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MAGA Boat Parade, Dredging fight and Chickens - Midday Mobile - Wednesday 7-31-24

Duration:
42m
Broadcast on:
31 Jul 2024
Audio Format:
mp3

There will be no personal nor direct attacks on anyone and I would ask that you please try to Keep down the loud cheering and the clapping. There will be no booing and no unruly behavior With that this is painful and it will be for a long time After all these are a couple of high-stepping turkeys and you know what to say about a high stepper No, step too high for a high stepper. This is midday mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM talk 106-5 was shot a tough guy. I mean, I think everybody knows that you know Sean He took some licks he hangs in there. Yeah, what's wrong with the beer? We got I mean the deal We got drink pretty good on it. Did you hear what I said? So this is a bald council. I had no doubt about them that doesn't stop. If you don't like it Last question. Were you high on drugs? Right away we go FM talk 106-5 midday mobile glad to have you here on this Wednesday phone number and the text line the same as it's been But if you're new to the show a jot this down put this in your contacts there for the radio station because 56 hours a week of live local shows every day of the week on weekends in the evenings All those live shows you can call in be a part of at three four three zero one zero six three four three zero one zero six also works for the text line and if you have the FM talk 106-5 app, which I was checking stats. I guess it was yesterday morning a lot of y'all have thank you You can if you if you if you don't then you're on the outs man Or gal you got to get in the mix here Just go to the app store for for iOS users or if you're an Android user go to Google Play look for MT ALK 1 0 6 5 no point between the 6 and 5 because I don't know it messes up something So just 1 0 6 5 and then you'll see our logo That's the app download it stream the station there get all our social media feeds the liana doing such a great job With our social media feeds and breaking news and questions and polls and all that during the day coming through there plus show schedules traffic maps Weather information all that good stuff and right there at the bottom of the screen that microphone icon if you'll press it Let's you record a message emails it to the show and you can get in on the show another way yet another way All right without further ado Bring in this man who you will be hearing here in the near future as he is going to be guest hosting for me On midday mobile the crowd goes wild for Cameron Smith from ao.com and the triptych foundation Cameron. How are you brother? I'm doing good Sean and I'm looking forward to spending some time with your audience Yeah, it's and I thought about this. So I just saw on the the chiron here on one of the monitors in the studio that Kamala Harris VP Harris candidate for the presidency for the Democrats if you hadn't heard will be unveiling her VP The VP will reveal her VP choice. I think on Tuesday in Philadelphia So I'm going up you and I both have a family in the Keystone state and you know You'll see this rally just to I think probably most people back here in Alabama understand it, but Pennsylvania is an interesting state You've got Philly. You got Pittsburgh pretty blue areas the rest of the state of Pennsylvania In the same. I mean if you want time about Trump country where my family comes from in South Central, Pennsylvania is about as strong as Trump country as you'll see So you'll see the numbers. I'm sure a bunch of people come out and she had a big rally in Atlanta. You'll see that in Philly Maybe that's not indicative of the whole state because some of the polling out there shows Harris plus one now in Pennsylvania Your thoughts on it. You got some you got some folks up there. What do you think the the real mood is up there? Well, Pennsylvania is Alabama with two major cities in it. Mm-hmm. That's that's really what it is and the The flyover parts of Pennsylvania are very much Trump country but there are a ton of people in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. I mean it really does make it a toss up state and Governor Shapiro is very popular in Pennsylvania. He's pulling it. You'll get this I think the last time I saw it This is a governor and you know no matter what you think Some things are the same even if you've got a Democrat governor in a Democrat state or probably people usually don't like the governor You know and he's pulling like 63 percent approval rate in Pennsylvania. That's that's significant Wildly popular and I do think ultimately I'd be a little surprised if Harris didn't tap him to be her running mate Pennsylvania is a critical state one that frankly, I think Harris has to win if she wants a path to the presidency And again, which was Shapiro's popularity He's got in a toss-up state popularity like KIV has in Alabama and That's really really tough to do. So I think that helps the Democratic Party a lot She's going to be branded as an extreme liberal and so having somebody that is seen as having