CARNY TO CONGRESS

CARNY TO CONGRESS EP 6

• Adam Botana • Season 2 • Episode 6

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0:00 | 53:52
SPEAKER_04

Welcome to Carnegie Congress Podcast. Your host, Adam Botana, along with my my great co-host, buddy pal. Jake Demonio. What's up, Jake? How you doing? Doing well, how are you, sir? Yeah, that's old school. I usually always started with that, but now you know what? We're getting back into it. I just popped in my head. Sorry, I've been driving all day. It's been a long time.

SPEAKER_02

Back into Seven?

SPEAKER_04

That's it's great. It's creepy here. I got my my Wada Beta. Wada better, uh, Wada Veta. It's just got four pockets. This is the old Cuban tradition shirt. Used to buy them from my grandfather when I was a kid. I was over in Miami. The Department of Justice had an indictment for Raul Castro. So I was over there at the Liberty Hotel. So Liberty Tower, Freedom Tower. It was great to kind of see that. There's 500 Cuban political people in that room. And it was nice. It was good. It was a lot of people, a lot of happy people. We're going to indict them. And the press was like, uh, well, what are you going to do? We all just said to ourselves, maybe talk to Nicholas Meduto. See what we did to him. He was indicted. So, a lot of good things for the Cuban people. I know tonight they're going to be banging on pots and pans in front of her sides. One of the best restaurants ever, Jake. I brought him back some guava pastries. Jake doesn't even like guava, and he's eating a guava pastry. He's like, this is pretty good. It was wonderful, actually. I'm going to take one with me, probably. Not as good as mom's keyland pie, but it was good. And uh, folks, uh, we're we're back on the uh Fox News channel, 925 Fox News, every Sunday morning. We changed it from Saturday to Sunday and a little bit earlier, 6 to 7 a.m. Every Sunday. You can come in there and listen to Jake and I talk. Or you can go on our website, carny tocongress.com. That's carny tocongress.com. You Google Adam Botan, it'll pop up. Um, but uh you can go right on there and you can subscribe. We've got a YouTube channel, we got Spotify. Jake's had all the things. He did a great job on a website. Starts with a little cinnamon roll trailer, carnival, switches up to Capitol Hill. It's pretty neat, it's good stuff, and our intro is amazing too. So I hope you like that. Good job, Jake. Good job. Uh, but yeah, no, it was great to be over in in Miami. We were there talking. Uh went over and seen a representative Alex Rizzo, who represents parts of Hyalea. I've seen uh Vicky Lopez, who's another representative now as a county commissioner over there, and we went to the brigade, the Bay of Pigs uh museum, which was uh a great thing. It was good to go see these these guys that fought uh you know for independence and they were left on the beach. Pretty bad, pretty bad deal. Not not happy with Kennedy at all about that one. Uh, but we'll get into that another day. So that was uh a little different there. But great, great museum, great people. And these guys are you know in their mid-80s and they're they still got fire, you know. So but it was a great, great opportunity to go over there, see a bunch of a bunch of fellow Republicans and Democrats and just people happy to see indict this. So they indicted them because I remember when I was a kid, Jake, I was I think it was in '96. There used to be um the Brothers and Freedom. We hear in we're hearing Larry come back in and his in his Genesis. Uh huh. But anyways, in 96, uh, I was a kid, I was young, so I was twelve, yeah. Uh maybe a little bit, yeah, twelve. And uh there would be these brothers in Liberty or something, and they would they would fly in just planes and look for rafters. You know, they'd be in international waters, because these this is before GPS's and you know, people trying to get out of Cuba, trying to make it to the Keys, trying to make it to Miami. So they would fly, and then they would, you know, radio in, hey, there's a raft with some people on there. And from what I understand, Real Castro scrambled a couple uh planes, jets, and missile-to-missile shot these American citizens down, two planes. So you're talking a military jet shooting down a you know, a uh just not even a commercial plane on a fight. I mean, it's just a residential plane, just a just normal plane, killed four people. So the indictment on that. So it was in International Waters, so we're gonna see what that happened. I mean, this uh Donald Trump doesn't mess around. I think it's great. It's great for Florida, it's great for the Cuban people. Um, you know, they need to get rid of the whole Castro regime down there. My dad never went down there, chose never to go there. I mean, he came over in 1968. He was 13 years old, came over on a freedom flights. Uh, he was 13. My my parent grandparents came over, they spent a week at the Freedom Tower, the Liberty Hotel, and then uh they came over to Naples right after that. So it's can you imagine just picking up everything, Jake, and just gone. You know, I mean. I can't. Just it was uh, you know, my dad would tell me some stories pretty bad. I mean, because he was a 13-year-old boy, my grandfather was he was uh political prisoner over there. You know, he had a mouth like me. Uh so he always opened it. And he pissed off somebody the wrong way. And here comes the military police. One day, just come up, pick him up, say you you're a threat against the revolution. So they picked him up, and he's like, Are you kidding me? No. They picked him up in a jeep, took him to jail, brought him in there, and there's the book, and the guy's there and says, uh, well, you're, you know, you're a threat to the revolution. He says, No, I'm not, you know. He goes, Well, either you sign this book that says that you're a threat to the revolution, or we take you out back in the shooting squad. Okay, I'm a threat to the revolution, you know. So he signed the book, and he was in he was a political prisoner for six, seven months. And I never talked to my grandfather about it. I was younger. He passed away when I was pretty young. And it would just, we just never had that chance to have the conversation. I remember talking to my dad, and when he did get home, luckily my grandmother was with my my dad when he was a small boy, so this was when he was probably ten or something, and they were at the courthouse and bumped into somebody and like, what are you doing here? He says, Omar, that's my dad's name and my grandfather's name. Omar's in prison, political prisoner, and happened to know somebody, and they were able to work it out and get him out. But when my dad said when he got home, you know, he would just sit there and cry. That my grandfather would just sit there and stare out the window and cry. So that tells you that's probably some some bad stuff that he went through over there. He did tell us a couple stories when we were kids, you know, that they took him out and Castro wanted to make Cuba a huge coffee. He wanted to make it like the biggest coffee producer in the world. So they were planting coffee everywhere, in ditches, you know, on roads, just everywhere. Everything belonged to the government. Fields, they were just planting coffee everywhere. And so they'd take these crews out there and they work and they would, you know, go in there and one guy scratched his eye, and uh, you know, the whatever whatever uh fertilizer caused him to lose his eye. You know, and then my grandfather talked about stories where they would be in a um in a uh a cell that could hold like 50 people and they'd have 120 in there, Jake. And he would have to sleep on your side, and you know, some reason, you know, a guard didn't like you, or he, you know, you just, you know, something happened, they just come in the middle of the night, grab you, and you disappear. Never see him again. Um there was a story that he said they dug a hole because it was like a it was like there was a courtyard in the middle of this prison that was over there, and it's probably a fort, you know, from way back in the day. Um but they dug a hole and they put a water container, like a like a like a water tower. They chained a guy down and they they would they would um throw him a piece of bread every day and they had water dripping on his forehead. And I guess it makes you go crazy. It's called Chinese water torture. And they you know did that to a guy and he was in there for like a week and he came out nuts. So pretty bad stuff, you know, and it was bad. I mean, they were even saying today that the acting DOJ uh uh general um I think his name's Blanchett, but he's like, you know, this this is stuff that we do for the people, you know, for here, but just uh just just horrible stuff that you know this the Castro brothers like my dad, he never even liked leaving the country. You know, it was a big deal for him to go to Canada. You know, he go to you go to Central America as he could speak the language, he felt more comfortable, but he did not like leaving the US at all. He just you know, this is his home. Uh but there were some stories you told me about, you know, and it was pretty bad, and and uh when he when my dad left, he was 13, and at at 14 they they usually recruit you mandatory to go into the military, and that's when communism was spreading and going in. I he was supposed to go to Angola because they were fighting in Africa to spread communism, you know. So it's a tough deal. Luckily they were able to get out, you know, and my dad was in school, and this is like a you know, he's 12, so you're what? He's you know, middle school probably, maybe a little bit younger. And uh they would come into the classroom and they would ask, you know, you know, who are the worms that are leaving? Stand up, and they would make the kids stand up that are leaving and say, Oh, look at these worms, they're leaving, they're leaving the country, they're going to the Imperials. So I'm sure that messed up with my dad. You know, he kind of got a little shook up about that, but they came, um, so they were able to to leave because they had a sponsor to take them. And I've talked about this on the show before, uh, but they were able to leave and you have to turn everything into the government, which everything was, sorry, turn into the government, you know. Um, but you'd have to give everything over, they have to go sign the book, and there was this, my grandfather said there was this piece of crap, this big piece of shit. That was this communist guy. And there's a book, and the guy says, Oh, you have a child that's 13. Well, if you want them to go, you have to you have to round up this X amount of dollars to pay to leave. You know, does it ever go to the revolution or does it just go to the guy's pocket? So my grandparents and um ran around and were able to scrape money together and figure out Beg Bombs and Steel to get my grandfather, my dad out, and um they were able to. And uh then they showed up in the middle of the night. So it was my my dad, who was he was 13. Um, you know, and then it was my grandmother and my grandfather, and then his grandmother. So my my dad's grandmother, I believe. And they were just banging on the door, like, time to go, time to get out, time to get out, time to get out, you know. And then my grandfather's yelling back, like, let us, you know, this this lady's, you know, 70 years old, it's harder, hard for to walk, so they're able to um to get out, so they went in a jeep, and uh so they were driving away, and uh it's tough. Anyways, it was tough because uh you know the dogs are chasing me down the street, so it's pretty bad.

