Showdown
Showdown Episode 82 6-13-24
(upbeat music) - Welcome to Showdown. I'm Mark Casen and this is Thursday, June the 13th, but despite the fact it's the 13th, it's sort of a good day for somebody. And that's somebody, actually a whole group of them, amazingly enough. The St. Louis Cardinals. They won this afternoon against the Pirates, four to three. So by doing that, this, actually Thursday the 13th, not Friday, Thursday the 13th turned out to be a wonderful day for them because they have climbed back to within one game of 500. And that's pretty good because they were up to 500. They had won a bunch of games that they shouldn't have won really because they beat the Orioles, which is nuts. The Orioles are one of the best teams in baseball. They beat the Orioles and then of course they lost to all the Rotten teams. They dropped about six games back of 500 again. And here they are, one game away. And actually for the moment, they have snuck back into third place in the National League Central and third place six and a half games behind Milwaukee, which considering the fact that the Cardinals have played horrible baseball, the fact that they're even in this is hysterical. So anyway, that's just a real quick update. That game was this afternoon. They just won four to three. The Lancelin gave up three runs, which is supposed to be, I guess, a quality start as they would say. And somehow we're actually in the hunt. Not by much, but we are. And that's about all I got to say about baseball. Although, no, I should say one other thing. I've been told by some people that supposedly know, but probably don't, that the Cardinals may actually sell the team. Not that doesn't mean they're leaving St. Louis. It just means there could be new ownership. And one thing for sure, the fact that they've held in this close, this long, I got to say this, if they're thinking about selling, they better do it fast before they end up 15 games under and have to take a substantially less of a payment, simply because people are just in a lousy mood. Because the Cardinals are a great team. They have terrific turn out through all the games. And yeah, there's some people who don't care about baseball anymore, but then there are a lot of people who do care about baseball. And certainly I'm one who cares. And I have to admit, if I'm looking around at the world and thinking about where I would like to live, you know, people always want to say, well, if Donald Trump wins, I'm leaving. Well, no, I'm not leaving because I wouldn't know where to go to have baseball. And I think baseball is probably the most important thing that we have going on. And at least I'll say this much, is probably the only thing we have going on that is not crumbling at the moment. I know they changed some rules and that's a little bizarre too, but okay. So baseball for the Cardinals today, four to three, they beat the Pirates, which is sort of interesting only to me slightly, nobody else maybe would even care or not maybe, they wouldn't because it turns out I was born in Pittsburgh. So I sort of have an interest in the Pittsburgh Pirates. Mostly to tell you the truth because of Roberto Clemente, who was my baseball idol for all my life. And of course he ended up being killed trying to help a bunch of people in a humanitarian effort as a result of an earthquake. But all of that aside, the Cardinals did win four to three, they snuck back into third place and we'll see if they are able to push themselves above 500, to push themselves above 500, or if they sneak back down into last place again. Okay, enough of all that. So the Republican Party today had a big meeting, very important meeting. They all got together with the dear leader, Donald J. Trump. By the way, that's a good point too. DJT because that's that idiotic stock of his that at this point is probably worth what, five billion dollars for him. He's got, I don't know, 65% of the company, whatever it is. However, it might be a little less than that, it might be down under five billion again because the stock is dropping, it has dropped back into the 30s. And I didn't watch it this afternoon, it's not like I'm sitting here watching his stock, but it catches my attention once in a while. And I can tell you that at $38, $39 a share, it's sinking back into the sunset again. And that is before the stock market has begun any kind of a real setback. Now, of course, a lot of people think the stock market won't suffer a setback and it might not. You know, it's possible that it could hang on all the way till November. I wouldn't bet on it. In fact, I would bet against it because looking at the numbers, they look pretty sick. And I'm not talking about the economy 'cause the economy actually looks very strong, exceptionally strong, which of course, Republicans say that's not true, that we're actually in a recession. And I think that the last poll is now saying that 60% of the people in the United States think we're in a recession, although we are clearly not even close to a recession. But that's okay 'cause people are crazy. And in fact, they're beyond crazy. And we're gonna talk a bit about some of the craziness as we go through today. There are just a lot of interesting things happening in the world and some of the craziness is really out of control. Well, anyway, here we are, Republican Party meets with Donald J. Trump today. And here's what they got out of the meeting. Donald says, if you get with