FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Football Friday with Finebaum - Is Alabama back - Pete Riehm called in about Admiral Davis - Mobile Mornings - Friday 9-06-24
[MUSIC PLAYING] It's time for football Friday with Paul Finebaum, presented by Bryant Bank. Your hometown bank with big bank benefits, located in Mobile and Baldwin counties. Now, here's Dan Brennan and Dalton R. Wig. And of course, Paul Finebaum from the Paul Finebaum Show that's heard every day on FM Talk 10065, beginning at 2 in the afternoon, Paul, good morning. How is everybody doing here? Have we arrived the first weekend of the season? We did. We did, Paul. And I did the usual 11 AM kickoff all the way through the night game. And then, of course, this weekend, we had some extra Labor Day games. So busy weekend and a couple upsets, but a lot of cupcake games as well. Yeah, that is the same lineup for this week. There's plenty to chow down on if you have a suite, too. Yeah, all the while, all those three or four days, Dalton's two young daughters yelling, daddy, daddy, daddy. [LAUGHTER] But he watched the games, Paul. He wanted to make sure he was ready for our conversation. Football Friday's with you. Caitlin DeBore was pretty much smooth sailing right through week one. And Ryan Williams treating Western Kentucky like their McGill tooling, just catching passes like he was in high school. Yeah, and the thing I like is, I've already forgotten Nick Saban. Taylor DeBore is perfect. The program is already better than it was. And the odds are losing a game in the next 20 years, zero. Yeah, yeah. I mean, to give up zero points, it's a strong way to start. And I was wondering if there would be any kind of slow moving processes they kind of adjust. But at least against the hill toppers, that was not the case. They scored pretty much immediately. Yeah, listen, I don't want to be a cynic even though I am. It's impossible to really know much. And I much prefer this to a year ago. And I don't remember the opening game, but people were upset. And they could like the quarterback play. And it led to another bad game the second week, which was the loss in a terrible game the third week against South Florida. So it's always better to start out like this, although I really don't know what it does for you. I was talking to Brian Kelly, a guy who knows a little bit about losing opening games earlier in the week. And he said, I don't know what good you get winning 73-0, and I wanted to say, well, Brian, I don't know what good you get losing your opener. So it really depends on how you want to slice this. But I'll take Alabama's win. Yeah, yeah. And more on that LSU loss a little bit later, maybe possibly the game of the weekend. But we also have to talk about Auburn, such as we mentioned Alabama. And Auburn fans happy to see a receiving core out there that again, against a lower tier team in Alabama A&M, they at least had some fun out at Jordan here on Saturday. Yeah, I think we saw some players we thought we would be good, and they are. But you basically have a guy playing high school football a year ago looking like a professional against a team that got a big check. And people say, what are these games all about? They're about picking up for smaller schools, about $1.8 million, which I saw Richard Regus, the Jack State coach, say the other day, by the way, that's hard to believe that Richard Regus is the Jack State coach. But he said, yeah, I'll take $2 million. You can beat me on Saturday and Sunday, and I'll even, I'll even, but that's really one of these programs survived by playing these massacre type games. And every once in a while, you see something interesting in it. We didn't really see much last weekend. Yeah, and you know, these SEC teams and big schools get a good chance to look at who might transfer to them if they happen to have a good game against them that week. It might be the best point. Yeah, they're, you know, the best came on the opposing, the coach will say it happened. Listen, why don't you pull a hamstring because he might be calling you in a couple of weeks. And so we have a new folk hero down this way. And was that, was that Jimbo Fisher on the sidelines for A&M? They looked like the same team. And Riley Leonard is now certainly a local, if not national hero. Yeah, he, he had a nice game. I'm, I'm, I plead guilty. I'm the one, like so many other. Oh man, you better watch out when you go into Kyle Field on a Saturday night, you know, you better bring your lunch and dinner. And that's exactly what didn't happen from Notre Dame just went in there. And that was one of the most impressive wins of this, of the, of the first weekend. And A&M spent $76 million getting a coach for that. Hmm. Do we think Notre Dame has that good of a defense? Or is A&M going to really experience some offensive problems this year with, with Wagman at quarterback there? I