Soup Sandwich
Welcome to Soup Sandwich, a podcast that explores the complex and compelling world of veterans in the United States. Through interviews with veterans themselves, military experts, and advocates, we'll dive deep into the issues that matter most to this community, from mental health and employment, to the history of veterans in the US and the future of military service. This podcast is supported by the generous contribution of the members of VFW Post 3033.
Soup Sandwich
Tales of Tribute & Travel: Laughter and Legacy with Veterans
Ever wondered how a group of veterans and motorcycle enthusiasts could turn a simple POW MIA-themed motorcycle into a symbol of unity and pride? We take you behind the scenes of this incredible transformation, highlighting the dedication and creativity that brought it to life. Our episode dives into the camaraderie and shared experiences of military life, with personal anecdotes about starting new jobs during the holiday chaos and the funny side of technical hiccups. It's all about community, connection, and a touch of sports rivalry as we share our love for the Lions and discuss regional pride.
Join us as we explore the captivating stories of veterans working together on the Vietnam Veteran Motorcycle Display Project. Hear how Uhi, a company with aerospace and automotive expertise, played a crucial role in this community effort, turning their engineering prowess into a stunning display for a local VFW post. Amidst the excitement of the upcoming reveal, we chat about the teamwork, sacrifices, and creativity that went into crafting this unique tribute, promising to be a standout piece at future events.
It's not all about motorcycles and veterans, though. We travel from the picturesque Mackinac Island to spontaneous West Coast adventures, sharing tales of long drives, family trips, and the magic of theme parks. Our discussions touch on everything from justice system flaws to county budget challenges, all the while maintaining a lighthearted atmosphere filled with laughter and playful exchanges. Whether you're a veteran or just love a good story, this episode is packed with humor, insight, and the rich tapestry of veteran life.
Email Us with your comments and suggestions at vfwpost3033@gmail.com, we'd love to hear from you!
War is a paradox. It has the power to bring nations together, to inspire heroism and sacrifice and to forge bonds of camaraderie that will span a lifetime, but it also has the power to tear families apart, to shatter communities and to leave scars that will never fully heal. And, for those who have served, the transition back to civilian life can be one of the greatest challenges they will ever face. This is the typical life of military veterans, a world that is both familiar and foreign to most of us. It is a world that is shaped by unique experiences, values and traditions of the military and by the sacrifices and struggles of those who have served, but it's also a world that is constantly changing, as new generations of veterans confront new challenges and new opportunities. Thank you for joining us at Soup Sandwich. Dig your foxhole, heat up your MRE and spend some time with us.
Speaker 1:This podcast is designed solely for entertainment and, occasionally, informational purposes only, and is to be regarded strictly as satire. Comprising of veterans, it delves into their thoughts and experiences in combat, as well as their perspectives on various aspects of daily life that may be unsettling for certain listeners. This podcast is not suitable for individuals under the age of 18. The views articulated in this podcast may not necessarily align with those of the National VFW VFW Department of Michigan or VFW Post 3033. Additionally, we kindly request that listeners refrain from pursuing legal action against the creators or contributors of this podcast. In other words, please don't sue us.
Speaker 2:We're having an issue, there we go. Sorry, here we are. Another day, another episode. We're having some technical difficulties here, but I think we're good. Now, when do we not have technical difficulties? Usually it's because I'm doing this thing and I'm not like an AV nerd, so there's that. But we don't have tech here with us today. Jackass, mr, I like basketball better than our podcast. Suck a dick, my friend we got popcorn.
Speaker 2:We got popcorn. That's a good thing. Who else isn't here today? Let's sound off. Let's see Freaking. Shem ain't here. Trey, he ain't here either. Mad-eye Moody. Mad-eye Moody.
Speaker 4:Mad-Eye Moody Roy's not here tonight.
Speaker 2:They're all on the shit list today. All right.
Speaker 4:It's like an empty house.
Speaker 2:It's like an empty house. It's just the three of us.
Speaker 4:When we got Bill House here. It's empty.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's right, but we got Abby.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so well, anywho, down here on the floor, we're here. Yeah, what are we thinking? How was everybody's Christmas? It was pretty good. Good, how about you guys? Yeah?
Speaker 4:We're in that weird lull between Christmas and New Year's where everybody's work schedules are so messed up, yep, it's like go to work for a day, then you got nine days off, and then you go back to work for a couple days.
Speaker 2:I thought you were getting a call there for a second.
Speaker 4:Oh boy, oh boy, just a text message.
Speaker 5:Started a new job, worked for a few weeks, then get a week off. Kind of nice, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Yep Are you talking about me? No me, oh, you started a new job. I did. Oh, what are you doing? He's a gay prostitute, gay prostitute.
Speaker 5:Oh, okay, down in the ghetto.
Speaker 4:They had to, they had to could only work a week. He has to take a couple weeks off to rest up. That's right, Gotcha, Gotcha gotcha yeah. Well, um, when he says ghetto means Detroit, just so you know.
Speaker 2:The big D, not that.
Speaker 4:D. Back to the gay prostitute. That's right, that's hilarious. Oh, that's why.
Speaker 2:Sorry, still some technical difficulties. I want to monitor the chat because my phone is what's recording our video and I can't see if anybody posts any comments or anything. So no questions or questions. So I'm logging into. Well, here we go. Okay, now I can see. Yep, hey, everybody, there we go. That should work.
Speaker 4:Just another night at the AJ Sky Lounge, and we do have a spectator. At some point we gotta get a sign signed back there.
Speaker 2:You got your marker. It lives here.
Speaker 4:Where is it? It's over there by the bar.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, Just checking, just checking.
Speaker 4:We're always locked and loaded up here.
Speaker 2:Alright, just making sure.
Speaker 4:Let's see, even though she has to come say something on the mic, because it's people that join the podcast, that's right. So next time Trey's wife, eva's here, we've got to get her up because she came on one night and talked.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that's true, she did so. Next time she's up here, we've got to get her signed, so you're not the first.
Speaker 4:Well, that was before we had the sign.
Speaker 2:Oh, she was up here, I believe. Yeah, why is this not showing me? So Sorry, I'm just trying to play with this. Usually it tells me who's watching and I see two people are watching. One of them is probably me, because I'm right here. One of them is you. I don't know If you're watching, sound off and post a comment. Jen's watching. Jen's watching. Oh, jen is watching. Okay, cool, all right. Normally I can see who's watching, like it will tell me who's watching, but I don't know it's not doing that now.
Speaker 5:So if our focus gets a little hazy and we're staring off into the distance, we do have the game on in the background Green.
Speaker 4:Bay and Minnesota. Yeah, green Bay and Minnesota. We're here repping Lions. Obviously right, that's right. Minnesota, yeah, green.
Speaker 2:Bay and Minnesota. So we're here repping Lions, obviously right, that's right. Minnesota.
Speaker 4:This is a big game for anybody in Michigan, that's for sure, yep.
Speaker 2:So go Lions, go Lions. All right, it's a little warm up here in AJ Sky Lounge.
Speaker 4:I can turn the heat down if you want.
Speaker 2:No, we're good. I think it's perfect as long as you don't have anything on. So I'm gonna show that I'm repping the post t-shirt. Yeah, me too. So not our post. You got to rip our posts, sure well, it's a post well. I guess I'll give you that one all right, but yeah, hey, if you want t-shirt, you want to support us, come to. If you want a T-shirt, you want to support us, come to the post, buy a T-shirt. What are they Like? $15, I think right, $15, $20, something like that.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Nice shirt? Yep, nice shirt. I don't know. It's always in combination with my bar bill, so it's usually like $125. I couldn't tell you what the shirt cost, that's right.
Speaker 2:I think there's, you know some things, some people who should get a free shirt based on the amount of bar bills they get to get. I'm up for that.
Speaker 5:Not that way anymore, that's for sure, I'm going to go up there like I used to my shirt, is a post Bruce, post 1146. Where's that from St Clair Shores?
Speaker 2:Okay, I should have known that, because so my better half is originally from St Clair Shores.
Speaker 5:It's a really nice post.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I had never been there. But her dad still lives in town there and you know, usually for the holidays we go down and say hi to him and everything. But you know, my thing is with the family you know I don't really have time to go around and visit different posts and stuff, so I definitely want to do that.
Speaker 4:I've got a funny story about a post that I'm going to bring up my old man's listening. Tonight I texted him and told him you were going live.
Speaker 5:Your old man, yeah, he listens to this so usually in the summertime, when Liz and I are out riding around on the bike, we'll see a post and we'll whip a U-ey and usually go back and check it out, and we went to several this summer and had some pretty good times.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 5:So it's always a good thing you see a post stop it.
Speaker 2:See a post drop a tenner, drop a 20. That's what we're always supposed to do. Yeah, support each other. I got some bad news, my friends. You know my retirement didn't come through.
Speaker 5:I didn't win that Mega Millions billionaire jackpot. So I can take that new ski boat off my yeah, out of my Cart Cart that you promised me when you won that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sorry, man Damn it. In all seriousness, we always love. I mean, let's be honest, who doesn't love to dream about that? My dream is to bring and drop $10 million on a new building and develop something and make it something amazing and, I don't know, make us the go-to post in the country. That'd be cool, wouldn't it?
Speaker 4:It will be coming up here next month.
Speaker 5:So we do have some news on the post.
Speaker 4:Oh, we do. Yeah, next month hopefully, let's see if we can roll here pretty soon Speaking of you know it's not a $10 million new building.
Speaker 5:One of the coolest things of all, the posts in America country.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, coming up. What's going on?
Speaker 2:We're going to have the motorcycle. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm confused. I'm like did I miss an event?
Speaker 4:or something. We got the VFW, I guess I would say Two former owners of the motorcycle patriotic-themed custom-painted Vietnam POW MIA bike.
Speaker 5:So I'll let Bill expand on what's going on with that one, yeah so a group of us got together I'm sure it's been said in the podcast previous, but a group of us from the riders' group got together and bought the old bike back and got talking about it, what we're going to do with it. Now that we got it about, we uh make a case and showcase it and put it at the post. So we got chatting around the writers group and I said, well, hell, I'll design one up. So I spent some time on cad and drew one up and okay, and then a few people says, well, that's cool, now who's gonna make it?
Speaker 5:And so liz went back to her work and said, uh, little plug for uh, uh, uh, went to, uh, went to her, uh, boss, and said, hey, this is what we're planning. They're like well, hell, yeah, we'll make it. And not only will we make it, we'll, uh, we'll donate the time to make it. Then they went even a step further and talked to some of their suppliers and got their suppliers to donate almost a hundred percent of the materials to build it, built it and it's almost complete. Charlie and I, with Liz's Hope, I would say she's supervised, yeah, she's our technical advisor Supervisor.
Speaker 6:I was down there gluing on the whole thing.
Speaker 5:She helped quite a bit gluing up and stuff.
Speaker 2:But years passed, hold up Time out. She said words and I see her on the camera, so now she's got to introduce herself.
Speaker 4:Get in front of the camera and wave real quick. Hello Come this way Come right in front of Bill there you go, hello.
Speaker 5:So years past I bought a whole bunch of wood just scrap pieces here and there maple, walnut, whatever. And Charlie came over one day and we scrapped through, dug through and laid out a whole bunch. All different thicknesses, widths, all that. Cut it all up, planed. It spent what two, three days just cutting.
Speaker 4:Yeah, cutting thickness and widths on all those boards.
Speaker 5:And then we biscuit joined all that together and all these all these little pieces, parts, and biscuit joined it and glued it all together and made like 12 inch runs and run them through the planer. And glued it all together and made like 12 inch runs and run them through the planer and got them all the same thickness. And I just put the second coat of poly on tonight and man, does it look sharp? Yep, it is coming into it, so it's gonna look really sweet.
Speaker 4:So it'll be the only post that I know of in the country that's going to have a veteran themed motorcycle inside the post on display, custom painted, owned by vfw members previous. It's going to be something. I think that's going to be pretty dang cool, that people are going to be able to come in and see we'll get it all polished up, cleaned up. It's going to look awesome. Yep, and this thing is so big that we're bill is just come. It's probably gonna seat about 14 people or 16 people around nice six per side, ish roughly two on each end.
Speaker 5:And that's the beauty of it. You know, not only is it gonna be a display case for the bike with, you know, plexiglass panel so you can see the bike all the way around front, back sides, but the top is set up for like a bar top, high top table top so you can sit people around it and it's going to be functional. You can sit there and enjoy the bike below and have a beverage on top.
Speaker 4:set it out, I'll tell you what it's going to work really good for is when we have big events we do big dart tournaments for Special Olympics or stuff like that we're always looking for space to set gifts out, raffle items. You'll be able to use this thing, for sure, but a million things around it's bigger than a pool table. I mean a little bigger than a pool table.
Speaker 4:That's how big it is, and it'll be nice because we'll be able to take some of those high top tables that we got right by the bar and move them farther toward that wall.
Speaker 2:I was thinking about that. I was thinking about the placement and we had spoken that it was going to be perpendicular to the canteen like the actual bar and I don't know, I kind of would like it parallel. Thank you, it wasel. Thank you, it was parallel to the bar. It should be perpendicular because that bike should be the first thing you see when you walk in.
Speaker 5:Well, it could be. You will be at the end. You'll be able to look right into it.
Speaker 2:You know, give it between the bar and the case. You know, give it a good 10 feet so people can get in. You know, get through and stuff, but it should be the first thing.
Speaker 5:you see, that might be a good idea.
Speaker 4:Well, when we get it there, get it set up, we can.
Speaker 2:And, of course, is there going to be like a strip of LED lights on the inside, so you can see it. We're not quite sure yet.
Speaker 5:We haven't done that yet, but that's something that we had discussed and some other people had mentioned it too.
Speaker 4:You can get battery ones that work off timers and stuff. So it's on like 12 hours and it's off 12 hours and on 12.
Speaker 5:Yeah, that's the big issue with LEDs. How do you power it? So if you run a cord to it, now you've got a cord running across yeah we don't want that. So we've got to figure something out, so it'd have to be a battery.
Speaker 4:They even make lights that you could stick something to the bottom. It shines down on it but turn on and off in remote.
Speaker 5:But that's the only issue as of right now.
Speaker 2:So do we want to tell the story of the two owners of the bike real quick. I mean, those that have been with us long enough know who the most recent owner was and know all of that. But I think it's important that we you know because, especially now, um, those of, uh those of you who've been with us, you know we were going live and then all of a sudden, facebook changed the rules and then we couldn't go live again until we got 100 viewers or 100 subscribers. So then we put out a huge like you know, yeah, all points bulletin to get those followers. So now we're able to go back live, but anyway. So those who had been around long enough to know have heard Tim's voice and you know he was part of the podcast there at the beginning and you know, I don't know.
Speaker 4:I can give a. I'll give a brief. Yeah, so the original owner of the motorcycle was he was a member of our post, post 3033. His name was Gary Gass and when Gary owned the bike he had it painted that P-O-W-M-I-A Vietnam. He was a Vietnam veteran themed. And then Gary got too old to ride. I believe he's passed now. I'm not quite sure but I haven't seen him in forever. But anyways, then Tim bought the motorcycle from Gary, probably five years ago, four years ago, and then obviously Tim's passed now. But yeah, that's kind of how it's gone through the progression at our post and why it means a lot. It's not just because you know Gary owned it or Tim owned it, but the fact that it's a POW MIA.
Speaker 4:This is a veteran's bike. Not only did veterans own it, but the theme is everything that the VFW stands for, right? I mean it's so cool. It's got Huey helicopters on it, it's got POWMA emblems on it. It is awesome and hopefully, once we get it all set, maybe we'll post it on this Facebook page. We'll take some pictures of it. In the case, on display it actually sits downstairs here at work. On display, it actually sits downstairs here at work, so I get to see it all the time, but every time I look at it it absolutely impresses me, which is pretty cool. I'm honored to have it here and I'm thankful for Bill and Liz and then all the other members other Rogers Group that helped chip in. We even had a lot of non-members, and one comes right to mind was jim hall from melanie music, our dart provider and jukebox provider, um here in michigan. Um, you know, he donated money to it. Right now he's. He's an auxiliary member now, but you know, I mean I think at the time he was.
Speaker 4:I think at the time he wasn't. You know he just he just believed in you know this is something that should stay here and it shouldn't. And it was so weird because when we purchased it, Tim had just traded it in for his new Harley. And I happened to go in and I think I was picking up just a couple quarts of oil for my son-in-law. I don't remember I was in there buying parts. I don't know if it was for my Harley or what it was, but anyways I see it on the showroom floor and I took some pictures of it and I sent it around. And I'm like man, this is right after Tim passed, Because he only had his new bike a couple weeks. That was like the day after.
Speaker 4:I mean, it was a couple weeks oh before that yeah yeah, yeah but anyway, so I was sitting on this.
Speaker 5:Well, we bought it like the day after.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the second that I saw it right, I sent it to Jen and I sent it around the group and stuff. And then everybody's like we've got to buy it back. And all of a sudden the next day we were out for a ride and we're like I'll throw in $500. I'll throw in $1,000. I'll throw in $1,000. I'll throw in $300. Like all of a sudden we had, you know, like $7,000 sitting there. You know, it was like I guess we're heading down to the Harley shop.
Speaker 5:So we went down to the Harley shop.
Speaker 4:And yeah, and actually I think right before that, trey went down there that day and put $500 down to hold it. Yeah, he put it in the pocket.
Speaker 4:And he was like I don't know what I'm going to do now. Yeah, he was going to buy it himself that day, but anyways, then we ended up going for a ride. He just ran in there and said, hey, just hold this. And they would hold it for like two weeks and if he didn't pay the rest of it they were going to put it back on the floor, right, and get his 500 back. So really no harm, no foul, but it gave him time to figure out what was going on.
Speaker 5:It gave the group and just that big mob of members you know that went in there, the funny thing is, I was coming back from Detroit, back from Liz's house, coming home, and when you sent that out, I seen it. I goes, man, I told her. I says, hey, I ought to just stop in there and buy that damn thing, you know. So we have it right, because I didn't want somebody else to buy it. So when we went on that ride and we were sitting there, everybody was like what are we going to do, what are we going to do? And then Trace says, hey, I just did something.
Speaker 3:What did you do it? So I just put a deposit on it.
Speaker 5:I'm like well, I'm game, let's go, let's go buy it. Yeah, it's kind of how it's like. He said you know we pitched in. I goes, hey, whatever's left over, you guys pitch in what you want.
Speaker 4:Whatever's left over, I'll cover the rest, and and we end up we went as soon as we finished our lunch, we went right down and it's and it's such a, it was such kind of a cool thing because it was like you. You know, I mean people I got 50 bucks, cool. You know other people like I got 1,500, you know whatever, so it didn't really matter. We all went in as a team effort to get it and then just to have the backing of companies like Liz that spearhead it, and then one of the coolest stories that I've heard about their company is everybody that's working on this project are veterans.
Speaker 5:Yeah, a lot of them are, so yeah, and the ones that aren't, uh have, even she. They've even went around their own, inside their own, the, the, the company, you know what, you come tell the story. I don't know yeah second second hand, we can get it right from the horse's mouth. So Liz is HR director. Hr manager of UHI Group.
Speaker 4:Explain to everybody what UHI Group is. So we have a good understanding.
Speaker 5:So we can understand what this is. My God, are you short or?
Speaker 4:what I am very short.
Speaker 3:Your chin is almost on the table. I am very short.
Speaker 5:Her stool is about a foot lower than mine, so she's short, but not quite that short.
