot make any sense about. Also as RFK Junior
bringing back measles. The seventies are back. Everybody. Hi, I'm
Kenny Webster, Thanks so much for turning on your radio. Unfortunately,
another problem that doesn't see to go away. Letting dangerous
criminals out of jail here in Harris County. Yeah, we're
still doing that again. Harris County District Judge Melissa Morris,
(08:09):
a Democrat, a former criminal defense attorney, has illegally terminated
probation early for four convicted criminals. What kind of criminals,
don't worry, it's just child sex offenders? Oh, what that concerned?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I guess that is concerning. They illegally they were legally
required to register as sex offenders. I guess she didn't
think that was important. Texas law prohibits this. Gosha, she
did it anyway. It's almost like Democrats just don't care.
Apparently she did it anyway, dropping their registration requirements and
freeing them from supervision despite not completing the conditions. That's
(08:47):
a gosh I wish I got. Could you imagine if
you could get what like the discount on your car
insurance without taking the defensive driving course. No, you don't
get to know. But for some reason, special seal services
here for the child sex predators. It's actually worse than
it sounds. Here with all the details is Holly Hansen
of the Texan Dot News. Holly, did I explain this correctly?
Speaker 4 (09:11):
I think you did a great job. And it's interesting
to note that Judge Melissa Morris is not the only
one that did this. And just to kind of further
explain what happened here, these are terminations of probation. So
these guys pled guilty to these sexual offenses with minor children,
(09:32):
but they did not comply with the conditions of those probations.
And so what should have happened, probably under most judges,
what would have happened is their probation would have been revoked.
They probably would have been sentenced, you know, and faced
more serious consequences. But instead, Judge Melissa Morris and some
(09:53):
of these other judges created a new code. They called
it unsatisfactory termination of probation, and so it effectively wipes
their record clean as far as that offense goes. And
the real problem here is that for the reason that
some of them ended their probations is because they were
(10:13):
being deported. So now if they come back into the
United States, let's say they get apprehended in Harris County,
they're here illegally but there's no actual criminal warrant from
the state of Texas or from Harris County for violating
those probations. So it really created a big problem here. Now,
(10:36):
what we had is the State Commission on Judicial Conduct
issued a warning to Judge Morris that was published yesterday.
It doesn't remove her from office, but it's kind of
like a you know, a black mark on her record,
and it could be a factor since she's running for
a re election this year. But again, she's not the
(10:59):
only one. She also was sanctioned for violating grand jury secrecy,
which could in effect be a criminal complaint. But in
this case, you know, she gets this reprimand from the
State Commission and maybe not as the best judge presiding
over some of these Selny cases and as you pointed out,
(11:20):
these very serious sexual offenses with minor children.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Okay, hang on a second. She called her actions unintentional
mistakes by a novice jurist. From your review of the
court records and the Commission's findings, does that explanation hold
up or did something more systematic appear.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Yeah, it looks a little more systematic. Now she is
blaming her actions on you know, being a new judge
at the time and so forth. But as you noted,
I mean, she has a history of being a criminal
defense attorney, and we would think that she knows the law.
And it sounds like the State Commission on Judicial Conduct
not buy her excuse. Now, what she could do is
(12:03):
appeal this. We did have another judge in Harris County
by the name of Natalia Cornelio who's also been sanctioned
by the Commission, and she's been fighting it in court
and trying to get that sanction lifted. But you know, Morris,
I don't know, you know, this sounds like a kind
of a then excuse. Now, she's not the only Harris
(12:25):
County judge that had sanctions published yesterday. There was another one.
Now he's actually a Justice of the Peace, and this
guy a couple of years ago just issued a blanket
recall of every single warrant in his court and it
just kind of undid a lot of police work that
went into, you know, prosecuting, granted, lower level crimes. But
(12:51):
here you have another judge who's doing some kind of
strange things with his judicial power there in the courtroom.
But a lot like Morris, he blamed his mistakes on
what he called his initial chaotic months in office since
he was a new judge. Basically, what they were saying is, oh,
excuse me, I just made a rookie mistake here.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Okay. Back in December twenty twenty four, you and I
have been doing this song and dance for a while.