broader appeal On the ticket with her. I think helps her out a lot. Okay, so let's talk about this other part of it So talking yesterday to a somebody's pretty left out there about this I said, you know the same thing you said I said looks like it We talked about Tom Baldt's and we talked about Bashir's and all that but I said, you know Shapiro may give Harris Pennsylvania that's this key place that Trump has actually been up in in the polls and So she says well, you know, here's the here's a thing that you know his stances on on on the Israel's war with a mosque And now I will say Israel's war. We'll get into this a little bit with the majority of the Levant Is it's gonna be problematic, you know that here's Shapiro. He's had not the way left perspective on Israel's right to defend itself as Harris and This will be a problem and I said, well, you know, people don't vote on the vp's Political ideas to vote on the president and this person said for a lot of left people that it would be it would really mess up The the Harris excitement they have which I don't know why they have in the first place But your thoughts on that that Shapiro messes up that rollout in Michigan with the people, you know, the votes there or in other states Well, the anti-Semitic vote in Michigan if you're really having to hang your hat on that then you probably don't need to win anyway I think that Shapiro Helps with swing voters across the country to say okay. He's he's got a more reasonable stance He's not the extreme liberal that Harris is and I don't know if you've noticed this, but we're reimagining Kamala Harris right now. We are not we're ignoring her past track record and couching her as a reasonable moderate So that Democrats can be successful and and it's where to be blunt It's having an effect right now the the memory hole of all of her stuff being just sort of washed away by the media It for the collective excitement of hey, this is our anti-Trump candidate It's just shocking honestly and to watch the RNC have such amounts You know out of the The excitement of you know Trump fight fight fight standing up from that assassination attempt then the RNC it was okay it was sort of there then to watch JD Vance be Blistered in the media and now - we're gonna forget about all that and Harris is the new era parent of the democratic legacy to save democracy and The fact that people are just going with this is it's truly shocking to me well in discussions I've had folks it seems more pragmatic than anything. They're saying well It is just it they're not as excited about Kamala the person. They're excited about it's not Biden You know that that's not that's the thing. It's just not Biden. So that they're in But let's be real precise about what's happening here Sean is it's not just we're excited So let's all rally around the new person It's let's re-remember her positions on things her various responsibilities on items say like immigration Just dropped a column on ail.com Pointing out folks. This was pretty clear. This isn't hidden stuff You know Harris is a day immigration was there and now Democrats say no no no she had no real whatsoever She was economic development and other stuff. No she did nothing with immigration But it's silly it's it's just surprising to me and again, you know check out the piece What's hilarious is Democrats didn't even bother to see what happened in the state in the countries? That she was response quote-unquote responsible for engaging Guatemala Honduras and El Salvador I'd literally Sean nobody's looked but Migration encounters on the u.s. Southern border from those three countries are down net 30% even as the net Overall immigration challenge has increased But Democrats aren't even looking at it. They're just like she did nothing. It's fine. No, no Re-imagined Harris is a completely new candidate. You've never heard of her before yeah It's yeah, and the washing and the changing of websites out there people ignorant to the fact that there's the way back machine And you can see what they're posting up as it maybe it doesn't matter in today's Democrat party But she was the the one she was in the Senate the most liberal right I think had the most liberal voting record That's doing something it's easy to see that she is a California liberal think Gavin Newsom like that's more of what count of Kamala Harris is and yet again, she's being re-imagined and Really she's the one that is going to make sure that democracy doesn't die die in darkness it's all these slogans surrounding her and the media is echoing it and It's really interesting because over the last couple weeks really since the RNC Haven't heard that much out of Trump land that the media has really picked up. They've been too busy cheerleading for Harris All right, something I mentioned earlier. Let's talk about this as Israel has responded, you know to one missile attack with another missile attack and and but going This isn't Gaza. This is going into Lebanon. That's where where Hezbollah is so they go in there But the IDF going into Beirut with a strike How do we balance this idea the idea that Israel gets a defend itself? But