me, I will still probably protect you, probably. And the reason probably is because there are a couple of guys in there that were part of the group that came out against Trump during his impeachment. And those guys, actually Trump has primary opponents for those guys. And he's gonna try to push them out because he has promised that he would get rid of all of them. And apparently there were 10, he has so far gotten rid of eight and that leaves two. But interestingly enough, he is able to get rid of these people in the Republican Party. He's actually hurting the Republican Party because these people that he picks up to replace his opponents, they keep losing. They keep losing. They lose to Democrats. So the Democrats keep winning every time Donald gets another ounce of retribution against the impeachment people. Nevertheless, all of these Republicans today got together with Donald and Donald told them everything's gonna be okay, I'm gonna take good care of you. And in the meantime, they're all going down the drain and it's truly a disaster for the Republican Party. Interestingly enough, along the lines of this whole idea of the disaster, there is a new poll out today. And it's another one of these polls where Donald Trump had been leading consistently and he has now lost the lead. So Joe Biden has overtaken him in this poll. And I forget even which one it is. It wasn't one that I was really familiar with, but it was one that was described as being reputable. And now beyond that, and here's one that is reputable and has actually been very accurate, including accurate against Hillary Clinton. When everybody was saying Hillary was gonna win, 538 said, "Nah, don't be so sure." Probably not, not looking like it. And 538 is now saying that as far as they're concerned, Joe Biden is gonna win the election. Now it's pretty early for them to be making that kind of a pronouncement. And yet they feel so comfortable in what they're saying that they are making that pronouncement already. So it's just worth noting, I've said all along that Donald Trump doesn't even have a prayer in this race and will probably lose by something like a landslide, remembering that in American politics, if you lose by about seven points, that's considered to be a landslide. And I think that Donald's got the capability of doing that, of losing by a landslide. And it's only really for one major reason, which I think most people do agree. And that is, he can't be quiet, he talks too much. And he's not gonna stop because he doesn't know how to stop. He just keeps mouthing off. And every time he moths off, he gets himself deeper into legal problems and deeper into the losing side of this presidential election that's coming up. I know people think that the Republican party is gonna hold together now because all of these Republicans, and they are, I mean, these are the elected Republicans, they are truly, you know, remember I told you the word, obsequious? They are obsequiously following Donald off the edge of a cliff. I mean, it's the end for all of these people. It's gonna be the worst thing that's happened to the Republican party in years. And the only thing I like about it is that we really do need a large advantage in the House of Representatives and the Senate in order to guarantee that we can change the number of people on the Supreme Court. 'Cause probably the most important thing that we can do as a result of this upcoming election is increase the court to like 13 people instead of nine. And then that new four people, you know, Joe Biden picks 'em and then he puts four liberals on the court along with the three that are already there and that would change the balance from six to three to seven to six. So that's really what needs to happen. And there are a lot of people out here talking about this. And yet on the other hand, there are some maybe who wanna just quiet down a little in order not to rev up Republicans and other potential conservatives to come out to try to protect the conservative advantage on the Supreme Court. But this is, by the way, a completely legitimate thing to do, what the Republicans did to get that six to three advantage was completely illegitimate. Because we all know the little game that they played with you can't put somebody on the court within one year of an election and then they turned around after they got their person. They stole the Merrick Garland seat. Then they turned around and did it on the reverse side because when the Democrats said, well, surely you're not going to try to put somebody on the court with one week left because you said you can't do it with one year. And Mitch McConnell said, nah, sorry, we're doing it. And they did it. So they created six to three in a bizarre way. And so we probably need to make it seven to six in a completely legitimate way because Congress does have the right to change the number of people on the Supreme Court and they've done it. They've done it repeatedly in American history, not recently, but they have done it. So anyway, we'll see how all that works out. But the one thing for sure is that today the Republican party is standing right with Donald Trump on the verge of going straight over a cliff. We have, well, we have a couple of things. First of all, we've got 14 days to really test my theory because in 14 days, it will be the 27th of June. And I'm going to tell you right now that on the 27th of June that debate, if Donald shows up, which I