FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Quin Hillyer Debate - Mobile Mornings - Tuesday 10-01-24
(upbeat rock music) News, sports, weather from Dr. Bill Williams, traffic info from Kane, and one of the Gulf Coast's most familiar voices. It's Mobile Mornings with Dan Brennan and Dalton R. Wig. (upbeat rock music) - I'm going to ban a Dalton if I'm talking 106.5, six minutes after eight o'clock on your Tuesday, whether, well, you know, I don't know. It's coolening enough that in the morning, like, Mount Vernon got down to 64, so that's something good for you, Mount Vernon. (laughs) We're closer to 72 degrees here, Mobile, and we will be hot again today, according to Dr. Bill Williams. - Yeah, and some rain possible on the weekend, and as far as looking at the Western Caribbean, like I know so many of you are keeping tabs on after what Helene did, coming from that same spot last week, Dr. Bill said we should know more about its possible development as the week rolls on. If it does turn into anything, it's likely not to make its way into the Gulf until this weekend or possibly early next week, so we'll keep you updated on that. All the way through with Dr. Bill, plus traffic information they could cheese wagon on the text line, "Crash I-10 Beyway West Bound" at the 28 mile marker. Okay, he just texted and he said that's been cleared by Aldot. He says they're now at the bottom of the 27 ramp right shoulder, so if you're traveling I-10 West Bound, just be aware there might be a little bit of a slowdown for you heading that way. - Quinn Hillier, Quinn Hillier.com in the Washington Examiner on our show on this Tuesday. Good morning, Quinn. - Good morning everybody listening. - Yeah, and I know you, as a Georgetown alum, maybe even a classmate of Motumbo. I know you wanted to take a moment to talk about his career and his life. - Yeah, the Kim Bae Moo Tumbo died yesterday in his late 50s of brain cancer or what a shame he is. He might be one of the finest human beings ever to play professional sports, his humanity. I mean, in addition to being a multi-time NBA defensive player of the year and all that, he built a hospital from the ground up in Congo where he's from. He started schools there. He just did so many different things to help people out, help poor people out to do just wonderful humanitarian work. And we need more people like that. It's a shame that he's gone. So even he might not be the greatest player ever, but he was a darn good player and an even finer human being. And I just wanted to say, and no, he was a few years behind me in Georgetown, but very, very, obviously everybody at Georgetown revered him. - Yeah, I mean, he just had this likability. And he's in a commercial that's currently playing it. Thank you. - A Geico commercial, yeah. - Blocking groceries at the, you know, his main thing was he blocked all your shots. I saw one. - No, no, no. - Then he dragged the finger. I saw one clip where in one sequence, he blocked like three, three or four shots in three or four seconds. - Yeah. - They kept trying under the basket and he kept saying, "No, no, no." - No, no, no, no. Actually, one other thing I'm just saying on Wikipedia, not only did he do all that, but he loved America, too. He even served on the board of trustees of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. - Really? - To the U.S. Constitution. - Wow. - I mean, just wonderful, wonderful guy. - Yeah, yeah. He wondered how many doorways he ran into over the year seven foot two. I mean, I've hit quite a few hanging lamps, but the Kim Bay. - I think after a while, you get used to it. You see him coming. - Seven foot two, size 22 sneakers, absolute giant of a human being. And like Quinn said, it sounds like he was a giant humanitarian as well. - Amazing things back in the continent about Africa. Really amazing. - So politically, Quinn, there's a lot of different directions we could go this morning and we'll try to go, but why don't we talk about something that I guess is leaving the news, although it really shouldn't. And that's Governor Ivey and her battle against the Department of Veterans Affairs, specifically the director of that department. And if Lan Yap weren't reporting on this, I don't know what we would know. They had a, I guess you could call it a whistleblower or two who were on the board, the VA board, and said they were contacted by the governor's office, trying to figure out where their votes were on potentially ousting the VA director. That meeting never came to fruition because the director ended up saying he would resign at the end of this year, but this has been a really bad look for the Ivey administration, and it's not a story that's being discussed much, Quinn. - No, and it really should be in, and just make a couple points. Number one, Alabama always ranks in like the bottom five in mental health, in the country anyway, in services for mental health. So, you know, it's not like we're doing well anyway. We also rank low in services for veterans, although the Vets Recovery Center down here in Mobile is changing that, but, so, the good guy, is that one, can't Davis use the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, or