do think it's a, it's a transition. And, you know, as well as Alabama look and you don't know what you're getting in the first game. And when you play a, a name brand opponent, it's going to be much more complicated. That's why as a, as a new coach, I would hate to have a, a game like that, look it. There's so many things that you, you, you can't anticipate in the film room and, and on the practice field. Few other SEC teams went ahead and played quality opponents, including the aforementioned coach Kelly, taking his team out to Las Vegas to take on USC. And that did not turn out well in the end. Yeah, it was, it was a double whammy, really, for this reason. Prince and I were out there and they said the town was 80% LSU Tigers. So not only do you spend a lot of money at the MGM and the Bellagio, but you know LSU fans went into the sports books and bet on their team. So, I mean, you are, you can't, you can't do any worse and lose the opener and lose the spread. So, that's one reason why Brian Kelly looked like he was angry. He tried to punch the table. I have some Tuesday if he broke his hand and he said he wasn't that strong, but a lot of LSU fans wouldn't have cared and he broke his hand. They were rooting for the, for the experience to come back positive. Yeah, and then, you know, to lose Emory this week to a torn ACL, LSU not off to a great start this season in the win/loss column or losing there. And basically one of the only bright spots of the game Saturday. Yeah, I know he's a five star all everything. And it's just, you know, those are very painful moments. So good news is they haven't been pulled back. They kind of knew that anyway. The bad news is they have no margin of error. And what this really means is we now have to be, they have to pull a major upset. And I'm talking about Ole Miss, LSU, somebody like that, but they can't lose, they can't lose on the road. Their margin of error is raised within right now. Maybe the most disappointing loss of any SEC team was Billy Napier and his Florida Gators looking absolutely listless at home with the hurricanes coming into Gainesville. Does Napier have a chance to remain the coach after the season after that? Now, hold on a second. I was sitting in Gainesville Friday afternoon with the running director, Scott Strickland. He told me that Billy Napier is going to be there for a very long time. I didn't know if he meant to October or November, but that was about as disastrous as it did again. And just what you thought, he couldn't get any worse. Napier Tuesday at his press conference said that we got to execute better, we got to do this better. And we can't be listening to some guy in his basement in rural, central Florida on social media. Now, rural, central Florida encompasses Gainesville and also encompasses where both Florida fans live. And I pointed out on a show Tuesday morning that not only is Billy Napier stupid, but he's intellectually lacking because I'm not a geologist, but there's no such thing as basement in Florida. You may find one or two, but you can't, you guys understand what I'm talking about. - Yes, yes, we do. I have my sister who lives in Jerusalem. - I mean, if you're going to make a statement, they didn't actually correct it. You're going to insult your fan base, you went right. - Exactly right. We're talking about Paul Feynbaum, football Friday presented by Brian Bank. Here's a statement that nobody made. Vanderbilt's going to win. And no one made that statement before Saturday's game, but they won. - And they beat a good team. That was a team that Chum, not all, but some thought would contend for the playoffs. And I was really impressed with that. And that now makes Florida the worst thing that they actually was seeing things that people score. - Wow, wow, that is crazy. Let's talk about some of the games we have coming up this weekend. Like you said, a lot of cupcakes here in week two, but we do get some big matchups. Texas, taking on Michigan. We have a top 10 matchup here with the new SEC team. What do you expect out of that one, Paul? - Yeah, that's not far in the best game of the day. And there really are many in contention. I expect Texas to win. I think it's close. Michigan major transition after Grand Marba, they still have the remnants of a very good defense that we all saw in the Rose Bowl. I think this is a game that Texas pulls ahead a little bit late, but by the way, as bad as it was for the SEC, they don't need to lose this one, because if they do, we might just tell Texas to go back to the big 12. - Nobody can say enough. It seems about Nico at quarterback in Tennessee. The one with the bowl game plus to start over the weekend against Chattanooga, not a whole big sample size, but people are going crazy over his performance. - Yeah, I mean, he was really good. And I talked to a blue McCoy yesterday, the wide receiver for Tennessee. And