Epic Fury, Epic Failure: The Memorandum, The Merger, and The Marines

Chuck and Manny hold it down without Jeezy, and the world did not slow down to be polite about it. Day 44 of the longest DHS shutdown in U.S. history, Trump's legally shaky presidential memorandum to pay TSA workers, ICE agents taking selfies in airports while officers sell plasma. 

Then the FCC( Part 25 & Part 100), the Nexstar-Tegna TRO, and why Brendan Carr is genuinely dangerous in a way most people aren't clocking. 

Then Iran: Day 29, Houthis entering the war, ground invasion planning, the suspicious futures trade, and Manny's verdict, there is no good ending here. 

Plus, the Pickle goes to Kash Patel and Chili from TLC in the same week, entirely different flavors.

Transcript

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Chuck: Hello, world!
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Chuck: This is not Jeezy.
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Manny: Not at all.
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Chuck: Re-HEALING.
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Chuck: This is your captain in chaos, your chairman in chaos, I don't… it's just chaotic.
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Manny: Yeah, chaos everywhere.
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Chuck: Yeah, I said.
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Manny: It's just chaos.
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Chuck: It's just chaos. The world is in chaos.
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Chuck: The show is in chaos.
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Chuck: It's just chaos. It's your boy Chuck here, coming to you live and direct with my good brother Manny. Manny, how are you today, my good sir?
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Manny: Man, I'm doing well, doing well, glad to be back.
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Manny: To talk about the chaos that's currently going on in this world.
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Chuck: You know what, man? It's… it is a very, interesting dynamic, because although the boys have said, continuously, make politics boring again, I really do look forward to coming every Sunday… well, given our recording… record on Sunday, who cares?
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Manny: on Sunday.
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Chuck: To come and record.
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Chuck: With the… with the boys, so that we can… You know, per…
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Manny: Do that.
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Chuck: Provide is the word I was looking for. There, y'all.
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Chuck: provide our listeners with the information and knowledge that we have collected, throughout life, but over the journey of the news cycle, and disseminate it to them. I really look forward to it, to the point, hey.
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Chuck: Some big company. Go ahead and start paying us so we can do this.
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Manny: Bro, full time.
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Chuck: as a livelihood, full-time. I really enjoy it. I really enjoyed the time with my brothers. I really enjoy providing this to you. So, yeah, that was a PSA for anybody listening out there who has a nice bag for the boys.
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Manny: And if you don't have a large bag for the boys, it's no problem. You can like, you can follow.
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Manny: There, spread the word.
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Chuck: Because you know somebody with a large bag. You do, you do.
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Manny: You do. Or they know somebody.
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Chuck: Oh, they know somebody. Tell a friend to tell a friend.
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Manny: We gotta be at least 6 degrees of separation away from at least 1 billionaire.
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Chuck: I think I am already.
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Chuck: Honestly, if we sat here and really did a deep dive, I truly think I am. But anyway, as you notice, it is only two voices this week. Our good brother Jeezy is here with us in spirit. As we always say, we are active.
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Chuck: And participating, not just fathers, but husbands, spouses, brothers, sons, family men.
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Chuck: And so he is handling some family business. He's good, family's good, they just have some business to tend to, and it did not afford him the opportunity to get with us today in a timely manner, and in respect to my brother and his family.
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Chuck: You never say, hey, bruh, handle your business, we got you.
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Manny: You ain't heavy.
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Manny: You're not…
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Chuck: You ain't heavy. We got you, bruh. We got you. So, we will proceed with Manny and myself. Now, when it's just Jeezy and myself, we call it an NWO, News Without Order.
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Chuck: Manny and I have not thought of a moniker just yet. Right. But, but…
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Chuck: But I will tell you this, this may be… may get a bit geeked out, than normal.
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Chuck: Because Manny and myself are self-proclaimed tech heads. We enjoy…
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Chuck: a commonality in that space, so…
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Chuck: I'll give you this fair warning now.
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Manny: If you love stats, figures, and theories.
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Manny: Oh, then you've tuned in to the right pod today.
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Chuck: We got you!
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Manny: We gotcha.
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Chuck: We got you. And that leads us into our first story, stats, figures.
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Chuck: Numbers.
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Chuck: Even though they're not getting sent out. Right, not at all. We're talking about the DHS funding. As you all know, the DHS has been a part of a partial shutdown now for.
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Manny: Let's see… 43? 43, 44 days?
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Chuck: Yeah, 43, 44 days, making it the longest in U.S. history. Another record for Donald Trump.
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Manny: Congrats. Breaking records.
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Chuck: They're breaking…
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Manny: everywhere.
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Chuck: breaking his own record over and over, and not for the good things. So, with this, that means that, there are different departments in the…
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Chuck: different entities in the Department of Homeland Security that have gone without funding. And of this,
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Chuck: the biggest one… I won't say the biggest one, the most new…
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Manny: The loudest one. Yes.
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Chuck: The loudest one.
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Chuck: Right now, the loudest right now, because they… a couple of them are taking turns swapping back and forth which one is the loudest in the moment. The loudest one right now is TSA, and the reason for that is the impact that it has had on travel and flights throughout this country over the past…
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Chuck: I'll say it really has gotten ugly over the past two weeks. What about you, Manny?
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Manny: Yeah, no, I think… I think everyone kind of held cool for those first two… until that first paycheck was missed, I think.
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Chuck: Yes.
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Manny: I think everyone was like, alright, we could, you know, they still got… they got some buffer to figure this out, but when that first paycheck hit, that's when attitudes promptly changed.
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Chuck: Listen, you… if you've never been in a situation at your job where your money did not hit when it was supposed to hit, and you know you did everything that you were supposed to do, your whole everything changes.
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Manny: Bruh, the amount… how quickly I go…
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Manny: From just a calm, cool, collected employee to, like, a mob boss, where's my money? I need it right now.
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Manny: Oh, it takes… I don't care how long it takes you.
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Manny: You need to figure out how to shorten that down and run me my coins.
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Chuck: Simple as that. It really… it gets ugly quick. I've been there before where my check…
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Chuck: on routine, would hit at a certain time, and I woke up one morning, and my money wasn't there.
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Chuck: I know I submitted my timesheet.
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Chuck: I know I did… I know I showed up every day this week. This pay period, I was there.
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Manny: And the amount of anger and frustration you go into the office to.
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Manny: At that point.
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Manny: Not alone.
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Manny: to deal with my office stuff. Oh, this is top priority for me. I don't care what else y'all have, this is now my priority and yours.
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Chuck: That is a fact. Unfortunately, though, hats off and prayers and love to these TSA workers, because they went into work
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Chuck: Already not sure if they were gonna get paid anyway.
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Manny: Yep.
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Chuck: They went into this knowing.
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Chuck: It's possible that they can get this cleared up.
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Chuck: It's a chance they don't.
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Manny: Right.
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Chuck: Again, it's not their first time dealing with this this year.
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Manny: Well, and then for the first time of…
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Manny: I think in a long… in a long time. I'll say this, because I won't track it back. Usually, when we see these shutdowns, and we see these furloughs.
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Manny: it… everyone knew, okay, you know, even if I miss a check, they gonna run me my money back. But from what we saw from the previous,
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Manny: shut down, they were unsure if they were gonna get paid out. So I think that's also lingering over the head of everybody who's working, and kudos to all 58,000 people. We're talking about TSA now, we'll hit everyone else.
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Manny: But those officers who still show up, because y'all better than me.
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Chuck: I'm telling you now.
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Manny: than B.
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Chuck: You're a much better person than I am, because all it takes is one.
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Manny: Buh.
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Chuck: All it takes is one.
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Manny: done.
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Chuck: And I'm not talking about one right now in this 44-day stretch, I'm talking about one the first time. In general.
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Manny: in general.
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Chuck: First time. So let's get down to the specifics of this. So, with DHS not being funded over the past 44 days, everybody has missed a check except
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Chuck: Ice.
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Chuck: and CBP.
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Chuck: And the reason for this is… the Republicans and Trump
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Chuck: In their thoughts, in their process, in their evil maniacal scheming.
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Chuck: put into the big, beautiful bill allocation of funds so that ICE could be funded and have some.
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Manny: Slick.
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Chuck: I could say, slush funds, yes.
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Manny: There's flash floods.
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Chuck: Yes, that… I was gonna dress it up, but a lipstick on a pig is still a pig. It was slush funds. They knew… they knew that there was gonna be a battle. I believe this was truly set up because…
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Chuck: They knew their mindset and the approach that they were gonna take.
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Chuck: To these immigration processes.
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Chuck: And it was gonna get some pushback. I'm convinced a thousand percent.
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Manny: See, I don't think the ICELUS fund was for that, though.
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Manny: I think they wanted to give… I think Trump knew exactly what he wanted, Ice to do.
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Chuck: True.
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Manny: And he knew he couldn't have a budget line to do it.
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Chuck: Gotcha.
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Manny: Or he wanted to just, in general, have this unspoken-to money, because like in government, if you say, hey, I'm gonna spend $500,000 on pens, you gotta spend $500,000 on pens. So I think he wanted to give them this pool of money that they could just do whatever at his own beck and call.
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Manny: Like, at this point, ICE has become the, you know.
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Manny: have some ginger ale and go lay down… of the Trump presidency. It is the solution to everything.
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Chuck: You're right.
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Manny: How many times were you, when you growing up, your parents, you'd say, hey, I don't feel well, have some ginger ale, and go lay down.
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Chuck: Because we grew up in the era where you had casserole, you had, some, tus… not tussin'?
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Manny: Tusk.
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Chuck: Not Robitussin.
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Manny: Robitussin? Tussin. Tussin'.
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Chuck: Touching DM. And so, you… or, there was… there was this one method that my mother used
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Chuck: And I love my mother dearly, but to this day.
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Manny: I catch attitude over it.
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Chuck: Chop up some onions.
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Manny: Put them in the socks.
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Chuck: No, no, no, no, no, brother. No, no, hold on.
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Chuck: You chop them up real nice, real fine.
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Chuck: Mix in some honey, and some lemon juice.
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Chuck: And you consume it.
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Chuck: Now, At a young age, I hated it.
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Chuck: I have an affinity for onions now. I enjoy eating onions.
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Chuck: But… at 7, 8, 9, 10?
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Chuck: What… what child wants to eat onions?
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Chuck: And honey, and lemon juice, together.
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Chuck: And you better not spit it up.
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Manny: Bro.
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Chuck: Did not spit it out.
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Manny: But I.
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Chuck: I'll tell you this, when you woke up in the morning, or you fell asle.
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Manny: Pretty soon.
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Chuck: I don't know.
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Manny: Look at him.
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Chuck: And Manny, our ginger ale today is not our ginger ale of yesterday. That's also true.
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Manny: This is also true.
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Chuck: But with this, in the funding.
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Chuck: not only was… and I see your point, Manny, in regards to the unmitigated use of funds without having to account for, answer to.
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Chuck: budgetary constraints, in that. So everybody is not paid but ICE, and so there was a resolution
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Chuck: from the Senate. The Senate, in a unanimous
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Chuck: Haven't said that in a long time from the same.
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Chuck: In a unanimous voice vote, Came up with a resolution to pay
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Chuck: not only TSA, but FEMA, Coast Guard, and CISA,
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Chuck: with the exception of not paying ICE and Border Patrol. And this was a, a planned…
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Chuck: coordinated, agreed upon, bipartisan, again, something we have not said often with… forget the Senate, and Congress in general.
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Manny: In general, as a body, as a whole.
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Chuck: As about… exactly.
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Chuck: they came up with this resolution, and voted and agreed upon it, and sent it over to the House. My good brother.
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Chuck: What did the house do with this?
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Manny: Brother said, oh, we're not doing this, we going home.
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Manny: In fact, Speaker Johnson called it a joke and uncontrollable.
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Manny: And… went on to say, we're not going to split apart two of the most important agencies in the government and leave them hanging like that.
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Manny: And… Okay.
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Manny: That was… that's a decision.