Speaker 6:Uhi is located in Sterling Heights. They are 50% aerospace, 50% automotive and they went around after they found out about all this. They went around to everyone and asked if they wanted to be a part of this project and they said yes, and most of them are veterans and so they grouped together to work on it. And then there's also many of them that are not veterans that wanted to be a part of it. So they donated money out of their personal personally to it, and then also customers or customers of us that wanted to be a part of it, so they donated material to to build this as well and also donated things to go towards it too. So also our employees are like I've got $100, I've got $50. They start opening their wallets and handing our buyer or purchaser money saying put this towards it, put this towards it, put this towards it, and when they started this project, they were kind of slow but were picking up.
Speaker 5:When they finished this project, they were kind of slow but were picking up. When they finished this project, they were already working what like 6, 10, 6, 12?.
Speaker 6:They were working 6 days a week, 12-hour days a week they were getting even more busy. They now are working 6 to 7 days a week, 10, 12-hour days. So they finished this on above and beyond, overtime even, and still took time out working on their own time, coming in to do this project for us so above and beyond I mean way above and beyond the the time.
Speaker 5:So you know, if you already put in a 12-hour day and then put in another hour or two after that, it's just a yeah, it's awesome just to do this. So it it should be the case. I believe the last I heard they were putting the plexi on. It's already painted, it's already assembled, they just need to finish putting the plexi on. Finish the cat. There's a couple issues with the casters that they had, and then it's ready.
Speaker 5:So in a couple weeks we'll be bringing it up yeah, we got it then we got a test, fit the bike, put the top on it, you know, do our final preps and then we're going to try and do a big reveal. We'll set something up and have a lot of the people that worked on it from her work want to come up. Probably it'll be a Saturday. We'll do a big show.
Speaker 4:We'll set something up at the post. We'll get a date on a Saturday. Do a big show. Yeah, so we'll set something up at the post. We'll get a date on a Saturday, do a big reveal. I know there's a lot of people around town that want to make sure that they're there. There's people that we'd like to have there, but we also have to make sure that it's not during a dark tournament or something going on. But yeah, we're going to try to get. And then obviously we've got some of the veterans down there that want to come up for the unveiling and stuff that we want to make sure they have ample time to make sure they get the day off.
Speaker 4:Which is even crazier, because even when they come up on that Saturday, you know what they're missing. They're missing overtime work. So not only are they going to travel from Detroit up here just to see this thing, but they're also probably losing $500, $600, $700 working the Saturday right up here just to see this thing, yep.
Speaker 4:but they're also probably losing five, six, seven hundred dollars working the saturday. So it's costing them money all the way, which is so cool. But I get it from our trade, like I'm gonna ask jen or ask the kids I drive by the big battery plant, midland, or hsc hemlock semiconductor, even the buildings around here at cmu that we've done, and I'm like I spent two hours building or two years building that building. Oh, I worked here, I worked there, I did this here. So it's that pride of you know, after the job is finished, right, then you actually get to go see it when it's fully done. It was always pretty cool when I would walk around the buildings here at CMU doing service work or doing something else and I get to cut through one of the projects that we did. It's like man, I remember being down in this tunnel freezing my ass off, right, you know, middle of winter with no heat. You know like I mean. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's going to be a good thing, and I think it's important to note that for most people, because most people don't know this, but you know, this motorcycle case is really our way of showcasing something Whereas many others, you know, driving by other posts, other American legions and whatnot, and they got a fucking tank sitting out front, they've got an airplane, or.
Speaker 2:I've seen one with a couple old missiles sitting up there. Or I've seen one with a couple old missiles sitting up there For the people who don't know. As a VFW post, we have the authority to requisition those things out of the surplus storage and put them up on display. Well, obviously you can only do that if you have the space to do that, and we don't own much more than what?
Speaker 5:three quarters of an acre. Not even that, not even that so we don't.
Speaker 2:We don't have the greenery, we don't I don't think it's that maybe a quarter. You know we're, we're proud of our post, we're proud of our, our spot, like where we are in town, um, but it is small and, uh, you know we're we're outgrowing it very quickly. But, that aside, we don't have the space to put a tank out front. So we would love to, but we can't.
Speaker 5:So that's what makes this even more special.
Speaker 2:And so this is our showcase. This is going to 100% be our showcase.
Speaker 4:Well, like I said, I think it's the only one that's going to have a motorcycle right and having that veteran theme and owned by several veterans of the post is going to be cool and it's just going to be a great big table yeah, usable it's usable, it's usable it's not just some motorcycle or something sitting on the side of a wall somewhere taking up space.
Speaker 4:I mean, that was part of the idea was to make it, because we have such limited space, to be able to make it usable at the same time of a display piece, you know, yeah, right.
Speaker 5:And I hope, when it's all together and it's all setting in there and it just fits perfectly, we'll never make everybody happy Somebody's going to say it's too big, it's too wide, it's too long, and they're like, oh, someone's going to complain.
Speaker 2:Sounds like many of the complaints that I get Bullshit, don't you? Wish it took a second to get that through. How's that to think about? Wait a minute, what is this? It didn't take any seconds. It didn't take me long we knew that was bullshit.
Speaker 4:Alright. So those of you that are watching us on Facebook and now watching the game, it's still 0-0. About five minutes left in the first.
Speaker 2:Hey, Natalie's here. Natalie says it's going to be perfect Awesome.
Speaker 5:Natalie Lopez. Natalie.
Speaker 2:Lopez, Nice Thanks for joining us. Natalie. Appreciate it. I hope that.
Speaker 4:As the outgoing Department Commander, I'm sure that you and Ray Will be down at midwinter and I know myself and Jen Are going to look forward to seeing you guys down there. So Coming up here in a month A little bit less One of my favorite programs, so I want to make sure that we get a.
Speaker 5:I get my good plug in for the winter conference, so that's one of the things we'll have to get together and sit down with some people and figure out a good time for the reveal?
Speaker 4:oh, yeah, for sure, we'll have to work with our auxiliary president. But Arnie, our post commander, get a case in it For the reveal. Oh, yeah, for sure, and that we'll have to work with our auxiliary president, but Arnie our post commander, and Merck, our bar manager.
Speaker 2:Let's make a huge thing out of this because we can talk to the post commanders from some of the other posts.
Speaker 4:Well, maybe we can get John Molder and we'll get Roger Houck, our congressman and senators, to come up.
Speaker 2:Yep, that'd be awesome. I think we should absolutely take some really good pictures and then send them to Public Affairs for VFW National See if they'll throw it up on their Facebook.
Speaker 4:Well, what I can do is I can have anything we want to do, like that we get the good pictures. I can send them right up to Barry Walter at Department. He'll make sure that goes on Department page and, if he, needs to send them up, he can send them right up to Barry Walter at department. He'll make sure that goes on department page and if he needs to send them up he can send them up.
Speaker 4:Well, I mean more, so I don't know what the process is of that stuff, but maybe, since Natalie's listening, maybe Ray could help out with that too, and I mean more so, even for you know, some of the post tourism that we were mentioning earlier.
Speaker 2:Like you know, nobody knows Everybody knows that we were mentioning earlier. Like you know, nobody knows. Everybody knows that we've got posts all over the country, but nobody knows that our post is on the map with this motorcycle until it's put out there. Put it out there. So. I think we should absolutely throw it on.
Speaker 4:like you know, national, and I'll try to get ahold of Morning Sun which is our local newspaper, maybe seeing them live, see if we can get them to maybe show up as well. Right we could have a good time with this, well, but that's what it's supposed to be about. Right is get your name out there. Show appreciation, show support.
Speaker 2:Natalie says she misses us. I don't know, Natalie. Do you really? That's awesome.
Speaker 5:She misses Jen more than don't know Natalie. Do you really? That's awesome? She misses.
Speaker 4:Jen more than anybody, I guarantee, because Jen hasn't been at the last couple conferences, because I've just gone down and gave my report and turned and burned because I've always got something going on so I haven't been able to stay. But mid-winter I make sure I block that whole weekend off, right?
Speaker 5:Well, now Christmas is over over, we get the new year's coming. Anybody got any uh fancy plans for the new year? Any new year celebrations?
Speaker 4:no, I'm usually.
Speaker 5:I'm usually asleep by 10 o'clock be honest with you, but, uh, actually we're hanging out with the kiddos, I think is what we're doing.
Speaker 4:So yeah, that was just. My son was messaging me. He just picked up a new snowmobile, oh yeah, so he's been dinking around all day in the garage, right? So one of the things that we're going to try to do is run our sleds up to St Ignace and then run that ice bridge from St Ignace to Mackinac Island and then ride around the island on the sleds? Oh, that'd be cool, then back to St Ignace some night.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm not brave enough for that, it'd be, cool don't get me wrong, but I'm not brave enough for that.
Speaker 5:Just stay in the throttle, even if you break through.
Speaker 4:So the only bad thing is I've got to buy a new track for my sled. The guy that sold it to me was too cheap to put one on, so I'm going to have to get one Way overpaid.
Speaker 5:Wow that guy's a jackass.
Speaker 2:What's wrong with that? Hey, Jerry Fulton's on.
Speaker 4:Pressman, pressman made it.
Speaker 5:The track's bad on that.
Speaker 4:I can't believe it. It's original Original track Give me a break, Pressman what are you up to tonight?
Speaker 5:Probably the best track there is.
Speaker 4:Besides listening to the best podcast in the world.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know who we need in here Roy Lopez, ray or Ray, yeah, sorry.
Speaker 4:Sure, I'd love to have Ray come up Ray needs to come in Phone Ray in. Oh we could do that, actually Phone a friend.
Speaker 2:I forgot. We have that opportunity. I said Roy because I'm thinking of Roy Thomas, our quartermaster. Yeah the one that didn't show up. Yeah, the one that didn't show up, Roy. I don't know if you're listening. Probably not.
Speaker 5:He's probably watching the game. He probably is.
Speaker 2:I'll bet you they're over at the game. He probably is. I'll bet you they're over at the over at the post. Yeah, could be. I'm pretty sure, because we've been doing squares lately Trying to, you know, raise some money and all that.
Speaker 5:Yeah speaking of squares. You took my numbers.
Speaker 2:You're welcome.
Speaker 5:Yeah, huh. Come on, get in here we have a four-legged friend with us. Yeah, debbie, she was just in the camera a minute ago.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay.
Speaker 5:Weren't ya.
Speaker 4:Rather than phone a friend we could phone a ray.
Speaker 2:Natalie says call him, he's up there.
Speaker 4:Oh, he must be up in Harrison at their lake house or cottage, I think is what they call it.
Speaker 2:I don't know how long we're going to be doing this podcast, but we should call him and see if he wants to pop in. I don't know how long of a ride is it from there, about half an hour 45 minutes.
Speaker 5:Where's he at.
Speaker 4:They have a I don't know if they call it a cottage or a lake house or something up in Harrison.
Speaker 5:Oh, okay, he's an hour 45 minutes to an hour.
Speaker 4:That might be a little stretch. I didn't realize he was up. Natalie must be at their house in Detroit. So since I got a new phone I lost a million contacts. I actually do have some contacts still. I thought I was curious. Maybe step out real quick and I'll make a call.
Speaker 2:All right, he's going to make a call Go to the back door.
Speaker 5:Uh-oh, giggity, back door guests are best. While he's doing that, let's uh you want to shake that pen and get it going. Have Liz sign the banner.
Speaker 2:Oh man, do we have to do that? Live on, we do. Shake that baby, shake it, look at that Shake it. So, for those of you who don't know, here, in just a second I'll grab the camera and I'll show you we can take that right now, can't we?
Speaker 5:Can we take it down?
Speaker 2:No, don't take it down, we're going to just sign it.
Speaker 5:Sign it in place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in place. I didn't sign it in place, I don't know what you did, but anyway I'll take the camera down or switch it around here real quick. And then, but those of you who don't know, we got a banner here, a soup sandwich Podcast banner that Charlie had made up for us, and it's become a tradition now that every guest that we have that comes up here has to sign the banner. So yeah, that's pretty much it, short and sweet and to the point. Looks like Green Bay just went up 3-0. Hey, 3-0. That's what we want. So let me turn this around. Give me one second minute.
Speaker 5:40 minute 40 in the first. Do the one second I need some lights.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right over here.
Speaker 5:I don't know.
Speaker 4:I don't know Where's the lights over here, charlie, it's up on the fan.
Speaker 2:You got to take the phone.
Speaker 4:You got to turn the phone around.
Speaker 2:I will. I'll turn the phone around. I was more worried about the light at the moment.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's on the ceiling fan. I got the ceiling fan on.
Speaker 2:All right, everybody Close up on the most handsome man in the world. All right Hold on a second Whoa.
Speaker 5:All right, Holy smokes what I just seen your Big beautiful face right in their camera.
Speaker 2:Like yeah, I told you I'm a handsome guy. What can I say? Wherever you want, liz initials smiley face with your signature. You know the amount of people who have been here. I'm surprised nobody's drawing a dick up there yet oh, come on now we.
Speaker 5:We're family friendly here.
Speaker 4:Hey, bill, yes, sir Just take a picture of him real quick and I'll stick that up, wow.
Speaker 2:Are we family friendly, though? Yes, literally, our disclaimer says 18 and up. I'm just saying Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take the moment to remind you of our disclaimer. Please don't sue us, all right. Thank you. Abigail oh boy oh boy.
Speaker 4:So I just got off the phone with the past department commander, which is for Michigan, which is Ray Lopez. He's up at their cottage. They call it.
Speaker 2:The one and only Ray Lopez.
Speaker 4:He's been outside working in the rain all day, so he's huddled up on the couch under a blanket, sounding like he's been out in the rain all day a little bit runny nose and groggily throat. So he definitely wants to know the next time we're going to have one and hopefully he can be up here. He just retired from Ford, so I think he's got some time on his hands. Yeah for sure, besides Natalie and their son Ben, at home.
Speaker 2:Right, right, right, oh boy Natalie says that her son just learned a new word and it's my fault, uh-oh.
Speaker 4:Trading them right right off the start.
Speaker 5:I guess so. What's that? Go Navy oh, that's two words. Go Navy, yeah.
Speaker 2:Hashtag sorry, not sorry, but kind of a little sorry, Natalie, I don't know. I'm kind of 50-50 on this. Depends on what the word is D-I-C-K. Oh. So he just I guess. Oh, she's just joking, All right. All right, we're good. Like I said, hashtag sorry, not sorry, because there's a reason for the disclaimer. Actually, that was Tim's thing. Where did he get that from?
Speaker 4:Get what the idea for that disclaimer. I think he was like that's like a preemptive strike, like we better do something before this thing gets shut down. Oh yeah, that's true, because we never asked besides the Post, which this is a Post thing, and that's why it says we don't reflect the views of the poster the post or the department or national right.
Speaker 4:This is just a bunch of idiot veterans sitting around talking about anything and everything, so I think he was just doing it to say, look, this is not affiliated, or right necessarily a part of anything.
Speaker 5:You know what. What I mean being the post commander, too kind of.
Speaker 4:So I think he just did it out of the, which was an anomaly. Tim was being smart for once. No, I'm just kidding, love that guy to death. I mean, hell, I got his tattoo on his arm. I love that guy to death, so, but yeah, so, anyways, you know, that's one of the things that I'm kind of looking forward to in the new year is maybe making that trip to Mackinac. So now since my son got a new snowmobile, he has his old 440 Jag he's trying to sell, but he doesn't have to sell it.
Speaker 5:That's a plug, by the way. No, no, no. So that's a plug, by the way. No, no, no. What I'm saying is, you know, like?
Speaker 4:if his mom wants to go, or girlfriend wants to go or something. You know we have an extra sled rolling around. Son-in-law wants to go, yeah, so you know, I mean it could be a fun trip. I've never done it, I've always heard about it, you know, because I guess on the island they have full-time residents. Yeah, because I guess on the island they have full-time residents. And for those of you that don't know, mackinac Island's a small island between. It's more in the upper peninsula than it is in the lower no vehicles allowed.
Speaker 4:But it's a little island. It's in Lake Michigan, but they call it the Straits of Mackinac. The only way that you can get to the island is by ferry. It's in Lake Huron. It is in Huron, not in Michigan. You're right, it's on the east side, anyways.
Speaker 2:Dear diary. A Marine said that the sailor was right A.
Speaker 5:Marine said that. But it is in Michigan. So you know, there you go and it's in the Straits of Mackinac. But I mean the state of Michigan.
Speaker 4:Well, it's in the waters of Michigan, but anyways, yeah, the only way you can. I mean the state of Michigan, it's in the waters of Michigan, but anyways, yeah, the only way you can get to the island Coastal waters.
Speaker 2:We're all geography experts up here Trying to help you out, Charlie.
Speaker 4:The only way you can get to the island is by ferry and they do have some vehicles, so there's like some construction equipment. That's there.
Speaker 5:I think there's a fire truck.
Speaker 4:They do have an ambulance, I think they have a fire truck. They do have an ambulance, I think they have a fire truck, but personal vehicles are not allowed there, except for the governor. The only motorized, like even UPS and FedEx, deliver by horse and carriage, which is crazy.
Speaker 5:Really cool and everything is by bike Throwback nostalgic island.
Speaker 4:So it actually Dowd's supermarket is the oldest supermarket in the country, Really From like 1820. It's still owned by the same family, ran by the same family Dowds D-O-U-D. Wow, but anyways. So they have full-time residence there and in the wintertime you're allowed to have a snowmobile because you can't ride a bike. Yeah, but everything else, so they actually. We were up there for one of my conferences for work. We didn't go this last year because they went to Bay Harbor, but a year, two years ago, and electric bikes were just becoming like a big thing, right, All these electric bikes and they put a clamp down on them because they go like 35 or 40 miles an hour.
Speaker 4:They're crazy fast and you can't hear, and I guess people were walking right, Because I mean you can walk down the middle of the road, basically because someone else around the bike is going 5 or 10 miles an hour.
Speaker 5:You got to worry about getting run over by a horse Right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you hear the horses coming, but so people were crossing the street and getting smoked by these people on electric bikes. So now they're like no more electric bikes, so they're not even allowed to have electric bike there anymore. And the island if you went all the way from start to finish, all the way around that thing, it's like nine and a half miles or one mile.
Speaker 5:Yeah something like that. We got an island freaking guru sitting over here.
Speaker 4:Yeah, there's actually a lady that I don't follow her on Facebook but she pops up on my For you page all the time that lives up there, so I watch all her videos and she was just talking about because she does them all the time. The Shepler ferry service is shut down. Now it's just down to Arnold, yeah.
Speaker 5:Didn't Arnold buy Sheplers? I think they bought them out didn't they?
Speaker 4:I don't know, but they have the ferries that are more or less like an icebreaker type ferry. So, yeah, all the other ones are done for the year, so it must be cold and they're starting to build ice, so I think it would be pretty cool to have that. That would be awesome Be able to do that. Just to say that I did it. It's kind of one of those things that's like trust that right, harley's, you go down and ride the Tail of the Dragon and Chair Low Skyway and stuff like that.
Speaker 5:Oh, tail of the Dragon, that's awesome Just to say that you got the.
Speaker 4:you know, I did it, Yep.
Speaker 5:Bucket list thing, yep.
Speaker 1:For sure. Alright, here it is.
Speaker 2:Even riding, riding your bike over the Mighty Mac. I mean, that's a lot of people. Put that on their list to do. Mackinac Island covers 4.35 square miles.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but he's talking about the perimeter, yeah, like if you went around whatever it's called. I think you're right.
Speaker 5:It's around the whole island.
Speaker 4:It's like 9 miles or 11 miles.
Speaker 5:All I know is.
Speaker 4:We did this one.
Speaker 5:Oh, dang it. The Viking just went up 7-3 Vikings Terrible.
Speaker 2:Eight miles in circumference. Eight miles, yeah, so we went over there.