whatever the name of the department is at the state level. And I read his ethics complaint, and it is absolutely outrageous that he is the fall guy, and I talked about this before, but now I read it even more closely. He said that he did not want to file the ethics complaint, but his reading of state law made it, convinced him that he had to buy law or else he would be subject to criminal penalties, for not reporting an ethics violation. So, he writes that he is reluctantly doing this, but doing it because he thinks the law requires him to do it, and for doing what he thinks the law requires, Governor Ivey forces him out. Now, that is an outrage in itself. It is effectively punishing a whistleblower, and, to me, that should be one of the biggest scandals we've seen in a long time. But the bigger scandal is what he was complaining about, which is, as I said the other day, the Veterans Department got $7 million from the feds to give to Veterans services, but it came through the Mental Health Department first. They already had an agreement. It was already announced, and then because the head of Mental Health at the state level was angry at one of the people on the Veterans Board, she reneged, took back to $7 million that was supposed to go to Veterans, that had already been announced to go to Veterans, and there's all sorts of other, you know, insider dealings and all this kind of stuff. And so he files an ethics complaint about all these insider dealings that's gonna cost Veterans $7 million, and he's the one that gets fired, or forced out. That is an absolute outrage, and anybody who cares about Veterans, and anybody who cares about decency, and anybody who cares about ethics should be up in the arms. - Yeah, page one out of the Ivey Playbook. It is, and page one, and you've been talking about this forever. You can do your job well, poorly, whatever. If you're on her side, you're safe. But that's not the case here. - Yeah, no, it showed us a couple things. It showed us the Ethics Commission, how seriously they actually take complaints of ethics violations from state departments, and apparently it depends on who you are. Now, seriously, they take those ethics complaints, and then just like you said, Ivey, who sits on the sidelines for so many things, this one, she went full speed ahead, do everything she could to defend the Ethics Commission in her cabinet, and oust a VA director, who by all conversations I've had with Veterans, is beloved in the state. - It was doing as good a job as any we've ever had, as people that I think know what they're talking about, have told me. - Yeah. - Exactly, and on top of that, it's all in favor of this insider-dealing mental health system that doesn't do anybody any good. It's in the bottom five in the nation, and there needs to be a major investigation into a lot of the dealings at the mental health delivery system in the state, and here in South Alabama too. - And as far as- - Leave it at that. - Well, and I get you, I get you, but as far as the governor, who would be responsible for, you say this should be a big scandal, it looks like it's not gonna be, right? So it's over. So who would be, would it be Marshall, the AG? I mean, who would be the one to say, hey, hey, you're at a bounce here on a number of reasons, but it doesn't look like he's not moving in that direction. - Well, number one, if we had newspapers worth a darn in the state. - Yep, you're right. - Other than Lanyap, which Rob Holbert is doing a great job covering this, but you know, AL.com is completely ignoring it and infuriating me in doing so. And then yes, Marshall should be looking into it, but then again, Marshall has done nothing to the Ethics Commission in the past, they have all sorts of problems as Rob Holbert and Lanyap have reported. But Marshall should be looking into it, state legislators should be looking into it. Look, our local guy, I think it was Chip Brown and I think Anthony Jones, Senator Jones, had a bill to do some good things for the veterans and the powers it became in and gutted it, changed it completely last session. There is a very powerful in group that has monopolies, that has contracts, et cetera, et cetera, and they don't like to be messed with, but our legislators need to get tough and start opening an inquiry into this, having oversight, exercise their oversight responsibility, 'cause this whole thing, both mental health and veterans affairs deserves a major look and things need to be cleaned up. And meanwhile, Admiral Davis should be reinstated. - Yeah, and you know, like Dan said, this story might be leaving the newspapers, some people probably haven't even heard about it, but with a gubernatorial race on the horizon, that might be something that a smart candidate would bring up, especially, you know, I'm not sure if Lieutenant Governor Wilanesworth has talked about this specific instance, yet about what's going on with the VA and IV, but a challenger who's talking about maybe changing the way things are done at the state level, this seems ripe for that to be used. - Oh, and it's a huge veterans community in the state of Alabama, and a challenger that stands out for veterans would do pretty darn