my personal worry that has been there since October, you know, they kind of a small voice back then I think there are other people who agree with me that we keep turning up The real stat here, you know, we keep turning up a situation where the United States. I just fear we're gonna be Involved physically in theater in a wider war Yeah, we just everything that is how is this not gonna escalate? Well, I don't see the answer to that Sean I don't see how it doesn't because for example the commander that I believe was killed And Lebanon the US had a five million dollar bounty on him. Mm-hmm I believe and so you're you're looking at a situation where it's well the US clearly wanted this guy gone the Israelis take care of that and and do you think other nations don't want to respond and you know the same with the attack in Iran it was an assassination of a Hamas official so Israel is saying look this is this is somebody that was involved in this in our country then leaves You know the area to make sure that you know, he's above our reach, but he's not I understand why Israel did what it did But Iran's supreme leader has said that we have to avenge this that they must retaliate and I don't see How this back-and-forth ends with anything but an all-out war in the Middle East and the question is then if Because I've feared this Since October because I fear this for Americans, right? I you know, I'm one of those crazy people that my first loyalty and second Maybe third maybe even going to the fifth is to the United States of America and so I worry about these escalations, but I Is it to the point where you? Go ahead and just do it. I mean, I don't I don't know I don't want that But I mean how this goes anywhere else you know, you've got these ideas. Oh, okay They were close on a ceasefire here or temporary ceasefire I mean those things will be gone right and and yes And how you can strike back at Hezbollah and not have or like you said I mean taking out the Hamas leader in Iran. That's in their sovereign airspace You know how they're not that we expect them to just be quiet even if they do a you know a famed response to keep up their political capital in Tehran it's still going to be an attack back towards Israel and then what do we do and then what do we do? Yeah, and I think this is where we end up with a serious problem Sean at one Joe Biden's in the White House and hasn't really shown the capacity to truly deescalate this situation and It's really unclear We use the right rhetoric of what we stand with our ally in Israel We stand with Israel, but his own party is sort of like well maybe we don't sort of some of the time and so it's kind of unclear should Israel be attacked again by an Iran or you know Hezbollah decides we're gonna go after Israel full force how the US responds and Is it purely defensive is it we try to defend Israel is it hey? We actually have to help eradicate Hamas Hezbollah we we talk about these designations all the time and it's not a big deal to us of well This is a terrorist organization. This is an individual has been branded a terrorist and they absolutely want to do harm to the United States, but getting American troops on the ground involved with another war in the Middle East I don't think that's something that folks are really excited about right now I just don't know if we're gonna have an option. Yeah, well, that's that's the question right and to me the overton window is moving so quickly on What's acceptable policy, you know as we look at the same thing in Ukraine and you know how we would back them the same thing here for Israel You know at first we say well only do this and we're only here to back them up And we're only gonna use the anti missile technology, but you know and then they built the pier But other than that, I mean, I don't see how it doesn't have a situation where in a year from now It's like well of course we're involved in that war. Why wouldn't be be and here? I'm sitting in 2024 going. Oh gosh. No Well, and that I think is gonna be a huge issue for the election is what's the game plan to resolve these Well these wars without Americans Getting pulled into a full-scale global conflict because what we don't talk about and what we don't want to talk about is well We're involved with the situation in Ukraine vis-a-vis Russia now with Israel and Iran and Hezbollah and these other It feels very much like the setup for a alignment of a massive global conflict with at least Russia Iran North Korea those type of folks on one side of the equation and then the US on the other side with our allies and When those lines become clear and clear the likelihood of escalation towards. I mean, let's just say it a global war are Quite real. I don't want to check out more what I gave the latest piece from Cameron just posted here within the hour Check it out through AL.com or if they want to get you directly where do they go? At d Cameron Smith on X is a great way to join the conversation You know just have the back and forth. Tell me where I'm wrong I'm really interested when it comes to the Kamala Harris. All right, Karen. We'll talk again next week