December 12, 2025 • 94 mins
Dave & TJ discuss the Senate votes on ObamaCare subsidies with Fox News' Ryan Schmelz. Brad McElhinny offers the perspective of Senators Capito and Justice. Chris Stirewalt stops by. And STEAM RELEASE!!!
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Made it to a Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That means Steamerly is coming up second hour, but we've
got lots to discuss before then.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
This is Metro News talk Line.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
We're underway radio.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Turned off from the studios of w v r C
Media and the Metro News Radio and Television Network. The
Voice up West Virginia comes the most powerful show in
West Virginia. This it's Metro News talk Line with Dave
Wilson and t J. Meadows.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Switch that work control from Charles.
Speaker 6 (00:54):
Stand By to David DJ.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
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Speaker 2 (01:11):
Good morning, Welcome into the studios the Encobin Insurance Studios.
Dave Wilson in Morgantown and TJ. Meadows is in Charleston.
Glad you could be part of the proceedings on one
of our great radio affiliates across the state of West Virginia,
or if you're watching on the Metro News television app
Ethan Collins is our producer this morning. He's handling the
audio side of things. He's sitting by at eight hundred
(01:33):
seven sixty five Talk eight hundred and seven sixty five
eight two five five.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
That is the phone number.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You can shoot us a text at three oh four
Talk three oh four. Text lines always open. We read
them all, most we put on the air, and some
will even respond to personally. Jake Link is our video
producer this morning. If you're watching on the Metro News
TV at TJ Meadows in the covi Inshurt Studios on
(01:59):
Virginia Street in Charleston, Good morning, TJ.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Good morning sir. How are you today doing well?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
How's the weather in the southern part of the state.
Not much going on up here in north central northern
West Virginia today, but apparently there is snow on the way.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
So my neck of the woods from the Greater Tays
Metroplex into the Canal Valley into Charleston this morning. For
the drive, I mean, interstate was crystal clear, smooth sailing,
no problems, a little bit of dustings on the back road,
but I mean, you know, I had that layer on
my car that you can literally just turn the windshield
wipers on and it's gone. Right. So it's cold out,
but yeah, they say, now the focus is going to
(02:36):
be later tonight into tomorrow. Everyone is sharing photos on
social media of the empty bred isle at the local
grocery store. So yeah, people are preparing. Whether or not
anything comes from it, we shall see. But my children
were off school today. They called it last night fairly early,
about eight o'clock.
Speaker 7 (02:53):
So there's that.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We'll get started on that subject again today school.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
But you know what, I appreciate that if you're gonna
call it, call it that night. Yeah, exactly exactly. And
you know what, if we don't get it, fine, you
took the information you had, made the best decision you
could and as timely a manner as you can. These
people aren't god. I mean, they can't see the future.
Here's what I could never figure out. If somebody, if
(03:20):
somebody has the answer, let let us know.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
What is it you're going to do with all of
the bread and.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Milk during a snowstorm? Go to the grocery store, bread,
milk all gone? Why are you eating that many bolooney
sandwiches during a snowstorm?
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Well, I guess if the power's out, you could make
a PEB and J. Right, So there's the bread, true,
And if it's cold out, which it is, I mean,
you could, you could pack the milk in the snow
and it's not going to go bad. So maybe maybe
it's just that simple. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And you know, Oh I've told me. We were just
talking before the show started. Guess what we need today?
Guess what I need to stop and pick up on
the way home? Legit, we need a galon of milk?
Really today of all days?
Speaker 8 (04:05):
Really?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
So how many grocery stores are you going to have
to go to be able to well sure that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I pass about four different Kroger on the way home.
One of them's going to have some milk.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
To have something, okay, Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yesterday, a vote to replace the expiring healthcare subsidies from
the Republicans failed to get sixty votes in the Senate.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
It went down on a fifty one forty eight vote.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The Democratic bill to extend healthcare subsidies for three years
also failed forty one fifty eight.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Where does that leave us? We haven't gotten anywhere when.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It comes to the healthcare question. Joining us from Washington,
d C. Fox News Radio's Ryan Schmells leads things off
for us this morning with the latest Ryan, Good Morning,
Good to talk to you.
Speaker 9 (04:48):
Good to be on its far to the two time
Spotlight Award winner.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Now, oh congratulations, very nice, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I didn't know.
Speaker 9 (04:57):
That's why. That's why being a diva, it's all gone
in my head.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So, Ryan, the Republican bill doesn't get through, the Democratic
bill doesn't get through, which is not a shocker. So
where does that leave us with Christmas break looming?
Speaker 9 (05:13):
Exactly of question?
Speaker 4 (05:17):
You know.
Speaker 9 (05:17):
Now, Speaker Mike Johnson's planning and put some type of
bill on the floor like the early next week. Whether
or not I can be past or not that that's kind
of up in the air. So we'll have to wait
and see what what he comes up with. I mean,
there are some efforts now to kind of go around
the Speaker's head and try to put something on the
on the floor that would be a more moderate solution potentially,
(05:38):
you know. Yeah, Well one of them is like a
one year extension of the tax credits and some other
things like that. So I we'll see what happens. But
but as of right now, it looks like the next
step here is is see what what what what what
Speaker Johnson puts out?
Speaker 5 (05:56):
Ryan, How does the White House factor into all of
this because carol Ian Levitt had some pointed words yesterday
toward Chuck Schumer's ain't look he knew it was going
to fail. He put it on the floor to watch
it fail. Is that accurate?
Speaker 9 (06:10):
Well, I mean, look, Chuck Schumer put a plan on
the floor that he knew was not going to get
a free year extension. Was was was was out of
the question, especially if it if it lacked enough performs
for Republicans to to be okay with, especially if they're
not dealing with the fraud issue, if they're not dealing
with the income cap issue. I mean, there, there, there,
there might there's a valid argument to make that that
(06:32):
this was not the best strategy Schumer took up, when
he took up a strategy that was was always destined
to fail.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Fox News Radios, Ryan Schmels joining us so I writ
a report that satter Susan Collins said two Democratic senators
came up to her and Bernie and Mareno from Ohio
and had some encouraging words about a bipartisan bill, possibly
some sort of compromise.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Is that wishful thinking?
Speaker 8 (06:56):
Uh?
Speaker 9 (06:56):
No, I don't think it is, because, uh there is
a similar bill in the House that kind of looks
or mirrors what Susan Collins and Bernie Moreno are working on,
which is a two year extension that would have kind
of a phase out as well as reforms and then
kind of a plan to replace it down the road.
The Affordable Care Act tax credits, and there's bipartisan legislation
(07:19):
from both Republicans and Democrats on the House side that
has a two year extension with those reforms, and it's
kind of picking up steam there too. So yeah, I mean,
if you already see the House Democrats or some House
Democrats backing a similar framework, it's not shocking that there
might be some Democrats on the Senate side who are
willing to talk to them, especially when you know the
(07:40):
reality is this thing's going to end when one side
is either willing to take yes or take a little
bit of no for an answer.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
So the dem plan, I think three hundred billion over
ten years to extend these subsidies. I'm not sure if
the Republican HSA plan. I know it's a thousand bucks
up to fifteen hundred, but I don't know that that's been
scored in total for a cost. But it seems like
rand Paul is the only one talking about, Hey, you
know what, we can't afford either one of them. So
(08:08):
how does that factor into to all this?
Speaker 9 (08:11):
Oh yeah, I mean if that factors in the fact
that Republicans have ang not like the Affordable Care Act
and wanted to replace Obamacare together and brand Paul staying
consistent on that and saying that, well, the Republican healthcare
plan that was put on the floor yesterday doesn't dot obamacare,
doesn't replace Obamacare, And so I think that's where Paul
was kind of standing with that. But on the other hand,
(08:34):
you know, this is a this isn't the the the
entire Obamacare debate. This is this is about a policy
related to Obamacare that impacts twenty million Americans. You know,
the Obamacare policy units to dotality. That's a that's argument
or a debate that impacts way more than that. So
this is you know, some Republicans, I said, it's just
(08:56):
a small little fraction. And that's why, you know, an
extension is what you have to do, because you know,
the ultimate goal is to find something better to fix
the problem in itself, but you can't really do that.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
In the week, talking to Fox News, radio is Ryan
Schmell's Washington d C. The Senate failed to pass to
the Republican or Democrat bill to address the expiring ACA
subsidies which expire at the end of the month. Ryan,
who has more sway in the Republican Party right now?
The hardliners who don't want Obamacare would like to replace
it and get rid of it, or the moderate sewer
(09:29):
in Purple district saying hey, we've got an electoral problem here.
Speaker 9 (09:35):
God, that's that's very hard to know right now. You know,
because when when any party line vote can fail with
just two Republicans saying no, I think everybody's got a
lot of party a lot of power. So that's that's
a hard question to answer right now.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Let's think practically about this, firs SEC. Because my understanding
is open enrollment I think closes the fifteenth. So what
today's the twelfth, So you got a couple of days
to do whatever. Nothing's going to happen in those couple
of days. So we're going to have people that either
don't select at all and they just opt out, or
people take the hit. And then if there's some kind
(10:14):
of deal worked out, I mean, do you do open
rollment enrollment again. I mean, I don't know how all this.
Speaker 9 (10:20):
It just seems like it can always extend. I think
you're can extend open enrollment, or or they'll get a
notice after they've already enrolled. It's pretty much just says, hey, look,
you're how your your policy has been changed. You're now
actually going to be only paying this much instead of
that much. That's that's my understanding of how it would work.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Yeah, but if a lot of people opt out because
they're younger, and they're like, I'm not paying this, I'm
not going to be that sick, and they opt out
and we lose them to that, I mean, it seems
like that's you're going to have to do something to
try to and I know you don't have the answer
to that. I don't either, but the whole thing just
seems so problematic and in a mess after mess.
Speaker 9 (10:55):
This happens when you waits the last minute anything, you know,
it's kind of a mess. And uh, that's the reality
of the situation. But we also have to keep in
mind one of the issues a lot of people had
is that you know, there's there's arguments of this thing
needs to be reformed, that there's people on very high
incomes that are eligible for these tax credits. There's people
who there's there's a fraud issue here too, So I
(11:18):
mean there's a lot of up and down that that
goes on here.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Ran Senator Capito had an availability with media here in
West Virginia yesterday and said that she envisioned next week
before Christmas, that there could be some sort of a
stop gap, a small extension to help people carry over.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
But what's does that.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Have some momentum to at least get through till the
next fight.
Speaker 9 (11:38):
I mean, it's all going to depend on what Sneaker
Johnson and Leader Threo want to do. I mean, look,
if Speaker Johnson and Leader Throom put a one year
extension on the floor right now, it probably would pass.
Whether I don't know if it would get sixty votes
in the Senate, it would get a majority in the House.
So that's that's just I mean, that could always be
the last minute thing that they do is to say,
(11:59):
you know what, let's punt this thing the way we
punt government funding and try to figure out a better
solution to the ACA tax credits between now and next year.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
So Ryan, help us crystallize this for our listeners a bit.
I mean, the threshold seems to be that is being
talked about that I read it seven hundred percent of
the federal poverty line. Do I have that right?
Speaker 9 (12:21):
Something like that?
Speaker 5 (12:23):
So get this household of three people, Dave, that'd be
one hundred and seventy four thousand dollars. Yeah, household of five,
it'd be two hundred and forty six thousand dollars. We're
gonna give somebody making two hundred forty six thousand dollars
some kind of kick. I mean, that's just that seems
crazy to me, Fellas. I don't know if I'm looking
at it the wrong way, but I mean just that
(12:43):
boggles my mind. Ryan.
Speaker 9 (12:45):
Can you send me that please?
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Yeah, sure, be golead to check that to me.
Speaker 9 (12:49):
That's interesting. Yeah, all over that.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Fox News Radios, Ryan Schmells.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
We're doing his research for him here today.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
On the program.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, exactly, really, Ryan, speaking of pun you know what
football coaches always say, Ryan, if you're kicking at the
end of the drive, that's not a bad thing. I
don't know if that applies to politics or not, but
that's what football coaches will tell you.
Speaker 9 (13:06):
I depend, if you're kicking it through the upright.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Well, as long as you're not giving it away to
the other team, you'll take it.
Speaker 9 (13:14):
That's true, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly exactly, foxs.
My philosophy is always, you know, if if you have
a chance to go up by two scores, you kick,
or if you got a turnover, you take the points
because you got at least have some type of victory
after a turnover.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Fox News Radios, Ryan Schmells, Brian always appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Have a great weekend.
Speaker 9 (13:35):
I have it going guys, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Coming back on the other side of the break, Republican Democrat.
Can we pay for either one of the proposals anyway,
we'll talk about that right after.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
This care at the health came.
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Text line is three h four Talk three oh four.
We will get to your texts coming up just moments.
Chris Stiwalt will join us at the top of the hour,
and momentum seems to be building for a not just
a pay raise for teachers and school service personnel, but
all public employees, state employees.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
We'll talk about that.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Brad Macklelhenny will join us coming up bottom of the hour.
So Republicans want to provide funding through healthcare savings accounts.
Democrats want to extend the Obamacare tax subsidies. I turned
to my unofficial financial analyst or financial advisor, TJ Meadows. TJ,
you're right about this at wv metro news dot com.
(16:49):
Does it matter which plan it is? Can we afford
either one of them? You know I knew the answer
to the question why well?
Speaker 5 (16:58):
I mean, look, so three hundred billion dollars over ten
years to extend these subsidies, subsidies subsidies by the way,
that were never meant to be permanent. If they were
meant to be permanent, they would have been put into
law perpetually. But the sunset because you knew, even back
in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, you couldn't afford this in
(17:19):
the long term. You were going to hit the fiscal cliff.
And that's what Congress did, because that's what Congress does.
They take the easy way out. So three hundred billion
dollars that we do not have. We have a thirty
eight trillion dollar debt on our way to thirty nine
trillion dollars DAVE the first two months of the fiscal year,
we've already went into deficit. Four hundred billion dollars money
(17:44):
we do not have. That We will have to go
to the market and bond the Republican plan one thousand
bucks in an HSA fifteen hundred depending on your age. Great,
I love HSAS. I think that's a good way to
do things. Where are we going to get that money?
We don't have that much to dole out to people either,
here's the truth. We are already doing more than we
(18:07):
fiscally can. Just look at the balance sheet and you
will see it. We're not talking about reforming social Security,
we're not talking about Medicare, Medicaid, we're not talking about defense.
We're not talking about how to manage the nut that
we have to cover on the existing debt every month,
and yet we want to add another three hundred billion.
Here's the truth. I don't like it more than anybody
(18:28):
likes it. We can't afford it. Washington can't fix this.
So if this is a priority, something else has to
give brother, something else has to come off the balance sheet,
and that's not going to happen. We're not going to
tell the American public that, because that would be admitting
government can't fix this, and that's not how politicians get elected. God,
I think the whole thing is.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Just government has to fix it because if government created
the problem, well government created the problem.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
That's fair.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
And I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I was thinking about this yesterday and I'm not sure,
but I'll toss this out there. Yeah, this is why
crafting legislation and not having any sort of compromise, not
having any sort of buy in from the opposite party
that the party that's not empowered, the minority party doesn't work.
Obamacare was what Democrat bill, Not a single Republican of
(19:17):
votes for it, completely Democrat bill, and then you have
this mess. Republicans do the same thing. They passed the
one big beautiful bill. They don't get any Democrat input.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
What do you get.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
You end up with a mess. You end up with
a mess when you do this. One party's just going
to be obstructionist. One party's going to jam through whatever
they want to do. Look where we end up. We
end up in the same mess. Twenty years after Obamacare
is passed. What are we talking about TJ healthcare affordabilding.
We can't afford healthcare. That was supposed to fix it
twenty years ago, and here we are.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
And the short term pain. If you turn these subsidies off,
people will opt out, just like we were talking about.
If enough people opt out, you're going to see insurance companies,
healthcare companies, You're going to see them with liquidity problems.
What will they do? They'll have to compete and figure
(20:06):
out how to get market share back. It may take
a while, but the government trying to figure out how
to prop up this utopian idea as good as it is.
I want everybody to have healthcare. I mean, I don't
want to see anybody struggle. We can't afford it unless
we cut something else. So tell me what you want
to cut.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Ah, But there it lies the problem, right.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yeah, no, want to get there.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
We never Look what's the third rail of politics. You
never touch medicare, so never touch those. Security, you never
touch defense spending. Well, heck, that's what three quarters of
the budget or more.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Yeah, translation, Dave, we can't do this. It does not work.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
But the sad truth is, you know what we do,
we will, they will. It's either going to be HSA's
or it's going to be an extension of these tax credits.
Probably going to be an extension of the tax credits
for a year while they peddle around and try to
figure this out again.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Which leads to a devaluing of the currency, which means
everybody who worked hard, saved, et cetera, they're the ones
that are going to take it on the chin.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
That's why you build a house somewhere up in the
mountains of Tucker County, Man and just become a hermit.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
It's looking more and more attractive.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Sir, I'm telling you, when I win that billion dollars
this weekend, buddy in the power ball nice, you'll never
see me again.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Be up in the mountain somewhere.
Speaker 13 (21:24):
Well.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
At the rate of inflation, we're going to see a
billion dollars in ing. Didn't take you that far, dylib
so good luck to you.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Coming up, Brad mclheney will join us. There's some momentum
building heading into the LEG'SLAFE session for a public employee
pay raises. Plus what the Center Capitol and Center Justice
have to say about the ACA credits. This is talk
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(21:52):
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West Virginia Metro News. I in Jeff Jenkins, the West
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This proxim with eighteen million dollars is going to make
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West Virginia First says that we're released the specific grant
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So look for the propose so in the legislative session
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Speaker 1 (25:10):
A couple of texts at three h four Talk three
oh four.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I was asking why do you need to go get
bread and milk prior to a snowstorm. Text says French toast.
That's a fair answer. Yeah, Uh, guys, you need milk
for snow cream? Also a good answer, you ever had
snow cream?
Speaker 5 (25:27):
You know I have not.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
You're missing out?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Uh three or four talk three of four guys. We
need to stop talking about how to make health insurance
more affordable. That is just a symptom of the problem.
The real con artists committing fraud abuse here are all
the healthcare providers charging inexcusable prices for basic healthcare. Make
healthcare affordable, and the predatory healthcare insurance con goes away
as well. Says the text, I don't think that's the
(25:55):
craziest thought, but the reality is that's just that's not
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
But we've all sat there on you know, I wonder
how much this will cost if I paid for it
instead of the health insurance company.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
But it's just not going to happen.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
One thing at a time. This is linear. I think,
one problem at a time, frankly. But you know, let's
think about this. Let's let's let's be what's whiteboard for
a minute. If enough people opted out and just said
I'm done with it, I'm done with it, you would
have to have some level of change there. That's a catalyst.