I mean, he's a brew, I think he's 24. And he said, he calls Nico the kid, but that he's about six years younger, but he didn't look like a kid on Saturday. He was brilliant. - Yeah, and I believe Nico much richer than brew McCoy is, but he's rich when it comes to receiving targets this year. You have Squirrel White, you have Brew McCoy, you have the kid from Tulane that came over. This Tennessee team, I think at this point, looking at the national reaction, and we'll see what NC State and Charlotte this weekend, folks are expecting them to be in the mix for the 12 team playoff. - No doubt. And I mean, I think Tennessee is somewhat replaced, LSU as the school to keep your eye on. And as that next team in the SEC, so they have a big game though. The NC State is sneaky. I don't think Tennessee loses that game, but frankly, there's not many good games this weekend. So, assuming you can watch that game and don't have direct GD, which I do. And I might have to watch the game outside on an iPad, but I know a lot of people are angry right now. - You know, the show that keeps on giving no matter win or loss every week is the Shane Beamer presser after a South Carolina game, Paul. He always looks like it's just about at the edge of his own sanity. And that was with a win, I think. - Old Dominion, yeah, the Old Dominion. They eat out the win. And they had a quarterback make a tackle on a running back. That was unusual. - South Carolina plays Kentucky this week, so what are we gonna get out of Shane and his gamecocks? - Yeah, I think we're gonna get more stupidity and buffoonery from Shane Beamer. Let me only give you his schedule right now. Yeah, he was very lucky to win that game. I happened to get home in time and saw the end of it, and I was like in shock. And Kentucky, and I think they got somebody next week, Akron, or one of those off-brand schools. And then they run into a string of LSU, Ole Miss, Alabama. I mean, just in the end, they will very likely start the SEC, oh, and five. - Wow. - And we're gonna start hearing Shane Beamer. Shane Beamer now on the hot seat. Billy, Billy, Billy. So you can't do my, listen, I understand the hiring was a son of a famous coach, but I will also understand the fire. - And Paul, I guess we'll wrap it up with our two end state SEC schools here. Alabama, unlike last year, kind of expected to take care of business against South Florida this weekend, but I think more of a chance, not that there's a great chance, but what happens if Auburn lays an egg against Cal this weekend? It's in Auburn this time, so hopefully they'll be done before 1 a.m. Sunday morning. Last year, I think Peyton Thorne passed for like 80 yards in the win. Auburn fans have high hopes this year, though. - Yeah, I don't see that happening, but it would be very disturbing. I will add, Hugh Freeze has been promising a turnaround and I think Auburn fans are ready to see it. Thankfully, it's California versus as opposed to USC or somebody of a strong hill, but I'm not too concerned about Auburn, but it will get real for Auburn in a few weeks. - And Bama has got that central Florida team that played him pretty tough last year in a rainstorm then in Tampa, but this should be a different story, right? - Absolutely, and I know everybody didn't talk about last year. The last year was really an outlier. I mean, that was confusion at the quarterback position because you had complete buffoon. I think I've used that word two times now today. - In the offensive coordinator in Tommy Reese, who told Nick Saban, we can't play Jaylen Molo. He's not, and Miller, we all remember he did something. And that game, I think if you take away the bad weather, Alabama would have won the game probably by three or four touchdowns, but it was just chaotic and Alabama beat by, but in the end, that game was good for Alabama because Jaylen realized I've got a boom as an offensive coordinator, not putting Jaylen Molo back in. - Yeah, in a way this could be a Molo revenge game if you think about it, which would be frightening if you're South Florida. - Jaylen Molo has not played a single down against South Florida in his career. - That's right, this would be the first, like who's this team? - Good stuff, Paul, we appreciate it. As always, you've taken time out of your very busy week to join us right here on Mobile Warnocks. - A pleasure, guys, see you soon. - You got it, Paul Finebaum, and it's Football Fridays with Finebaum, it's brought to you by Brian Bank, by the way, and we do appreciate Paul jumping on, he talks about, I mean, think of all the different podcasts and interview requests he gets, especially as the week winds down to a Friday, so we thank him a lot. - Yeah, and that's in between fighting with, you know, beyond Sanders, Rick Flair, and several callers on his program every afternoon. - SCC coaches, some coaches, good stuff. More of our show, Mobile