No, actually we won't talk next week, but you'll be doing a show coming up So don't worry about it. Well, you'll hear more from Cameron coming up. I gotta get that all figured out There he goes Cameron Smith and we're coming right back This is midday mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM talk 1225 FM talk what oh six five midday mobile All the real heavy stuff, thank you for whoever the unnamed texture is who said Harris is a clone That's not the real Kamala Harris Let's start that one right everybody's a clone every although with the Biden you don't even need to have real clones or body doubles anymore You just a you know a I'm Let's see here to to to to to down Keith and agriculture had said Yeah, that I've been Saying this for months about the escalation with it. I have Keith I worry about this and we just move we don't come in haven't we learned our lessons. We don't come in and say okay This is what we're gonna, you know, you'll have to tell them exactly what you're gonna do But I'll be definitive and decisive what you can do if you just do this easing in We all see where it's going Right, I mean we all see where it's going and that's a greater war in in the Middle East The let's see here Ben says Anyone else a little skeptical of the timing of the Fed dropping interest rate for the first time in four years No, I'm not skeptical. I'm Realized that's what they do the other thing the only benefit we have though also have the gas prices trend down Right so the interest rate will drop the gas prices. This is the this is the formula it happens You go, hey, y'all could make that happen here at election year. Can you make it happen the rest of the time be nice? Yeah? This is a so no, I'm I'm skeptical. I'm just not surprised maybe Let's see fire dog says this was coming for a long time once Iran gets a nuclear weapon. Thanks to Obama and Biden They'll use it on Israel or Saudi Arabia and then we'll be involved with millions dead or we get rid of the Islamic nut jobs Now there is a choice. Yeah, I don't know how far You know, whatever we think how far along they are where we're Maybe a little bit behind they may be further along and the reason the country wants to get the nuclear weapon it makes you You can't be you can't be kicked out of power by another country, right? It was I mean, it's the so Gaddafi doesn't have a nuke Gaddafi gets bumped Kim Jong-un Has a nuke and doesn't get moved out. I mean, that's the countries are all jockeying to have the nuclear weapon It makes you undeniable. Maybe in real politic. Let's see here So before combo here say listen the I Think that asking I'm trying to ask people outside my orbit right well inside my orbit that are They're democrats. What is the deal? What is the deal with this combo stuff and People I've heard from completely anecdotal, but they're saying well, she's not Joe Biden I'm like, that's the that's the reason that's and they're like, yeah, she's not Joe Biden, so You know See how long that lasts what kind of legs that has and yeah, well while I'm gone I will be up in part of the time up in the Keystone State and I'll be doing very unscientific polling of my kinfolk up there But I tell you I'll probably come back 101% Trump support there But you know Pennsylvania is a different story. You've got Philly. You got Pittsburgh and would she bring in a Shapiro? who is nowhere near as left as Harris has been Harris has been vice president has been left of of Biden obviously on this kind of trying to satisfy everybody approach to Israel Harris has been left of that Shapiro would be more where Biden is You know depends on what day and who is speaking for him On Israel's right to defend themselves. So the Shapiro thing with that Tamped down some of that enthusiasm for groups that we go out and vote for Kamala I I don't think I don't think this is a situation where people that are going to vote for Trump will now say I'm gonna vote for Kamala Harris, you know, but I do think Just said it earlier and it's true. It will motivate more people to come out and vote more Democrats. It might have just stayed home before Right coming back Erica Thomas from 1819 news.com joins us our phone number our text line You know it you love it three four three zero one zero six This is midday mobile with Sean Sullivan on FM talk one oh six five Oh All right to twelve thirty five FM talk one oh six five bid day we'll be able to have him here on this Wednesday 24 three zero one zero six how you getting in touch with us this segment the show brought you by one eight hundred God junk It's my man tray and so here's how it works and Not saying a bend to your house But I've been to houses like it. There's somewhere in the house that there's junk that needs gone You know schools getting ready to get back in organization is key and you've been saying I'm gonna get around to that at some point No, you're not You're not tray in the crew will get around if so I've done it personally before and with this radio station Setting the appointment with one eight hundred God junk Puts a deadline on something makes something happen something you've been procrastinating about it could be at your house could be a Garage full of stuff garages are cool. You put cars in them if you get the stuff out of them It could be a storage unit you pay on every month. 