The Week In Review

Transcript

Solo Host And Quick Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hey everybody, it is uh Clay Novak, and this is the Elsa Kurt Show with Clay Novak. I am flying solo this week. As Elsa and I told you last week, she's down in Florida doing her favorite things, seeing her grandbabies, uh, seeing her daughters. And so you've got me uh flying solo again this week. And obviously, as as it always happens, this is a great week with tons of stuff going on

Iran Talks And Global Leverage

SPEAKER_00 0:54

that, of course, Elsa is missing. I'm sure she's watching the show and going, man, I wish I could have been in on that conversation. And I wish she was here as well. I always do. It's definitely more fun to have two of us than just me by myself, especially since uh the last time I did this, I got a lot of flack for saying um too much by a viewer. I get it. It is what it is. But try talking by yourself for an hour sometime and let me know how that goes for you and see how often you say um. Just trying to keep your thoughts. Regardless, uh, let's kick it off. It's the same topic that we've been hitting for the last, I don't know what it's been, eight or nine weeks, 10, 12 weeks, I guess, and that's Iran. And so latest developments, President Trump had a cabinet meeting at Camp David uh that turned into a cabinet meeting at the White House. Uh Secretary Rubio is overseas traveling. He was in India, a couple of other places, and he is on his way back. Uh Secretary Hegset and others had made their way up to Camp David to try and iron this thing out, and now they are moving to the White House. President Trump, uh, always positive in the outlook on things, says that there is a there's a deal being built. Uh Secretary Rubio is speculative. He understands and and articulates very well that uh they could put the best deal on the table, and Iran may or may not take it. Uh, President Trump says they could get a good deal right now, but not a great deal uh necessarily, uh, is his anticipation from Iran. So, you know, we've got a couple of new developments. So you've got entry or at least anticipated entry into the conflict or into conflict resolution by some some folks in Europe. You've got the Czech Republic who just recently uh through a lot of effort uh in their own country have crossed the 2% threshold, 2% GDP threshold for NATO nations that President Trump has been beating the drum on for so long. Uh they want to they want to contribute to this. Interestingly enough, they are a landlocked nation with no Navy. And so they want to contribute to the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. They understand, as so many nations do, the amount of oil that moves through the strait and how that affects the entire world. Uh and so for them, uh, they have offered and are eager to participate and to assist. They've offered some surveillance assets. My assumption is those are probably air assets uh that they have available, but they want to contribute. So that changes the dynamic a little bit. Uh the UK has already got mine clearing, mine sweeping naval assets uh prepped and ready to go to clear the strait. So they're taking a more active role in this when they have been reluctant in the past. And then, of course, you've got President Trump invited. Let me make sure I've got this list right. Uh Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or Qatar, depending on your pronunciation, uh, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan, uh, all Islamic Muslim nations. He's invited them all to sign the Abrams Accords, which essentially is his attempt and effort to establish peace throughout the Middle East, especially peace through the Middle East, but specifically between Israel and Muslim nations. So he has invited all of them to sign the Abrams Accords as part of his negotiation to broker peace with Iran. He knows that all of those nations, Pakistan's involved because um they're they're helping negotiate this process. They're the go-between uh between the United States and Iran. Um, Turkey's probably the furthest away and outside of, maybe not outside of missile range, but the rest of those, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, uh, Egypt, Jordan, all have taken stray rockets along with the UAE, um, Kuwait, and others, Bahrain, uh, some of those are already involved in the Abrams Accords, but they've been taking stray rockets from Iran. So they want to see this end quickly. President Trump's trying to use that as leverage for them to sign the Abrams Accords and try and further peace between the Islamic nations and Israel. So you've got all that going on, but you've got Iran being the primary problem causer within the region right now, for the moment, of course. And I guess the question for as this continues to progress is if they had to choose, which would Iran prefer? Uh, would they prefer to have nuclear capability, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, or would they prefer to have the Strait of Hormuz in control over that? There's pluses and minuses to both. I know where the globe stands. Part of the reason the Czech Republic has gotten involved is they have said their minute foreign minister or minister of defense, one or the other, uh, said it is absolutely imperative that they do not get a nuclear