Warnings on the way, right after this. (upbeat music) - We can just hear Dan and Dalton at them talk one of six, five. Friday morning with Mobile Warnings, and they're never went stewing our three big things, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, calling for the resignation of Alabama Department Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis yesterday. He did not resign, that was yesterday, he was supposed to resign by five o'clock, he did not do that, so he's mad as a hornet. - Yeah, and I have to check the latest from my news feeds, but to see if any word has come down from the VA commission there, we did get a text, and we'll get into this story a little bit further, kind of try to break it down for you as best we know, but Pete texted in and said, Admiral Kent Davis is by far the best state VA director to ever serve Alabama veterans. I think he took over in 2019. - 2019, yes. - He has worked tirelessly for us, fought hard for improved veteran services and stands for truth. He is the only one in state bureaucracy making a difference. Governor Ivey is plain wrong, she is either misled or just part of the persistent corruption plaguing our state. There are plenty of folks in state government that should resign, but Admiral Davis is not one of them. And if you were listening yesterday morning when we had Rob Holbert on with land yet, that was before the Ivey ultimatum, which doesn't sound like there's really much of an ultimatum, right? - Yeah. - Resign or force you to resign? - Yeah, he'll be out eventually. - So you had the VA, the state's VA, lob a complaint to the ethics commission that was directed at the Alabama Department of Mental Health. And Davis with the VA was essentially saying that the mental health department killed off $7 million in federal funding that would have trickled down into about 60 veterans organizations around the state. - Including the one here with Kilpatrick who has forced off the board as well. - Right, so John Kilpatrick, who you may know, especially with veteran cover here recently. And Davis was claiming that the mental health department director had a personal vendetta. The commissioner, Kimberly Boswell, had a personal vendetta against Kilpatrick. That's what led to the complaint. Ethics commission throws the complaint out. Ivey called it a malicious complaint, I believe. And she gives this ultimatum yesterday, knocks Kilpatrick off the board. - Yeah, it's interesting too, in this story from ail.com. Boswell, nowhere in this story. So we'll examine further after the break. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - 834 FM Talk 10065. This is Mobile Mornings on a Friday. Right now it's time to head over to McConnell Automotive and talk with Louis Arretta. Hey, Louis. - Hey, good rainy morning. - Yes, it is some rain which some of us have been waiting on. Those closer to the coast have gotten their share of it this week, but it's here. And thankfully it's cooled the weather down a little bit. I know out at McConnell Automotive, you guys, you do pretty much everything. And what I love most is that you make it easy on the customer, whatever they're coming in for, whether it's a new or pre-owned vehicle or they need their ride fixed up, you can take care of it. - That's right, yeah, you know, with a rainy day like today, you know, if you have that unfortunate accident, don't forget, we got the best body shopping mobile bar none, I promise you. Just give them a call back there. 251476, 4141, you'll talk to Rachel. She'll take care of all your insurance needs. And if that unfortunate thing, call your back and say it's total, guess what? We've got a great selection. McConnellautomotive.com, you can check everything out. On the internet, we've got, we're bumping up the used car inventory and we're buying, how many, we're buying cars every day. And we've got a great selection out front, got a great selection of new cars, got this Hummer sitting over here, if you want to come test drive one of those, come on by here, got sitting there looking at UConn, UConn XLs, we got every, the used car selection, we've got them from 13,000 to 60,000, I mean, we've got anything you want. So come on by and see us, we'll be here all weekend and hopefully this rain gets out of here. We'll watch some football tomorrow and have fun. - Sounds like fun to me. Thank you, Louie. - Hey, thank y'all, come see us. - Louie Rata, go see him at McConnellautomotive. Dolphin Street, just east of I-65 and their website. McConnellautomotive.com. - It is 836, mobile mornings of MTalk 106.5 or text line, of course is 2513430106, if you want to give a call like Louie did and just be on the show. You can call in impersonating Louie, that'd be fine. - You can call in and impersonate Chuck McDowell, if you want, I don't care. - You shouldn't do that. - So this, I think this is, it's already a pretty big story, but