Talkline | Sept. 11, 2025

Dave & TJ react to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. They also get reactions from WV GOP Chair Josh Holstein & Congressman Riley Moore. Senator Jim Justice discusses vaccines, the government shutdown, and his political future. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
It's Mechineer's talk Line. We have a lot to cover today.
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Speaker 2 (00:26):
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Speaker 1 (01:06):
Good morning, Welcome in Metro News talk Line from the
Encoba Insurance Studios. Thank you for letting us be part
of your day on one of our great radio affiliates
across the state of West Virginia, or if you're watching
on the Metro News TV at Metro News Television, we
appreciate your participation. You can take part by texting us
at three or four Talk three zero four. You can

(01:27):
also give us a call. We do that as well.
Still got the old copper phone lines eight hundred seven
to sixty five Talk eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two five five. Coming up just a little bit, Brad
Howell will join us. We will preview the backyard brawl
Senator Jim Justice top of next hour, and we are
certainly going to discuss reactions and the assassination of Charlie Kirk,

(01:53):
the conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA. Congressman
Riley Moore will join us later on in the second
hour the show as well. We'll get your thoughts. They're
welcome at three or four Talk three or four and
eight hundred and seven to sixty five Talk eight hundred seven
sixty five eight two five five. TJ. Meadows holds down
the forts in the Charleston Bureau. Good morning, TJ.

Speaker 5 (02:13):
Good morning, Dave. And authorities have found what they believe
was the murder weapon, a highly powered bolt action rifle
and wooded area where the shooter fled to other officials,
saying that the shooter, the murderer, arrived on campus just
before noon Utah time at around eleven fifty two. They
are in possession of foot impressions, palm impressions. They have

(02:35):
video image of the shooter. We're able to track him
up to the roof, off the roof and into a neighborhood,
So the man hunt continues for the suspect at this hour.
The FBI says they feel quote confident in their ability
to firmly identify that suspect.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
The news was jarring yesterday. Honestly, I had gotten home.
I usually get home mid afternoon, get some launch and
that's followed by a little afternoon nap in the lazy
Boy while nobody's around, and I woke up to actually
I believe it was a text from you asking how
do we cover this tomorrow?

Speaker 5 (03:08):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (03:08):
Cover what?

Speaker 1 (03:10):
And then flip over to the news channels and find
out what had happened, that this had happened on a
college campus, out in front of everybody, like it did
and TJ. We obviously we did not grow up in
the sixties, but for us, I can't think of a situation.
This is the first major political assassination probably since the

(03:33):
nineteen six There's been attempts Reagan, obviously, President Trump twice,
there have been attempts, but this is probably the first
one since the nineteen sixties that has this kind of
an impact.

Speaker 5 (03:45):
Yeah, I heard it likened yesterday, Dave to John Lennon.
I don't think that's an over characterization at all. This
was a person in Charlie Kirk, who was I called
him in my commentary today a wonder can he achieved
so much in such a age thirty one years of
age meant so much to so many young gen zs
in the conservative movement. Unparalleled, to your point, unparalleled.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
So we're gonna get some reactions this morning. Riley Moore
going to join us. Joining us now is the chairman
of the West Virginia Republican Committee and or chair of
the West Virginian Republican Party's Boom County Delegate. And he's
one of the well he's a young person at least
to you and me is TJ. Josh Holstein joins us,
chair of the Westvijnian Republican Party. Josh, good morning, Thanks

(04:31):
for joining us, buddy.

Speaker 7 (04:33):
Yes, sir, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
I say, you're a young guy. Well compared to TJ
and I, you're a bit of a young guy. You're
twenty three years old. But one of the things Charlie
Kirk was able to do, he started very young in
his political career, reached out to college students on campus.
Did he influence you as you were growing up in
deciding to get into politics.

Speaker 8 (04:54):
Yeah, Charlie Kirk began really his political exploration when he
was in high school, much like I did early early
high school, late junior high era.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
There.

Speaker 8 (05:03):
You know, he went to college for a while and
decided it wasn't for him, and he dropped out and
he formed Turning Point And obviously we've seen that grow
exponentially year over you know, year after year. Charlie was
not only a major influencer for the party, but without
his contributions, I think it's safe to say President Trump
would have had a much more difficult time getting re

(05:25):
elected in twenty twenty four because Charlie's impact and work
in Arizona, Nevada and the states where his organization you know,
had a concerted effort, as well as his influence across
the spectrum for young folks and his willingness to go
out to college campuses and to universities and to events
and engage with people and have open debate and dialogue.
That really changes the conversation. And that was a huge,

(05:49):
huge positive force in the conservative movement, something that's going
to be greatly missed. Back in twenty seventeen, I attended.
I actually start to the high school chapter of Turning
Point in my high school when I was a high
school student, Arry Sherman High School, and I attended a
high school summit in Washington, d C. With Charlie and

(06:10):
some of the others, And that was when the events
were still relatively small, and I remember he came into
a room with about fifteen of us and sat down
and had a conversation with each of us individually about
how we could expand our movements in our areas and
you know, grow our causes, and you know, ever since then,
I've had a lot of respect.

Speaker 5 (06:29):
For him, Josh. The rhetoric on social media was immense yesterday.
It continues this morning. There have already been calls and
characterizations made that this should not be called an example
of political violence, that mister Kirk was not assassinated because

(06:50):
of free speech and what he said. What would be
your characterization of the incident? Would you, first off, would
you agree or disagree with what others have said?

Speaker 8 (06:58):
I would vehemently disagree with that, and the facts disagree
with them. And what I say about that is if
you look at his following, he had millions of followers
on his social media, he attracted thousands of people, so
much so that they couldn't do it in the confines
of university spaces. That's the reason he had to do
it outside most of the time. But it's because his

(07:19):
crowds were so large. He was able to have open
dialogue and debate with people all across the political spectrum
and have these conversations. I mean, his whole his whole
thing was proved me wrong. If you can prove me wrong,
that's fine. Let's have a debate, Let's have an argument
about it, and a positive argument. And you know, if
it wasn't a political assassination, he wouldn't have been taken

(07:40):
out while he was speaking, while he was debating, while
he was engaging in a democratic conversation. It was absolutely
a political assassination. He was silenced because of his political beliefs,
just like many on the right have been targeted over
the last few years.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Josh Holsteenen is joining us. He is the chair of
the West Virginia Republican Party. Boom County Delegate, Josh, I
remember we were having almost the exact same not you
and I, but the greater week, the exact same conversation
following the attempted assassination of President Trump up in Butler, Pennsylvania,
that the political rhetoric had gotten too hot, two heated,

(08:17):
too violent, and eventually something that we shouldn't be a
surprised that eventually someone would act on it. That lasted
about two weeks and everything went right back to the
way it was. Here we are again, Josh, how do
we tone down the rhetoric?

Speaker 8 (08:33):
You know, I think we're in a really difficult period.
We're not just Americans that disagree on policy issues anymore.
We're Americans that disagree on the fundamentals of who we
are as Americans and who we.

Speaker 7 (08:48):
Are as people.

Speaker 8 (08:49):
And that is a situation that, frankly, we've never been
in before in American society. We have a deeply sick culture,
and you know, frankly, I'm not very optimistic about where
we're headed moving forward. I'm outraged, I'm angry, and I'm
also you know, I'm also sad, but the anger is

(09:12):
lingering with.

Speaker 7 (09:13):
Me some today.

Speaker 8 (09:13):
I'll just be honest, because this is ridiculous, This is pointless.
People should be able to go out have free and
fair discussions, be able to say what they believe and
settle those discussions at the ballot box. But the people
that are screaming democracy the most, and that democracies inflamed
and enraged are the people whose rhetoric inspire people to

(09:35):
target those on the right and those conservative voices. I'm
sick of it, and I think these people need to
be held responsible for the rhetoric that they spewed on
a daily basis.

Speaker 5 (09:45):
Is social media to blame at all? Does it happen
and how should we hold it accountable? Then?

Speaker 8 (09:52):
Absolutely, one thousand percent. People feel and have felt for
a while that they can say anything with impunity on
social media, and it's led to a dehumanization of people.

Speaker 7 (10:07):
And I don't know how we regulate it.

Speaker 5 (10:08):
I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 8 (10:09):
I mean, obviously we we want people to have free
speech and we want people to to say what they think.
But it's just it's really an unfortunate situation. I don't
I don't know how we fix it. I think it's
I don't think it's a political question. I think it's
a moral and societal question, and that's something far beyond
my pay grade.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Well, but Josh, you hit on something there. Dehumanizing through
social media memes, whatever the case may be, whether it's
Charlie Cook, whether it was the lawmakers in Minnesota, justices,
the local circuit court judge, who gets threatn We have
become very good in this society of dehumanizing people, especially

(10:48):
the people we disagree, we have disagreements with, dehumanize them
down to the point where we don't think about there
being a father or husband, you know, wife, mother, brothers.
We we lose that, and then it does become easier.
Then it does become easier to commit an act of
violence because it's against a thought, an idea, an opposition,

(11:08):
not another person. We've lost that somewhere along the way.