Speaker 4:Our daughter, madison, is 25. Just got back out of the Marines. My wife's mom and dad camp all the time, camp, camp, camp. Jen's mom and dad. We went up there and stayed in St Ignace camping. We were tent camping, took the bikes across with a little trailer for the kid. We put all of our lunches and stuff in that thing. We're going to go halfway around and it's like british landing or something on the north end of the island. Yeah, stop and have lunch. We stop. No food, oh it was her mom, and dad, jen and I and madison.
Speaker 4:She sat back in the back of the trailer, ate like five sandwiches, all the grapes, all the oranges drank, had like one bottle of water left Right when we stopped. She's like oh, you gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 2:You gotta be kidding me.
Speaker 4:She drank and ate everything.
Speaker 4:So we had to go all the way back around the island to get back to where all the ferries come in to eat lunch, and then she grew an inch that day and then we're sitting there at the restaurant eating and she wanted like mac and cheese. And Jen goes no, you ate all of our lunch. And she starts crying and people are looking at us like you're not going to get your kid something to eat. And nope, Not knowing that she just ate five sandwiches and four big things of grapes and bananas and oil.
Speaker 3:I was like you've got to be kidding me, carrots string cheese Jen's like carrots and string cheese.
Speaker 4:Yeah, she ate everything.
Speaker 2:Speaking of trips we are Natalie sorry to interrupt real quick. Natalie said Ray just called bummed. He's feeling under the weather. Would love to come on sometime. Well, he has an open invitation, natalie.
Speaker 4:And I will let him know with plenty of notice, because we typically book these out about a week or so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a week or two in advance, depending on what's going on.
Speaker 5:So we just talked about speaking of trips. We're talking about for in July, or no, June, excuse me, In June, In June.
Speaker 2:In.
Speaker 5:Jaloon.
Speaker 4:That's the new July. That's the end of July. End, of June, beginning of July.
Speaker 5:Shelby, which is Liz's daughter, wants to go to Salem, and so she's been talking about this for 10 years probably, right, yeah? And she has been wanting to go out there to do this, and we were supposed to do it last year on her 18th birthday. Well, everything got in the way. Too many other things got, you know, conflicts. Well, this year for her 19th birthday, which is on Friday the 13th we're going to go to Salem there. You go On her birthday on Friday the 13th and go check out.
Speaker 4:You're talking about Massachusetts, right?
Speaker 5:Yeah, salem, because there's also one in North Carolina. Yeah all the witches and Salem witches and all this stuff. She's into this stuff. So we're going to take the fifth wheel out there and make a family trip out of it, taking some family trips and no, shelby, you're not going to eat all the damn sandwiches either, but yeah, so that's going to be fun. That's something we're looking forward to. We just kind of made up these plans at Christmas.
Speaker 4:Good, we'll make sure that you block it on your calendar. Oh yeah, that way you can't let something else get in the way.
Speaker 5:Oh no, Because that's what always happens to us.
Speaker 4:It's like, well, let's do this. And you never put it in the calendar.
Speaker 5:Yeah, this is a birthday trip. Oh, no, I've got this. No, I've got that. No, something else pops up. This one's a done deal.
Speaker 4:That's what I say, like midwinter, as soon as I find out what weekend midwinter is, it's in the calendar. I don't care if it's a 105th birthday party. I'm missing it Sorry. This made the calendar suit first. Sorry, it is what it is.
Speaker 5:It's going to be a fun time. We're just going to boogie out there and stay in the fifth wheel and go check out the sites I've I've never really been. I mean, I've been to massachusetts but I've never really been to salem, I never really yeah, we went to.
Speaker 4:We went to boston once I think I spoke about it on this uh, met with some of my marine corps buddies, but we went out, took the girls out there for four or five days in december. Yeah and uh, it was awesome. Man, yeah, that's the history and the old school stuff. We didn't do any witchcraft stuff, you know.
Speaker 6:Besides, Went toward the Boston history. Yeah, yeah, that's what I want to do. We went to.
Speaker 4:Sam Adams and toured the brewery and stuff. That was cool, Yep.
Speaker 5:I think it's going to be a blast, so we're going to go spend three, four days out there.
Speaker 2:Boy, oh, boy, oh. Years haven't really done much. We went to Disney a couple of years ago. Definitely want to go back, just because young kids and Disney.
Speaker 5:We did that? How many years ago? Disney Five, six.
Speaker 6:More than that, has it been more than?
Speaker 5:that. Yeah, it's a blast, it's a blast Good time.
Speaker 2:So Tiffany and I, shortly about a year after we went to Disney so this was last year she had to go to a work trip for a conference that they were having down in Orlando Nine years ago.
Speaker 6:It'll be nine years from now, so nine years Wow.
Speaker 2:Damn, nine years ago. Nine years Time flies. Huh, yeah, it does. But so Tiffany had to go down to she's in medical billing and coding. So she had to go to a conference that her work wanted her to go to and they basically extended it out to the spouses. They were like, hey, you guys want to go, you have to pay your airfare and whatnot, but we're already buying a hotel room for you, so you might as well. Just, you know Right. And Tiffany asked me and I was like you don't have to ask me twice, that's right. So we went down there and they put us up in this freaking huge, like it was the hotel that the conference was at, and I can't remember what it was called, but it was one of those huge like five-star, freaking ridiculous places.
Speaker 2:Yeah nice, but it was nice, it's all right off. Oh yeah, it's all right off. But the conference was for one of their medical. I think it was an electronic health record system company. Well, the company, one of the nights of the conference, rented out the entire park of Hollywood Studios. Oh wow, and so it was. They had a 50% off coupon.
Speaker 5:Yeah right, Maybe Buy one, get one free. Yeah.
Speaker 2:That entire park was empty, except for like 2,000 people. Wow, and if you can think about it, those parks are huge. So 2,000 people ain't nothing, right, you know. Empty, except for like 2 000 people. Wow, and if you can think about it, those parks are huge. So 2 000 people ain't nothing, right, you know? So it's, it was just insane to go there.
Speaker 5:Did you do the harry potter thing?
Speaker 2:oh absolutely. Oh man, was that not cool that dragon that kept blowing the oh that was the bus, so okay, so that's a huge ass, dragon head right.
Speaker 5:But we didn't go there, we didn't go there.
Speaker 2:so we went to to. I don't know if Tiffany's watching, maybe she could post a comment, let me know and remind me. But the one that we went to was Hogwarts. But you hop on the train and the train takes you to another park and that other park is like the alley. What's the alley called? I forget, not sure I can't remember, but anyway.
Speaker 4:I know what you're talking about. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that's where the dragon is, because the dragon's on top of the Gringotts Bank.
Speaker 5:Oh, it was cool and every so often you would hear it, it would start wheezing. Diagon Alley, that's what it is. Diagon Alley, that's what it is, and then all of a sudden rawr and you would feel the heat from the damn flame. Oh yeah, it was like damn near touchable.
Speaker 4:It was cool. Yeah, jed just texted me and said Diagon.
Speaker 2:Cool, yeah, really awesome. Yeah, man, I'm excited for the new Epic Universe park to open, because now, so they got the two parks so far. One of them has, uh, diagon Alley, the other one has Hogwarts, and then this third park is going to open and it's going to have Harry Potter as well, but the new one is going to have the Ministry of Magic. When do you want to go down there? You're going to go down there this year? I would love to, but we don't really have the money for that, so I gotta, we gotta.
Speaker 4:it's one of those things you gotta got to save up for If you decide to go down next year let me know Like 2025, next year, no 2026, even Okay. So we have a condo down there in Orange Lake, which is just outside Animal Kingdom.
Speaker 4:So it's a two-bedroom, two-bathroom big condo. It's beautiful. That's awesome. If you just want to pay my maintenance fees for that year, which is like $1,200 or something like that, you can take it for the week. Beautiful. It's on the second floor. It's only a two-story building. You can literally sit on the back balcony and watch the fireworks from Animal Kingdom. It's that close. That's awesome. It's right on the golf course.
Speaker 4:A lot of you go stay in Disney. It's like $800 a night For a view of the parking lot. Yeah, easy when. This is a resort that's got pools. It actually has a train system in it That'll take you to different sections of the resort that have all these different pools. They have wave pools. They got water park it's all free. They got mini park it's all free. You're in the resort. They got mini golf that's free. They got all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 4:It's awesome. We went down to it probably three or four years ago for the week right when we got it. We rent it out every year after that because there's always people that want to help them.
Speaker 2:Is it a timeshare? Do you actually own it?
Speaker 4:No, we own that week. It's a timeshare. Okay yeah, but we got it. A lot of our friends have kids that want to go to Disney, so they're like you know hell. It costs us six grand just to stay at Disney. If I can get yours for two the bedrooms. They got all the other stuff at the resort so they don't have to be in the park all the time. You cook your own meals and you do all your stuff.
Speaker 4:They're not in a hotel room for 800 bucks a night yeah you know what I mean, so it's and it's like costing 300 bucks to rent a car. Okay, so they're 2,800. 2,500, all in right, and if you go, stay at disney, hell, you're not staying there for a week, for no, you're not even close no.
Speaker 2:So we'd have to, we'd have to look it up and take a look. I mean, I don't know, man, like since covet happened and everything, disney's kind of on a downturn and then not to get political or anything, but they've been doing some political gaming and stuff in the uh, in the movie sphere and like putting elements in movies that a lot of people don't like, and it's been. You look at their stocks and they're down. So I think they're trying to get it back on the up and up. Don't get me wrong, they're on the downturn but they're still top dog Because they own Fox and they own all these other things and it's crazy.
Speaker 2:But yeah, so they're offering a whole bunch of crazy stuff to travel agents and whatnot, and I don't care what anybody says. You, you know you go through a travel agent, you're going to get the best deal because they offer them all kinds of stuff, especially if you get a travel agent that is registered with Disney, like if they are one of their Disney-registered people. You don't pay the travel agent anything, it's all Disney pays them. They pay them a commission of the trip that they book you. So something to think about there, but anyway, something to think about. I don't know, I had never been to Hollywood Studios before Universal Hollywood Studios, I don't know, I've never been. There's another one in California, I think that's Universal, anyway. So, talking about trips and stuff, that was the one that we most recently did. Some other ideas Hershey, pennsylvania, man, that's a great place to go.
Speaker 5:Been through there. I haven't been to it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so almost the whole city smells like chocolate. It's crazy, it's insane.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I've been through the town, but I never stopped, okay.
Speaker 2:Yep, so that's a cool place to go. I've never been to Branson, missouri, but apparently that's a good place to go. Tiffany went on another work conference that I mean it could have gone on, but we didn't get anybody to watch the kids, so I didn't go. But uh, um, she went down and they put uh, that time it was in nashville and they put her up at dollywood. Yeah, that's fun yeah, that was a huge like indoor atrium and like all kinds of and she.
Speaker 2:She said to me it's only like an eight hour drive from here and she's like that it'd be a good place for the kids to go. So I don't know, we're having some of these ideas because we don't want to be stuck at home all the time, right? Well, it's all about affordability.
Speaker 5:That too we went. One time we went out to the Arch, st Louis, so we seen the Arch and we're like all right now what you know, it was cool. We went up and, you know, did the thing. She didn't want to do any of the brewery tours, so I was like all right, what are we going to do now? She goes, let's go see Elvis. I'm like Elvis In like Memphis, she's like yeah, so guess where we went?
Speaker 4:Fucking St Louis, Missouri to Memphis, Tennessee. You've got to get them to take you to the Cayman Islands.
Speaker 5:That was a long trip.
Speaker 4:Isn't that where they brew your Cayman Jacks at?
Speaker 6:Hell yeah, let's go.
Speaker 4:You're going to do a brewery tour. That works.
Speaker 5:Book it, dano, we're going to Salem this year.
Speaker 6:We can go to Cayman.
Speaker 4:I actually got lucky because, jen, when she was in law state law she had a conference in Orlando. So, yeah, same principle as you did, right, everything for her was paid for. I just got to tag along, so I had to book my own flight, pay for that, pay for my own food and stuff, you know. But we actually left a day early, came back a day late and, yeah, paid for everything.
Speaker 5:So it was a good time.
Speaker 4:We had a lot of fun.
Speaker 5:So when's your boss having a trip?
Speaker 4:Employees only.
Speaker 5:Employees only right exactly.
Speaker 4:Conference in Las Vegas? That would suck. Oh, it's just so dang expensive in vegas, man, when I was out there for darts last year, two years ago nine dollars for a mcultra bottle damn.
Speaker 5:So we went out and seen my niece in uh, arizona, and uh we, we left out of there and went to to vegas. And we were in ve Vegas the day before they opened up from COVID. We went there. There was nobody, it was like a ghost town. We left. The very next day they opened up I'm like whatever. And then we went to LA that same trip.
Speaker 5:We were out in LA, went to go check out the Hollywood sign and they closed it just as we were getting ready to go watch, you know, go up the thing. Well, that was the whole George Floyd deal, right. And we were on the stars, you know, doing the strip, and everybody was like, hey, you guys need to get out of here. They're going to be rioting here in another hour or two. It's like, wow, really.
Speaker 5:So we left out of there, went to pull into a gas station and the lights went off. It's like, hey, we need to get gas. Sorry, pumps are shut. We got a rat coming. We had about a quarter tank, so we took off, left out of there and and we all these people were walking past us on the road and there was people with backpacks on and I made a comment. One guy had a like a trigger sprayer bottle on his backpack and I'm like what the hell is he gonna do? Clean the graffiti up or something you know? And I made a joke about it when we got out of there and we got a hotel uh alarms going off on our phones, you know curfews, get out, you know riots and all this crap. And so I made that joke. And we get to the hotel an hour or so away and what they were doing was they were peeing in the damn trigger sprayer to spray cops with that's nasty.
Speaker 5:And I wonder why they get shot right. I mean, how stupid right You're going to do this crap, yep. But yeah, we were literally in LA the day of the riots when that George Floyd whole situation was going on and I was like crazy. Yeah, that was a wild couple weeks. We spent a couple weeks out.
Speaker 4:So when I was out in Twina and Palms, one of Jen's favorite things to do was watch KTLA or KTLV or whatever it was. Local crime shows no, just a local news channel Every day. There's a police chase Every day and they're like hours long Really. They cut whatever regular programming and go to that. So she'd sit there and I think it's KTLA.
Speaker 2:Now, that's reality television.
Speaker 4:She loved that shit.
Speaker 5:That was a wild trip, but you know that picture. We could see the Hollywood sign from the highway and we went to a beach there. I don't even know what beach it was Ocean sign, you remember I was in Santa Monica. We drove through Malibu, but it was dark so I didn't get to see Charlie's house there on Malibu Right yeah, what was that? Two and a half men yeah, we didn't get to see Charlie's men, men, men men, men men In Malibu.
Speaker 2:Well, we drove through Malibu because she said it was better Do you have any non-alcoholic beverages.
Speaker 4:There's a 9-8 beer in there.
Speaker 5:There's MountainA beer in there. If you want a 9A beer, I don't like beer.
Speaker 2:Something to think about. I think it's funny. I was just going to call it out real quick. You know, california has gone the way it's gone for years. You know, and never, never Are there things that are absolutely beautiful there, absolutely, absolutely gorgeous. But does it make me want to visit your state. Hell, no, oh I would. I'd go back in a heartbeat. I mean, I don't know, it's beautiful out there. I don't know.
Speaker 5:Politics aside there's a reason why that is the number one state in the United States. Put politics aside, and it is absolutely gorgeous out there.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, it is gorgeous, you get into.
Speaker 5:LA and you get on the coast side of LA. Just unbelievable, just absolutely gorgeous.
Speaker 2:I have to think about it.
Speaker 5:I would love to go back again.
Speaker 2:I mean because I'd like to go see Alcatraz and I'd like to go see some of that stuff.
Speaker 5:Have you seen the movie Speaking of Alcatraz? Did you see the movie yeah movie speaking of Alcatraz. Did you see?
Speaker 3:the movie yeah, rock, no before the rock the escape original one yeah, it's clean Eastwood.
Speaker 5:Yeah, look at this. Look at the clothes they're wearing. What do you tell us? It's just like the dungarees in the Navy exactly blue, with the pockets in the front and no, they can say that, I remember that exactly, yeah, exact peacoat everything. So you guys wore prison uniforms, that's exactly right. Basically, we wore Alcatraz prison uniforms.
Speaker 2:No, I didn't, but you did.
Speaker 5:No, I mostly wore coveralls I didn't wear coveralls either. I hated dungarees.
Speaker 2:Absolutely hated them. You know we're talking about you, about on the federal level, saving money and everything. How about you only issue people uniforms that they actually need? I was issued like four pairs of coveralls I was issued. What else was I issued? Hell, I can't remember what it is now, but yeah, never wore them.
Speaker 5:Two sets of whites, two sets of Johnny Cash. I never wore them either. Like you know, Working whites, working blues.
Speaker 2:We didn't have those either, but they got rid of all those.
Speaker 5:I'm just thinking to myself, like the jumpsuits, the black and white jumpsuits.
Speaker 2:I was issued coveralls and I think I wore them once the entire six years I was in, and it was because I wasn't on ship. So it was like what did you wear?
Speaker 4:But if you got reassigned, are they going to be able to get you into somewhere to issue you what you need?
Speaker 2:I mean in the grand scheme of things. Yeah, that's why they don't have it I you what you need. I mean in the grand scheme of things, yeah, I think they would you know on last minute basis, like emergency basis think about it though your, your, your government issue.
Speaker 5:How many clothes that they give you really isn't shit.
Speaker 4:They don't you pay for yeah, but you yeah you pay for it but pay for it.
Speaker 2:But the thing is is. But the thing is me times, however, other many people, because you don't get your first duty station until after your training command. So then you will find out on your detailing week when you're going to go Just easier to issue them all, right, I guess that does make sense logistically, but whatever.
Speaker 5:Get it all done and over with, and there you have it, and then you have it whatever we don't, we don't care about common sense around here. Yeah you know you got your c bag and go with it. See you, nope, good luck to you.
Speaker 4:Essentially, yeah, so don't drown yeah, no, and I, I, I. When I was out in California I didn't get to do a whole lot.
Speaker 3:When I was in the 20 of Palms. I was up in the high desert.
Speaker 4:Palm Springs area but up in the mountain area. We had Joshua Tree National Forest right there. Oh yeah, we'd go down to Palm Springs or Yucca Valley. We actually went to Big Bear one time, went up in the mountains and the lake and stayed with some friends for a weekend and had a great time. And we'd fly in and out of LA a lot, so a couple hour drive. Well, you say, politics aside, wouldn't you say?
Speaker 5:it was absolutely gorgeous out in California.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I mean.
Speaker 5:I'd go back in a heartbeat.
Speaker 6:I wouldn't, want to live there.
Speaker 4:I would probably go back out to visit.
Speaker 5:We didn't go see the Redwood Forest. There was so much more.
Speaker 6:We went up to San Monica and drove up. It was gorgeous, but we didn't see. So much.
Speaker 5:Even all of that, that whole trip driving. I mean, we I don't even know how many miles we put on in a couple weeks. A couple thousand, easy, I was just going to, but some of the driving through just getting to California, there was boulders the size of this whole room, I mean, and just stacks of them everywhere. It was just really cool. I'm not even sure where that was even at.
Speaker 2:I was just going to throw out there talk a little bit of politics because I think it's hilarious.
Speaker 2:Well, Trey's throw out there um talk a little bit of politics, because I think it's hilarious, because trey's not here so we're free. Yeah, yeah, right, you know camifornia kind of shot themselves in the foot, you know doing what they've been doing over the last few years and then they just changed the law now so they're trying to curb, uh, shoplifting and everything. Oh. So now it it accrues, so you get picked up for shoplifting. They take note of how much you stole the dollar amount and then once it accrues over the felony level, then you start getting felony charges and it's retroactive apparently.