until yesterday, I haven't seen a lot of media covering what's going on between the Alabama Department of Veteran, the Alabama Veterans Administration and then the Department of Mental Health and how Governor Ivey now ties into all of this. Really got into a great discussion yesterday with Rob Holbert from Land Yap, who wrote his opinion article on that this week in the newest issue of Land Yap. And he's talking about this complaint, which Land Yap began covering last month with the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs filed this complaint to the Alabama Ethics Commission or the Ether 'cause it just disappears when you apparently send complaints that way. - Yeah, that's a commentary Rob had for us on the area yesterday and also in his opinion piece as well, that filing with the Ethics Commission probably not gonna get you real far. - Right, yeah, so this was a complaint lobbied at the Alabama Department of Mental Health and the VA was saying that the Mental Health Department killed off $7 million in federal funding for veterans because of a personal vendetta. And then the Ethics Commission dismissed the complaint, didn't investigate according to Rob. And July 24th is when the VA commissioner, Kent Davis, filed this complaint. He said that the Mental Health Commissioner, Kimberly Boswell, torpedoed the disbursement of $7 million in ARPA funds, remember the American Rescue Plan Act, $4 trillion plus dollars, it came from that and went everywhere. And he said that the reason that the Mental Health Department torpedoed this funding was a punitive measure aimed at a critic of her department, a critic. Many of you know very well around here and that is John Copatrick. Copatrick was on the State Board of Veterans Affairs until IV got officially involved yesterday. There would have been 33 veterans organizations that would receive funding from that $7 million pool. Two of those are affiliated with Copatrick, that would be Veteran Cover. And the Military Officers Association of America. Copatrick was also on the VA board, as I mentioned earlier. Rob writes, while there appears to be some confusion and Davis's complaint about whether Copatrick was critical of Boswell's department in a public meeting or whether that even happened. He claims that in April that Boswell handed Davis a letter terminating the memorandum of agreement between the VA and Mental Health Departments, which left the Veterans Administration with no way to distribute the funds. He said that according to Davis's complaint, so the VA had a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Finance for the use of funds and another memorandum of agreement with the Mental Health Department to help distribute the funds. And so the money goes away because of Boswell. Now Davis in the complaint said when I asked Commissioner Boswell why she had the termination procedures of the memorandum and what was the cause of her unilateral termination, she had one response. This is about John Copatrick. That's what the VA director said. He also claimed that that was witnessed by the Deputy Attorney General for Veterans Affairs. He also said Boswell subsequently badmouthed Copatrick and claimed that he had serious conflicts of interest. As a result, Rob writes Davis said his agency scrambled to receive permission to use $7 million from its own budget to fulfill the distributions they had already promised these separate organizations. A few days later, he says the State Department of Finance ordered the VA to stop distribution of the funds. And according to Davis, they told him not to discuss the matter with anyone, including the recipients. Ultimately he wrote, Davis wrote, Alabama Department of Finance Director Bill Poole called him in May and said because the VA had other funding sources and because of the complexity and quote, looming ARPA deadlines, the finance was pooling the previously approved $7 million, not pooling, but like pulling it out and reallocating it to another state agency. Now at the time, when all this went down, Governor Ivey commented and let me see if I can find your exact words, she called it a frivolous complaint. And see, Boswell's Intercabinet, Rob writes, and Ivey quickly praised the ethics commission for dumping the frivolous complaint. Now, and we've talked quite a bit about the ethics commission. - Yeah, lapping praise on the ethics commission is pretty disingenuous. I would say when you look at the ethics commission as a whole and what they have or haven't done. - Right, so when you involved, I mean, the involvement of the ethics commission in this whole thing to me is just like, really they're involved too? And also it doesn't seem like this was a very public, you have two of the heads of state agencies. And they're obviously having a public feud. - Yes. - Not good, right? So, but what's interesting is this in all of this too, is so