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I know this guy But then there was another guy too when this first happened The first year they called me and said hey Sean and somebody came on. I just it's not Justin But I lost her name. They said hey, we're gonna do a Make America great again. You know Trump flag parade down at the beach and this is back on now, right? This is yeah, this is a different organizer. Okay, so there was kind of a call in the community. This guy just in Fadalo He has this salt water fanatics. Yeah, don't don't inflate it. Don't get his head. He bigger than it is He's super famous. Everybody knows them. He's a really big deal You know, so that's because he's on the wanted posters at the post office. I mean, maybe maybe some milk cartons Um, no, he he was just hearing, you know, we need to do this again. We need to do this Make America great again Trump boat parade again. Yeah, and this we have the first one was Four years 2020. Okay, 2020. Yeah, so I remember that one. So now it's back. Yeah, I didn't live here then yet Uh, and but I do know that there was several of these kind of boat parades back then all across the state There was one at Lake Martin, you know, the different lakes Logan Martin Smith Lake and now and then they had it down here in the golf and it goes from mobile bay to to orange beach to the pass over there and so Justin said, you know, we need to do this again Uh, there's a lot of people that are wanting to do it and we have that right. We have that freedom and that liberty So we're gonna take advantage of that and show our support for President Trump in this election So this is uh, the people get their their Trump flags out put them in the uh, put them in the rod holders there Or you know, holy shit if you have to be in our boat and put it there and then it's just a A ride. It's like a poker run without yeah, I think they said it's gonna last like two hours Um, we'll see what they can it's just kind of a way for them to, you know, show their support for this is so this is the third Right. This is on the third. This is yes. It's saturday. Okay. It's saturday Which actually the sea not bad. I've been checking seas for snapper fishing. Not bad. Oh, well, that's good Yeah, I talked to senator christalia because he will be going Going in there and and I said, well, are you gonna bring your fishing pole? Because I really wanted to be on a boat myself. I want I want to be There to fish. Well, I wonder if they're gonna do I mean if they're doing it trolling speed, uh, don't encourage him But just if you get a chance to text me, are you all gonna be running it at trolling speed so people can be You know trolling while they're doing this. Yeah, I mean, I don't know I know that they're expecting hundreds of votes. This is gonna be a big parade Obviously with 18 19 news. I'll be covering it. I'll be taking photos from Probably the bank because I can't I can't find a boat to get in to take better photos But I think it's important for us to you know show people what's going on with this It's from the bay to to Pretty to pass but we're in the bay to people just in the bay in general or is there that they tell you Is by the lighthouse or where people? I haven't seen a route. Um, but I know One part that they said if you if you don't have a boat and you want to watch just go to canal road in orange beach You know, you can park along that and uh and watch them go by Okay, all right, uh, what i'm probably by the weekend or right probably by the time we check the text line Somebody will let me know where that gets started. Yeah, and it'll it'll leave at 11 in the morning saturday Okay, allegedly. Yeah, they should be there by 10. Yeah be there by 10. And so I would expect a little bit You know before noon be ready to Okay, have your spot if you're wanting to watch go parade the other and I posted about this on facebook And I can say there are such polarizing uh opinions on this, you know, obviously Republican versus democrat nationwide has just gotten really heated um, and so that's no different here there are people in south, alabama that love donald trump and they're also people here that That really believe a lot of negative things about about him and just they're very very passionate on both sides And so, uh, if you want to have you know A harris boat parade i'm sure you could organize that as well, but I haven't heard of one yet But I am on the lookout for that. Okay, that will be let you know if that comes through Yeah, I will definitely um and cover that one just the same. All right, uh, and and by the way So yeah, you say his name three times. So we'll find out where the start is coming up in a second here Also in the news this week. I mean there's been Uh, the port authority has been kind of mixed up in a couple stories here And you know last week and we had talked a good bit about this uh mobile baykeeper William strickland was on with me, uh talking