unknown

Pretty bad.

SPEAKER_02

Can't cut it.

SPEAKER_04

Can't cut it. So it's real, it's rough. So it's great to be over there. I wanna I wanna go on the pastry now.

SPEAKER_02

Well, it's good. I I'm I'm I'm glad you were out there today. Because honestly, I had no idea what you were doing today. When I got over here, I talked to your glorious docmaster. Larry. I don't know what he's doing. He says he's doing something. And I I told Larry, I was like, Larry, I texted him a bunch today, and he's been very short and quick. So whatever he's doing, it's gotta be important. So just he'll he'll be here when he when he gets here.

SPEAKER_04

I was here right at six o'clock at 559. I rolled in. Right on the money. Right on the money, so it was good. Thanks for coming down. Oh, but it's it's good what you're doing, man. Yeah, so that was that was good to go there and see that. So that was um that was fun. So yeah, so now we're we're back here. Uh got this cool shirt. Representative Rizzo, give me this one. It's Irish linen, I guess. He he I mean this is nice. It's got like it's got pockets. So you always just see the like it's like a barber shirt, you know, because you got pockets, you always see the guys that have it. So it's got two, four pockets, it's formal. I don't have a v-neck because you gotta have some of the the meatloaf come out, but uh that's yeah, that's just what it what it is. But it was great to be on there, so it was nice to have the a little bit of the heritage. Yeah, you have a real nice glow to you on camera. So it's well, it's just it's my great uh technology crew right here. Jake and Jake, you know. So he's doing it. We have a switchboard and and everything else going. So he's we're getting better. I mean, the videos are getting better and better every time we upload and like have no shorts. It's like, oh, look at that. You can see everyone's just it's gonna continue. Every wrinkle. You can see every wrinkle. No, you really can. Every zip. Like, well, it does have some hair there. I need to trim it up a little bit.

SPEAKER_02

I was actually uh I'm thinking about getting us some like cool little graphics at the bottom. So whenever you say sponsored by, I can click a little button. I like that. And it'll show at the bottom sponsored by the water boat club, like a little phone number and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, it's good. So it'll be real cool.

SPEAKER_04

No, I like it. I think we got 5,000 views, a couple other ones. You know, hey, it's it's still rolling. You know, we'll see. You know, we're we're back on the radio, so you know, people will be happy. And uh Jake cut a quick uh quick uh we cut a quick uh little intro. So it was good. Intro and then got a commercial out there, so tune in every Sunday, Sunday morning, six to seven o'clock. Every Sunday morning, six to seven o'clock. It's FGCU out there with their boat. So they're taking pictures. So it's our neighbors right here. So FGCU, the water school's right next door to us here. Uh so we we have a good relationship. We work with them, and uh it's been it's been tough for them to get back up on their feet after hurricane, you know, and um they're they're getting stuff done over there, so that's that's good. It's a good uh good group, a good good college, great college. I like it, support it. It's really local here. Uh I do like Florida Southwestern too. You know why I like FSW? You remember Edison, right? You used to be called Edison.