weapon. They would be holding the world hostage. Um, you know, Z from China said this said the same thing when President Trump was there last week. Um, everybody, every sane individual in the world knows that Iran can't, shouldn't ever be allowed to have nuclear weapons. Nuclear energy is a different discussion. I said it on this show a few weeks ago, and I continue to say it after watching the Chernobyl uh mini-series, which was pretty historically accurate, uh, and watching how the Soviet Union fumbled that uh as one of the more developed nations, you know, in the world. Um, Iran having nuclear power is is to me is just as much of a threat to the globe as them is having a nuclear weapon. Uh they will, or they have the potential to screw that up to the point where you know they poison the globe or have a catastrophic event uh that impacts the entire Middle East, uh, if not further. Um, so you've got that nuclear capability, both in weapons and in power. Um then on the other side, you've got the Strait of Hormuz, which obviously gives them great economic advantage as they can control the flow. Uh, they can, you know, put a toll booth out there, for lack of a better term. They can charge people passage through, they can impact uh at the drop of a hat, global, as we're seeing now, uh the movement of oil, you know, 25% of the world's oil moves through the strait, uh, and they can impact that if they own it. So the question is, which one would they prefer? I think in the egotistical sense, and to be a power broker globally, they would want nuclear weapon capability uh and nuclear power. Uh, I think economically, but that doesn't that those two things don't give them anything economically, other than you know, holding the globe hostage with a nuclear weapon. Economically, the strait gives them everything. Uh it that country could have as much or as little money as it chooses if it controls the strait. However, um, they can get bullied, threatened, et cetera, by the nuclear-capable nations. Um, you know, if if people think that that is a possibility, but they're gonna have to decide because President Trump's not gonna give them both. I'm I'm very confident he's not gonna give them nuclear weapons. I I think nuclear power is a bargaining chip, but I've also said on this show in the past that I believe that a a foreign nation, foreign entity, foreign corporation uh building, providing oversight uh, et cetera, of nuclear power within Iran, I think is an option that is not off the table. Um, the strait is really the negotiating point, and it, you know, Iran right now has claimed in the last week, less than a week, that they have facilitated the passage of 25 vessels through the strait of Hormuz that they've been paid for. They've made some, you know, there's been some economic gain there. There's a an independent company or corporation agency that is tracking traffic through the strait. They say topps nine nine ships have moved through the strait under direction of Iran, two on one day and seven on another. Uh certainly not the 25 that they're claiming, but they they are supposedly moving through and with some validation or at least some, you know, um, you know, an outside agency providing validation or or validating the fact that it has happened. They Iran has some power right now, and I think that's what they want to retain. I think that they want to retain power over the strait. I think that is their negotiation point. I think that is what they're gonna go to the table, assuming, expecting, demanding. Uh they are gonna push for nukes. It is what it is, uh, but I think that's they know that that's a lost cause. The hard part, too, is that this negotiation by all reports is that Ayatollah Khomeini is underground, literally. This is not a uh, you know, went dark, disappeared Osama bin Laden style. This is like in a bunker underground, you know, buried below where any munitions can reach him, sealed away, and using multiple couriers to move information in and out of that bunker. That's who is gonna have the final approval of any negotiation with the United States. The duly elected government, whoever those IRGC representatives are, or you know, if there is somebody left in the elected government, I don't even know if there is at this point, uh, for Iran, but the supreme leader is gonna be the one that's gonna have to bless off on this. And so with him being in a bunker, you know, however many hundreds of feet below ground, and him being the one that's got to approve this is proving is gonna continue to make things difficult. So uh we'll see where that goes. Again, this is you know, every single day this changes. By the way, it right now it is uh 5 p.m. ish on the east coast um on Wednesday the 27th. So um, yeah, just folks, we got to keep it is literally a daily change. It happens something different every single day on Iran, and and that's kind of where we're at. So we'll keep reporting it every week. Right now, I think the negotiation is the biggest, that's the biggest thing going. Yes, there's been some strikes. Yes, there's been some kinetic operation. Uh, the U.S. has bombed some more things. I think that's kind of, I hate to say, become a matter of course, but it has. Uh the negotiation right now in the peace settlement is is where we're at. And so I think Iran's got to figure out what