Speaker 8 (11:11):
It feels like absolutely absolutely and it's scary, and I
wish I had the solution, but I don't. I just
think that, you know, we're just in troubling times.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Frankly, in those troubling times, don't they transcend politics? Josh?
I mean, when I look at what is said, I
have to be honest with you. It's not just from
the left. There's some rhetoric from the right too, and
some of those on the right need to calm things
down as well.

Speaker 6 (11:38):
See.

Speaker 8 (11:38):
Yeah, I mean, I don't disagree that there's rhetoric on
both sides. There's rhetoric on all sides that are inflamed. Absolutely,
But I will say the largest cases of literal attempts
on people's lives and deaths have been on either innocent
victims or right wing political figures. We're not saying left
wing influencers a goin down or left wing political candidate's

(12:02):
gone down.

Speaker 7 (12:03):
In this kind of So Minnesota, well, sure, sure.

Speaker 8 (12:06):
Minnesota, but if you look at Minnesota's cases, there was
a lot more than just that. You know, there was
a personal grievance there. This man had been involved in
in state government and politics. He knew most of these people,
so that was a little bit different. But obviously, you know,
obviously that's that should be condemned as well, and we've
condemned that, and everybody else should. But you know, we've

(12:29):
we've got a situation here and I'm not going to
concede at all that this is some both sides. Is
that's That's not something I'll concede at all, because this
is a problem that's permeating and growing, and it's growing
because people that are influencers on the right and people
that are elected officials on the right are constantly being
demoralized to mean as fascist compared to Hitler, Mussolini and

(12:51):
other dictators throughout history, just because they want strong borders
and they want a country that represents who we are
as American citizens.

Speaker 7 (13:00):
And I, frankly, I think it's disgusting. It's leading to
more of this, and it's going to lead to more.

Speaker 8 (13:04):
And uh, the both sides is them, frankly, is just
something that is going to make this stuff continue. It
needs to be called out, it needs to be acknowledged,
and it needs to stop.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
Josh, not to pass the buck, but my hope is
your generation gen Z is coming up watching this, experiencing this,
will say this is enough, this is enough. We're We're
not going to do this anymore.

Speaker 8 (13:26):
I certainly hope, and I'll tell you you know, just
me personally, I have some great friends who disagree with
me on nearly every issue, and that's that's sometimes cause
friction in our lives, but it's never separated us, never
divided us. And you know, sometimes you've got to push

(13:48):
past these things. You've got to work through it, and
you've got to realize, you know, this is your brother,
this is your sister. This is your fellow citizen, and
we've got to We've got to do that. And I
think maybe my generation can help he up that moving forward.

Speaker 5 (14:01):
As someone who was tuned in to what Charlie Kirk
was all about and what he had to say, what
do you think Charlie would want Americans to do today
moving forward?

Speaker 8 (14:16):
To never stop engaging in conversation and to never quit
fighting for the timeless American values that he stood for,
and then we stand for the conservative movement period.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
Josh Holstein, he is chair of the Westvinian Republican Party,
Boonett County Delegate. Josh, thank you so much for coming
on this morning. We appreciate it.

Speaker 7 (14:33):
Thank you, sir, appreciate you all.

Speaker 5 (14:34):
Have a good day.

Speaker 1 (14:35):
Talk line continues from the Enco Insurance Studios.

Speaker 9 (14:38):
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Speaker 2 (16:20):
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Visit Encova Dot com to learn more, three or.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
Four talk three oh four. I don't do this often,
but I will do this today. I Am not going
to go through the text line and do a tit
for tet of Democrats said this. Republicans said that the
bottom line, the bottom line is the rhetoric in the
room from both sides, from both sides, from the President
as well. He is just as guilty as anybody else

(16:55):
of raising the rhetoric in the room to a tone
where we are in a position where we are today.
So I'm not going to do this, So you can
save the text I'm not going to read them where
we're going to go do a tit for tat. Republican
said this. Democrats said that Tom Homan said this. She
said that Gavin News whatever, we're not doing that. That
is part of the problem, TJ. That is part of

(17:16):
the problem. This side says this. This side says that
it gets ratcheted up and eventually somebody acts on that
violent rhetoric. And that's why we are here today talking
about this rather than what I want to talk about
right now. That's remember nine to eleven for a few moments.
But your thoughts, No, I agree with you, completely.

Speaker 5 (17:33):
There's no there's no party that's innocent here that has
taken the high road completely. I struggle to find any
such example compared to finding numerous examples of people on
both sides of the aisle stirring it up. Dave, I
will say this, just coming in from the Wall Street Journal.
Investigators found ammunition engraved with expressions of transgender and anti

(17:55):
fascist ideology inside the rifle that authorities belief was used
in the fatal shooting. That breaking from the Wall Street Journal.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
All right, we'll continue to get Your reactions are welcome.
Your reactions are welcome at three or four talk three
oh four. But I am not going to go again.
I'm not doing the They did this, They did that. Everybody,
everybody has got to ratchet down the rhetoric.

Speaker 11 (18:17):
All right.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
Today is September eleventh. It was twenty four years ago
that two planes hit the Twin Towers in New York City.
One hit the Pentagon, another crash in the field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Residents and officials in New York City holding a memorial
event at the World Trade Center this morning marking the anniversary.
The event paused at nine to three to remember the

(18:38):
moments that the second plane hit the South Tower, they
began reading the names of all the individuals who were
killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center after.

Speaker 12 (18:52):
That, Terrence Andre Aiken, Godwin oh Ajada, Trudy m Alajero,
Andrew Almino, Margaret and Alario.

Speaker 1 (19:06):
Nearly three thousand people killed on this day, two thousand
and one. President Trump was speaking at the nine to
eleven memorial events at the Pentagon. There's of course events
going on near the plane crash site and at Shanksville, Pennsylvania,
where those passengers took action and that plane eventually crashed
there in the field. That is for our generation to

(19:28):
jay and we talk about this every year. We're not
breaking new ground for our generation. That is probably the
seminal moment that changed. This is a dull, hust tatement
that changed the course of history. Everything changed twenty four
years ago this morning.

Speaker 5 (19:43):
A twenty year old man walking out of class at
the B and E after hearing a plane hit, walking
into the Mountain lair, watching the second plane go into
the second tower. I'd never seen anything like that, And
you're right, it changed our generation's mentality, moving far and
how long for that unity Dave that we had on

(20:03):
September the twelfth. We need that back. We've lost that.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
There's a lot of reasons for that, for that, but
you're right, for a brief moment, there was some unity
for a brief moment, and we could definitely use it back.
I remember, I remember walking into class. I was in class,
walking into class, and you think, well, it was an accident. Yeah,
And then you see the second one. Then you see

(20:30):
the second one, you go, no, this is not an accident.
Our world is forever changed. Then we're you know, of course,
that leads to the war on Terror, that leads to
twenty years in Afghanistan, and we're still dealing with the
ramifications of that day twenty four years later to this.

Speaker 5 (20:43):
Day, to this day. And you could hear a pin drop.
Oh when I watched that second plane go, I mean
in a room that is normally quite mild, obviously, you
got a bunch of college kids in it, silence, silence,
and it was as crowded as I've ever seen it.
It's an amazing scene.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Your thoughts, your memories from that day will take those
as well. Three oh four talk three four eight hundred
and seven sixty five eight two five five is the
phone number going to completely switch gears. Lighting the mood
a little bit because there is a major football game.
In fact, people are already starting to trickle in the
tailgate lots. The RV lots will start filling up later
today and tomorrow in Morgantown. Because Saturday is the backyard Brawl,

(21:26):
the real backyard brawl. Pitt coming to town. Brad Howe
is going to join us. We'll get his take on
what to expect on Saturday. What do the Mountaineers need
to do? Can they surprise us? Would be a surprise.
Hoppy has grave concerns about this game, he told us
earlier this week. We'll talk about it coming up. Talk
a lot of much news the Voice of West Virginia.

(21:47):
It's ten thirty. Let's get a news update and check
in with the Metro News radio Network.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Jeff Jenkins. West Virginia second
District Congresswaran Carol Miller calls the assassination of conservative divist
Charlie Kirk a senseless act of violence. Governor Patrick Morris.
He commented on Kirk's death during the appearance last night
in Wheeling.

Speaker 13 (22:07):
And It bothers me to know when we had a
really good man, a person who was skilled at debate,
who was sharp, and I think tried to show respect
to so many people who he disagreed with.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
West Virginia's congressional delegation has responded to the assassination. Read
more about that at wv metronews dot com. Marshall University
students participating today in the Day of Service. Marshall Director
of Community Service and Family Programs, doctor Gay Brown, says
educating students about nine to eleven is an important part
of the project. He tells us how plans came together.

Speaker 14 (22:42):
And back in March, I saw a website for nine
to eleven Day. It's a nonprofit organization that's helped continue
community service since the nine to eleven events have happened,
and they were taking applications for grants to be able
to do community service within your personal community.