You did an investigation. You found at least a dozen
sex offense defendants, so many involving children, getting early or
unsatisfactory probation terminations for multiple judges. I'm looking at a
list here on my screen, a lots of judges in
(13:32):
the Harris County that have done similar things. Has that
never grown since then? Are any new judges now involved?
Is it getting better or worse? What do you think?
Speaker 4 (13:41):
You know, it's hard to say. At that time when
I got those records, I had filed an open records
request at the Harris County District Attorney's office, and we
had a district attorney in office at that time who
was a Democrat but was a little more I don't know,
how would you say it compliant with open record request
and willing to share some of these records that were
(14:03):
a concern. Now we have a new district attorney, also
a Democrat, but it's been a little more difficult to
get some of the information. So whether it's improved or not,
I don't know. But certainly the State Commission on Judicial
Conduct issuing this sanction sanction in pointing out that this
(14:23):
is a violation of the law, that should probably warn
some of these judges that this is not a good idea.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Okay, So there are other judges here, other Harris County
Criminal District judges Cornelio, Morton, Hill, Jones, Nelson, any of
these other judges. Have you documented them doing this? How
many other cases are there like this?
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Well, as far as we could tell from the records
we obtained, there were at least twelve defendants that were
given these early terminations. And what's interesting too, is that
Harris County seems to be the only jurisdiction in the
state to Texas who have sort of discovered this code,
this unsatisfactory termination of probation. Again, typically if you have
(15:09):
someone who's not complying with the terms of their probation,
then they're supposed to face more severe consequences. But we
have seen these other cases. You know, something that's been
in the news for the past couple of weeks or
these juvenile offenders who were either on probation or parole
and in some cases not complying with the terms, and
(15:32):
now sadly have been charged in additional cases, including murder.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Okay, so is it possible you're just doing all these
investigations against these judges because you didn't like the rulings
they did against you for the multiple crimes you've committed
in Harris County, thus explaining why you recently had to
flee the city ally andson.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Yeah, no, I have never been charged with the crime,
is a yes? So yeah, right, Well, we keep doing investigation,
so I don't know. You could could become a target,
I suppose, but no, I do have a clean record.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
So well, I believe you so far. If I was
a radio listener, I would follow Holly Hanson on Twitter
and subscribe to the Texan Dot News.
Speaker 5 (16:17):
Wait.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
Last night, after a few beers, we discovered the art
of deceiving politicians. Just tell them the truth and they'll
never believe you. Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
That's me. I'm Kenny. We'll be right back. I have
Aerosmith News. I know you didn't expect that, remember a
while back, how there was a ride at Disney World
in Florida, the Rock and Roller Coaster and the Aerosmith's
Rock and Roller Coaster. One day it just disappeared. They
never really explained why. Okay, listen to this story. Stephen Tyler,
(16:49):
lead singer of Aerosmith, is sweating bullets right now over
one leftover hot tub claim from nineteen seventy four. Yeah,
there's a lawsuit. The judge booted ninety nine point nine
percent of a teen bride lawsuit because apparently statute of
limitations finally did what decency couldn't. But that single California
(17:12):
night is dragging his scrawny scarf wearing ass to trial,
and it's going to happen in August, fifty two years
after this guy did something creepy with a teenager. You know,
he's almost eighty, so this is a long time ago.
But the dude is still one bad deposition away from
becoming Aerosmith's biggest greatest hit. Dream on that the jury
(17:33):
believes you. This is exactly how Hollywood works. Entertainment degenerates
treat the seventies like their personal Roman orgy. He is
accused of grabbing a sixteen year old at a concert
and getting the parents to sign her over like a
rental car, slapping the words guardianship on it so the
copstone ask questions. Then he hauled her around on a
(17:55):
tour bus for three years and did sex and drugs
and even worst and abortion. Steven Tyler bragged about it
in his own autobiography. The man wrote the receipt, then
he acts shocked when somebody cashed it decades later. The
girls' parents are absolute creeps.
Speaker 5 (18:13):
By the way.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
The mom and dad basically sold their daughter to a
rock star in his late twenties for the clout and
probably a few backstage passes. Today they'd be canceled faster
than a bud Light commercial. But back then it was
just hey, cool man far out. Now the same people
clutch pearls when some teacher in Nebraska gets caught with
(18:34):
a student. But I digress. This never really goes away.