well. - Quinn, real quick, something you said got my attention because I had a conversation with a pretty wise gentleman month or so back, and we were talking about media and media coverage and things like that. And he said, I think that the downfall of newspapers across the country, really, that is a major player, a major factor with the misbehavior of people in office. It's like, if you have the threat that your face and image in the headline, you're in the headlines the next day, in a major paper in Birmingham, Mobile, whatever, that can also, it can kind of curb your actions before you even take them. And in some way, you know, TV stations aren't really in the business of digging in, you know, in terms of protecting their profits, mostly. - They're a long-term, long-form story, it's not really, especially if-- - Exactly, but did you just mention the role that newspapers used to play in situations like this because it was on your doorstep every day and every afternoon, in some cases? - Exactly, and I mean, what the Newhouse National Chain did to Alabama when they first cut all the papers to three days a week and then eliminated actual papers entirely, and now I've gone statewide, and meanwhile, cut all the staffs. And now we've got some really good reporters locally, but they're only like four of them where we used to have about 60, you know, we've got, I think, four reporters covering both mobile and Baldwin County combined instead of 60. That makes a big difference. And when you don't see it imprint on your lawn every day, at your breakfast table every day, it makes a difference. And when you only have four people instead of 60 for the entire coastal region, that makes a difference. It's an atrocity, no matter, even though, as I say, the reporters they do have are doing an excellent job, but they're extremely overworked. I mean, there's only so much they can do. - Yeah, I don't know if I'm out there. - Quinn, let's talk a bit about some national politics, and tonight you have the vice presidential debate. This will be in New York City, CBS. You get Donald and Brennan, I believe, not Dan, but that'll be moderating the debate. How important is a VP debate in this day and age? - Actually, I think it makes a huge difference. People don't say that they vote based on who the VP candidate is, but a VP debate can set or change the overall tone of a campaign. People forget how important it was for Dick Cheney in 2000 when he had a very collegial debate with Joe Lieberman, but the Bush campaign was sort of floundering at the time, and Cheney studied it. There are all sorts of other examples where vice presidential debate in, what year was that, I'm drawing the blank. But anyway, the point is that they changed the tone, or they changed the trajectory of the campaign, and that's important. Right now, both campaigns in their own ways are flailing. If somebody can, tonight, sort of change the tone, change the concentration of the campaign from all of this stuff that nobody cares about, to talking about the economy again, and getting their side, one step up, it could make a big difference. I'm actually predicting, even though I don't like JD Vance at all, I'm predicting he's gonna wipe the floor with Tim Walz. - I think he almost has to be careful that he doesn't run up the score and look like a bully. I think he's so far advanced intellectually. - I'm just looking forward to whatever whopper Tim Walz will tell tonight. Maybe we'll get a fun new major lie about his life story. More with Quinn on the way. Mobile Morning's. (upbeat music) Morning from Dan Adelton at Pimp Talk, one of six five, Quinn Hillier, Washington Examiner, Quinn Hillier.com, so it's on Tuesdays. Quinn, I know you wanted to make another point real quick about the vice presidential debate before we move on from that. - Right, I was trying to think of the other example where it really made a difference, and it was in 2016, people forget the Trump campaign was flailing around the axis. Hollywood tape, et cetera, et cetera. His first debate with Hillary was not necessarily very good. And then Mike Pence debated Tim Cain, and Mike Pence steadied the ship. People forget this, but he wiped the floor with Tim Cain and focused on issues that people cared about. And it wasn't that everybody was saying, "I'm gonna vote for Trump because I like Mike Pence," but it refocused the attention on the issues that favored conservatives, and that completely disfavored Hillary Clinton and her scandals and all the rest of it. So a vice presidential debate made a difference in 2000 with Cheney, and it made a big difference in 2016 with Mike Pence. - Yeah, Tim Cain, I remember, was kind of like Tim Wal's light, like he was just a little less energy, but he still had that county fair kind of thing going on that took Wal's ass. - I agree, 100%. - Also, big news this week, Quinn, or I guess late. Yeah, early this week, late last week, it's all run together, but Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimson announces he will not run for re-election, and I know we're talking national politics this year, but next year, a ton of municipality elections, including mayor of Mobile. This could