Speaker 3 (22:59):
Public service prosus at Marshall today whe include a vehicle
wash for first responder vehicle. State lawmakers beginning a study
of the state West Virginia Secondary School's Activities Commission, which
was called for in a study resolution that lawmakers pastor
in the regular session. They met with the ssac's executive
director earlier this week. More at our website. You're listening
to Metro News for forty years. The voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 15 (23:20):
Football season is here. Get Mountaineer football coverage and watch
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Speaker 3 (24:21):
Excitement in southern Berkeley County where construction is underway on
a new thirty acre inwood Park. Berkeley County Commissioner Eddie
Gogenauer it has taken a while to get this project going,
but he's glad it is.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
I knew eventually we would, you know, but there were
a lot of hurdles in between.

Speaker 15 (24:36):
What a lot of people that I'm named off are
the people that help make this happen.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
A groundbreaking ceremony was held recently the new park, located
near Mussulman High School. From the Metro News anchor desk,
I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Governor Morrissey last night unveiled his comprehensive energy policy for
the state of West Virginia. TJ and I will talk
about that coming up next segment Top of the Hour.
Senator Jim Justice will join us on Metro News talk
Line this Saturday. It is the Backyard Brawl w and
Pitt here at Mylon Pushkar Stadium. Of course, Mountaineers coming

(25:32):
off the loss at Ohio pitt coming into the ballgame
with the two and zero record taking on the Mountaineers.
Brad how Metro News Sports three Guys before the game
sports line, he is our insider. He joins us OW
Metro News talk line this morning morning.

Speaker 6 (25:47):
Brad, Good morning fellas.

Speaker 4 (25:49):
How are we today.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Doing pretty well? What should we expect? What do you
expect going into the backyard brawl?

Speaker 6 (25:55):
Weird weirdness, right, that's what rivalries are about. Excuse me
and college football, and man, I'm just excited to have
this game back, and it's it's one that I know
fans will enjoy because it's going to take a hiatus
year for a couple of years. But it's generally close,
and it's generally weird and odd things happen, and we've
certainly seen that in two of the last three years

(26:18):
in which West Virginia has not come out on top.
But you have an NFL receiver that misses a pass
that turns into a pick six that cost you one
game last year. You were up by double digits heading
into the final couple minutes of that game and couldn't
hold on. So odd things happen in this game. So
I think that's what you should expect. Outside of that, Dave,
I'm not quite sure, And I know you're going to
ask me about West Virginia's offense in particular, there's going

(26:40):
to be a lot of I don't knows I'm going
to give you today.

Speaker 5 (26:43):
Well, let's put the cap on, put your coaching hat on,
and you can give us the I don't knows. But
my first question to you, Brad is how do you
how do you recreate Jaime White Jayden Bray on the
field if they're not there? What's WV you got to do?
And how will they do it?

Speaker 6 (26:56):
Yeah, that's part of the first I don't know, TJ.
I'm interested be where Rich goes with this because in
digging through some numbers today, it's really startling how much
Jahim has carried the running back load. Outside of that,
it's been the quarterbacks running it. So I think this
is one of those games, and Rich has talked about
it all offseason. We haven't seen it yet to the

(27:18):
extent that I thought we would, or the extent that
he has hinted that you would. But I think you're
going to have to see additional quarterbacks come into this
game and run the ball. And if that's more Jalen Henderson,
so be it. If that's Scottie Fox getting entry into
this game, so be it. If it's even Khalil Wilkins,
who has a bunch of wiggle when he runs the ball,
you might have to see multiple quarterbacks in this one

(27:38):
come in and try and lighten the load. From a
running perspective, we know this Rich Rodriguez offense has to
run the ball to be successful. So where does it
come from? I think that's the number one question going
into Saturday. I think the answer is going to be
more from the running backs, or excuse me, more from
the quarterbacks. And then you're just looking for a running
back that you haven't seen a lot of yet come

(27:59):
through and try and purduce. And that's one of the
great things about these rivalry games, guys, and we can
we can spend the next ten minutes going down names
in the history of this rivalry that maybe you didn't
think we're focal points coming into the game, and by
the time it ends, they go down in Mountaineer lore.
As guys, you remember forever, so I think if West
Virginia's going to pull a win off this week against
a pit team, they're going to need to find one

(28:20):
of those guys that becomes a legend.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Overnight talking to Mentioning Sports, Brad how backyard brawl coming
up on Saturday. Brad, you mentioned the offensive line earlier
this week. A lot of folks don't give a line
enough credit. A lot of what you're doing is technique.
It is understanding where the defense is and where it's
supposed to be. There's a lot more to it than
just you know, knocking heads like people think all offensive
linemen do. So my question is are the problems fixable?

(28:45):
Are they technique problems? Are they scheme problems? You can
fix those things through coaching and repetitions. What you can't
fix is if you don't have the guys. Is it fixable?

Speaker 6 (28:55):
Yeah, I think that's the big question as well when
you talk about the offensive line, and that's certainly where
they're running game starts. If you go by what Rich said,
he thought the assignments and the job the guys did
on getting on their assignments was really good. So I
think that leads you to if there's been trouble with
this line. It's just in the ability to move the
defensive line out, and I'm with you, it's certainly an

(29:17):
easier fix if it's assignment related. You could put that
on some of the inexperience. So you just got to hope.
Here we are in game three. These guys have advanced
a little, but they're getting by far the best defense
that they faced up to this point. And you're getting
a group that is extremely, extremely aggressive, both upfront and
at the linebacker position, where you're probably dealing with the

(29:37):
best group of linebackers that exist in the ACC and
maybe one of the top units in the country. So
West Virginia's offense is going to have its hands full,
and it absolutely starts up front. Can these guys bounce
back and put forth their best effort to date?

Speaker 5 (29:51):
Let's go over to the pit side of the ball.
Tell us about this team. Where are they good? Where
are they vulnerable?

Speaker 6 (29:58):
They throw the ball a lot, almost sixty five percent
of the time, and I think they have really good
skill led by Desmond Reid or running back that also
catches it out of the backfield. But there's multiple guys.
There's three or four different skill guys you're going to
have to pay attention to. So they move the ball.
They want to go up tempo as well. And last
year you look at a guy in Eli Holstein who
was making one of his first starts against West Virginia

(30:20):
and he really came on late the final two drives
of the game. He just killed West Virginia with his
legs and his ability to scramble. Now, stop me if
you've heard that before. You just saw it last week
with park On Navarro from Ohio.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
You you so.

Speaker 6 (30:32):
I think that's where it starts is with this quarterback
in Eli Holstein. Eight touchdown passes in the first two games.
So he likes to put it up. They want to
move the ball through the air. The one glimmer of
hope for West Virginia, though, is on this defensive side
of the ball. I thought they've been extremely good. They've
been getting pressure, they've been creating turnovers. And Holstein, if
he has one one little thing you start to dig into,

(30:54):
it's a potential for turnover problems. He's trying to pick
in each of the first two games, really struggles under
pressure and in his career has many more turnovers turnover
where he plays than he does big time throws. So
if West Virginia is going to get a win, I
think it comes on the heels of Eli Holstein turning
the ball over multiple times and West Virginia, unlike it

(31:14):
was able to do last week, cashing in on those opportunities.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
I was just about to say, Brad, you can. You
can get the turnovers. You got to score points, though.
When you get that, when you get that big play opportunity,
that the opportunity to swing the momentum, you've got to
take advantage of it.

Speaker 6 (31:28):
Yeah, and you didn't last week. He had it three
different times down one score with a chance to tie
that thing up, and that's why you felt like the
momentum switch and you were on your way to punching
one in there and getting back in that game, and
you just didn't do it. I would think, Dave over time,
that balances itself out, so all you can do is
keep creating those turnovers. That's a big step forward from
where this defense was last year. So you're gonna have

(31:50):
to put your faith in the defense. And I'm not
sure you were ready for the defense to have to
carry you to wins this early in the season. But
I think that's where we stand as we enter game three.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
Here talked about the fact the Mountaineers have a bunch
of newbies because of the situation with the portal. Do
you get the feeling, Brad, that the players understand just
how big a game this is and truly understand the
rivalry between Pitt and WVU.

Speaker 4 (32:15):
Yeah, I do, TJ.