it's not a good look. The governor is over all of this. She comes down hard on one side. She comes down hard and it's not like she brings everybody to get them and say, "Hey, look, we gotta clean this up. "Let's work this out, whatever." No, Ivey, for whatever reason, and I'm not saying she's wrong, but in this case, she decides to come down hard on the veteran side of it all. Davis has gotta be out, Kilpatrick is off the board, and Kimberly Boswell seems to be swimming away from the accident without an injury. - Yeah, so Boswell Rob said she's in Ivey's cabinet, so she's politically closer to Boswell in this dispute, right? And then like you mentioned yesterday, after we discussed this on Mobile Mornings, Ivey called for Davis's resignation, said he had to have it in by 5 p.m. Well, Davis did not. So Ivey said, "I'm disappointed Commissioner Davis "did not have the decency to respond, "and therefore did not choose to do the right thing "for the future of the Alabama Department of Veterans "affairs and veterans statewide, "I am prepared to take further action." In her letter, Ivey said there was ample cause for his removal. So what they're saying is that the VA put the grant money in jeopardy. Now, I don't know if this would just be the $7 million that was supposed to make its way into the VA and then trickle down into these veterans organizations, or if by breaking guidelines imposed by the feds for the spending of this ARPA money, if that would put more money at risk. Yeah, well, okay, I get it. She said it would put the grant money in jeopardy because Alabama's ability to "fulfill" its obligations under ARPA and your agency's ability to most effectively serve veterans. It thus seriously calls into question your ability to secure additional services for Alabama veterans and to "cooperate with all other heads of state departments "as are your duties under state law." So the specific, other than Ivey accusing Davis of failing to consult with her office, which they say is required by an executive order, other than that, there's no specific, at least that I have found, allegations of how the guidelines were going to be broken by the veterans administration, the spending guidelines on this. But I do know that a lot of you, and I've seen over the years, of course, many, many, many issues and complaints with the way the VA has handled medical care and many other issues with our veterans. And much of that, of course, from the top down at the federal level. But I know plenty of you over the years have had issues with the state department as well. So I was wondering, and it seems like everyone that I know who has talked to or is close with John Copatrick thinks the world of the guy, at least in my experience, talking with people who know him. But with Commissioner Davis, or as Pete said, Admiral Davis, you mentioned his past, his history over the years. I was wondering what everyone's thoughts on him are to kind of put some of this into context. And I read Pete's text earlier, I'll go through that again. - Yeah, I mean, Pete's, Pete's, you know, for what he knows, glowing. - Right, he said Admiral Davis is by far the best state VA director to ever serve Alabama veterans. He's worked tirelessly for us, fought hard for improved veteran services and stands for truth. He is the only one in state bureaucracy making a difference. Governor Ivy is plain wrong. She's either misled or just part of the persistent corruption plaguing our state. There are plenty of folks in state government that should resign, but Admiral Davis is not one of them. Firedog texted in and said that, okay, Firedog texted in and said, John Cooper still has a job that says everything you need to know about Ivy. Jason says, do we really believe that Granny Governor is making these decisions? It seems like a Biden situation with others pulling the strings. Maximus said, so is me and all making Commissioner Davis go back out, go out back and pick up the switch. Texture says, get John Kilpatrick on. Yeah, and Sean said he's gonna try to get him on. We'll try to get him on. Maz says, but the DOT Commissioner keeps his job after all they've done, kind of like Firedog said. So appreciate the text. I believe Pete went ahead and called in. Do we have-- - He's here now. Hey Pete, what's going on? - I'm here, good morning guys. - How are you? - I'm good. Let me tell you, Admiral Davis has served Alabama veterans far and beyond. He knows, we didn't even know we had a VA department before him. Since he's been in there, he has crisscrossed this state. Alabama veterans know Admiral Davis. He has been in front of probably every veteran's organization across this state. He has listened, he has heard them. He's going to work. He's helped improve the assisted living like the William F. Green. He got another one of those going. He has worked tirelessly to help-- 'cause everybody goes, oh, veteran