be a pretty large race. - Could be a very big field, and expect some names to come from the business or veterans community, not just from already elected officials, but it is gonna be a wide open race. Mobile needs to get this right. We've been absolutely blessed for the last 12 years with Mayor Stimson. Everybody can nitpick here and there, but overall, he's been one of the best mayors I've ever seen in any city, anywhere in my life, and we need to keep that sort of public spiritedness going, the goodwill, the fiscal responsibility, the vision, we need to get this right. There are all sorts of pretty good people that are considering running, but we gotta not worry about race, we gotta not worry about political divisions or religious divisions. We just gotta get the person who can get out there and keep what's going on right now, keep it going, and then maybe bring in a couple of new ideas, but we need competence. - Got a great set, good idea. Hey, Quinn, do folks wanna read what you have to write or what you are writing? How can they get that? - You can subscribe to QuinnHilier.com, and every Tuesday morning you'll get something in your inbox for absolutely free, or just you can get most of my stuff by Googling QuinnHilier and Washington Examiner. - Thanks, my man, and we'll talk to you again next week. - Thanks a lot, appreciate it. - All right, two five, one, three, four, three, zero, one, zero, six, that's our number, you can text, you can call, you can leave us a talkback message on the FM Talk 1065 app. Coming up, we'll talk about this strike that includes plenty of workers down here at the port of Mobile, and also with the VP debate night, we'll bat that around a little bit, and Gina Raymondo gets destroyed on CNBC, the Commerce Secretary. Talk about that on the way. (upbeat rock music) - A 34 FM Talk 1065 in Mobile mornings. Coming to the text line here in a moment, two, five, one, three, four, three, zero, one, zero, six. This segment of the show brought to you by 1-800-GAT junk. 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So set up your appointment today, you can call the number 1-800-GAT junk, or the appointment can just as easily be set up online at 1-800-GAT junk.com. - We have a lot of people that have strong opinions on a job that they're viewing from the sidelines, they've never done it, they've never been at the port or have worked down there, but there's a lot of opinions on this strike, because it's big news nationally, and in a way, it's certainly big news right here in Mobile. - Yeah, and it kind of, in this story of the strike, it brings in a lot of different elements of the future of the American workplace, including blue collar jobs like this, it also ties in COVID and how the Longshoremen's Association is using that and saying, hey, during COVID, when everyone else was sitting at home, we were out here working and we weren't getting a pay increase, and these companies keep making more and more money, that's kind of their line of argument. It's been a real treat being introduced to this figure here over the last few days. Some of you have been- - Yeah, Danny DeVito's first cousin. - Yeah, the president of the International Longshoremen's Association, Harold Daggett, and if you just wanna, you know, in your mind, if you haven't heard this man speak, picture what you think a union boss would sound like. - He's it. - He's it. Here's some of what Daggett had to say about this strike, which began at midnight. - That makes my sense, too. These people today don't know what a strike is. - Right. - When my men hit the streets from Man to Texas, every single port will lock down. - Every single port will lock down, and Andrew Raimi with NBC15 spoke with Mobile Chambers, CEO and President Bradley Byrne, of course, the former congressman. He knows a thing or two about labor and union relations, and here's what he told Raimi about this strike, which began just a few hours ago. - This is a complete stoppage, which means things that we depend upon won't be able to get into and out of the United States. The Walmart negative distribution center in West Mobile won't be able to receive any more stuff from overseas, which means a lot of stuff ain't gonna be on their shelves, which means a lot of stuff's not gonna be on Walmart shelves. - And when there are strikes and you hear from different sources about how bad things will get, and I know a lot of times that's used to leverage the position of someone on one side of the negotiating table or the other, so they can kind of take advantage of Americans' ignorance on certain things like this. But I'm just thinking-- - You're talking about people getting elected as well, but go ahead. (laughing) - I'm just with the damage that Hurricane Helene left, all the way from where it made landfall in Florida and through Georgia and into the mountains, and of course, North Carolina. I mean, we've seen interstates fall apart up there in some of these roadways, and some pretty major thoroughfares like I-40, where you see big trucks all day long, moving both directions. So that's already a pretty major issue when it comes to our supply chain. How bad could this be, depending on how long