Speaker 6 (32:16):
I'm just not at all concerned about that for a
couple of reasons. We've got a bunch of new guys,
not this many, but a bunch of new guys over
the last couple of years, and every one of those
guys understood the impact of this rivalry and what it meant.
And if for some reason you don't, you start to
feel that pretty early. In fact, starting today here in Morgantown,
you'll get that feel. By tomorrow, this place will be
going nuts. And by Saturday, when these guys come out,

(32:38):
it hits pretty quickly. So even if nobody talked about
the rivalry during the week, I think these guys would
completely understand it and get what it means. But these
coaches also do a good job of explaining it and
showing past highlights and getting into what this means and
you're led by a head coach who intimately knows what
it means on a lot of different levels. So yeah,

(32:58):
of all the concerns I have going into Saturday, and
I do have a bunch for this Western new team,
understanding the rivalry and bringing the energy is not one
of them.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
Talking to Brad Howell, Metro News Sports three guys before
the game met New Sports line h Brad with the newcomers,
I've had this conversation multiple times in the last week
about well, both programs, both West Virginia Marshall a lot
of new guys. It's coaches are never going to use
that as an excuse. Rich Rodriguez will not use it
as an excuse. Tony Gibson will not. But Brad, you've

(33:29):
got all these new guys who've only been playing together
since what you know, April, really trying to get your schemes,
trying to get your offensive schemes, just trying to build
your chemistry to receivers and quarterbacks are on the same
page to the five offensive linemen on the same page
with pass protections and run schemes. It's it's harder, it's
easier said than done to just say no we're you know,

(33:52):
communication is not a problem, or the new new guys, newcomers,
that's not a problem. It takes time, Brad, It takes time.
And I don't know that time is something we're going
to have a whole lot of in college football anymore.

Speaker 6 (34:03):
Yeah, I think you're right, and I think probably, I
mean that applies to all sports, but I think first
and foremost it's football. It's such a difficult game to play.
I mean, I think of what you're asking those offensive
linemen to do on every single play, and just that
alone makes it difficult. So yeah, I don't think there's
any question that that's the case. And I think it's why, David,
this has always been a cliche or an old adage,

(34:24):
and I think it's even more true now, is most
teams lose games rather than the other team wins the game.
So I think that's why you hear coaches so often
preach about don't make the mistakes. If you can just
eliminate the mistakes, you probably win way more than you lose.
And so yeah, I think that's absolutely a factor. But again,
that's where we are, that's what's been created in college sports.

(34:45):
So yeah, you can't use it as an excuse because
everybody's dealing with it. West Virginia in particular, just happens
to be at the far end of the spectrum when
it comes to new guys, so it may show up
a little more here than in some other places.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
All Right, you guys doing three guys later today.

Speaker 6 (35:00):
We are coming up here in a couple hours. It'll
be out by mid afternoon.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
That means I got to rush out of the studio
so you guys can get in here and do your job.

Speaker 6 (35:07):
Yeah, hurry up, we're coming soon.

Speaker 17 (35:08):
Get out of there.

Speaker 5 (35:09):
You got to handicap it, Brett, You're gonna handicap it
on three guys. Give us a prediction.

Speaker 6 (35:13):
I don't know if I'll do predictions yet. We'll have
to see TJ. We'll see where it gets. I will
say this, if you want to be optimistic. I mean,
I had somebody text me yesterday that follows those markets
close to me, and they said, you know, the way
the lines moving people are betting this game is if
they already know the final score in favor of Pitt.
But if you want to be optimistic and this is
not x's and o's obviously, and you want to go

(35:34):
with a little belief and a little Mountaineer magic TJ
that you might need this weekend. There is a saying
in that world that says, fade the public, and the
public is heavy on the pit panthers here. So if
you believe in a little mountaineer magic, maybe there's a
little nugget for you.

Speaker 5 (35:47):
I got to tell you what my optimism is for
my rooting for the team. When it comes to my money,
I'm very pragmatic. I'll just leave it at that.

Speaker 6 (35:54):
Well, I hope you got a better number than what
it sits, That's all I'll say.

Speaker 5 (36:00):
I'm not gonna bet. That's being pragmatic. You don't bet
unless it's a sure thing. Brad. And in sports there's
never a sure thing.

Speaker 6 (36:07):
And amen, And I think I would end let's end
with that right there. Again, if you want some belief,
if you're in the Mountaineer fan base, given all your injuries,
there's never a sure thing in sports.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
Well, the only sure thing today is three guys will
be out later this afternoon. Expert analysis from Brad how
Happy and Tony that's coming up over at we metro
News dot com at Metro News Television later today. Brad
Thank you. Enjoy the weekend, buddy. We'll catch up next week.

Speaker 4 (36:32):
All right, Thanks, ellis coming up.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
Governor Morrissey unveiled his plans for energy policy moving forward.
We'll talk about that right after this.

Speaker 5 (36:42):
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Speaker 19 (37:11):
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Speaker 1 (38:04):
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play today. Last night, Governor Morrissey was in Wheeling where
he unveiled the state's first comprehensive energy policy that he
says will help West Virginia achieve energy dominance. Morrissey appearing
at the West Virginia Educational Forum and Tour at Ogilbye
Resort in Wheeling. During the speech, he focused on PJM,
the nation's largest regional transmission organization. I talked about that.

(38:50):
He talked about adding to the supply diversifying cj I
didn't watch it. I did read the Governor's speech. What
were your thoughts on the proposed energy and We're gonna
get more into this as tomorrow into next week, But
what were your general thoughts on the governor's proposal? Governor's plan, so.

Speaker 5 (39:07):
Dave I tried to boil this down into a pro
and a con a point on each side. So let's
see if this answers your question. The governor said, it's
about reliability jobs. He called it a patriotic duty to
provide energy to the nation. Why would in West Virginia
seize the chance to lead the nation in energy production?

(39:28):
That is a laudable goal. Kudos for a strategy. Sounds great.
Here's the problem. West Virginia can't just build plants for
PJAM as it wants. There's thirteen states. These utilities are regulated,
markets are competitive, Transmission is limited. We've talked about one
transmission line and the stir that that has cost. Imagine

(39:51):
the new transmission that you would need to get thirty
five new gigawatts out of this state into the places
that actually have the increased load demand because we're not
seeing that here. You got to get it to where
it wants to be used.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Contextualize that. Well, okay, what does thirty five gigawatts? What
does that look like?

Speaker 5 (40:11):
So every day on my way here, I drive by
the John Amos plant in Winfield. That plant is twenty
nine hundred megawatts. That's its capacity, at least that's what
it used to be rated at. I haven't looked recently,
but let's go with that. For example, you would have
to build twelve new John Amos plants, twelve to equal

(40:32):
thirty five gigawatts of new capacity to get us to
that magic number of fifty.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
Oh.

Speaker 5 (40:36):
By the way, some of that fifteen gigawots we have
is probably going to retire over this timeframe, so you
would have to build even more than the twelve plants
to meet that fifty. I don't think we could regulate
and build a new coal gas even nuke nuke. I mean,
look what Southern Power is going through trying to get
that new nuke in Georgia. It'll take ten years to
build a plant, one plant. This is incredibly ambitious. We

(41:00):
should be incredibly ambitious. I just have so many questions
of how this is going to work. If we want
merchant plans to come in here, who's going to pay
for it?

Speaker 4 (41:09):
Dave?

Speaker 5 (41:09):
If we build it here and it's regulated here for
our rate payers, they can't afford the bills they have now,
so will other states agree and give up the tax dollars.
They want that capacity in their state so they can
benefit from it, and they want the physical assets there
so they can tax them and benefit from the property

(41:30):
taxes off of them. I have so many questions, and
I'm so far from being able to say that this
is achievable.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
It strikes me as to use a bad sports analogy.
Within an offense, you have an offensive scheme West Coast scheme,
run in the old run and shoot. There's the overall
concept of the scheme, and then you start to get
down to the level of plays, and then the level
of individual routes, individual assignments. This very much feels like

(42:01):
this is the overall strategic goal. And this may be
looking way into the future. I'm not certain exactly the
timeframe on it. Twenty five years, okay, twenty five years,
twenty five years, so that's way down the road. You know,
Governor Morrissey will be long out of office by the
time when we get to the end of that. It's
an overall plan. I like, you have many questions about

(42:21):
the details, and maybe that's where we are. We have
to set the goals. Is this is going to be
our goal? This is what we want to do. Now
let's figure out how can we achieve that? And maybe
you reach it, maybe you don't. But at least there's
a plan. There is a an overall strategy. Now you've
got to drill down and develop the individual plays, the

(42:41):
individual routes, the individual assignments. In this case, that would
be trying to figure out is it building plants, is
it building coal? Is it building natural gas? How do
we leverage our resources to achieve this broad, ambitious plan.
At least there's a plan.

Speaker 5 (42:55):
Vision is great, kudos to the governor.

Speaker 4 (42:58):
We need.

Speaker 5 (42:59):
Vision is different from execution. So okay, we've got the vision.
How are you going to execute this? And I want
to give I'd love to have the governor on. We've
been talking with the Governor's office, whether it be he
or one of his representatives coming on a Monday to
walk us through how this becomes reality. I want it
to succeed. I've just given my nature and what I've

(43:20):
done for a living in the past. I'm not sure
how we get there, and I want to go on
record I hope I'm wrong. Be great, be great to
get twelve new power plans in West Virginia that we're
selling into the market because Dave, here's one thing. One thing,
one of the reasons our rates were so low for
so many years in West Virginia. One hundred percent of
off system power sales, meaning that power that goes outside

(43:43):
the state that the governor's talking about, you know what
that does. Those proceeds come back to the benefit of
the ratepayers in West Virginia. It's one of the reasons
we didn't have increases from like nineteen eighty up until
Cole was out of the money, like in two thousand
and six, two thousand and seven. So there's an upside here,
but there's uncertainty into how we get to where we

(44:04):
need to go.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
It's a starting point, yep, it's not the endpoint. Definitely
no starting point. As you said, we have reached out
to the Governor's office. Hope to get some more details,
hopefully early next week final break, We'll try to work
in a couple of texts before the top of the hour.
Senator Justice at eleven oh six. This is talk line
from the Encove Insurance studios.