SPEAKER_02

Used to be, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

You know, nothing against FGCU. Okay. And just being in politics now and dealing with universities and and stuff along those lines. Like, Jake, you got a GED. I got a G E D. I got mine when I was 22 because a girl asked me. I don't know when you got yours. 18. 18. Uh was traveling. Um, but I mean, hey, I I tell all the kids all the time finish school, don't listen to me. Um but you know, you can go to FSW's nursing school. Okay. And you walk out of there with no debt and be a nurse. Nothing against FGCU. They do a good job. But you come out of there with some debt. And it's, you know, community college versus, you know, state college and stuff like that. And be honest with you, folks. I mean I hear people all the time, you know, your resume, resume. You gotta say yourself when you talk to somebody. You know, I mean, we deal with a lot of stuff. There's people coming in to work and have an idea, but you know, just just in politics now we're we're coming into a senior year, so you're you're you're talking to people and trying to get them involved in a house and just trying to get good people to work. And you know, I think I'm a pretty good judge of character. I know within the first first few moments I can tell a lot about a person. Um and it's good. It's good, you know, but I mean it it it it's just a piece of paper on a wall at the end of the day. I mean it's it hangs there and it's nice and you see it, but but even like I mean, there's a lot of people that go to community colleges and then transfer over. And you still get that, you know, FGCU logo or UF or FSU or whatever it is. And um, you know, I mean it uh the schools do make a difference. You know, I guess the prep schools are good because you're not putting the kid in there for the education. I mean, they are the educated, but also the relationships that you get because there's a lot of people that go there, so that makes sense. You know, I'd never thought about it that way, but I guess that does make sense on that aspect. But Florida schools are tough, man. UF and FSU, they're so tough anymore that you're losing because then those in those schools that you have a little bit more fun, you get those entrepreneurs, you get those, you know, those those CEOs, those, those people that can actually, you know, relate to people and talk and whatever and kind of have an understanding. Um and I'm not saying anything against like I got a GD. I have no grounds to say anything. I'm just it's an observation, me looking at the process altogether. Uh, but uh yeah, again, I mean it's 1080-10. 10% of the people drag everybody down. 80% of the people just do enough to get by. Just enough. And then 10 are overachievers. You want to be something, be that that 10% on top. Because everybody else just does enough. You know, it's just just enough. Okay. It's like plants aggregate the hell out of me. I'm walking in here. Yesterday one fell over because it was windy. And there's mulch on the ground. And I have like six guys here. Guys, pick up a a brush and a a broom and a and a dustpan to put it in. And I come back today. So I did it yesterday. I picked it up with my hands. I come back today. Now there's a pile of dirt, because one tipped over. I'm like, are you kidding me, guys? Like it just anyways.

SPEAKER_03

They do a good job. But just sometimes you just sometimes you just get just get low l much. But anyways.

SPEAKER_02

See what it is is you can't, and I don't say this because I you do, they're all they all work real hard, they all do great, but something I've been trying to live by. You can't hold people to the standards that you hold yourself to. Because you will be let down a lot. Unless you're a bump. Then you have nothing to worry about. It's true. But I've been trying to do that.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that's that's a good point. That's a good point. I like it. But yeah, I mean, it's just, you know. Certain things are like, damn it, guys. Come on. I see that you still have the keep off the keep off the grass signs. Uh, we left those for a while. Just kind of funny. People ask all the time, like, hey, what's that? I go, ah, there used to be grass there. We just left the signs. This is one of my dad's things, and that's just what we do. What grass? Ah. So was it the rocks before or after the hurricane? No, they were here before. So the rocks stayed.

SPEAKER_02

So how did that work?

SPEAKER_04

Because it came up and the rocks didn't move. And so I think we were protected right here because the wind was coming out of the south. We're right next to this bridge, so I think it kind of protected like this was all water. Like there was dents on a roof, like I've showed you. There's dents out there on the roof of the of the house from where the boats were actually hitting, hitting the, you know, the this was all underwater. Yeah, we're about this, about six, five and a half feet, six feet right here. All underwater. Yeah, all this. Like that wall was all knocked in where that door is because the boats kind of bounced around. And then you can see the floating dock. If you pull up the boat cam, you can see the floating dock out there with those boats. So we pulled everything out of the water. Every one of these boats came out of the water. We had 50 here. That time we had 75 boats. We had 50 boats here at our property. We put all out in the parking lot. And we had everything out of the water, and we put 25 at the dog track. And I remember we're pulling them out. I was like, hey dad, we need to pull the plugs, you know, in case of rains. He goes, nah, leave the plugs in. It's good, you know, it holds some water because in case of wind it won't flip them over. Okay, whatever. And we put the boats ground, because I mean we've gone through, we've been here since 04 with the boat Randall and Boat Club, and we've gone through 10 storms. And we always said the same thing, like I always talked about with Ian, you know, oh ain't gonna have any storm surge. Hopefully, you know, we've been good. But with Ian, we had storm surge. We sure did. It came up. So docks were all fine because the water floated over the docks because there was nothing to pull the docks out, but this floating dock was here, and there's that piling right there that's elevated, it's higher, and you can see how the top is kind of like beat up and chewed up, and it's it's actually torqued. So that piling's moved. So what happened is all the boats floated, bounced around, bounced off the roof of the house, went in around the Canary Date Palms between that restroom trailer, and floated out here, and then that floating dock went over that, those, like went over the concrete piling, except for that one, and opened, and everything went across the base.

SPEAKER_02

It's that piling, right? Yeah. If you look on your screen right now, the people that are watching, which should be everybody, because minus people on the radio, sorry, people on radio, top right hand corner is where you start going.