will they strike, first off, but Burns says, you know, even just a, the former Congressman Burns says, even just one day of striking would result in, I guess kind of like that accordion when you get out there on the roadways, and maybe there's no accident out there, but people are slowing down at the tunnel, and it just kind of adds up and adds up, and the next thing you know, you're sitting at a dead stop at Michigan, right? - And it's almost like when there is an accident, they clear the accident, but the traffic isn't clear yet, and I think he was alluding to their being supply chain issues, even if it's one day, it might affect us for five days. - That's exactly the number one. They say it'll affect you for a week or five days. Here's more from Burns, talking with Andrew or Amy. - Yeah, shut down, it doesn't mean when they turn it back on, it comes right back, you know, for every day or so if shut down, there's two, three, four, five days, it takes to recover, so even a one day shut down could have an effect for a week. - Yeah, and so this is affecting the port here in Mobile, it's East Coast and Gulf Coast port. So from Maine to Texas, it means the West Coast is not, they, I think they had their own kind of hold out in near strike, maybe last year or early this year. - They had a deal during COVID, did they not? - Were they not? - I'm trying to remember, there was something, but you know, it's not as easy as, I was reading last night, people who were having goods imported, it's not as easy as them rerouting those ships to the West Coast and putting it in Oakland or wherever, because even though they're not the same union, they're not the ILA, they are in a union and they're saying we're not taking the work that another union is not taking because of the strike. Daggett, the ILA president's pretty threatening language and I don't know if this was in like a 60 minutes interview or something or maybe it's PBS because they had a little music, but listen to, he means business. - Who's gonna win here in the long run? - You better off sitting down and let's get a contract and let's move on with this world. And in today's world, I'll cripple you. I will cripple you and you have no idea what that means. Nobody does. - Yeah, and so these, the debate here, the art of the deal, so you have the ILA who they're asking for a 77% wage increase over six years just to sit down and talk, so until it gets to that, until the offer from the other side, port employers gets to 77%, they're acting like they won't even have these discussions. Biden's administration has been stepping in a little bit more, although they're still kind of hands off, but they've been pushing the port employers to come to some kind of deal. So before they officially went on strike overnight, once the contract expired, they had up to their offer to a 50% pay increase over six years, they had been at 40% as their offer. They also said they're going to improve the benefits for these dock workers, but this is a big deal, the union 45,000 dock workers. And one of the discussion points in this negotiation is about automated workers. And that I think kind of began right here in Mobile. - It did, and then it did, but you don't hear the ILA president mentioning the automated thing at all. Now, he may have been other statements and also Bradley Burns says that's kind of a red hearing because it's not really-- - He said it had been around and they hadn't used it in previous, here's burn. - Automations are just a total red herring that automation they keep referring to with the Port of Mobile has been in place since 2008. They've negotiated two contracts since and never bought that up as an issue. - So interesting, the longer the strike goes on, maybe there will be some issues getting supplies off the shelves. - But doesn't it sound like a, like have you ever heard of a wage-- - Disagreementer. - Well, an ask, a request, a starting point, 77%. - Increase, yeah, it's pretty hefty. And it seems to be what the workers are saying is that these companies making up, you know, no pun intended, they boatload the money. But they're evidently making a lot of money, a lot of money. And they're like saying, we just want part of that. And I guess what they're contending is, this is how much money they're making. They're making so much money. Our increase should be 77%. And so without seeing the numbers that they've seen in terms of the entire industry, I don't know, maybe you don't know, but that just seems like a, that's a big ask. - Right, and of course, I don't understand the intricacies of this negotiation, the way that someone who works down at the docks or they would. - Sure, yeah. - But I do have to wonder, we've seen so many threats of strikes from different, you know, professions over the last several years. And it seems every time, whether it's flight controllers or, you know, someone who works in the energy field who's doing this or what we have right here with the ports, the Biden administration gets in, right? And they end up pressuring one side or the other to come to a deal and they come in in the last minute and quote unquote, save the day. And I'm wondering if the union here isn't