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Speaker 15 (44:52):
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live high school football games every week by downloading the
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Tell them It's Metro News.

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(45:21):
and Polka Valley.

Speaker 11 (45:24):
We are there for you to care for you at
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you a large network of doctors, friendly and helpful customer
service representatives, and competitive flexible pracing plans that meet your needs.

Speaker 5 (45:39):
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Speaker 1 (45:43):
We are there for you to care for you at
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We are here.

Speaker 1 (46:13):
Senator Jim Justice will join us eleven oh six. Congressman
Riley Moore at eleven thirty three. Some texts here this morning.
Three h four Talk three oh four TJ. Thank you
for your recent commentary. It did not agree with anything,
Charlie Cook, Charlie Kirk said, but violence is not the
answer and is unacceptable no matter who initiates it. Three

(46:34):
or four talk, three oh four. Hey guys, I'm hearing
you talk about this power plant fantasy of the governors.
All this is to me is just political bs, says Jim.
And Martinsburg. Thank you for not getting into the blame game.
Have a nice day, says the texter. This texture sends
along some pictures, these missing person signs all over New York.
Family members and friends still processing what had happened. That

(46:57):
was startling. Do you remember that all the the missing
person's pictures TJ plastered all over New York on after
nine to eleven.

Speaker 5 (47:05):
And the desperation. Yeah, that's all they could do, just
try to get an answer.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Yep, Yeah, all right. We'll continue on a moment. Go
get yourself another cup of coffee in a donut. This
is Talkline on Metro News for forty years, the voice
of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Incovia Insurance, encircling
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Visit incova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Good morning, welcome inside the Encove Insurance studios. Our number
two of Metro News talk Line, Dave Wilson and Morgantown. TJ.
Meadows is in Charleston. Our phone number is eight hundred
seven to sixty five Talk eight hundred seven sixty five
eight two five five three h four Talk three zero
four is the text line. Radon Ferrari running the video
stream today on Metro News Television. Ethan Collins is our

(47:59):
audio producer. Coming up, Congressman Riley Moore will join us
bottom of the hour. We'll get to your text in
just moments. Phone calls always welcome as well. TJ. Say again,
good morning to you down in Charleston.

Speaker 5 (48:15):
Good morning, David's also a sad morning, but it's good
to be here with you. It's good to be here
with our audience, and it's going to be talking about
these issues. As long as we're talking about these issues today,
that's better than other courses of action. So there's hope
in that.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
Following the assassination of a conservative activist and Turning Point
USA founder Charlie Kirk, the latest news manhunt still continues
for the shooter. Authorities do believe they have recovered the
weapon that was used. They have surveillance footage. They are
following up on those leads, but the manhunt continues. We'll
get your reactions to his death. Riley Moore will join

(48:51):
us as well. We'll get his reactions to yesterday's events
moving forward as we go into the second part of
the hour. Joining us on the program now is the
governor current US Senator for the great State of West Virginia.
Senator Jim Justice joins us on Metro News talk line. Senator,
good morning, Thanks for joining us, No, Dave, thanks and TJ.

Speaker 4 (49:11):
Thanks. You know, tickled with that to be with you.
It's a tough day, I'll promise you that you know,
from the standpoint of Charlie, that's that's sad beyond belief
and it's uh, it's just so ridiculous. It's just, you know,
we have absolutely got the temperature you know, between parties

(49:32):
just at a at an all time ridiculous high. And
that is that is preposterous, to tell you the truth.
And and I hate to say it this way because
seems like one size blaming the other side, but uh,
the Democrats surely have have run this temperature off the chart.
And uh. And so I'm not I'm not saying that

(49:53):
Republicans are innocent, but uh, but with that, with that
being said, it's really sad, and it's it's pitiful to
tell you truth. It's it's just plain pitiful. You know,
I've said ten million times I really don't care if
you're a Republican or a Democrat. And I have said
that over and over and over and for God's sake,
to live and we ought to have the decency to

(50:14):
be respectful to one another. And sure we can disagree,
but and I'm really proud of my conservative values, but
but this kind of stuff has got to stop. And
you know, I just it just goes on and on.
It's like it's like we want up one another every day,
you know, it's a school shooting or whatever it may be.

(50:36):
And of all things nine to eleven. You know, it's
just it's it's it's not a great day, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
So Jim Justice joining us here on Metro News talk Line,
a couple of things that wanted to talk to you
about this morning here in West Virginia. In fact, there's
a court case proceeding in Raleigh County Circuit Court this
morning regarding UH school vaccinations religious exists do should we
have one? Are they effective? Are the vaccine? I mean,
we've gotten into this whole vaccine conversation. What's your take

(51:09):
on this situation?

Speaker 11 (51:12):
Now?

Speaker 4 (51:12):
You know, guys, y'all, y'all may may give me a
hard time about this, and I think it's plain out
and out in nuts. That's all the is to it.
You know, the CDC has been around a long time.
You know, these vaccines are proven in every way. You
know where I stood when I was your governor, you know,

(51:35):
in regard to the vaccines. President Trump stands right with
me in regard to the vaccines today. Naturally, naturally, I mean,
we want to we want to keep our eyes open
and everything else and try to improve and everything else.
But but if we don't watch out here We're going
to turn around three or four times and we're going
to end up with a bad event. And how in

(51:57):
the war world are you guys or myself, how are
we qualified, How in the world are we qualified, you know,
as politicians or whatever it may be. You know, to
absolutely ignore the medical community, you know, I mean it
is the dumbest thing I have ever seen in all
my life. And and and the other flip side of

(52:20):
it is, you know, our governor, and I'm not giving
him a hard time, but for crying out loud, this
is absolutely going to endanger our kids, our present, you know,
the senator you have on board right here. I will
promise you Shelley's the same as me. But with all

(52:43):
that being said, what are we doing and we defy
you know, our state board of education? What in the
world are we doing? You know, it makes no sense
at all. You know, when I was your governor, the
number one thing that I concentrated on all the time
was keep the economic right. You know, we got to

(53:05):
get out of all the social issues and let our
medical community or whomever it may be guide us on that.
You know, now, I have always I was the guy
who said be respectful, be respectful to others, and you know,
and and their views. But to say, you know, we're

(53:25):
off on a religious issue or freedom's issue or whatever
it may be, you know we are. We are defying
the medical community that is supposed to guide us. And
I prefer to listen to the medical community and quit
trying to know it all.

Speaker 5 (53:42):
Morning, Senator, it's TJ. I want to get some clarity
on this because the governor has said that his position
in his administration has the backing of the presidents of RFK.
He has said that plainly, and I believe I heard
you do disagree with that. I want clarity. Does President

(54:02):
Trump back what the governor's stance here is on religious
exemptions and vaccines in West Virginia.

Speaker 4 (54:12):
I mean it was yesterday or day before yesterday. You
know that President Trump came right out and said, you know,
I'm for the vaccine. I mean, let's say a living guys,
you just think of what President Trump did with COVID,
how hard they worked like crazy to get that vaccine
in place, and when they did, you know, President Trump

(54:33):
knows it. You know, it saved hundreds of thousands of lives,
and it saved a pot full of lives in West Virginia.
And don't you think for a second when we finally
got that vaccine, we would have had West Virginians stand
up ten miles long wanted to get that shot in
that vaccine and literally, especially at our nursing homes, how

(54:56):
much did it help? Come on, come on, you know, listen,
just listen to this. You know, we are supposed to
be legislating for the masses.

Speaker 17 (55:08):
You know.

Speaker 4 (55:09):
Unfortunately, it's just as true as it can be. We're
supposed to do what is best in this situation for
our kids, you know, And we travel around a law.
We do a lot of things now, we go to
different states and everything else. We shouldn't have a state
by state policy. I mean, this isn't about states rights,

(55:33):
you know, this is about our kids now, guys. You know,
I can go on all day long. But you know,
President Trump absolutely came out just the other day and said,
I'm absolutely for the vaccines, you know, because they work,
you know, and that that basically sums it up in
a nutshell. And to think that the President of the

(55:56):
United States is absolutely against the vaccines or would say,
you know, do whatever you want to do and everything
I don't I don't buy that that our president is
is is you know in that boat? And I'm surely
not in the boat. And I don't think Shelley's in
the boat. I don't our vote. I don't want to

(56:18):
speak for anybody, but uh, but we are going to
make a terrible mistake, simply put, not listening to the
medical community. Where's the medical community? How as politicians could
we know what to do? You know?

Speaker 9 (56:36):
It?