(26:34):
It's just a matter of how many people are willing
to do that. Because markets, products, companies have to adapt.
I mean, look how quickly some of the Wall Street
houses fell with eight and what happened with the mortgage crisis.
Lehman was fine, they had billions in the bank two
days later, that liquidity done. It can happen that quick.
(26:55):
It's just is there enough of a catalyst to make
it happen. I don't know, but Uncle Sam can't fix
I'm just trying to be honest with people. They cannot fix.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
This text rites. Seems pretty logical to pass a twelve
month constant continuation of the subsidies and during that year
figure out a proper fix.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
The rest of this is all theater.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Hopefully, I'm not the only American growing tired of this
complete lack of functionality by Congress.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I would say, no, you are not shame on Congress.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I agree that health insurance needs an overhaul, but they
did not do it. Unwilling and unable to do their jobs.
One representative said they had a plan for healthcare. To date,
they have done nothing to take away affordable health insurance
during open enrollment enrollment. It is cruel and pathetic. I
would not do that to my worst enemy. Pathetic, all
of them, says the Texter. Three oh four Talk three
(27:43):
h four of the text line eight hundred and seven
and sixty five talk. We'll get to more of your text
coming up. Senator Capito talked about ACA subsidies during a
press availability yesterday. Also, Centater Justice has been quoted his
thoughts about the vote yesterday. Mech New state Wide correspondent
Brad Henny is keeping track of that and more, and
he joins us on Metro News talk Line.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
Brad, good morning, Oh Hi, good morning guys.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
We talked yesterday about Senator Capito's comments a little bit.
She spoke with the media prior to your appearance on
Metro News talk Line. But Senator Justice has also weighed
in and he's thinking about the ramifications this could have
on the twenty six midterms.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
Yeah, Freshman Senator Jim Justice, I think is in line
with some of your textures on his thinking. So this
is national reporting. Senator Jim Justice, if you're out there,
you know, you're welcome to call the show. But the
national folks quote him regularly. And you know, he's doing
some political prognosis, saying that midterms are coming up before
(28:44):
you know, and the Republican Party could face some ramifications
out of the failure to do anything on this health
insurance issue. He said, if you're not concerned, then you're
living in a cave. That's the kind of talk that
we're used to from Jim Justice, a regular phrase, if
you're living in a cave. If you're not watching the
(29:05):
elections that are happening all the time, then you're living
in a cave. And then more gym justice. For God's
sake of living, we can't wait until ten days before
the end of the year and then repair health care.
And then finally said that you know, the things that
the Republican majorities in Congress have been doing are going
(29:28):
to just get walloped by this healthcare message. He said,
quote the messaging is not resonating with a lot of
voters that we need to resonate with. Democrats are professional
at it. We're not good at it. But that might
be another arguing point among among the listeners whether whether
Democrats are truly good messages. But that's that's Freshman Senator
(29:50):
Jim Justice's.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Take that aside, and I appreciate his candor. I didn't
hear a fix in there anywhere.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
You know, I I was looking for a roll call
on yesterday's vote. My belief is that Senator Justice voted
for the Republican backed version of the bill, which was
the one with health savings accounts. I saw the list
of a few Republicans who voted for the Democratic offering,
(30:20):
and Jim Justice was not among those. But yeah, you know,
in fairness to him, he's one of one hundred members
of the US Senate, but we are not, and so
he therefore has not control over the whole situation, but
more swayed than Dave and bradon TJ.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
He may not offer a fix there, but I think
I agree with his observations. You can't wait until ten
days before the deadline to come up with a fix
to a major issue. Democrats, at least on this issue,
are much better on the messaging and that is resonating
with voters. You can see that in the polling data.
And if you think that's this is going to have
(31:01):
a negative impact on Republicans in the twenty six midterms,
I think his observations are pretty spot on there. Yes,
he didn't offer a solution, but the observations are in
the ballpark.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
Yeah. So you know, the open enrollment period for the
Affordable Care Act began in November. There was an entire
shutdown over this issue. Came out of the shutdown, and
the only resolution was to have the vote that occurred yesterday.
There is still the possibility that the House of Representatives
somehow pulls a rabbit out of the hat next week
(31:35):
before going on Christmas break. But the financial effects for
people who benefit from the Affordable Care Act subsidies, that's
going to hit at the end of the year and
they're going to get walloped in the pocketbook. And Dave
and Brad and TJ are going to hear about this
in terms of election messaging at this point all the
way through the midterms.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Oh, go ahead to sorry, Tjay.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
I was just gonna say, I took a look. It's
a measure three three eight six motion to closure. That's
the Republican plan. He did vote yes. He voted no
on the Schumer motion. So there you go. You can
reset Dave.
Speaker 7 (32:10):
Sorry mention.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
New state wide correspondent Brad McIlhenny joining US Brad yesterday.
Governor Morrissey held a news conference, and the momentum is building,
at least prior to the start of the legislative session
for a public employee pay raise. We've seen momentum going
into sessions before and then nothing happened. But this feels
like you got the governor, you got the House on board.
Something's going to happen this year.
Speaker 6 (32:33):
Well, I think so. And you know, the people have
been talking generally about needing to fix PIA problems with
the cost of state health insurance plans. But there was
a fairly modest premium increase that just was voted into
effect for the coming year, a three percent increase. To
(32:55):
my thinking, you know, public employees did not receive a
pay raise last year, and I thought, oh, you know,
even with a modest insurance increase through PEIA, if they
don't get a pay raise this year, then there might
be some political ramifications. You might really see people begin
to be upset. Well, I think this, you know, begins
(33:16):
to assure those folks. The House majority in the House
of Delegates had a press conference earlier this week. One
of the main takeaways was their support for pay raises
for teachers and public employees. I heard the governor going
a little bit further, you know, I think he described
a broader pay increase for you know, all public employees
(33:40):
who are covered through general revenue, teachers, school service personnel,
state police, correction officers, and other workers. So I think,
you know, what I heard was a more specific description
of a pay raise for educators from the House majority
and then to my ear the governor and broaden that.
Speaker 5 (34:01):
So this may not be politically popular, but that three percent,
that keeping even with inflation, I think you have to
do that because otherwise you're asking state workers to take
a pay cut year after year if they don't at
least keep the buying power that they have. I almost
believe that that should be formulaic. And then if there
are merit increases for certain positions or for performance of
(34:25):
employee A over employee B, or employee B doing better
than employee A, then all right, then there's a kicker
there that you can budget in. But if we're not
at least keeping pace with inflation, we're effectively asking everyone
that's employed by the state of West Virginia to take
a pay cut every year. And that's that's just not prudent.
In my humble opinion bred mm hm.
Speaker 6 (34:48):
The you know, so the three percent that I referenced
was the premium increase for PIA. What we don't know,
I don't think, is the details of the proposed pay
raises for public employees. I didn't hear a percentage or
anything applied to what the governor was suggesting. After the
(35:09):
House Majority press conference earlier this week, our Jeff Jenkins
spoke with House Finance Chairman Vernon Chris and the takeaway
from that was maybe five percent roughly ballpark for educators.
But you know these things. The governor is going to
(35:30):
have his plan, that the House and the Senate are
going to roll that plan through, and they may tinker
with it. We could come out with a different percentage
or different details. So I think all of that is
not fully clear at this moment.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I think the consensus here at Fellas and both of
you can weigh in. Look, this is an election here.
Every member in the House is up for election. Half
the Senate's up for election this year. To not do
some sort of public employee pay increase would not sit
well when you have primaries a couple of months after
the session and then the general election November. Something is
(36:05):
going to happen this year is I don't want to
say that's a guarantee, but are we all confident something
will happen?
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Go first, brad Well.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
I think so. You know, fortunately for all of us,
there is not a teacher strike every year, but I
certainly lived through the experience of seeing teachers just flood
the capitol, and what prompted them was increasing insurance costs
without corresponding pay raises. Again, that doesn't happen every year,
but I still have a little trauma. So when those
(36:39):
when those situations align, when there are increased insurance costs
and then nothing being done on pay raises, I get
a little twitchy.
Speaker 5 (36:49):
That's why I think something formulaic, Dave, if we could
work it out, would be beneficial because it would take
the politics out of it to some extent, and some
baseline formulaic operation that accounts for inflation and then has
a merit system that not a politician but a supervisor
in whatever department can employ. I'd like to see it
(37:12):
mirror more the private sector myself. I get that's asking
a lot, but that's where I'm at.
Speaker 6 (37:17):
I think, Oh, go ahead, brad Well, can I chime in?
I have a political theory. I have a political theory,
which is the politicians want to take credit for things,
and so if it's automatic, then it's harder to take credit.
You know, you can campaign on. I brought home a
pay increase for public employees in my district, especially school boards,
(37:37):
which are often the largest employers, And to broaden that
out a little bit, I wonder if politically the legislature
hasn't made a mistake in having the tax cuts, the
personal income tax cuts be automated according to formula because
if it required a vote to have those tax cuts,
they could take credit. That's an interesting theory, Brad. Not
(38:01):
that you're wrong, that's it's I haven't thought about the
second one.
Speaker 5 (38:04):
But make them earn it, Brad. You ever speak at
an event and when they're introducing you, people start clapping.
I'm like, uh uh uh, make me earn it. Clap
after if I'm worth it, Make the politicians earn it.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
But TJ.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
So your point the formulaic, I think you're honest. O.
There the formulaic, like year over year account for inflation.
Part of that makes sense. What you'll never get is
the merit based part of that, because how long have
we had this debate some way of evaluating is you know, public.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
School teachers, school teachers, how do we evaluate them?
Speaker 2 (38:34):
How do we weed out the bad ones and reward
the good ones? And we never come up with a
good answer for that. And there's generally a lot of
pushback from the unions when it comes to that topic
as well.
Speaker 5 (38:43):
So let a principle figure that out.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Let's give these schools work. You know how schools work.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
You have to have a set policy that says this, this,
this this, there's we can figure subjective reasoning.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
We can talk about the way it is, or we
could talk about the way it ought to be. And
I want to talk about the way it ought to be. Well,
I take your point, your.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Points about an academic exercise, the way it is, the
way it is, right.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
I gotta I gotta inspire change, man.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
You know, Brad.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Mclhenny always inspires change. He's the hardest working man in
news media. Brad always appreciated, buddy.
Speaker 6 (39:19):
Thanks, thanks, and may may everybody get a raise this year.
Merry Christmas.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Everybody deserves it.
Speaker 5 (39:25):
Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Brad mcleheney match the New state Wide correspond Read his
work at wv metro News dot com. We'll read your
work coming up. Next, we'll get to the text line
at three or four Talk three oh four. This is
talk line from the Cove Insurance studios.
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Visit and Co dot com to learn more.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
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Let's get some of your thoughts at three or four
Talk three oh four. That is the text line. Many
people voted for Trump because he said that he could
fix affordability. Eleven months into his term, costs of everything
other than gasoline is higher. One million jobs have been lost.
(41:45):
He is giving farmers twelve billion dollars to make up
for the loss of income caused by his tariffs on China.
He failed in the business world, and he is doing
the same as presidents three or four Talk three or
four TJ. Some people have their businesses listed as personal income.
It does not mean they are personally getting that much money,
says the Texter.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
I mean, I get that, but it depends on how
you file it. I mean, the federal poverty line is
a net number, I believe, so I'll look into that,
and I guess it depends if you're an ask it
can get very complicated, very quickly. But all I'm saying is,
I think seven hundred percent of the poverty line with
those that's a bit too high.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Texter says, when everybody wants to debate healthcare, why don't
they actually talk about health care? Insurance is not healthcare.
Part of the problem with the extreme insurance premiums is
the high cost of healthcare itself. There are so many
things that could be done to bring down the cost
of actual health care, which theoretically should be able to
bring down the cost of the insurance, says Barry. And
(42:47):
Fairmont Texter says, I'm twenty eight years old and have
to supply my own health insurance. I opted out of
insurance for twenty twenty six due to my insurance rising
six hundred and ninety three dollars a month.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Can I afford it? Yes?
Speaker 2 (42:59):
But how I supposed to possibly build a house and
raise a family in the next year's with paying that
much on top of everything else. I am a Republican,
but I agree with the Democrats on this when people
like me really really rely on that tax credit, thanks,
says the Texter.
Speaker 5 (43:15):
Yeah, they're going to opt out.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
And I think that texter is a is a good
reason why, or a good example of why Republicans are,
especially in purple districts, very nervous about the twenty six
min terms. This is going to be affordability, which nobody
can really define TJ. That's becoming one of my new
pet peeves. Not quite in the top ten yet, but
(43:38):
it's creeping up. What is affordability that the Texter mentioned
Trump was going to fix affordability?
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Can you define it?
Speaker 5 (43:43):
What is affordability? And you never will define it? Because
here's the truth. Presidents of the United States can do
very little, if anything, I'll say, if anything, to control prices.
But they can sure create policies that drive prices hired. Now,
don't get me wrong about that, but as far as
bringing them down, that's a market function. People are too
(44:05):
I don't think I don't think Americans buy this. I'm sorry,
I don't by way that the president can do something
about it. For that's a market.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
You don't think they can buy it? Democrats are campaigning
on it right Well, I don't.
Speaker 5 (44:17):
Think they will buy it, is what I'm saying. Do
we really think the president in the United States controls
the price of oil?
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (44:24):
You do?
Speaker 1 (44:25):
No, not me?
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Yes, the general populace. Sure, what are Democrats campaigning on
right now? What are they going to campaign on in
twenty six and in twenty eight? I would hold what
a Trump campaign on to bring down the price of eggs.
Speaker 5 (44:40):
That people would see through all of that? I'm sorry, No,
I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, independent from Mars.
I don't care if you said in the Oval Office
you do nothing. You control the price of oil. Now,
you can screw the system up really good to raise it,
but as far as being able to bring it down,
you know who controls the price of oil? O Pack,
O Pack and Brent Krude period final break back in
(45:03):
a moment.
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(45:28):
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Speaker 12 (46:30):
A message from the West Virginia Hospital Association Onlina WVJ
dot org.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Three or four Talk three or four David TJ. When
does the Inflation Reduction Act kick in? Asking for a friend?
Speaker 1 (46:56):
Says the text.
Speaker 5 (47:00):
Christian asked Joe yesterday. I didn't even think about that.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
That's a good quint. Maybe Chris Tirewald has the answer.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
He'll join us coming up six minutes from now, and
Steam release on its way at eleven thirty three.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
This is Talkline on Metro.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
News for forty years, the voice of West Virginia.
Speaker 4 (47:29):
Metro News Talkline is presented by Encovia Insurance, encircling you
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encova dot com to learn more.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Second hour of Metro News talk Line from the Cove
Insurance Studios. Thank you for being parts of the festivities
today one of our great radio affiliates across the state
of West Virginia. Or if you're watching on Metro News Television,
Jake Link is our video producer and Ethan Collins is handling.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
The phones this morning. Eight hundred and seven to sixty five.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Talk is the phone number eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two five five. You can text the show
at three or four talk three oh four. Keep those
numbers handy because Steamerlease is coming up at the bottom
of the hour. Your chance to Vince. Heading in to
the weekend, once again, say good morning.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
TJ.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Meadows down in the Charleston Bureau, Good morning, sir.
Speaker 5 (48:23):
Good morning. No, I am not an OPEK analyst. I
know enough to be dangerous, but I am not an
OPEQ analyst.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
Speaking of knowing just enough to be dangerous. All right,
That transition works sort of. Chris Direwalt is the politics
editor for The Hill and News Nation, host of The
Hill Sunday on News Nation, and a Senior Fellow at
the American Enterprise Institute, as well as a best selling author.
He joins us on Metro News talk line.
Speaker 22 (48:48):
Good morning, Chris, I are we gonna talk about it?
You look you're looking kind of snatched. You look you're
looking like you're you've been working out or is the
beard trim tighter? You look like a per who, you
look like a country musician who is fresh out of rehab.
And it it it really, it's work. I just want
to say, for people who aren't watching, it's working for you.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Okay, I'll take that. I'll take that.
Speaker 22 (49:13):
Have you been working out you can say that if
you can admit it, if you have.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
No I think it's well.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
You know, Chris, you wear dark colors on television when
you're on video where dark colors?
Speaker 7 (49:23):
Who are you telling? Who are you telling?
Speaker 1 (49:27):
I found that out the hard way.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
I'm like, oh, that that gray shirt does not look
good on There's shadows, man, there are.
Speaker 7 (49:33):
Shadows, exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Chris Diarwald joins, all right, Chris, so we've been We
spent a lot of the first hour talking about the
ACA subsidies, what the Senate did and did not do,
the political ramifications for all this you right over at
the Hill dot Com this week and your whole hog politics.
This just continues a slump for the Trump administration.
Speaker 22 (49:56):
Elaborate, please, well, the political coalition that includes West Virginia
is going to want government subsidized healthcare. Whether that coalition
is a Democratic coalition or a Republican coalition, the coalition
(50:16):
that can win West Virginia beyond the reach of the
other party even contesting it right is going to sooner
or later want more government subsidy for health care. And
the Republicans are in a weird place where the Republicans
who are in Congress are mostly old Republicans, and both
(50:41):
in the literal and figurative sense. But most of the
people who are Republicans are conservatives in Congress because they
came from a time when that was the currency of
the Republican Party. But the Republican Party is now a
working person's party. It is increasingly a blue collar party.
(51:04):
And you know, we've talked about it before, but if
you have the New Deal Coalition, you're going to need
to have New Deal policies. And you know, we heard
Vice President Vance talk about how the admiration he has
for Zoron Mamdani and Donald Trump had his bro out
(51:25):
with Zoron Mamdani in the Oval Office. It's yes, it's
about the modes and the personalities and the style, but
ultimately people want things like subsidized health insurance and Western
Jaime is a perfect example of a state that was
(51:46):
as democratic as it is now Republican for seventy five
years or something, and that's the Those are the interests
that people who are blue.
Speaker 7 (51:57):
Collar or poor want. That's what they want, and the
Republicans sooner or later are going to give it to them.
Speaker 5 (52:04):
I'm want a fourth house in Saint Lucia. That's not
going to happen. When are we going to be fiscally
responsible and tell people what we can and can't do?
Speaker 7 (52:12):
Oh now, come come on, come on.
Speaker 22 (52:17):
You know perfectly well that we are not in the
business politics in politics these days of telling people the truth.
Speaker 7 (52:28):
We are not in the.