using that as an extra bit of leverage. Hey, if we do hold out five weeks before the election and shut down, you know, ports that bring in and export at least 50% of the goods coming to and leaving America, then what is the Biden administration going to do? They're going to have to step in to save face. And when they do that, do you think they're going to go against the union or do you think they're going to try to come to a deal that works out better in the favor of the union? That's what, if I were the union boss, I would be doing here. So I'm not sure that the Biden administration jumping in on past negotiations is necessarily a good thing. And the union boss himself sounds very self-assured, right? Yeah. He's using language that's threatening. He's coming across as somebody who, you don't have to worry about me, right? He's a big tough guy, maybe he is. But I do know that his, the audio clips we played of him this morning doesn't sound like a guy who's on the panic. No, no, it sounds like he's had a roadside Broadwurst or two, you know, he does what he's doing. He's had the heroes from Broadway and Nashville. Jason says these people are going to negotiate themselves out of a job. Average workers are trying to get five or six percent. Look at the teachers that just got three percent. And these guys want 77 in sanity. Now, I will say, Jason, I think the teachers have gotten three percent here, three percent there, five percent here. It seems like every other month I'm seeing a pay increase for teachers, not that some don't deserve it, but I see it a lot. Jerry Fort Morgan says, let me see what I can read from what Jerry put out there. He says, I think the most interesting thing about the strike is that the president administration has made it cost so much more to survive than it did a few years ago and they need a good contract. Six years is a long time to be tied to a contract. That's a good point there. Paul says, what an opportunity for Trump right now. I think he's taking advantage of, and it sounds actually coarse now that it's coming out of my mouth, but with the hurricane relief yesterday and going to Valdosta and being on the ground and getting footage there. While Biden says he's doing everything he can, the optics are he's sitting in DC with a phone while Trump is on the ground. So I think that that's worked in Trump's favor as far as campaigning goes, as far as the strike, I'm not sure what, how either side would come out of winter and this as far as the political campaigns. And politically, has the government moved super swiftly on this situation in North Carolina and Tennessee? It depends on who you're reading and what they're saying. Yeah, I've read some things that would say no, they have not and I would hate to think that's got to do with any kind of political leaning. Now, the town of Asheville itself, I would think is a democratic town because it's a city and it's got a very, like I'm the chamber of commerce president, I don't know. But from what I do understand about Asheville, it's a city that's got a lot of things that feed off of the resort up there. Much like Fair Hope does. Like the Biltmore? Yeah, the Biltmore. Much like Fair Hope does with Point Clear, a lot of those businesses are stores for people who are staying at Point Clear. Otherwise, they wouldn't be there. So in the same way, Asheville, kind of an artsy city that prides itself in that kind of younger, younger, yeah. And having never been there, just reading about it and seeing some things about it through the years, that's the impression I get. So the rural area, probably very red, but the city itself, the population center, which looks like it's pretty wiped out, pretty wiped out. That would probably be more of a democratic voting base. We still have plenty of texts about this port strike, also about Asheville and the storm damage. And I have to play that clip for you of the Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo going on Squawk Box on CNBC. And well, depending on who listens to it, maybe getting her butt handed to her in this debate, we'll get to that on the other side of Mobile Morning is right after the break. Good morning from Dan and Dalton, FM Talk, 1.065, Mobile Morning's Dalton Taunson audio that was pre-stunning this morning. We'll get to that as it relates to North Carolina. Also a text here from an unnamed texture. Good morning, October Surprise, question mark. One, Biden and Harris will end the long sermon strike. Two, they will deport about 100,000 illegals this month. Is that coming? I haven't seen that they're deporting 100,000 illegal immigrants. I've seen they're expanding the asylum restrictions that they put on back in June that actually has reduced the number of people coming in, just low from the massive highs they were, right? But yeah, that'd be interesting. That would be a October Surprise. There's also the possibility of the October Surprise working the other way. Do you see yesterday you had a House Oversight Committee who is looking into Tim Walz's ties with China and they said they had whistleblower allegations about an internal employee group with the Department of Homeland Security. An internal employee