Maine Candidate Controversy And Veterans

SPEAKER_00 12:25

they want more, the straight or nukes. And that's where the negotiation's gonna happen. So we'll keep paying attention and we will keep reporting until we get to some resolution on this. Hopefully, sometime soon. There's been speculation that it's gonna end soon, even gas prices and really crude oil prices are dropping. So that's a good sign. Uh, the economists don't generally risk themselves too much on those things. So hopefully they know something we don't. All right, uh, moving on. Folks, this is my least favorite person in the news right now, Graham Platner. If you don't know who he is, he is the uh gentleman running for office in the state of Maine. Uh, and he is a former service member, cross service, spent some time in the Marines, spent some time in the Army National Guard, uh, did multiple deployments. He's a combat veteran, I think three with the Marines, one with the Army. But he's also uh a very uh controversial and polarizing figure. So Graham Plattner, probably the first thing that most of us, or the first time most of us heard of this guy, was that he declared he was running for office and it was brought to everyone's attention that through some old Reddit posts and some things, some some of his old social media, that he had a uh Nazi skulling crossbones tattoo uh on his chest. Um, that tattoo, for those of you who are history buffs or even movie buffs, if you go back and watch the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies or you watch any of the World War II, anything that talks about the SS, uh the secret police, the Nazi Secret Police, the SS, they wore a device on their cap, which was this skull and crossbones. It doesn't look very pirate ish, but it is a skull and crossbones. Regardless, um, that is what he had tattooed on his chest. Um, no other organization ever uses that, has ever used that. He tried to say that he, at first, he tried to say that the military gave him that tattoo, which is completely false. The military doesn't tattoo anybody for any reason ever at all. Um, he did eventually it came around that he went out with a bunch of his buddies drunk one night, and they all thought that this was a great idea, and he got this tattoo. Um, it has since been covered up. But in digging through, as a result of that tattoo, a lot of his Reddit posts, which have been taken down, but thankfully the internet does what the internet does, and people preserved a lot of these posts from his past. Um, he's a pretty disturbed individual. Uh, there's a there's a lot of stuff out there. Uh one of the most uh heart-wrenching, disappointing, disgusting things, as far as I'm concerned, is he he he gets on there and he he criticizes other veterans because he thinks that that's okay. Uh he thinks he hides behind and a lot and and veterans do this, unfortunately, and I'm wholeheartedly against it. They think that uh veteran to veteran, you can, you know, bust somebody's balls or go after them or attack them, and and you know, harsh humor or dark humor, gallows humor, whatever you want to call it. Um, you can say condescending mean things and say, oh, well, veterans talk to each other that way. Listen, if I and most of you who watch this show regularly know this, I I did, you know, five, five combat tours. I did Afghanistan three times and Iraq twice. If I know you and I served with you and I went to combat with you and I trust you, then sure. There, there's a there's a definitely a different line of what I am, well, of what our relationship is and what I'm willing to tolerate and joke about with you because we've got a this same shared experiences and probably have been through some of the same heartaches and hardships. And through that shared misery, there's a bond there. If I don't know you as a veteran and you don't know me as a veteran, uh, and you just think because we're both veterans that you can insult me, attack me, call me names or whatever, because that quote unquote, that's how veterans are, you're wrong. And veterans need to stop doing it. Those that do think it's okay, um, you know, we we have a problem with veteran suicide in this country, and it's something that I talk about publicly uh often. And, you know, veterans think it's okay to disparage, to attack, to go after each other because veterans are veterans and that's what we do without and and uh and you know, within the same breath, we'll talk about how 22 suicides a day uh in the veteran community is too much. Not knowing, understanding, realizing, or probably even caring that they potentially are contributing to that by the way that they act hiding behind their keyboard and and saying things to people that they don't know. Um so, and and Graham Platner is one of those people. Uh, you know, he's criticized uh a service member who received a purple heart, was uh wounded four times, an army guy because of a uh helmet cam, you know, a GoPro type uh film clip where the young man uh you know he's in a small fire base under attack and he ran out and uh got shot, wounded, uh, but got hit four times. And uh, you know, the Grand Platiner, this guy's running for office, by the way. Um, you know, said basically that MF or doesn't deserve to live. And the only reason he's still alive is because of crappy marksmanship by the Taliban, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Uh, and he, and again, he he's hid behind his PTSD. He's he's hid behind, oh, that's just how veterans are. That's how they talk, that's how we talk to each other. If you're not a veteran, you don't understand. Well, I am a veteran and I understand and I disagree. And I think most veterans, most of the veterans I've seen, including um Bob O'Neill, uh, who is the guy the guy who shot bin Laden, has come out and said the same thing. Like, that's not how veterans talk to each other. Um, it's not, that's not how we do business, it's not how professionals act. Um, but Grant Platiner continues to run at the mouth, uh, you know, and he is running for office, and he's become a polarizing figure for the state of Maine. Uh, I think everybody on the conservative side of things has basically written this guy off as a loon, as they should. Uh, but he is polarizing even inside the Democratic Party. There is a lot of uh, there's a lot of folks in the Democratic Party who are trying to absolutely distance themselves from this guy. They are either quietly or even publicly hoping that he does not get elected because they don't want any association with him. Um, but there are people within the Democratic Party who think this guy's great. They think he's awesome. Uh he, you know, he was like I said, he's a four-combat tour in uniform. Plus, he was a government contractor, security contractor. Uh, he was an oyster, he's an oyster farmer, I think. It's some other things. But really, what he is is a loudmouth. Uh, and uh, and because of his actions as a person, uh I'm not attacking him as a veteran, I'm not attacking his service, but I am attacking him as a man uh and and as a human being. I'm telling you, the guy's a punk. Uh he is a loudmouth. Uh I I have zero zero faith at all that he's as tough as he thinks he is. Uh, and he is not. If I was from Maine, I would not want that guy representing me. Uh from anywhere. I don't think anybody should want that guy representing him. Um, I think he's mentally unstable. Uh, and I think he's not somebody who should be in our representative government, period. Um, so the main race, the race in Maine, is something that everybody should keep their eye on because this is a guy who is truthfully further left in a lot of cases or less stable than members of the squad, which is crazy. Crazy to even consider that he is uh on the ticket anywhere. And and it's not even his political beliefs. He's not a communist like Mom Donnie. He's just a lunatic. The guy really has a screw loose. And uh, and he is he is somebody that none of us should need or want uh in our government. So keep an eye on Maine, folks. You know,