Speaker 22 (52:28):
Business of the decency and dignity that comes with patriotic
obligation of telling people the bad news. We're going to
tell people it's the other people's fault, and then we're
going to replicate the same errors that the other people do,
but we're going to tilt it in favor of our
preferred policies and then hope that when the game of
(52:51):
musical chairs stops that they happen to be the one
standing up when that happens. But there is a there
are there's more bipartisanship in Washington than people think. And
one area of absolute ironclad bipartisan consensus is that they
both are going to keep destroying the currency, They're both
(53:13):
going to keep spending into oblivion, and they're just going
to hope that they're not the ones who happen to
be in charge at the time that more serious and
more urgent consequences come in.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
So we're just playing a game of roulette to see
who's going to be in the majority when this guy
actually does fall right.
Speaker 22 (53:31):
And the problem about a fatalistic point of view like
that is that it takes a lot long.
Speaker 7 (53:39):
It takes a lot longer than you think.
Speaker 22 (53:43):
As a great philosopher, Norman Peterson said, how's life, mister Peterson,
And he said, taking forever? And the truth, of course
is that it's interesting to think, much like for people
with climate change, it's interesting to think about. They made
a movie a long time ago called the I think
(54:03):
it was called The Day After Tomorrow, and the Earth
was destroyed, the polar ice caps flooded the world with
cold water, and a new ice age came on and
like you know, Dick Cheney was eaten by a saber
tooth tiger or something. It's fun, it's cool. They made
it more recently a movie called Don't Look Up they made.
(54:26):
But the problem with things like climate change, but certainly
the problem of the debt is that and the inflationary
consequences of overspending. The problem is it isn't a cataclysm
that comes one day. It's a cataclysm that happens bit
by bit by bit by bit by bit, and we
(54:48):
see it every day. Why what's wrong with the economy.
There are a lot of things that are wrong with
the economy. One of the things that's wrong with the
economy is that in that bipartisan consensus to oblivion is
that we're not allowed to have recessions. We're not allowed
to have corrections. Every job must be held in place,
everything must happen, and there can't be what keeps a
(55:12):
market economy functioning, which are processions?
Speaker 7 (55:15):
Right?
Speaker 22 (55:15):
It's the boom that gives it's the bus that gives
you the boom. But we are going to have the
Federal Reserve keep floating money. When you know, when General
Motors was bankrupt, the correct answer was for General Motors
to be bankrupt because it was instead they said, we're
going to give you free money and we're going to
cancel your debt because it's too important to us to
(55:37):
keep this alive. The longer we go without consequences, and
of trying to avoid the very shortest term consequences, the
medium term consequences like people can't buy houses, right, young
people can't buy houses. Even with rate cuts, they can't
(55:57):
buy houses. And there are many reasons that that is true.
But one of the reasons that that is true is
that self interested, craven politicians have decided in this century
that there were just they're not They can't countenance a
single bad election cycle, so they're just going to try
to rig the system so that the news is always good,
(56:18):
and that means the news gets worse and worse over time.
Speaker 5 (56:22):
So Chris, as Jefferson might say, all of this sounds
like it needs a little natural manure in order to
in order to resolve these problems. My question is that
a possibility in this two party system that seems, as
you point out, isn't all that isn't all that separated.
(56:43):
It's a very bipartisan effort. Is there anything that writes
the ship here and where does it come from? What
does it look like.
Speaker 22 (56:50):
At some point? Well, we know the answer for Republicans
is that as their coalition is more dependent on working
class voters, we know what the trajectory of the Republican
Party is like for at least the medium term. Conservatives
are going to have a harder and harder time in
(57:10):
the new Republican Party. Noah Rothman wrote a great piece
at National Review said, what's the problem with the Republican
Party right now? So many of them are Democrats? And
if you're a conservative like Noah Rothman is that's a problem.
So we know that question now. The other we know
(57:32):
the answer to that question. Question for the other party
is will they accept those voters?
Speaker 7 (57:38):
Right?
Speaker 22 (57:39):
Will can Democrats? And this is the matter before Democrats
for twenty twenty six. Are they willing to allow affluent,
educated suburbanites who on whom their coalition rests. Are they
willing to let them have fiscal restraint? Are they willing
to let them have Are they willing to give those
voters what they want? And as we saw in the
(58:01):
Tennessee special election last week or whenever it was, when
you don't give those voters what they want, you don't win.
And we have a race to the bottom that the
American people are losing. But the open question for Democrats
in the medium term is will are they a party
that is willing to do what Bill Clinton did before
(58:22):
and offer a home for fiscal restraint for all.
Speaker 7 (58:27):
Of that stuff.
Speaker 22 (58:28):
Bill Clinton couldn't have balanced the budget without the peace
divid end and the end of the Cold War.
Speaker 7 (58:34):
But he also wouldn't.
Speaker 22 (58:35):
Have balanced the budget unless he saw the political necessity
of doing it and bringing those Ross Perot kind of
voters into his coalition for his ninety six reelect. And
that's the question before the Democratic Party today, Chris.
Speaker 2 (58:51):
I think they've at least taken a step that direction,
that they've backed off the social stuff, right, the crazy
social stuff that pushed so many people toward Trump to
the Republicans.
Speaker 1 (59:00):
They've eased off of that. If they ease.
Speaker 2 (59:03):
Into that, they can't rebuild the Obama coalition. I mean,
he was a once in a lifetime political figure, just
like Republicans can't rebuild the Trump coalition no matter how
much they want to. I see a s at least
from my very novice view, I see a sliver of
them accepting a step in that direction.
Speaker 1 (59:23):
It's not crazy.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
I think you take one more and you could bring
these type of voters into the into a new coalition.
Speaker 7 (59:30):
What do you think the Democratic twenty twenty eight primary
is going to be?
Speaker 10 (59:34):
Like?
Speaker 1 (59:35):
What do I think it's going to be? Like?
Speaker 7 (59:37):
Yeah, what do you think that's going to look like?
Speaker 1 (59:40):
Personality? Wise or messaging wise.
Speaker 22 (59:43):
I think it's going to look like the rough and
rowdy at the Charleston Civic Center. I think it's going
to be a it's going to be some guy from
Marmette jacked up on Mountain Dew coming off the top rope,
coming off the top rope and just hummeling the face
of some guy with Jim muscles. And it's going to
(01:00:05):
be it's going to be wild. And the reason it's
going to be wild is that the Democrats, the leadership
of the Democratic Party said you must accept Joe Biden,
and they were like, uh, oh, he's almost dead. You
must now accept Kamala Harris. And the Democratic rank and
file said, okay, we'll do it. In order to beat
(01:00:26):
Donald Trump. We will moderate, we will allow somebody who
It would be wrong to say that Kamala Harris moderated
her positions, but she moderated her rhetoric and worked very
hard to say nothing. The whole emphasis of her brief
presidential campaign was to say nothing, used many words to
say nothing. And progressive and democratic socialists are not going
(01:00:52):
to be very easy to placate this time around. And
the question that hangs over all of that is how
concerned will Democrats be not in November of twenty twenty eight,
How concerned will Democrats be in January, February, March of
twenty twenty eight about Republicans holding onto the White House.
(01:01:13):
If it looks like a credible threat, if JD vance
looks strong, if the economy's good, if things are good,
Democrats may find motivation to moderate. If Donald Trump is
you know, he's at a thirty in the new AP
Nork poll. He's at thirty six percent. He's got fifteen
percent approval rating on handling of the economy by independence,
(01:01:37):
it is very, very bad. If Trump has numbers like
that a year and three months from now, Democrats are
going to want to go bananas. They're going to want
to go AOC. They're going to want to They're going
to want to do it all, and they might lose
in November as a consequence. But the answer, the very
long answer to your question is party don't make ideological
(01:02:01):
choices at all. Candidates make ideological choices, and the willingness
of the voters in a party to accept sensible moderation
and an outreach to swing voters is rooted in what
their fear of the other side. And if Democrats aren't
afraid of the other side, they're going to go bananas.
Speaker 5 (01:02:24):
So let's go to the Republican side. Because to layout
an analogy, as a guy who is a traditional conservative,
I feel like the Republican primary is going to be
an exercise in I'm going shopping from store to store
to store to store, and I can't find anything I like.
I mean, it's just I can't identify with any of
(01:02:47):
these folks.
Speaker 7 (01:02:48):
That doesn't it's been doesn't it feel good? Though?
Speaker 22 (01:02:52):
I know if if as a journalist, right because you
are no like it or not, Yes, you like it
or not, you're doing you're doing daily coverage. You're an
opinionated journalist. But you are a journalist. And the freedom
of being a journalist is that you don't have to
like any of them. You don't have to agree with
(01:03:15):
any of them. You can be a skunk at the
garden party. You can be just who, just whoever you
want to be. Because, and this is the key thing,
these two parties make it really easy not to care
who wins.
Speaker 7 (01:03:28):
Right, You look at these two parties and it's very hard.
Speaker 22 (01:03:31):
Right, this isn't that, this isn't where you say, oh
my gosh, this side is so good. You say, which
of these two horrible choices will I compel myself to
vote for.
Speaker 7 (01:03:47):
But if you're a journalist, you get to take the
next step and say, good luck, suckers.
Speaker 23 (01:03:51):
You get to say you get to say please to
enjoy this Schmorgas board, this charcoterie board of unsavory, unsatisfying choices,
and just be true to the person who God made
you to be.
Speaker 22 (01:04:07):
You don't have to root for a party. You don't
have to do any of that stuff. I feel very
bad for voters who are locked in one of these
parties and they've got to try to. Like, if you're
a conservative and you're a Republican, you're asking yourself, how
long if you're a conservative? No, no, no, not you, if one,
if one is a conservative Republican, how long can you
(01:04:30):
stay right? How many undeclared wars?
Speaker 7 (01:04:35):
How much? Like how long do you.
Speaker 22 (01:04:37):
Let the Constitution get just absolutely eviscerated before you say, well,
I guess I'm done. And if you're a Republican and
you're a conservative, you stay a long time because the
other side is worse, and you keep hoping that it'll
get better, that this is the end and then and
then it's going to turn the corner later. And if
you're a Democrat and you're a if you're a liberal Democrat,
(01:05:00):
the old school liberal Democrat, you look at a party
that is convulsed constantly by culture war conflicts and economic radicalism,
and you're just an old fashioned liberal and you say,
this is bad. But we've got to just get through
this next little thing. It's the same problem we started on.
Speaker 5 (01:05:18):
And I'm just saying I'm an independent, i am conservative,
but I'm just saying, as a guy who has reverence
of the Constitution and the promise of what this country
is supposed to be, I find it incredibly disappointing the
choices that we have.
Speaker 22 (01:05:33):
That if you're a conservative, make a friend with a liberal,
because a conservative is a kind of liberal, Right, it's
with people who care about the gifts of the Enlightenment.
Individual liberty, yeah, individual liberty, all of that. Uh, those
lowercase L liberals are in just as bad a place
(01:05:53):
in the Democratic Party as the conservatives are in the
Republican Party. Right, the conservatives are in big trouble in
the Republican Party, and they're on the outs. But the
same is true for the liberals in the Democratic Party,
where the progressives and the socialists are just They hate
the thing that the nationalists on the right and the
(01:06:15):
progressives and the socialists on the left can agree upon
as the constitution stinks. It's a problem, not a solution.
And if you want, if you're a conservative and you
feel homeless, make friends with the liberal. You'll disagree with
them about what the government should do, but you will
agree with them on what the government is. And that's
(01:06:37):
sort of important because I think the fight over ends
occurs between the parties. The fight over means occurs within
the party. And we have people on the left and
people on the right who are watching our birthright right
here as we prepare to enter the two hundred, the
big two fifty year, we are squandering our birthright on
(01:07:00):
short term cynical political gamesmanship, and we're letting the gifts
of liberty slip through our fingers. And to stop that,
to arrest that trend, it will be necessary very often
for conservatives and liberals to make common cause against this
other other faction.
Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Chris Tarwell, politics editor for The Hill News Nation, host
of The Hill Sundale News Nation and Senior Fellow at
American Enterprise in too ohways. Appreciate it, buddy, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Heck yeah, back in a moment.
Speaker 24 (01:07:30):
To careful.
Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Here at the Health Day, we are here.
Speaker 10 (01:07:37):
From all of us, Here at the Health Plan. We
want to make your season bright. Whether you're wrapping gifts
are planning next year's goals, We're here for you. Happy
holidays and Merry Christmas from our family to yours.
Speaker 3 (01:07:54):
Here.
Speaker 25 (01:07:57):
For the sixth consecutive year, US News and World Report
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(01:08:19):
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Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
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Cittinet Connects protects and perfects. Steamerly Sys coming up. Get
ready eight hundred seven to sixty five Talk eight hundred
seven to sixty five, eight two, five, five and three
or four Talk three or four. This is talk line
on Metro News, the Voice of West Virginia. It is
(01:09:11):
eleven thirty time to get a news update. Let's check
in on the Metro News radio network. Find out what's
happening across the great state of West Virginia.
Speaker 18 (01:09:19):
West Virginia METTRONEEWHS. I'm Chris Lawrence, the National Weather Services
tracking another clipper system headed into West Virginia. Joe Curtis
is a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Charleston
and talks about what they anticipate for precipitation from this
event from.
Speaker 26 (01:09:33):
Late Saturday afternoon through Sunday. We're thinking anywhere from potentially
one to three inches across the southern part of the state,
and then anywhere from about four to six inches across
the northern part of the state.
Speaker 18 (01:09:45):
That's the forecast to hit tomorrow afternoon and on into Sunday,
a winter storm watching effect for much of the state tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
They are loving it.
Speaker 18 (01:09:52):
On the ski slopes of West Virginia Canaane Valley Resort
opening up the twenty five to twenty six ski season
today in Tucker County. Skiing and snowboarding are available there.
Timberline Snowshoe Mountain in winter Place all opened up last week.
Parkersburg police have upgraded charges against a teenager from attempted
murder to murder. Police Chief Matthew boards his eighteen year
(01:10:13):
old Brady Florence, died on Thursday a result of the
gunshot wounds he suffered on Monday while he sat in
a parked car. The alleged shooter is eighteen year old
Butch Knight. He now faces a charge of a charge
of murder along with two counts of attempted murder for
the other two individuals who were in the vehicle, one
of whom suffered a gunshot wound as well and is
being treated. A night is being held without bond. Capol
(01:10:35):
County Sheriff's Department investigating a fatal accident over nine. Authority
say it happened around ten in Ona on US Route sixty.
You're listening to Metro News for forty years, the Voice
of West Virginia.
Speaker 27 (01:10:46):
There's nothing quite like a homemade meal from Tutor's Biscuit World.
We use real buttermilk to craft our delicious biscuits, one
batch at a time and serve them with our signature platters.
Here you will taste of freshness in every night, from
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Every meal brings a taste of simpler times. Let Tutors
(01:11:08):
do the cooking for you or gathering this holiday season.
Visit tutors Catering dot com for all your catering needs.
Speaker 4 (01:11:15):
Premiering December eighteenth, that's seven thirty pm on Metro News Television.
Your Friends at Hope Gas present episode five of Stateive Minds.
Hoppykerchifle visits with Morgan O'Brien, CEO of Hope Gas.
Speaker 15 (01:11:27):
When you're in it for the long run, right, you
need to make investments that aren't always going to have
I'll call it tangible returns.
Speaker 4 (01:11:34):
State of Minds Episode five coming to Metro News TV
on December eighteenth, that's seven thirty pm, Presented by Hope
Gas with support from Career Industries only on a Metro
News Television app.
Speaker 18 (01:11:45):
Lots of buzz about the lottery, the Powerball jackpots, for
Saturday Night has now increased to a cool one billion dollars.
That's where the Bee ranks the seventh all time highest
jackpot and Powerball. The cash value of a single ticket
matching the right numbers there would be just a shade
under four hundred and sixty two million dollars. Saturday will
be the forty second drawing on the current Jackpots run,
(01:12:09):
which will tie the game's record for most consecutive jackpots
and a single cycle from the Metro ne Ne's ANCHORDSK
I'm Chris Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
I was on assignment last Friday. I was on vacation
the friday before that. I've had Steam release withdraws. Let's
fix that problem.
Speaker 7 (01:12:47):
And I want you all to get up now.
Speaker 6 (01:12:50):
I want all of you to get up out of
your chest.
Speaker 22 (01:12:53):
I want you to get up right now, to go
to the window, open it and stick.
Speaker 13 (01:12:58):
Your head out.
Speaker 28 (01:12:59):
And yeah, he.
Speaker 27 (01:13:01):
Must mad as hell, but I'm not gonna take this anymore.
Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
All week long, you've heard our thoughts and observations. You've
probably had your own. You may have texted the show.
We may have not we not. We may have not
gotten to your text that probably frustrated you. The wife
the husband, the boyfriend, the girlfriend. They've listened to your rants,
but they don't really care. And the dog can only
grin and nod. This is your opportunity to release your
(01:13:26):
steam heading into the weekend. Just a couple of guidelines
we ask that you please addhere to number one. Don't
get us fired, don't get as sue. Those kind of
go hand in hand. Number two, try to keep it tight.
We'll get to as many of your steams as possible.
You can steam about the hosts. You can steam about
former hosts. We may not respond. You cannot steam about
(01:13:46):
our video producer Jake Link. However, I have been given
express written consent from producer Ethan. You may steam about Ethan.
In fact, he told me this morning he invites your steams.
He is daring you to steam about him. I don't
know what you'd steam about, but he says, go at it.
(01:14:06):
Shoulder shrug, emoji. Eight hundred seven sixty five. Talk is
the phone number, eight hundred seven six five eight two
five five.
Speaker 1 (01:14:13):
Ethan put it.
Speaker 2 (01:14:14):
We got a call screener, and we can message back
and forth. He says, if anyone feels the need to
complain about me, I can take it Okay. I don't
know why anyone would complain about ethan, but here's your chance.
Eight hundred seven to sixty five talk eight hundred seven
six five eight two five five. The text line is
three oh four talk three oh four, three oh four
(01:14:34):
eight two five five.
Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
Three oh four.
Speaker 2 (01:14:37):
Let's start on the phones. Let's go to the Northern Panhandle.
Junior in Wheeling. You're first up on steam release.
Speaker 13 (01:14:45):
Wheeling. What you boys talking about it? Fish? Quick?
Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (01:14:49):
I just read what's on the screen, Junior.
Speaker 9 (01:14:51):
Oh did he can do that?
Speaker 13 (01:14:53):
I'll give reading some hell?
Speaker 3 (01:14:54):
And he did that?
Speaker 24 (01:14:58):
Hell?
Speaker 13 (01:14:59):
Hey, how we move rupted? Is that like a foot
network station? The other day he had a whole show
about suit that's riveting radio right there, So come on,
get some meat and tears in that diet. I mean
he looks like you got it anyway. And then the
(01:15:20):
paper boy, that Johnny guy was on today and he's
making fun of the weather service and whatnot. Let me
ask you, how do you get your Sunday newspaper and
fish creek on Saturday? Don't make no sense to me
or my my durned bird. My bird won't even pop
(01:15:40):
on it.