about uh their lawsuit or their Planning to file the lawsuit to uh to have the core do more to remove the dredge spoil instead of putting that percentage back in the bay And then I had uh maggie with the port authority came on and talked with me as well and then Port authority also kind of involves in the story because earlier this week josh woods was on talking about him changing his vote Or being a guest vote on the train, which does involve. I mean, it's uh, the port authorities in the news I mean usually they're doing things but it's kind of behind the scenes, but now they're like in the news cycle Yeah, well, they've been doing this Deepening and widening of the harbor, you know for for a while and and really the update today will be on 18 19 news dot com at two o'clock. I hope um So that story is going to be the response from the port authority to directly to mobile baykeeper and what they think About all this the response to the instance. I know the core. I mean not the core the uh the chamber commerce last week You know commented on this and uh president Bradley bern was on with jeff Talking about it, but so the core. I mean the in the conversation I had last week Uh One of the things that struck me as they said they had had these open communication lines or they had been talking Up to just a couple weeks before with baykeeper and didn't see this coming And so that's why I want to see if there was a way We're it, you know, maybe to do another story here where it went off the tracks You know, that's I'm trying to figure that out because I've heard from both sides here Well, john driscoll the president ceo of the albam of port authority in this letter to the baykeeper He addresses that he talks about, you know, we've been working with you guys for years. Look at all we've done uh, we've We've restored some shorelines and it just they go through a complete list of all the things and the conversations they've had with the baykeeper to ensure that the environmental integrity of the mobile bay is Secured they want to make sure that that things are good according to this letter. And so Uh, yeah, he does address, you know We're kind of shocked that you guys did this because we we are willing to work with you We have been working with you for a while and and then he goes on to have a suggestion And i'm not going to tell you what that suggestion is No, because you got to go to 18 19 new suck home. That's the tease Yes, it's like called it in the tv world. Yeah, so we tease stuff in radio kind of just not as much as uh as tv so And the the question on this is as well Can this and I guess a conversation I have with my gala ver it was this dredging was supposed to be I think completed by this spring So it's not like this hasn't started yet. Oh, yeah, this has been a Yeah, so with that I I wonder If it's so close to being fit, you know, I wonder where like how much Remediation do you want it? If let's say it's I don't know the percent let's say it's 80 done Do you want that remediation done on this final 20 percent of it? You know Or ongoing because once you dredge it it doesn't stay that way you got a even with the the deaths we have now and the width We've had before the expansion and deepening you have regular dredging to keep up to keep a channel open Right and so as far as what what's to come, you know, if if the baykeeper files this lawsuit Does this mean it's going to to pause that progress and and everything's going to have to be redone? I'm not sure. I have no idea, but I know that um like like I said, they've been working with baykeeper and now the The allegation is that some national organization has gotten involved with the baykeeper and that's why this Letter of intent to sue has come about. Yeah, you know and in discussion that I know Bradley bern had said Uh this var left group that that they had aligned with and I asked William Strickland about this I said y'all brought in this other group and I don't have the name in front of me right now But he he made it akin to well if you want to have something accomplished He was because he played for coach sabin and he said, you know, you find the person that's the Putting words in his mouth, but like the specialty player at that position and that's what this group is and that's why They went with them. He's a turn. That was his explanation of why they chose this group To go with him on this on this lawsuit, which is still not been filed Right, it's fixing to be filed, but not They're just in a letter of intent and I think they're they're intent and doing that is to say hey This is what we want you to do instead. We want to work with you to To make changes what changes those are, you know, who knows but if you look back and in my research a couple weeks ago on all this I found a lot of data from different environmental studies that they've done And they really looked into they reviewed the process the plans for this widening and deepening Project and it was given that all clear by the environmental groups. That was back in 2018. So uh, definitely go to 18 19 news.com at two o'clock and check that out. I've got a link to that study