always wonder why he would because they're going to shut off his microphone, whatever he thinks, they're going to shut it off. That's the deal and they're going to shut it off. So if he shows up on the 27th, he's going to have quite a problem because Joe Biden is going to be facing a very fair debate. He's going to be allowed to stand up and respond to whatever craziness Donald comes up with, like shark attacks and boats that have electric batteries in them that are going to electrocute people all over the United States. Listen, I said it yesterday, I'm going to say it again today. Don't blame me for talking about this. This is what Trump is saying. This is what he's talking about. So if this is what he thinks that we should be discussing, I at least want to make sure that we know that this is what he's discussing. I know he's got some other Hitler-esque kind of things that he's pushed into all of this, but for the moment, I think just the fact that he's talking about shark attacks and electric batteries in boats that are going to electrocute people. Yeah, I think just by virtue of that alone, this guy qualifies for a straight jacket. Okay, so all of these people following Trump around today kissing his ring and standing right there with him and telling him, "Don't worry, Donald, we're with you." I mean, there are all these people who came out months ago and said, "We'll never support Donald Trump," because Donald Trump's not going to be the leader of the party, he's not going to get the nomination, and we are going to support the real leader of the Republican Party, not this crazy man grifter, and yet today they're all there, every one of them. They're all supporting him, every last one of them, as if he were some kind of a reasonable choice. What they could be thinking, I just can't even imagine, but I know this as we move forward from here. When we see the results of the Republican Party in this next election, it is going to be incredible. Watch it, you'll see. And like I say, on the 27th, you're going to get the best example of what's actually going on because on the 27th, Donald Trump is going to be annihilated in this debate. I wonder if Michael thinks so, let's see. Michael says, "I believe there should just be an even amount of judges, six Republicans and six Democrats." Well, you're trying to be fair, Michael. We're not going to do that. We're going to get seven and six. And then he says, "Otherwise, every time there's a presidential change, the Supreme Court will continue to grow. Both sides need to agree to have an even number of Republicans and Democrats and all votes that tie would be a loss." Which by the way, is the way they do it right now. That is true. If somebody recuses and there is a tie vote, you're right, Michael, that is a loss. But I think that we can go with the odd number and push it up to seven, six. And I don't think that what you're talking about is what's going to end up happening. I don't think this is going to be an ongoing battle forever because I think what you're going to see is that the Republican Party is going to be trounced so severely that people in the Republican Party are going to run away from all this extremism faster than it seems even possible at this stage. Because I know, it does seem like the Trumpers are here forever. But I think when the Trumpers get thumped in this next election, I think that they're going to walk away from this mess and I think they're going to stop. So I think that seven to six is a good idea and I think we're going to get it. And we'll see, but this is I think the way this whole thing's going. Now, you know that there was an additional story on the Supreme Court today because one of the things that a lot of people were really worried about was that this Miffa Pressstone drug, they thought that it was going to be outlawed because you know, the FDA did approve it and a lot of people, especially on the Republican side, said, well, this was again, illegitimate. They shouldn't have been allowed to do it. They did it in a way that was unfair to the public and all of the information that they've provided saying that it's safe is really a lie and they had it all figured out the exact way that they were going to win on this. And yet you never know on these things because today by nine to zero, the Supreme Court threw it out. That is throughout the challenge. So Miffa Pressstone is not illegal. It is a drug that is used, they say, in 60 to 70% of all abortions, people can order it and it will be sent to them in the mail and the Supreme Court by nine to zero turned down this challenge against the drug. Now, before you start jumping up and down about this, there's a reason and it doesn't have anything to do with the drug and it doesn't have anything to do with abortions. So that's an interesting point because you would think that it would have something to do with that, but actually not. It was strictly an issue of standing and standing is really an important point in the United States, certainly in our judicial system. And I think there are far too many people that don't understand what it means. That's in the first place. And then in the second place, there's a guy who was actually amazingly enough, the president of the United States. Yeah, Donald J. Trump hard to believe, but he was. And he doesn't have the slightest idea of what this is. He's so far off in La La Land that he has no guess about legitimate challenges within