Speaker 4:So it's crazy because they upped it to like $800. And it's only a misdemeanor. So people running into Walgreens and everywhere else right, they take $600 worth of stuff and take off If they get caught. It's just a misdemeanor, not a big deal, so that was that prop?
Speaker 5:Was it Prop 66? Something like that? So now they're not looking at it per incident, but it's additional, it's cumulative, cumulative.
Speaker 4:So if you get picked, up with $200, but the next time you get picked up a $600, you hit the $800 threshold.
Speaker 5:No, it's a felony.
Speaker 4:Now you're going to serve some time.
Speaker 2:Good, so it is absolutely good, prop 36. The hilarious thing and I'm surprised you might not have seen it yet, but there's a cop cam going around where they arrested these girls and then on the inside of the cop car there was a camera watching the back seat and she's sitting there talking to her friend. She goes, she bumps her friend like they're handcuffed, you know, bumps her friend like this. She goes that new law we're going to jail like blah blah, blah blah. Like they knew exactly.
Speaker 5:They knew exactly what they were talking about and because one of the cops said you're uh three to ten now Vikings. They just went up by three.
Speaker 2:Come on, Packers Can't believe I'm rooting for the Packers.
Speaker 5:Come on, packers. I know it's ridiculous.
Speaker 4:Friggin' cheeseheads. Well, they got a two-minute drill right here before the halftime. Well, Well, so quick. Anybody been watching what's going on in Canada?
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, they're having their Trump revolution, they're really shitting on their governor or their president, whatever he called him.
Speaker 4:So Trudeau's dad apparently was prime minister back in the 70s 60s and did the same thing. He run Canada into the ground. So they're the conservative party that's up there now. Trump, I don't think, think, was probably lying when he said we can make canada you know the 53rd state or 52nd state, and we'll make whoever the governor right like you would have stayed here of canada right, and they can join the united states. When you start talking about tariffs Now, the conservative party is going to fight back on the tariff thing because we buy a lot from them. They buy a lot from us Energy, auto stuff. It's going to be a nightmare, but I've been reading a lot of actual citizens, just like here in the United States, that are like we'd love to be a part of the United States. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4:Really Straight up. Wow.
Speaker 4:Straight up. They said I'd vote for it. If they said you're going to be the 52nd state, perfect, no problem. Now our money is the same because right now their loonie is down so much like it's like 60 cents to what an american dollar is. So now their dollar is going to be dollar for dollar, right, and their economy will be so much better. There's not going to be any tariffs. They'll get different health care. They'll get different. I mean they're I think, they're pretty. It's probably never, ever going to happen I know but they're getting the conversation started.
Speaker 4:So it's like the brexit thing, right. Yeah, when they left the EU, you know it was like, oh, it's going to kill. You know the United Kingdom's going to go on and it's not going to, but a partnership's got to be a partnership, and I think Canadians are left on an island, unfortunately, and I think it's waking a lot of people up especially up there to say look, you know why are we doing things the way we've been doing them. We need to do something different.
Speaker 4:You know and if that's what it's going to take, I wouldn't be surprised.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I would like to see what happens because, yeah, canada's got some weird shit going on up there. I watch Linus Tech Tips, linus Sebastian. He's a tech guru from Canada, from.
Speaker 4:Vancouver. Do you not learn anything Because you have a hard time setting this thing up?
Speaker 5:He does. It must be different.
Speaker 4:He's not an AV guy, no, no.
Speaker 2:He can probably figure it out, but I don't know. But anyway, yeah so I watch him and he did a whole episode on one of their new propositions, or whatever they were going to do, and it was basically like they could tell YouTubers and whatnot what they could post and what they couldn't post. Oh for sure, oh he got it and all this other stuff.
Speaker 5:He just got it first down.
Speaker 4:There we go. For sure, that doesn't surprise me, and this is where we're lucky to be Americans, because we have some protections and fortunately, I think these people that get elected doesn't matter if they're congressmen, senators, whatever they're scared of that, because information that they're going to say is disinformation or fake news or something else that's out there, or fake news, or something else that's out there. People that are my generation and even Bill's generation you're 10 years older than me, right? How old are you? 55? 52. 52, okay, so he's eight years older than me, but we're different generations.
Speaker 4:I mean, I'm like the cutoff of the Gen Z or whatever it is.
Speaker 5:I'm 78.
Speaker 4:I think 80 was the cutoff. What is it? What's the cutoff? It's 80, 1980. Of my generation. Then it goes millennials. Then it goes millennials. I'm the same generation as Charlie.
Speaker 6:You're a Z, then it goes millennials. I'm the same generation as Charlie.
Speaker 5:Holy shit, that's what's wrong with you, which is Gen X right.
Speaker 2:Up until 1980.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so Gen X is 1980. Then it goes millennial after that, right? I hate that though.
Speaker 2:Because I'm not a fucking millennial 78.
Speaker 4:If it goes to 80, you're a Gen X, so he was born in 70? 72.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so you're Gen X. Okay, sorry, I know I'm Gen X, so what I'm saying?
Speaker 4:is my generation. It goes to 80. My generation and younger. We are peer-to-peer news, typically right. We're going to listen to a podcast like this, a shit show that we have going on, we're going to listen to. I don't care if listen to TikTok or Facebook or Twitter or whatever. We're going to get peer-to-peer news. We're going to fact check, even if whatever we say tonight, fact check everything we say. That's why we have a guy sitting there with a computer all the time.
Speaker 5:Normally it's tech, but that jackass couldn't make it Normally.
Speaker 4:it's tech that's over there hacking away. You can hear him on the last podcast constantly. That's great because he's good at what he does. That's right. Because we need to be fact-checked, because what we hear might not always be right and could be fake news or disinformation. Sometimes right, we don't turn on mainstream media.
Speaker 2:I guess I am a millennial.
Speaker 4:I go to my dad's this morning for coffee. Oh, it drives you nuts listening to the news. Yeah, he doesn't have the TV on, so we're sitting there talking. You know, last couple days we've been traveling, went over to Holland, which I have to finish my story about that one, went to a different post Talked about it earlier, yeah and yesterday down to Detroit to get that snowmobile and he goes. Because you hate Fox News and I don't hate any news. I hate the repetition. Like if I'm over here having coffee with my dad for an hour, I hear the same story or the same diatribe.
Speaker 4:Yep, everything the same, this the same. That oh, it's like a repeat. I hate the fact that we have 24-hour news. They don't report news. They bring in people that have their own opinions. They should have. It's awesome being an armchair quarterback, but we don't have football games running 24 hours a day. It's the same football game. These guys aren't going to end the Packers game tonight and turn around and play these guys right away again. We're hearing the same garbage repeated and repeated and repeated. We don't watch it.
Speaker 5:We don't listen to it. Yeah, it gets old. Yeah, it's terrible. I had the news on this morning and I think I lasted 10 minutes and I'm like I can't listen to this.
Speaker 1:This is dribbling.
Speaker 5:It's just the same junk over and over and it's all bashing. It's all so slanted in one way, which is fine if that's the. But our mainstream, national, mainstream news shouldn't be one way. It should be news. This is what happened. I don't want your opinion, I don't want your right think, but there are some independent news organizations out there that are that way, but they'll never get traction.
Speaker 4:It's the same reason why we'll never have a third-party candidate really be able to run for president, it's difficult Because if you're not one side or the other side, you're not going to get an independent that's ever going to have a serious chance. Right. So it's the same thing when it comes to news, If you're not going to be right or left. Those independents are what Our generation people listen to.
Speaker 5:Probably the closest thing we ever had to an independent was Ross Perot oh right, you're talking 92? And all he did was split the Republican ticket and secured Clinton Bill Clinton for president.
Speaker 4:So that's why a lot of people think that those people shouldn't have a chance, right, and I think it's wrong. Yep. What did you open up?
Speaker 2:A Mountain Dew Okay.
Speaker 4:Now I know I have to drink the rest of the week. Yep, if you don't finish it, I'm a lightweight. You want to put a little vodka in that? Nah, I'm good.
Speaker 5:I think there's some bourbon.
Speaker 4:That's a good idea.
Speaker 2:It's all a good mix man Well, in all seriousness did you guys know that Mountain. Dew started as a mixer. Before it was a soda Soda pop.
Speaker 4:Started as a mixer. Only an alcoholic would know that that's why you know it.
Speaker 5:I don't drink Mountain Dew, so I wouldn't have known A doaholic he's a closet drinker.
Speaker 4:Yeah, whatever. What now? My ass is starting to hurt Switch chairs. There's a white one over there or stand for a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm going to stand for a while here?
Speaker 4:Well, so in Canada they don't have the protections that we do, as Americans, right Freedom of speech and freedom of the press and all these different things. In practice they do, but it's not enshrined in the Constitution, Right? So it's no different than our Second Amendment. When it comes to weapons, Now, I agree everybody shouldn't own a tank and everybody shouldn't own a missile launcher and everybody shouldn't own a 50-caliber machine gun, but you can't own a cannon.
Speaker 5:Unbeknownst to what Biden said, that you can't own a cannon, but yeah, you can, you can't own a cannon. So when I was delivering, I was hauling a lot of limestone out of Canada. Delivering what Limestone? Oh, okay, there was a lot of. He's a mule, I guarantee it. So I was going over there two trips a week-ish easily, and the guys.
Speaker 4:Truck driving.
Speaker 5:Yeah, hauling big slabs of limestone, patio blocks, stuff. You know they were using them for landscaping materials and stuff like that. But the guys in the quarry it was one of the guys you know, I'd shoot shit with them while they were loading the truck. And one of the guys he's like I said so do you guys hunt? I said there's lots of deer, you know deer and elk and stuff around here. Do you guys hunt? It's like oh yeah, but it's really really difficult. I was like why they don't let you hunt very often or what he goes. Now, it's it's really hard to get a permit. And you know, once you get a permit and then you got to get a permit for the gun and then you can only have so many this and so many that and oh it's, you can't. He says, nah, it's not like you guys in america where you can just walk into the gas station, buy a damn rifle and bullets and go shoot something, right? I said, well, we don't have guns in the gas station.
Speaker 4:But I don't know, have you ever been up north?
Speaker 5:The grocery stores. Yeah, I mean, yeah, some of them, right, exactly. But uh, so the one, the one fella, was gonna. He was gonna ride back with me and and hang out, but I couldn't get it scheduled that I was gonna go be going back the next week, right. So he was gonna come back and we were just gonna go shoot and, you know, hang out, and he's like, yeah, you guys got it made. He says it's we, we, we just don't have that what you're saying. You know they don't have the gun rights that we have. You can just go buy a gun and have it.
Speaker 2:And they're taxed out the ass Like. My brother lives in Fargo, north Dakota, and he was telling me stories about how he'll go to Walmart. He'll go to Target, he'll go wherever He'll see a truck with canadian license plate on it, with a huge ass trailer and it's full of brand new shit. He's like I've. He's like I've seen people with brand new refrigerators. I've seen people with all kinds of stuff and he's like they'll come here, they will load up a trailer, they will pay our sales tax and then to cross the border for custom canadian customs, they have to pay another tax. But he's like both of those taxes together don't equate to the tax that they pay. If they bought all that shit up there. Wow, he's like. So they'll come down here. That's how they get around all their taxes. And he's like whatever you know.
Speaker 5:So well 50 yard attempt?
Speaker 4:I don't know it was great when we had Trey's wife Eva come here and talk about healthcare because she's from Poland, and universal healthcare and what they pay. You know she's like we don't have gun crime. You know, if you go to the doctor there's no bill. You know, and I don't know. Once again, though you're talking, the population of poland is population 25 million, 30 million, 50 million, whatever it is, but that's like the size of michigan and we have 385 million right.
Speaker 4:So so I mean, it's so drastically different. There was actually a guy that I saw on TikTok. He goes. I actually had to defend he's British living here and he goes. I had to defend Americans to British people because this girl was like. I had a friend that asked me you know, I live in Gloucester, oh, is that close to London? She's like no, it's an hour and a half away. Well, here in America, right.
Speaker 1:An hour and a half is like absolutely nothing.
Speaker 4:Well to them it's like a whole other world, you know what. I mean, they're not used to. You know, I drove five hours yesterday.
Speaker 5:They let them have another chance. That's the third one I've had 13, 13, three Vikings going in a half.
Speaker 4:I literally drove five hours yesterday. Did he try and back for a snowmobile? A little thing.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and didn't even go through a quarter of the state.
Speaker 4:Right, and this guy even said that. This guy even said in his TikTok he goes you can be in Michigan or Texas and drive for 13 hours and still be in the same state. And sometimes change a time zone In Texas you can yeah, Texas, not Michigan. Right In Michigan, you can.
Speaker 5:Well, I had to think about it. You might have to go all the way to Ironwood, or whatever it is, or Iron River, whatever it is, all the way to the west side of the UP possibly you can.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but he was like, so they don't understand, you could drive 14 hours and still be in the same state.
Speaker 2:Well, there's a guy on TikTok, is it Josh from England by chance.
Speaker 4:He's a younger guy, early 30s probably.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's the same guy. It might be, so he did a. He did a thing where he had said, you know, yeah, when he came over to visit he couldn't understand how long it took to do something so yeah, to put it in perspective, our country is freaking huge. And I'll give you two examples, because I responded I, I duetted, quote, unquote, duetted his tiktok and I responded to it and I said you duetted. What does that mean? It's called a duet.
Speaker 4:You can repost and you have yourself up the original video playing.
Speaker 2:And add commentary and stuff.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's cool. It's like people comment on this thing, gotcha.
Speaker 2:So he posted a thing about distance and everything. So what I did is I pulled up a quick little Google map search. He posted a thing about distance and everything. So what I did is I pulled up a quick little Google map search, Went from London all the way up to the top tip of Scotland and it was only like a 12-hour drive.
Speaker 5:Wow, okay, so then From here to Nashville, you went to Dundee to Ironwood.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Well, what I did is I did New York to Miami, or yeah, new York to Miami drive, and it was 18 hours and I said or no, 24 hours, excuse me. And I said in the amount of time. That's probably I don't know, it's not 24. In the amount of time, Where'd you go? From New York to Miami? Hold on, I'll do it no way that was 24 hours, no way.
Speaker 5:It's probably 16.
Speaker 2:No it's New York to Miami. I know 24 hours from Michigan to Florida.
Speaker 5:so no, it's not. Yeah, it is no, it is not New York, New York.
Speaker 2:I've done it. If you stop for breaks and stuff, it'll take Loading 19 hours, 19 hours 7 minutes.
Speaker 4:New York, new York, it's all is close To Miami.
Speaker 2:So it was only.
Speaker 4:And that's not even the top of America, right, yeah, so and here we went from.
Speaker 5:we went from shit where did we go? Ocala, we went to Ocala Go go go Key West Rosewood to Ocala.
Speaker 4:Go Key West Rosebud to Ocala in 16 hours and dabbed diesel, go to Key West, to Seattle, washington. That's like three fucking days of driving Seriously.
Speaker 5:Well, we did two days from LA to Kansas, back to Michigan.
Speaker 6:I've done from Malpul to Nebraska to Wyoming.
Speaker 4:My son-in-law, ben just went from Glenny.
Speaker 4:He has a buddy that's in the Air Force. He had a truck here, a Jeep. They drove it from and I'm just going to use Seattle as an example, I don't know. He's in some Air Force base in Washington State. They loaded that up, they drove it all the way out there. It took them two days to get out there and two days to get back. They were picking up stuff along the way back, but that's. He took a week of vacation. Well, just you know. Take, take his buddy out Washington State is to get the Sturgis crazy here.
Speaker 5:Just a Sturgis which is not even halfway across the damn United States is like 16 hours all right so here we go, so it it's called the lowest city is called St Just.
Speaker 4:This is in the.
Speaker 2:UK Southern most part of the UK, southern, western most part of the UK, all the way up to John O'Groats. United Kingdom, which is Scotland, is only 15 hours Jeez. A day trip, a day trip.
Speaker 5:So go from Detroit to let's say what's west.
Speaker 4:No, we need to go from the most northern to the most southern.
Speaker 5:I'm just saying Detroit's pretty Okay go to Flat. Rock.
Speaker 2:How about Coldwater to Iron Mountain?
Speaker 5:No, where's Iron Mountain? Upper Peninsula western.
Speaker 4:Dundee. Dundee is about the most southern city.
Speaker 5:No, Flat Rock is farther, oh Flat.
Speaker 4:Rock is farther. Yeah, Flat Rock.
Speaker 5:Go Flat Rock, michigan, to.
Speaker 4:Whatever the most, what's west Copper Harbor, the one way up to the tip Copper Harbor.
Speaker 5:Go to Flat Rock, to Copper Harbor.
Speaker 4:I bet you that's 16 hours all day.
Speaker 5:Flat Rock. Is that Detroit? You put Detroit. No, I did Flat.
Speaker 2:Rock Flat Rock. It was only nine and a half hours. Oh, Flat Rock.
Speaker 5:Yeah, flat Rock's right on the border. Flat Rock no it's not. It's not even close Go to Toledo, then Toledo's pretty damn close to the border.
Speaker 2:I no, it's not. It's not even close. Go to Toledo, then Toledo's pretty damn close to the border. I'm going to do.
Speaker 5:What's over here? How about Morency? What's over here?
Speaker 2:Morency.
Speaker 5:Morency, it's Morrissey isn't it, morrissey, I don't know what the hell it is, but Toledo's pretty damn close to the border. I mean the farthest I can get from southern but, that lower peninsula to top tip, but go over here to the west. Where's the West Point?
Speaker 2:mm-hmm, yeah that's ten hours, is the Morrency to the closest? Yeah, so let's do Morrency to Ironwood Michigan.
Speaker 5:And that might take you through. Oh no, what do you got no. Yeah, see that's wanting to take you through. What do you call it Chicago?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because it's shorter that way.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it's shorter to go out of speed. But we want to show how long it is, so like Go farther east on your bottom one, farther east on your bottom one.
Speaker 2:Let's see.
Speaker 5:What's that right there? What's that city down a little bit Right on the bottom of your screen?
Speaker 2:It's in Ohio.
Speaker 5:Oh, I can't see where the border is. So Lambertville, michigan, oh, lambertville, that's where one of our VFW riders groups are, lambertville.
Speaker 2:Lambertville is one of our VFW, there we go. Okay, yeah, so that was far enough east that it takes us through the whole state. So yeah, and that's only nine and a half hours nine and a half yeah, really yeah, takes where, takes him 75.
Speaker 5:Lambertville to.
Speaker 2:Lambertville, michigan, way the hell down here, all the way to Ironwood. That's when I was singing. I remember is I was thinking Iron River, it's nine and a half hours.
Speaker 5:Wow, that's only nine and a half. God, I would have thought it was longer than that.
Speaker 2:No. But that's nine and a half.
Speaker 4:And never leaving the state and never leaving the state. Jen says Erie, Michigan is the farthest. I don't know it says Erie, Michigan is the farthest. I have no idea.
Speaker 5:Southeast. If you go southeast, I'll bet you're Erie. You were eating out of that, yes.
Speaker 4:I was Damn. Well, the dog would like if you spilled a little bit, probably.
Speaker 5:But anyway, that's nine and a half hours in never leaving the state one direction.
Speaker 2:So what I did was the.
Speaker 5:That's not doing a U. That's all One Direction.
Speaker 2:But anyway to continue on the story. So the TikTok I did, it was pretty sure it was London to the top. So I didn't do the other one that I just did. But I was like because I think he's from just outside of London somewhere. So I was like London to the top of Scotland, you know as far as you can go. And I was like it's not even half the time that it would take. You know we could drive to Miami and, you know, go to the top of Scotland back in the same amount of time.