When you do something creepy a long time ago, how
many It doesn't matter how many Grammys you stack or
how many times you scream walk this way in a
key that sounds like a cat and a blender. Your
sins don't expire just because you aged into being a
judge on American Idol. This is not the first guy
(18:57):
that this has happened to. Steven Tyler did something creepy
a long time ago. Now he's in trouble for it. Well.
Roman Polanski still gets standing ovations after supposedly drugging a
thirteen year old Woody Allen married his own stepdaughter. They
keep handing him oscars like their participation trophies. Bill Cosby
played America's dad while allegedly running a one man roofie factory.
(19:20):
Harvey Weinstein. He treated Starlet's like in All you Can
Grab buffet until the bill finally came. These guys didn't
get caught because they changed. They got caught because the
statute of limitations finally ran out of patience. Hollywood isn't liberal.
Hollywood is libertine. Zero rules for them, Puritan roles for you.
(19:45):
They preached tolerance while they mainline degeneracy. Then they act
bewildered when the bill arrives in their golden years. But
it was the seventies, Oh in the cell power fame,
zero consequences, scarves and lip gloss. What's the big deal?
Speaker 6 (20:03):
You know?
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Even Disney bailed on this guy. There was a thing
called the rock and Roller coaster in Disney World. Gone.
Now it's a Muppets ride because apparently Kermit's got morals.
They never really explained why. They just said, oh, the
contract expired, the band's old. It's more like, okay, I
think we can't have Stephen Tyler's face on a family
(20:27):
ride while he's dodging hot tub lawsuits from the Ford administration.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
Years.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
One day you're the Soundtractification Fund, the next day you're
Yesterday's news replaced by felt Puppets. Sorry, muppets. Muppets is
a muppet, not a puppet. It really is poetic justice.
The same industry that mide him rich quietly airbrushed him
out when the creep factor got a little too expensive. Look.
(20:54):
I like Gerosmith's music, but when I was in my twenties,
I didn't have a teenage bride. This is another example
of separating the art from the artist. Stephen Tyler thought
he could outrun it all, write a book confessing the
whole sordid mess, then cry it was consensual. Unfortunately, the
(21:15):
plaintiff showed up. Reality doesn't have a dream on button.
The culture that Steven Tyler helped rot is finally rotting
him back. These are powerful sleeze balls in Hollywood, and
they always figured the party would never end. Turns out
the hangover lasts a little longer than the high and
(21:37):
now the check is due with compound interest. Hollywood is
full of these dinosaurs thinking their stardust makes them untouchable.
Here's a news flash, it doesn't. The same freaks who
normalize sleeping with teenagers now clutch their pearls about protecting
kids while their own closets overflow with skeletons. And the
(22:02):
parents who pimped out their daughter, yeah, they're creeps too.
They were creeps then they're creeps.
Speaker 6 (22:06):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
The whole ecosystem is creepy as hell. Predators, enablers, fans
who look the other way for a guitar solo. What's
a guitar solo? Exactly, Steven. If you're listening, and I'm
sure you're probably not, but if you are, that one
remaining claim is your cultural participation trophy. You helped build
(22:29):
a very sick industry and now it's eating its own
and no amount of screaming into a microphone is going
to make this go away. Walk this way straight into
the discovery of evidence. Stephen, congratulations, you're a very creepy man.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
The only thing that hurts more than paying taxes not
paying taxes. Kenny Webster's pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Everybody. Kenny Webster here with a quick reminder. There's a
reason why I and Lear Capital. There's a reason why
Rush Limbaugh endorsed lear Capital. You guys know, gold and
silver recently soored to record highs. And the thing about
gold and silver is the Earth's already made all of it.
It's not like fiat currency where they keep printing out
new stuff. That's why it's always a smart investment. If
(23:19):
you want to get into investing in gold, a silver,
you know, the AI industry is doing it, the solar
panel industry is doing it. There's a demand for this stuff.
Call ear Capital right now for your free coinkit and
find out how you could qualify for up to twenty
thousand dollars in bonus coins. Call eight hundred three six
four nine two zero zero Lear Capital standing by right
(23:41):
now at eight hundred three six four ninety two hundred.