Biden Lawsuit Over Classified Interview

SPEAKER_00 20:47

it's that weird state that they, you know, when they do do presidential, uh when they do the electoral college, the state is divided. They don't do the all or nothing thing. And so they have a very interesting uh way of governing up there in Maine. So uh crossing my fingers for them that this all turns out well for them, and he does not get anywhere near uh a government office with their state name on it. Okay, moving on. Um President Biden is suing the Department of Justice. So he did an interview with an author, my understanding. It's an interview regardless, uh, where he discussed the classified documents case. Remember, remember the boxes, right? They raided Mar a Lago, they went through all President Trump's stuff, they went through Melania's underwear drawer uh most famously, disrupted everything, and then very quietly and and that was a big deal. Um I actually lost some friends over that discussion. Uh, but they went, you know, they checked uh sec uh Vice President Pence's house, they checked uh President Biden's house, among others, and they found in President Biden's garage in Delaware behind his Corvette uh boxes of classified documents. And so he got investigated, and this is all kind of wrapped around that. And so the Department of Justice is planning on or talking about releasing those documents, that interview. Uh and President Biden and his team are concerned because what did I see? They are worried that his mental health will be questioned. I think that ship is sailed, folks. Uh something tells me that there's evidence in that interview that confirms what we all already know, and that is that President Biden does not and has not had his mental faculties for a long time. I'm sure that there's evidence in there, whether it is in things that he said or how he said things, that will put on open display, again, what we already know. And what they're hiding behind is privacy concerns. This is the this is the cause for the lawsuit. Privacy concerns. So they are concerned that even a former, this is their words, former vice president, because that's the context of the classified documents. They were taken when he was vice president. Um that even a former vice president has a right to privacy of conversations while in his own home. Um I would tell you that if he was talking about most things, I would agree with that. Everybody has a right to privacy, especially in their own home. However, um when we are talking about classified documents, uh, when we are talking about violations of law, uh, and truthfully, when we are talking about a vice president who then became president, you're not off the clock, folks. I I'm sorry. It's just the way it is. You're never off the clock. And an interview in his house while discussing a legal matter that has to do with the federal government and classified documents, that is public should be available for public knowledge. That's exactly what a FOIA request is for. That none of that should be hidden from the public. I don't care if he was out of office, I don't care if it happened in his bathtub. Um, if that is an interview that has to do with classified documents and the investigation and legal matters pertaining to the federal government and federal crimes, there is no privacy there. Sorry. Once you take that office, one of those two offices, president or vice president, uh, and you embroil yourself in something like this, you're tossing that out the window. You've given it up. Uh it listen, and and for those of you that are saying, no, you shouldn't, no, you shouldn't, every, not only every congressperson, but obviously elected and appointed officials at certain stations and positions within our government have to disclose all of their financial documents by law. We've been, we've all been talking about this. Nancy Pelosi is the famous case. But I would also tell you that within the military, once you are at a specific level, general officers and and some folks below that in key positions also have to disclose their financial investments because it is about protecting the nation and it is about uh protecting things like insider trading uh and those sorts of things. So you automatically give up some of those rights to privacy, your financial privacy, uh, just by taking the office. I think this is no different. So again, I don't care if it happened on the back porch, if it happened sitting in his Corvette in the garage with the documents in the passenger seat, if he talked about this stuff, I think it is open, it should be open for public knowledge. It should be available upon request through FOIA or whatever, or just generally published because it's federal law and he potentially violated federal law. And if that happens to show that he was an invalid, that he was incapable, that he lost his mental faculties, then so be it. Uh that should all be part of the, that should all be part of the discussion. But he is suing, his team is suing the Department of Justice to have those, that interview itself essentially sequestered, redacted, blacked out, not available to the public, etc., for those reasons again, because he says it's about, or they say it's about his personal privacy. Uh, but they also, I mean, the speculation is they think it's because everybody's going to figure out that he didn't, he he had lost it. And we all knew he lost it. That's why he stepped out of the we all saw the debate. We all saw that he couldn't speak. We all saw that he dropped out of the race and let Kamala, you know, pop in in his stead. Uh, we all know. By the way, side note, has anybody heard anything about the stage four cancer that he has? You everybody remember that? Right? That was an announcement, stage four cancer. Um, haven't heard a say he's been in public, he's been, you know, obviously we've got this going on, uh, but yet the announcement of stage four cancer, and we haven't heard a peep about it since.