Speaker 4:We go from Mount Pleasant here to our place down in Hilton Head Island. It's like 14 and a half hours, right. We drive that. We take off at like 3 in the morning, 2 in the morning. We're in by dinner time in Hilton Head Same day, you know, and it's a long drive. Kids suffered a little bit when they were little little. We would break it up and do zoos or whatever right along the way and stay the night's places. But you know it was.
Speaker 2:This is Mount Pleasant to Orlando, and it's 18 hours. So do Mount Pleasant to Naples, naples.
Speaker 4:Yep, so my business partner here. My brother-in-law mom and dad have a place in Naples. Partner here. My brother-in-law mom and dad have a place in Naples and dad wanted the truck down there for the winter. He got hit by a hurricane and they're on a canal, so they had some redo to do.
Speaker 4:That's 20, almost 21 hours yeah it took them about 24 to get there. They took off on the day, pretty much drove straight. I think they slept a couple hours in a rest stop and then finished the drive up to get his truck down there. But yeah, I mean that was a long haul. They flew back and they'll fly back down to get the truck to bring it back up here. They only have cars in Florida.
Speaker 5:My dad and I went down to Florida. We went down to Ocala, ended up in Tampa, but he had a fuel tank.
Speaker 2:Oh I got one Sorry.
Speaker 5:I haven't had Mountain Dew in a while he had a fuel tank in the bed of his truck and he just flipped the switch. Oh yeah, he could go all the way to Georgia on one tank my 1979.
Speaker 4:F-150, I had dual tanks. No, this was an add-on. No, but I'm saying I had dual tanks. I had two 30-gallon tanks in that fucker Granted it only got about 7 miles a gallon.
Speaker 5:This had like a 30-gallon regular tank and then I think the extra auxiliary tank was like a 45. We could literally go almost all the way to Florida without stopping.
Speaker 4:You have to. You'd have to get an oil change along the way, pretty much five thousand miles on it, for you ever had to get fuel yeah, this one will get everybody, like everybody that's not from here, right, like English people.
Speaker 5:Yeah, this will rattle their cage, route 66. Let's go back to your route, though. How many countries did you go through? How many From Ireland to wherever you were saying it was just the UK and Scotland. It was the UK.
Speaker 4:It was the top of their country and the bottom, the longest points in between Yep, I'm going to take a guess Route 66. This is east to west.
Speaker 1:I'm going to take a guess Route 66.
Speaker 4:This is east to west. I'm not looking. I'm looking at you. 1,600 miles. No, I bet you it's 3,100.
Speaker 2:You ready? 2,448.
Speaker 5:Yeah we're in between us.
Speaker 2:That's crazy, that will blow the minds of most people. Oh yeah, that's starting in Chicago.
Speaker 5:That's not starting in R66. I want to do that trip. That's starting in Chicago. That's not starting in R66. I don't know where it's. Well, I don't think.
Speaker 4:No, this is Route 66. I don't think it's R66, because that runs north and south. Route 66 is east and west it still runs into it, though here's a fun one.
Speaker 2:So um Clear the map.
Speaker 4:Well, while you're looking something up, here's the issue that I've always had, because everybody's like, oh, mass transit, mass transit, mass transit. Well, they use it in Japan. Oh, they use it here. They use it there, yeah, they use it in UK too. But the problem is mass transit. You look at America mass transit. You could do that in Michigan, you could do that in florida. That's the size of your country, is one of our states, the united states.
Speaker 5:That's what that as a whole cannot use mass transit because if you look at europe, if you look at europe, all these countries, that's the size of the united states. Yeah, each country is the size of our state. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, like france, for instance, is the size of michigan right, that's that's.
Speaker 4:What always makes me mad is that people say well, they use it here, they use it there. Well. France has it If you start taking land mass, just like if you take population, okay, we're going to have free health care, Cool, that's awesome. If you have 30, 40 million people, 50 million people, we have 386 or 89 million people. You have to take what you spend a year and multiply that by like 500% to get to what it would cost us.
Speaker 5:What is the size of?
Speaker 4:France, have you guys? Oh yeah, I've seen that before.
Speaker 2:Have you seen this before? Yep.
Speaker 4:I've seen it before.
Speaker 2:Have you seen this?
Speaker 4:For those people watching online.
Speaker 2:Sorry for those of you who can't see. I've got a website up. It's called thetruesizecom and it's basically a map of the United States. You can pull up any country you can think of and you can drag it across the map and it will size it just right. So I have the UK and the UK over the 48 contiguous United States.
Speaker 5:Can you turn your computer? They probably wouldn't be able to see it anyway.
Speaker 2:I can probably try to zoom in somehow. No, he's just saying show it to the camera.
Speaker 5:But I'll bet you if you slid that over Michigan.
Speaker 4:Put it over Texas. Put it over Texas and then show the camera.
Speaker 5:It's kind of hard to see with Texas, though.
Speaker 2:Michigan's easier to see.
Speaker 5:Put it over Michigan, because you can actually see where Michigan is versus yeah, look at that.
Speaker 4:So it stretches a little bit into Canada.
Speaker 5:But if you, turn that to fit the UP. That's both the same size. It's still bigger than.
Speaker 4:Michigan. Not much though.
Speaker 5:Not much.
Speaker 4:So it's like Texas is it's way skinnier than Texas.
Speaker 5:Texas is wider right and so if we put the bottom, put it over California, oh yeah because, California's longer skinny like that right, oh, about the same size as California look at that right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, pretty close but, I, bet California landmass is bigger oh yeah, oh, here's a good one, we'll put it over Alaska yeah well, alaska is just it's own animal anyways you could put three of them in Alaska you could put three in.
Speaker 4:Alaska you could put two vertical and put one horizontal, there we go, maybe even four.
Speaker 5:That's like putting a heli over a flight deck on an aircraft.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know right, but it's insane, just the sheer size of things, and that's something I come to every once in a while.
Speaker 5:So Michigan, Can you grab Michigan? Is that what you can do here? Yeah?
Speaker 2:I can grab Michigan, all of Michigan will can do here. I can grab Michigan, all of Michigan will fit in Texas, that's not.
Speaker 4:Michigan, it is. It's got the whole shape.
Speaker 5:Oh, I got you it's the lakes too.
Speaker 2:Oh, that does a weird. Anyway, something to play with. Well, that's kind of cool.
Speaker 4:All right. So I want to get back to my. We were talking earlier Holland. Oh yeah, talking about going to other posts, yeah, you sure, before I forget about it. So I buy a lot of stuff at auction and I use four or five different websites Amazon returns, whatever, right. So I'm moving stuff around the house, taking the dining room and switching it with the living room and doing some stuff. So I had to get I have my TV for the last 15 years has been mounted on my fireplace. I wanted to move it for a while and decided to pull the trigger. So I had to get a floor mount. Wanted to get some new air rugs and whatever else you know. So I buy stuff for work on there, whatever. So I grab the old man on friday, we take off head down to holland that's where the warehouse is for the auction place. It's like a two-hour drive. So for those of you if you're listening from the uk, that's way beyond your, your distance you could drive one way, much less round trip.
Speaker 4:That that's one way, by the way too. Yeah, anyways. So we go down there. We hit Dad Night, take Dad to lunch. He's retired, all he does is sit on the couch right. So out of the house, we go down there pick up our stuff.
Speaker 4:I hit the Holland VFW post 2144. Great, I was hoping to hook up with the Riders Group president down there, but he was in Iowa with his in-laws, so I told him condolences for having to make that trip and see the in-laws. So, anyways, we stopped at the post. Going there, you know, we get a pitcher of beer. We're chatting up. Lady's name's Maria. She's an auxiliary member, been there for 50 years. Great old lady takes care of you. Come in there. Oh, I haven't seen you forever because I was down there picking up stuff all the time for a couple months. So we're talking and Dad's chatting her up, and here in Michigan we have a game called Pop Cash.
Speaker 4:So for those of you that have Keno in your state or whatever, you pick a bunch of different numbers. This only has 1 through 15. Each number that you pick you can assign a dollar number, like a dollar $2, $5, $10, whatever, right. So I always play the $2 per number. And then how many games in a row with those numbers do you want to play? So I'm like we got a pitcher, a beard, we'll be here for like an hour and we'll take off. So I play four games. They draw every 15 minutes Cost me $40, I think Right, so we play man hit that thing for like $50. Nice, sweet. So we're up, bought our pitcher a beer. Dad's like well, let's get another pitcher then. All right, so we get another pitcher a beer. So I start playing again. And I always played all of our birth months, right? So Jen's, mine, the kids and my son-in-law, so five numbers. Dad's like well, let's play your birthday and month and my birthday and month. Cool, play two games Cost me $16. We hit for $40. Let's do it again.
Speaker 4:We do it again $16. We hit for $50. I was on a heater, dude a heater, and if anybody out there gambles when you're on a heater, what do you not do? Leave, leave, leave. So we stayed there maybe two hours, two hours, 15 minutes, something like that. You know, just kept winning and winning, and winning, and winning Buying rounds, as you always do at any VFW you go to, especially if you're an outsider.
Speaker 5:If you win, you buy a round.
Speaker 4:You sit at the bar right. Yep you can't team, you sit, but you sit up at the. You know you don't sit at a table, sit at the bar and somebody comes in right, hey, I'll buy Jimmy over there a drink or whatever. That's what you do, that's right and that's what's great about the VFW is that you go to someone else's house A lot of times. They'll buy you the beer because, hey, thanks for coming in Right. And it's always great when you get to know people.
Speaker 4:Yeah, sure, Obviously we're both having a great time because we're on a heater. That's awesome. We're winning money, winning money, winning money. So I was able to buy everybody drinks and tip the bartenders, well, and we left and we had a great time, you know, but that's what. I don't care if it's American Legion or AmVets or VFW. Honest to God, you travel to someone else's place. You appreciate their hospitality for you coming in.
Speaker 5:Yeah, even an Eagles is that way, eagles Lounge is that way. Yeah, all those kind of things Moose Lodge, eagles Lodge, all those clubs like that yeah, we had such a great time.
Speaker 4:And then, actually, I went down Bill and I here we went to, which we talked about in previous podcasts. We went down for the Vietnam wall Traveling wall, traveling wall.
Speaker 5:I was going to say movable wall, but it's traveling wall.
Speaker 4:We went down to the Brighton area, picked it up and we took it to Hamburg, michigan. I went down to stay in Detroit at Liz's house one night with Bill because we were meeting up with our District 4, which our District 4 riders are out of Detroit area that's Lambertville, that one you just pulled up on the map.
Speaker 5:No, they're not.
Speaker 4:That's not Lambertville.
Speaker 5:Oh no, that's the other group.
Speaker 4:Yeah, these guys are a combination of the Romanowski Post.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's right, it's a district. Flat Rock it's a district, so they have members from a bunch of different posts that all joined up to make a motorcycle riders group, but anyway. So we went down there and stayed the night and we went to the Bruce Post, which is the St Clair Shores Post. Beautiful, beautiful post, god dang beautiful post. Two-story, it's huge, right on the water. I mean, it's a beautiful post, great people in there. So we went in there for a couple drinks after dinner.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and you ended up winning in there too, and I'm playing Pop Cash, which is just because what I like about the game is I like to gamble, yeah, and I want to do something when I'm sitting at the bar, right, like we have the game on or whatever. But what I like about it is it's every 15 minute draw, you play a keynote. It's like every minute and a half or two minutes. It's like playing, I don't know. We're not going to talk about that they just scored again 20 to three Vikings.
Speaker 4:It's not looking good, but what I like about it is it takes a long time in between. That's why I like roulette. You play blackjack. It's constant, hands, constant. You spend a ton of money. So I can go in there for 20 bucks and I can. It's an hour right, so we're down there. We're drinking beers, chatting up. I don't remember.
Speaker 5:You guys know her name the bartender, the old lady back there, I forget anyways you guys, you guys go, yeah, yeah, really nice gal. She's been there forever too.
Speaker 4:Yeah, a long time. And we're sitting there and I'm playing. I hit that thing for $100 on like a $20 bet $100. I was like, oh, my last game. We hit her, buy everybody a round of drinks and out we went.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean, but it was just it was a lot of fun, but it was just a lot of fun. That's what you do.
Speaker 4:And that's what's great about being a part of an organization like the VFW or American Legions or whatever. When you travel and go to someone else's house, you always want to leave it in better condition than you got there. Are you done with yours? Yeah?
Speaker 2:mine's done, toss that over there, and honestly, that's why I'm hoping that we can save up some money and put Keno in our post, because Claire did it. They swear by it. I mean, and like you said, it's something to do while you're sitting there. I mean, why not entertain your people?
Speaker 4:And it's just like It'll also sometimes keep you there longer, which means oh shit, I got another five draws. I'll take another beer, or I'll play another game of pool, or I'll throw another game of darts or something.
Speaker 2:I think it's totally worth the. I think it's like $750 up front oh yeah, because you it's like the application fee and then the fee for the monitors and everything else and all that. So it's like you know, if we can just get somebody to roger that up and post, will pay you back a little bit later.
Speaker 5:Out of you know, that's the riders group I was just gonna say hit up that riders group. I think they got a little bit of funds uh left in the storage tank sure they do so be a good thing for the writers group to pony up on.
Speaker 2:But yeah, post that up there, because you know I play the Mega Millions and I don't really play Pop Cash or anything like that. Done it twice, lost my ass.
Speaker 4:Got to have the feeling when you go in.
Speaker 2:Exactly, but it's just like. Never been my thing, but it's just like Never been my thing, but it's just like you show up and if I am buying my Mega Millions somewhere, they're getting commissions out of me, and it's always the gas stations. If our post had a freaking machine, I'd be buying every single one of my lottery tickets from that machine.
Speaker 5:I think those are better than those little pull tab things they got.
Speaker 2:But our returns on the pull tabs are better. We get a 15% return on those, versus only like 6% with everything else.
Speaker 4:Let's say this I went and bought $100 and something dollars worth of lotto tickets. We always put in the kids stockings. When I say kids, they're all over 18 at this point, but I've done it since they were just could barely grab the quarter and scratch them off. So I go in there and I buy $105 worth of lotto tickets. How much do you think I won? $3. Jen wins like $31, and all the other kids can buy me about $20. You know, so I mean it's something fun to do. Everybody looks forward to it.
Speaker 2:Yesterday was my stepson Michael. Yesterday was his birthday. He turned eight.
Speaker 5:Happy birthday.
Speaker 2:His papa, Tiffany's dad, is known for sending you the lottery tickets. We open it up. He gets a $10 lottery ticket or $20 lottery ticket. He scratches it off and wins $100. Nice.
Speaker 4:Yeah, awesome, he was jumping for joy.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so right off the target we went. I'll say what video game did he buy?
Speaker 4:No, he's big at Pokemon.
Speaker 5:Oh Pokemon cards, huh.
Speaker 2:So he bought a whole bunch of Pokemon cards and everything else and had a hell of a time. That's cool.
Speaker 2:I'm like, damn, this kid's got better luck than I do. Yep, you know. But you know I don't really do a whole lot on the draw games or anything, but usually it's Mega Millions, usually it's, you know, something like that. And I'm just thinking to myself the amount of lottery I buy if I went to the post and I did all that. As you guys know, I don't drink, so my money's not going into the canteen. I volunteer my time and everything, but I don't volunteer the money. I don't have something. If we got Keno, if we got the terminal that we can print out all the draw games and everything, but I don't volunteer the money, I don't have something. But if we got Keno, if we got the terminal that we can print out all the draw games and stuff, I'd be there. I'd be there doing it.
Speaker 5:So that's what I would say. I think a lot of people would do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:But once again, though, you have to dedicate monitors, and there's all kinds of things that they got, and I think that's probably something that you have to open up another bank account. There's a lot of shit that goes into it. I have a lot of friends that own bars or restaurants who say the exact same thing that you're saying. It's well worth to do it.
Speaker 5:But you still have to do it.
Speaker 4:There's a lot of stuff that goes on to it. The grand scheme of things. I think it would be good for our post because it gives patrons another thing to do or another thing to stay to do, or something like that, you know. Yeah. So, in the grand scheme of things, every dollar counts. Yep, you know.
Speaker 2:So what do you guys think? Got anything else you want to talk about, or we're coming up on two hours here. Yeah, we usually. We usually hit about three when we got other other nimrods here.
Speaker 4:But we haven't, we haven't really made fun of Trey yet for not being here we hit four.
Speaker 5:Well, yeah, out of sight, not that long ago. Holy crap, We've had some really long ones. We could have went four more easily that night that was crazy. That was a good podcast. A lot of things covered.
Speaker 4:That was just after the election oh boy, there's a lot to talk about. Well, you know, we got the inauguration coming up. Yep, that's coming up soon.
Speaker 2:I'm interested in that. I'm interested in that. I'm interested in RFK Jr.
Speaker 4:What do you think? You're the quote-unquote health medical guy. What do you think? I think he's decent, I think.
Speaker 2:can he go a little overboard? Absolutely, I think everybody can. But I do agree that for the better good of our country we should ban red dye number 40. We should ban some of these artificial shit.
Speaker 4:It's horrible for us. Your Mountain Dew is going to change, said on a previous podcast, the first time you came back to the States and you had a United States Mountain Dew, you spit it out and threw it away. So would you agree on going back to the other Mountain Dew? Yeah, I would go back to the other Mountain Dew, I'm just curious because.
Speaker 2:I know this is horrible for me the amount of sugar and everything but that's high fructose corn syrup we're talking about.
Speaker 5:If you go back to the 70s and you look at pictures and you look at the average size of people. And then you look at now what changed. They took fat out of the diet because fat's bad, right, everything went fat-free. And then what did they do to change the flavor to make it taste good? They crammed it with sugars and artificial sweeteners and all the seed oils and everything else that are horrible for you. I hear soy is bad for you, soy is very bad for you, and so is corn.
Speaker 2:But here's the thing High fructose corn syrup. But when we sit here in alcohol, we sit here and we look around the world.
Speaker 5:Italians drink more than we do, but they drink a lot of wine, though they don't drink a lot of carbonated beverages.
Speaker 2:But still nonetheless, they're still healthier overall, no matter what. So that's something to think about.
Speaker 4:Do you realize, if they alter our beer, tim will come down and throat punch you. Yeah, probably he would kill you as long as they made it better.
Speaker 2:I mean, as long as it still In all seriousness, though, the issue with the Mountain Dew.
Speaker 5:Our food is horrible.
Speaker 2:Artificial anything really should go away. That's a pro and a con with that, but the first thing I just want to touch on is the Mountain Dew thing.
Speaker 5:The only pro to that is it's cheaper to make and the food industry makes more money.
Speaker 2:But see, that's the thing. So but click on the Mountain Dew thing. The main difference between that is they don't put natural sugar in it, it's high fructose corn syrup. So, and overseas, that's an illegal food additive.
Speaker 5:Because it's horrible for you.
Speaker 2:Right, but here the equivalent to the Mountain Dew that I had overseas was like Mountain Dew Throwback yeah.
Speaker 4:Which was pure cane sugar, not high fructose corn syrup, which actually my boy Andy likes that. It's a lot better.
Speaker 2:Still bad for you, but better than the high fructose corn syrup. So you know. There's that Back to what you were saying pros and cons. If we kind of go all natural with everything, the con is going to be that food prices are going to go up because you're not going to have a longer shelf life. Okay, the salt and stuff that we put in is natural. Okay, but it's still salt and it's bad for you. However, we got to think about the pros and cons here, like I would still take a high salt diet over all of the artificial shit.
Speaker 4:Right, but if you have heart issues, you're not going to take the hot salt.
Speaker 2:But you can get low-sodium versions For sure, so there's an option there. But artificial versus non-artificial, oh.
Speaker 4:Patrick's picked it. Yes, all the way back. Oh, he fumbled it. No way they got it back. They got it back on like the 25. Wow.
Speaker 1:Oh, that was close Damn, I thought he was going to run it back.