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Chuck: That's a decision that's an interesting decision, an interesting approach, being that they're the only ones getting paid right now.
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Manny: Bruh.
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Manny: Only once.
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Chuck: The only ones!
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Manny: And I…
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Manny: I hate that it's come… it's coming down to this, but now it's going to be a question of how long before this ICE money runs out.
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Chuck: That's a great question.
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Manny: Because, at this point, that seems… it seems like it's going to be the only play.
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Manny: To really… to really do anything.
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Manny: I thought, at minimum.
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Manny: I think a couple things could play out. I think at minimum, they at least try to fund TSA.
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Manny: Because, think about it, people in both of these bodies still have primaries to run.
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Chuck: Yes.
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Manny: So, I would assume they're at least, hey, we'll take care of… of what you said, you know, we'll take care of TSA, and we'll take care of FEMA, just because, politically, we can't deal with this while we're running primaries.
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Manny: That's… seemed to not be the case. So now I'm wondering…
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Manny: How long this will play out before…
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Manny: They're really starting to build up some talks of moving agencies.
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Chuck: Well, before they get there,
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Chuck: the House did try to come up with their own resolution, after the Senate sent theirs over.
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Chuck: And in a very partisan… Shocking. Very, very split-down-the-aisle resolution,
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Chuck: The house presented something to pay everybody.
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Chuck: You know, we're gonna fund everybody.
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Chuck: And it passed 213 to 203, again.
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Chuck: Right down the aisle.
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Manny: Barely.
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Chuck: Barely, but down the aisle.
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Chuck: And guess what, good ol'… I don't even like saying his name. Senate Democrats.
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Chuck: said it's dead on arrival, because you're doing… you're doing contradictory to what we've been asking. There's no regulation, there's no revamping, and there's no safeguards in regards to how ICE is operating and Border Patrol is operating. So as soon as you send this over.
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Chuck: we're gonna shoot it down. Now, what y'all need to know is… They're on a break.
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Manny: Two weeks. Two weeks, we're back.
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Chuck: I… listen… I know last part I said I wasn't gonna run for politics.
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Chuck: But the amount of time that these jokers get off from work, because this is… this is work for them. This is their job.
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Manny: Yep.
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Chuck: They've had more vacation days than work days.
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Manny: At this year, at this point, yeah.
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Chuck: Yes! And so… and so, while they're on that two-week break, and when they come back, the Senate Democrats said the House's resolution is dead, so guess what? We're back at… we're back at square one, ground zero.
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Manny: I think…
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Chuck: And I think that…
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Manny: resolution from the House was really interesting, because in it, it was an 8-week continuing resolution, so they were very much, hey, let's putt this till we get a little bit… get past primary season.
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Chuck: That's what it sound like.
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Manny: And deal with it then, because even with that vote count, 3 Democrats.
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Manny: Hop sides, to go ahead and vote for it.
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Manny: So… It's gonna be interesting, now…
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Manny: What was interesting is the follow-up from it, is the Senate is on a 24-hour recall. So, if something gets down, they got 24 hours to get back to DC.
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Manny: It… the house is on a 48-hour
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Manny: recall. But at this point.
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Manny: Who is even gonna have a conversation over these next two weeks?
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Chuck: Neither one of them, and if I'm not mistaken, I saw reports that Johnson and Thune both said, we'll see y'all when we get back.
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Chuck: Like, basically.
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Manny: I'm going on vacation.
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Chuck: I got plans. I got plans, I'm not about to alter my plans. This was a last-second reprieve, and y'all poo-pooed it, so guess what? I'm gonna take my break. But good ol' Donnie.
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Chuck: Out of, out the blue.
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Chuck: And this was out of left field, because he could have did this weeks ago.
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Chuck: said, hey, I'm gonna sign an executive order to make sure TSA gets paid. Right. And here's my thought on that.
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Chuck: This did not come about until after the report that Delta said Oh…
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Chuck: Congressional members are losing their privileges.
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Manny: In flight. In flight.
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Chuck: There's no more skipping the lines. There's no more… there's no more driving you up to the airplane. There's no more back door entry. You gonna stand out here with everybody else who's waiting, who is out in the parking garage to go through a security checkpoint.
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Chuck: You get in line with them. And then, TS… Not TSA, Lord, TMZ.
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Chuck: TMZ made a proclamation and call to everyone.
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Chuck: If you are out on vacation, if you are in line for security check, and you see a congressional member.
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Chuck: Record them and send it to us, please.
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Chuck: And we joked in the group chat, saying…
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Chuck: When the evil empire of TMZ…
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Manny: the voice of reason.
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Chuck: is the most sensible voice in the room. We have a problem.
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Manny: We're cooked.
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Manny: We're cooked, and… First of all, it's gonna be funny as soon as these videos start rolling in.
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Chuck: Oh, you know they're coming.
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Manny: You know their time. Because you know people ain't got nothing but time. They're like, oh, cool, I'm be… oh, here you go.
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Manny: And they're not gonna let these people rest. No. And…
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Manny: good, because I'm kind of like, why…
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Manny: I think there's one thing we should do as a country. Actually, I think there's a lot of things that we should do as a country.
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Manny: But…
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Manny: To your point, this random little executive order, we'll get to what he actually did in a second, this, executive order came very quickly, as soon as the people who were responsible for figuring out the solution started feeling the pressure.
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Chuck: I…
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Manny: I think that whenever there's a shutdown of any kind, any type of the government shutdown, outside of a holiday or something.
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Manny: Congress should not get paid.
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Chuck: Agree.
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Chuck: Agreed.
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Manny: let's put this pressure on the people to solve… if the people are feeling pain, you need to feel some of the pain, too. Especially because you're… you're the one in charge of fixing it.
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Chuck: Not only should they not get paid, but they should lose their perks.
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Manny: Instantly.
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Manny: Instantly.
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Manny: Hope that last check runs as good as you want it, like…
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Chuck: Oops.
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Manny: It's so bad. It's so bad.
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Chuck: Yeah. Yes.
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Manny: And the rough part about it, it's cause… No one is really negotiating.
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Manny: I feel like at this point, everyone has said, these are our starting parameters.
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Manny: And everyone has said, well, that's not going to work. And everyone's just waiting to see who breaks next.
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Chuck: The art… you… you're exactly 1,000% correct. The art of negotiation has died in Congress.
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Chuck: Like… You can't… you can't come in… with the hard line.
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Chuck: Stay at your hard line, and expect a resolution.
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Chuck: Every single time.
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Chuck: Yep. Where is the… where's the meeting in the middle? Now, I will… I will say, I will say.
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Chuck: that… the Senate, I'll give them some credit.
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Chuck: Now, I'm gonna… I'm gonna give him soft credit for that.
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Manny: This is cred… this is…
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Chuck: It's credit.
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Manny: Soft credit.
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Chuck: It's upgraded.
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Chuck: We're kind of together, brother.
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Manny: Yeah, I'd already pre-thought of some responses. So, continue on, good brother, continue on.
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Chuck: This is like a soft inquiry and not a hard credit pool.
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Chuck: It doesn't…
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Manny: Let me see if I'll get approved for this car. Exactly. Exactly.
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Chuck: And the reason I say that is because, yes, they… it was bipartisan in the unanimous vote.
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Chuck: But here's the crux of it.
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Chuck: the Democrats agreed to… Allow for a vote on the funding for…
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Chuck: ICE and Border Patrol at a later date that only needed a simple majority.
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Chuck: So, the Republicans was like, hey.
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Manny: Hey, we'll find out.
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Chuck: stuff now, because we don't need you.
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Manny: At all.
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Chuck: resolution comes back up to fund these two, and then we still are gonna get what I want.
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Chuck: So, that's why I say I give them a soft credit instead of a hard credit, because there were some concessions there.
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Manny: Yeah.
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Chuck: But then in the end, I'm willing to bet… it's nothing but… but I'm willing to bet…
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Chuck: that they… the Senate Democrats were thinking they can count on the House… to kill it.
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Chuck: But the house just showed you.
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Chuck: Yep. You can't count on them jokers.
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Manny: They, they, they, much like our, our, our pod mascot, King Curtis, said.
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Chuck: Absolutely.
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Chuck: Absolutely not.
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Manny: No, I am not listening to your rules.
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Manny: And here's the, like, here's the part… obviously, the TSA thing is impacting everyday Americans on the street. 100%.
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Manny: But, I'm worried about everything else.
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Manny: that I think is re… white… go… we brought up FEMA.
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Manny: FEMA's Disaster Relief, fund has dropped from $9.6 billion to below $5 billion.
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Manny: And officials are saying this is really, really close to the red zone.
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Manny: And basically, once that disaster relief fund hits $3 billion.
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Manny: First of all, that's a level where one major event could completely.
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Chuck: One major… one… and I think it was Jeezy who mentioned this last pod. Hurricane season's right down the street.
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Manny: Yep.
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Chuck: Literally right down the street, folks.
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Manny: Coming over the Himalayas.
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Chuck: And we've seen a storm That can be a billion dollars.
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Chuck: We've had those… that devastation.
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Manny: Hurricane Helene caused $60 billion in damage.
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Chuck: Well, see, until…
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Manny: only… North Carolina… only 12% Of the damage has been covered by the federal government.
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Manny: So, we got that issue. And then, since February 22nd, when we talk about FEMA, all non-disaster response has been suspended. So, there's been no new national flood insurance policies, all the National Fire Academy classes have been canceled.
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Manny: There is a hurricane evacuation tool that people on… in coastal communities have… depend on.
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Manny: That expired on March 28th.
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Chuck: Man.
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Manny: Not only talking about the size of the agency, through Doge and the chopping of FEMA, they've lost… already lost over 2,000 employees.
315
Manny: So…
316
Manny: Are we gonna be ready? Like, and we dodged you a bullet last year with not having any major hurricanes hit the United States. Will we be lucky?
317
Manny: Two… two years in a row?
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Chuck: Probably not.
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Manny: Doubtful.
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Chuck: Probably not.
321
Manny: It's helpful.
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Chuck: Probably not. Yeah, and in losing that many employees in a system that already…
323
Chuck: took a long time for things to get processed and approved, at no fault of the individuals that work at FEMA, because we know a couple people who actually work
324
Chuck: In FEMA. Yeah.
325
Chuck: Their hands are tied in a lot of instances in getting stuff processed and approved, just because of the red tape of bureaucracy.
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Manny: see, yeah.
327
Chuck: And so,
328
Chuck: you're short on funding, you're short on individuals, what can you do? I'm gonna turn this on to the listeners. In your life.
329
Chuck: You're short on money.
330
Chuck: You're short on access, you're short… you're short in… in resources. How's that impacting your life?
331
Chuck: You know, so… so… Now, I think on a grander scale, 100 times.
332
Chuck: your instance, and that's what FEMA is dealing with. That's what we're dealing with in these instances where we're not getting the adequate funding and the adequate resources to these agencies that, in turn, helps us. That's what the purpose for them being there is to help us. Now, back to TSA real quick.
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Chuck: The stories, the videos.
334
Chuck: the post of the wait times, and the 4-hour wait times, and the lines going out the door, and into the parking garages. I live in Atlanta.
335
Chuck: If you've never been to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the busiest airport in the world.
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Manny: So, so, so big.
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Chuck: Big.
338
Manny: people.
339
Chuck: And so many… all that, but I will say, it is… when…
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Chuck: fully staffed and properly staffed, it is super efficient. It is a very super efficient operation.
341
Chuck: But just last week, there were lines all the way snaking through baggage claim.
342
Chuck: For people waiting just to go for security checkpoints.
343
Manny: But that's what they sent ICE to do, right?
344
Manny: I suspect…
345
Chuck: Thank you.
346
Manny: Helpin'. Helpin' there, right?
347
Chuck: pumping themselves with some donuts and Popeyes chicken.
348
Chuck: hanging around, and chillin'. And then there was a photo of a TSA worker trying to show an ICE agent how to
349
Chuck: On-the-fly training.