Speaker 9 (01:15:41):
Huh.
Speaker 13 (01:15:41):
I'm steaming. Boys have a good day, have.
Speaker 1 (01:15:44):
A good one, Junior.
Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
Appreciate the call eight hundred and seven to sixty five,
Talking three or four, Talk three or four.
Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
Let's go to Huntington. Harold, you're on Steam release.
Speaker 28 (01:15:54):
Well last we could call her complained about that prompting
the show in order to talk politician. He should have
also added on for ramp. But for anything like the
vote that bs that you have before sports game starts
and all that sort of thing. The show should only
be interrupted for the end of the world.
Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
Harold, appreciate the call eight hundred and seven to sixty
five Talk eight hundred and seven to sixty five eight
two five five. You can text the show at three
h four Talk three oh four. Let's get some text teams, TJ.
Speaker 5 (01:16:29):
I'll just say, be careful what you wish for Ethan.
I frequently frequently played pickup soccer with Ethan at the
WVU reckfields, and that guy couldn't keep the ball on
his foot if his cleats were made of fly paper.
Ethan Collins is an overrated red hat. I'm the only
one with the courage to say it, says the Texter.
(01:16:53):
Why does producer Ethan keep putting guests on the air
with bad phone lines. It's his job to get this right.
Shape up, buddy, or call for you this Christmas three
oh four Talk three oh four. Simply put Ethan sucks.
How's that? Noel My Friday s team. I am one
hundred percent frustrated, angered, and perplexed about drivers who have
(01:17:16):
zero respect for the fifty five mile per hour work
zones speed limit on I seventy nine. I'm equally frustrated
by the absence of any state police near the work zones.
Most drivers are going at least seventy five miles per hour.
They don't care that they are endangering themselves, workers, or
me as they selfishly blast through very tight spaces. Ps
(01:17:38):
Ethan sucks. I'm a maga Republican, but I'm nervous about
their chances going forward. Unfortunately, that pendulum is swinging back.
All that means is more insane social rhetoric. No one
can fix the economic problems. This Texter says, West Virginia
(01:17:59):
needs a change in leadership, and independent women voters are
the ones that can make it happen. Our states is
in big trouble. I'm steamed at Dodge and Cummins. I
have a ninety eight Dodge and need a repair made
that only Dodge, Cummins or a couple of independent mechanics
are trained to do. Dodge won't work on anything older
(01:18:19):
than an five. Cummins won't warrant you that repair because
of their agreement with Dodge. The independent mechanics are one
hundred miles away. What do you want me to do?
Three oho four Talk three oh four is the text
line steam. We're familiar with this election year hype for
state paid worker raises, and we will more than likely
(01:18:41):
get the same results as before. Small raises that don't
keep up with the cost of living and the increases
of healthcare insurance.
Speaker 2 (01:18:48):
Off to a good start. Eight hundred and seven to
sixty five Talk is the phone number. If you would
like to call in to release your steam. You can
text your steam to three oh four. Talk three oh
four and producer E Than is fair game back with
more of your steams covered up. Paul and Greg Hank tight.
We'll get to your calls next. This is talk line
from the Encode Insurance studios.
Speaker 29 (01:19:10):
Some say he's a man of mystery, others say he's
the holiday hit maker no one saw coming.
Speaker 7 (01:19:15):
It's showtime.
Speaker 29 (01:19:16):
The holiday hit maker walks the office halls with West
Virginia Lottery holiday scratch offs and an unstoppable spirit.
Speaker 1 (01:19:23):
What are you doing.
Speaker 7 (01:19:25):
Bringing the holiday high here? Enjoy scratch off?
Speaker 4 (01:19:28):
It's on me?
Speaker 1 (01:19:29):
Whoam ticket?
Speaker 7 (01:19:30):
My work here is done?
Speaker 29 (01:19:32):
Be the surprise hit maker. West Virginia Lottery games fun, festive,
and full of flare.
Speaker 30 (01:19:37):
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(01:19:58):
are investing where counts, advancing health, ensuring access to care,
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Speaker 5 (01:20:04):
A message from the West Virginia Hospital Association on mina
WVJA dot org.
Speaker 4 (01:20:21):
Metural News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance and
circling you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit Encova dot com to learn more.
Speaker 2 (01:20:31):
Steam Release continues your chance to vent before we start
the weekend. We're closing in on Christmas. Eight hundred seven
to sixty five. Talk eight hundred seven six five eight
two five five. You can text the show at three
oh four Talk three oh four. We'll get some more
of your text themes in just a moment. Let's go
back to the phones and go to Paul in Pocahontas County.
Speaker 24 (01:20:54):
Hey, Paul, morning, Fellas. My scheme is about getting ripped
off and put upon by the politicians and the illegals
and the bankers. There's three different ways that it's happened.
And or the inflation, all the money that the o
Biden administration pumped into the economy that has destroyed the
(01:21:17):
value of the dollar is one of the reasons why
there's a quote affordability issue. We've got seditious and traitors,
in my opinion, public representatives, both at the federal and
the state level, who don't believe that the law applies
to them anymore. Whether it's like Trickster in Illinois saying
that you know what, we're passing laws that well usurped
(01:21:40):
the supremity clause. Supremacy clause, which is I think what
the Civil War was over saying, you know, we're going
to protect the illegals. And then like up in Wisconsin,
Illian Omar went from being, you know, having a couple
hundred thousand dollars in net worth to tens and hundreds
of millions within a year when all of that COVID
money went in there. Nobody has been held to account.
And until people are held to account all the way
(01:22:03):
back at least five six years for the stuff that's
happened to us and what they've done to our nation,
we're going to just continue to lose faith. And all
those people, whether they got a R or a D
next to their name, because they're all just from the
big UNI party. That's more for me and less for you.
Apparently you have a good.
Speaker 2 (01:22:21):
Day, you too, Paul, and you will feel better because
you got that off your chest.
Speaker 1 (01:22:24):
Let's go to ownA Greg. What's your steam?
Speaker 9 (01:22:28):
Greg faiths?
Speaker 31 (01:22:29):
Greg Riley? Know now, you guys do a great job.
And I won't beat your producer up because he's fantastic.
A couple of quick things, Carol Miller, if anybody wants
to get a good laugh about something, Carol Miller, who
supposed to be my representative in the House, but nobody
ever sees, hears or anything else for her. But she
wrote an editorial in the Washington Examiner, which is like
the Newsmax newspaper, and it's hilarious. It's about everything that's
(01:22:49):
good about healthcare in southern West Virginia. This is a
woman that's voted every single time to eliminate the American
the ACA, of course, Obamacare, whatever you want to call it.
There's thirty three thousand people approximately in her district that
use that. That's the population of Beckley, Bluefield and Logan combined.
So she doesn't care. And you know, when you have
(01:23:10):
that much money, you shouldn't care. Secondarily, on the federal level,
of our wonderful friend Donald Trump keeps talking about how
he's collected trillions and trillions in tariffs at this point,
averaging thirty billion a month. We're going to collect from
the start of this period. We haven't even hit a
trillion yet in his first year. He's going to collect
right out a trillion. So to do trillions, it's going
(01:23:31):
to take at least two years. So we are not
at plural And now we're already having to subsidize farmers
because they're.
Speaker 13 (01:23:37):
Taking a buttl wopan.
Speaker 31 (01:23:38):
If you think the twelve billion they're given to farmers
is going to put a dent in the issue, you're crazy.
Listen to the people in Iowa. They're going to tell
you're going to take forty billion just for their stake.
So thanks, have a good day.
Speaker 1 (01:23:50):
You're welcome.
Speaker 8 (01:23:51):
Greg.
Speaker 2 (01:23:51):
Appreciate the phone call eight hundred and seven to sixty five.
Talk eight hundred seven six' five eight two five five
to call to release your. Steam you can text three
or four talk three oh. Four back to the text
LINE TJ i was robbed at the grocery store last.
Night the obliterated middle class is in big trouble, groceries,
healthcare forget about retirement not, possible says The. Texter affordability
(01:24:16):
is All biden's. Fault, Lol let's Talk trump's. TARIFFS i
appreciate salary, increases but it's very aggravating that the state
administration touts giving state employees a five percent increase when.
Speaker 5 (01:24:29):
It's an average and many are not receiving five. Percent
if you have health care through your employer and they
help with the, cost they write their part, off you
can't make everyone pay it. All stop giving employer health
care three oh four talk three oh four is the text.
Line can anyone remember the last time retired state employees
(01:24:52):
had a salary? Increase the cost of everything is going
up for them and many are. Struggling didn't see it
on the legislative a gen for twenty twenty? Six what
kind of country will our grandchildren live? In how does
a criminal illegal get out of human, trafficking drug, dealing
beating his, wife driving without a, license et. Cetera federal
(01:25:14):
judges making laws instead of following, laws going back on,
welfare free, food, housing, medical while my grandchildren who've served
can't get. ANYTHING i really, enjoyed mister stillwater editors, NOTE
i think they Meant styrwalt BOTH tj and he hit
the nail on the. Head regarding, POLITICS i left both
(01:25:36):
parties long. Ago, ADDITIONALLY i cannot vote for the lesser
of two. Evils have a Merry. CHRISTMAS i finally got my,
revenge says The. Texter people backing up to park just
hit the safety poll an ethan move for.
Speaker 2 (01:25:55):
Sure eight hundred and seven to sixty five talk and
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anthony what's Your Steve, Buddy.
Speaker 8 (01:26:04):
Ethan collins hate chocolate. Milk he drives A Nissan, duke
and he farks in, elevators and he puts long winded
people on your. Program thank, You You're you're.
Speaker 1 (01:26:19):
Welcome anthony eight hundred and seven to sixty five.
Speaker 2 (01:26:21):
Talks the phone number eight hundred and seven sixty five
eight two five. Five the text line is three h four,
talk three oh. Four last call for phone, calls last
call for Text steam, Release let's finish strong back in a.
Speaker 32 (01:26:34):
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(01:26:57):
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Speaker 5 (01:26:58):
Seven, Clarksburg, Yes.
Speaker 32 (01:27:00):
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Speaker 1 (01:27:35):
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Speaker 1 (01:27:42):
Coming it's.
Speaker 29 (01:27:44):
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Speaker 7 (01:27:53):
The holiday high? Here enjoy scratch?
Speaker 4 (01:27:55):
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Me whoa?
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Responsibly last call for phone, calls last call for texts
eight hundred seven sixty Five talk eight hundred seven six
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Speaker 1 (01:28:30):
Is the phone.
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Speaker 5 (01:29:03):
Paul has a loose. Nut the guy needs to touch
some grass and realize That republicans too are breaking it.
Off in his fill in the, blank how are people
feeding their? Children credit cardet is going to go, crazy
says The. Texter dave AND. Tj please Tell Joe pricado
that not only is he the hardest working man in
high school, sports he is now the hardest hitting man
(01:29:25):
in high school. Sports that From. Phil dave AND. Tj
listened to congress Candidate Brett aguire on your radio. Station
she's a. Pistol i'm sure she would write a program
to improve Ethan, dave not one DECENT ufo story since
you took over the. Show unacceptable according to that, Texture
(01:29:50):
my team Asked greg which government program ever lowered the
cost of? ANYTHING aca healthcare costs went through the roof
government takes over student loan, disbursement tuition goes through the
roof social welfare, programs more poor than ever and more
money than ever being thrown at. It but he still
doesn't seem to be one that could be reasoned. With
(01:30:12):
this texture simply Says ethan eats his pizza with a.
Fork it's pretty. GOOD i appreciate Liberal democrats calling the
recent loss Of sarah as an unfortunate incident and using
that as a political football to try to Blame Donald.
Trump these guys are. DISRESPECTFUL i love listening To, steamerly
(01:30:35):
says the. Texture it makes me realize how Good i've got.
It that Guy paul who called, in he referred to
The obiden, Administration what exactly is The obiden? Administration, uh
don't watch not getting, there not getting in. That, no
don't want to be part of your. Lawsuit, Uh paul
(01:30:56):
is the only one who is, informed says the. Texture
THE cdc hit data SHOWING covid vaccines killed thirty eight thousand,
people complete silence from the. Media you wonder why people
don't trust pharmaceutical companies regarding Vaccines dave.
Speaker 2 (01:31:10):
Three of Four talk three of four is the text
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powerball jackpot drawing is for one billion. Dollars Mega millions
jackpots seventy. Million so go ahead play. Today text team
three or Four talk three oh. Four ethan believes aliens are.
Real texter, Says ethan thinks. ASPHALT i can't finish.
Speaker 1 (01:31:55):
THAT i probably, could but it's it's right on the.
Speaker 5 (01:31:58):
Line should we say a substance used to pave?
Speaker 2 (01:32:04):
ROADS i don't understand Why ethan invited this.
Speaker 1 (01:32:09):
TODAY i really don't.
Speaker 5 (01:32:10):
EITHER i, mean maybe he's glutton for, punishment he's on
a mission From. GOD i don't, know BUT i THINK
i would have kept my mouth. Shut three or, Four
talk three or.
Speaker 2 (01:32:20):
Four let me see if there's any we missed.
Speaker 1 (01:32:22):
Here three or, Four talk three or. Four preach.
Speaker 2 (01:32:30):
IT tj nearing thirty nine trillion, debt we address it
by borrowing. More i'll check With visa to ask what can.
Speaker 1 (01:32:37):
CAN i do?
Speaker 2 (01:32:37):
This you're halfway, there, boys government cannot fix any. Problems
the best thing they can do is completely get out
of the way and let the free market handle. It
uh all, right heading into the, weekend big plans the,
weekend you got some time to yourself coming up any
big plans or?
Speaker 5 (01:32:56):
Not just Shi, YEAH i got some stuff with the,
kids activities during the day that they. Have the wife
AND i have some, plans so you had to spending
time with family and trying, to, uh you, know get
that in because you AND i are going to be
busy In january AND i won't be able to make
it to some of their daytime. Stuff so trying to
get the get the stuff in while the getting's. Good
by the, way editors, Note ethan SAYS i needed to be,
(01:33:17):
Humbled so there you.
Speaker 2 (01:33:19):
Go bless his little, heart The texter, says shot out
To Roger hanshaw or keeping it. Real ethan has to
be a good guy for putting up with. This have
a good, Weekend ethan says The. TEXTER i can't read that.
Either you get the feeling Like ethan called his buddies and, said,
(01:33:42):
hey here's your. Chance maybe you need to listen To
steam release.
Speaker 5 (01:33:45):
Today that or he's being extraordinarily mean to people when
they call. In one of the. TWO i don't WHICH
i just don't. See but, YEAH i, MEAN i have no.
Speaker 1 (01:33:54):
Idea i'm glad.
Speaker 5 (01:33:56):
People had this pent up frustration THOUGH i had no
idea about, That so hopefully it's been.
Speaker 2 (01:34:00):
Relieved just glad to Know i'm not the only. One All,
Right TJ's going to be out next. Week you'll have
to put up with me solo next week as we
sort through the happenings of the. Day of, course you
can follow the news of the day over at the
website wv metronews dot. Com hard To believe basketball season
as UPON us high school boys basketball was tipping off this,
(01:34:22):
week teams making their, debuts and of course we will
have a basketball season covered for You joe bro along
With Greg kerry and the rest of the crew over
at the website all season. Long coming Up Metro News,
Midday Dave, Allen Amanda, Baron we'll walk you through the
next three hours on many of these Same metro news radio.
Speaker 1 (01:34:39):
STATIONS. Tj enjoy your Week talk to you.
Speaker 2 (01:34:42):
Later Thanks budy for Jess as talk line On Metro,
news the voice Of West.
Speaker 1 (01:34:45):
Virginia
Made it to a Friday.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
That means Steamerly is coming up second hour, but we've
got lots to discuss before then.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
This is Metro News talk Line.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
We're underway radio.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Turned off from the studios of w v r C
Media and the Metro News Radio and Television Network. The
Voice up West Virginia comes the most powerful show in
West Virginia. This it's Metro News talk Line with Dave
Wilson and t J. Meadows.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Switch that work control from Charles.
Speaker 6 (00:54):
Stand By to David DJ.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
You're on Metronews. Talk Line is presented by Encovia Insurance,
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Visit incovia dot com to learn more.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Good morning, Welcome into the studios the Encobin Insurance Studios.
Dave Wilson in Morgantown and TJ. Meadows is in Charleston.
Glad you could be part of the proceedings on one
of our great radio affiliates across the state of West Virginia,
or if you're watching on the Metro News television app
Ethan Collins is our producer this morning. He's handling the
audio side of things. He's sitting by at eight hundred
(01:33):
seven sixty five Talk eight hundred and seven sixty five
eight two five five.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
That is the phone number.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
You can shoot us a text at three oh four
Talk three oh four. Text lines always open. We read
them all, most we put on the air, and some
will even respond to personally. Jake Link is our video
producer this morning. If you're watching on the Metro News
TV at TJ Meadows in the covi Inshurt Studios on
(01:59):
Virginia Street in Charleston, Good morning, TJ.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
Good morning sir. How are you today doing well?
Speaker 2 (02:05):
How's the weather in the southern part of the state.
Not much going on up here in north central northern
West Virginia today, but apparently there is snow on the way.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
So my neck of the woods from the Greater Tays
Metroplex into the Canal Valley into Charleston this morning. For
the drive, I mean, interstate was crystal clear, smooth sailing,
no problems, a little bit of dustings on the back road,
but I mean, you know, I had that layer on
my car that you can literally just turn the windshield
wipers on and it's gone. Right. So it's cold out,
but yeah, they say, now the focus is going to
(02:36):
be later tonight into tomorrow. Everyone is sharing photos on
social media of the empty bred isle at the local
grocery store. So yeah, people are preparing. Whether or not
anything comes from it, we shall see. But my children
were off school today. They called it last night fairly early,
about eight o'clock.
Speaker 7 (02:53):
So there's that.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
We'll get started on that subject again today school.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
But you know what, I appreciate that if you're gonna
call it, call it that night. Yeah, exactly exactly. And
you know what, if we don't get it, fine, you
took the information you had, made the best decision you
could and as timely a manner as you can. These
people aren't god. I mean, they can't see the future.
Here's what I could never figure out. If somebody, if
(03:20):
somebody has the answer, let let us know.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
What is it you're going to do with all of
the bread and.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Milk during a snowstorm? Go to the grocery store, bread,
milk all gone? Why are you eating that many bolooney
sandwiches during a snowstorm?
Speaker 5 (03:39):
Well, I guess if the power's out, you could make
a PEB and J. Right, So there's the bread, true,
And if it's cold out, which it is, I mean,
you could, you could pack the milk in the snow
and it's not going to go bad. So maybe maybe
it's just that simple. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
And you know, Oh I've told me. We were just
talking before the show started. Guess what we need today?