I endorsed them, Rush Limbaugh endorsed them, and you can
get started today doing it too. At eight hundred three
six four ninety two hundred for Lear Capital. Now this
is interesting. Rolling Stone, rolling Stone magazine that still exists. Yeah,
they just published a list of the one hundred greatest
(24:02):
guitar solos of all time. Or as people under thirty
are probably asking, what is a guitar solo? Yes, exactly. Hey, everybody,
we still got a little bit of time left. I
want to do a quick update on some of the
stuff that's going to be going down in Houston over
the next month or so. You guys have probably heard.
We're doing a big comedy show one month from next week.
(24:23):
That's gonna be Friday, June twelfth at the House of
Blues the Bronze Peacock Room. If you've never been to
that venue, it's a great venue for stand up comedy.
You're gonna love hanging out with us. There are that
is more than half sold out. I guarantee that comedy
show will sell out. Tickets available at Live Nation or Ticketmaster.
It's Friday, June twelfth at the House of Blues, Bronze
(24:44):
Peacock Room. It is the same weekend as the Republican
State National Convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
So when that's going on, it's gonna be a little
busy downtown, not a lot, it'll be a little busy downtown.
But of course, if you're going to the convention, you're
want to come to this anyway. This is going to
be the best party, the most fun thing going on
(25:04):
that whole weekend long. And if you're not going to
the convention, it'll still be fun to come hang out
watch us roast politicians. You will love it. It's going
to be a lot of fun the day after the
convention ends, like that weekend ends, and then the very
next day. You guys, know what is coming to Houston,
right You've been hearing about this for months. Some of
you are thrilled about it. Some of you are less
(25:25):
than thrilled. It is the World Cup, the World Cup.
FIFA is coming to Houston with all their balls and
all their kicking and all their soccer glory. And I
get it. Some of you prefer football, some of you
prefer basketball. Some of you just hate traffic. You don't
like traffic. You don't like paying exorbitant amounts of money
to fund services for people from out of town. You
(25:48):
don't care for the crime that could be coming with it.
So I had a lot of people emailing me, contacting
me about this, asking, yeah, Kenny, what is going on?
Is Houston doing anything to prepare for this? And I
get the impression they actually are. I actually reached out
to someone from the Metro. You guys have the public
transit system, some of you use it, some of you don't.
(26:10):
Maybe that's why you're into talk radio. Interestingly enough, they've
got a plan to make the World Cup a little
less obnoxious for those of you local people who just
don't care about soccer at all. Or maybe you do
care about soccer. You want to get downtown and you
don't want to sit in soccer at traffic the whole time.
So I reached out to Anna, who's actually the director
(26:31):
of communications over at the Metro. Anna, do you love
soccer as much as our listeners may or may not.
Speaker 6 (26:38):
I actually do love soccer.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
I grew up playing soccer, So yes, I am a
soccer fan and I am excited about this. But I
will be working.
Speaker 6 (26:48):
I will not be attending the games.
Speaker 4 (26:50):
I will be.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
Working and watching the games. I guess when I can.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
That's okay. This is a safe space. We're not here
to judge you, some of our listeners like pickleball. It's okay,
big deal. I think the thing our listeners are really
we have a lot of listeners. They drive pickup trucks
and they like right, they like football, and they get
confused when people call soccer football. So could we just
be straightforward with it? Is the World Cup going to
make traffic worse in the city? Do you guys have
(27:15):
anything you can do about this?
Speaker 5 (27:18):
This is the thing that the World Cup is going
to affect our region. Whether we like soccer or not.
We're going to have visitors coming into our cities, into
Dallas and to Houston, into the region and coming to
Energy Park to watch these games. So yes, it's going
to affect us. There's going to be more visitors and
influx of traffic and we all hate that traffic and
(27:40):
we know how to navigate it as locals, but a
lot of people from the outside won't.
Speaker 6 (27:45):
So there will.
Speaker 5 (27:46):
Be an increase of congestion, an increase of traffic accidents,
and just an increase in traffic in general.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
Okay, So with that being said, what can you do
about it?