White House Shooting Vanishes Fast

SPEAKER_00 27:52

Um Pam Bondi's fighting cancer. We've been hearing about that. She wasn't even the president. So I still think that one was a little odd. I would question even the validity and the truth of it all. However, I digress. Um, okay. Uh, so again, we'll we'll see. I think that that is gonna be a failed lawsuit. I don't think it's gonna go anywhere. I think that uh all of that stuff is gonna come out, and again, it's just gonna be more validation of what we already knew. Speaking of things that have disappeared from the news, like President Biden's stage four cancer, there was a shooting at the White House last week. It's not in the news anymore. It's not, it's gone. Anybody heard about it? Anyone heard about it maybe within 36 hours after it happened. It disappeared from the news. This is the fourth assassination attempt on President Trump and gone. Gone from the news. Why do you think that is? Because it doesn't fit the narrative, folks. It doesn't fit anybody's narrative, it doesn't fit the pro, you know, the Fox pro-Trump narrative. It doesn't fit the MSNBC CNN narrative. Uh why? Because it doesn't tick any of the boxes. This is a mental his name is Nasir Best. Now, admittedly, when I heard his first name was Nasir, I was like, oh Muslim Islam. Could be, couldn't be. I have no idea. Uh is never reported on whether or not that he, you know, that is his faith. Hasn't been reported at all because it's dropped out of the news. But last week, Northwest Corner 17th in Pennsylvania, Nasir Best uh walked up to one of the guard checks, demanded to see the president, and uh and started shooting. Listen, this guy's got a history of mental health issues. He claimed to be Jesus. Uh, he is known to the Secret Service. Listen, when you're known to the Secret Service, uh, that is not a good thing. And clearly, this year best has been on somebody's list for a while. So um, you know, he approached the uh guard post, uh, started firing. There are multiple newscasters, uh, folks making content nearby. There are definitely varied reactions to the shootings. Uh, some people reacted quickly, some reacted not at all. But uh he fired. Uh Capitol Police and Secret Service returned fire. Unfortunately, a civilian was wounded in the exchange. There has been no reporting or determination on who is responsible for that. Um, could have been either side. Uh, but uh Nasir Best was taken to the hospital where he died. But it's gone. It's out of the news. We're not even talking about it. Black 21, uh, mental health issues. So it wasn't an AR-15, it wasn't a sniper, it wasn't it. President Trump didn't even stop working. He sat in the Oval Office and kept working through the entire thing. So, you know, this is just a crazy person. Uh, just an absolute crazy person. But there are some interesting facts. Go back and look at how many times there's been shooting incidents, incidences, incidences near the White House. Um, pretty much every administration, except for the Biden administration, frighteningly enough. So I just thought it was odd. Take it for what it's worth. But it's more interesting, is that this is completely dropped out of the uh news cycle. Why? Because it serves no purpose to the media. None. He's dead. Uh, we all can figure out that he had mental health issues. We all can figure out that his race had nothing to do with it. Uh, he was 21 years old. Like I said, no, it no AR-15 involved. It serves nobody's purpose, so therefore they nobody cares. And it has dropped out of the dropped out of the news cycle. 36 hours after it happened, nobody talks about it anymore. Assassination attempt on the president of the United States. Nobody says Jack. So that that right there, if nothing else, that right there should tell you that both sides of the media uh are definitely playing to their strengths, playing to their needs. They're only reporting what is required. Um, like seriously, think about it. Every other mass shooter that like that, you know, like their parents are on TV, everybody's being interviewed, relatives, all that stuff. We haven't heard jack about Nasir best. Zero. Nothing happened. He died at the hospital. Right after that, out of the news cycle, nobody cares. Nobody cares where the gun came from. Nobody cares where his parents are, if he has parents, where he's from, where he was born, nothing. It's gone. We're still talking about, you know, Pennsylvania. We're still talking about the golf course, we're still talking about the White House press corps uh dinner. Uh, we're not talking about this one because again, serves no purpose. Yeah. Very, very interesting. And and folks, if you don't talk about

Supreme Court Declines States’ CDL Case

SPEAKER_00 33:18

it and I don't talk about it, nobody's gonna talk about it. It'll disappear. Probably disappear from the history books. It won't even be a thing. So um keep your eye on the media, folks. Every time there's a shooting, keep an eye, and I don't care what kind of shooting it is, and I don't care where it happens, keep an eye on how what the conditions are and how long it stays in the news cycle. This one in 36 hours after it happened should not have disappeared. It was an attempt on the president's life or at least a shooting at the White House. It's a big deal. Um SCOTUS. We've got to divide, and I'm all in favor of the Supreme Court justices not voting on any kind of party line. Uh, I think that's the way that the Supreme Court was designed. I think that's the way that it is supposed to be. However, I think that this is a massive ball drop on the part of the Supreme Court. So you all remember months ago there was the California, there was the semi-tractor trailer in Florida uh where it turned, you know, made the illegal turn uh in traffic and the car hit it and the people inside the car died. And then of course they found out that this is this was the beginning of the ill, you know, finding out that California, Washington, other states have been illegally issuing um, you know, trucking CDL type license, commercial driver's licenses uh to operators for years. You know, most of them don't speak English, or I shouldn't say most. There are enough of them that don't speak English that it's become a thing. Uh and so uh DOT's gotten involved and all of that. And so the state of Florida uh brought a lawsuit to sue the state of California and the state of Washington because of them issuing these driver's licenses, these commercial driver's licenses to drivers who shouldn't have them and therefore putting other people on the road at risk, like this family from Florida that died because of this tractor trailer operator who cut across, uh made the illegal U-turn, and these folks hit his trailer and died. So this is about conflict between states. This is a lawsuit between states. This is about interstate commerce. This is all these are all the reasons why the Supreme Court exists, right? This is we need a federal-level settlement of a dispute between two states, having to do with multiple state entities, interstate commerce, et cetera. This is exactly why this is like FBI, right? This is why you know any interstate crime becomes an FBI issue. It's not local police because it crosses boundaries. This is the same thing, and this is why the case went immediately to the Supreme Court. It had to, because no other, where else would you have no one else has jurisdiction? And the court declined to even hear the case. And Justice Thomas and Justice Alito have lost their minds. They are so upset right now uh that this isn't happening because of exactly what I explained. And we should all be upset that this is not happening because this is exactly why the Supreme Court exists. These are exactly the kind of cases that they should be hearing on behalf of all of us uh and and should be settling between multiple states that are involved. And for them to walk away from this and say, no, we're not even gonna, we're not even gonna entertain it, uh, is a problem. Uh this is definitely, I don't even know what the break is. My assumption is it's a 5-4 break. I don't know who voted which way. I know, I know where Thomas and Alito were at. I know that they were on the side that wanted to hear the case and wanted to try the case. I don't know who the opposition was that declined the case. But those folks, you can make some assumptions, but again, I don't know, I don't know who is who, so I'm not going to make assumptions. Um, at least not publicly. But this is a problem. And this is an issue within the Supreme Court on, you know, some people voting absolutely party lines, some people voting. I I honestly don't even have a speculation as to why Supreme Court justices would not want to hear this case, other than the fact that they think that um, you know, state driver's licenses should be, you know, we've got the interstate, you know, reciprocity that happens with driver's licenses. Mine's good, you know, in other states, and other states are good everywhere else. And they I think they believe that this to be the same. Um, but again, this is interstate traffic, it's interstate commerce, and they chose not to. So um, I think this is one of those that we we probably need to review as a nation and figure out what the Supreme Court is doing and why they are there and what they're not doing on our behalf, because this is this is troublesome to me. I think this is something that they should have taken on. I think it's a no-brainer. Um, but I I'm very interested in who voted which direction to not take the case. And I definitely want to see and hear the justification on both sides. So that's another one. Uh, I don't know if there's an appellate process when the Supreme Court declines to hear a case at the federal level who's not that's not adjudicated at all at a subsequent or lower level. I don't know how