Guess what I need to stop and pick up on
the way home? Legit, we need a galon of milk?
Really today of all days?
Speaker 8 (04:05):
Really?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
So how many grocery stores are you going to have
to go to be able to well sure that.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I pass about four different Kroger on the way home.
One of them's going to have some milk.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
To have something, okay, Washington, d C.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yesterday, a vote to replace the expiring healthcare subsidies from
the Republicans failed to get sixty votes in the Senate.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
It went down on a fifty one forty eight vote.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The Democratic bill to extend healthcare subsidies for three years
also failed forty one fifty eight.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Where does that leave us? We haven't gotten anywhere when.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
It comes to the healthcare question. Joining us from Washington,
d C. Fox News Radio's Ryan Schmells leads things off
for us this morning with the latest Ryan, Good Morning,
Good to talk to you.
Speaker 9 (04:48):
Good to be on its far to the two time
Spotlight Award winner.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Now, oh congratulations, very nice, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
I didn't know.
Speaker 9 (04:57):
That's why. That's why being a diva, it's all gone
in my head.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
So, Ryan, the Republican bill doesn't get through, the Democratic
bill doesn't get through, which is not a shocker. So
where does that leave us with Christmas break looming?
Speaker 9 (05:13):
Exactly of question?
Speaker 4 (05:17):
You know.
Speaker 9 (05:17):
Now, Speaker Mike Johnson's planning and put some type of
bill on the floor like the early next week. Whether
or not I can be past or not that that's kind
of up in the air. So we'll have to wait
and see what what he comes up with. I mean,
there are some efforts now to kind of go around
the Speaker's head and try to put something on the
on the floor that would be a more moderate solution potentially,
(05:38):
you know. Yeah, Well one of them is like a
one year extension of the tax credits and some other
things like that. So I we'll see what happens. But
but as of right now, it looks like the next
step here is is see what what what what what
Speaker Johnson puts out?
Speaker 5 (05:56):
Ryan, How does the White House factor into all of
this because carol Ian Levitt had some pointed words yesterday
toward Chuck Schumer's ain't look he knew it was going
to fail. He put it on the floor to watch
it fail. Is that accurate?
Speaker 9 (06:10):
Well, I mean, look, Chuck Schumer put a plan on
the floor that he knew was not going to get
a free year extension. Was was was was out of
the question, especially if it if it lacked enough performs
for Republicans to to be okay with, especially if they're
not dealing with the fraud issue, if they're not dealing
with the income cap issue. I mean, there, there, there,
there might there's a valid argument to make that that
(06:32):
this was not the best strategy Schumer took up, when
he took up a strategy that was was always destined
to fail.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Fox News Radios, Ryan Schmels joining us so I writ
a report that satter Susan Collins said two Democratic senators
came up to her and Bernie and Mareno from Ohio
and had some encouraging words about a bipartisan bill, possibly
some sort of compromise.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Is that wishful thinking?
Speaker 8 (06:56):
Uh?
Speaker 9 (06:56):
No, I don't think it is, because, uh there is
a similar bill in the House that kind of looks
or mirrors what Susan Collins and Bernie Moreno are working on,
which is a two year extension that would have kind
of a phase out as well as reforms and then
kind of a plan to replace it down the road.
The Affordable Care Act tax credits, and there's bipartisan legislation
(07:19):
from both Republicans and Democrats on the House side that
has a two year extension with those reforms, and it's
kind of picking up steam there too. So yeah, I mean,
if you already see the House Democrats or some House
Democrats backing a similar framework, it's not shocking that there
might be some Democrats on the Senate side who are
willing to talk to them, especially when you know the
(07:40):
reality is this thing's going to end when one side
is either willing to take yes or take a little
bit of no for an answer.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
So the dem plan, I think three hundred billion over
ten years to extend these subsidies. I'm not sure if
the Republican HSA plan. I know it's a thousand bucks
up to fifteen hundred, but I don't know that that's been
scored in total for a cost. But it seems like
rand Paul is the only one talking about, Hey, you
know what, we can't afford either one of them. So
(08:08):
how does that factor into to all this?
Speaker 9 (08:11):
Oh yeah, I mean if that factors in the fact
that Republicans have ang not like the Affordable Care Act
and wanted to replace Obamacare together and brand Paul staying
consistent on that and saying that, well, the Republican healthcare
plan that was put on the floor yesterday doesn't dot obamacare,
doesn't replace Obamacare, And so I think that's where Paul
was kind of standing with that. But on the other hand,
(08:34):
you know, this is a this isn't the the the
entire Obamacare debate. This is this is about a policy
related to Obamacare that impacts twenty million Americans. You know,
the Obamacare policy units to dotality. That's a that's argument
or a debate that impacts way more than that. So
this is you know, some Republicans, I said, it's just
(08:56):
a small little fraction. And that's why, you know, an
extension is what you have to do, because you know,
the ultimate goal is to find something better to fix
the problem in itself, but you can't really do that.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
In the week, talking to Fox News, radio is Ryan
Schmell's Washington d C. The Senate failed to pass to
the Republican or Democrat bill to address the expiring ACA
subsidies which expire at the end of the month. Ryan,
who has more sway in the Republican Party right now?
The hardliners who don't want Obamacare would like to replace
it and get rid of it, or the moderate sewer
(09:29):
in Purple district saying hey, we've got an electoral problem here.
Speaker 9 (09:35):
God, that's that's very hard to know right now. You know,
because when when any party line vote can fail with
just two Republicans saying no, I think everybody's got a
lot of party a lot of power. So that's that's
a hard question to answer right now.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
Let's think practically about this, firs SEC. Because my understanding
is open enrollment I think closes the fifteenth. So what
today's the twelfth, So you got a couple of days
to do whatever. Nothing's going to happen in those couple
of days. So we're going to have people that either
don't select at all and they just opt out, or
people take the hit. And then if there's some kind
(10:14):
of deal worked out, I mean, do you do open
rollment enrollment again. I mean, I don't know how all this.
Speaker 9 (10:20):
It just seems like it can always extend. I think
you're can extend open enrollment, or or they'll get a
notice after they've already enrolled. It's pretty much just says, hey, look,
you're how your your policy has been changed. You're now
actually going to be only paying this much instead of
that much. That's that's my understanding of how it would work.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
Yeah, but if a lot of people opt out because
they're younger, and they're like, I'm not paying this, I'm
not going to be that sick, and they opt out
and we lose them to that, I mean, it seems
like that's you're going to have to do something to
try to and I know you don't have the answer
to that. I don't either, but the whole thing just
seems so problematic and in a mess after mess.
Speaker 9 (10:55):
This happens when you waits the last minute anything, you know,
it's kind of a mess. And uh, that's the reality
of the situation. But we also have to keep in
mind one of the issues a lot of people had
is that you know, there's there's arguments of this thing
needs to be reformed, that there's people on very high
incomes that are eligible for these tax credits. There's people
who there's there's a fraud issue here too, So I
(11:18):
mean there's a lot of up and down that that
goes on here.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Ran Senator Capito had an availability with media here in
West Virginia yesterday and said that she envisioned next week
before Christmas, that there could be some sort of a
stop gap, a small extension to help people carry over.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
But what's does that.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Have some momentum to at least get through till the
next fight.
Speaker 9 (11:38):
I mean, it's all going to depend on what Sneaker
Johnson and Leader Threo want to do. I mean, look,
if Speaker Johnson and Leader Throom put a one year
extension on the floor right now, it probably would pass.
Whether I don't know if it would get sixty votes
in the Senate, it would get a majority in the House.
So that's that's just I mean, that could always be
the last minute thing that they do is to say,
(11:59):
you know what, let's punt this thing the way we
punt government funding and try to figure out a better
solution to the ACA tax credits between now and next year.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
So Ryan, help us crystallize this for our listeners a bit.
I mean, the threshold seems to be that is being
talked about that I read it seven hundred percent of
the federal poverty line. Do I have that right?
Speaker 9 (12:21):
Something like that?
Speaker 5 (12:23):
So get this household of three people, Dave, that'd be
one hundred and seventy four thousand dollars. Yeah, household of five,
it'd be two hundred and forty six thousand dollars. We're
gonna give somebody making two hundred forty six thousand dollars
some kind of kick. I mean, that's just that seems
crazy to me, Fellas. I don't know if I'm looking
at it the wrong way, but I mean just that
(12:43):
boggles my mind. Ryan.
Speaker 9 (12:45):
Can you send me that please?
Speaker 5 (12:47):
Yeah, sure, be golead to check that to me.
Speaker 9 (12:49):
That's interesting. Yeah, all over that.
Speaker 1 (12:51):
Fox News Radios, Ryan Schmells.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
We're doing his research for him here today.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
On the program.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
Yeah, exactly, really, Ryan, speaking of pun you know what
football coaches always say, Ryan, if you're kicking at the
end of the drive, that's not a bad thing. I
don't know if that applies to politics or not, but
that's what football coaches will tell you.
Speaker 9 (13:06):
I depend, if you're kicking it through the upright.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Well, as long as you're not giving it away to
the other team, you'll take it.
Speaker 9 (13:14):
That's true, that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly exactly, foxs.
My philosophy is always, you know, if if you have
a chance to go up by two scores, you kick,
or if you got a turnover, you take the points
because you got at least have some type of victory
after a turnover.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Fox News Radios, Ryan Schmells, Brian always appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Have a great weekend.
Speaker 9 (13:35):
I have it going guys, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
Coming back on the other side of the break, Republican Democrat.
Can we pay for either one of the proposals anyway,
we'll talk about that right after.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
This care at the health came.
Speaker 9 (13:55):
We are here.
Speaker 10 (13:58):
From all of us who are at the hills. We
want to make your season bright. Whether you're wrapping gifts
or planning next year's goals.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
We're here for you.
Speaker 10 (14:07):
Happy holidays and Merry Christmas from our family.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
To yours.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Me Here.
Speaker 11 (14:18):
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ensuring reliability, security, and affordable electricity throughout the region. Our
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Speaker 2 (16:08):
Text line is three h four Talk three oh four.
We will get to your texts coming up just moments.
Chris Stiwalt will join us at the top of the hour,
and momentum seems to be building for a not just
a pay raise for teachers and school service personnel, but
all public employees, state employees.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
We'll talk about that.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Brad Macklelhenny will join us coming up bottom of the hour.
So Republicans want to provide funding through healthcare savings accounts.
Democrats want to extend the Obamacare tax subsidies. I turned
to my unofficial financial analyst or financial advisor, TJ Meadows. TJ,
you're right about this at wv metro news dot com.
(16:49):
Does it matter which plan it is? Can we afford
either one of them? You know I knew the answer
to the question why well?
Speaker 5 (16:58):
I mean, look, so three hundred billion dollars over ten
years to extend these subsidies, subsidies subsidies by the way,
that were never meant to be permanent. If they were
meant to be permanent, they would have been put into
law perpetually. But the sunset because you knew, even back
in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, you couldn't afford this in
(17:19):
the long term. You were going to hit the fiscal cliff.
And that's what Congress did, because that's what Congress does.
They take the easy way out. So three hundred billion
dollars that we do not have. We have a thirty
eight trillion dollar debt on our way to thirty nine
trillion dollars DAVE the first two months of the fiscal year,
we've already went into deficit. Four hundred billion dollars money
(17:44):
we do not have. That We will have to go
to the market and bond the Republican plan one thousand
bucks in an HSA fifteen hundred depending on your age. Great,
I love HSAS. I think that's a good way to
do things. Where are we going to get that money?
We don't have that much to dole out to people either,
here's the truth. We are already doing more than we
(18:07):
fiscally can. Just look at the balance sheet and you
will see it. We're not talking about reforming social Security,
we're not talking about Medicare, Medicaid, we're not talking about defense.
We're not talking about how to manage the nut that
we have to cover on the existing debt every month,
and yet we want to add another three hundred billion.
Here's the truth. I don't like it more than anybody
(18:28):
likes it. We can't afford it. Washington can't fix this.
So if this is a priority, something else has to
give brother, something else has to come off the balance sheet,
and that's not going to happen. We're not going to
tell the American public that, because that would be admitting
government can't fix this, and that's not how politicians get elected. God,
I think the whole thing is.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Just government has to fix it because if government created
the problem, well government created the problem.
Speaker 5 (18:54):
That's fair.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
And I don't know.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
I was thinking about this yesterday and I'm not sure,
but I'll toss this out there. Yeah, this is why
crafting legislation and not having any sort of compromise, not
having any sort of buy in from the opposite party
that the party that's not empowered, the minority party doesn't work.
Obamacare was what Democrat bill, Not a single Republican of
(19:17):
votes for it, completely Democrat bill, and then you have
this mess. Republicans do the same thing. They passed the
one big beautiful bill. They don't get any Democrat input.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
What do you get.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
You end up with a mess. You end up with
a mess when you do this. One party's just going
to be obstructionist. One party's going to jam through whatever
they want to do. Look where we end up. We
end up in the same mess. Twenty years after Obamacare
is passed. What are we talking about TJ healthcare affordabilding.
We can't afford healthcare. That was supposed to fix it
twenty years ago, and here we are.
Speaker 5 (19:46):
And the short term pain. If you turn these subsidies off,
people will opt out, just like we were talking about.
If enough people opt out, you're going to see insurance companies,
healthcare companies, You're going to see them with liquidity problems.
What will they do? They'll have to compete and figure
(20:06):
out how to get market share back. It may take
a while, but the government trying to figure out how
to prop up this utopian idea as good as it is.
I want everybody to have healthcare. I mean, I don't
want to see anybody struggle. We can't afford it unless
we cut something else. So tell me what you want
to cut.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Ah, But there it lies the problem, right.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Yeah, no, want to get there.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
We never Look what's the third rail of politics. You
never touch medicare, so never touch those. Security, you never
touch defense spending. Well, heck, that's what three quarters of
the budget or more.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Yeah, translation, Dave, we can't do this. It does not work.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
But the sad truth is, you know what we do,
we will, they will. It's either going to be HSA's
or it's going to be an extension of these tax credits.
Probably going to be an extension of the tax credits
for a year while they peddle around and try to
figure this out again.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
Which leads to a devaluing of the currency, which means
everybody who worked hard, saved, et cetera, they're the ones
that are going to take it on the chin.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
That's why you build a house somewhere up in the
mountains of Tucker County, Man and just become a hermit.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
It's looking more and more attractive.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Sir, I'm telling you, when I win that billion dollars
this weekend, buddy in the power ball nice, you'll never
see me again.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Be up in the mountain somewhere.
Speaker 13 (21:24):
Well.
Speaker 5 (21:24):
At the rate of inflation, we're going to see a
billion dollars in ing. Didn't take you that far, dylib
so good luck to you.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
Coming up, Brad mclheney will join us. There's some momentum
building heading into the LEG'SLAFE session for a public employee
pay raises. Plus what the Center Capitol and Center Justice
have to say about the ACA credits. This is talk
Line Metro News for forty years, the voice of West Virginia.
It's ten thirty. Let's get a news update. Check in
with the Metro News radio network. Find out what's happening
(21:52):
across the great state of West Virginia.
Speaker 14 (21:55):
West Virginia Metro News. I in Jeff Jenkins, the West
Virginia First Foundation has made his decisions what efforts across
the state will receive part of the eighteen million dollars
in opioid settlement funds going out in the Momentum Initiative
grant cycle. West Virginia First Board Treasurer Jeff Sandy says
the money is going to things like efforts to help
in the foster care arena, youth prevention and recovery housing.
Speaker 15 (22:16):
This proxim with eighteen million dollars is going to make
a difference in the state, and it's what this foundation
was made for.
Speaker 7 (22:24):
So it's it's a great day from West Virginia.
Speaker 14 (22:26):
West Virginia First says that we're released the specific grant
of WARS before the end of the year. Governor Patrick
Morrissey says he agrees with GOP leaders in the House
of Delegates that teachers and school service personnel should get
a pay raise in the next fiscal year's budget. Morsey
says he's on board with giving the education workers more,
but also he wants to extend that to all state workers.
Speaker 16 (22:44):
We know that the people were trying to help today.
These are the people that are teaching our kids, they're
fixing our roads and bridges, they're guarding our prisons, they're
protecting us from the bad people out there, and they
administer many of the programs that our citizens rely on.
Speaker 14 (22:59):
So look for the propose so in the legislative session
that begins January fourteenth, Parkersburg Police DA had tragic shooting
from earlier this week took an even more tragic turn
Thursday when one of the eighteen year olds who was
injured died. Parkersburg policey's Matthew Bortsay's Brady Florence Deye from
injury suffered in Monday's shooting, and the alleged shooter, eighteen
year old Butch Night, is now charged with murder. You're
(23:19):
listening to Metro News for forty years, the Voice of
West Virginia with.
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Speaker 18 (23:52):
Hey, there, Chris Lawrence here from the West Virginia Morning
News and West Virginia Outdoors, and I want to take
just a moment to thank you from the bottom of
my heart for starting your day with us here at
Metro News all year long, and I hope you and
your family have a wonderful Christmas season and a happy
New Year.
Speaker 19 (24:08):
This is Coop del Cooper from hotline around here. We
are all in when making this the best holiday. From me,
Dave and the entire Metro News hotline crew, we wish
you a very merry Christmas and the happiest of holidays.
Speaker 14 (24:22):
We expect more information later today from the Cabo County
Sherifes Department on a fatal wreck. The one vehicle crash
happened last night around ten o'clock on US Route sixty
near Ona. The Martinsburg Berkeley County Public Libraries has announced
its main branch in downtown Martinsburg reopened two patrons in February.
The building has been closed since August twenty twenty four
(24:43):
for US bestest abatement and HVAC work, and it's nearing completion.
From the Metro News anchor desk, I'm Jeff Jenkins.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
A couple of texts at three h four Talk three
oh four.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I was asking why do you need to go get
bread and milk prior to a snowstorm. Text says French toast.
That's a fair answer. Yeah, Uh, guys, you need milk
for snow cream? Also a good answer, you ever had
snow cream?
Speaker 5 (25:27):
You know I have not.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
You're missing out?
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Uh three or four talk three of four guys. We
need to stop talking about how to make health insurance
more affordable. That is just a symptom of the problem.
The real con artists committing fraud abuse here are all
the healthcare providers charging inexcusable prices for basic healthcare. Make
healthcare affordable, and the predatory healthcare insurance con goes away
as well. Says the text, I don't think that's the
(25:55):
craziest thought, but the reality is that's just that's not
going to happen.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
But we've all sat there on you know, I wonder
how much this will cost if I paid for it
instead of the health insurance company.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
But it's just not going to happen.