our system, our system of laws. Well, he doesn't wanna know about laws. In fact, he's a convicted felon now, he's a criminal. Well, he doesn't even understand what that means. He has no idea. And as an example, in the first place, he had some guns that he's not supposed to have and they've been confiscated. And actually, he's not allowed to have any guns. And so that's an issue that's flying around right now. Because Trump, under the law, does not have a right to these guns and he doesn't wanna give them up. What's it gonna do with them anyway? Yeah, in fact, I don't even wanna think about it because really, my prediction has always been he'll climb to the top of Trump Tower and jump off head first. So don't worry about the guns, but they're gonna take the guns away from him anyway because you're not allowed to have guns if you're a convicted felon. It's that simple. Well, isn't that simple? I guess nothing's that simple. So here's why it's actually not because there's an effort underway to change the laws that prevent convicted felons from having guns. And one of the things that might be at the lead of all of this is the Supreme Court because the Supreme Court's got a case and it's coming up right away where they may decide that you can't take a gun away from somebody simply because they're a felon and that that would in fact be against the Constitution. So as a result of that, Donald would be allowed to have his guns. So I guess everybody could go home happy on the Republican side because everybody gets to have a gun. Wrong again because, and here's the interesting twist to all of this, you may remember just this week, there's a guy out there who had a gun and he was a drug addict. And he signed a document that got him convicted as a felon just this week. You might know who this guy is. You might have heard his name once or twice. Hunter Biden and here's the problem. Oh, the Republicans are gonna be going nuts because if the Supreme Court rules the way a lot of people think that they will on this deal, that law that made Hunter Biden a convicted felon could all of a sudden be reversed and make Hunter Biden somebody capable of winning on an appeal based on the Supreme Court's upcoming decision, and I say upcoming, this is June 13th, by July 1st, these decisions are gonna be gone, done, period. So, if Donald gets to keep his gun, I don't know what he's gonna do with it anyway, but if Donald gets to keep his gun, Hunter Biden may find himself in a surprise situation, not a pardon, not a pardon from daddy, not a rejection of the court's decision. The jury is gonna stand, that's okay, but it could go to the courts where they might then have to look back at the Supreme Court's decision in June and find the Hunter Biden isn't a convicted felon anymore. Interesting point. Now, speaking of craziness, this is really the really funny part of the story that I'm telling you now, not only would the Supreme Court be shooting itself in the foot in what they will do to Hunter Biden and not only have they taken an opposing view to what they would clearly like to be able to say on the Fuprestone because they follow the rules, which they don't always do that, but they did, nine to zero, follow the rules, and they said this organization that sued did not have standing, throw it out. But get this one, and this is so good. This is a perfect example of why people believe that not only is Donald Trump insane and needs to be in a straight jacket, which I think is highly likely solution to all of our problems, but on top of that, what people believe in this country, the things they believe are so crazy. You know, I've talked about the fact that 75% of the people in the United States believe that we are facing the worst crime in 50 years, 75%. However, we know that statistically what we really have is the lowest level of crime in 50 years. So they got the 50 years, right? They just got the wrong direction. And that's three quarters of the people in the country, which even includes Democrats, because at this moment, this country is pretty bizarre. We believe things that are completely nuts. Okay. So by the way, oh, I'm sorry. Let me give you one more statistic, which I talk about all the time. And I mentioned it earlier, so let's just bring it up again, just because I want to bring up what people believe. You know, over 60% of the people in the United States right now believe we're in a recession, even though the World Bank came out yesterday and said the United States is the strongest economy in the industrialized world, expanding beautifully, in fact, dynamically. And at the same time, we have controlled inflation in ways that nobody in the world has been capable of doing. You hear that? I mean, I said it yesterday. You didn't believe it, I'm sure then. You're not going to believe it today. But it happens to be the truth, you know? Alternative facts? Yes, alternative facts would be the ones that say that inflation is out of control and that we're in a recession. That would be an alternative fact. It would also be an incorrect fact. So let's get that straight. But here's one that I really loved from today because this was on the internet and you know, I flipped through the internet and I am connected with a lot of these right wing sites because I actually have some friends who are right wingers, trumpers, that are on these sites. And I get on there and argue with them from time to time and show them, you