suicide. Veteran suicide, it's so bad we should do something. Admiral Davis was doing something. John Kilpatrick was doing something where the VA was never doing anything, and just totally incompetent. And he didn't belittle them, but he's worked and developed something that we now actually have substance abuse, PTSD treatment, inpatient detox. And Moby, all because of John Kilpatrick's efforts here, most of his private money, but Admiral Davis supported him and help him get that. And we have the model for around the state for actually making a difference. And now, what fire dog says is really what chat server he's but is seriously, the guys who are actually making a difference and putting the job you hired him to do. That's who you want to fire. And look, this goes deeper. This is the corruption in the state. That $7 million they're trying to keep is because the rest of the extremely corrupt mental health care industry in this state does not want anybody to get any other public money. And if you try to get a crumb out of off of their table, they will squash you. And that's what this is about. There is corruption here. They're protecting these guys. Yeah, that was my next question, Pete, was OK. This is going on. Kilpatrick's being-- you would say railroad it out. David's the same thing. So that was my question, what's happening here? So break it down. Where are the politics involved here? How does Boswell, how is she the favorite daughter in all of this? Well, look, I don't know all the details about it, but I've had over the last 15 years different interactions with the mental health and hospitals and stuff, long story. Sure. But what happens is all state and federal money comes through the state. And there are certain players around the state that have that all wrapped up. Winners and losers, yeah. Yeah, they goes to the preferred winners, period. Now, they don't really ever do anything for veterans. In fact, they don't even serve the general public. You can see by the mental health crisis we got out here. And they have finally got ways to actually provide mental health care for veterans and first responders. And it's branching out. There is something actually working. And what they were doing was saying, look, you got all this money. I mean, I can't remember the big number, but there's a really big number. We only want $7 million. And they had an agreement to get that, to distribute that to, like they said, 30-some organizations like one of the Kilpaprics who are actually doing the work on the ground, making a difference, getting services to those that need it. Well, those winners up there who usually get all that money said, oh, no, we're not going to let there be a little chink in the armor. We're not going to let any leak in the dike go. You're going to plug that and put that money back. And that's what this is where this is going to ultimately get. You're going to find out this is the winner's out of Montgomery saying, oh, no, we're not letting any crumbs fall off of our table. And Pete, a couple of things here. And so first off, you know, $7 million. I know it sounds like big money. I'd love to have $7 million. We're talking about this state funding and all of this federal money that's trickled down that we're all now paying for via inflation and other methods. It's kind of a pittance, right? $7 million when the teachers unions are talking about billions and billions and insurance. And so that's what I'd be saying he's out for. Now, this would have a completely different feel if the John Cooper's who's facing charges and has had his issues. If his ass was out, when that went down, if all Britain and the Ethics Commission and all the allegations he's facing, if she had knocked his ass out, when those came out, but the $7 million in this ARPA funding and it doesn't seem like she even took the tone of the room. She didn't ask veterans what they think about Davis and all the good he's done. It just seems like favorites are being played here. Yes, because he crossed the wrong people in the establishment, the people benefiting from the corruption. That's why Tom Albright and still there. That's why John Cooper's still there, right? And that's really the whole point is exactly that. You got all these people doing all sorts of corruption and bad things and you just let them go, let them go turn a blind eye and you do your little folksy chuckle and wander off or whatever. And it's like it's no big deal. This one really hits home. You turn a blind eye to all this other stuff. And this one guy, because he stepped on somebody's toes up there who didn't want him to have that. And that $7 million is a pittance to the state, but that would have made a huge difference on the ground to veterans across this state. People, we appreciate your impassioned phone call. We're running out of time, but you've given us some clarity for sure. And