SPEAKER_04

That floating dock disveloed with that. And it's actually turned, like it tweaked that cement piling, because all the the weight from the boats blowing and stuff. And we had two, three boats in the middle of that island. We had 20 across the bay piled up on each other. We had a couple in that island over there, a couple on that island over there. We had we had boats way back there. Like, you know, we had to start counting. I was like, where's all our boats? We had to start getting the keys and like looking where they're at because they were gone. They were all gone. Everything was floated floated way out there. And we actually had like a lady come over and says, Sir, you have a railboat in my backyard. So we had to we had to go get it and push our lift in there, and we we got it out. It was like in her pool, you know, right in the back side of our house. I remember you telling me about that. We remember talking about that. So he's like, ah, we gotta make a tally here and see where all our boats are. Uh, but you know, again, we had a great crew. My dad was was here with the with a crew and cracking a whip and I was running around the district because we got, you know, we were ground zero for Hurricane Ian. And uh we were open in a month, which was crazy. I mean, we were waving a white flag, I mean, waving a flag for business to say, we're open. We're here. Um, so that was it was great. You know, it was good. And I remember, you know, we had we had twenty five boats inland. We lost about, I think, ten rental ten club and rental boats altogether. We lost ten. Um Beat the hell out of everything. Um but yeah. Yeah, it was uh it was a lot. It was a lot. But then uh what the heck? That's somebody blowing here right now? Oh, that's the bug spray guy. So it's fine. Yeah, so I was like It's actually a challenge for me. I was like, what?

SPEAKER_02

Like, yeah, come over here with a leaf blower.

SPEAKER_04

What is that noise?

SPEAKER_02

So though you may or may not hear it, audience, but I'd try it if you did.

SPEAKER_04

Well, there's no CMs here, so you know our girls get ate up. So we put like this uh safe stuff. It's like a menthol. They spray over everything, kind of keeps no CMs away. The eucalyptus or something. Because no CMs are a pain. They're like very angry little bugs that spit on you and make you itch like a mother. I mean, if you you've been out there. I mean, Jake. I lived on Pun Island growing up, man. Floridian, you know. I mean, you're just wiping the mosquitoes off you. But mosquitoes are bigger. These little things are so small, and if you don't get, you know, at first, like you come down here from Michigan, you're not used to them. You get like like you just get ate up. Especially when the sun dips out.

SPEAKER_02

As soon as the sun dips out, they're gonna be.

SPEAKER_04

Early morning. Early morning, like when a sunrise or sunset. Woo! I mean, you're running. I mean, I remember uh Julie, my general manager, when she worked for me in the legislature, we went to Sanibel for the I think it was like the sunrise service, and she had like a dress on. Woo! She just got just ate up. I'm like, okay, gotta wear pants. Wear pants, you know, or long sleeves. Yeah, so that's that's something going on there. So yeah, hey, we're doing it the uh or in organically. It's organic bug spray. So we're getting uh we're getting a full experience here. A full experience. So maybe you can hear it under meeting, maybe you can't. So but uh yeah, folks, so we got a lot of good stuff down here in Baywater. You know, thanks for tuning in. We're we're back on the show. Um, we've got a ton of boats and a fleet. We've got a lot of availability. Come on down and see us. We got skiffs, center consoles, pontoons, deck boats, twin engines, any kind of boat you want at Baywater. We have them all right here. It's a great club, and I think we should probably just take a hot break real quick. Yep, let's do that. We'll be right back. Welcome back. The uh Noceum sprayer has gone by. I'm sure video Jake did get a video of them. Uh hey, this is what happens when you're working at a marina after hours here. Uh but you know, the sun's out still, it's nice. I love this time of year, though. It's great. The weather's great. Starting to get some rain. I mean, my yard needs it. Bam. Um, but you know, the water will start getting a little little uh more tannic, you know, with the mangroves and stuff like that. Uh but yeah, so it's it was good to be over in Miami. Looking forward to, you know, hopefully next week we'll be back up in Tallahassee to get the budget done for the state of Florida, you know, so that's a good thing. Property taxes, I think there's going to be something coming. I think it's I think I really do. I think there's gonna be a good thing for homesteaded property owners. So, Jake, those are people that live here, you know, that are registered here, that are Floridians. Um, they're talking about an all full out repeal of homesteaded property tax, making the cities and counties lose their mind, um, which I understand, but you know, I think there's a timetable, maybe we can implement it over a few years or a set amount of years, say, hey, this is what we gotta do, we gotta figure that out. Um, and then you know, the the the debate is, you know, the counties and cities like, oh no, we can't do that. How are we gonna survive? And Jake, I mean, like the governor says eight years ago, seven, eight years ago, you got in there, you know, the amount of money that was collected is I think it's like 30 billion in property taxes around the state, and now it's you know, 50, almost 60. I mean, so you're doubling, you know, or 60, 70% more. And I know inflation is a lot, but where's our roads? Where's our services? You know, um, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered, slaughtered, you know, so you know, I think I think there's some, and I'm not complaining about my cities uh in my district, they do a good job. Uh, you know, but there's some cities around the area and some counties around the area that a little bit uh, you know, it could be a little bit more fiscally conservative, you know, with the money. Hey, I'm I'm all about roads and we need roads. I mean, I'm I'm one of the proponent talking about it. You know, it shouldn't take two hours for one of my boat washers that's in Lee County to drive from Benita to Lehigh during season. And two hours in the morning. That's four hours in a car. That's ridiculous. So I think we really need to work on that. Uh, I think the MPOs for Lee, Collier, and Charlotte, you know, they're I've I've asked them to do a study to merge, you know, what would be the what would be the benefit for that? I think there's a lot of good things for that. You've got, you know, Charlotte's kind of up at the top there. They got their thing. Collier's down here, and Lee's kind of in the middle, and they all go their separate ways. They look in a map, all they look is the county. Probably 60-70% of the people in Lehigh work in Collier. So that's a lot of cars going south, but they're not putting the dollars to that. So I know the state we're working on putting a couple extra lanes, a few extra lanes from you know, Collier to Lee, uh, some Hove lanes, which will be good, some express lanes, uh, some tolls, but we definitely need to work on more north south, north, north-south corridor, south north corridor. Um, it's it's really a bad design. It's not good. I mean, there's a lot of people that get stuck in traffic, and you know, it takes me 45 minutes an hour to drive to my mom's house. You know, use you know, this time of year I get there in 20. And I'm hey, I'm not complaining. We need the people. We need the people down here. That's definitely a thing. But there's certain things that you know that needs to be l addressed. You know, traveling is I mean, the the traffic is a is a real issue, and it needs to be addressed. So we're working with DOT, but I'm I'm working with Bonita, with Collier, with Estero, about, you know, maybe some more north-south corridors out further east. You know, it'll be limited access. So I'm not talking about development. So limited access means like a toll road. And you can't build on it. You know, it's just a road. Um they can make it, they can make it really uh environmentally friendly too. You know, they can put uh wildlife crossings underneath it, because that's a big deal. I mean, it's huge. We're we're we're Teddy Roosevelt Republicans out here. You know, we we're conservationalists. Um you know, it's like our business here. We have close to 70 boats altogether. Um, those are people that use the boats underwater. That's a lot less boats out there. You get a lot less people that are not using, you know, their personal boats and stuff. So that's a big, you know, that that protects our areas in the in the long run. So there's a lot of things that we're working on. But I think that's something that we need to work on here regionally, uh, because uh the roads are a big problem. I know our congressman, Byron Donald, he's running for for governor, and I'm supporting him. Uh, you know, I mean that roads are a big thing. Roads and traffic are a big thing for him. So I look forward to helping him uh with and when he wins the election uh in uh August and November. So make sure you get out to the polls. And uh he said even if we if we don't get property taxes done this year, which I think we will, you know, he's gonna bring it back up next year. So that's definitely good things to happen. Good things to happen, Jake. I mean, you know how the traffic is, buddy.