know, the 11% increase in the food costs for a family of four over the last year would be absolutely impossible. Not even a chance that it happened. And the reason again, just so we understand math, it's not going to hurt. In order for that to be true, a 10% increase in inflation, which we don't have, you'd have to have 10% and it would have to cost $100,000 per year to feed a family of four. And I'm telling you, if you are feeding your family, forget four. If you've got 10 and if you're feeding your family and it costs you $100,000 a year to feed your family of 10, forget four, there's something wrong with you, with you, not with inflation, not with the stores. No, the problem is you. You've got a problem. And I could probably find you over at BJC or St. Luke's. I could probably find you some appropriate help to help you deal with your problem because it's just not possible. Nobody spent $100,000 to feed their family of four. Okay. So here is why I bring all this up. This is so good. I love it. So it's said on one of these right wing websites that Hunter Biden, finally, it has been proven, what they have said all along with the Hunter Biden laptop, it has been proven totally that everything in there in the Hunter Biden laptop story was true because he's now a convicted felon. And of course I wrote online for these people and I said, now you've got a slight error in your judgment because all that they proved in finding him to be a convicted felon was that while he was using drugs, he lied to the United States government. While he was using drugs, he lied to the United States government. You can't do that. You go to jail for that. So that's, yeah, I mean, the conviction was good. It was correct. He lied about the gun thing. So yeah, he's a convicted felon. Well, here's the problem, slight problem for these people. They said I was completely wrong. That's not what was proven. What was proven, according to them, and it's sitting online, you're not gonna find it, I couldn't find it again if I had to, but they explained to me, this was written directly to me that Hunter Biden was found guilty of child trafficking and rape. You heard that, right? Hunter Biden was found guilty of child trafficking and rape. That is according to people who support Donald Trump, another group that clearly needs a straight jacket because there wasn't anything in these cases that mention anything about child trafficking or rape. In fact, the only person at a high level in our government who has recently been accused of rape and has been convicted, I said convicted, but it's a little different. In civil court, they say found to be liable, but that's convicted, found to be liable. The only person convicted of rape is Donald J. Trump. Donald is the rapist according to the judge in his case where Donald now has to pay a hundred million dollars. Get it? These people don't know what they're talking about. Okay, but believe me, I know what I'm talking about. It's a little late for the day, I sort of ran over on my time, it's all right, no one cares. It's 440, it's a great time to be thinking about dinner at Wendy's. Wendy's is an 18,000 Chesterfield Airport Road and that's in Chesterfield Valley and their food is exceptional. They've got wings, they've got meat that is smoked. A lot of people love smoked meats. This is, they're specialty, they're really good. It's good food. They've got baby back ribs, they've got onion rings, they've got hamburgers, cheeseburgers, patty melts, salads, great drinks, you name it. The food at Wendy's is terrific. Now I know I didn't badmouthed the wings tonight, that's all right, I just didn't feel like it at the moment. Hello Ben, Ben is Wendy's. Anyway, Wendy's is great, Ben will tell you, I'll tell you. The food is terrific and it's funny because I actually have talked to people now who have gone to Wendy's, didn't know about it and they've gone, now they didn't go to defiance. Let's put it this way, I don't know anybody that went to defiance but I know some people who went to Wendy's and they loved it, they really did. So, Wendy's, again at 18,000 Chesterfield Airport Road, the food is great and yes, they do have the new roadhouse in defiance, same great food from Wendy's and it is in fact, Wendy's, go there, love your food, enjoy and then one of these days you'll go by and thank Ben who is responsible for all this with his wife and again, it's Wendy's, go there. Now, if you're looking for jewelry, you can go to really my friend's place over on 4506 Hampton and that's Jules on Hampton. And Jules on Hampton is just what it says, they got a lot of jewelry and it's all over there on Hampton and that place is filled. You walk in and the cases go on and on across this giant store and they are filled with jewelry and you will find the best jewelry that you could imagine and all you gotta do is just go to 4506 Hampton, walk in, say hi to Al, Al's always there with his son, AJ, they can help you design jewelry if you're looking for something that they might be able to create or if you've got an idea, you can tell them what it is, they'll do that for you and then finally, aside from the fact that they buy and so coins and jewelry, which they get you great prices on top of all of that, they'll fix your watch. If you've got a really great watch you wanna fix, that's what you do. You go to 4506 Hampton and Jules on Hampton, they'll fix your watch too. So check them out and then finally, I'm