350
Chuck: Of how to use some,
351
Chuck: scanning equipment. When you, have your… when you put your things on the conveyor belt.
352
Chuck: They were sitting there in front of the monitor.
353
Chuck: And you could see the… the ICE agent sitting in the chair, and the TSA workers standing over, pointing and stuff.
354
Chuck: These are critical moments where I don't need on-the-fly training.
355
Manny: I don't.
356
Manny: I don't.
357
Chuck: You know, I'm…
358
Manny: I need you to look.
359
Chuck: Fast learner.
360
Chuck: I'm a fast learner.
361
Chuck: I don't want to be put in that situation.
362
Chuck: Where I'm on the fly learning how to do this.
363
Manny: Right, no, not at all. Not at all. Like, hey, you know, if you see any things like this, like, why… why are we teaching you, person who just finished Biology 101, how to read an MRI scan? Nope, I don't… I don't need the amateurs.
364
Chuck: Don't need them.
365
Manny: professionals.
366
Chuck: Please give me the professionals. I…
367
Chuck: I don't know. You can give me the amateurs on customer service. If you're teaching them
368
Chuck: Hey, press this button to answer the phone, this button to disconnect, this button to put them on hold, press this button to transfer.
369
Chuck: Sure.
370
Manny: Yep.
371
Chuck: It'll be annoying, it'll be a big inconvenience, but… okay.
372
Chuck: Not, not a, not excre…
373
Manny: No. I need you to identify weapons and potential.
374
Chuck: All of the above.
375
Chuck: All of the above.
376
Manny: Hazardous materials? No.
377
Chuck: I gotta take my shoes off.
378
Chuck: To make sure… that I'm not… I'm harmless.
379
Chuck: I need somebody who know what they're doing, because I ain't sitting here taking my shoes off. No.
380
Manny: One thing I think will be… and see, I've not talked to anyone who's had to fly through an airport lately.
381
Manny: But I know how I would have handled this situation. Actually, it doesn't even be near… Chuck, we've known each other a long time. Yeah. And I think throughout our friend group, I'm probably the bougie one.
382
Manny: But the way that I would have walked up, like, how long is this line? How much for clear? Excellent, let's go. But here's the.
383
Chuck: No problem, brother.
384
Chuck: Those lines are backed up.
385
Chuck: Those lines are backed up.
386
Chuck: In fact, to your point, the reason I had Clear was because of you.
387
Chuck: It was because of you.
388
Manny: But…
389
Chuck: Like, those… the pre-check, clear, all of those are not moving as swiftly as previous, because there was one point where they suspended those, TSA PreCheck and all that. They reinstated it, they didn't reinstate it, but when you have… if I'm not mistaken, the numbers were…
390
Chuck: Over 33% call-out rate.
391
Manny: Yeah. On it.
392
Chuck: On an agency that was already slashed.
393
Chuck: everything can go back to do.
394
Manny: Every… Bruh.
395
Chuck: All the headaches can go back to those. But,
396
Chuck: when you have that high of a call-out rate, and as someone who was… I'm still a manager. How about to say, someone who used to be a manager.
397
Chuck: But let a third of your team call out.
398
Manny: Bruh.
399
Chuck: Guess what that does? That puts you…
400
Chuck: Either one of two things. In play to be a team member that day, working.
401
Chuck: Or, you sitting back watching them drown.
402
Chuck: So… You know. But yes.
403
Manny: So it appears we're going with the second option here as a country.
404
Chuck: That's exactly… We're drowning. We're drowning.
405
Manny: point, what, there's reports of TSA officers sleeping in their cars, selling blood, driving Lyft, which is wild.
406
Chuck: Part-time jobs, all of the above.
407
Manny: Imagine leaving your stressful job at TSA, where you gotta deal They're not getting a break.
408
Manny: as soon as they're on the clock, it's time to go. So it's not like, oh, we hit this low from, like, 11 to 11.30, we don't… no one… no, you don't get that.
409
Chuck: You know what… you know what I didn't think about? And you just made me realize…
410
Chuck: Them getting a break.
411
Chuck: There are federal… federal regulations.
412
Chuck: Labor laws that you're required to have a lunch break.
413
Chuck: After a certain amount of hours worked.
414
Chuck: Oh my god. Bruh.
415
Chuck: Hey, you know, when you have lunchtime, the workforce is reduced in that lunch rotation, just trying to make sure people are eating.
416
Manny: Yeah.
417
Chuck: Oh, Lord.
418
Chuck: Oh, Lord. Yeah, I've… I said this before, I'll say it again. I'm not flying anywhere anytime soon, and if I can't drive there.
419
Chuck: Not going. I may take a train, we'll see.
420
Chuck: But this is a mess.
421
Manny: And according to reports coming out of TSA leadership, it takes somewhere between 4 to 6 months to replace
422
Manny: Every… every… to replace a person when they quit.
423
Manny: And at this point, we're over 500 people have quit.
424
Manny: Bye.
425
Chuck: 100?
426
Manny: At least.
427
Chuck: I wouldn't be surprised if it's more than that. Thinking about all the airports across the U.S,
428
Chuck: Everybody's not… everybody… everybody is not equipped… not everybody… a large segment of not just this workforce, but the country is not equipped to sustain going one… without one to two paychecks.
429
Chuck: While pricing has skyro.
430
Manny: skyrocketing.
431
Chuck: Bruh, why we keep throwing extra factors in there of life that is just making this worse and worse? And these are not theoretical things that we're saying. These are actual, factual things that's happening to us.
432
Chuck: Prices going up, gas going up, I ain't got no paycheck.
433
Manny: And then with all this, the World Cup is coming.
434
Chuck: Jesus.
435
Manny: We about to have people flying from all over the world.
436
Manny: And then getting here.
437
Manny: Because you gotta believe that a whole bunch of people are still traveling here thinking it is very easy to get from New York to LA.
438
Manny: And it's not.
439
Chuck: It's…
440
Manny: than that.
441
Chuck: Oh my god.
442
Manny: So you're gonna add all that chaos, add it on just general summer travel.
443
Manny: And we're dealing with shortages with TSA and all this. Now, do I think most of this will be solved by then? I mean, in a word of Lucy…
444
Manny: I hope so.
445
Manny: I hope so.
446
Chuck: Listen… I, I… We're 70… 473, by the time you hear this, maybe.
447
Chuck: 70…
448
Manny: We're in the same…
449
Chuck: We're in the 70s?
450
Manny: 780.
451
Chuck: 7… between 70 and 75 days until the World Cup.
452
Chuck: I just have one thing to say. I got… I wrote a song about it, like, here… here it goes.
453
Manny: Yeah, here we go.
454
Chuck: Take me to the quay.
455
Chuck: I don't have much to break.
456
Manny: Dang!
457
Chuck: Bruh.
458
Chuck: It's in God's hands, because I know. These are a lot of factors.
459
Chuck: Coming together at one time.
460
Chuck: To make a calamity of a situation that's not looking good.
461
Manny: All because people won't talk to each other, and being unreasonable.
462
Chuck: That's the number one thing, being unreasonable. Being unreasonable.
463
Manny: And, like, at this point, what, there's stories of Tyler Perry going through the airport trying to pay TSA agents, you had Elon Musk say, hey, I'll pay them…
464
Chuck: Man, yeah. So, the…
465
Manny: At this point, like, Elon, go ahead and do it. Just start cutting… you… you got all the Doge data.
466
Chuck: You got it. You started this foolishness.
467
Manny: But you probably still have access to the systems. You could probably just process a checkout to everybody.
468
Chuck: Probably, he got their bank account information.
469
Chuck: Allegedly.
470
Manny: Relatedly.
471
Chuck: And yet, to the Tyler Perry point, he… so the reports were, he went to Hartsfield-Jackson with… again, these are reports.
472
Chuck: With $250,000.
473
Chuck: Ready to go out and pay people. You need to get cash in your hand, make it happen for you. Well…
474
Chuck: Technically, that's legal.
475
Chuck: You can't just… there's certain guidelines on how you're providing gifts.
476
Chuck: to individuals who are federal workers, although politicians, particularly in Congress, do not follow this guideline and rule, and find ways to circumvent it. But anyway, so he left and came back, and these are reports. I wasn't there, so I can't
477
Chuck: You know, verify or validate this, but he came back with $1,000 gift cards, because you can provide gifts and gift cards to individuals.
478
Chuck: Which is an admirable thing,
479
Chuck: I'm sure these people appreciated it, loved it, and definitely could use it.
480
Chuck: But why… Does this have to be the case?
481
Manny: Right.
482
Chuck: Because people won't talk to each other.
483
Manny: And then going back… but allegedly, allegedly, it's being reported, going back to the executive order, which ultimately was not an executive order, it was a presidential memorandum.
484
Manny: Titled, Paying Our Great Transportation Security Administration Officers and Employees. That memo directs, our new
485
Manny: Department of Whole Limbs Security Secretary Mark Wayne, to use funds.
486
Chuck: First name, people.
487
Manny: Yeah, Mark Wayne. Mark Wayne Mullen.
488
Manny: to use funds with a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations.
489
Manny: And the…
490
Chuck: That was very vague.
491
Manny: Yeah. Well, and they said the funding source was gonna be the, OBBBA, $10 billion kind of bucket of money. There we go.
492
Chuck: $10 billion of arbitrary money to do what you would… what you will with it, when you want it, how you want it.
493
Manny: So, and there was a message allegedly sent out on Friday telling them to expect most of their back pay.
494
Manny: And… I don't know if legally they can do this.
495
Chuck: What we've learned in this second term of Donald J. Trump is…
496
Chuck: What you legally can do, what you actually can do, and what you say you will do.
497
Manny: All three different things. All completely different things.
498
Chuck: Three different things. Yeah, this is… I…
499
Chuck: I'm willing to turn a blind eye to the legality if you're paying these people their money.
500
Chuck: Because they've been showing up to work. And to Manny's point about those who had quit.
501
Chuck: and looking for other ways to pay their bills with the World Cup coming, with just everyday life and wanting to make sure we have safe airports.
502
Chuck: Give them people their job back.
503
Chuck: And paid them a reasonable amount for the time they were away, at least one pay period.
504
Chuck: And get them back in, because if it takes 4-6 months to train one individual for an individual you lost in this job.
505
Chuck: That puts us at… Toward the end of the year, to get someone competent and fully trained.
506
Chuck: properly, Emphasis on properly.
507
Chuck: in this position.
508
Chuck: But you know what happens?
509
Chuck: All this training does not beat experience.
510
Manny: At all.
511
Manny: At all.
512
Chuck: not be the experience.
513
Chuck: So, that is my suggestion in this. Brother, do you… as we close this topic out, do you have a point of emphasis or reference for them? Because they need our help.
514
Chuck: They just… I mean… They just… this ain't paid us yet.
515
Manny: Y-you're right. You're right. I think they need to figure out something, something fast. I think what's very likely to happen is that they…
516
Manny: I think they eventually just kick the can. I think the mix of people not letting them rest when they get home.
517
Manny: And just the overarching pressure of people still having primaries, I think they figure out something.
518
Manny: to get us through the World Cup.
519
Chuck: Yeah. I think the Miranda.
520
Manny: Adam Holds.
521
Manny: Even though there's questions on whether it should, but I think the memorandum will hold, and they get us through the World Cup, and then it happens again.
522
Chuck: Because that's on…
523
Manny: That's honestly where you want the fight. If you are the Congressional Dems.
524
Manny: That's when you… you don't want to have this fight. You want to have this fight because ICE is doing horrible things to people on the ground.
525
Manny: So let's… let's… let's… we are not forgetting that. But if I look from a truly political standpoint.
526
Manny: Right now, people are going to forget. You start this fight again in August, September, as election season rolls in, oh, that's when you politically want to have the crisis.
527
Chuck: Yep.
528
Manny: Let's run this back again.
529
Manny: So, that's what I think happens, but the fact that people are having to sell their plasma to feed their kids while Congress is at home, enjoying their Easter Honey Baked Hams…
530
Manny: We gotta start holding some people accountable.