Memorial Day Post Sparks Outrage

SPEAKER_00 39:04

that works. Should probably reach out and figure this one out. But uh, I think they missed the boat on this one. And I think uh Justice Alito and Thomas uh they're they're upset enough that we should all be concerned. So that one I I have a feeling that one's gonna disappear from the news too. I don't think that's gonna come up unless this uh Secretary Duffy uh from uh transportation gets involved, but uh we'll see what happens there. Um this one hurt my soul a little bit. Uh on Monday, this past Memorial Day. Obviously, you guys know me. I'm a veteran. Uh, you know, I said it before earlier in the show that you know I spent some time deployed. And as many of us did through the 20 years of the global war on terror that still continues in pieces and parts today in different places, we all lost friends. Uh many of us have lost friends, family members in previous conflicts. Name it. Uh World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, the Balkans, Panama, Grenada. I mean, you know, the list goes on and on. But Memorial Day is, you know, was meant to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, didn't make it home. Those that fought on behalf of our nation uh and gave their lives to protect our freedoms, etc. And so Governor Waltz and others from the state of Minnesota decided to take Memorial Day. Remember Governor Waltz, right? Governor Waltz was a National Guardsman for a very long time, to the point of retirement, so over 20 years. Took many oaths along the way. And this is why I always laugh when people say, Oh, they're that person took an oath. You should believe everything that they say. Not everybody holds an oath to be as sacred as others, and he certainly is not one of them, because he took Memorial Day and decided on social media to honor George Floyd. That's right. The fentanyl addicted piece of garbage who held a knife to a pregnant woman who died at the hands of police, no fault of theirs. If you read the autopsy, and I've read The Autopsy, uh Governor Waltz decided that on Memorial Day, instead of honoring heroes from Minnesota, maybe even people that he served with along the way, he decided that that was the day to honor, memorialize uh and pay tribute to George Floyd of all friggin' people. And he wasn't the only one, uh, but a couple of folks in Minnesota did that. And I know you folks in Minnesota, I I know that it pains you, those of you with common sense, a little bit of character, uh, but it's gross. That's disgusting. I mean, that hurts my soul. It hurts my soul to know that he was put, George Floyd was put on par with friends of mine that died in combat, subordinates, bosses, you know, people that I served with, served around. Um it's gross, sickening. We should all be embarrassed. Governor Waltz should be out of office. He should have been out of office on Tuesday, should have been out of office yesterday. It should have been immediate impeachment. Um at a minimum. So uh everybody in Minnesota, please, you know, just like rethink everything that's going on up there. I I know that it's everything is dictated by the yeah, it's very much like