SPEAKER_02

Don't get me started, man.

SPEAKER_04

You know, I mean it's it's it's better now for it.

SPEAKER_02

Right? So on my way over here, just for example, right? I'm leaving Gateway, I'm going towards 75. It took me 35 minutes to get to 75 to turn left. I'd have been here a half an hour earlier. Really? And the problem was, and it took me a minute to kind of figure it out, but it's people blocking traffic. It's impatient people blocking entire intersections. Like it doesn't help anybody. Because I thought there was a wreck up the street.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I get up the street and I see the impatience of people, right? So the lights off cue or something. It's literally just the simple fact that they blocked the intersection. I think when it gets gets backed up two, three lights, yeah, and then we're all sitting there.

SPEAKER_04

I think we need to use some artificial intelligence for lights. You know, I don't understand. Like in the morning, why don't they just have two cycles going south? You know? Why do they gotta stop? Like, why does it gotta be the same all the time? You know, all right, move the people down twice as fast. Syn up the lights so that it, you know, okay, everybody's moving south. All right, the lights all are two rotations south and north. You know, then in the in the afternoon the lights are going all right, so it's just two rotat, you know, instead of being green for, you know, a minute, make it green for two minutes. You know, and just get the I mean, I'm I'm sure the engineers, there's probably a good a good explanation of why that wouldn't work, and I'm sure people might tweet in and say that doesn't work, but you can you can go on Facebook or you can go on Instagram or you can go on our website, Carney to Congress, and you can you can make comments there too, Carney2Congress.com and see why, you know, but I think that'd make a great that makes sense to me. Or, you know, but I don't know. I'm I'm not an engineer. I'm just a boat guy.

SPEAKER_02

I don't really know either, to be completely honest with you. But like I I know that there was a guy that was um I'm guessing he was changing the light or adjusting it, and we were all like super happy, and then ultimately what it led to was us waiting at the light longer.

SPEAKER_04

Well I know like the the cops can do it like on Sunday when the churches are getting out and stuff, they can control the light and it goes longer. You see them out there clicking it, you know, and they can do that. So that's kind of it's kind of a nice thing. What was that one guy who had a he had a cinder in his car, and he had it for like years? Years. They couldn't figure out like it was in New York or something, that there was this this this anomaly, the light would just turn green, you know, and everybody else would be red. And this this guy did it for years, and he was in a truck, and they found out okay, they finally started looking at it, and this truck was in every one, and he had some kind of center, so he would come in to it, and he would just hit green. I mean, hey, the juice is worth the squeeze, man, for all that time. I mean, I'm it's it's that's sharp, that's pretty sharp.

SPEAKER_02

So this this is how you do that, right? Um I'm not gonna give away all the information, but if you take and go to the store and you buy a universal TV remote, and you use that remote and it uses a number to program to a TV, right? So when you press the button, it sends the number. So the number inside the box over a light is probably universal, I would assume. The go it used to be 911. So it would send the numbers 911 to the box.

SPEAKER_04

And it would make that one light green for an example.

SPEAKER_02

But since I know that, they obviously had to change it because there was probably a ton of people that would go out and buy these $15 remotes, and then you can just change the light.

SPEAKER_04

Well, it's like the guy. Did you see the guy? I think we talked this about already, in Charles de Gaulle Airport, where he made a bet that Charles de Gaulle Airport's temperature would get above something Celsius.

SPEAKER_02

Prediction markets.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, Lord. There's a video of this guy with like a battery operated, you know, something. I don't know if he had a generator or small, but he had a hairdryer and he holds it up to where he knew where the thermostat was, the thermometer, and held it up there. He's there for like just 45 seconds, and then he walked away with like 250 grand or something. He made a bet, and he roasted the market. Yeah, I've I've that's that's pretty that's pretty good. I mean, I'm sure he's probably he's probably dead in a ditch somewhere, but that's pretty good, man. He is able to I'm talking about juicing a horse. That's you know, somebody somebody's up there. That's crazy. But uh pretty funny, I thought.

SPEAKER_02

I've heard people using the same like idea of like when they're at an Airbnb, and if the thermostat's locked, they'll get a hairdryer and just blow it towards the thermostat, and that way the AC stays on. Ah, that's smart. Yeah. What is this turned into? I don't know. What's this? We're given I'd never do this. I would never do that. We do not condone any of this.

SPEAKER_04

I'd never do this. Never, never. But that's kind of funny. That is kind of funny. I mean, every time I go to a hotel, I crank that baby down to 68. 69.

SPEAKER_03

68, 69.