and also have a big fact sheet from from the port authority of All of the aspects of of this project and it outlines the impact that that the project will have all right to also Yes, and the details here. So it's good. They're gonna rally up here at the The mouth of the ICW in the bay kind of towards oyster bay would be where you get into the ICW there Uh, so that's where they're gonna start and so I guess they're gonna go intercoast with the whole way over instead of going out in the golf Was this um, but yeah, so that so thank you Justin for that information and I guess there's more on his facebook page as well And also more in my story wait, can you hang on a second? I want to talk chickens with you. Can you can you hang on? Sure. All right, then we'll be right back. This is midday mobile with Sean Sullivan on fm talk 165 Right, welcome back fm talk 165 and midday mobile continuing our conversation with harrick at Thomas from 18 19 news dot com That latest from the port authority story posting at two o'clock today Yes, that's right 18 19 news dot com. All right, this story. This is something you not talked about gosh has been maybe six months ago or more and You come from poultry country in the state of Alabama. You and I both kind of ag people Uh My world has been cattle right a cattle and then some of my confoker or row crops Uh, never been around the poultry world other than what grandma had run around in the yard You do have experience in this and you taught me a lot this last time of because i've heard these stories about what's going wrong What's happening with the poultry industry in Alabama? What's happening now? I mean, it's it's it's dying right? It is dying and and really why is it dying? I think simple people terms. Why is it dying? Well, there's sim it's not that simple, but Uh, there's different layers to this some of it starts with federal regulations, of course Um, and then it goes down to the actual companies that have almost created a monopoly Uh, the producing companies that you you produce for and yeah people don't understand that like, you know, it's the inverse people in the cattle world You know, we think okay, uh, we're we're raising cattle and then we're gonna sell them at market in this case You raise chickens for a company, right? They say you're working for us. You're like the company Even though it's your private chicken house, you're raising for a Tyson or somebody, right? That's right. And so, uh, there's Tyson pilgrims pride There's different ones, but there's not a lot. I mean, we're talking a very small Number of large corporations owns the entire poultry industry in the united states Um, I have some numbers in this story four companies control about 65% of the poultry market Um, and if you go even further than that Tyson foods and pilgrims pride, they control half of the entire market So they have so much power over these I mean, you almost want to call them sharecroppers. Well, that's where it was getting to us at companies I was going to say company store. It's not that but it is it's sharecropping. Yeah, it's You build the million dollar facility, but then they bring you the chickens and all the stuff And then you write and you send them back to them You you don't get to go then sell those on an open market to try to find the highest price Right, and we're only talking about broiler broiler houses. So that's like the meat chickens, not the layers Um, but yeah, they bring you the chicks They bring you the the feed the vaccinations, you know, anything that you might need which That's a whole different scary. So in your in your picture. I see some of these some of these broilers are orange or red looking Yes, that is that's the vaccination that they put on on these chicks when they aren't when they arrive at your facility At your million dollar chicken house now. I want to put this into perspective because just in the 80s To build a chicken house was about $5,000 What what chain I I mean, obviously that the building cost or more We all know that but not from 5,000 to a million and over a million in some cases What changed is the controllers you have to have in the chicken houses these regulations Uh that that have been put on the poultry farmer. It almost makes it impossible To start fresh and even if you have an older chicken house, you're not grandfathering in you have to update your equipment To whatever they say is their standard that is their standard and then not only the federal government has a say in that but also these You know pilgrims pride and ties and foods They have their own set of standards that they go by and they're going to push those costs down to the producer to the farmer But what happened? Okay, so we talked about this a little bit last time What happens if they get so much of this that they run the last families out then where they're going to get broilers You shouldn't say like if they they're pushing and pushing and squeezing these these farmers But eventually if people do what somebody generations do and go. I'm not doing mom and dad did I'm getting off the farm mom and dad get old and sell it and you know, right