Speaker 5 (27:58):
So Metro, which which is the transportation agency for the region,
we have kept our fares the same. We're not like
New York or New Jersey that are increasing their fares.
Our fares are the same for everybody. Our local service
is the same, just enhanced to receive that influx of folks.
And we are also expanding our services so people from
(28:19):
you know, the suburbs or the outside the loop who
come into town can do so without adding to the congestion.
Speaker 6 (28:27):
I take the park and.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
Ride every day to get downtown from Katie, and I
do so and that cuts down all these full buses,
which are like coach buses. Right, it's not like your
local city bus. It's a direct a direct drive in
on the hov very comfortable, you can work, you can
take calls. We are opening those up for the weekends
for people who want to come in and go to events,
(28:48):
want to go to see this comedy show that you
were speaking about, or any events downtown. So we're opening
them up weekends and evenings to help ease that congestion.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Well, that is re right, That is good to hear,
and I think guess the other concern would be if
you're not raised, it isn't that weird? The weirdest thing?
What do they call that? Surge pricing. If I go
to happy hour when it's busy at the bar, they
charge less money, but for some reason Uber charges more.
That makes no sense.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
It absolutely makes no sense.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
And we were able to do that because.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
We have been working with our partners. Metro's board chair
Elizabeth Brock has worked very closely with the city, our Mayor,
John Whitmeyer with the funding that we received in order
to be able to make this possible, and all of
our private partners too from the private sector that working
together has been able to build this smart plan to
(29:40):
keep our region moving in spite of all of this
influx that we're going to be getting. We don't only
have buses and trains, but we have micro transit and
on demand vehicles as well, so that people can take
those short little rides if they're in the area, if
their bus route or the train doesn't go by there.
So we have a variety of services that can service many,
(30:02):
many people.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
All right, So you're madding more trains, you're adding more buses. Houston,
I'm told got nine million in federal money for this.
What's the total cost to taxpayers?
Speaker 5 (30:13):
We don't have the total costs right now because we
are still putting everything into place. We don't know exactly
the number of people that are going to be coming.
You know, the forecast is anywhere from five hundred thousand
to two million, so it really varies there in the
numbers that we're getting. But we do know that there
is going to be a cost, and we do know
that we've gotten this federal funding that has been hugely
(30:33):
invested into safety and in operations. Those are the main
investments where these funds are going to be going. We've
increased our partnerships with HPD, which with the Sheriff's office,
with our Constable's office.
Speaker 6 (30:46):
We will have daily all day long.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
People in our emergency centers are joint operation centers, you know,
watching for emergencies and coordinating to respond in a timely manner,
and we have emergency plans in place. And for operations, well,
we've increased you know, our operators are We've made sure
that our rails are on tiptop shape as well as
our buses, and all of that is going into the
(31:12):
functionality of our system and the safety of it as well.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Okay, so you've got Metro ambassadors. They're out there to
help with directions and trip planning. But what about stuff
like fights, rowdy crowds, late night people. Apparently, I am
told FIFA World Cup fans enjoy beers. Apparently, sometimes people
do not behave well after they've consumed a few.
Speaker 5 (31:36):
Yes, and that's true. And with every big sporting event,
you know, we people can get out of hand, and
we do know that soccer fans and are notorious for that.
We will be leaving a couple of rowdy teams. But
we do trust that our coordinated efforts with again our
other law enforcement partners and our emergency response systems, including
(31:57):
our invested technology, are mo during capabilities and the way
that we have crowd control exercises that we've already been
going through for months prior with all of our enforcement
agencies combined, will help us respond to that. Of course,
we also work with nrg's security directly and we have
round tables with them. We have been for months, at
(32:19):
least once a month to go over all of these
scenarios and be prepared.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Well, Anna, I feel like you have answered all my
questions and we are about to run a time run
a time because of commercial breaks. So thank you so much,
and I appreciate the work that you do for the city.
Speaker 5 (32:34):
Absolutely, thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Hey, thanks again. Hey to the rest of you all.
I hope you have an awesome afternoon. I am Kenny Webster.
We'll be back brain early tomorrow morning for more of
what you bought a radio for.
Speaker 7 (32:50):
You are listening to the Pursuit of Happyness Radio. Tell
the government to kiss your wait you listen to the
show
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