531
Chuck: That's a fact, and speaking of selling plasma, that took me back to my college days, man, when it first… I can't say first hit the scene, but when it really started exploding,
532
Chuck: I funded a whole summer school.
533
Chuck: Giving plans.
534
Manny: Woo!
535
Chuck: Partying, eating, yeah, yeah. So, the fact that people are having to do this to make ends meet and have families is utterly ridiculous, and it… it makes… it further cements how
536
Chuck: petulant.
537
Chuck: how Congress and our executive branch has been.
538
Chuck: And… Not even a first quarter of the year. We're still in the first quarter.
539
Manny: Sweet.
540
Chuck: Like.
541
Manny: Yeah, man.
542
Chuck: We… Buckle up. We… we're not…
543
Chuck: Yo, the fir- the first quarter of the year is not over.
544
Manny: You know, I feel like the first year of the second term of Trump was, like, everyone's saying, winter is coming. Well, - winter is here. We are here.
545
Chuck: is here.
546
Manny: Winter is here.
547
Chuck: Oh, man.
548
Manny: Full foot…
549
Chuck: as we…
550
Manny: From one chaos to another.
551
Chuck: When is it gonna be over?
552
Manny: Retire, Grandpa!
553
Chuck: So, ladies and… go ahead.
554
Manny: If you're impact… yeah, if you're… if you are impacted by TSA, be it a traveler in the airport, be it an actual TSA agent, we would love to hear from you guys and hear more about your story.
555
Manny: Please reach out to us, we'd love to… we'd love to chat with you, maybe have you on the pause so you can… you can give us the story firsthand.
556
Manny: So… but yeah.
557
Chuck: Yeah.
558
Manny: Thoughts and prayers, that… because, honestly, that… that's all I can offer you, in… and lower volume, so I'm not gonna try… I'm not gonna fly if I don't have to.
559
Chuck: Yeah, I'll say that. If I don't have to, I am not flying.
560
Chuck: And… I prayed to the good Lord that
561
Chuck: the only reason I would need to fly is to fly into a bag. Because, yeah, I learned not to pray for patience, because with patience comes tribulation.
562
Chuck: I don't need no problems.
563
Chuck: I don't need those problems.
564
Manny: I'm trying to avoid this, Strongest Soldier plan that I signed up for by accident last year. I'm really trying not to have a repeat.
565
Chuck: The Strongest Soldier reminds me of the grit worker.
566
Chuck: When you become a… when you show yourself to be a good worker, you get more tasks thrown on you because you're reliable. I can count on you to get it done. So guess what?
567
Manny: You can give more…
568
Chuck: I need to… we'll get more work.
569
Chuck: And that doesn't necessarily translate to more money, either.
570
Manny: Yeah.
571
Chuck: Yeah. Yeah.
572
Chuck: Yeah, anyway. FCC.
573
Chuck: Do you know where the FCC is? I do.
574
Chuck: And right now, the FCC…
575
Chuck: Just to give you an idea of who they are, these are the folks who regulate everything from your grandma's radio, and her favorite soap opera.
576
Chuck: to the satellites beaming down the internet across the country, across the world, to your cell phone usage. Remember the days when you had free nights and weekends, and you were limited in your text messages, and…
577
Chuck: First off, we need to, do a class action lawsuit against all the cellular companies and what they used to charge us for text messages.
578
Chuck: 10 seconds. And you went over your little…
579
Manny: When you.
580
Chuck: I went over your little 100 text messages, and what the con of it was they counted ingoing and outgoing messages.
581
Chuck: Okay, sorry.
582
Manny: Right. 10 cents a message, in hindsight, is criminal.
583
Chuck: criminal.
584
Manny: criminal.
585
Chuck: criminal!
586
Manny: And we let y'all get away with it.
587
Chuck: Oh, man, it ain't even put up a fuss.
588
Manny: Right.
589
Chuck: Who's happening?
590
Manny: I can do this.
591
Chuck: I could be out of the house and still talk to who I need to talk to. But anyway, these individuals are currently in a big policy tweaking phase of this country.
592
Chuck: Essentially, this is a full rebuild that they're working on.
593
Chuck: Give you some idea.
594
Chuck: They are currently looking to revamp the system of…
595
Chuck: what's the word I'm looking for, Manny?
596
Manny: licensor?
597
Chuck: Licensing, yes, and certification. Why did I struggle with that? I don't know. But anyway, the system that they're doing, essentially they're taking us from the dial-up era and wanting to upgrade us to
598
Chuck: the world of celestial communications. So…
599
Chuck: A lot of these rules and regulations started or came about in…
600
Chuck: For the new listeners, before you were thought about. Before you were twinkle in your parents' eye.
601
Chuck: For Manny and myself, this is back when we… if we wanted to talk on the phone after a certain time, we had to sneak, and then hope for nobody pick up on the other line.
602
Manny: Luckily.
603
Chuck: In your conversation.
604
Manny: Get off that phone.
605
Chuck: Take your behind.
606
Manny: Not in a bed.
607
Chuck: Nothing more embarrassing. Nothing more embarrassing. You're on the phone trying to kick gang to a girl.
608
Chuck: Hey, your mama pick up the phone?
609
Manny: Get off so I can call you on.
610
Chuck: Or, or, you get snitched on because recall waiting… I'm aging myself, folks.
611
Chuck: You've been on the phone longer than you're supposed to.
612
Chuck: And your aunt tried to call, and it was busy.
613
Manny: I couldn't get…
614
Chuck: Then when you got off, and she got through, and she told your mom, I've been trying to call you for the past 30 minutes. It's been busy.
615
Chuck: Now you're in trouble.
616
Chuck: or the game we used to play, Emergency Breakthrough.
617
Chuck: Call the operator. I need an emergency breakthrough for this phone number. I'm sorry, y'all.
618
Manny: Look, I think I used the emergency breakthrough once.
619
Chuck: I've used it at least 2 or 3 times.
620
Chuck: And, yeah, whew, that was a flashback in time.
621
Manny: Sorry, my birthday. Yeah, well, thanks for going down this quick journey with us.
622
Chuck: Anyway, the old rulebook is called Part 25.
623
Chuck: Simple as that. No… no intricate title. It's part 25.
624
Chuck: And the genius of the FCC is looking to replace it with Part 100!
625
Manny: Here we go.
626
Chuck: I guess that's a significant look in the light speed and the advancement of the years, but that's where we are. So, with this, the FCC is looking to shift their focus from…
627
Chuck: Performance-based… to a performance-based standard for telecommu… well, not just telecommunications, communications as a whole.
628
Manny: In general, yep.
629
Chuck: Because when I say telecommunications, it immediately puts you to the almost obsolete landline, our cell phones, things of that nature, but as previously stated, we're also looking at satellite communications and satellite internet broadband coverage. So, my brother Manny.
630
Chuck: Give us your insight on what the FCC is doing. Hold on, before you do that, this is where we want to apologize to our listeners now.
631
Chuck: We will try not to geek out. We will try not to take you down a place where we seem like we're speaking gibberish to you, because Manny and I have a large affinity for this space.
632
Manny: Right.
633
Chuck: So…
634
Manny: And also, before we begin, also, shout out to Jeezy, because Jeezy, to have the fine ear to be able to hear everything that we're saying.
635
Chuck: Yes.
636
Manny: And, and unnerd it.
637
Chuck: Who knows?
638
Manny: Kuda.
639
Manny: Man, I think this is gonna be interesting. I think it's gonna be interesting as they figure it out, and I think the piece of it that has not left my mind is that Brendan Carr was also one of the key people who worked on Project 2025.
640
Chuck: Yes, he was.
641
Manny: And how they facilitate that, and how these organizations, specifically the news organizations, are essentially reshaping
642
Manny: what you're going to be able to hear and how you hear it, and how you view it. And I think as a whole, the FCC has been very…
643
Manny: Non-monopolistic, if that's a word.
644
Manny: you know.
645
Chuck: It's close enough. It works.
646
Manny: The focus on regionality, everyone having a specific voice, there was… while it was hard to get into, there was a space for everyone to play.
647
Manny: Yes. But to now see… now to see this merger, and the big merger that everyone's talking about is the, the Nexstar?
648
Manny: Next Artanga. Next Artanga?
649
Chuck: Yeah.
650
Manny: And to see the rollercoaster ride they've been going through.
651
Manny: From everyone immediately being against it.
652
Manny: to now Trump being in favor of it.
653
Chuck: Originally, it was against it.
654
Manny: what?
655
Chuck: We know why.
656
Manny: Money.
657
Chuck: Simple as that.
658
Chuck: Simple as that.
659
Manny: So, from… to see that, and now to watch how that being…
660
Manny: played out, it's… it's bad. And then, on top of all of that, you… you layer in the communication with Pete Hegseth to them, and them now really stepping in, trying to control the media narrative, and threatening the licensure.
661
Manny: A various news organization because they are reporting the news, and not reporting the spin that the executive branch would want them to speak about.
662
Manny: It's… it's bad.
663
Chuck: Yeah, it's bad. And so, to give you all an idea of what's changing.
664
Chuck: The licensing rulebook is completely being replaced with a new, what they're calling, more modernized framework. So.
665
Chuck: Here it is. From… instead of the rigid design rules that were given previously, companies are looking to be afforded a more flexible
666
Chuck: Aspect to be innovative.
667
Chuck: Previously, when there… the approvals could take months, They're looking to make it… Maybe 7 days?
668
Chuck: And they're looking to do it on a more modular level. So the application system can be broken down so you don't have to have all of your stuff together.
669
Chuck: Present in a complete package to the FCC for approval, or for, renewal.
670
Chuck: you can break it down, and I have this piece ready.
671
Chuck: Can you approve this for me?
672
Chuck: Alright, I'mma break… I'mma give you this piece of my application.
673
Chuck: What are we doing?
674
Manny: Like, and kudos to them for, like, hey, we're more technological, let's take this long process and let's make it faster. I think 7 days should be a goal.
675
Manny: But is it feasible?
676
Chuck: gold.
677
Manny: Right. Like, maybe, maybe after 20 years.
678
Manny: Like, if you looked at, what is it, Section 25, and said the goal for Section 25 compliance to be 7 days.
679
Manny: Okay.
680
Manny: Yes. I can rock for that. It's been out for a while, it's been… it's tried and true, we understand it, we can truly optimize it.
681
Manny: But to come out and say, hey, we're gonna put this new process in, and we're gonna try to do it in 7 days.
682
Chuck: Everything.
683
Manny: asking. It's asking for it to not… not go well.
684
Chuck: We're not just asking for it to not go well, but you're asking for things to be missed.
685
Chuck: And forgotten about. Or more importantly, overlooked.
686
Manny: Or hidden.
687
Chuck: Or he…
688
Manny: Because if I'm giving you this first piece.
689
Manny: and you approve it, and I go do this… I get 3 more pieces down the road. And I realize, to be able to make Piece 5 compliant, I have to actually change what I submitted in Piece 2.
690
Chuck: Nope.
691
Manny: But I've already got it certified, so why would I do that? So, you're not able to look at the application holistically.
692
Manny: for what you're trying to do, to your point, asking for people to miss something.
693
Chuck: Yeah.
694
Chuck: So, to give you all the idea, of what this, really looks like.
695
Chuck: There is what they call… Spectrums.
696
Chuck: And these spectrums cover the different broadband's, frequencies.
697
Chuck: That the different things operate on. So you have a different frequency for television broadcasts and waves, you have different… multiple frequencies for cell phone usage, you have different frequencies for…
698
Chuck: Your internet and your broadband internet service. You have a different one for satellite.
699
Chuck: These different, spectrums
700
Chuck: are regulated by the FCC, and then there has to be an auction, and these companies bid on these different spectrums to be able to have access to, utilize, and broadcast on these spectrums.
701
Chuck: What's up for play now is there's gonna be a new round of auctions coming up.
702
Chuck: And this new round of auctions is gonna be very pricey.