Speaker 4:Guy came from behind him and stripped it.
Speaker 2:Yep, but anyway. So artificial stuff. I mean we got to get rid of it. I mean it's not good.
Speaker 5:There's literally nothing good for us as consumers and everything good for the manufacturers, because it's cheap for them to make you know their their stuff is a longer shelf life thing too is, if you go back to the 70s, people had more time than they have now for whatever reason I don't know if I want to get into that where people ate at home more and cooked more home style meals with natural ingredients, so I think, cooked it themselves instead of everything being processed.
Speaker 4:I think some of the difference is you look at rules and regulations and I'm going to use the city of Mount Pleasant, for example.
Speaker 4:But if you went back into the 40s, late 40s, maybe even early 50s, you had victory gardens. You couldn't go to the store and buy anything because it was all used overseas for the troops and everything else. So you had victory gardens. Victory gardens, right. I bet you, every house in the city of mount pleasant had a garden out back when. That's where they got their, their vegetables from and that's, and they probably had chickens running around in the backyard. Yep, what do you think would happen right now? I got a quarter acre just about here in mount pleasant if I put a chicken coop in the back of my house.
Speaker 4:I'd be fined, I'd be ridiculous there's no way you could do it, but back then it was acceptable nowadays. Nowadays- noise complaint. It's this, it's that.
Speaker 2:What's this new thing? Look it up real quick. Michigan just passed a new law. It's this. It's that. What's this new thing? Look it up real quick. I can look at this. Michigan just passed a new law First down, at least, something about eggs. Taking effect January 1st, all eggs sold in the state of Michigan must come from cage-free chickens. Okay, free range, and apparently what they're saying is it's going to cause an egg shortage.
Speaker 5:Okay, and the price of eggs is going to go up. And the thing of it is, just because it's free range, a lot of these free range chickens aren't even as good as the caged chickens, because they don't get the nutrients, because just because they're free realm doesn't mean they're getting. At least, when they were in a cage they had food right there available.
Speaker 4:But free range? No, but they couldn't even move. No, they couldn't move at all. It's horrible, horrible conditions. They're stacked in those pens.
Speaker 5:Right. But just because they're free range quote unquote free range doesn't mean they're good either.
Speaker 4:Doesn't mean have to be better for you.
Speaker 5:Because they can't get to the food source anyway.
Speaker 2:And you know this is going to be, this is going to get political. But this is the thing that annoys me about cities is, you know, everybody wants the city to be this wonderful utopia of Got it there you go Touchdown, touchdown, yes, 10 to 20.
Speaker 4:That brought them in half the score.
Speaker 2:It'll be 11-20 here in a minute.
Speaker 4:No, it's going to be 10, because they're 9 right now. We've got to get the extra point Not unless they do a two-point, but they'll get the extra point.
Speaker 2:That's what I said 10-20.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I thought you said 11. I can't wait for the replay because I bet you he said 11.
Speaker 5:He did, I heard it.
Speaker 4:There you go. One Navy guy against another Navy guy, there we go. But anyways, no, you're To be honest with you. Jen will tell you the same thing she started eating more natural foods. More less processed foods years ago.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to lie. I got the bad, bad thing going.
Speaker 4:I want to get rid of this, she goes. I would eat more healthy, natural foods if it didn't cost an arm and a leg.
Speaker 5:It's harder, yeah it's a lot harder. It is way harder. It takes longer to make. It's not as readily available the cost is astronomical.
Speaker 4:It's ridiculous.
Speaker 5:So if you look at a hamburger, you Right, but it's ridiculous. It was the cost. So if you look at a hamburger, you look at a piece of candy, let's say, and then you look at a piece of fruit, the damn fruit costs more than the piece of candy does. Yeah, that's the problem right there Right. It makes it harder for people to make the right choices because it costs more and it doesn't taste as good either, right?
Speaker 4:so so if I walk into the grocery store this weekend I have a hundred dollars in my pocket. Yep, what's the most I can? We talked about this, I think. With tvs you're not making money, you're not getting on the last podcast or two. If I walk in with a hundred dollars and I gotta buy my groceries for a week or two, what's my biggest bang for the buck? It's going to be all the processed garbage food it's on sale that I can get for cheap and fill the cabinet.
Speaker 4:I think our example back then was a TV. You walk in and there's a 65-inch TV. This one's $8.99, that one's $6.99. I can't really tell the difference in the picture. This one's made in America and that one's made in Taiwan or wherever You're going to go over the cheaper ones Bangladesh. Right, I'm going to buy the $6.99. We're cheap Americans.
Speaker 2:Everything's about cheapness.
Speaker 4:Yeah, everything's about the price. So when I walk into the store and I got the $100, I need to fill the cabinet.
Speaker 5:If you were guaranteed that $8.99 lasted twice as long as the 699? It didn't matter, you'd still probably buy the 699. Because we're cheap Americans.
Speaker 4:We're all single-minded Now just going to pause real quick.
Speaker 2:We've got seven people watching, so shout out. Come on Comment. Let us know who's who.
Speaker 4:Continue. Sorry, but that's what we do, though. I mean, yeah, I do it. I mean hell, that's the reason why I'm buying crap at auction. Could I order it off Amazon or walk into Meijer or walk into Home Depot and buy the same thing? For sure. But I was getting $25 tape measures for the guys here at work for $6. Yeah, and paying $1.50 commission, so I paid $7.50 for a tape measure that would have cost me $25. If I went to Home Depot and bought it. I can buy brand new ones at an auction, right. Have bought it. I can buy brand new ones at an auction, right?
Speaker 2:for less money. So I just, you know there's there's that argument, the economical argument that needs to be made, and there's going to be some headaches with that. You know there's, there's, there are poor people who are unable to pay, you know, for the change that will inevitably come. So and it's just like you know, I don't know like we should go back to the idea of community gardens and stuff.
Speaker 4:So let's talk about that too, because when it comes.
Speaker 2:Apparently, farmers here send most of our shit out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so a lot of our oil that we pump domestically is too high in sulfur. We're not allowed to refine it here. So a lot of our oil that we actually produce here is sent overseas to be refined, because it is above that sulfur content that we can do it here, because it's not environmentally friendly. It's not that it's not getting done, it's getting sent somewhere else to have them pollute the earth rather than being done here.
Speaker 2:Right, right, which is crazy. And is there? Is there a way to do it cleanly?
Speaker 4:Not probably to our EPA standards.
Speaker 2:What's that? Remote start, oh so.
Speaker 5:You leaving us? Well, I will here in a little while. So those are the things that we're going a little while.
Speaker 4:So those are the things that we're going to the ghetto tonight yeah, those are the things that make me mad.
Speaker 2:Sound of freedom. Sound of freedom.
Speaker 4:The fact that we can pump it here, ship it overseas to have it refined to pollute the earth, because our EPA says, well, that's too bad, you can't do it here. It's not like it's not polluting the earth. You hatched, do it here.
Speaker 5:It's not like it's not polluting the earth. You asked for a showdown. It went from 7 to 4.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what happens.
Speaker 4:I guess, Everybody disappears.
Speaker 5:I'm not telling you who I am.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I just, you know, and everybody's like well, we shouldn't drill more, we shouldn't do this, we shouldn't do that, and Trump's response drill, baby drill.
Speaker 5:Quit driving to work then.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where's your pedal bike? It's like we've got to get our shit together, we've got to get all of our poop in a group and we've got to have these real conversations, because the reality of it is it's still polluting the earth, no matter where on earth you're doing it. We're just giving ourselves the plausible deniability to say it ain't us.
Speaker 5:You know, Any energy source creates issues. Right. Regardless of what it is, whether it's solar, whether it's wind, whether it's hydroelectric, the only exception to that is pumped hydro.
Speaker 2:Have you seen what that is?
Speaker 5:No, so basically, they'll go and they'll. The most efficient fuel source that we have available to us now in our technologies is nuclear, and we're not even touching it.
Speaker 4:It's steam. That's all you're putting off is steam. We're not even touching it anymore. We are Actually Palisades over by. Muskegon is rebuilding right now.
Speaker 2:South Haven.
Speaker 5:But it's not new, it's a rebuild.
Speaker 4:No, they actually decommissioned the plant, took everything out of it.
Speaker 2:Putting it back together, rebuilding a new one, because it's clean energy now, and so it's like you know. Trump was asked. I can't remember what he was asked or how, but his response was drill, baby drill right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we should be drilling and we should be, you know, loosening up some of these restrictions so we can refine things. Does that mean that I feel like we should remove some of the safety aspects or some of the other things? Absolutely not, but we need to loosen up some of the restrictions nonetheless. Like you know, in building more nuclear plants, but you want to talk about.
Speaker 4:We were talking about food and the hit on the poor, right, mm-hmm. What do high gas prices do? They hurt the poor, they don't hurt the rich. No, they hurt the poor, they don't hurt the rich.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 4:They hurt the poor the gas prices hurt everything.
Speaker 2:They hurt the poor because they can't go to work. They hurt the poor because the companies that are trucking, you know, gas is the backbone of our economy. Because, semis get everything where it needs to go.
Speaker 4:You just heard the new bill that they passed here in Michigan over registration on your vehicles, so I think it failed. They wanted to add $100 to every vehicle registration. Oh Jesus, I think that failed. But what did pass was now you're going to buy a mandatory, you register your car, you're getting a state park pass $14.
Speaker 5:Why? Why are they forcing people to do something that's recreational? That's because it doesn't matter if your kid has a $500 beater and you go to re-register it, you're getting a park pass.
Speaker 4:So the state needs more money. It's to tax you to pay for the state parks. It was optional before, but it's not going to be optional in 2025.
Speaker 5:That's what pisses me off about our government. They dabble this little crap and then all of a sudden it gets to a point where they make it mandatory. Also, they can have a bigger freaking pension Like Congress. Wasn't it Congress that just tried?
Speaker 4:to increase 40% 70,000 a year they wanted. And what do they do? Not a damn thing. Well, they do, they do, they do.
Speaker 2:What I'm saying is like, yeah, they're not punching the clock or anything like that, but it's like I don't know.
Speaker 1:But a 40% increase.
Speaker 2:I'm not even talking about the increase. I'm talking about what they got now.
Speaker 5:If I walked into my job, are they?
Speaker 2:working a $120,000 job.
Speaker 5:No. If I walked into my boss, into his office right now and says, oh, by the way, you're paying me 40% more, he's going to look at me and start laughing. I'd laugh at you, but that's what they did I'd laugh at you. They walked in and told us their boss and said you're paying us 40% more and you don't have a say in it. That right there is total bullshit. Anytime they get an increase in salary, it should go on a ballot and we should vote on that.
Speaker 4:No matter what, God damn it, they just scored again.
Speaker 5:Oh dang it Well, this one's not going to go well for us.
Speaker 2:So what happens now with the Lions the?
Speaker 4:Lions have to win. They have to beat Minnesota next week. Well, it all depends. Minnesota's got to play a game too.
Speaker 5:yet Well, if Lions lose?
Speaker 4:We've got to beat the 49ers tomorrow If Lions lose tomorrow, it's really in deep shit. Well.
Speaker 2:We've got to beat the 49ers tomorrow. If Lions lose tomorrow, it's really in deep shit. No, it's going to come down to the Minnesota game, so okay, anyways, let's switch to football. Sorry, because.
Speaker 5:I'm curious now. So Lions already have first seed in the playoff. They already secured that. So that's, already been there, not in first seed, they've made the playoffs. Who are the.
Speaker 4:NFC champions going to come down to, but they're first chair right now they're number one chair.
Speaker 5:They are Because they're number one in the conference.
Speaker 4:But they're tied with the Vikings I know, that's the stats. Jesus, we can't take her anywhere. No, remember that train. No, you've the stats, jesus, we can't take her anywhere, no, remember that train? No, you gotta turn it the other way, turn it that way, this way, no other way, other way, keep going, keep going. No, I'll fix it, jesus Christ, don't leave me anywhere even Abby's over here hiding.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I like it when you slide through behind me.
Speaker 5:I bet you do. Did he get a?
Speaker 2:little squeeze on the way by A little bit.
Speaker 4:That's too much. That's perfect.
Speaker 2:What do you mean? It's too much. I can totally see you easing, yeah, but if I sit down, you gotta look at this.
Speaker 5:This is raked perfectly. Oh see, now you got it goofy. There it goes. That's better. This is perfect rake. That's the time to rake it.
Speaker 4:I know you should run away oh shit Watch out Abby, watch out girl. Now, before we got rudely interrupted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, this is what we get for having a spectator.
Speaker 5:So I don't know how that would play out. If the Lions lose tomorrow Against the 49ers. That would put them Two games. Let's see it would be 14-2 To a 13-3. Let's see it'd be 14 and 2 to 13 and 3.
Speaker 5:I don't know what that would do for the Lions, mm-hmm I don't either the Vikings winning today, which we were hoping that they wouldn't, but is what it is. So now that just makes it even more. And then, I think, the last game is the Vikings against the Lions. So they've already beat them once, so that's going to be a revenge game. That'll be the grunge game. So they win tonight, lions win tomorrow. They're still tied. So they win tonight, lions win tomorrow. They're still tied, because the Lions already beat the Vikings once. This next game will be the tiebreaker. It's going to be a grunge game. Yeah, it's going to be a tough one, and they're both two damn good teams. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 4:So what do you guys think about Pete Hegseth, secretary of Defense? What do you guys know about him? I don't know anything about him.
Speaker 2:I think it's back on the politics real quick, I think so.
Speaker 4:He's a Fox News contributor. He was on their weekend programs. I think he was on during the week a couple times. Mm Young guy, probably my age, he's in his 40s and he's a major With the National Guard. Served a couple tours in Iraq and maybe even in Afghanistan.
Speaker 5:See, that's what's so ironic about Trump's candid picks. Most of them are 50 and younger, so he's picking a younger crowd.
Speaker 2:What I like about it is it's not some freaking old-ass general, it's not some, you know. The guy that's going to be in charge of the generals now is going to be a young major yeah, new up and coming, you know and they're not going to respect him. I don't think they will.
Speaker 4:They'll have to. They don't have a choice.
Speaker 5:They don't have a choice, they have a choice of retiring or go with the program right? Yeah, they don't have. That's one thing I wouldn't worry about. They're going to do what he says, or else?
Speaker 2:And Trump will see them out the door. Yes, he will. I'll take that commission.
Speaker 4:As combat vets sitting here at the table, regardless of what you did or where you've been. I see it at the VFW a lot and I see it at the American Legion a lot. The two affiliations that I have is it's tough to get younger people involved in things. Mm-hmm. Okay, Because one they typically don't have the time because they have young families or they have careers or stuff that they've got going on. Right, yeah, they're living life, but it's nice to have a different idea. The same concept right, we're still going to go kick doors down, we're still going to do things, but there's a different way of doing things. This isn't the 1950s when you served, or?
Speaker 4:the 1970s when you served, I was serving in the 2000s or I was serving in the 90s or whatever, right. So it's nice to have fresher ideas rather than career politicians all the time, especially when you get up that upper echelon level of generals and shit like that. Nothing wrong with it, right, you did your time, you served your purpose. But we have just a different way of doing things nowadays. And if you want the vfw american leaders, do you want younger members? It's hard to get people in if everybody they look at is 80 years old yeah, and you know I mean why do you?
Speaker 5:why do you?
Speaker 1:yeah why do you want?
Speaker 4:to? Why would you want to join or why do you want to follow when the guy's still talking about jeeps? We don't use jeeps. They haven't used jeeps in forever you know jeeps are cool though? No, they are. But what I'm saying is you know, we we riding around in amtrak's or humvees, you know what I mean, like they probably never sat in a humvee, ever.
Speaker 5:Humvees are starting, or being phased out.
Speaker 4:I like the idea. I like the idea. He's trying to bring in new, fresh ideas to get things consolidated, to get things more on par with the way somebody that was in the field looked at it, rather than somebody that's been sitting in office for the last 25 years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, military, political in general Detached. Yeah, you're detached, you're old, you're not up there. Did you hear about that Texas lawmaker, the Texas representative, that hadn't registered a vote since I think it was June or July and nobody had seen her?
Speaker 4:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, she was in an old folks' home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they found her in a memory care old folks' home. Yeah, for a couple months, For like six months, six for a couple months For like six months, Six or eight months.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And nobody said nothing. Yeah, like, okay, you know, I would like to know when she got into that home. Yeah, and she's still on the payroll. Yeah, because she's still on the payroll and she got in. Not only that, she's still on the payroll, good point, but not only that. I want to know when she was admitted, because, and how the hell?
Speaker 5:does nobody even know, that's the point. Her staff.
Speaker 4:Her staff totally knew yeah yeah. But I bet you it's the I know, but don't know. Just don't tell me all the details so I can say I don't know, but who's boss?
Speaker 5:I mean her boss has to know.
Speaker 2:Well, what I'm saying is her votes, so I want to know when she was admitted because I want to make sure that she was voting and did she vote? And did she vote or did somebody vote?
Speaker 4:for her and I don't know if they can vote by proxy.
Speaker 2:I don't think they can. I don't think so. That was. The whole big thing about COVID is they didn't want you to vote by proxy, but at the end of the day it was COVID and they had to do something. So, but anyway, back to Pete Hegseth. So yeah, I want a younger crowd because, you know, administratively meaning the executive branch and all of that and politically, the legislative branch I want young people. I'm sick and tired of these 80-year-old assholes. Pelosi, you know.
Speaker 5:Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, yeah.
Speaker 4:Mr Freeze, I call him. He's got to go too. You ever see that guy.
Speaker 2:I like how he's so old he's just like I'm out, no.
Speaker 4:but did you ever see him stand at the podium and just freeze? For like two minutes.
Speaker 5:Thank you for your service. You were an exceptional.
Speaker 2:Goodbye, but it's time to go, when I feel whatever the legal threshold is for you to be allowed to collect retirement from Social Security, which right now is what? 62 and a half.
Speaker 4:Something like that. It depends on what you want to do.
Speaker 2:I don't think you should be allowed to serve politically.
Speaker 5:I have a hard time with just saying a dead stop, and I have a hard time with sometimes term limits too.
Speaker 2:But there's got to be some limits. There has to be term limits, there has to be, but there's got to be some limits. There has to be term limits, there has to be, but you've got to look at so many.
Speaker 4:There's term limits in everything.
Speaker 5:Like even Joe Biden, I mean, from the time he was what? 26? Mm-hmm Until just like maybe yesterday when he finally passed away. I don't know. Is he still alive? Still alive? Yeah, probably Well mentally, Weekend at Bernie's is going on up there, yeah, weekend at Bernie's they're propping him up by the, by the speaker, I think.
Speaker 2:He pardoned His son Because his son was giving him some speed so he could.
Speaker 5:That's probably where that cocaine come from. Putting that in his this is your powdered sugar for your coffee honey.
Speaker 4:He's going to pardon them all.
Speaker 5:They were putting that in, as this is your powdered sugar for your coffee honey, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Yep, he's going to pardon them all, for at least, Well he pardoned like 50 freaking serial killers or some shit too, wasn't it? I mean, they were all on the federal death row.
Speaker 4:Federal death row, not a state, so don't quote me on it. There was like 60 of them on federal death row. You did all but four, all but three, I heard I think it was four. There was a couple church bombings that were racist Church bombings and then the Tanaroff guy that was the youngest, one of the Boston Marathon bombing.
Speaker 5:But he commuted their stay. Isn't that what it's called? Commuted their stay?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so their life in prison. It's not that they're getting out. They'll die there, they just won't be put to death. And there was four, I believe.
Speaker 2:Which, argumentatively, is worse? I don't know, Mentally it's worse. Not for our pocketbooks?
Speaker 5:it's not.