Speaker 4 (56:36):
Just uh, you know, I let I let the you know,
Clay Marshes and so many in the medical community guide
me through COVID and uh and we made the right decisions,
we pushed the right buttons, and and you saw what happened.

Speaker 1 (56:53):
Senator Jim Justice joining us here on Metro News talk line.
Last week, uh HHS Secretary Robert IF Kennedy Junior was
on Capitol Hill. He got grilled in front of a
in front of senators and a committee hearing. There's certainly
been turmoil at the CDC. He himself has reservations, to
put it mildly, about known vaccine, certainly the COVID vaccine.

(57:16):
Are you concerned at all about the direction of the
CDC under rfk's leadership.

Speaker 4 (57:22):
Okay, let me. I'd really surprise you with this answer,
but you know I always go in Bobby Kennedy. But
Bobby is he's a good guy and he's crying, and
basically he has one message that is dead on the
money right and is split in the bullseye, and that

(57:43):
is just this with the childhood cancers that we have now,
with the autism that we have now, it's trending significantly
in the wrong direction. And his message is we've got
to do something. Well, he's right about that, but he
is dead wrong, you know, to think that now, you know,

(58:06):
what we need to do is just throw the baby
out with the dishwater, you know, and you know when
absolutely you know he is right about his message we've
got to do something, But to just throw everything out
to the wind, I think he said wrong. You know, guys,
I was just gonna say, just a second ago in

(58:29):
this situation with our kids, and let's just stay on
that just one second. Just think we legislate for the masses,
do we not. Unfortunately, if we have somebody that can't read,
they can't go one hundred and thirty miles an hour
out on the interstate just because they can't read. It's
just we do have to legislate for the masses, and

(58:53):
so so I just think, I think very very strongly,
you know that to just throw the vaccines out the window,
let people do whatever they want to do before you know,
we're going to have a horrible event with some kids.
And really and truly, I don't know how you look
at children and say, well, you know, we hate at

(59:15):
that six year old we lost a six year old
with measles, or we hate that these four kids have
polio now, or whatever it may be. And I'm not
trying to scare anybody, but I am just trying to
use the sense of the medical community, not the sense
of a bunch of politicians.

Speaker 5 (59:32):
Senator, we're closing in on another potential government shut down.
Here we go again, another cr we can't get a
budget done. What will you do to prevent a government
shut down in Washington?

Speaker 4 (59:43):
It will never happen, guys, I don't care what anybody says.
In my opinion, it'll never happen. At the end of
the day, the Democrats and all the Republicans are going
to shut the government down. You know, it'll be a
lot of saber rattling and everything, and in the in
the in the interim. But but when when it really

(01:00:03):
all boils right down to it, let's move on to
something else and quit worry about that. I don't think
that'll ever happen.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
US Senator Jim Justice joining us here on Metro News
talk line, Should the Epstein files be released? Should we
get that out in the open?

Speaker 4 (01:00:19):
Well, you know, that's that's a double edged sword, you know,
the net of the whole thing, you know. In my
opinion about the Epstein files is I love total transparency,
and I am completely behind total transparency. The problem with
this is with total transparency, you have a lot of

(01:00:41):
folks that could be really hurt and everything that are
as innocent as the driven snow. On the other side
of the fence, you've got victims that deserve transparency. And
I really believe that our president is trying to both
sides of this sword. And the other flip side of

(01:01:04):
it is we have got a ton of really super
important stuff. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not making
light of how important this is to the victims. But
at the end of the day, we have got a
ton of really as important important stuff and we've got

(01:01:24):
to move on. We have got to move on, you know.
It's uh, it's just you know, and and I've got
to entrust it, you know, Pambondi and and the powers
to be you know, or are pushing the right buttons
and making the right decision. I mean, this one, this
one to me is I'd love to have the greatest
transparency in the world. But the other side, the other

(01:01:45):
side is how do you protect those that are as
innocent as the driven sun? You know, this was a
really bad, bad, bad guy. And uh, and you know,
whether it's suspicious about how he left this planet, you know,
or or not. At least he's gone.

Speaker 5 (01:02:04):
Mister Justice. I hear your vision for West Virginia. In
the first part of your comments, you were talking about
focusing on economics. Clearly you have a different stance on
vaccine policy than Governor Morrissey. To be honest with you,
it's out there. You know, it's out there. People are talking.
Do you want to run for governor again?

Speaker 4 (01:02:24):
I tell you, guys, let's be fair. I love being
your governor, you know. And uh, and and really you know,
who knows what's going to happen in the future, you know,
But but it's so far away. Why in the world
would we be focused on that. You know, there's all
kinds of people that come up to me all the
time said, oh boy, we miss you. We'd really like

(01:02:46):
to have you back. But an awful lot of that's
just people being nice. And uh and you know, I
want I want Patrick to do good. I really do,
you know, I want goodness for our state. I can,
you know, I see, I see. If we don't watch
out and we get we get focused on deer antlers

(01:03:06):
or red dye or whatever it may be, you know, vaccines, whatever,
on and on and on, we're gonna spend around three
or four times and all of a sudden we're gonna
lose all kinds of job opportunities. It just makes me
plain sick to see Pennsylvania picking up billions and billions
and billions of dollars of you know, of work and

(01:03:27):
everything when we're the energy hub of the universe. And
it's just it, just it. I just don't like it,
you know. And I want goodness for West Virginia in
every way, Like I said, to honor my life being
your governor and everything. But uh, I just I want
nothing but goodness for our state. Now. I love to

(01:03:49):
have goodness for our nation. But I'm going to be
a hog and say I'm way more for goodness in
our in the state of West Virginia, and I want
that to happen for our people. And uh, we worked
so hard. That's the thing just makes me blooming sick,
is we worked so hard, you know, and we built surpluses,
unbelievable surpluses. I told you what the surplus would be

(01:04:13):
for this year. We came right out of the get
going and said we're going to be four hundred and
billion dollars short. And it was just focus, focus, nothing
and everything to try to make somebody look good. And
and we shouldn't have done that. We should have absolutely
just stepped in and said, look, you know, you know,
Governor Justices did great. I'm wanna I'm gonna take that

(01:04:34):
and build on and do more good good stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:04:36):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
That's I mean, we should have done just things that
were classy and the right things. But I don't have
I don't have any any bone to pick or whatever
in any way with Patrick Morrissey. I want Patrick to
do great because I want her stay to keep doing great.
For conflicts of living, it was a lot of work, guys,
to walk into a state that was dead, flat on

(01:05:00):
it's back, bankrupt and get it rocking and going like
we're going from tourism to on and on and on
our parks, everything in under the sun rose. It was
so it was so good, cutting taxes and doing it
a getting us on a pathway, getting rid of our
personal income tax and doing the things that were we
should have been doing. Lo and behold, it was the

(01:05:23):
best days in the world to be with Toby and
Edith because I love them. I love them with all
my heart and just want good stuff for him. So
that's all I can say. As far as running for
governor again, my gracious living guys, who knows, who knows
if that opportunity would present itself, you know, I mean,

(01:05:45):
who in the world knows. That's way too far.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Away us Sodor Jim Justice Center. Always appreciate good talking
to you this morning.

Speaker 4 (01:05:52):
Thank you, Thank you, guys.

Speaker 1 (01:05:53):
Bob absolutely coming up your thoughts through before talk three
or four back in a moment.

Speaker 21 (01:05:59):
Rafters along the Law or Dolly have reported sightings of
a pirate on the riverbank. Apparently he's throwing gold coins
to every boat that passes back to you, Carrie.

Speaker 22 (01:06:08):
I Play. West Virginia's new online lottery app is here
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Speaker 19 (01:06:22):
So join the cast of characters.

Speaker 22 (01:06:23):
Today with I Play from the West Virginia Lottery eighteen
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Speaker 23 (01:06:29):
At WVU Medicine, Children's Pediatric Care is never far away.
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(01:06:51):
Visit Children's dot WVU Medicine dot org to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
Texter sending in a reminder today all mountaineers remember and
honor Chris Gray, former quarterback nineteen eighty eight through nineteen
ninety one, who worked at Counter Fitzgerald located in the
North Tower, several stories above where American Airlines Flight eleven
struck at eight forty six am twenty four years ago.
This morning, thank you for the reminder, also remembering Paul Ambrose,

(01:07:42):
who was killed in the flight that slammed into the
Pentagon on nine to eleven in two thousand and one.
Your thoughts three or four? Talk three of four some
of you let me scroll through here. Well, I lost one.
There was a really good one about folks remembering where
they were. That's what happens if I don't read them

(01:08:03):
as they come in, we lose them. Uh, three or four?
Talk three oh four. Oh, by the way, that was
an interesting conversation. We've only got sixty seconds. But I'm
just saying TJ. There at the very end, that was
not a no.

Speaker 5 (01:08:16):
It was it was not enough.

Speaker 1 (01:08:18):
That was not enough. Was not a no.