Speaker 5 (26:09):
One thing at a time. This is linear. I think,
one problem at a time, frankly. But you know, let's
think about this. Let's let's let's be what's whiteboard for
a minute. If enough people opted out and just said
I'm done with it, I'm done with it, you would
have to have some level of change there. That's a catalyst.
(26:34):
It's just a matter of how many people are willing
to do that. Because markets, products, companies have to adapt.
I mean, look how quickly some of the Wall Street
houses fell with eight and what happened with the mortgage crisis.
Lehman was fine, they had billions in the bank two
days later, that liquidity done. It can happen that quick.
(26:55):
It's just is there enough of a catalyst to make
it happen. I don't know, but Uncle Sam can't fix
I'm just trying to be honest with people. They cannot fix.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
This text rites. Seems pretty logical to pass a twelve
month constant continuation of the subsidies and during that year
figure out a proper fix.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
The rest of this is all theater.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Hopefully, I'm not the only American growing tired of this
complete lack of functionality by Congress.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
I would say, no, you are not shame on Congress.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
I agree that health insurance needs an overhaul, but they
did not do it. Unwilling and unable to do their jobs.
One representative said they had a plan for healthcare. To date,
they have done nothing to take away affordable health insurance
during open enrollment enrollment. It is cruel and pathetic. I
would not do that to my worst enemy. Pathetic, all
of them, says the Texter. Three oh four Talk three
(27:43):
h four of the text line eight hundred and seven
and sixty five talk. We'll get to more of your text
coming up. Senator Capito talked about ACA subsidies during a
press availability yesterday. Also, Centater Justice has been quoted his
thoughts about the vote yesterday. Mech New state Wide correspondent
Brad Henny is keeping track of that and more, and
he joins us on Metro News talk Line.
Speaker 6 (28:03):
Brad, good morning, Oh Hi, good morning guys.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
We talked yesterday about Senator Capito's comments a little bit.
She spoke with the media prior to your appearance on
Metro News talk Line. But Senator Justice has also weighed
in and he's thinking about the ramifications this could have
on the twenty six midterms.
Speaker 6 (28:20):
Yeah, Freshman Senator Jim Justice, I think is in line
with some of your textures on his thinking. So this
is national reporting. Senator Jim Justice, if you're out there,
you know, you're welcome to call the show. But the
national folks quote him regularly. And you know, he's doing
some political prognosis, saying that midterms are coming up before
(28:44):
you know, and the Republican Party could face some ramifications
out of the failure to do anything on this health
insurance issue. He said, if you're not concerned, then you're
living in a cave. That's the kind of talk that
we're used to from Jim Justice, a regular phrase, if
you're living in a cave. If you're not watching the
(29:05):
elections that are happening all the time, then you're living
in a cave. And then more gym justice. For God's
sake of living, we can't wait until ten days before
the end of the year and then repair health care.
And then finally said that you know, the things that
the Republican majorities in Congress have been doing are going
(29:28):
to just get walloped by this healthcare message. He said,
quote the messaging is not resonating with a lot of
voters that we need to resonate with. Democrats are professional
at it. We're not good at it. But that might
be another arguing point among among the listeners whether whether
Democrats are truly good messages. But that's that's Freshman Senator
(29:50):
Jim Justice's.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Take that aside, and I appreciate his candor. I didn't
hear a fix in there anywhere.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
You know, I I was looking for a roll call
on yesterday's vote. My belief is that Senator Justice voted
for the Republican backed version of the bill, which was
the one with health savings accounts. I saw the list
of a few Republicans who voted for the Democratic offering,
(30:20):
and Jim Justice was not among those. But yeah, you know,
in fairness to him, he's one of one hundred members
of the US Senate, but we are not, and so
he therefore has not control over the whole situation, but
more swayed than Dave and bradon TJ.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
He may not offer a fix there, but I think
I agree with his observations. You can't wait until ten
days before the deadline to come up with a fix
to a major issue. Democrats, at least on this issue,
are much better on the messaging and that is resonating
with voters. You can see that in the polling data.
And if you think that's this is going to have
(31:01):
a negative impact on Republicans in the twenty six midterms,
I think his observations are pretty spot on there. Yes,
he didn't offer a solution, but the observations are in
the ballpark.
Speaker 6 (31:14):
Yeah. So you know, the open enrollment period for the
Affordable Care Act began in November. There was an entire
shutdown over this issue. Came out of the shutdown, and
the only resolution was to have the vote that occurred yesterday.
There is still the possibility that the House of Representatives
somehow pulls a rabbit out of the hat next week
(31:35):
before going on Christmas break. But the financial effects for
people who benefit from the Affordable Care Act subsidies, that's
going to hit at the end of the year and
they're going to get walloped in the pocketbook. And Dave
and Brad and TJ are going to hear about this
in terms of election messaging at this point all the
way through the midterms.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Oh, go ahead to sorry, Tjay.
Speaker 5 (31:58):
I was just gonna say, I took a look. It's
a measure three three eight six motion to closure. That's
the Republican plan. He did vote yes. He voted no
on the Schumer motion. So there you go. You can
reset Dave.
Speaker 7 (32:10):
Sorry mention.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
New state wide correspondent Brad McIlhenny joining US Brad yesterday.
Governor Morrissey held a news conference, and the momentum is building,
at least prior to the start of the legislative session
for a public employee pay raise. We've seen momentum going
into sessions before and then nothing happened. But this feels
like you got the governor, you got the House on board.
Something's going to happen this year.
Speaker 6 (32:33):
Well, I think so. And you know, the people have
been talking generally about needing to fix PIA problems with
the cost of state health insurance plans. But there was
a fairly modest premium increase that just was voted into
effect for the coming year, a three percent increase. To
(32:55):
my thinking, you know, public employees did not receive a
pay raise last year, and I thought, oh, you know,
even with a modest insurance increase through PEIA, if they
don't get a pay raise this year, then there might
be some political ramifications. You might really see people begin
to be upset. Well, I think this, you know, begins
(33:16):
to assure those folks. The House majority in the House
of Delegates had a press conference earlier this week. One
of the main takeaways was their support for pay raises
for teachers and public employees. I heard the governor going
a little bit further, you know, I think he described
a broader pay increase for you know, all public employees
(33:40):
who are covered through general revenue, teachers, school service personnel,
state police, correction officers, and other workers. So I think,
you know, what I heard was a more specific description
of a pay raise for educators from the House majority
and then to my ear the governor and broaden that.
Speaker 5 (34:01):
So this may not be politically popular, but that three percent,
that keeping even with inflation, I think you have to
do that because otherwise you're asking state workers to take
a pay cut year after year if they don't at
least keep the buying power that they have. I almost
believe that that should be formulaic. And then if there
are merit increases for certain positions or for performance of
(34:25):
employee A over employee B, or employee B doing better
than employee A, then all right, then there's a kicker
there that you can budget in. But if we're not
at least keeping pace with inflation, we're effectively asking everyone
that's employed by the state of West Virginia to take
a pay cut every year. And that's that's just not prudent.
In my humble opinion bred mm hm.
Speaker 6 (34:48):
The you know, so the three percent that I referenced
was the premium increase for PIA. What we don't know,
I don't think, is the details of the proposed pay
raises for public employees. I didn't hear a percentage or
anything applied to what the governor was suggesting. After the
(35:09):
House Majority press conference earlier this week, our Jeff Jenkins
spoke with House Finance Chairman Vernon Chris and the takeaway
from that was maybe five percent roughly ballpark for educators.
But you know these things. The governor is going to
(35:30):
have his plan, that the House and the Senate are
going to roll that plan through, and they may tinker
with it. We could come out with a different percentage
or different details. So I think all of that is
not fully clear at this moment.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
I think the consensus here at Fellas and both of
you can weigh in. Look, this is an election here.
Every member in the House is up for election. Half
the Senate's up for election this year. To not do
some sort of public employee pay increase would not sit
well when you have primaries a couple of months after
the session and then the general election November. Something is
(36:05):
going to happen this year is I don't want to
say that's a guarantee, but are we all confident something
will happen?
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Go first, brad Well.
Speaker 6 (36:14):
I think so. You know, fortunately for all of us,
there is not a teacher strike every year, but I
certainly lived through the experience of seeing teachers just flood
the capitol, and what prompted them was increasing insurance costs
without corresponding pay raises. Again, that doesn't happen every year,
but I still have a little trauma. So when those
(36:39):
when those situations align, when there are increased insurance costs
and then nothing being done on pay raises, I get
a little twitchy.
Speaker 5 (36:49):
That's why I think something formulaic, Dave, if we could
work it out, would be beneficial because it would take
the politics out of it to some extent, and some
baseline formulaic operation that accounts for inflation and then has
a merit system that not a politician but a supervisor
in whatever department can employ. I'd like to see it
(37:12):
mirror more the private sector myself. I get that's asking
a lot, but that's where I'm at.
Speaker 6 (37:17):
I think, Oh, go ahead, brad Well, can I chime in?
I have a political theory. I have a political theory,
which is the politicians want to take credit for things,
and so if it's automatic, then it's harder to take credit.
You know, you can campaign on. I brought home a
pay increase for public employees in my district, especially school boards,
(37:37):
which are often the largest employers, And to broaden that
out a little bit, I wonder if politically the legislature
hasn't made a mistake in having the tax cuts, the
personal income tax cuts be automated according to formula because
if it required a vote to have those tax cuts,
they could take credit. That's an interesting theory, Brad. Not
(38:01):
that you're wrong, that's it's I haven't thought about the
second one.
Speaker 5 (38:04):
But make them earn it, Brad. You ever speak at
an event and when they're introducing you, people start clapping.
I'm like, uh uh uh, make me earn it. Clap
after if I'm worth it, Make the politicians earn it.
Speaker 1 (38:14):
But TJ.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
So your point the formulaic, I think you're honest. O.
There the formulaic, like year over year account for inflation.
Part of that makes sense. What you'll never get is
the merit based part of that, because how long have
we had this debate some way of evaluating is you know, public.
Speaker 1 (38:32):
School teachers, school teachers, how do we evaluate them?
Speaker 2 (38:34):
How do we weed out the bad ones and reward
the good ones? And we never come up with a
good answer for that. And there's generally a lot of
pushback from the unions when it comes to that topic
as well.
Speaker 5 (38:43):
So let a principle figure that out.
Speaker 1 (38:46):
Let's give these schools work. You know how schools work.
Speaker 2 (38:49):
You have to have a set policy that says this, this,
this this, there's we can figure subjective reasoning.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
We can talk about the way it is, or we
could talk about the way it ought to be. And
I want to talk about the way it ought to be. Well,
I take your point, your.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Points about an academic exercise, the way it is, the
way it is, right.
Speaker 5 (39:07):
I gotta I gotta inspire change, man.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
You know, Brad.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
Mclhenny always inspires change. He's the hardest working man in
news media. Brad always appreciated, buddy.
Speaker 6 (39:19):
Thanks, thanks, and may may everybody get a raise this year.
Merry Christmas.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
Everybody deserves it.
Speaker 5 (39:25):
Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Brad mcleheney match the New state Wide correspond Read his
work at wv metro News dot com. We'll read your
work coming up. Next, we'll get to the text line
at three or four Talk three oh four. This is
talk line from the Cove Insurance studios.
Speaker 20 (39:39):
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Speaker 21 (40:08):
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Speaker 2 (41:01):
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Mega Millions jackpot is seventy millions. Go ahead, play today.
Let's get some of your thoughts at three or four
Talk three oh four. That is the text line. Many
people voted for Trump because he said that he could
fix affordability. Eleven months into his term, costs of everything
other than gasoline is higher. One million jobs have been lost.
(41:45):
He is giving farmers twelve billion dollars to make up
for the loss of income caused by his tariffs on China.
He failed in the business world, and he is doing
the same as presidents three or four Talk three or
four TJ. Some people have their businesses listed as personal income.
It does not mean they are personally getting that much money,
says the Texter.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
I mean, I get that, but it depends on how
you file it. I mean, the federal poverty line is
a net number, I believe, so I'll look into that,
and I guess it depends if you're an ask it
can get very complicated, very quickly. But all I'm saying is,
I think seven hundred percent of the poverty line with
those that's a bit too high.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Texter says, when everybody wants to debate healthcare, why don't
they actually talk about health care? Insurance is not healthcare.
Part of the problem with the extreme insurance premiums is
the high cost of healthcare itself. There are so many
things that could be done to bring down the cost
of actual health care, which theoretically should be able to
bring down the cost of the insurance, says Barry. And
(42:47):
Fairmont Texter says, I'm twenty eight years old and have
to supply my own health insurance. I opted out of
insurance for twenty twenty six due to my insurance rising
six hundred and ninety three dollars a month.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Can I afford it? Yes?
Speaker 2 (42:59):
But how I supposed to possibly build a house and
raise a family in the next year's with paying that
much on top of everything else. I am a Republican,
but I agree with the Democrats on this when people
like me really really rely on that tax credit, thanks,
says the Texter.
Speaker 5 (43:15):
Yeah, they're going to opt out.
Speaker 2 (43:17):
And I think that texter is a is a good
reason why, or a good example of why Republicans are,
especially in purple districts, very nervous about the twenty six
min terms. This is going to be affordability, which nobody
can really define TJ. That's becoming one of my new
pet peeves. Not quite in the top ten yet, but
(43:38):
it's creeping up. What is affordability that the Texter mentioned
Trump was going to fix affordability?
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Can you define it?
Speaker 5 (43:43):
What is affordability? And you never will define it? Because
here's the truth. Presidents of the United States can do
very little, if anything, I'll say, if anything, to control prices.
But they can sure create policies that drive prices hired. Now,
don't get me wrong about that, but as far as
bringing them down, that's a market function. People are too
(44:05):
I don't think I don't think Americans buy this. I'm sorry,
I don't by way that the president can do something
about it. For that's a market.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
You don't think they can buy it? Democrats are campaigning
on it right Well, I don't.
Speaker 5 (44:17):
Think they will buy it, is what I'm saying. Do
we really think the president in the United States controls
the price of oil?
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (44:24):
You do?
Speaker 1 (44:25):
No, not me?
Speaker 2 (44:26):
Yes, the general populace. Sure, what are Democrats campaigning on
right now? What are they going to campaign on in
twenty six and in twenty eight? I would hold what
a Trump campaign on to bring down the price of eggs.
Speaker 5 (44:40):
That people would see through all of that? I'm sorry, No,
I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, independent from Mars.
I don't care if you said in the Oval Office
you do nothing. You control the price of oil. Now,
you can screw the system up really good to raise it,
but as far as being able to bring it down,
you know who controls the price of oil? O Pack,
O Pack and Brent Krude period final break back in
(45:03):
a moment.
Speaker 15 (45:07):
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(45:28):
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Speaker 12 (46:30):
A message from the West Virginia Hospital Association Onlina WVJ
dot org.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Three or four Talk three or four David TJ. When
does the Inflation Reduction Act kick in? Asking for a friend?
Speaker 1 (46:56):
Says the text.
Speaker 5 (47:00):
Christian asked Joe yesterday. I didn't even think about that.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
That's a good quint. Maybe Chris Tirewald has the answer.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
He'll join us coming up six minutes from now, and
Steam release on its way at eleven thirty three.
Speaker 1 (47:14):
This is Talkline on Metro.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
News for forty years, the voice of West Virginia.
Speaker 4 (47:29):
Metro News Talkline is presented by Encovia Insurance, encircling you
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encova dot com to learn more.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Second hour of Metro News talk Line from the Cove
Insurance Studios. Thank you for being parts of the festivities
today one of our great radio affiliates across the state
of West Virginia. Or if you're watching on Metro News Television,
Jake Link is our video producer and Ethan Collins is handling.
Speaker 1 (47:56):
The phones this morning. Eight hundred and seven to sixty five.
Speaker 2 (47:59):
Talk is the phone number eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two five five. You can text the show
at three or four talk three oh four. Keep those
numbers handy because Steamerlease is coming up at the bottom
of the hour. Your chance to Vince. Heading in to
the weekend, once again, say good morning.
Speaker 1 (48:19):
TJ.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
Meadows down in the Charleston Bureau, Good morning, sir.
Speaker 5 (48:23):
Good morning. No, I am not an OPEK analyst. I
know enough to be dangerous, but I am not an
OPEQ analyst.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
Speaking of knowing just enough to be dangerous. All right,
That transition works sort of. Chris Direwalt is the politics
editor for The Hill and News Nation, host of The
Hill Sunday on News Nation, and a Senior Fellow at
the American Enterprise Institute, as well as a best selling author.
He joins us on Metro News talk line.
Speaker 22 (48:48):
Good morning, Chris, I are we gonna talk about it?
You look you're looking kind of snatched. You look you're
looking like you're you've been working out or is the
beard trim tighter? You look like a per who, you
look like a country musician who is fresh out of rehab.
And it it it really, it's work. I just want
to say, for people who aren't watching, it's working for you.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
Okay, I'll take that. I'll take that.
Speaker 22 (49:13):
Have you been working out you can say that if
you can admit it, if you have.
Speaker 1 (49:17):
No I think it's well.
Speaker 2 (49:18):
You know, Chris, you wear dark colors on television when
you're on video where dark colors?
Speaker 7 (49:23):
Who are you telling? Who are you telling?
Speaker 1 (49:27):
I found that out the hard way.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
I'm like, oh, that that gray shirt does not look
good on There's shadows, man, there are.
Speaker 7 (49:33):
Shadows, exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (49:36):
Chris Diarwald joins, all right, Chris, so we've been We
spent a lot of the first hour talking about the
ACA subsidies, what the Senate did and did not do,
the political ramifications for all this you right over at
the Hill dot Com this week and your whole hog politics.
This just continues a slump for the Trump administration.
Speaker 22 (49:56):
Elaborate, please, well, the political coalition that includes West Virginia
is going to want government subsidized healthcare. Whether that coalition
is a Democratic coalition or a Republican coalition, the coalition
(50:16):
that can win West Virginia beyond the reach of the
other party even contesting it right is going to sooner
or later want more government subsidy for health care. And
the Republicans are in a weird place where the Republicans
who are in Congress are mostly old Republicans, and both
(50:41):
in the literal and figurative sense. But most of the
people who are Republicans are conservatives in Congress because they
came from a time when that was the currency of
the Republican Party. But the Republican Party is now a
working person's party. It is increasingly a blue collar party.
(51:04):
And you know, we've talked about it before, but if
you have the New Deal Coalition, you're going to need
to have New Deal policies. And you know, we heard
Vice President Vance talk about how the admiration he has
for Zoron Mamdani and Donald Trump had his bro out
(51:25):
with Zoron Mamdani in the Oval Office. It's yes, it's
about the modes and the personalities and the style, but
ultimately people want things like subsidized health insurance and Western
Jaime is a perfect example of a state that was
(51:46):
as democratic as it is now Republican for seventy five
years or something, and that's the Those are the interests
that people who are blue.