Speaker 4:Put them down and be done with them. I, to be honest with you, I don't believe in the death penalty. I don't either. I know what I do.
Speaker 2:I know, I think there's. Don't get me wrong. My initial emotional reaction is yeah, cap the son of a bitch. So but I mean, but I think there's too much innocence going on. Thank you, I think I mean. It's one thing to have video and DNA evidence. If I've got a freaking video evidence of you capping a dude and I can see your face and everything, yeah for sure. I guess, morally speaking, I'm supposed to say no.
Speaker 5:Well, if you go to death row and you ask 25 inmates, 24 and a half of them are going to say they're innocent For sure. But, what I will say is honestly, but the chances of them getting through the whole system with the appeals and all the other shit that they have.
Speaker 4:There is a huge chance that they're innocent.
Speaker 2:Look at the dude that was just executed, like four months ago.
Speaker 5:Our laws are so lax when it comes to that? They're not.
Speaker 4:They're not. They're not.
Speaker 5:We have a legal scholar right here. Maybe she could weigh in.
Speaker 4:No, what I will tell you is Jen will probably agree with me on this. She worked for the prosecutor's office will probably agree with me on she worked for the prosecutor's office it's possible. A judge at any one point can say, yes, you can bring that evidence, or no, you can't, Okay. So even if you have something that could be on your side as a defendant, a judge can exclude that. Yeah, see, and I think that's wrong as well, but it's the same thing.
Speaker 5:All evidence should be admissible, and I think that's wrong as well, but it's the same thing. All evidence should be admissible.
Speaker 4:And I'm going to say it wrong. I'm going to say exploratory, escalplatory evidence. So, for instance, you're the police, I'm being charged with a crime. What do you turn over to the defense?
Speaker 2:Holy shit, three hours ago Jimmy Carter died. Really Yep three hours ago.
Speaker 5:Oh, he just passed, jimmy Carter passed. Wow, that's sad.
Speaker 2:What I'm going to say is Sorry, I was Googling what we were talking about and it was up there.
Speaker 4:So if I say, hey, I'm out with Jimmy and I was out with Jimmy two weeks ago, right, they go talk to Jimmy and Jimmy's like, yeah, he was out with me. You talk to Jimmy, Jimmy's like, yeah, he was out with me. You don't turn that over, Right, and that gets excluded from my trial. Now I have a witness saying that I was with him at wherever and I wasn't the guy that broke into this house and killed somebody. You don't turn that over to say, hey, yeah, we proved that he was with Jimmy that night because there was a receipt or this. They do that shit all the time because they get. They get no seriously and the police can lie to you. They can walk into the interrogation room even though they say, well, you're just there for an interview, Right, but it's not really an interview because I can't leave. I'm out of here.
Speaker 4:No, hold on a minute. The door's locked and you're on camera. That's an interrogation. It's not an interview. They'll say it's an interview. That's their tactic.
Speaker 5:Yeah, of course, right, oh yeah, you're definitely guilty until you prove yourself innocent.
Speaker 4:That's for sure. But they can say, hey, we got your DNA evidence at the crime scene. You're like what the fuck? They can lie to you Now if you say, for instance, well, I was at the 7-Eleven and they go okay, now we're going to charge you with lying to the police. You lied to us during an interview, right Interrogation or whatever else. Now you could be charged with another crime. They can lie to you and say they have your DNA evidence when they don't. Right. No big deal.
Speaker 4:You lied to them one time fuck it's the end of the world. It's definitely fucking bad, Trust me dude, I am the guy that you're guilty. Hang by the noose, I have no problem with that. I do touch my daughter. I'm going to shoot the motherfucker in the face, not have a problem with it. I'm that guy. But to the same extent, I think there's a lot of motherfuckers that once they pick you as the guy no matter what they're going to keep going after you.
Speaker 4:They don't care about whatever else they find. Well, yeah, it could have been the robbery across the street, you know but, it's got to be the husband, scott Peterson's like.
Speaker 4:I just watched the documentary with Jen the other night and I'm the guy that will 90% of the time, go against what the police. There was literally a break-in across the street the day of Lacey Peterson being killed, but they had Scott picked right out the gate. It's got to be the husband. They totally ignored everything else. They went after him. I'm not saying he's innocent, I'm not saying anything else. Right, but there's so much shit, you start looking at. It's always got to be the husband. It's always got to be this.
Speaker 2:Let me read the one that I hate to chug Marcellus Williams. She's right. Marcellus Williams, whose murder conviction was questioned by the prosecutor, died by lethal injection Tuesday evening in Missouri. This was back in September. He was put to death around 6 pm at the state prison. His attorneys filed a flurry of appeal efforts to the Supreme Court and even the victim's family had asked that the inmate be spared death at that moment. His attorneys filed the appeal efforts based on new evidence, including alleged bias in the jury selection and contamination of the murder weapon prior to trial. Yeah, of course. Um, so here's my thing If the family says hold up for a minute, if the prosecutor says hold up for a minute, yeah, that's wrong.
Speaker 2:What the fuck? Like you know, at that point.
Speaker 5:If anyone, Then it becomes an ego of the judge. Yes At any point.
Speaker 2:If somebody alleges something like that, alleges new evidence, it should automatically give you a stay until they can figure that shit out.
Speaker 4:I 100% agree with what you say. You walk into jail, prison. 99% of them are not guilty. They'll always tell you that. I don't believe that either. What I will say is the one time you get it wrong. So, for instance, at work you do 100 projects, 99 of them. Your boss made money Like hand over fist the one time he lost money, which one do you think you're going to hear about? It ain't the 99, he made a shit ton of money on. You were walking with diamonds on your shoes.
Speaker 4:The one he lost money on. You're a fucking asshole. You lost me money.
Speaker 5:I got you. I did.
Speaker 4:Here's the deal.
Speaker 5:We're talking about killing people, but I don't think there's as many innocent people in prison than what people think.
Speaker 2:In prison.
Speaker 4:Yes, Let me ask you a question Is it wrong that one innocent person's in prison Sure?
Speaker 5:That should be enough, but we have a system that's set up to try and limit that as much as possible. Now, the fact that our system.
Speaker 2:I would love to call Jen right now and ask her if the system is set up that way.
Speaker 5:But the fact that our system is being it is set up that way, it's being run improperly and the people who are running it are the ones that are the biased ones, who are doing this, and that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 4:Look at that. New York detective.
Speaker 2:That. New York detective who was found I think he's dead now but, like through the 70s and 80s people in New York prisons and I think one was even in New York death row was this detective was planting evidence and fabricating evidence, implicating these people, and it was finally found out that he was doing this and one dude got out of prison because of it because they were able to prove it, thank God, and so now that detective's entire case file.
Speaker 5:They all should be thrown out.
Speaker 2:Exactly Every one of them should be thrown out. So it's like at what?
Speaker 4:point. Do we Google cash for kiddos? So this was a program, it was a private prison for youths that got in trouble. Okay, it all went in front of this Cash for kiddos, cash for kids or cash.
Speaker 2:Is it a charity scandal?
Speaker 4:No, it was a private prison or kids group prison, jail detention center, something where a judge was getting paid by the owners of this jail.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, here it is the Kids for Cash scandal centered on judicial kickbacks to two judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, pennsylvania, in 2008,. Judges were convicted of accepting money in return for imposing harsh adjudications on juveniles to increase occupancy at private prisons operated by Pennsylvania.
Speaker 5:Child Care and when that shit finds out and that shit happens every damn judge everywhere should start shaking their shoes, because that should trigger a complete rehab of everything.
Speaker 2:We're talking about FBI and everything else we should have a nationwide internal affairs.
Speaker 5:This is judges yeah, that's what I'm saying Every judge should be shaking their shoes, because they should be looked at, every one of them, no.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, no, there's no discrepancy. But every police officer, every detective, everything should always be looked at, because these guys were judges, were going. You're going to go to this detention camp for nine months. Who's making the money?
Speaker 5:Him because he's getting a kickback by the detention center for putting kids there, and he should go to jail for that.
Speaker 4:They did. But this is one instance. You know how many of these are around the country? Oh, I'm sure and this is two judges out of you could probably Google there's 30,000 judges or 60,000 judges. You think it's just two? No, okay. So you talk about bad cops, for instance and Jen hates this because she was on the prosecutor's side I'm leery. You get the knock on the door. I train the kids Knock on the door. Cops standing there, show me the warrant. Shut the fucking door. Don't fucking say a word. Shut the fucking door. You never walk outside the door, Right? Hey, teacher asked you did you get your flu shot? That's a HIPAA violation. Like you don't answer the fucking question, that's because you have to do that to protect yourself, because they can lie to you all day long and it's it's a technique right they get qualified immunity, and I hate that shit.
Speaker 2:That's the thing that's fucking wrong, because if what's the Miranda warning? Anything that you say can and will be used against you, okay, but anything that you lie to me about I should be able to use against you Exactly.
Speaker 5:Like what the fuck but.
Speaker 4:I can lie to you all day long, and I'm good that is the biggest double fucking standard.
Speaker 5:And that's where our system is fucking in my life.
Speaker 2:And qualified immunity, I feel like does have a little bit of a place at the fundamental level, because a police officer should have a certain level of immunity, because they're doing some crazy shit out there.
Speaker 4:No, they shouldn't. They should be held to the highest standard. The reason why I'm going to say this is because if you're ignorant of the law as a civilian okay, I didn't know that was against the law, well, you should have known. They'll always tell you Yep, okay, you shouldn't be out fishing.
Speaker 2:Ignorance is no exception.
Speaker 4:You shouldn't be out hunting if you didn't know what the laws or the rules are.
Speaker 4:Oh, I see what you're going now. No, I get pulled over for a taillight, mm-hmm. Okay, michigan law says I only need one, I don't need both, right, Okay. Oh, I pulled you over for your license plate bulb is out. I couldn't see your license plate. Sure you could. You pulled up behind me. You've already run the motherfucker. You know who I am.
Speaker 4:You could see it clear as day day. It's not shielded, it's not covered up with snow or mud or whatever else. Right, you could totally see it. Yeah, okay, but because the light bulb is on, now you want to pull me over. Or it's out now you want to pull me over? Okay, it doesn't say that I have to have it on, but that's what you're pulling me over for. So they can be ignorant of the law, because I could stand out in front of and they, they've done audits here in Isabella County. Right, where they walk around with the cameras in all the public places and film, right, people are well, you can't film here, it's against the law. You can't put me on camera because I don't want to be, but you're standing on the sidewalk, all these things. They can be ignorant of the law and it's okay.
Speaker 2:But if you're ignorant of the law, if you're ignorant of the law, if you're ignorant of the law.
Speaker 4:They're going to say, well, here's your ticket. You can't be ignorant of the law, but you can write me a ticket or do something to me when you're ignorant of the law and you have qualified immunity because you have a badge that's fucked up. They should know the law better than the average civilian. If they're there to enforce the law, if they're there to enforce the law law enforcement officer, you should know the fucking laws. You shouldn't stop me if you don't know it. You shouldn't stop me and question me or do anything else if you don't know what the law is.
Speaker 4:And that's why cities, counties, states get sued all the time? Because the law enforcement officers that are doing something don't know the law.
Speaker 2:They're ignorant of it. Steve Klein, old man, said Biden pardoned the judge.
Speaker 4:There you go. He watches Fox News like 24-7.
Speaker 2:Thanks, steve, for letting us know about that, which judge Probably the cash for kiddos.
Speaker 4:I that because I didn't know that which judge Probably the cash for kiddos.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I literally just exited out of it Like what the hell man?
Speaker 5:We've got to hit the road. We've got a couple-hour drive yet.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's these double standards, it's this bias.
Speaker 1:It's a multifaceted issue.
Speaker 2:You start, I'll start.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a multi-faceted issue, but just with anything else. But it's just like at what point do you call bullshit? And you know we have the FBI and they serve a purpose, the FBI is a joke, but the FBI is a joke and the argument that I'm thinking is we should have some sort of national internal affairs, not a secret police, because that's fucking tyrannical.
Speaker 5:Well, our CIA is supposed to be something similar to that, aren't they?
Speaker 2:No, no, cia is not authorized to operate domestically, right.
Speaker 5:Doesn't mean they don't, but so it'd be the FBI then technically.
Speaker 2:Technically speaking, but it's just like yeah, everybody's biased, so it's just like there needs to be somebody completely disconnected, Like you know. There should be some sort of like, maybe a citizen movement, but you can't because you look at the way the Justice Department the FBI and everything else was weaponized against Trump.
Speaker 4:They're all back channel. They're all a favor of a favor. They're all something right.
Speaker 2:That's what they were talking about the deep state.
Speaker 4:So, when you start talking about things being weaponized against American citizens, it's never going to change, Right? For instance, there's guys that can hack so well they could put kiddie porn on that fucking computer. And then the cops walk in right now and be like let me see your computer. Yeah, here you go and it's a bunch of shit that can never be traced, can never be found. But you connected the internet at some point and now here's all this shit that you have no idea, but the evidence is there because it's on your computer. You know what I mean. So if have no idea, but the evidence is there because it's on your computer, If they want to get you, they will always be able to get you. There is no way around it.
Speaker 2:That's a perfect example. So you're never going to have an independent agency.
Speaker 4:It's never going to happen. That's a pretty scary fucking example.
Speaker 2:But let's use it as an example. That is the reason why warrants exist. Cop walks in here and says give me your computer. I'll lock this motherfucker down right now and say show me the warrant.
Speaker 5:And he'll have one in about 20 seconds, which is fine.
Speaker 4:Which is fine, but you're still not going to get my password.
Speaker 5:Right, yeah, they could be in that thing in no time. Good luck.
Speaker 2:Okay, you know, lock it out, go for it, I don't care.
Speaker 5:But the point I'm trying to make is the point I'm trying to make is Just use bleach pit, like Hillary Clinton did Unreasonable searches and seizures, right.
Speaker 2:That warrant process is supposed to be there to give you due process, right. And if they go and get a 20-second warrant, fine, how? Because any attorney will be able to say, okay, so what was your justification? Tell me, yeah, what did you know about this guy before you walked up there?
Speaker 4:without a warrant. It was an anonymous phone call, but look at the Pfizer one still Look at how those held up.
Speaker 2:Right. So it's just like you know it's. I don't know, it's just one of those things that we wish 17.
Speaker 5:They're only down by 10 now.
Speaker 4:No but yes. So we watch. Jen and I watch a show. It's on Friday, saturday nights. They need another one If I go over to her house or she's at my house, or whatever.
Speaker 2:It's called On Patrol Live. It would be awesome if they pulled us out of their ass.
Speaker 4:It's called On Patrol Live. It'd be awesome if they pulled this out of their ass. It's called On Patrol Live. It's on from 9 to midnight. It's like Cops. Remember the TV show Cops, but it's live. They took it down for a while, didn't they? Well, it was on a different network and it moved over to Reels now, or whatever. These guys are all driving around and the first thing this one cop. His name is Danny Brown. Great guy, he's a lieutenant captain, whatever the fuck, he is now.
Speaker 4:Walks up to a car I smell marijuana. They got it. Yes, two points All right. 18-27. Holy shit Vikings still lead fourth quarter. Five minutes to go, but anyways he walks up.
Speaker 2:So what do they need? I smell marijuana. They need a touchdown and another two-point conversion. What do you think?
Speaker 5:Let's strategize this real quick. Sorry, I think they're down by nine, though, isn't there a?
Speaker 2:three-point conversion.
Speaker 5:No, yeah, it's called a field goal. I don't know. Yeah, I really don't. Hey did you see that game. Earlier today they got a safety Against oh, what's his name? Used to be their quarterback. What was his name? Aaron? Rodgers. Aaron Rodgers got a safety today.
Speaker 2:I don't know what that means.
Speaker 5:They sacked him in his own end zone and got two points out of it. Ouch, so when you're pushed back into your own end zone and then they sack you in your own end zone, then you gain two points for that. The other team gets two points. And you have to kick off to them.
Speaker 5:That's the only way, well, other than a pick six, that's the only way a defense can score. That's actually literally the only way a defense can score. Well block field goal still a live ball. Block field goal and then you pick it up and run it into the end zone, but now you become the offense goal and then you pick it up and run it into the end zone. But now you become the offense. Well, it's still your defense To actually score on a defense.
Speaker 2:So, strategy for them to win this game, they would need what A touchdown, which is six.
Speaker 5:No, all they need is a touchdown now, because they're down by nine. So they would need a touchdown and then a field goal To win by one. Then they'd win by one.
Speaker 2:A touchdown and a field goal Right.
Speaker 5:And they've got time Six or five, six-twelve.
Speaker 4:They're going to. Well, they're not onside kicking. That's surprising.
Speaker 5:Yeah, don't do that.
Speaker 4:Detroit did that, yeah, but they got five minutes to go, not doing it with 12.
Speaker 2:We'll take them right there.
Speaker 4:There you go. Anyway, what I was trying to get at is with this TV show, oh, I'm not on the camera, sorry, you watch it and the stuff and I'm. I support police officers.
Speaker 2:I do too.
Speaker 4:They're out there doing a dangerous, tough job. I wouldn't want to do it. They skirt the line on probably what they should or shouldn't do a shit ton of times. Sometimes they almost have to, though. I understand it's a tough job, I understand. No, trust me, I support police officers 100% of the time. I think a lot of times, though, they skirt the line on what they can do, shouldn't probably do, because whoever they're arresting or, you know, searching cars and shit like that, you know it's like shit like that. You know it's like hey, can I search your car? No, okay, I'll get a drug dog, okay. So now you're extending the traffic stop.
Speaker 2:But the Supreme Court knocked that down. They can't do that anymore.
Speaker 4:Right. So you can't extend a stop to wait for a dog. So, for instance, if I get pulled over for speeding and they think I got drugs in the car, I smell marijuana, you stop me for speeding. Right, but that's your interpretation. You smell marijuana, okay, it's a hard way to prove it. Okay, Unless you see it or something else. Right, you can't search the car. They say no, you can't search my car. You can't extend the traffic stop past a reasonable amount of time to get a drug dog there. So I can't sit on the side of the road for 20 minutes or 30 minutes waiting for a drug dog to come sniff my car. You've extended past what your stop time is supposed to be. Or else every time they just whatever sit here for two hours while I get a drug dog from another county, or the state cops to come over here and sniff your car right drug dogs, I bet within the next five years will be gone.
Speaker 4:Yep, Because there's no way for anybody to dictate other than the handler if the dog hits on something or not. There's not a universal. It sits every time, or it jumps on the car or it runs a circle or it does whatever. Juggles something Something right, Sniffs something, To know that it Something right. Sniff something To know that it's there right, so the handler could walk around the car and go. Yep, it hit on something. I can't question the dog. Okay, so you're always able to question your accuser.
Speaker 1:Right, you can't question the dog, so now the stop, has become a dog.
Speaker 4:I can't question the dog. Okay, in court, woof in court. I bet you'll see the drug doctor. I'm sure they're right.
Speaker 1:99% of the time.
Speaker 4:But it's the one time they're wrong. That's part of the problem, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5:They fumbled. They got it. No, it's a flag. He didn't fumble, he was down, but there's a flag.
Speaker 4:Hopefully it's holding. Sorry, while there was a pause in the break.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we're watching a play.
Speaker 4:Slow-mo here. No, it's a catch.
Speaker 3:It's a catch, but there was still a flag on the play, but wait, did he drop it before his knees touched?
Speaker 4:No, no, I don't think so.
Speaker 5:Third and 15, so I don't know what the. Yeah, the flag was probably a holding call. I didn't catch the call. Well, that would be 10 yards.
Speaker 4:Well, they would have told us what it was Were they second and five.
Speaker 5:They were second and ten, so now they're third and 15, so they got a five-yard penalty on something, Something I don't know what it was. What's a five-yard on a I don't know? Is there a five-yard holding penalty?