Speaker 5 (01:08:20):
It was I'm leaving my options open. Is the way
I interpreted that, as any good politician would, And clearly
from his comments, I think it is fair to say
he has a different vision and a different focus for
West Virginia than what he feels like Governor Morris he does.
I don't think that's an unfair comment on my part.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
It was not a no. To use the double negative.
All right, coming up, Congressman Riley Moore will join us.
We'll get his take on the assassination of Charlie Kirk yesterday.
Your thoughts welcome as well. We'll get to as many
of them as we can. Three or four Talk, three
or four, eight hundred and seven to sixty five Talk
eight hundred seven six five eight two five five talk
line on my News, the Voice of West Virginia. It

(01:09:04):
is eleven thirty times to get a news update. Let's
check in with the Metro News radio network. Find out
what's happening across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 18 (01:09:13):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Chris Lauren. Search for a
gunman who killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk continues today in Utah.
Governor Patrick Morrissey commented on Kirk's death during an appearance
in Wheeling last night.

Speaker 13 (01:09:26):
And it bothers me to know when we had a
really good man, a person who was skilled at debate,
who was sharp, and I think tried to show respect
to so many people.

Speaker 5 (01:09:38):
Kirk who we disagreed with.

Speaker 18 (01:09:40):
Kirk, who often visited college campuses to engage in civil
political discourse with students, was thirty one when he was
shot dead at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. Across the country,
this morning. Folks are also remembering September eleventh. This man,
a trucker from Parsons, told Metro News that day he
was driving into DC and witnessed one of the.

Speaker 17 (01:09:59):
Acts plane coming up. It was flying real low. I
pulled my truck over on the side of the road
because I didn't know it was going to hit me
or anybody. Cards were stopping. Then it's clipping, telephone polls
off and I saw it go right in the side
of the Penny Hind, right over the Heelio port, and
I saw the explosion and everything.

Speaker 18 (01:10:16):
Ceremonies held earlier today in New York Shanksville Man at
the Pentagon. The Mason County Grand Jury is handed up
in a dietment against a Tennessee man in an attack.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
On two individuals.

Speaker 18 (01:10:25):
Forty six year old Kenneth Connell was indicted on two
counts of attempted murder and two council malicious assault for
that April incident at a home near Leon, where a
man and a woman where found with severe injuries and bleeding.
They had been beaten with a hammer. You're listening to
Matter News for forty years, the Boye of West Virginia.

Speaker 24 (01:10:42):
Planning your financial future doesn't have to be overwhelming. Huntington
Banks here to help. I'm Shelley Hustle. Heard of your
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Money Minutes this Thursday the three Hotline, or we'll discuss
the week's top financial trends and what they mean for you.

(01:11:04):
Catch Money Minutes Thursday at three forty five on Metro
News Hotline.

Speaker 25 (01:11:12):
A new episode of Live Healthy West Virginia is now
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Speaker 26 (01:11:19):
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I'm impressed, even though I've been practicing quite a while,
how rapidly things are developing. It's very, very encouraging and exciting.

Speaker 25 (01:11:33):
Listen to Live Healthy West Virginia for candid conversations with
insights for improving your health and well being. Live Healthy
West Virginia is presented by WVU Medicine.

Speaker 18 (01:11:42):
Mason County is the latest county to be recognized as
part of the Marshall Direct Admit Program for high school students.
The status was announced during an event at Point Pleasant
High School on Wednesday.

Speaker 4 (01:11:53):
Now.

Speaker 18 (01:11:53):
The program is a unique partnership which guarantees automatic admission
to Marshall for any student who graduates from one of
Mason County these three high schools with the GPA of
two point five or higher. It's the fifth county to
be added to that list, which includes Cabal, Kanaha, Puttnam
and Wayne Counties. From the Metro News anchor desk, I'm
Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (01:12:33):
No matter where you live, W Medicine Children's is bringing
world class care close to home with our expanding network
of hospitals and outreach clinics who want to make sure
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(01:12:55):
find a doctor close to you. Three or four three
four the text line eight hundred and seven to sixty
five talk eight hundred seven sixty five eight two five
five the phone number. We'll get into some of your
comments coming up in just a moment right now. Please
welcome to the program. Second District Congressman Riley Moore. He

(01:13:15):
joins us from Washington. Congressman, good morning, Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 28 (01:13:19):
Good morning. How are you doing.

Speaker 1 (01:13:21):
Doing pretty well? Where were you What was your reaction
when you heard the news yesterday that Charlie Kirk, the
conservative activists founder of Turning Point USA, had been assassinated.

Speaker 28 (01:13:34):
Well, I knew he had been shot when I was
in the House Appropriations Committee meeting when we're there doing
the markup. I learned that he had passed when we
were on the House floor when we were voting. And

(01:13:54):
it's absolutely devastating. It's absolutely devastating. I met Charlie, and
I think first and foremost people need to know about
him is I mean, this is a family name, and
a good Christian and somebody who actually really cared about
this country and cared about public discourse in the First Amendment.

(01:14:17):
This is why he showed up to campuses and did
things like this. It's hard for any of us, i'd say,
on the Republican side of the aisle, who has not
been influenced or had some touch point with Charlie Kirk
over the years. I have a deaf member in my
office right now who'd worked for him. A bunch of

(01:14:41):
kids I know that had helped us early on when
I was doing state legislature, had worked with Charlie Kirk.
I mean, look, we got turning point all over this
country now, which was his organization. There's a turning point
at Westerndon University who I had spoken to them actually
in the last we'll ask election. Great group of kids,

(01:15:05):
but it's an absolute tragedy. It's devastating and it tells us,
I think, unfortunately where we are as a country right.

Speaker 5 (01:15:14):
Now, Riley, this was an act of evil. Unfortunately, we'll
always be here as long as humans inhabit the earth.
But is there anything Congress can do to ensure that
situations and events that happened yesterday don't happen in the future.

Speaker 28 (01:15:35):
We know it's hard to do anything in terms of
legislating hate and trying to stop that.

Speaker 4 (01:15:44):
I think it's pretty.

Speaker 28 (01:15:45):
Clear right now what we know what the ATF has found.
They've bound the weapon thirty odd to six still, and
within that magazine that was inscribed with a bunch of brands, activists, propaganda,

(01:16:08):
so it does seem to be the case, but we're
going to find out more that this was another brand shooter.
So you know, there's clearly something going on here. I'm
sure some people might not like hearing me say that,
but I don't really care, because there's something happening here

(01:16:30):
and maybe that's something to look at. I think the
House and some have talked about doing an investigation around this.
I think that would certainly be warranted as well. But
there is a mental health crisis going on in this
country right now, and people are paying the ultimate price
for it. And we've now seen this, you know, happen

(01:16:54):
over and over.

Speaker 1 (01:16:54):
Again talking to Congressman Riley Moore, and Riley I will
add to that. You throw in the rhetoric that becomes
There are words, but people take those words to heart,
and then you dehumanize individuals, and that's how you end
up in a place where somebody can take a shot

(01:17:16):
at someone like Charlie Kirk, someone can attack other lawmakers,
the Minnesota lawmakers and Nancy Pelosi's husband. I mean, whatever
the case may be, Riley, when you dehumanize someone, you
throw in this rhetoric where the temperature room gets to
this boiling point and throw in the mental health aspect

(01:17:37):
as well. I don't want to say it's no wonder
we end up where we are, but it's no wonder
we end up where we are. And the one thing
we can control, Riley. I think in this discussion broadly,
and I'm not pointing fingers at any one person or another,
but broadly is to think about the words we use
and what we say when we're having disagree especially when

(01:17:57):
we're having disagreements with the other side.

Speaker 28 (01:18:01):
Well, I don't disagree with turning down the rhetoric here,
but you know, obviously I'm on one end of it,
the receiving end. But look, there's people celebrating Charlie Kirk's
death right now online. They think they just Hitler just
got killed, White nationalists, Hitler, Nazi whatever, which same thing

(01:18:24):
is they were celebrating in the saint manner when they
tried to assassinate President Trump. And this is I'll give
you a great example. We're on the House floor yesterday,
yesterday on the House floor, and this tells you exactly
where we are as a country right now. Speak of
the House was at the rostam had a moment's silence

(01:18:49):
I'm sitting right next to Lauren Bobert. She rises and
she is recognized by the speaker and asks, can we
have a prayer for Charlie Kirk and for the victims
of the school shooting in Colorado? And what was the
Democrat's reaction to that? They went ballistic and started shouting

(01:19:10):
her down and shouting all of us down and screaming
at us like lunatics.

Speaker 7 (01:19:17):
So why did they do that?

Speaker 5 (01:19:19):
Riley? Do you have any of ada why they did that?

Speaker 28 (01:19:21):
No idea, I don't. I have no idea, no idea
why we can't just for a moment have a prayer
on the house floor for some people who were shot
and killed. I I had no idea. I think it's
just Charlie Kirkin himself bringers them clearly. But then it

(01:19:46):
was completely abhorrent, and it tells you exactly where we.

Speaker 5 (01:19:51):
Are social media. Let's go there. I'm hesitant to talk
about any kind of restriction on free speech when that's
what Charlie Cook are exu. Charlie Kirk was so proud
to defend and what he stood for. But should we
be doing something about social media? Because I may not
like it, you may not like it, But it seems
like a condo.