gonna take you over to the St. Louis suit company over in Clayton, it's on the corner of Forsyth and Central. You just go right to that corner, they have a couple of restaurants hanging around there. I'm not sure if it's the same ones, they might have changed them. Restaurants have been struggling over the last several years and it's, especially a lot of these fast food places, they come and they go. However, you go up the stairs, if you go right in the middle, there's a door, you go up the stairs and you surprise are gonna be staring at suits and ties and shirts and shoes and overcoats and straw hats for the summertime. This is the St. Louis suit company in Clayton. They have been there for 29 years. They do a great job, they're especially excellent when it comes to weddings because they just, they know wedding attire and they'll get you all set up. If you're having a wedding or you're going to a wedding, it doesn't matter, they will take care of you. At the St. Louis suit company in Clayton, 29 years, Forsyth and Central, Jay and Nick, my very good friends, believe me, go see them, they'll take care of you. And again, as I always say, these ties are ridiculous. They really are. And here I am today, I got this nice red tie. I've been sort of into this red tie for the last few weeks or a month. And yeah, I'll switch 'cause I got so many ties, I can do it, I just change all the time. But at any rate, you can get a couple ties and give them away for presents or just keep them because at $5, you never know when you're gonna need a tie and these ties are beautiful ties. These are quality ties, $5, St. Louis suit company in Clayton. Now, let me read this to you. I'm not sure, I don't know. So let's see. There's no current case regarding hunter and charges on trafficking or sexual assault. Stop listening to the Q people, Mark. Yes, you are correct. That's exactly the point. I'm not listening to the Q people. I'm just repeating what they have to say so that everybody understands that the Q people, which that's Trump, they're Trumpers, neo-Nazis, whatever you wanna call them, unified Reich, poisoning the blood of America, all that business. These are very sick people, they need help. You're right. There are no cases against Hunter Biden having to do with child trafficking or sexual assault. None of it. Zero. That's not even in the discussion. But they had to bring something up because I said it was just about a gun that he lied about. That's what it was. Now it is a felony and you're not supposed to lie when you fill out forms for the United States government. Don't do it. But this has nothing to do with child trafficking and sexual assault. The only person who is in trouble for sexual assault, Eric and Don Jr's daddy. That guy is in trouble. And when I say he's in trouble, I'd say he's in more trouble than if he went to jail. You know, if he went to jail, that's one thing. This guy has to pay a hundred million dollars for harassing this woman. It was a lot more than harassing, by the way. And it's rape. It is rape. Hunter case, look outside the person involved, bigger picture mixed in with the Second Amendment. Yeah, I brought that up as well. That is true. The Second Amendment is gonna be dealt with in the coming Supreme Court decision, which could let Hunter Biden off the hook. Wouldn't that be funny? Because it might get Hunter Biden off the hook, but it's not gonna get Donald off the hook for anything. He's got 500 million dollars. He owes the state of New York, 100 million dollars he owes, E-Jean Carroll. And who knows how many minutes, hours, days, he will spend in jail once Judge Mershan gets ahold of him. And I do predict that he's gonna get some jail time. He's got to. He's breaking laws right and left today, including the gun laws. See, that's another thing. You're not allowed to have a gun when you are a convicted felon. And one of the things you're supposed to do to stay out of jail if you're a convicted felon is promise that you won't break any laws. And he is breaking the law. Now he's breaking other laws, but he's breaking that one too. So good luck, Donald. Okay, did you catch the inflation numbers this morning? So here's what they are. Whole sale prices dropped last month by 0.1%. Now, before you get hysterical, it's not that good because wholesale prices have a tendency to go up and down in ways that consumer prices do not. But it's still a decline last month of 0.1%. It took a little bit of pressure off the Federal Reserve, not much, but what's interesting is, it took pressure off the Federal Reserve to the point where everybody in the stock market considered it to be good news and they were buyers this morning on the opening and not surprisingly because that's the way this works. They all got clipped during the day because everybody who bought at the opening because of this 0.1% decline in inflation by midday, they found that they were losing money because the market had completely given it all up. It did try to come back again later in the day and so it hasn't given up yet. The market has not begun any kind of a concerted downtrend, but I will tell you that this was another day that looked pretty bad. The good news was shoved away and the only thing that was worth anything on the upside, well, there were two. One was Tesla, which ended up $5 a share. Of course, it's way below, it's high. And then of course, the other one was Apple, which hit 220 yesterday and it's hanging