703
Chuck: Very pricey. And so this is coming from…
704
Chuck: Dish Network, Echo Star, and if…
705
Chuck: one, who remembers who Dish Network and EchoStar is?
706
Manny: Food out.
707
Chuck: Outside of… outside of the geeks like us. But,
708
Chuck: Dish Network is a failed satellite company, for television broadcasting, but they were looking to try to move into a space to provide cellular broadband service, and a few years ago, I forget what year it was, I want to say it was 21, Manny, if you got that information?
709
Manny: I think it's… I think it was 21.
710
Chuck: Yeah, where they did an $80 billion bid on… This spectrum
711
Chuck: And then their business crumbled, and they were not able to satisfy that agreement. So now this amount, certain amount of spectrum is up for bid.
712
Chuck: So you have players like…
713
Chuck: your… your… all your cell phone companies, these different other satellite companies, particularly Starlink. Starlink is trying to get hold of the spectrum to further expand
714
Chuck: their communication network, as they already have deals in place now with all the major cell phone companies. So, if you have a cell phone
715
Chuck: That was released within the past year or so.
716
Chuck: you more than likely have access to Starlink.
717
Manny: to the.
718
Chuck: to be…
719
Manny: sip.
720
Chuck: to the new bands that they currently have to use. So, I know on the iPhone.
721
Chuck: It reads something like satellite… Dowing or South… Yep.
722
Chuck: Essentially, if you see something on your phone saying something about satellite connectivity, and you're in an area where you don't have cell phone service.
723
Chuck: That's what you're on.
724
Manny: Good.
725
Chuck: And so… We joked about this when, this branch of the military came about, but Space Force.
726
Chuck: And this immediately put me in the mind of…
727
Chuck: how Space Force will come into play as we move down the years, because we're moving into a space where we have companies who launch satellites left and right into orbit to broadcast different things. Well, the Part 100 will…
728
Chuck: Kind of streamlined and refine the regulations of the… the…
729
Chuck: Particulars in launching what your satellite has to be capable of to be launched.
730
Chuck: Well, what's some… go ahead.
731
Manny: No, and even on top of that.
732
Manny: not only just the ability to launch, who gets to be able to launch it? So there's definitely a lot more power in the commercial space industry, satellite broadband, so you'll see, like, big player… the big two who are going to benefit from this particular change.
733
Manny: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, between.
734
Chuck: For sure.
735
Manny: Amazon, and then, Blue Origin.
736
Manny: Going to gain majorly in these spaces just from being able to control that.
737
Manny: But then, it'll be interesting, just talking about the space piece, is how this will start to class with NASA.
738
Manny: And NASA's focus on, like, hey, we have all these trash satellites that are up-circulating the globe. How do we get them down?
739
Chuck: Exactly. Because, oh, it's not working, we… this one stopped working, we're gonna set up a new one. Right. Are you gonna clean up your other mess?
740
Manny: No, it's good, it's just gonna float.
741
Chuck: It's floating there. But what I was saying in regards to Space Force.
742
Chuck: space… the space war games are gonna start being played. I mean, we… we actually already see some now with satellite imaging, but I think it's gonna get a lot more intricate, a lot more, nuanced in what they will and can do.
743
Chuck: With using this as a part of their arsenal and artillery in war games, and… Yep.
744
Chuck: It's gonna be very interesting. Very interesting. Now, to put it… This situation in your hands.
745
Chuck: Remember the days of 3G.
746
Manny: Man.
747
Chuck: You remember the days of forging?
748
Manny: We thought we were doing something with 3G.
749
Chuck: Man, you couldn't tell me nothing when I had…
750
Chuck: Well, no. 3G was cool. You couldn't tell me nothing when I… when I had my… Sprint Evo 4G.
751
Chuck: I remember the exact phone, brother.
752
Manny: My sprint…
753
Chuck: Evo 4G Android phone, one of the few phones, and one of the first phones to come out with 4G capability, and this was the days where there was a 4G race, and there were two different bandwidths for 4G coverage.
754
Chuck: Sprint had their own bandwidth, and Verizon and AT&T had a different bandwidth that they were using.
755
Chuck: Oh, the good old days. But now, we all have 5G, and there's some slight variations to 5G, and what you…
756
Chuck: Don't know… These spectrums and bandwidths that they're on determines your cell phone coverage in buildings.
757
Chuck: In the country, wherever, because depending on the spectrum that you're receiving and communicating.
758
Chuck: It determines what can penetrate through walls, through glass, long range, short range, even in your home, your Wi-Fi. And this… I feel like we're educating folks right now.
759
Manny: Oh, yay.
760
Chuck: Your Wi-Fi… most Wi-Fi routers are 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.
761
Chuck: The difference in the two is the 2.4 gives a faster connection on a shorter range. So the closer you are.
762
Chuck: the better it's gonna work. The 5GHz gives you a more stable connection over a greater distance. So…
763
Chuck: That's your Wi-Fi education on today.
764
Manny: It's funny you say that, because…
765
Manny: Me and my wife, we almost had the same conversation when we were looking at our house and doing all the layout and stuff, because they asked me, they were like, where do you want your networking at?
766
Chuck: Yup.
767
Manny: The way that we spent far more talking about that conversation than some other conversations.
768
Chuck: It's important, man. Right.
769
Manny: Well, and where I ended up putting them, the project manager, he's like, I've never had anyone
770
Manny: put it right there. He's like, but it makes so much sense why you're putting it right there. I'm like, yeah.
771
Chuck: Yes.
772
Manny: Yeah.
773
Chuck: Interestingly enough, I am in the process of moving, within the next couple days. And that has been a part of my own internal conversation. I'm not gonna have that conversation with my wife, because she doesn't care, as long as…
774
Manny: Does it work?
775
Chuck: As long as it works.
776
Chuck: Is the Wi-Fi connected to the box for the TV?
777
Chuck: Is my phone working on Wi-Fi if my signal's not good? That's all she cares about. It's me. It's me. I am the problem.
778
Chuck: I am the problem. But this, this goes into… from our modern day of 5G to the next phase of 6G connectivity. And…
779
Chuck: it's very… Very interesting how we went from…
780
Chuck: the 4G phase to the 5G phase in a quicker timeframe than we have from 5G to 6G.
781
Manny: And I was gonna say that I feel like we went from 4 to 5 relatively overnight.
782
Chuck: Yes. Very, very much so.
783
Chuck: Very much so, and 6G is not here yet.
784
Chuck: There are some instances where certain… High-level, very expensive equipment.
785
Chuck: Is using the test spectrum of 6G, even with our Wi-Fi. There's Wi-Fi…
786
Chuck: super nerdy right now. So, most of you are operating on Wi-Fi 5.
787
Chuck: But there are many devices who are capable of Wi-Fi 6, which is a higher level of connectivity, much faster Wi-Fi.
788
Chuck: And then they're starting to be the rollout of Wi-Fi 7.
789
Manny: Yep.
790
Chuck: But in this, most of us, I will say, I'm about to sound really elitist, most of you don't have the proper equipment.
791
Manny: The average, the average consumer.
792
Chuck: The average… the average… thank you, Manny. Thanks for cleaning that up.
793
Chuck: does not operate on a Wi-Fi 6 level, but you probably have a Wi-Fi 6 device, because these newer phones are already having equipped with the antennas in anticipation for the next wave of this technology.
794
Chuck: All is to say, these things from the FCC are moving us forward.
795
Manny: Yep.
796
Chuck: And I'm… we're all for moving forward.
797
Chuck: how they're moving forward?
798
Manny: I mean, moving forward, kind of grimy.
799
Chuck: That… that's what I was gonna say. How we're moving forward, and… and the method of moving forward
800
Chuck: is very grimy. And what's gonna be done on the back end for people to be able to take advantage of these new rules and the different methods of…
801
Chuck: circumventing the regulations. The regulations are in place.
802
Chuck: But are they really being enforced?
803
Chuck: That's when we have a problem.
804
Manny: And I think that's where you see some of these public battles, like what you saw with, Jimmy Kimmel and all of that.
805
Manny: like, and we saw it with James Telarico regarding his… his interview. Some of these rules about free usage… equal usage have been around for a while. Long time. Now they are going to a level of enforcement.
806
Manny: And in a very suspicious… no, I won't say suspicious, because I think.
807
Chuck: We know why.
808
Manny: It's clear. It's clear why. But they are going to vary letter of the law enforcement on some rules, and like, you know.
809
Manny: Enforcement on other rules.
810
Chuck: Yes.
811
Manny: Leaving companies in a situation where they… they don't really know up from down, left from right.
812
Chuck: Yep. And if you don't want to play ball, guess what? You're gonna get left behind. So then that puts companies in the situation of…
813
Chuck: Do we look… Nasty to our consumers.
814
Chuck: Or do we?
815
Chuck: What we always do, try to make sure the bottom line is good, because our stakeholders
816
Chuck: Are what's most important, and we're in the business of making money.
817
Chuck: Anyway, folks, we're not gonna nerd you out anymore. This is something that definitely, keep an eye on. The next, the next,
818
Chuck: waiving this process is for a public comment set period for the new Part 100 rules.
819
Chuck: It's just a song and dance.
820
Chuck: they're still gonna move forward. And then…
821
Manny: cut off.
822
Chuck: Yeah, it's a.
823
Manny: Very much sign off.
824
Chuck: Very much. And then next from there is the transition planning for companies currently licensed under Part 25.
825
Chuck: And then there will be pilot implementation.
826
Chuck: And then they will go live with the new licensing workflows.
827
Chuck: so forth and so on. There is not a lot of… News coverage about this, because…
828
Chuck: People don't want to hear it, and the way news outlets operate, they want to get the most
829
Chuck: eyes, the most ears, and this is not the most engaging for a majority of the population, although it impacts all of the.
830
Manny: Everybody.
831
Manny: Everybody.
832
Chuck: And that's all of us.
833
Manny: The one piece I think you all will start hearing a lot more about, and we started hearing that this past… this past week when the courts stepped in and blocked the Nexstar Tenga merger.
834
Manny: is the self-censorship, you know, with broadcasters, and how that model will be adjusted. So, it'll be interesting to see how that public comment then ultimately weighs into these court cases that are alive.
835
Manny: But yeah, these… these are… the FCC has very quietly and very quickly gone from just being a communication engine, you know, managing that, to…
836
Manny: Impacting everything, down to national security, personal security.
837
Manny: And I don't think people realize how… how crucial they are with them also being very quiet.
838
Chuck: Yeah, very much so. And I, and I…
839
Chuck: Being on this podcast makes me do things that I don't like sometimes.
840
Manny: Like, here we go.
841
Chuck: I have to acknowledge Brendan Carr.
842
Chuck: in his acumen and knowledge, because he's not just some…
843
Chuck: Unlike most people in this administration who've been put in place that don't know what the heck they're doing.
844
Chuck: Brendan Carr has worked in the FCC, and has been in this space, and is very knowledgeable about this.
845
Manny: Dude.
846
Chuck: So him and how he's moving is with experience and knowledge. He's just not…
847
Manny: And a plan.
848
Chuck: And a plan.
849
Chuck: And a plan.
850
Chuck: Alright, folks, we've noted you out enough, and we are at the point now that we're gonna talk about something that we're sick of talking about.
851
Manny: I'm just gonna…
852
Chuck: We're not… okay, let me… let me change that. We're not…
853
Chuck: We're not sick of talking about it from the standpoint of we want to keep you abreast to what's going on.
854
Chuck: What we're sick of is the long, drawn-out.
855
Chuck: Crap that is going on with this situation.
856
Manny: Everyone… that everyone… Is… everyone knew was going to happen.
857
Chuck: Yes.
858
Manny: then everyone hits that, like, Pikachu meme face, like, I can't believe this happened. Why can't you believe all this happened? They told you what they were going to do, and here we are.
859
Chuck: Here we are.
860
Chuck: Operation Epic Fury slash Epic Failure slash…
861
Chuck: You got my gas prices going up.