Speaker 4:No, oh, they just about, just about, got it and picked it. Oh, just over Sands. Well, still fourth and 15.
Speaker 5:They're going to kick it.
Speaker 4:Yeah gonna kick it. Yeah, they're gonna kick it.
Speaker 2:They're gonna get it just just outside of midfield sweet.
Speaker 4:So anyways, you know, and and and I know this sounds like I'm bashing, because here in isabella county oh, he just about had that too the the county residents um we just we just lost our road patrol yeah, brought up twice for for a vote amongst the constituents of Isabella County to have road patrol, which is the Sheriff's Department deputies out in the county driving around for incidents or issues or problems, Got denied by the voters twice. A lot of politics involved building a new $50 million jail. We just got done with a $10 or $12, $15 million road commission building how the hell, do you get a neutral zone in Fraction?
Speaker 4:A couple, two or three years ago Now, our administration building. They totally gutted for asbestos. They probably didn't need to do so. There's a lot of politics involved, but my question is, and maybe you guys can answer this Fair catch. Does Bill you live in Isabella? Yeah.
Speaker 4:Okay, are any other surrounding counties and Isabella County surrounds La Casa County to the west, clare to the north, midland to the east, gratiot to the south, do any of those other counties? Does anybody anybody know? Do they pass a separate millage For their sheriff's department For quote unquote road patrol? So that's automatically in their county budget To have these deputies? So where did Isabella County Go wrong? And I've had this discussion with my dad. He's been in this fucking county For dinosaurs to roam the earth. He's listening, that's fine, he knows. He's been in this fucking county for dinosaurs to roam the earth. He's listening, that's fine. He knows he's 194 years old.
Speaker 4:What I'm saying is at what point did the county sheriff's budget get gutted? So all we now have is Sheriff Main and his under-sheriff Burns, the only two left out of the Sheriff's Department besides the correctional at our county jail, the COs. We got rid of 16, 18, 22, whatever it was Sheriff's deputies that were out on patrol or respond to calls within the county. Where did that sheriff's department budget get cut so we no longer have any deputies in the county? I don't understand because, like you're you, you live in the county, you don't live in the city limits. So now, if you get a, a distress call, you call 9-1-1. You got to wait on. I don't know if you're in tribal land or not. I am, so most of us are in tribal land or not I am.
Speaker 2:Most of us are in tribal land.
Speaker 4:So you might get tribal.
Speaker 2:It's only the south part of the city that is not on tribal land.
Speaker 4:Okay, so you might get tribal to your house.
Speaker 2:Get down, or you're going to get state police, I can get state tribal technically speaking and this is really a push. But technically speaking, cmu could probably respond if they wanted to.
Speaker 4:You're way outside of CMU property.
Speaker 2:But they're deputized though.
Speaker 4:Are they, I think?
Speaker 2:so they are.
Speaker 4:They all are.
Speaker 2:Now is my question why don't we just fucking deputize tribal Well?
Speaker 4:tribal's got to I don't think tribal can.
Speaker 5:Tribal has federal jurisdiction though. They actually have more jurisdiction than state police.
Speaker 4:But so if he but they shouldn't respond. Well, actually Jen's texting me right now. She would know because she worked at the prosecutor's office. There you go, we're going to get it right. She says that's being removed. I'm going to assume from her text. I'm going to assume the deputization of outside agencies are going to be removed.
Speaker 5:Which.
Speaker 4:I think she'll definitely let me know. I know City and CMU were deputized to be able to respond to incidents outside the county.
Speaker 5:Now, I'm assuming at this point Look at that, guy's got a goofy-ass helmet cover.
Speaker 4:She said somewhere there was an article.
Speaker 5:What is it? He's got a helmet cover on his helmet. Have you ever seen that? Yeah, a lot of them do for concussions.
Speaker 4:Reallyaring a helmet. What is it? He's got a helmet cover on his helmet. Have you ever seen that? Yeah, a lot of them do for concussions Really, Yep all teams wear it.
Speaker 5:I've not seen that before.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's for help with concussions.
Speaker 5:It's like a soft cushion on the outer shell, Yep and it's got the team logo on it.
Speaker 2:That's the first time some point now that this is Refs are paid off Now that all this is going down. Another new crew zone. Oh, that's on the Vikings though.
Speaker 4:Wow, that's way too close to call. I don't like that. Yeah. Anyways, Sorry, my whole question is right.
Speaker 2:All these deputies that probably shouldn't have a football game on because we get distracted Well, but it's coming down the end and I have no problem interrupting this.
Speaker 4:for that you got three minutes. Was I the only one up here winning my Lions shit on Sunday, but that's cool, Whatever man.
Speaker 2:Oh, you do have Lions I didn't see it. I don't have any Lions stuff.
Speaker 4:I guess you're not a fan, which is cool. I'm a bandwagon fan, but you don't follow football Because you were asking what the other three-point yeah.
Speaker 5:Is there a three-point conversion?
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's called a field goal, which is all good, man, I mean most of us don't follow the bocce ball rules like you do, so I get it no, but yeah, I think he's more of a pickleball kind of guy but my. So I want to know in Isabella County Plays a mean people.
Speaker 3:I'm a city resident. You're a county resident. You're a county resident. Where did we go?
Speaker 4:wrong. What is mandated by the state that you have and what is not mandated? Because I don't think like MSU Extension. Do you even know what MSU Extension even is? Msu Extension helps farmers. So, for instance, the MSU Extension would say it's going to be a dry year, you have a cornfield, you should plant soybeans, or you should plant winter wheat, or you should do this, or or you should do this or you should do that. Here's grant money you can get. They help farmers figure out what their soil content is to what they should grow or not grow Got it.
Speaker 4:What they can get or what they don't get oh flag. All these different things. I don't think that's a mandated by the state entity. Okay, get down. Like your VA rep is paid for by the federal government, they pay the county to have a VA rep.
Speaker 2:I think that was a clean touchdown. That's not what the flag was Watch. What he does. The flag was thrown. Oh, he pushed them off. That cost you. That's not what the flag was Watch. What he does the flag was thrown.
Speaker 5:Oh, he pushed him off he pushed off. That's offensive pass interference.
Speaker 2:So that's against the Vikings.
Speaker 4:No, it'd be against Green Bay.
Speaker 5:Well, they didn't take it off the board. Well, they haven't taken it off yet it stood.
Speaker 4:Go for one. I don't know what it's going to be an onside kick. I don't know what the penalty was. 24-27 Vikings, extra points. Good, 25-27. Two minutes 18 seconds left.
Speaker 2:So now, what do we have to? Do Onside kick.
Speaker 5:Do you do an onside at this point?
Speaker 4:I think you do, or do you kick it long and try got to go three and out. So what's the difference? You go three and out from the 25 or 30, or you go three and out from the 40? Yeah, it doesn't matter. Your odds are going to be better to get the onside kick and recover it if you can. And if you don't, it's fine. They kick it down to the 10 rather than kicking it down to the 30.
Speaker 5:Do you understand the onside kick? Onside kick, Nope. So what an onside kick is is if I kick the ball and it crosses 10 yards and I recover it, it becomes my ball.
Speaker 2:So now they have to kick to.
Speaker 4:Green Bay has to kick to Minnesota. So if they do an onside kick the ball has to go at least 10 yards If it goes 10 yards, you have to declare you're kicking it now. Yeah, I don't like that at all With these new rules. So there's no surprise on sides. But at this point it's not going to be a surprise anyways. Yeah, but that's bullshit. So you say I'm going to kick an onside kick. If Green Bay gets it, it's Green Bay's ball, okay. When Minnesota gets it, it's their ball, right.
Speaker 2:And they what?
Speaker 4:yard line. Kicking it off from the 35.
Speaker 2:30, 35. So they don't go more than they do. 10 yards, so no more than 45.
Speaker 4:I believe. Well, so these are new rules. So they did a thing this year for player protection. Yeah, I know. So basically, the two teams line up on the 40, like they are right now. The Green Bay team can't move until oh, they're kicking it off. Wow, kicked it from the 35. Out of bounds, going to go to the 30.
Speaker 5:And then it brings it out to the 30 instead of the 20.
Speaker 4:So the Green Bay team can't move until the other team touches the ball. It's a player safety, because what was happening is the old kickoff rules. People were running too fast tackling each other.
Speaker 5:Somebody was just like this and they'd get smeared Too many injuries, too many problems.
Speaker 4:So they changed the rules this year and everybody's kind of learning that Gotcha Used to be able to do an onside surprise, onside kick. But, now the way they line up and you can't move until the other team catches the ball or whatever Gotcha.
Speaker 5:So, now they've got to do a four and out or whatever. And they're not going to do it. Oh, they left him in and of course they let him stay inbound so that runs the clock out.
Speaker 4:We're right there, guys, and of course they let him stay in balance. That runs the clock out. We're right there, guys.
Speaker 2:So anyways before we get off the spot.
Speaker 4:what my concern is in Isabella County and it hasn't happened, because all of our deputies that work for the Sheriff's Department have left and gone to surrounding counties 99% of them. What I want to know is what part of our budget okay has gone to something that doesn't need to have the money, because unfortunately, I feel in government it's like okay, everybody wants to have the police around, we want this shiny new thing over here, no, but.
Speaker 5:You want the police, but you want to pay for it.
Speaker 4:Everybody wants police. So okay, see, we're going to give a half million dollars to the Peace Department. Okay, let's gut that down to $50,000, and we'll put $450,000 into something else and we'll just now make a millage, a separate budget that the taxpayers have to pay for, right? So, rather than having a $10 million budget, we'll make it $12 million, and people will pay extra to make sure they have this protection. It's like a fire department Everybody wants their house put out when it catches on fire. Could you imagine the city of Mount Pleasant deciding well, we spend $3 million to have a fire department, we're going to make it $50,000. And we're going to give all that other money to something else. And now we're going to come up with a millage If you want to have a fire department, you've got to pay extra for it.
Speaker 5:Which you were already paying for anyways.
Speaker 4:Which you were already paying for anyways, which you were already paying for. But now we're going to reallocate that to build something else or do something else with. And now, if you want your fire department, if you want to have your fire department, you can pay extra for it. And who's not going to say, yes, I want to have a fire department, I'll pay extra for it? Right, I feel that's what the county did. They took the sheriff's department budget hacked. I feel that's what the county did.
Speaker 5:They took the Sheriff's Department budget, hacked it down to the bare minimum and spent it on something else and said you know, and then the millage failed. Then they were backfired.
Speaker 4:Came to you and said hey, if you want to have the cops, you've got to pay extra and it backfired.
Speaker 5:Pass this millage.
Speaker 4:Well, we did the same thing. We have iRide, right, we call it ictc. Yep, right, or you have, uh, the building out, the building out west, the senior center, um, trying to think of what it's called anyways, uh, isabella, county commission on aging yeah okay, those are separate millages.
Speaker 4:if the county residents decided to say, hey, forget it, we don't want ictc, low-income people that can pay a buck to get on a bus and drive around and go to the store and do whatever, could you imagine if everybody decided, hey, I don't want to pay that millage, no more, got rid of that bus service or got rid of the Commission on Aging or whatever? Those are separate, outside of budgets. If they took money from other departments the building department or treasurer's office or the clerk office and put all that money into those services and said, well, if you want a county clerk and you want to be able to get your paperwork done and you want this and you want that, you've got to pay a separate millage.
Speaker 5:Well, those are mandatory services, or pay $500 for that hour that she's going to work on your show it's going to work on your show. You know what I mean, yeah, so it's weird to me. How did Right there Doinked it? How did we? He missed a field goal earlier in the game.
Speaker 4:Earlier in the game and they're talking about it Doinked it off the upright. How did we lose when all these other surrounding counties have all these services?
Speaker 5:I just it's hard for me to believe they passed.
Speaker 4:It's called misappropriation of funds. I think they just took for granted that people will always pay for it. Right, and now Mike Main, who's our sheriff, is put in a tough spot because he lost 16 or 22 or whatever it is deputies on the road, and probably not to his fault at all. It's the commissioners that have served for years and years and years and years before that gutted the budget and put it in something shit that we don't really need, because they couldn't pass a budget to get a new park or new, this or new, that they took the money from there and said, well, we'll just come up with another millage, another tax that people always vote on because they want cops.
Speaker 2:Right, not his fault.
Speaker 4:This time they didn't, though, no, they didn't, and there was a lot of it was bad and part of me distrust goes to everyone.
Speaker 2:Part of me is like is Sheriff Main involved with some of this decision making?
Speaker 5:It almost looked like that when it came out.
Speaker 2:Did he ask for the new jail?
Speaker 4:Well, you know for sure he did. And I will say this Our parent company before AJ's Plumbing was Mid-State Plumbing and Heating Did all the work at the jail. I worked at the jail here when I was apprentice.
Speaker 2:The original jail downtown.
Speaker 4:The jail downtown right behind the administration building attached to the courthouse Needs a lot of work, need a lot of work. The problem was, oh, they got it. The problem was the county quit doing all maintenance at that building. Okay, minimum, minimum, minimum. And my personal feeling is they made it to the point of no return. They could have put an addition on, they could have shipped some inmates out and then we could have reconstructed portions of it at a time. Would have cost a lot of money but we could have rehabilitated it at portions at a time.
Speaker 2:But less than a new $50 million jail.
Speaker 4:Right, which they couldn't afford to do because of COVID times and the cost of materials, which I'm well aware of here Is this the new jail that's held by the ICE. It's held by the freeway yep, they just quit doing any maintenance at all.
Speaker 4:Or the bare minimum Toilet plugged up. They fixed it, but they had to replace the main end of the ground. Nope, we're just going to let it rot. They shut her down. Hva systems going to shit. Rather than fixing it, we just let it die. They just let it happen. So that way, this building was in such disrepair that it didn't make sense to fix it. Okay.
Speaker 2:So they forced it.
Speaker 4:Your motor in your car is going out, okay, rather than fixing it. It's like oh, I can just buy a new one If my motor blows up, rather than fixing it. Now my motor blows up, I'll have to get a new car, right, right, so you just let the fucker blow up. Right Now I don't have a choice. I have to get a new car. My motor's blown up Okay. They kind of did the same thing on the building. They let it get in such disrepair that it wasn't worth fixing it at this point, right, right, because you quit doing maintenance on it. Right? That's fucking bullshit.
Speaker 5:So they could get the new shiny building off the freeway.
Speaker 4:This is my personal feeling.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying this is what happened it would be awesome if they got the ball and ran it. I think that's yeah, they're just going to take a knee.
Speaker 4:I think that's what, honestly, what they did, so they could justify they're out of time out, so they can't get any more, so they could justify getting that new jail and then put them in such a hole that when they found asbestos in the other building which is another debate for another time, because I work with asbestos all the time bullshit we do we do, we do schools we do hospitals we do shit I.
Speaker 4:We just did a project up in arunak county a jail and courthouse expansion Standish, michigan building from freaking 1940 okay asbestos all over encapsulated.
Speaker 5:Guess what we did?
Speaker 4:we're going to put an addition on you. Cut off four feet here, we can weld on the pipe and we can take off on the heating system, right, what did they do here? They gutted the entire fucking thing because they found a little bit of asbestos in the building. Oh, what they did was they gut the building and say, okay, now we don't have a building, Now you have to pass a millage or we have to take out bonds that you guys have to pay for to refurbish this building. What they didn't like? They didn't like the layout, they didn't like how old it looked, they didn't like this. They have no choice but to put it back together. Nothing left in it.
Speaker 2:Well, they got shot down. Except we're like eh, how about now?
Speaker 4:Yeah, but somebody at the upper echelons. And trust me, I work with owners, I work with entities, I work with governments. All the damn time. I see it, I know it, and that's exactly what happens. Somebody up there goes oh we just got this. Taxpayers ain't going to have a choice. We don't have an administration. The other thing is gutted. We have to Brand new. Everything's got to be redone. No, it didn't have to be. I guarantee you it didn't have to be.
Speaker 2:So county government 101, because I'm not 100% the county board of commissioners is the head of the county government, correct?
Speaker 4:So they are the ones that approve or disapprove certain things.
Speaker 5:You want to know who built that new building that they just gutted? My grandfather. He was chairman of the county commissioners at the time 1972, when that old building was built.
Speaker 4:So you have an administration that runs the day-to-days. Okay, the county commissioners meet once a month and I'm sure they're on the phone with the administration all the time on certain things going on, but they can only pass certain things. It's like the city. We have a city manager. They run the day-to-day. The city commission votes on things every now and again. So I'm not going to blame the county commissioners. Probably the day-to-day people just decided you know what, let's just gut the whole thing. And they said, yep, sounds good. So close. The commissioners got probably the information but didn't get the full story. They just decided to gut the whole thing and we're just going to get a brand new building. We have a show. Didn't need to be.
Speaker 4:Guarantee, you didn't need to be With some rooftop units sitting above the third floor where my wife used to work. Guarantee you, they didn't have to cut that entire building. Boilers were fine, the heat was working, the AC was working. They just had to put some units on the roof but they found asbestos and rather than cutting three or four feet off the ductwork and recoupling to that, they decided fuck it, let's just gut this whole thing and let's get it all brand new.
Speaker 5:We got to take the asbestos out and they freaked out.
Speaker 2:And so the board of commissioners are taking.
Speaker 4:There's elementary schools in this county. I'll guarantee you In this county that still have asbestos, in that I put brand new boilers.
Speaker 5:Claire Middle School when I went to school there.
Speaker 4:Shepherd Elementary and Middle School.
Speaker 5:Claire Middle School is older than that. Still have asbestos in them. I guarantee you, older than that, yeah.
Speaker 4:Because I put boilers in that motherfucker in 2008, 2009. Guarantee you, they still got asbestos in them.
Speaker 5:Asbestos is fine, as long as you don't mess with it and you wrap it. You have to keep it contained.
Speaker 2:You have the remediation. We're going to call it the deep state again, but the deep state of Isabella County are the ones that have made this decision and it's the Board of Commissioners that are taking the heat for it. They're fucked with the.
Speaker 4:And that's the reason why the girl that was the administrator is no longer the administrator. She resigned and quit Because she was probably in charge of the whole thing. She was probably the one that made the call and then, as all the votes over the last year have gone not her way, that she thought they were probably going to go. She either knew she was going to get axed or asked to leave People are fed up.
Speaker 5:They're tired of paying for this shit.
Speaker 4:Well, we're just not going to do it anymore.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 4:Just tired of it building we do and we pay about $700,000 $750,000 a year to now rehouse all those different apartments. I know prosecutor's office is downtown on Rodway Street, right down the road. Down here Past, the AJ Sky Lounge is where a lot of the other offices sit and a lot of people are probably still working from home, which is ridiculous, because that doesn't work great for the community trying to find out where these departments are at.
Speaker 4:They got to come in and fill out stuff or do something or anything else, but much less inner office talks. You know what I mean. It is what it is. It sucks. But.
Speaker 2:Well, on that note, yeah, I think we should wrap it up. What do you think, gents?
Speaker 5:I think it was a good time, all right.
Speaker 2:Well, we're at our three-hour mark, so Perfect, cool, all right well. Thank you everybody for joining us. If you're still live with us, that's great. We appreciate it. We're going to sign out for the night and don't really have a plan for the next one, but you know it'll be next year, It'll probably be next year.
Speaker 2:Yep, it'll be another year from now, but yeah, so when we do have something, we'll plan something, we'll figure it out, we'll put it as an event on the page, so that way you know, people know it's coming, people know it's coming.
Speaker 4:And we'll make sure that Ray Lopez knows we're going to be on. Yep Sounds good. Do you want to grab those?
Speaker 2:Yep, I'll grab this. Thank you so much. We'll see you guys next time. Adios.
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