Speaker 7 (51:57):
Collar or poor want. That's what they want, and the
Republicans sooner or later are going to give it to them.
Speaker 5 (52:04):
I'm want a fourth house in Saint Lucia. That's not
going to happen. When are we going to be fiscally
responsible and tell people what we can and can't do?
Speaker 7 (52:12):
Oh now, come come on, come on.
Speaker 22 (52:17):
You know perfectly well that we are not in the
business politics in politics these days of telling people the truth.
Speaker 7 (52:28):
We are not in the.
Speaker 22 (52:28):
Business of the decency and dignity that comes with patriotic
obligation of telling people the bad news. We're going to
tell people it's the other people's fault, and then we're
going to replicate the same errors that the other people do,
but we're going to tilt it in favor of our
preferred policies and then hope that when the game of
(52:51):
musical chairs stops that they happen to be the one
standing up when that happens. But there is a there
are there's more bipartisanship in Washington than people think. And
one area of absolute ironclad bipartisan consensus is that they
both are going to keep destroying the currency, They're both
(53:13):
going to keep spending into oblivion, and they're just going
to hope that they're not the ones who happen to
be in charge at the time that more serious and
more urgent consequences come in.
Speaker 2 (53:24):
So we're just playing a game of roulette to see
who's going to be in the majority when this guy
actually does fall right.
Speaker 22 (53:31):
And the problem about a fatalistic point of view like
that is that it takes a lot long.
Speaker 7 (53:39):
It takes a lot longer than you think.
Speaker 22 (53:43):
As a great philosopher, Norman Peterson said, how's life, mister Peterson,
And he said, taking forever? And the truth, of course
is that it's interesting to think, much like for people
with climate change, it's interesting to think about. They made
a movie a long time ago called the I think
(54:03):
it was called The Day After Tomorrow, and the Earth
was destroyed, the polar ice caps flooded the world with
cold water, and a new ice age came on and
like you know, Dick Cheney was eaten by a saber
tooth tiger or something. It's fun, it's cool. They made
it more recently a movie called Don't Look Up they made.
(54:26):
But the problem with things like climate change, but certainly
the problem of the debt is that and the inflationary
consequences of overspending. The problem is it isn't a cataclysm
that comes one day. It's a cataclysm that happens bit
by bit by bit by bit by bit, and we
(54:48):
see it every day. Why what's wrong with the economy.
There are a lot of things that are wrong with
the economy. One of the things that's wrong with the
economy is that in that bipartisan consensus to oblivion is
that we're not allowed to have recessions. We're not allowed
to have corrections. Every job must be held in place,
everything must happen, and there can't be what keeps a
(55:12):
market economy functioning, which are processions?
Speaker 7 (55:15):
Right?
Speaker 22 (55:15):
It's the boom that gives it's the bus that gives
you the boom. But we are going to have the
Federal Reserve keep floating money. When you know, when General
Motors was bankrupt, the correct answer was for General Motors
to be bankrupt because it was instead they said, we're
going to give you free money and we're going to
cancel your debt because it's too important to us to
(55:37):
keep this alive. The longer we go without consequences, and
of trying to avoid the very shortest term consequences, the
medium term consequences like people can't buy houses, right, young
people can't buy houses. Even with rate cuts, they can't
(55:57):
buy houses. And there are many reasons that that is true.
But one of the reasons that that is true is
that self interested, craven politicians have decided in this century
that there were just they're not They can't countenance a
single bad election cycle, so they're just going to try
to rig the system so that the news is always good,
(56:18):
and that means the news gets worse and worse over time.
Speaker 5 (56:22):
So Chris, as Jefferson might say, all of this sounds
like it needs a little natural manure in order to
in order to resolve these problems. My question is that
a possibility in this two party system that seems, as
you point out, isn't all that isn't all that separated.
(56:43):
It's a very bipartisan effort. Is there anything that writes
the ship here and where does it come from? What
does it look like.
Speaker 22 (56:50):
At some point? Well, we know the answer for Republicans
is that as their coalition is more dependent on working
class voters, we know what the trajectory of the Republican
Party is like for at least the medium term. Conservatives
are going to have a harder and harder time in
(57:10):
the new Republican Party. Noah Rothman wrote a great piece
at National Review said, what's the problem with the Republican
Party right now? So many of them are Democrats? And
if you're a conservative like Noah Rothman is that's a problem.
So we know that question now. The other we know
(57:32):
the answer to that question. Question for the other party
is will they accept those voters?
Speaker 7 (57:38):
Right?
Speaker 22 (57:39):
Will can Democrats? And this is the matter before Democrats
for twenty twenty six. Are they willing to allow affluent,
educated suburbanites who on whom their coalition rests. Are they
willing to let them have fiscal restraint? Are they willing
to let them have Are they willing to give those
voters what they want? And as we saw in the
(58:01):
Tennessee special election last week or whenever it was, when
you don't give those voters what they want, you don't win.
And we have a race to the bottom that the
American people are losing. But the open question for Democrats
in the medium term is will are they a party
that is willing to do what Bill Clinton did before
(58:22):
and offer a home for fiscal restraint for all.
Speaker 7 (58:27):
Of that stuff.
Speaker 22 (58:28):
Bill Clinton couldn't have balanced the budget without the peace
divid end and the end of the Cold War.
Speaker 7 (58:34):
But he also wouldn't.
Speaker 22 (58:35):
Have balanced the budget unless he saw the political necessity
of doing it and bringing those Ross Perot kind of
voters into his coalition for his ninety six reelect. And
that's the question before the Democratic Party today, Chris.
Speaker 2 (58:51):
I think they've at least taken a step that direction,
that they've backed off the social stuff, right, the crazy
social stuff that pushed so many people toward Trump to
the Republicans.
Speaker 1 (59:00):
They've eased off of that. If they ease.
Speaker 2 (59:03):
Into that, they can't rebuild the Obama coalition. I mean,
he was a once in a lifetime political figure, just
like Republicans can't rebuild the Trump coalition no matter how
much they want to. I see a s at least
from my very novice view, I see a sliver of
them accepting a step in that direction.
Speaker 1 (59:23):
It's not crazy.
Speaker 2 (59:24):
I think you take one more and you could bring
these type of voters into the into a new coalition.
Speaker 7 (59:30):
What do you think the Democratic twenty twenty eight primary
is going to be?
Speaker 10 (59:34):
Like?
Speaker 1 (59:35):
What do I think it's going to be? Like?
Speaker 7 (59:37):
Yeah, what do you think that's going to look like?
Speaker 1 (59:40):
Personality? Wise or messaging wise.
Speaker 22 (59:43):
I think it's going to look like the rough and
rowdy at the Charleston Civic Center. I think it's going
to be a it's going to be some guy from
Marmette jacked up on Mountain Dew coming off the top rope,
coming off the top rope and just hummeling the face
of some guy with Jim muscles. And it's going to
(01:00:05):
be it's going to be wild. And the reason it's
going to be wild is that the Democrats, the leadership
of the Democratic Party said you must accept Joe Biden,
and they were like, uh, oh, he's almost dead. You
must now accept Kamala Harris. And the Democratic rank and
file said, okay, we'll do it. In order to beat
(01:00:26):
Donald Trump. We will moderate, we will allow somebody who
It would be wrong to say that Kamala Harris moderated
her positions, but she moderated her rhetoric and worked very
hard to say nothing. The whole emphasis of her brief
presidential campaign was to say nothing, used many words to
say nothing. And progressive and democratic socialists are not going
(01:00:52):
to be very easy to placate this time around. And
the question that hangs over all of that is how
concerned will Democrats be not in November of twenty twenty eight,
How concerned will Democrats be in January, February, March of
twenty twenty eight about Republicans holding onto the White House.
(01:01:13):
If it looks like a credible threat, if JD vance
looks strong, if the economy's good, if things are good,
Democrats may find motivation to moderate. If Donald Trump is
you know, he's at a thirty in the new AP
Nork poll. He's at thirty six percent. He's got fifteen
percent approval rating on handling of the economy by independence,
(01:01:37):
it is very, very bad. If Trump has numbers like
that a year and three months from now, Democrats are
going to want to go bananas. They're going to want
to go AOC. They're going to want to They're going
to want to do it all, and they might lose
in November as a consequence. But the answer, the very
long answer to your question is party don't make ideological
(01:02:01):
choices at all. Candidates make ideological choices, and the willingness
of the voters in a party to accept sensible moderation
and an outreach to swing voters is rooted in what
their fear of the other side. And if Democrats aren't
afraid of the other side, they're going to go bananas.
Speaker 5 (01:02:24):
So let's go to the Republican side. Because to layout
an analogy, as a guy who is a traditional conservative,
I feel like the Republican primary is going to be
an exercise in I'm going shopping from store to store
to store to store, and I can't find anything I like.
I mean, it's just I can't identify with any of
(01:02:47):
these folks.
Speaker 7 (01:02:48):
That doesn't it's been doesn't it feel good? Though?
Speaker 22 (01:02:52):
I know if if as a journalist, right because you
are no like it or not, Yes, you like it
or not, you're doing you're doing daily coverage. You're an
opinionated journalist. But you are a journalist. And the freedom
of being a journalist is that you don't have to
like any of them. You don't have to agree with
(01:03:15):
any of them. You can be a skunk at the
garden party. You can be just who, just whoever you
want to be. Because, and this is the key thing,
these two parties make it really easy not to care
who wins.
Speaker 7 (01:03:28):
Right, You look at these two parties and it's very hard.
Speaker 22 (01:03:31):
Right, this isn't that, this isn't where you say, oh
my gosh, this side is so good. You say, which
of these two horrible choices will I compel myself to
vote for.
Speaker 7 (01:03:47):
But if you're a journalist, you get to take the
next step and say, good luck, suckers.
Speaker 23 (01:03:51):
You get to say you get to say please to
enjoy this Schmorgas board, this charcoterie board of unsavory, unsatisfying choices,
and just be true to the person who God made
you to be.
Speaker 22 (01:04:07):
You don't have to root for a party. You don't
have to do any of that stuff. I feel very
bad for voters who are locked in one of these
parties and they've got to try to. Like, if you're
a conservative and you're a Republican, you're asking yourself, how
long if you're a conservative? No, no, no, not you, if one,
if one is a conservative Republican, how long can you
(01:04:30):
stay right? How many undeclared wars?
Speaker 7 (01:04:35):
How much? Like how long do you.
Speaker 22 (01:04:37):
Let the Constitution get just absolutely eviscerated before you say, well,
I guess I'm done. And if you're a Republican and
you're a conservative, you stay a long time because the
other side is worse, and you keep hoping that it'll
get better, that this is the end and then and
then it's going to turn the corner later. And if
you're a Democrat and you're a if you're a liberal Democrat,
(01:05:00):
the old school liberal Democrat, you look at a party
that is convulsed constantly by culture war conflicts and economic radicalism,
and you're just an old fashioned liberal and you say,
this is bad. But we've got to just get through
this next little thing. It's the same problem we started on.
Speaker 5 (01:05:18):
And I'm just saying I'm an independent, i am conservative,
but I'm just saying, as a guy who has reverence
of the Constitution and the promise of what this country
is supposed to be, I find it incredibly disappointing the
choices that we have.
Speaker 22 (01:05:33):
That if you're a conservative, make a friend with a liberal,
because a conservative is a kind of liberal, Right, it's
with people who care about the gifts of the Enlightenment.
Individual liberty, yeah, individual liberty, all of that. Uh, those
lowercase L liberals are in just as bad a place
(01:05:53):
in the Democratic Party as the conservatives are in the
Republican Party. Right, the conservatives are in big trouble in
the Republican Party, and they're on the outs. But the
same is true for the liberals in the Democratic Party,
where the progressives and the socialists are just They hate
the thing that the nationalists on the right and the
(01:06:15):
progressives and the socialists on the left can agree upon
as the constitution stinks. It's a problem, not a solution.
And if you want, if you're a conservative and you
feel homeless, make friends with the liberal. You'll disagree with
them about what the government should do, but you will
agree with them on what the government is. And that's
(01:06:37):
sort of important because I think the fight over ends
occurs between the parties. The fight over means occurs within
the party. And we have people on the left and
people on the right who are watching our birthright right
here as we prepare to enter the two hundred, the
big two fifty year, we are squandering our birthright on
(01:07:00):
short term cynical political gamesmanship, and we're letting the gifts
of liberty slip through our fingers. And to stop that,
to arrest that trend, it will be necessary very often
for conservatives and liberals to make common cause against this
other other faction.
Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Chris Tarwell, politics editor for The Hill News Nation, host
of The Hill Sundale News Nation and Senior Fellow at
American Enterprise in too ohways. Appreciate it, buddy, thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Heck yeah, back in a moment.
Speaker 24 (01:07:30):
To careful.
Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
Here at the Health Day, we are here.
Speaker 10 (01:07:37):
From all of us, Here at the Health Plan. We
want to make your season bright. Whether you're wrapping gifts
are planning next year's goals, We're here for you. Happy
holidays and Merry Christmas from our family to yours.
Speaker 3 (01:07:54):
Here.
Speaker 25 (01:07:57):
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ready eight hundred seven to sixty five Talk eight hundred
seven to sixty five, eight two, five, five and three
or four Talk three or four. This is talk line
on Metro News, the Voice of West Virginia. It is
(01:09:11):
eleven thirty time to get a news update. Let's check
in on the Metro News radio network. Find out what's
happening across the great state of West Virginia.
Speaker 18 (01:09:19):
West Virginia METTRONEEWHS. I'm Chris Lawrence, the National Weather Services
tracking another clipper system headed into West Virginia. Joe Curtis
is a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Charleston
and talks about what they anticipate for precipitation from this
event from.
Speaker 26 (01:09:33):
Late Saturday afternoon through Sunday. We're thinking anywhere from potentially
one to three inches across the southern part of the state,
and then anywhere from about four to six inches across
the northern part of the state.
Speaker 18 (01:09:45):
That's the forecast to hit tomorrow afternoon and on into Sunday,
a winter storm watching effect for much of the state tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (01:09:51):
They are loving it.
Speaker 18 (01:09:52):
On the ski slopes of West Virginia Canaane Valley Resort
opening up the twenty five to twenty six ski season
today in Tucker County. Skiing and snowboarding are available there.
Timberline Snowshoe Mountain in winter Place all opened up last week.
Parkersburg police have upgraded charges against a teenager from attempted
murder to murder. Police Chief Matthew boards his eighteen year
(01:10:13):
old Brady Florence, died on Thursday a result of the
gunshot wounds he suffered on Monday while he sat in
a parked car. The alleged shooter is eighteen year old
Butch Knight. He now faces a charge of a charge
of murder along with two counts of attempted murder for
the other two individuals who were in the vehicle, one
of whom suffered a gunshot wound as well and is
being treated. A night is being held without bond. Capol
(01:10:35):
County Sheriff's Department investigating a fatal accident over nine. Authority
say it happened around ten in Ona on US Route sixty.
You're listening to Metro News for forty years, the Voice
of West Virginia.
Speaker 27 (01:10:46):
There's nothing quite like a homemade meal from Tutor's Biscuit World.
We use real buttermilk to craft our delicious biscuits, one
batch at a time and serve them with our signature platters.
Here you will taste of freshness in every night, from
our classic breakfast sandwiches to favorites like our breakfast wraps.
Every meal brings a taste of simpler times. Let Tutors
(01:11:08):
do the cooking for you or gathering this holiday season.
Visit tutors Catering dot com for all your catering needs.
Speaker 4 (01:11:15):
Premiering December eighteenth, that's seven thirty pm on Metro News Television.
Your Friends at Hope Gas present episode five of Stateive Minds.
Hoppykerchifle visits with Morgan O'Brien, CEO of Hope Gas.
Speaker 15 (01:11:27):
When you're in it for the long run, right, you
need to make investments that aren't always going to have
I'll call it tangible returns.
Speaker 4 (01:11:34):
State of Minds Episode five coming to Metro News TV
on December eighteenth, that's seven thirty pm, Presented by Hope
Gas with support from Career Industries only on a Metro
News Television app.
Speaker 18 (01:11:45):
Lots of buzz about the lottery, the Powerball jackpots, for
Saturday Night has now increased to a cool one billion dollars.
That's where the Bee ranks the seventh all time highest
jackpot and Powerball. The cash value of a single ticket
matching the right numbers there would be just a shade
under four hundred and sixty two million dollars. Saturday will
be the forty second drawing on the current Jackpots run,
(01:12:09):
which will tie the game's record for most consecutive jackpots
and a single cycle from the Metro ne Ne's ANCHORDSK
I'm Chris Lawrence.
Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
I was on assignment last Friday. I was on vacation
the friday before that. I've had Steam release withdraws. Let's
fix that problem.
Speaker 7 (01:12:47):
And I want you all to get up now.
Speaker 6 (01:12:50):
I want all of you to get up out of
your chest.
Speaker 22 (01:12:53):
I want you to get up right now, to go
to the window, open it and stick.
Speaker 13 (01:12:58):
Your head out.
Speaker 28 (01:12:59):
And yeah, he.
Speaker 27 (01:13:01):
Must mad as hell, but I'm not gonna take this anymore.
Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
All week long, you've heard our thoughts and observations. You've
probably had your own. You may have texted the show.
We may have not we not. We may have not
gotten to your text that probably frustrated you. The wife
the husband, the boyfriend, the girlfriend. They've listened to your rants,
but they don't really care. And the dog can only
grin and nod. This is your opportunity to release your
(01:13:26):
steam heading into the weekend. Just a couple of guidelines
we ask that you please addhere to number one. Don't
get us fired, don't get as sue. Those kind of
go hand in hand. Number two, try to keep it tight.
We'll get to as many of your steams as possible.
You can steam about the hosts. You can steam about
former hosts. We may not respond. You cannot steam about
(01:13:46):
our video producer Jake Link. However, I have been given
express written consent from producer Ethan. You may steam about Ethan.
In fact, he told me this morning he invites your steams.
He is daring you to steam about him. I don't
know what you'd steam about, but he says, go at it.
(01:14:06):
Shoulder shrug, emoji. Eight hundred seven sixty five. Talk is
the phone number, eight hundred seven six five eight two
five five.
Speaker 1 (01:14:13):
Ethan put it.
Speaker 2 (01:14:14):
We got a call screener, and we can message back
and forth. He says, if anyone feels the need to
complain about me, I can take it Okay. I don't
know why anyone would complain about ethan, but here's your chance.
Eight hundred seven to sixty five talk eight hundred seven
six five eight two five five. The text line is
three oh four talk three oh four, three oh four
(01:14:34):
eight two five five.
Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
Three oh four.
Speaker 2 (01:14:37):
Let's start on the phones. Let's go to the Northern Panhandle.
Junior in Wheeling. You're first up on steam release.
Speaker 13 (01:14:45):
Wheeling. What you boys talking about it? Fish? Quick?
Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (01:14:49):
I just read what's on the screen, Junior.
Speaker 9 (01:14:51):
Oh did he can do that?
Speaker 13 (01:14:53):
I'll give reading some hell?
Speaker 3 (01:14:54):
And he did that?
Speaker 24 (01:14:58):
Hell?
Speaker 13 (01:14:59):
Hey, how we move rupted? Is that like a foot
network station? The other day he had a whole show
about suit that's riveting radio right there, So come on,
get some meat and tears in that diet. I mean
he looks like you got it anyway. And then the
(01:15:20):
paper boy, that Johnny guy was on today and he's
making fun of the weather service and whatnot. Let me
ask you, how do you get your Sunday newspaper and
fish creek on Saturday? Don't make no sense to me
or my my durned bird. My bird won't even pop
(01:15:40):
on it.
Speaker 9 (01:15:41):
Huh.
Speaker 13 (01:15:41):
I'm steaming. Boys have a good day, have.
Speaker 1 (01:15:44):
A good one, Junior.
Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
Appreciate the call eight hundred and seven to sixty five,
Talking three or four, Talk three or four.
Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
Let's go to Huntington. Harold, you're on Steam release.
Speaker 28 (01:15:54):
Well last we could call her complained about that prompting
the show in order to talk politician. He should have
also added on for ramp. But for anything like the
vote that bs that you have before sports game starts
and all that sort of thing. The show should only
be interrupted for the end of the world.
Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
Harold, appreciate the call eight hundred and seven to sixty
five Talk eight hundred and seven to sixty five eight
two five five. You can text the show at three
h four Talk three oh four. Let's get some text teams, TJ.
Speaker 5 (01:16:29):
I'll just say, be careful what you wish for Ethan.
I frequently frequently played pickup soccer with Ethan at the
WVU reckfields, and that guy couldn't keep the ball on
his foot if his cleats were made of fly paper.
Ethan Collins is an overrated red hat. I'm the only
one with the courage to say it, says the Texter.
(01:16:53):
Why does producer Ethan keep putting guests on the air
with bad phone lines. It's his job to get this right.
Shape up, buddy, or call for you this Christmas three
oh four Talk three oh four. Simply put Ethan sucks.
How's that? Noel My Friday s team. I am one
hundred percent frustrated, angered, and perplexed about drivers who have
(01:17:16):
zero respect for the fifty five mile per hour work
zones speed limit on I seventy nine. I'm equally frustrated
by the absence of any state police near the work zones.
Most drivers are going at least seventy five miles per hour.
They don't care that they are endangering themselves, workers, or
me as they selfishly blast through very tight spaces. Ps
(01:17:38):
Ethan sucks. I'm a maga Republican, but I'm nervous about
their chances going forward. Unfortunately, that pendulum is swinging back.
All that means is more insane social rhetoric. No one
can fix the economic problems. This Texter says, West Virginia
(01:17:59):
needs a change in leadership, and independent women voters are
the ones that can make it happen. Our states is
in big trouble. I'm steamed at Dodge and Cummins. I
have a ninety eight Dodge and need a repair made
that only Dodge, Cummins or a couple of independent mechanics
are trained to do. Dodge won't work on anything older
(01:18:19):
than an five. Cummins won't warrant you that repair because
of their agreement with Dodge. The independent mechanics are one
hundred miles away. What do you want me to do?
Three oho four Talk three oh four is the text
line steam. We're familiar with this election year hype for
state paid worker raises, and we will more than likely
(01:18:41):
get the same results as before. Small raises that don't
keep up with the cost of living and the increases
of healthcare insurance.
Speaker 2 (01:18:48):
Off to a good start. Eight hundred and seven to
sixty five Talk is the phone number. If you would
like to call in to release your steam. You can
text your steam to three oh four. Talk three oh
four and producer E Than is fair game back with
more of your steams covered up. Paul and Greg Hank tight.
We'll get to your calls next. This is talk line
from the Encode Insurance studios.
Speaker 29 (01:19:10):
Some say he's a man of mystery, others say he's
the holiday hit maker no one saw coming.
Speaker 7 (01:19:15):
It's showtime.
Speaker 29 (01:19:16):
The holiday hit maker walks the office halls with West
Virginia Lottery holiday scratch offs and an unstoppable spirit.
Speaker 1 (01:19:23):
What are you doing.
Speaker 7 (01:19:25):
Bringing the holiday high here? Enjoy scratch off?
Speaker 4 (01:19:28):
It's on me?
Speaker 1 (01:19:29):
Whoam ticket?
Speaker 7 (01:19:30):
My work here is done?
Speaker 29 (01:19:32):
Be the surprise hit maker. West Virginia Lottery games fun, festive,
and full of flare.
Speaker 30 (01:19:37):
Please play responsibly. Hospitals drive West Virginia's economy. They produce
jobs and create opportunities while keeping our communities healthy. Employing
nearly fifty four thousand people, West Virginia hospitals rank among
our state's largest and most dependable employers. They provide more
than one billion dollars in community benefits and generate nearly
seventeen billion dollars in total economic impact each year. Hospitals
(01:19:58):
are investing where counts, advancing health, ensuring access to care,
and powering West Virginia's economic future.
Speaker 5 (01:20:04):
A message from the West Virginia Hospital Association on mina
WVJA dot org.
Speaker 4 (01:20:21):
Metural News talk Line is presented by Encova Insurance and
circling you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit Encova dot com to learn more.
Speaker 2 (01:20:31):
Steam Release continues your chance to vent before we start
the weekend. We're closing in on Christmas. Eight hundred seven
to sixty five. Talk eight hundred seven six five eight
two five five. You can text the show at three
oh four Talk three oh four. We'll get some more
of your text themes in just a moment. Let's go
back to the phones and go to Paul in Pocahontas County.
Speaker 24 (01:20:54):
Hey, Paul, morning, Fellas. My scheme is about getting ripped
off and put upon by the politicians and the illegals
and the bankers. There's three different ways that it's happened.
And or the inflation, all the money that the o
Biden administration pumped into the economy that has destroyed the
(01:21:17):
value of the dollar is one of the reasons why
there's a quote affordability issue. We've got seditious and traitors,
in my opinion, public representatives, both at the federal and
the state level, who don't believe that the law applies
to them anymore. Whether it's like Trickster in Illinois saying
that you know what, we're passing laws that well usurped
(01:21:40):
the supremity clause. Supremacy clause, which is I think what
the Civil War was over saying, you know, we're going
to protect the illegals. And then like up in Wisconsin,
Illian Omar went from being, you know, having a couple
hundred thousand dollars in net worth to tens and hundreds
of millions within a year when all of that COVID
money went in there. Nobody has been held to account.
And until people are held to account all the way
(01:22:03):
back at least five six years for the stuff that's
happened to us and what they've done to our nation,
we're going to just continue to lose faith. And all
those people, whether they got a R or a D
next to their name, because they're all just from the
big UNI party. That's more for me and less for you.
Apparently you have a good.
Speaker 2 (01:22:21):
Day, you too, Paul, and you will feel better because
you got that off your chest.
Speaker 1 (01:22:24):
Let's go to ownA Greg. What's your steam?
Speaker 9 (01:22:28):
Greg faiths?
Speaker 31 (01:22:29):
Greg Riley? Know now, you guys do a great job.
And I won't beat your producer up because he's fantastic.
A couple of quick things, Carol Miller, if anybody wants
to get a good laugh about something, Carol Miller, who
supposed to be my representative in the House, but nobody
ever sees, hears or anything else for her. But she
wrote an editorial in the Washington Examiner, which is like
the Newsmax newspaper, and it's hilarious. It's about everything that's
(01:22:49):
good about healthcare in southern West Virginia. This is a
woman that's voted every single time to eliminate the American
the ACA, of course, Obamacare, whatever you want to call it.
There's thirty three thousand people approximately in her district that
use that. That's the population of Beckley, Bluefield and Logan combined.
So she doesn't care. And you know, when you have
(01:23:10):
that much money, you shouldn't care. Secondarily, on the federal level,
of our wonderful friend Donald Trump keeps talking about how
he's collected trillions and trillions in tariffs at this point,
averaging thirty billion a month. We're going to collect from
the start of this period. We haven't even hit a
trillion yet in his first year. He's going to collect
right out a trillion. So to do trillions, it's going
(01:23:31):
to take at least two years. So we are not
at plural And now we're already having to subsidize farmers
because they're.
Speaker 13 (01:23:37):
Taking a buttl wopan.
Speaker 31 (01:23:38):
If you think the twelve billion they're given to farmers
is going to put a dent in the issue, you're crazy.
Listen to the people in Iowa. They're going to tell
you're going to take forty billion just for their stake.
So thanks, have a good day.
Speaker 1 (01:23:50):
You're welcome.
Speaker 8 (01:23:51):
Greg.
Speaker 2 (01:23:51):
Appreciate the phone call eight hundred and seven to sixty five.
Talk eight hundred seven six' five eight two five five
to call to release your. Steam you can text three
or four talk three oh. Four back to the text
LINE TJ i was robbed at the grocery store last.
Night the obliterated middle class is in big trouble, groceries,
healthcare forget about retirement not, possible says The. Texter affordability
(01:24:16):
is All biden's. Fault, Lol let's Talk trump's. TARIFFS i
appreciate salary, increases but it's very aggravating that the state
administration touts giving state employees a five percent increase when.
Speaker 5 (01:24:29):
It's an average and many are not receiving five. Percent
if you have health care through your employer and they
help with the, cost they write their part, off you
can't make everyone pay it. All stop giving employer health
care three oh four talk three oh four is the text.
Line can anyone remember the last time retired state employees
(01:24:52):
had a salary? Increase the cost of everything is going
up for them and many are. Struggling didn't see it
on the legislative a gen for twenty twenty? Six what
kind of country will our grandchildren live? In how does
a criminal illegal get out of human, trafficking drug, dealing
beating his, wife driving without a, license et. Cetera federal
(01:25:14):
judges making laws instead of following, laws going back on,
welfare free, food, housing, medical while my grandchildren who've served
can't get. ANYTHING i really, enjoyed mister stillwater editors, NOTE
i think they Meant styrwalt BOTH tj and he hit
the nail on the. Head regarding, POLITICS i left both
(01:25:36):
parties long. Ago, ADDITIONALLY i cannot vote for the lesser
of two. Evils have a Merry. CHRISTMAS i finally got my,
revenge says The. Texter people backing up to park just
hit the safety poll an ethan move for.
Speaker 2 (01:25:55):
Sure eight hundred and seven to sixty five talk and
three or four talk through for it's going To, Clarksburg,
anthony what's Your Steve, Buddy.
Speaker 8 (01:26:04):
Ethan collins hate chocolate. Milk he drives A Nissan, duke
and he farks in, elevators and he puts long winded
people on your. Program thank, You You're you're.
Speaker 1 (01:26:19):
Welcome anthony eight hundred and seven to sixty five.
Speaker 2 (01:26:21):
Talks the phone number eight hundred and seven sixty five
eight two five. Five the text line is three h four,
talk three oh. Four last call for phone, calls last
call for Text steam, Release let's finish strong back in a.
Speaker 32 (01:26:34):
Moment did you Know Marvel production Made clarksburg The Marvel
capital of the world by Acro agat up until the
late nineteen, fifties and today those marbles are worth thousands of. Dollars, Clarksburg, Yes.
Clarksburg did you know That Clarksburg's Robinson graham was the
first theater In West virginia to introduce talking pictures in
(01:26:57):
nineteen twenty.
Speaker 5 (01:26:58):
Seven, Clarksburg, Yes.
Speaker 32 (01:27:00):
Clarksburg explore more at come home To clarksburg dot.
Speaker 12 (01:27:04):
Com picture a community where every space tells a. Story
those are the communities we're designing AT. Zmlm architects and
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Speaker 1 (01:27:35):
Legacy some say he's a man of. Mystery others say
he's The Holiday.
Speaker 29 (01:27:41):
Hitmaker no one saw.
Speaker 1 (01:27:42):
Coming it's.
Speaker 29 (01:27:44):
Showtime The holiday Hit maker walks the office halls With
West Virginia lottery holiday scratch offs and an unstoppable. Spirit
what are you doing bringing.
Speaker 7 (01:27:53):
The holiday high? Here enjoy scratch?
Speaker 4 (01:27:55):
Off it's on?
Speaker 13 (01:27:56):
Me whoa?
Speaker 2 (01:27:57):
Ticket my work here is?
Speaker 29 (01:27:59):
Done the Surprise Hitmaker West Virginia lottery games, fun festive
and full of. Flare please play.
Speaker 2 (01:28:05):
Responsibly last call for phone, calls last call for texts
eight hundred seven sixty Five talk eight hundred seven six
(01:28:28):
y five eight two five five.
Speaker 1 (01:28:30):
Is the phone.
Speaker 2 (01:28:31):
Number you can text the show at three zho Four
talk three oh four At Double Medicine's heart And Vascular.
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Speaker 5 (01:29:03):
Paul has a loose. Nut the guy needs to touch
some grass and realize That republicans too are breaking it.
Off in his fill in the, blank how are people
feeding their? Children credit cardet is going to go, crazy
says The. Texter dave AND. Tj please Tell Joe pricado
that not only is he the hardest working man in
high school, sports he is now the hardest hitting man
(01:29:25):
in high school. Sports that From. Phil dave AND. Tj
listened to congress Candidate Brett aguire on your radio. Station
she's a. Pistol i'm sure she would write a program
to improve Ethan, dave not one DECENT ufo story since
you took over the. Show unacceptable according to that, Texture
(01:29:50):
my team Asked greg which government program ever lowered the
cost of? ANYTHING aca healthcare costs went through the roof
government takes over student loan, disbursement tuition goes through the
roof social welfare, programs more poor than ever and more
money than ever being thrown at. It but he still
doesn't seem to be one that could be reasoned. With
(01:30:12):
this texture simply Says ethan eats his pizza with a.
Fork it's pretty. GOOD i appreciate Liberal democrats calling the
recent loss Of sarah as an unfortunate incident and using
that as a political football to try to Blame Donald.
Trump these guys are. DISRESPECTFUL i love listening To, steamerly
(01:30:35):
says the. Texture it makes me realize how Good i've got.
It that Guy paul who called, in he referred to
The obiden, Administration what exactly is The obiden? Administration, uh
don't watch not getting, there not getting in. That, no
don't want to be part of your. Lawsuit, Uh paul
(01:30:56):
is the only one who is, informed says the. Texture
THE cdc hit data SHOWING covid vaccines killed thirty eight thousand,
people complete silence from the. Media you wonder why people
don't trust pharmaceutical companies regarding Vaccines dave.
Speaker 2 (01:31:10):
Three of Four talk three of four is the text
line couple more minutes to release your. Steam jackpots are
growing In West. Virginia jackpots are on the rise every.
Week Power ball Hits, Mondays, wednesdays And. Saturdays Mega millions
lights Up tuesdays And. Fridays that's five chances a week
to get in on life changing. Jackpots play in store
and online eighteen plus to. Play please play. Responsibly Saturday's
(01:31:33):
powerball jackpot drawing is for one billion. Dollars Mega millions
jackpots seventy. Million so go ahead play. Today text team
three or Four talk three oh. Four ethan believes aliens are.
Real texter, Says ethan thinks. ASPHALT i can't finish.
Speaker 1 (01:31:55):
THAT i probably, could but it's it's right on the.
Speaker 5 (01:31:58):
Line should we say a substance used to pave?
Speaker 2 (01:32:04):
ROADS i don't understand Why ethan invited this.
Speaker 1 (01:32:09):
TODAY i really don't.
Speaker 5 (01:32:10):
EITHER i, mean maybe he's glutton for, punishment he's on
a mission From. GOD i don't, know BUT i THINK
i would have kept my mouth. Shut three or, Four
talk three or.
Speaker 2 (01:32:20):
Four let me see if there's any we missed.
Speaker 1 (01:32:22):
Here three or, Four talk three or. Four preach.
Speaker 2 (01:32:30):
IT tj nearing thirty nine trillion, debt we address it
by borrowing. More i'll check With visa to ask what can.
Speaker 1 (01:32:37):
CAN i do?
Speaker 2 (01:32:37):
This you're halfway, there, boys government cannot fix any. Problems
the best thing they can do is completely get out
of the way and let the free market handle. It
uh all, right heading into the, weekend big plans the,
weekend you got some time to yourself coming up any
big plans or?
Speaker 5 (01:32:56):
Not just Shi, YEAH i got some stuff with the,
kids activities during the day that they. Have the wife
AND i have some, plans so you had to spending
time with family and trying, to, uh you, know get
that in because you AND i are going to be
busy In january AND i won't be able to make
it to some of their daytime. Stuff so trying to
get the get the stuff in while the getting's. Good
by the, way editors, Note ethan SAYS i needed to be,
(01:33:17):
Humbled so there you.
Speaker 2 (01:33:19):
Go bless his little, heart The texter, says shot out
To Roger hanshaw or keeping it. Real ethan has to
be a good guy for putting up with. This have
a good, Weekend ethan says The. TEXTER i can't read that.
Either you get the feeling Like ethan called his buddies and, said,
(01:33:42):
hey here's your. Chance maybe you need to listen To
steam release.
Speaker 5 (01:33:45):
Today that or he's being extraordinarily mean to people when
they call. In one of the. TWO i don't WHICH
i just don't. See but, YEAH i, MEAN i have no.
Speaker 1 (01:33:54):
Idea i'm glad.
Speaker 5 (01:33:56):
People had this pent up frustration THOUGH i had no
idea about, That so hopefully it's been.
Speaker 2 (01:34:00):
Relieved just glad to Know i'm not the only. One All,
Right TJ's going to be out next. Week you'll have
to put up with me solo next week as we
sort through the happenings of the. Day of, course you
can follow the news of the day over at the
website wv metronews dot. Com hard To believe basketball season
as UPON us high school boys basketball was tipping off this,
(01:34:22):
week teams making their, debuts and of course we will
have a basketball season covered for You joe bro along
With Greg kerry and the rest of the crew over
at the website all season. Long coming Up Metro News,
Midday Dave, Allen Amanda, Baron we'll walk you through the
next three hours on many of these Same metro news radio.
Speaker 1 (01:34:39):
STATIONS. Tj enjoy your Week talk to you.
Speaker 2 (01:34:42):
Later Thanks budy for Jess as talk line On Metro,
news the voice Of West.
Speaker 1 (01:34:45):
Virginia
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.