SPEAKER_04

It's just, you know, maybe 67. 6'7, 6'7. Um, you know, but yeah, that's yeah. Not hairdryer. That seems like a lot of work. But, you know, hey, it cools it off, I guess. Well, you know, I somebody's got a fire now. You know. The problem is they're having nice bill. Yeah. You know, I've done the Airbnbs. And it's okay. You know, I mean, it works sometimes. Sometimes, you know. I don't know. There's cameras and people, you know, like I always wear my clothes.

SPEAKER_02

Don't why would you even want to put yourself in a position where you're gonna be compromised? Yeah. You know? Because it's like they could have recording devices around. There's weird people, man. Oh, I know you've seen them uh them clips of the the stories of people that, you know, go to Airbnb's and then like the owner comes out of a room they didn't know existed. Like, hey.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that's right. Like, I didn't know this was a shared space. That's creepy. That's creepy. You know, I have a rental, I have a rental uh house. I'm never there. Great, they're great renters. They're great people, they do a good job. I mean, they're p uh phenomenal renters. Phenomenal. I don't like that word. They're great renters. Extraordinary. Extraordinary. There you go, that's better. Extraordinary renters, and uh, no problems, they're good people, but I mean, like, you know. Checks there, good. Good to see you. Thank you very much. Have a good day. Um, but yeah, I mean, there's there's I mean, I've I mean in the carnival business, so we're you know in the carnival business, Carnegie Congress. So there's some fairs that I go to that round in the country, Monroe, Michigan, and uh, there's not much around there. So I rented a farmhouse, which was pretty cool. Then this past year I rented this this house that was in downtown Monroe. It was old. Inside was nice, but the outside was like, oh god, pulled up. I'm like, ho ho ho ho. This is like the Blair Witch project. I mean, it's like right downtown, right next to police stations. That was good. I was not concerned about that. It's like a nice town. It's old Lazy Boy, it's where Lazy Boy started. It was in Monroe, Michigan. Um, I don't know, I know that. But anyways. Uh but yeah, so that was kind of interesting. But um, yeah. Just uh I'm just not an Airbnb kind of guy. I don't know. I don't like it. No, no, I don't know. Let's see, maybe I'll do it again. But you know, maybe if I'm at a place for a month or something, I guess.

SPEAKER_02

You know, like like the Fool House house, Airbnb, that makes sense. You know, like Hannah Montana's house from the Disney Channel. That makes sense as the go-to in Airbnb if it's like an experience, but yeah, like if it's a tree house, you always see the tree houses and stuff. That would be awesome.

SPEAKER_04

You know, that'd be cool. Um you know, we've got a condo that we rent out seasonally now, and it, you know, I mean, people are good, show up, they go out there, it's good. But yeah, I just I don't know, Airbnb. That's a lot. Like, I've we've got some members like, yeah, we just do weekly. I'm like, whoa, ho ho ho That's gotta be pricey, man. I mean, it's it's probably good money, but you gotta babysit those people, you know, because stuff breaks, stuff breaks down. I mean, you know, I mean, I was talking to my CPA and I was like, oh, you know, I'm gonna do this and that, and that he goes, why? Why are you gonna do that? Why why do you need to do that? He goes, You're doing great. You got a good business, you're you're paid off this. You know, it's probably the edit of this. He goes, it's good to not be in somebody's bitch when it comes to banks. And I was like, yeah. Solid advice. You know, it's like, eh, you know, it's you know, passive income's great. He goes, Yeah, but you know what? Why? Pay off all your debt. It's good to be in that, you know, it's not it's the market, yeah, the interest rates are too high, and it ain't coming down. You know, I mean, we got a lot of stuff going on. Like, I support the war in Iran. We need to really hammer, get done with Iran, get that over with. Uh, you know, I mean, bite the bullet. We've got gas here. Like I was talking to a buddy in the carnival business, seven dollars a gallon in Ohio, in Indiana for diesel fuel, which is insane. That's a lot. Like, five was a lot, six was a lot. I mean, just to fill up my truck's $160. I'm like, damn. You know, I mean, and it and it's it's affecting. And the market is not connected to the everyday American, right? So I was talking with a buddy of mine about that, like, oh, the market's up. Like, well, I don't give a shit what the market says. Real Americans are hurting. It's not, it's expensive, you know, and we're overextended. I mean, we went through COVID and everybody bought stuff, and you know, we're outside and we bought boats and all that. But I mean, everybody's tight, you know. So let's just that's all right, just hold on to your money. Let's just take it easy. Don't don't get uh don't don't get crazy, you know. So pay down your debt, you know, as much as you can. Um go from there, you know. There's stuff I want to buy, but just just wait, you know. We're you know, for people that have been here for a long time, Jake, and you know this. I mean, you had 08 when everything you got restaurants here that serve crap food, right? And they still make it because you've got a season, but now you're gonna see them start falling off. And then the good ones stick around. The good restaurants that have good quality food. Perfect example. Track side donuts over here in Bonita. We've talked about this before. It's an old place. Good donuts, and it is impossible to get into that place. It's it's a great location, but it's impossible. Like, you've got to legit break laws to get in there. Pull a U-turn, but that place is packed because they got good quality food. Good quality donuts. Like, I go in there and eat donuts. Uh, it's a good joint, but people go there because it's that good. And that's the thing where it doesn't matter. I mean, location's important, like it's a great location, but they're good donuts, and they've been there for a while. And I mean, you legit have to break the law to get in there. You're like, you gotta do a legal U-turn, and then get, I mean, it's it's a lot of stuff. It's right there by the the old dog tracking bonita, it's a staple. Um, but I mean that's the thing. That's what's gonna happen, probably. Uh I see here. I mean, you're gonna have stuff that's gonna fall off this summer's gonna be tough, you know. You're gonna have these people that are not serving quality food, you're gonna have these businesses that are not serving quality, taking care of the customers, they're gonna have a real problem. Um, because the last five, six years we've been on a gravy chain, and now it's gonna a little correction. Uh, you know, uh the stock market's a stock market, you know, there's kids in it, there's there's all kinds of people, and there's I think seven companies are holding everything up. It's probably a a bubble that's coming, you know. You see start seeing that, you think maybe that's the truth. Who knows? You know, but uh AI and everything else, which I'm impressed with. This stuff's pretty wild, but I just don't see the area you can make money with it. I mean it does make search engines a lot easier, you know. You just I mean, I'm not googling stuff, I just go on the grok. You know, Byron Donald's likes grok, I like I like grok, you know, and just pop stuff in and comes out. It is kind of creepy though. It is a little I'm listening to a new book now. Uh the senator told me about it. It's uh Senator Broder. Pretty good. It's called I was listening to it today on the way over. I'm a I'm a big audiobook guy, go figure. Uh is the technology what's the name of it? The technologically the tech technological republic by Albert.