we definitely know where you're coming from, man. Thanks. All right, y'all have a great day. You got him. He's green there. He's fired up. And why wouldn't he be? I think sounds to me like a slap in the face to a lot of the veterans who love the job that Admiral Davis and the John Kilpatrick have been doing. And what that has caused the rest of the state to do to help veterans. Yeah. Almost unbelievable if we hadn't seen stuff like this before. Yeah, in Alabama, it is not 852 Dan and Dalton if I'm talking 106.5. Dalton with the old double S. Back in his brand about state officials who are remaining their jobs. I mean, it's dumb-bounding, isn't it? Who stays and who goes? Yeah. And it needs a little explanation. And these explanations are probably very deep and go back years. And they're not-- we're talking about just quick answers. And right in front of us, it's a novel or it's a it's a big book. The story that would be told about the last 10 years in Alabama politics, especially at the state level, the leaders, the appointed leaders and all that with COVID and the roads. And now this is a major blow up. Yeah. And I'm just, I'm excited that Governor Ivey's going to hold a press conference next week to really kind of hash all. She's not OK. No press conference. Yeah, well, this is the end of it. Well, you know, we're not going to hear other than whatever Davis comes out and says and whatever press conference-- press release comes from myola at the Governor's office. And I doubt we hear from Ivey anymore at this. And so one text real quick, let me just say, Dalton, you're saying, hey, is this Ivey? It feels more like Biden. Like who's really pulling the switches here and the levers. But Ivey is very quoted in this story. So I think it's Governor Ivey. Now, is she getting maneuvered by her own group? I don't know. I've got no idea. But we're all watching this in real time, trying to figure it out. I hope she gives us an ultimatum. Yeah, like we need to shut up by 5 o'clock today. Yeah, that would be great. Grant says, oh, Firedog says, I've dealt with Alabama VA very rarely, but I've had a great experience every time. Grant, all the crap going on in the world. And they want to mess with our veterans. Screw those people that were strained funds for those who serve. Matt says, morning, guys, you hit the nail on the head. It's dumb-founding. The folks get to stay while the other ones are called to leave. This conversation will continue. I promise you. Coming up, Jeff Porscheau, Todd Stacey, Congressman Jerry Carl, Senator Tommy Tuberville, and state Senator Chris Elliott all on the show today. Wow, wow, wow, wow. A couple of things I did want to get to. Don't have a lot of time on this. But a lot of y'all are wondering about DirecTV with the Disney channels, which includes ESPN and all those being off of DirecTV and Uverse, the AT&T company, both of them, that doesn't look like they've come to an agreement. And a lot of folks are wanting to watch college football this weekend. One thing I'll point out real quick, everything fell apart over the weekend. So that meant the talks were happening until it fell apart Sunday night. Yeah, right before the LSU game. I suppose things could remedy themselves sometime over the weekend as well. Like, suddenly the game's on. Like maybe at 10.59 AM tomorrow morning. Maybe, maybe, possibly being hopeful. For some of y'all that are wanting to figure out how to watch, whether it's Bama or Auburn or whoever, I do know that a lot of these streaming, live TV streaming ones give free trials. Fubo, Hulu Plus, YouTube TV. I know they've had free trials in the past. Not sure if they are all currently doing the same thing. And I think they're about a month long. Yeah, a month or seven days for some of them. Okay, okay. So I guess through the weekend. I would encourage you to give that a shot or head to your favorite local sports bar. And then the one thing I'm really excited about this weekend tonight, actually, the Boeing Starliner, which we've been talking about for months now, that Boeing sent up, turned out it had helium leaks and other problems. So they said, we can't send Butch and Sonny back in that. They didn't say that. NASA said that. Boeing said, we think it's safe. So NASA said, no way Jose. We're gonna keep them up there at the space station. SpaceX will come, bring them back in February. But today, 5 p.m. Central, they're going to undock the Starliner, send it rocketing back to Earth without astronauts inside. Yeah, there's a reason for that because, because they're worried what might happen, right? And so it's supposed to land in New Mexico at 11 tonight, central time, think of the drama there, especially if you're Butch and Sonny. If you see the Starliner burn up on its way back to the atmosphere, well, that would be, I'm fascinated by this. That'll come later, more mobile mornings next week.