862
Chuck: exponentially… Slash… keep it up, and…
863
Chuck: Food prices, products, everything else is gonna go up exponentially, slash…
864
Chuck: When is this gonna be over?
865
Manny: Bro, when is this gonna be over?
866
Chuck: when? Like… Now we have… President Trump.
867
Chuck: Telling us that… Iran is willing to come to the negotiating table.
868
Chuck: To discuss a ceasefire and the end of this conflict.
869
Chuck: And Orion says… no, we're not.
870
Chuck: We didn't say that.
871
Manny: But before we go, before we hop into that.
872
Manny: I don't know if anyone's… you know, if anyone's shocked by this, we did an episode.
873
Chuck: Oh, no.
874
Manny: Last year, talking about tariffs.
875
Manny: And…
876
Manny: the whole concept… first, you know, before I get there, let me play a song for you guys. You might remember from a previous pod.
877
Audio shared by Manny: They say, Trump always chickens out. They say, tacos!
878
Audio shared by Manny: They say… Chicken. They say tacos!
879
Audio shared by Manny: They say, Trump always chickens out.
880
Manny: Trump?
881
Manny: Always chickens out.
882
Chuck: Taco, and it ain't Tuesday.
883
Manny: It's not Tuesday. So, like, where we left you all last week is the…
884
Manny: is, I think right as we came on, to record, Trump came out and said, hey, they have 48 hours to open the Strait of Hamutz. And we recorded, and we were here chatting afterwards, and we're talking about, like.
885
Manny: Do you think we're actually gonna do anything at 7.44 on Monday? And we said no.
886
Manny: I was…
887
Chuck: I think we said it on the podcast.
888
Manny: Yeah, there we go. And before… I got to work.
889
Manny: On Monday morning, I get… I see the message come across saying, Trump has given a 5-day extension.
890
Manny: Interesting.
891
Manny: Before attacking infrastructure, because Iran really wants to negotiate.
892
Manny: And, to Chuck's point, they were like, we didn't say that.
893
Manny: We… we're fine right now. We got well.
894
Chuck: Here's another round of missiles to show you that we didn't say that.
895
Manny: And… I… thought it was humorous.
896
Manny: But you saw… one thing I'll just call out very quickly, there was a very suspicious…
897
Manny: trade that was made on, Brent and WTI futures contracts.
898
Manny: About 15 minutes before he did the post.
899
Chuck: Brother.
900
Manny: Bearing?
901
Manny: Baron, you gotta chill out. You out here violin.
902
Chuck: Barron and Jarrett.
903
Manny: Chill out.
904
Chuck: I'm… I'm convinced.
905
Chuck: Barron and Jared. Because it was 2. It was two.
906
Chuck: reads.
907
Chuck: Baron ain't make both of them. That's too…
908
Manny: 1.5 billion is a crazy number.
909
Chuck: Crazy number.
910
Manny: Hungers. Hungers. Do something.
911
Chuck: This is not the first time.
912
Chuck: This is not the first time. There's been multiple instances of market manipulation, insider training.
913
Chuck: where… Trades have been made.
914
Chuck: 5, 10, 15 minutes before an announcement from Trump. There's been sales… fine.
915
Chuck: 10, 15 minutes before the announcement.
916
Chuck: And people have made… Gobbs of money.
917
Chuck: Simply based off the announcements.
918
Chuck: Can we get a federal investigation going?
919
Manny: What would we do that for?
920
Chuck: This is ridiculous, man.
921
Manny: That would mean…
922
Chuck: boom.
923
Manny: be holding people accountable.
924
Chuck: Now, I did see the report that, there were individuals fired prior to…
925
Chuck: Who would be the ones who would investigate this type of activity.
926
Manny: All roads lead back to Doge.
927
Chuck: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
928
Manny: Oh, oh, just plain?
929
Chuck: Just plainly… Fired.
930
Manny: Hmm.
931
Chuck: buy it. In fact.
932
Chuck: You go ahead, and I'm gonna try to find that report that I saw.
933
Chuck: About that.
934
Manny: So, yeah, so… we got that out on, Monday morning, and…
935
Manny: what did become apparent is that the U.S. and Iran are talking through Pakistan.
936
Manny: So, it seems the situation has either risen to the level of criticality in which both the U.S. and Iran realize, okay, we should probably chill out now, or at least try to chill out. So, the U.S. sent…
937
Manny: A 15-point ceasefire agreement.
938
Manny: And…
939
Manny: they basically rejected it and said, Iran will end the war when it decides to do so, and when its own conditions are met. So, at least at this point.
940
Manny: everyone knows how everyone feels, because Iran responded with a 5-point counterproposal, that did 5 things. So the U.S. sent 15, Iran sent back 5. That was a complete halt to all aggression.
941
Manny: Concrete mechanisms to prevent a reoccurrence of what we're dealing with. Guarantee war reparations.
942
Manny: a comprehensive end on all fronts, including resistance groups, and recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hamus.
943
Manny: And the big ones that I saw that Iran, you're reaching, because you're definitely not getting that, they're not getting war reparations, because the last figure that I saw on that, they were asking for upwards of a trillion dollars of war reparations.
944
Manny: Yeesh. Yeah, good… good luck with that. And then Iran's re… the recognition of Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
945
Manny: Great opening… opening proposal. I don't see… I think the other three are likely a whole lot more possible.
946
Manny: But I think here's the problem with this as well, and these negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
947
Manny: let's not forget how we got into all of this. We got into all of this… because of Israel.
948
Manny: So, to one degree, Israel needs to be at the table around this, because they need to agree to not do things as well.
949
Manny: But if I'm Iran, or quite frankly, if I'm most countries across the world.
950
Manny: I look at the U.S. as being Israel's handlers.
951
Manny: And we… I don't think we're doing that good job of handling them.
952
Chuck: We're being handled. We are being handled by Israel.
953
Manny: So… and then things continued to escalate through the week. Israel killed one of the Navy commanders who was over the Strait of Hormuz.
954
Manny: And now, the big news from Friday is that the U.S. was planning, ground operations.
955
Manny: And…
956
Manny: this is gonna be a problem, because we've said it before. There are 3 things that the U.S. public hates to see.
957
Chuck: Yep.
958
Manny: We don't like high egg prices.
959
Manny: We don't like… we don't like high gas prices.
960
Chuck: Nope.
961
Manny: And we don't like dead soldiers.
962
Manny: Those three.
963
Manny: we… we don't rock with it. So…
964
Manny: My understanding right now is that there are two Marine, units that are heading into the region, with the 82nd, also the paratroopers from Fort Liberty, or Fort Bragg.
965
Chuck: No, sir, don't do that. Don't do that.
966
Chuck: But… We don't… we don't acknowledge Fort Liberty.
967
Manny: It's for Brian.
968
Manny: Yes, sir.
969
Chuck: Home to the 82nd Airborne.
970
Manny: 82nd Airborne.
971
Chuck: That…
972
Manny: They are being prepped to be able to deploy anywhere within 18 hours.
973
Manny: There was also a letter that was going around to Marine Reservists, to my understanding, that basically said, hey, y'all, go ahead and get your, get your, your affairs in order.
974
Manny: Because it sounds like it's about to be up and it's stuck.
975
Manny: From that standpoint, they are…
976
Manny: Basically planning, our understanding, per reports from various news agencies at this point, they're planning for a weeks to months ground operation.
977
Manny: And we've said it before, Iran is… Iran is big, and its terrain is not real simple.
978
Chuck: And they're waiting on them.
979
Manny: We're waiting on… there's only so many places that we can enter efficiently.
980
Manny: And Iran knows that, and has been preparing us such. How do we know they're preparing as such? Because they told us. They were preparing as such.
981
Chuck: That man sat on that broadcast and said, We're… we welcome it.
982
Manny: Yeah, come on.
983
Chuck: We welcome it, come on.
984
Chuck: Our doors hang on welcome hinges.
985
Chuck: For you to come over here.
986
Chuck: So we can act a fool. Why are we doing this?
987
Manny: Now, just don't be surprised when you open the door what's waiting on the other side.
988
Chuck: Completely. Completely.
989
Manny: And a lot of my understanding at this point is they really want to focus on commandeering Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, which is, I believe, somewhere around close to 500 kilos of 60% enriched uranium.
990
Manny: So, and that's theoretically enough, if enriched more, to create 11 nuclear bombs, is, you know, they can't just nuke it… well, I'm sorry, not nuke it, because, dear God, nukes could use this Escalades. They just can't bomb it out of there. Yes. Because if you bomb it, you expand…
991
Chuck: There's no control. Yeah.
992
Manny: lot… way more people get hurt. So they're like, oh, we gotta send a ground operation to the nuclear facilities to get the stuff.
993
Manny: I'm just saying, Iran ain't that big. Like, they don't have multiple facilities where they can just go. So, cool, I'm gonna set up camp.
994
Manny: This is like when you were playing Call of Duty, and we're playing hardpoint.
995
Manny: There's only one… there's only one hard point. So, I'm gonna be here, y'all gonna be there, I'm gonna be over here, everyone's gonna call this spot, and we're just gonna wait for y'all to run up on the spot. There's only one spot.
996
Chuck: Only one spot.
997
Manny: So…
998
Chuck: You're walk… you're walking… The cow to the slaughter.
999
Manny: Yeah.
1000
Manny: Sad.
1001
Manny: Plain and simple, just walking them right there, and you're just gonna wait. So all of these are not good. All of these go against to what,
1002
Manny: what Trump said, he was going to do, and you know what?
1003
Chuck: is the President of Peace.
1004
Manny: You know what, Chuck, somebody took… MAGA told us that if we voted for Kamala.
1005
Manny: We were going to get high gas prices.
1006
Manny: Check. High gas prices. Check. And wars. And you know what?
1007
Chuck: They were right.
1008
Manny: We voted for Kamala, and look at us.
1009
Chuck: They were right.
1010
Manny: I voted for Kamala, and all these things happen.
1011
Chuck: They… you know what? Bye, George. MAGA was correct.
1012
Manny: They were right. They were right. If we didn't get all of those things
1013
Manny: So, yeah, I would like to apologize to America.
1014
Manny: Because if I hadn't, maybe we wouldn't have gotten into this situation.
1015
Chuck: Just maybe. So I found the information I was looking for. So, Kashat Patel fired a dozen agents and staff members from a counterintelligence unit tasked with monitoring threats from Iran.
1016
Chuck: According to two sources familiar with the matter.
1017
Chuck: Furthermore, they were ousted for one simple reason, this report says.
1018
Chuck: Each was involved in the investigation of Donald Trump's alleged retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
1019
Chuck: Documents that he'd later used to make money off of, and provide Highly, highly classified information.
1020
Chuck: To the point?
1021
Chuck: Excuse me.
1022
Chuck: Only 6 people.
1023
Chuck: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 individuals had the security clearance to even view these documents.
1024
Manny: It's all good, though. Well, you know, we're fine. We're fine.
1025
Manny: You know, Chuck, we're just in the middle of a war where,
1026
Manny: In this new digital age that we're in.
1027
Manny: You know, there are security threats to major U.S. companies.
1028
Manny: And I think what is… what is very interesting and concerning.
1029
Manny: is ARS a cyber security organization?
1030
Manny: the CISA, is not part of the Department of Defense, in any capacity. Interestingly enough. There, unfortunately.
1031
Manny: part of the Department of Homeland Security.
1032
Manny: That's also shut down. That also has a third fewer personnel than they had when Trump took office. I think right now, they only have 800 or so people left, with 1,000 plus,
1033
Manny: vacancies, and there are… there have been at least 60-plus Iranian-linked activist groups.
1034
Manny: That have been active since March. Logging in with default passwords, installing malware, attacking U.S. infrastructure, so our water treatment plants, our power grids.
1035
Manny: Striker.
1036
Chuck: Everyday life.
1037
Manny: Yep, Stripe Medical.
1038
Manny: I read it.
1039
Chuck: Yeah.
1040
Manny: Hackers wiped out over 200,000 devices.