Vance Signals He Won’t Run

SPEAKER_00 43:09

Chicago, right? It's Illinois. Chicago dictates what's happen, what happens in the state of Illinois. I know the Twin Cities dictate what happens in the state of Minnesota, but for crying out loud, people, Tim Waltz is an embarrassment. Can you believe the Democrats had that guy running for vice president? That was their pick. That was the guy. That was the guy that they thought was supposed to be as good as JD Vance. That's the guy. Really? Gross. Speaking of JD Vance. So JD Vance, I screenshotted this because I heard it when it happened, and then I couldn't I had to I had to listen to it and read it a couple of times, but I screenshot it. So JD Vance, second Vice President Vance has said a number of Number of times that he is not a presidential candidate. Now, I and Elsa and I had a deep conversation about this, the Rubio Vance discussion just a few weeks, two weeks ago. And uh, you know, the assumption has been Trump for four, Vance for eight. That's been the assumption since he got chosen. But with the on, you know, the growth and oncoming of uh Secretary Rubio, you know, there's been some discussion about who the appropriate next presidential candidate should be out of the GOP. Uh, I think we all agree. I think for the process that America needs, I think there should be primaries, GOP primaries that happen to determine who the next candidate is. I don't think it should be betrothed, handed off, designated, whatever you want to call it. Uh, but President Vance, a number of Vice President Vance, a number of times has said he is not a presidential candidate. I always took that as I'm focused on my job. It's not campaigning season, therefore, I am not a candidate. And just leave it at that. Assuming that he would eventually be a candidate. But answering the question in the moment at the time, I am not a candidate. I always thought that was the play, that was the message, and I liked it. I thought it was very um savvy, I thought it was smart. And then a week ago, the 19th, um, he said in a press briefing, these are his exact words. I am not a potential future candidate. I'm a vice president and I really like my job. The addition of the words potential future candidate is what caught me. Because that says, what that says is I am not running. I am not running for president. Now, can the man change his mind? Of course he can. Is he playing politics? Maybe he is. I don't know. But that was the first time that I've seen, noticed, or heard him use and insert those words, potential future candidate. I'm not a potential future candidate. I'm a vice president and I really like my job. Now, again, the discussion that Elsa and I had a few weeks ago was the Rubio versus Vance. We both said that Rubio is, I think Rubio is a deadlock, no matter who he runs against. I think he wins. I think Vance, depending on who he runs against, is uh from the Democrats, would be a little bit dice here, depending on who's on the other, on the ticket for the Democrats. But I think Rubio wins hands down, doesn't matter who it is. So I don't know if this is him changing tact and being more specific because he sees the writing on the wall, or because someone has told him, or because he has made the decision that Marco Rubio, Secretary Rubio, is the best candidate to run for president in 2028. But that right there says that Vice President Vance is not running as of right now. Again, can the man change his mind? Of course he can. Will he? We'll see. Uh, but right now he says he is, not only is he not a presidential candidate, he is not a potential future candidate. And that's the difference, is that what that says is he is not only is he not running, he's not gonna run. And listen, they got plenty of kids in the house. He's got a lot going on. Uh my expectation is even if he doesn't run for president or vice president, is that he still stays within the inner circle, maybe even is in a cabinet position. It's very possible. I don't I don't see him walking away from government uh even at the state level. I I can't even see him running for governor. He might, but I don't think so. Uh, but he he could be a gubernatorial candidate potentially, but I don't think so. But that I just thought that

DNI Exit And CIA Office Raid

SPEAKER_00 48:14

was interesting that now specifically he is saying not just a potential or not just I'm not a candidate, but I'm not a potential future candidate. Let me let me know what you guys think. Am I reading too much into this? Was that a misspeak on his part? I don't know. Um, put it in the comments. Let me know what you think. Maybe I'm overanalyzing, but I think that Vice President Vance is very deliberate in what he says, and I don't think it was an accident. That's me. Now, this one I definitely don't think is on the up and up. Sorry, folks. I I I don't think that this is on the up and up in the sense that I know that I saw the letter, we all saw the letter. We saw the letter that said, my husband is sick, he's battling cancer, I need to take care of him, and good for her. I I admire the DNI for doing what she's doing. Um I admire her for setting a date that says we will figure out a transition, and you know, 30th of June, I'm out, and I gotta go take care of my husband. That being said, I don't believe her, truthfully. Um I think uh I think that a couple of things have happened that have bothered her to the point where she's decided to leave. One, remember Tulsi Gabbard was a Democrat, ran for president as a Democrat. Um she joined the President Trump team because he asked her to. Uh, you know, there's a lot of speculation on who she really is, what she's really done. Is she a rhino? I don't even think she's a rhino. I don't even think she's an independent. I think she's a former military officer who wanted to continue to serve her nation. Um, I think she's done a pretty good job as the DNI, as she has been allowed to. And so my point is so you've got the DNI that resigned. You've got uh Joe Kent, NCTC director that resigned. Uh there's a lot of things going on in the intelligence world right now. There always is, folks. There's never nobody in the intelligence world gets a day off. It's just the way it works. Uh the world doesn't stop, and therefore intelligence keeps happening. So you've got um, you know, just pick them. Iran, China, you've got uh Ukraine, Russia, you've got everything. You got the Venezuela operation, you've got all kinds of things going on that the DNI plays a part in, and the DNI is responsible for coordinating, for coordinating, participating in, uh, and and directing all the intelligence agencies and organizations. And then her office got raided by the CIA. This was another one that was in the news for about 24 hours. CIA, while the president was in China, uh CIA came in and took documents out of the DNI's office, and nothing was ever said. And I think it really, really pissed her off. I think it pissed her off that it happened. I think it pissed her off that no one was held accountable. I think it pissed her off that the CIA who works for her did it uh with absolutely no respect to her, didn't care, acted probably like she wasn't there, and it was very much business as usual. So I think she is probably disillusioned, if not worse, on how the intelligence apparatus operates and those folks that live and work in it. That is not a good sign for the rest of us, ladies and gentlemen, because if CIA does whatever they want to the ranking individual in the intelligence community and no one is held accountable, then none of us should have any expectation that they would do anything better for the rest of us. If they really did roll into her office and take uh documents out of there about the Kennedy assassination, MK Ultra, and some other things that were reported. And again, nobody no one was held accountable, nothing was done, nobody was fired, the director of the CIA is still in place. I probably would quit too if I was her. And, you know, it's nice that President Trump allowed her to leave under a guise of a good job done, well, you know, job well done and go your separate way and go take care of your husband. I don't believe it. I don't believe a word of it. And it's a shame too. Uh I I admire her for taking on what she did. You know, that job is massive, it's all encompassing, it's never a day off kind of work. So, you know, I wish her the best. Uh, but I don't think we've seen maybe we have. Maybe we have seen the last of her. Maybe she disappears after this because she knows what the truth really looks like. And again, folks, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but that that writing's on the wall. The CIA can do whatever they want to the DNI. Uh then