SPEAKER_02

Technological Republic. The technological republic. So you've you've heard it. No. Yeah, technology. Okay. But I have 14 credits on Audible. I will get it when I leave here.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and then there's one I got, uh, How to Test Negative for Stupid by John Kennedy, the senator from Louisiana. He's cool, cat. He's just like, you know, you know what I'm saying? You know, he's just John Kennedy. He's he's good. He he's like, he's just like a farmer. You know, he was a good guy. I listened to that one. Um, let's see, the other one I listened to is Theo of Golden. I don't know what that one is. I haven't listened to that one yet. But The Tiger is another one I'm listening to. And then I got the old go-to, uh, The Godfather, Mario Puzo, King of Torch by John Grissom. Um always good. Playing for Pizza by John Grissom. It's like an always the one you can just turn on anytime you're on a car, and you just want to kind of like chill out the brain, drive, and just listen to that. It's good. It's good. Come across the alley. I went across, whatever this morning on 75 to Miami. Uh, the alley, and I came back on 41. And they're doing a lot. Like, the Mikasuki's got like a legit gas station out there now on Timmyami Trail on 41. So like a legit big one. Like, I was going there, it's like I didn't pull over. Man, I gotta use restroom. You know, I'm 42 now. I've got to pee a lot, and um, just kidding. But uh was out there and it's like, oh damn, there's like a whole big like truck stop out in the middle of on 41, like legit. I'm like, oh, I pull in there. It's like, how long you guys been open? He goes, This is the first day. I was like, nice, I haven't been there in about a year, you know. But I like driving down 4141 to kind of see the hybrid glage restoration that we're doing and the stuff from the state, a lot of things there. So that was it's cool, but yeah, there's like a legit gas station out there now. So it was pretty cool. So use the restroom, really nice, clean, you know. I asked the guys, you live out here, they're like, hell no. We live in Miami. So it's like probably 30, 40 minutes outside of Miami, you know, on 41.

SPEAKER_02

So there's people out here that live in Miami that come out here. Like it's crazy.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, no, no. Uh a buddy of mine, he's in the legislature, Tom Fabrizio, his wife was in the DA, district attorney's office, and she would come over to Cliver County instead of fight the traffic in Miami. She would like legit drive across seventy five from Broward, 'cause it's the same time for her to drive to Miami. Um, it's like it's better I don't have to fight traffic, I just you know. Cruise and go from there. So it's good. How long we got? Yeah. What do we got?

SPEAKER_02

Uh we're at 20 minutes. I just I pulled up my phone because I've I was just like curious about how like what books I was reading or listening to.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, oh yeah, no, no.

SPEAKER_02

Um it's kind of embarrassing, but it's mainly Robert Green. It's 48 Laws of Power, 33 Strategies of War. I have 50 Cent's new book, The Accomplice. Oh, really? Yeah, I don't know what he's he's a great writer. I don't think he writes them or whatever, but you know, um Hustle Hogger, Hustle Smarter by 50 Cent. There's a one called Caffeine by Michael Poland. It's kind of like the history of caffeine when it was introduced, and uh it's very interesting because he gives it it credit for the Industrial Revolution. Okay. And like it its discovery leading up to that and whatever. Also, the walk by Kimji Lopez, which is like if you want to learn how to like cook Chinese food, oh the walk.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, I like that.

SPEAKER_02

Because I learned about like dark soy sauce and uh fish sauce. Fish sauce, oyster sauce. Yeah, yeah. Um they have a bunch of different stuff. What's the other one? The the oil that they used. Uh kimchi.

SPEAKER_04

Like, I like kimchi with sushi. It's like a red sauce. It's like it's pickled cabbage. It kind of gets like a fermented.

SPEAKER_01

I'm not sure about that.

SPEAKER_04

Kimchi sauce, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um it's Japanese, I think. There's some kind of oil that's sesame oil. So sesame oil and a bunch of other stuff. And then um there's one book I can't get off my audible because it was given to me by the author because I voiced something in it, not knowing what it was. Um and then there's the let them theory by Mel Robbins, which I have eight hours left of that. Wow. Which is pretty much, you know. It's it's like a manager, like if you wanna it's like a if you really need help in managing people. The suitable art of not that. Pretty much. That's a lot of what that is. Let them. Just let them.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. You gotta give it a.

SPEAKER_02

If they don't like you, let them.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah. Let's see here. I'm going through The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown. Like, I'm a big Dan Brown fan. That's you know, uh Da Vinci Code, kind of cool there. Uh what else? All the colors of dark, which was pretty good. Random walk down down a Wall Street makes sense. You know, just you're gonna get invested in stocks. It's not like a vending machine. You can't pull it in, pull it out. You just gotta put it in and leave it and walk away. Like, prepare for that thing to go to zero. It's the way it goes. Uh, Charles Dickens, the great uh exceptions expectations, I think.

SPEAKER_02

What was the other book? You wanted me to read it or listen to it. It's long as hell. It's like two weeks long or something. Oh. You know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_04

Catalyst Shrug. That one was so bad. It was like it's like 60 hours. I got halfway through with Reard and Steel. It's like a famous book.

SPEAKER_02

Isn't that the one about like the future or like weird?