Speaker 17 (01:20:11):
It.

Speaker 5 (01:20:11):
It seems like a virus in some instances to allow
hate to spread. Is there a sensible restriction or some
kind of limitation that Congress should look at when it
comes to social.

Speaker 28 (01:20:24):
Well, look, I agree with Charlie Kirk is that this
is our God given writers Americans, is our first Amendment
right to free speech, and we have to protect that.
What Day did yesterday is try to silence that, and
we're not going to let that happen. We are not
going to let that happen. Words do not equal violence,

(01:20:45):
They do not. And I think as a society we
just need to realize that this is a good thing
to enter into discourse when you disagree with people, and
people don't watch videos. Charlie Kirk interacting with folks all
over college campuses, all over this great country of ours.
He was always respectful, did it in a manner that

(01:21:05):
was engaging, and talked to these young folks in a
way that I think was productive. But we just have
to keep fighting for that view of free speech and
fighting for it to be free and continue to be
free and unrestricted in this country. Words don't equal violence,

(01:21:25):
but words for whatever reason right now are being met
with violence.

Speaker 1 (01:21:31):
Congressman Riley Moore joining us here on Metro News talk line. Congressman,
if I may change the subject for just a moment,
to some of the business on Capitol Hill. We just
talked to Senator Justice. He is confident the government will
not shut down, that there will be a deal reached.
What's your read of the room there in DC.

Speaker 28 (01:21:49):
Yeah, well, I'm on the House of Preparations Committee, so
I got a pretty close look at it. No, the
government's not going to shut down. What's going to happen
here is we're going into We've just moved in the
House to go to conference with the Senate. So we
are going to conference the milcon Va Military Construction and

(01:22:10):
Veterans Affairs Bill, the Ledge Branch Bill, and the Agriculture Bill,
which we passed all twelve bills out of committee now
as of last night. But those three bills, the House
and the Senate are going to conference. Seems like I
will be one of the conferees in that conference, and

(01:22:31):
we're going to pass those three in the House in
the Senate, and then we're going to attach a short
term continuing resolution to that that will probably run to
mid November, somewhere around November twentieth, and in that intervening
time period, we are going to pass the rest of

(01:22:53):
the appropriations bills to fully fund the government. That is
the plan as of right now.

Speaker 5 (01:22:59):
Congressman, Should the Epstein files be released, Yes.

Speaker 28 (01:23:04):
And we're working on doing that right now. The Oversight
Committee has gathered a tremendous amount of additional evidence, and
one of the great things is this resolution that we
had passed on the floor just last week empowering the
Oversight Committee. They're taking depositions, they have subpoena power. They're

(01:23:27):
bringing people in and deposing them and taking testimony to
figure out what happened here and get some truth. But
the end of the day, we also have to protect
the victims who are part of this. We from what
we understand right now that there could be as many

(01:23:49):
as a thousand victims involved in this.

Speaker 5 (01:23:54):
So no outright release of the files online, but more
of a structured release through the committee.

Speaker 4 (01:24:00):
Is that well what they would?

Speaker 28 (01:24:02):
Yeah, I mean, but the committee would put them online. Yes,
they're gathering the evidence and then they're going to release
it as they get it. So yes, yes, release release the.

Speaker 1 (01:24:14):
Files Congressman Riley Moore, second District, West Virginia. Always appreciate
the conversation. Thank you for coming on today.

Speaker 28 (01:24:22):
Thanks so much.

Speaker 1 (01:24:23):
Absolutely coming up more of your thoughts at three h
four talk three oh four, eight hundred and seven to
sixty five eight two five five. That's the text line.
That's the phone number. Talk line from the in Covia
Insurance Studios continues.

Speaker 25 (01:24:33):
A new episode of Live Healthy West Virginia is now
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Speaker 1 (01:26:26):
Three or four Talk threeh four is the text line
Texter says, guys, I'm tired of all these guests saying
Charlie Kirk was always respectful when talking to people. He
is almost the opposite of that. I don't mean to
speak ill of the dead, but he was very racist
and condescending. That's not respectful, that's ignorance. I want to
end by saying no one person deserves to be murdered
and that the shooter should be brought to the highest

(01:26:47):
extent of justice. Yes, that means the death penalty, says
the Texter. A couple of things here. I didn't know him, obviously,
I've watched the videos like you do. Being smug or
even condescending does not equate to racism. Telling somebody they're
wrong and then using data and logic and common sense
and facts to back up that argument is neither racist

(01:27:08):
at all. He was not racist. I mean, you can
see in the videos that he was not racist. But
that's this is part of the problem that I'm talking about.
We throw these labels around TJ when we disagree with someone,
or we have a disagreement with them, or they have
a complete different religious view, political view, whatever the case
may be. Too often these labels get thrown out there,
and once you throw that throw that label out there,

(01:27:31):
that's someone. Well, they're a racist, they're a biggot, they're
a communist, they're whatever. Put whatever is to on it.
That is part of what we get back to, this idea.
I believe that dehumanizing thing. Now that person is a something.
They're not a father, a husband, a mother, a wife, sister, brother,
whatever the case may be. They're a racist. That's bad,

(01:27:52):
that's evil. We throw that around that. We throw that
word around a lot, very non judiciously. Throw that out there.
Oh they're evil. Now, there is evil in the world.
We see that every day. Right, we throw that around
way too often, these labels, way too often. Sorry I
interrupted you there.

Speaker 5 (01:28:09):
No, we do see it every day, and unfortunately we
have lost the ability to engage in conversation, civil conversation,
debate without seeing the other side as our enemy. It's
all too common to see the other side as the
enemy instead of just someone who has a different viewpoint,

(01:28:31):
and that becomes ingrained. I think, I don't know why,
but it becomes ingrained deep within us that even after
a debate is over, that person continues to be characterized
and contextualized as an enemy to us, and it builds
up and then you see things like this happen, and

(01:28:52):
I don't know what has caused that, because our system,
it does not function without debate, It does not function
with the free exchange without the free exchange of ideas.
So if that very foundation of what makes America work
is threatened because of our inability to not see someone

(01:29:12):
as an enemy as opposed to seeing them as an opponent,
we're just at the tip of the iceberg, aren't we.

Speaker 1 (01:29:23):
Yeah? Pretty much? Pretty much three A four Talk three
or four text line phone number. Try to get in
a couple more texts. We're back at a moment. Talk
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(01:32:06):
Not until we quit trying to regulate with laws and
turn back to God when we see a change in
our nation, says the Texter. Trump has fueled this hatred
since twenty sixteen. It's gotten worse than it showed last night.
And do not try to defend this hater. Check facts,
look at statistics, says the Texter. Agree with everything David

(01:32:28):
TJ said early in the program about everyone needing to
stop the rhetoric. I agree with you guys about the discourse.
But I gotta tell you the day Trump landed in
the political spotlight and became demeanor in chief, calling people
ugly and rude, blood falling from their eyes, and losers.
I think they gave a license to people who have

(01:32:48):
been harboring those ideas to go for it and has
just gotten completely out of hand, says the Texter.

Speaker 5 (01:32:55):
You know how you combat that, You enter the public
square and do it the right way. Yes, Trump can
be abrasive. I absolutely can enter the public square and
be an example. Let me encourage you to do that today.
It's a good text. Appreciate the comment.

Speaker 1 (01:33:10):
Three or four talk three or four guys. Justice never
said yeah, you're nay to governor, but in my opinion,
is better than the current one. I've been through five
governors that I remember. Out of them, and Justice and Caperton.
Justice and Caperton have been the best. Do you remember
where Caperton landed on our metro news pole by the.

Speaker 5 (01:33:27):
Way, Mmm, I don't think it was that I think.

Speaker 1 (01:33:31):
It was that high. But I think there's some recency
bias there. I remember Governor Caperton.

Speaker 5 (01:33:38):
I too.

Speaker 1 (01:33:39):
We should teach, we should if we're going to be
in this job, we probably should remember Governor Caperton. Yes,
let me see three or four talk three oh four.
Just saw a picture circuling on Facebook several students praying
this morning outside Herbert Hoover. Refreshing to see with all
the negativity in the news and on the anniversary of
nine eleven, says the Texter. Three or four talk three

(01:34:04):
four all right, Steam release is coming up tomorrow, eleven
thirty three. That's your opportunity to vent get it off
your chest. We will not weigh in, we will not respond.
Those are the rules of Steam Release. We will before
that speak to former retired US Senator Joe Manchin. Going
to join us. He's got a new book coming out.
He's going to be in Morgantown for an event tomorrow night.

(01:34:25):
We'll talk to former Senator Joe Manchin. And I think
Starwalt is still going to join us as well tomorrow
double check. He's a very very busy man, you know,
high profile. Thanks for all the comments, appreciate it. Coming
up at you News midday. We'll talk tomorrow. Talk Linel
Metch News the Voice of West Virginia.