group chat discussing serious concerns they had about Walz ties to China. You had James Comer who's the Oversight Panel Chairman at Congressional Hearing yesterday, or they sent a letter to Mayorkas, the Homeland Security Secretary, and said through whistleblower disclosures, the Committee has learned of a non-classified Microsoft Teams group chat among Department of Homeland Security employees titled NST NFT Biweekly Sync that would stand for nation state threat national function team. And I guess in this group chat, they were talking about their, that they were worried that Walz has made so many trips to China and did so while he was a member of the National Guard and speaks so highly of them and Comer. So he's asked for those communications, which they say are non-classified. He wants them from the DHS by October 7th, but we've seen plenty of times where you have these congressional committees who ask for, or they subpoena someone to come speak before they met Congress or they ask for specific documents, whether it's the FBI or DHS or who have you, and then they just don't get them. And the story doesn't get the pool, anywhere except Fox News or maybe conservative leaning sites. - Well, there's something that's embarrassing or worse. They've only got a month to stall. So you would think that'd be the way to go, right? - A couple other texts here about the strike at the port, John says, fire them all, hire new people. 75% raise is ridiculous. The real Sam says the longshoreman just won a percentage of what they generate. If you can't understand that, then you won't understand. Same as professional sports, they're just getting a percentage of what they're creating. - Yeah, that number came from somewhere, is what I'm saying. It sounds crazy to my ear and your ear, but if the industry's doing so well, and they're saying we want, this would put us at a certain percentage, it sounds crazy, or maybe they do it unpologetically. 77% sound like a damn good raise, but if they're just saying we're worth it, look at the numbers, we don't have access to those numbers. - Yeah, Maz says 77% over six years. What's that, about 15% a year, not as bad, if you look at it that way? Brandon says, I'm out of work from the strike. My trucks have enough loads to run today, but after today, we're done. - Yeah, this is gonna affect a lot of jobs around here, not just those jobs. - Yeah, and yeah, so keep those texts coming. I did want to play this, Gina Raimondo, who is the Commerce Secretary, and has kind of stuck her foot in her mouth a couple of times over the last few weeks. Remember at the DNC, she was being interviewed about some Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers that looked bad, that had come out that day. She's the Secretary of Commerce, she should know about these things, but she called it fake Trump news. - I know, and it was from her office. - And then she said something that the Trump team had issues with after the second assassination attempt. - It's almost like he needs to be eradicated. She used verbiage that wasn't wise, considering what's been going on with Trump. - So Raimondo went on a squawk box on CNBC. You'd think that'd be relatively friendly territory yesterday, but she ran into the conservative commentator on their Joe Kernan. I just thought this was kind of an interesting back and forth. Here is that segment on CNBC from yesterday. - When we've had surrogates on for the Trump campaign, they have said that he doesn't really mean any of these things, they would just be tools for negotiation. - Then why does he say them? Why would I believe that? - He says it, he's doubled down on it, he repeats it. By the way, he was president. We know what that resulted in, massive deficits. - To make you kind of forgot that. Seems like you kind of forgot that earlier. And the tariffs that he did put on were continued by the Biden administration. There was no recession, real wages were actually up, stock market did well. A lot of very positive things have record low unemployment until the pandemic. So it's just weird to act like it's a complete wild card. What kind of president would it be when you had, you've got a blueprint right there of what kind of president you would be? And Kamala Harris has been vice president for four years and we've seen exactly what kind of vice president she would be. - Right, what have you seen? You've seen more manufacturing in this country since any time since World War II. - I've seen real wages go down, I've seen, you know, crime. - That's not true. - What's not true? - I just don't agree with that. - Real weekly wages have gone down. - Average weekly wages are still down from when he, from when Biden came into office. - When Biden came into office, we saw sky high unemployment, sky high unemployment, sky high inflation. - From the pandemic, but inflation. - So they just kind of went at it for a couple minutes there. - Yeah, she's, she's disagreeing with facts, I'm afraid. Trying to look at this here, both sides. She's disagreeing with facts. - Right. - You are therefore in the wrong. (laughs) Yeah, some would say that then. (laughs) Or am I out of my mind? 859, Jeff Pore shows on the way.