SPEAKER_04

Rear and Steel, and like I don't have like you know, I read Tip and the Gipper. So that was good. That was about Reagan and um Tip O'Neill. You know, it was pretty good. Uh listened to Romney's book. Toxic Empathy was uh was uh you know um that sounds like one I need to listen to. Uh it's it's interesting. Because I it's white uh what is that white something, white uh fragility. Fragility. That's the one it was written by a crazy one. Like I like hey, I'm I'm here. The gatekeepers. That's a good one. It talks about all the chief of staffs from from past and stuff. Yeah, to all the way to like Trump, the Wright brothers, which was good. John Grinsom, like he was good, you know, like earlier, but now he's just kind of woke. Don't like it. Oh, presidents versus the press.

SPEAKER_02

That's hard to get away from.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. To be. Atlas Shrug. Like, I got I'm I'm three way, I'm like a two-thirds of the way, and I still got 30 hours left on Adlas Shrug. Goodness gracious. It's like a lot. Tom Clancy, Da Vinci Code. What's the Da Vinci Code about? That's Dan Brown. So it's about it's about Mary Magdalene being Jesus' wife and actually lover, so that God was actually.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, so it's blasphemy. I can't listen to that.

SPEAKER_04

You know, I mean, there it's it's interesting. It's interesting. Like, ah, it's kind of interesting. The art of public speaking. That didn't help me out. So, how to run for local office. I listened to it after it ran. What did I do wrong? It did everything right. And I mean, that's what I got like on Audibles the best, because you can just what are we gonna write an Adam Botana book? Carney to Congress. There you go. Carney de Congress There you go.

SPEAKER_02

Did you get the title already? You knew it before I did.

SPEAKER_04

You know. Uh let's see what else. Um so then I go into my like my just when I used to buy the books and see here, like crazy stuff. 81 below 80 81 days below zero. That was an incredible story about a guy when they used to, like, we were like supplying Russia with planes during World War II, right? We were just we were taking them, building them in the U.S., and then shipping them to Alaska to get them over the Bering Strait into there. And so they would take these planes and they'd take them over there, and they would test them in Alaska, because that's a freezing tundra up there, right? And there was a plane that went down, so this, you know, there's a group that was on a B, I think it was a B-29 or something. Like eight guys went up in this plane, and they went to go look for uh another plane that went down, and then you know, the guy went to go light like a he went to go grab the matches for the captain light his pipe. And I think he was he wasn't a pilot, he was a uh navigator. And engine locked up, boom, flat spin, he took his gloves off to get the matches, and he ended up bailing out of the plane. And he was the only one that made it. So luckily he had those matches, and he could actually start. I mean, you're in Alaska, so he was like it said 31 days below 30 degrees, below 30 below. And like there's a story about him making it out, and just like he made it and went through frostbite, like ended up in a cabin where people would leave rations, which people did back then. I'm sure they still do it now. But he ended up that there. I mean, just a great story, like it's just talks about a university, and he walked out. He walked out, took him like three or four months to get out. It was a pretty good book. Elon Musk was good. Uh you only have to write once. That's what I think I told you about. Randall Lane, it talks about like Musk, talks about um the uh camera guy. Um Spielberg? No, no, no. Kubrick. Peter Pitt talked about Peter Teal.

SPEAKER_02

Peter Teal, okay.

SPEAKER_04

Talked about Peter Teal, talked about the guy to GoPro, in fact, all their like their little stories of how they started.

SPEAKER_02

Wait, what is it called?

SPEAKER_04

It's called You Only Have to Write Once.

SPEAKER_02

I have I've listened to that.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, the Honor Princess Rise of that. You know, uh Jim Kramer, yeah. Things about the you know, that gets better. Sycamore Roads, another genre, some Cuban Missile Crisis, like I listened to all that. Infernal, Angels and Demons. Like a lot of books. Lois and Clark, A Land Remembered, which is good, Florida One. I think that's probably what I said you should read. They're actually making a movie about it now. Uh Unbroken Decision Points. Like I listened to Assholes Finish First by Tucker Max. But yeah, I mean there's a lot of bleep in this one. Yeah, so but it's I mean, Water for Elephants kind of talks about my story. It's carnivals, but it's more um circuses, but very similar. Very similar to my my upbringing. Moby Dick. Oh, I actually listened to The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I have that.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

Crazy. Interesting. Rather be uh I'd much rather be a gardener or a warrior in a garden than you know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_04

That's like if they attack from the front, you must ret retreat to the rear. If they attack to the left, you must go right. I'm like, are you serious? I mean, this is the book? The sun's that's the book. We were laughing about it. If rain falls, you must put up an umbrella. You know? That's like, what what are we doing here? What are we doing here? Oh, oh, the art of racing in the rain. It's life through a dog's eyes. His dad's a uh race car driver. It's a movie. Really good book about dogs. Like you like dogs, it's really good about it. Obviously, and sadly, because that's like all movies. All books that have dogs in it, you're like, but it's uh yeah, but yeah. And when uh Time to Kill, get the appeal. I got a lot. Like just craziness. Yeah, so just a lot. But it's you know just kind of wrap it up. Got it, got it. Uh well folks, thanks uh to hearing my my audiobook collection here. And uh we appreciate you tuning in on uh Sunday morning and the podcast. Thanks for you know, we can see us now. So, Jake, I'll let you take it away. How do we how do we how do we how do we download how we doing all the good stuff?

SPEAKER_02

Listen, if you just subscribe to the podcast, you only have to do it one time, you'll get notified. So whatever, wherever you get your podcast, Spotify, Apple, Pandora, you can just Google Carney to Congress, you can Google Adam Mr. Boatman Botana. Um the easiest way is if you go to carny tocongress.com. Everything is right there for you.

SPEAKER_04

And you get the videos too. So if you download it online, we're actually online. You'll get the videos. You can see us talking and talking about Wayabeta. So uh, but special thank you to our sponsors, Baywater Boat Club. Uh family owner and operated boat club right down here in Benedict Springs. We own everything. A lot of boats. Come on down and see it. The easy way of boating. We got pontoons, deck boats, center consoles, twin engines, cabin cruisers, any kind of boats you want at Baywater. We take care of the muss and fuss. You just enjoy it. Go out there and have a good time, have a good time with a good family. Give us a call, 239-495-0455. That's 239-495-0455. Thank you for tuning into our podcast, Carnegie Congress. Shake, thank you very much. Bay Water Exclusive Boat Club, the exclusive club of Southwest Florida.