becomes a hunting camp or something Well, I mean, there's always If you look at where we get our food from it's not We're we're not independent in that in this market. Although, Alabama. We are a big deal I know coming out of the ports big in the port again. There's tons of chicken that comes out of the port here Right, so there's obviously a incentive for them I just wonder these a Tyson or pilgrims pride if they can squeeze so much That their producers in large go Have it have it more of a profit because with the control they have over these farmers They know that they're going to do all they can to stay in business. These these individual farmers are being Told what to do, you know, they say jump Yeah, and you say how far how far do I need to jump? How high do I need to go? Because they got you over a barrel because you got the note on the million dollar chicken house And what's crazy is the price of chicken Has increased for the consumer over the years and it's all directly related to the these These companies and the the sad thing is the farmer getting paid more. They're getting paid less That's what I'm saying. So eventually the farmer I would say no or is there in your story time about these groups Is there an organization? I'm not you know chicken farmers union But I mean is there a way to organize folks and say no we won't take less than this or no We're not going to do that because if you don't provide them chicken those companies go out of business That has been a huge talk With the farm action people they were talking about yesterday it's time for us to organize and and stand up for ourselves uh, but the issue there again is They'll put you out of business anybody that's that's spoken out against these companies They claim that they have been penalized for that and one of the people that's in this story on 18 19 news.com um He His name is Jonathan butram. He his grandfather and father raised chickens in albert ville You know over the decades and of course he did but then He went against the company that that he was raising for and said They just manipulated the scales so they don't have to pay me as much And a lot of times these people aren't going to say anything. They're not going to be loud about it He was loud about it. Is there do you think there's a big amount of time? But do you think is there collusion between like a pilgrim's pride a tyson another producer to set prices because It seems like if those producers could say well these old boys here really Screwing me. Let me go to you know solvents chicken company. They're paying a little bit more And they seem to be work you see it or is there any way out? Is there another place to go if you're under a contract with tyson you want to get out and go to somebody else It's really hard to go to a different company Because a lot of these areas where you are you don't have that option in that certain area They only go so far. So it's all or nothing. I know of in we dowie, Alabama There was a chicken house that shut down and now it's a rabbit tree You told me about that right? That's the weirdest thing like where's that go? Who has a rabbit tree? I don't know there's that much rabbit me Europeans do I think they're they're bigger into it. I mean if we have a good rabbit hunt will make some some rabbit This text you're asking are any the large chicken houses owned by foreign entities? Oh, yes, that is a big That's a whole different story. These farmers are selling out To the vietnamese the chinese and it's happening in Alabama And then they're gonna run the local alabamians out of business But somehow these foreign entities can can do it for cheaper. They'll produce, you know, they'll produce all day and in the labors is cheaper for them. So Yeah, that's that's a real problem that's happening one of my really good friends just sold to uh, the vietnamese in Randolph county like this year And it just seems like one after the other that's happening and it's just the whole way of life You know how it used to be for the alabamal farmers all changing and this is not just something that's happening in the poultry industry These issues are also being seen by the cattle farmer Uh, it's just not the same because yes, there's there's some issues where they're squeezing on And that's why it's been good to get local, you know local production back home not having to deal with the squeeze and the tight points Of the meat packers, right, but at least At least there's nothing good about it, but at least in the cattle world You own the cattle you go to the market and so you hadn't been told what you're gonna Sell a court market tells you but they're oh, yeah Can we can we do this conversation again sometime? This is fascinating to me. This is a big part of Alabama Yeah, I'd like to talk about the tournament system that these poultry farmers are are dealing with too It's very interesting. Okay. Y'all go read up erica story. I put it up on our twitter page as well On this poultry thing and then we'll have her back. We're gonna talk more chickens Getting the bird talk coming up soon. Thank you erica. Thank you and two o'clock update *Music*