1041
Manny: Disrupting emergency medical services and forcing hospitals to postpone surgeries.
1042
Chuck: They hit strikers so… Intensely… intense.
1043
Chuck: They told their folks, Do not log onto your devices.
1044
Manny: Nope, because we don't know. We just… Don't log on.
1045
Chuck: If you're currently connected, unplug.
1046
Manny: Right now. Because we don't know.
1047
Chuck: We don't know.
1048
Chuck: we don't have the cap… we… we don't know, we can't do nothing, just don't need to log on. Like, these… these…
1049
Chuck: Yeah, this cyber… the cyber attacks that have come about have been very interesting.
1050
Chuck: I think a recent report that they said one of these groups said that they have a, a voicemail or a phone call from President Trump that they were gonna leak.
1051
Chuck: Showing him calling and begging and going through the emotional rollercoaster, of this situation.
1052
Chuck: Showing that, you know, he's crashing out, but he's also begging, but also threatening.
1053
Chuck: About demands for a compromise and a ceasefire.
1054
Chuck: It's nasty work, brother. It is nasty work.
1055
Manny: And I think now we're at such a rough place, There's no way.
1056
Manny: There's no way this ends positively for the U.S.
1057
Manny: No. Because, let's say we just stopped today. We're like, you know what, Iran, we were wildin', we're just gonna go back home.
1058
Chuck: There's an egg on my face.
1059
Manny: Right. Okay, so maybe you stop hitting US assets, but what now happens is you've completely thrown into…
1060
Manny: chaos the rest of the Middle East.
1061
Manny: Because part of that, Iran wants us out of the Middle East. Not just out of Iran, like, you get all your bases.
1062
Manny: go. We don't…
1063
Chuck: Sleep up your trash and get out.
1064
Manny: Get out.
1065
Manny: So, we come out looking weak.
1066
Manny: we could go in physically and try to take it over, and that's just gonna be Afghanistan, Iraq 2.0, or 3, whatever, whatever version we are of trying to take over stuff in the Middle East. Like, that's not going to work.
1067
Chuck: Would that be, like, 4 point? Yeah, who knows?
1068
Manny: Something like that. Something like that.
1069
Chuck: nasty.
1070
Manny: we don't appear to have good control over Israel, who, while we're focusing on Iran, they're picking up side quests in Lebanon.
1071
Chuck: I was gonna bring up Lebanon and the Houthis, Houthis, and their missile attack, on…
1072
Chuck: Israel, and speaking of… you said the Strait of the Hemuse, but there's another strait that is in, jeopardy of being locked down.
1073
Chuck: And I'm about to tear this name up, so I'm not even gonna do it. It's L…
1074
Chuck: You haven't…
1075
Manny: There's another one. Y'all go read up on this stuff as well, like…
1076
Chuck: Yeah.
1077
Manny: We're just giving you our opinions, y'all read up as well.
1078
Chuck: I'm like, it's… it's… It's a very… Very delicate, very… intricate… mess.
1079
Manny: Yep.
1080
Chuck: In fact, I know exactly… it's those cords that's all tangled up, or your necklaces that have all tangled up together, and you're trying to untangle
1081
Chuck: And you've reached a point where you was like, just forget it, I'll break it.
1082
Chuck: And get rid of it, because it's… it's a mess.
1083
Chuck: It's a mess. And I got the name, I'm about to try this, because I'm not a.
1084
Manny: Here we go.
1085
Chuck: Bob Al Mundib.
1086
Chuck: And I prob- and that's probably not…
1087
Manny: That's fair. No, that's close enough for the show. That's enough. That's close enough.
1088
Chuck: But this straight is very critical, as well, because it's an alternate route.
1089
Chuck: To the Suez Canal from the Red Sea.
1090
Chuck: So, instead of having to… go all the way around Africa, To get your, your… Things shipped out.
1091
Chuck: go through the Horn of Africa, up this strait, through the Suez Canal, and it cuts off, I'm sure, days of travel.
1092
Chuck: Millions, if not billions, of dollars.
1093
Chuck: So, yeah, we're in the conundrum.
1094
Chuck: But guess what? We're at that point in the show where we're gonna give you our pickles.
1095
Chuck: Balls.
1096
Manny: Whoa. Whoa!
1097
Chuck: Yeesh!
1098
Chuck: I'm not here.
1099
Manny: You know what, I'm just gonna cue the music.
1100
Audio shared by Manny: I have two pickles, I have two pickles, I have two pickles today. Hey, hey.
1101
Manny: Ladies and gentlemen…
1102
Chuck: We got your pickles!
1103
Manny: Gotcha, pickles.
1104
Chuck: So, interestingly enough, we have two pickles today.
1105
Chuck: The first pickle.
1106
Manny: I'm still trying to recover.
1107
Chuck: From… from that.
1108
Manny: First people.
1109
Chuck: It was Cash App Patel, folks. The reason Cash App Patel is in a pickle is…
1110
Chuck: Well, first we just kind of briefly told you about him.
1111
Chuck: firing those individuals who are, FBI counterintelligence to Iran.
1112
Chuck: But then we… Manny also brought up the hacktivist groups, Iranian hacktivist groups, who have done these different attacks.
1113
Chuck: Well, guess who… Personal email account was hacked.
1114
Chuck: Compromise, and released to the general public.
1115
Manny: Governor Newsom.
1116
Chuck: Nope.
1117
Manny: Ugh, kamala Harris.
1118
Chuck: They would be happy about that, but… nope.
1119
Manny: Okay, okay, no, I'm… Last one? Baron Trump. Baron Trump. It's gotta be Barron.
1120
Chuck: I think if his email was hacked and released.
1121
Chuck: GOP will be set on fire.
1122
Chuck: But it wasn't him.
1123
Chuck: Good ol' head of FBI, Cash App Patel.
1124
Manny: God.
1125
Chuck: personal email.
1126
Chuck: Was hacked, released, And interestingly enough.
1127
Chuck: He used this personal email as his government email. His work email, let's put it that way.
1128
Chuck: Now, if memory serves me correct, There was another…
1129
Chuck: Federal official who used a personal email account as their work email, and there was a group who screamed all holy hell of treason and wanted to burn the witch at the stake. Who was that?
1130
Manny: I think it… and I'm not sure, because this is kind of unlike them.
1131
Chuck: Yes.
1132
Manny: But I think it might have been, you know, the Republicans that really went off of, I believe it was, they had tortured Hillary Clinton.
1133
Chuck: Hillary Rodham Clinton was ready to be… when she wasn't ready, they were ready to burn her at the stake and throw her under the jail for using a personal email as a government…
1134
Chuck: Email account, where government documents and different things went through.
1135
Chuck: But we turn around, and you're on head of the FBI.
1136
Manny: Mmm.
1137
Chuck: Who… No telling what…
1138
Chuck: Classified information and intricate and delicate information is passed around was using his own personal email.
1139
Chuck: And it got hacked.
1140
Chuck: And quite frankly, This group did a pretty good job.
1141
Manny: Yeah, they did a pretty good job
1142
Manny: Yeah, and I gotta think, this is just the easy stuff that they're releasing now.
1143
Chuck: Yeah.
1144
Manny: You're missing?
1145
Chuck: the light stuff. This is the… I'm just showing you what I did.
1146
Chuck: I ain't even gonna… I ain't even gonna let the bomb drop yet.
1147
Manny: You know what you got in there, and we know what you got in there.
1148
Chuck: Exactly. We know what's in there.
1149
Chuck: Act right. That's what we're saying. Act right.
1150
Chuck: So yeah, that was, pickle number one.
1151
Chuck: I got 2 pickles, I got 2 pickles!
1152
Chuck: I think that was Paul's worthy, too. But, the second pickle, dude.
1153
Manny: Jeezy, we need you back quickly, sir.
1154
Chuck: Yeah, this is your lane, brother.
1155
Chuck: Put the beat on, brother.
1156
Chuck: The second pickle this week… is T… ain't her first name? What's that? Rosonda.
1157
Manny: Rosonda.
1158
Chuck: Rosonda Chili, I don't know your last name, and at this point, I don't even care.
1159
Chuck: of the group TLC.
1160
Chuck: Well, it was revealed through public records that Miss Chili has been a staunch Supporter.
1161
Chuck: of one… MAGA?
1162
Chuck: And… Donald J. Trump.
1163
Chuck: The reports came out that Ms. Chili had provided,
1164
Chuck: donations to several entities that were associated with Donald Trump and MAGA.
1165
Chuck: And there was, of course, an uproar about this.
1166
Chuck: And Ms. Chili herself came out and said, hold on, people, calm down.
1167
Manny: I got…
1168
Chuck: I got to stay.
1169
Manny: treatment.
1170
Chuck: Oh, you got a statement? Go here, bro.
1171
Manny: I got the statement. She said… I want to be clear.
1172
Manny: I am not MAGA, and do not support any of the many policies that are causing great harm to the American people.
1173
Manny: I made a mistake to… I made a mistake too many make. I did not read the fine print. I thought I was supporting causes against human trafficking for veterans.
1174
Manny: And for veterans, two things I care deeply about, as my dad is a veteran, and everyone knows I love children.
1175
Manny: I have learned a valuable lesson, and asked for grace as I navigate this. Love, chili.
1176
Chuck: Okay, so here's… here's to this.
1177
Chuck: Nobody reads terms and conditions. Well, I'm not gonna say nobody.
1178
Chuck: There's a very minute group.
1179
Chuck: Who read terms and conditions.
1180
Chuck: Some of them only do it because that's part of their job, and they're part of watch groups.
1181
Chuck: But when you're making a donation to a cause.
1182
Chuck: The only fine print is making sure you enter in the security code on the back of your car.
1183
Chuck: Properly.
1184
Chuck: When you're making a donation, and my brother Manny can speak to this more in depth than I can, because he ran a campaign that accepted donations, there… the information has to be listed and given explicitly and clearly.
1185
Manny: There's no doubts of who you are giving to when you are making a donation.
1186
Chuck: None whatsoever.
1187
Chuck: So… We have… somebody did the wonderful work of…
1188
Chuck: digging up the recipients of these donations. Oh, and her last name is Thomas. Thomas. I saw it on the, on the thing.
1189
Chuck: So… One organization is called WinRed.
1190
Chuck: Okay.
1191
Chuck: They could be supporting… The prevention of…
1192
Manny: I'll travel.
1193
Chuck: Bye.
1194
Manny: I'll give some background. So, WinRed is the rights version of ActBlue. So, a lot of conservative organizations that don't have the ability to build up their own infrastructure will use them to help facilitate the payments.
1195
Chuck: Okay, fine. And I'll give her grace for that. Who?
1196
Chuck: Then the next group is Never Surrender Inc.
1197
Chuck: That sounds like something for veterans.
1198
Chuck: Sure.
1199
Manny: Yep.
1200
Chuck: But then there's a third organization.
1201
Chuck: that has… 3 different instances of donations and contribution.
1202
Chuck: Manny.
1203
Chuck: Can you guess… Two words in that group's name.
1204
Manny: I don't have to guess, because I'm looking at the same thing right now.
1205
Chuck: Oh, well…
1206
Manny: Look, I couldn't even joking.
1207
Chuck: He has a study guide.
1208
Manny: Yeah, I couldn't… I couldn't even joke about it, like, it clearly says the Trump National Committee, JFC, Inc. Like…
1209
Manny: And again, how these are listed, it's pretty apparent. It has to be pretty apparent legally.
1210
Manny: Now, is there a case? I'm gonna give some grace, too. Maybe it wasn't her.
1211
Manny: But maybe she approved it.
1212
Manny: And so…
1213
Chuck: It came out of her account.
1214
Manny: It… ultimately, out of her account, it's her.
1215
Manny: But she could have… she could have told an assistant, hey, send them… send them some money.
1216
Manny: And… but even on the assistance part, like, you see that you should probably pick up the phone, hey, you know you're giving to this?
1217
Manny: Didn't happen.
1218
Chuck: On 3 different occasions.