in around 213, 214 today and it's well worth watching because you're gonna learn a lot from what happens with Apple and Amazon, which was down $4 a share today and Google, which was down a couple of dollars a share today. So all these stocks that have been leading and holding the market together, they got hurt a little bit, not a lot. I think Microsoft was still up. And anyway, the end result of it all is, is that the market sort of just held its own today, didn't do too much. It may have been up a little bit, might have been up a little. I didn't see the final number, but I can tell you right now, it was at an all-time high yesterday on the S&P 500 and it's all Apple for the last week, for sure. All Apple, because people believe that Apple has got some brilliant idea having to do with AI and supposedly, just like the iPhone, suddenly we're all gonna be walking around with AI chips in our brains and I don't know what we're gonna do with them, but it's not gonna happen anyway. Apple would like it to happen and they'd like to put those chips in there for us, but I would say, forget it. This is all pie in the sky at the moment. This has not gotten to the point where everybody's gonna be walking around with a brain and a couple of chips. Not gonna happen, so you can relax on that one. However, it is important to watch these inflation numbers because again, you've got these people on the right who are swearing that we're in something like hyperinflation, which were not, it was expected that that inflation number was gonna be up 0.1% and instead it was down 0.1%. I mean, this is all tiny little numbers that only mean anything to weird people like me who follow stocks and have for decades, but if you're just a regular person, this doesn't mean anything. And if they tell you that you're paying $11,000 more to take care of your family of four in food, just in food alone, the answer is no, it is not true. Housing prices are high, that's still a sticky problem, but inflation is 3%, not 30. Amazing. Okay, and finally in the G7 today, there was good news for people who are Americans. If you're an American, the news today was good. United States of America, American, not a South American. If you're a United States of America, American, the news was good because let me tell you what they did, it's pretty interesting. Joe Biden signed an agreement with Vladimir Zelensky, or Vladimir Zelensky. And they signed an agreement, and this agreement is a 10-year defense agreement between the United States and Ukraine. And you'll remember, I've told this story, and it's very true, that back in '91, '92, whatever it was, Ukraine had nuclear weapons. They didn't know what to do with them because the Soviet Union had disbanded, and Ukraine had the weapons, and they wanted to keep them. They wanted to keep them because they thought that it would prevent anybody from ever bothering them. The United States stepped in and said, "If you get rid of the weapons, you give them to us, "we'll dismantle them for you, "and then in the future, if anything goes wrong, "we'll take care of you." Now that wasn't exactly like what I'm talking about, 'cause what I'm talking about is an agreement that was signed today, an official agreement, not a treaty, an official agreement for 10 years, the reason it's not a treaty is you gotta have the government, you gotta have the Senate approve that, which it won't. So anyway, this is an agreement though, it's an agreement between the United States and Ukraine, and the deal is that we will defend them for the next 10 years. Now the reason that they signed this is simple. In order to give some assurance to the Europeans that their fears that Donald Trump could get elected and reverse everything, yeah, they don't want them to worry. But guess what? They know better and they are worried and they should be worried, because if Donald Trump were the president, because they don't have maybe all my information, but if Donald Trump were the president, which he won't be, but if he were, then they've signed this agreement and they're hoping that that might make a difference. But trust me, it wouldn't make a difference because Donald doesn't care, even if it were an ironclad law, he doesn't follow any of that anyway. He doesn't go for that, he's got the unified Reich. They don't do that, they don't follow laws. They do what they want to you or anybody else. That's the unified Reich. I know Donald says he's not doing that now, until he thinks if he were elected, then he could say, I told you all along what I was gonna do, unified Reich, we're here. But yeah, he thinks he can hide it. And I'm just telling you, don't trust that one. Because this is a man who reads the speeches of Adolf Hitler before he goes to bed at night. And of course, I got that information from his wife, not Melania, although nobody would know what Melania thinks, because nobody has seen Melania for a very long time. And I think you probably know why that's true. She's not like these Republican sycophants that are obsequious in pursuit of Donald. No, that's not Melania. She's biting her time and waiting until she can get out of dodge, because I guarantee you she does not want any part of this convicted felon who just happens to be the father of her son, but we all know what happened around that time. Listen, we got to get out of here for Wenties, for the St. Louis suit company, for Jules Unhampton. I'm Mark Casen. This is Showdown.