1219
Manny: Yeah.
1220
Chuck: On 3 different occasions, and as… individuals who…
1221
Chuck: Working in spaces, dealing with money.
1222
Chuck: People don't just sign off.
1223
Chuck: Without knowing what their money is going to on 3 different times.
1224
Chuck: Only time that… even if you're giving money to your children, what you need the money for?
1225
Manny: What you doing this?
1226
Manny: June.
1227
Chuck: Why? The question is why?
1228
Chuck: So, Miss Chili… Cash App Patel.
1229
Chuck: You're our pickles in the brine this week, and yeah, you better.
1230
Manny: Just do better. Just better.
1231
Chuck: You bet it.
1232
Chuck: So as we come to the conclusion of this show, we like to provide you all with our spotlights for the week, and my good brother Manny.
1233
Chuck: What's your spotlight, man?
1234
Manny: Man, so, North Carolina.
1235
Manny: Our… our good state.
1236
Manny: North Carolina is the only state in the country that did not pass a budget in 2025, and we currently don't have a budget now. But there is.
1237
Chuck: Wow.
1238
Manny: a fight in our state house to try to get a budget done.
1239
Manny: But unlike most, you know, most fights in politics where it's Republican versus Democrat, this is… this is not the case here. This is, red on red. This is the House Republicans versus the Senate Republicans.
1240
Chuck: Oh.
1241
Manny: Yeah. So, we're fighting over, you know, what version of conservatism are we going to be going for in North Carolina?
1242
Manny: And it's really interesting. So the House passed its budget, that looked at doing several… there are a lot of key areas that they're focused on. It's income tax, income tax cuts, teacher starting pay, state employee raises… raises, raises, sorry.
1243
Manny: Addressing… vacant positions, recovery funds, coming out of NCE Innovation, and the Medicaid gap.
1244
Manny: And how to pay for that.
1245
Manny: So, they're,
1246
Manny: it's rough pickings right now, but right now, they've agreed on a budget top line number. They've agreed on an amount to spend. But where it's really… it really gets down, there's some differences in what they want to do with teacher pay. North Carolina is right now, ranked 43rd?
1247
Manny: Disgusting. In teacher pay, and when you look at the per-pupil spending rank, it is… we're ranked in… I believe it's 48th.
1248
Manny: Why this is all really interesting? Well, the Senate Democrat leader, Sydney Batch, I love Sidney Batch,
1249
Manny: I don't think you'.
1250
Chuck: word for it. Yes.
1251
Manny: Love sitting by. She has found a very creative way to… to become
1252
Manny: become helpful in this situ- and I won't say helpful, but, like, to be playmakers in this situation.
1253
Manny: And has largely said that, hey.
1254
Manny: the 20 Democrats in the Senate, and you…
1255
Manny: We will… we will vote as a voting bloc.
1256
Manny: for the, for the, House plan, not the Senate.
1257
Manny: And you only need 26 votes for anything to pass the Senate in North Carolina.
1258
Manny: So, it's a very interesting situation now in play, is you have that…
1259
Manny: you know, technically, you're almost there with one side. And at this point, Democrats are in the super minority. Republicans can do this completely without them.
1260
Chuck: Don't even need them, yeah.
1261
Manny: I don't even need them.
1262
Manny: But if they can find 6 Republicans… to… Buck?
1263
Manny: Republican leadership and vote with the Dems.
1264
Manny: We could end up having a budget.
1265
Manny: And the other piece that makes this real interesting now is before, you had Senator Berger, the Senate Republican Leader, the Majority Leader.
1266
Manny: He just lost his primary.
1267
Chuck: Yep.
1268
Manny: So now, you get the sharks in the water, because now everyone's trying to position up for who's going to be the Senate leader next term.
1269
Manny: So, how well is Senator Berger able to hold everyone in check is a giant question that they're gonna have to deal with. And then, also.
1270
Manny: do 6… do they find 6 Republicans?
1271
Manny: There's a lot of questions here, and we'll see this play out over the next,
1272
Manny: next couple weeks, Sydney Bash came out and said, I only need 6 brave and courageous souls to cross the aisle. There are no excuses left not to negotiate in a bipartisan way. They basically say, you work with us, we're giving you 20 votes, which will be enough to get you there.
1273
Manny: So, yeah.
1274
Chuck: That's a tough, tough approach. That's a real tough approach.
1275
Manny: But what a way to understand your positioning.
1276
Manny: in an argument where no one would likely be paying attention to you to now become kingmakers in this situation. I think it is… it's a smart move. We'll see how it plays out.
1277
Manny: you know, do the Republicans get spooked enough that they circle back to each other and become a block and try to get this done, or do we find the six?
1278
Manny: The one thing I believe, I like the House plan… I as well, like the House plan, and Destin Hall, the House Speaker, said, and this is one of the reasons why I agree with the House one, is the Senate's plan moves much quicker and risks deficits if growth does not keep pace.
1279
Manny: And that's true.
1280
Chuck: Yeah.
1281
Manny: Would I love to see income tax cut even more? Yeah, if we're able to make it all make sense. You know, we're making the right investments in places, so I think the House budget is a little bit more cautious of what could happen in the future over the next several years, to be able to take on the impact
1282
Manny: Of a slowdown in growth, which is now, with everything that's happening, looking like it's going to become more and more likely.
1283
Manny: So, we will watch how this plays out. Yeah.
1284
Chuck: Who knows?
1285
Chuck: That's very interesting. I didn't… did not realize that North Carolina was the only state to not pass a budget last year. But…
1286
Chuck: Everybody's talking about, income tax cuts. Where… how and where are we replacing this money?
1287
Manny: Tariffs, man.
1288
Manny: Now, I will say…
1289
Chuck: Did I not realize that? No, but…
1290
Manny: From a North Carolina standpoint, with the growth in the area, with… across the state, with new businesses coming here, we've run a surplus for a lot of… for a long time now, going back. So much, we've had a rainy day fund set up.
1291
Manny: when, Hurricane Helene came through, there was money that we were able to readily move to be able to address some immediate needs here while they were waiting, and still are waiting, on the federal government.
1292
Manny: So we've been running a surplus for a while, at least long enough of a period where we could have the quest… we could have the conversation of what do we do with this money? Now, North Carolina, also looking at the state of our education, they could also use more money, but…
1293
Manny: that is not what the decision… decision has been regarding education. I know the other thing that they want to do in the house plan is raise starting teacher pay, is try to get it upwards to $50,000 before you consider, local supplements that add on top of that.
1294
Chuck: Yeah.
1295
Manny: So… you know, I would… I want to say
1296
Manny: Yeah, North Carolina's taken a very cautious approach to doing this. But… Yeah, this'll be interesting.
1297
Chuck: Yeah, and… and not to drag this out any further, but I think it's very important. The… the barrage, that North Carolina teachers… not teachers… the…
1298
Chuck: the volume of… Teachers that they had, and…
1299
Chuck: Access 2 took a big hit over the past couple years because many of them have left to go to other states who are paying more money. So…
1300
Chuck: Your teacher retention is down.
1301
Chuck: Yep. Which causes classroom sizes to be larger, which causes a dilution of the education of our students, because it's too many students to one teacher, and so, yeah, it's very important, very important. Thank you, good brother.
1302
Manny: What you got?
1303
Chuck: Man, my spotlight this week is, multifaceted.
1304
Chuck: It's Tiger Woods.
1305
Chuck: Tiger Woods was recently, in another car crash.
1306
Chuck: And when this news came about, I posted it in the group chat.
1307
Chuck: I think it's time for Tiger Woods to give up driving.
1308
Chuck: And…
1309
Chuck: I said it jokingly until I read more into this story. So, Tiger Woods was arrested on suspicion of DUI.
1310
Chuck: And… was in Jupiter Island, Florida, not far from his home.
1311
Chuck: And he overturned and rolled over his Land Rover SUV.
1312
Manny: Hmm.
1313
Chuck: For those who know, this is not Tiger's first crash.
1314
Chuck: He's had at least 3 that I can think of. The first one that truly altered his playing career, when he was still married to his wife.
1315
Chuck: That notorious crash.
1316
Chuck: And then there was another one…
1317
Chuck: In 2021, if I'm not mistaken.
1318
Manny: Yep.
1319
Chuck: That almost took his life.
1320
Chuck: And… With this crash, what came out was…
1321
Chuck: And this is the true essence of this spotlight.
1322
Chuck: He took a breathalyzer when he was at the jail, and his breathalyzer came back clear.
1323
Manny: Hmm.
1324
Chuck: But he refused a urine test.
1325
Chuck: And… The foundation of this is about prescription drug addiction.
1326
Chuck: And I truly believe, that… Tiger…
1327
Chuck: It's suffering in this space, because every time he's had an accident, there's been questions of…
1328
Chuck: If he was impaired or not.
1329
Manny: Yep.
1330
Chuck: It hasn't been an issue, he's passed breathalyzers, but he had gone through so many surgeries and so many different injuries over the years. He had a spinal fusion, he's had surgery on his legs, his hips, his back, this, that, and the third.
1331
Chuck: Does I truly believe that this man is taking these prescription drugs to just function?
1332
Chuck: This isn't… this isn't even about…
1333
Chuck: A measure of being reckless, and when you think of… when you say people…
1334
Chuck: Or, you know, was addicted to a drug, sometimes it's just a function.
1335
Chuck: Particularly when it's prescription drugs, and I can imagine the amount of pain that he's dealt with over his career.
1336
Chuck: And over the life of the surgeries. So…
1337
Chuck: I used him as the focal point, but it's more importantly that if you are in a space where
1338
Chuck: you… Either notice it, but don't look to seek help.
1339
Chuck: or you may have an aha moment, and I pray it's an aha moment that does not endanger your life or someone else's life.
1340
Chuck: When that moment comes, but if you feel like you have to take
1341
Chuck: Whatever it is, to be able to function, because the pain is too much.
1342
Chuck: Please seek additional help, but also take additional measures to protect yourself and those around you, so that you do not find yourself in a situation where
1343
Chuck: You've got in a car crash,
1344
Chuck: wherever it may be, we want you to be here to listen to the pod, to give the boys feedback, but most importantly, to be here for you and your family. So…
1345
Chuck: That is my spotlight. I don't know, I'm getting tender in my old age, man.
1346
Chuck: Hint, hinder.
1347
Chuck: Well, that brings us to the end of our show. We thank you for joining us on today. I… I could have ended on a better note than that. That was a big song. Golly! But it was… it was very worthwhile, and I felt it being very necessary and very important.
1348
Chuck: That we communicate that message to our listeners and to those around him.
1349
Chuck: At this time, Manny, got anything else, brother?
1350
Manny: Man, I don't. I want to thank you guys for tuning in. You know, we appreciate the time you guys spend with us every week. Please continue to like, share, follow the podcast. We're here. If there are topics you guys want us to hit, let us know.
1351
Manny: Let us know, we're happy to take those up and give you some of our thoughts.
1352
Manny: So, yeah.
1353
Chuck: Well, with that, I echo those sentiments. We have some nice, some nice things coming, your way.
1354
Chuck: I'm one to rather make moves and announcements, but…
1355
Chuck: I can tell y'all, some very nice things are headed your way, as you are a listener, and a… I don't want to call you a fan, a partner in this,
1356
Chuck: podcast world with Pardon the Politics. Shout out to our brother Jeezy once more, once again,
1357
Chuck: Appreciate you, brother, you are the true point guard.
1358
Chuck: Of the pod. Of this pod.
1359
Manny: man.
1360
Chuck: We'll tell you about the pre-buy conversation, later on, but
1361
Chuck: Salute to you and your family and handling your business.
1362
Manny: Okay.
1363
Chuck: All hearts and minds clear.
1364
Manny: And, you know, to our listeners, if don't no one else love y'all, just know the boys here at the pod.
1365
Manny: We love y'all.
1366
Chuck: Y'all love us now.
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Manny: And y'all be blessed, have a great one.
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Manny: See you next week.