Smartphones And Falling Birth Rates

SPEAKER_00 53:50

why bother? Why bother sit in that office? I I wouldn't. It's a waste of time. So good luck to Tulsi. Uh, if her husband does, which I assume he probably does have some form of cancer. Uh, but I wish the both of the I wish both of them the best. Uh go take care of your husband, go take care of your family, and uh, you know, keep yourself don't walk in dark alleys for a little while, or probably ever. Uh, probably your safest bet. Um, all right, folks. Last last big topic, or last topic, really. Um, I read an article about global birth rates are dropping. Obviously, in some places they're high, but overall global birth rates are dropping. And specifically, birth rates are dropping in nations with smartphones. So there's a lot of speculation on the why. There is physiological um guesses. There's psychological guesses. Physiological is you put it in your pants pocket, you put it in your back pocket, you put it in your front pocket, you put it in whatever, and it affects reproductive organs potentially. Right? Well, it's 4G, 5G, uh, the higher G's, 4 and 5G are being there's speculation that those are what's causing it. Um that's that's part of it. And we've heard listen, folks, we've heard a lot of us have heard the 5G thing for a while. You know, all these 5G towers everybody's worried about, like they used to worry about power lines with kids, um, which turned out to be true. So is the 5G it? Uh is that contributing to part of it physiologically? I think it might be. I think it's entirely possible. And so there's that. The psychological part of it to me is what's more intriguing. Psychological part of it, and I've seen this because listen, folks, I got you know, nieces, nephews, kids of my own in their teens and 20s, and I see the differences between them and how I was at their age. The interaction, personal, physical, face-to-face, eye-to-eye, nose-to-nose interaction between teens and 20-year-olds, right? Those folks that are of prime reproductive age, um, isn't happening like it used to. And I say that because I've seen this up close. Like kids will be, we we've seen the exaggerated, like be in the same room texting each other from three feet apart. But there are kids in college, in high school, in their early 20s who will meet each other, they will exchange social media, connectivity, Snapchat, Instagram. Young kids don't get on Facebook, but it's those. They will message, they will message each other dozens of times a day. They will build a relationship over that messaging medium and never see each other, never physically contact each other, never talk to each other, really not even talk to each other on the phone. Very content about just the messaging. Um, and so there is speculation that psychologically that is fulfilling the physiological need for human contact that drove generations previous for centuries and centuries to have physical contact, which leads to reproduction, right? You guys know what I'm saying. You know, when I was in college a few years ago, um 30 years ago, um, over 30 years ago, you know, you go out, you'd go to a party, you'd go to a function, you go to a bar, you would attempt to engage with the opposite sex, right? It was stimulating psychologically, physiologically. You know, you were chasing, men were chasing, women were chasing too, right? That was the the whole social interaction piece of it. Um and that, and then and then it was maybe it was some phone calls, but you know, we we were always you're always looking for opportunities to see each other again, right? It was all about physical, legitimate, tangible contact. That's not how kids operate now. And so uh speculation is on the fit psychological side is that the phone, this damn thing, you know, is replacing that. It's replacing that drive to physically connect. And therefore, birth rates are going down. I think it's an interesting discussion. Uh, if you have kids of that age, whether they're yours, nieces, you know, your own children, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, even, you know, pay attention. Um, and not just how they interact with their friends. Friends are one thing that's totally different. I'm talking about romantic, you know, interaction. Um, it takes them longer to get to a point where they have the boyfriend, girlfriend together all the time, sitting on the couch, holding hands, watching a movie, eating popcorn kind of thing. They're not driven the same way we were not that long ago because of the cell phone. I it's an interesting discussion. I don't think it's it was never the intent, I don't think, by anybody that developed a smartphone or the apps that go along with it, but maybe it was, I don't know. But that's really what's happening. And now we've got some scientific evidence,

Viewer Comment And Sign Off

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some numbers, um, some data that says that this is happening. Uh, but what we don't know is specifically why. Right now it's just speculation. So it could be physiological, you put it in your pocket that 5G warms up those reproductive parts, and uh that's a problem, or it's because the kids are just cool messaging and they don't need it. It's a little weird, but that's the future that we're dealing with. All right, last thing uh comments section. So not a ton of comments. I thought this one was kind of funny. Um, I, you know, folks, Elsa and I have our roles. My role is to do the topics, uh, put the topics together and prepare myself and get into the detail of it. And uh one of her roles, which she's much better, is to manage this platform, which I'm not good at. And so I do not have, I could not figure out how. I figured out everything else. I could not figure out how to get the screenshot uh of the comment onto the platform so I could display it. So I'm just gonna read it. It is from a gentleman named Elwood Stetson, who uh who commented during the show last week that says, gosh, I wish you guys were my next door neighbors. You would be such a fun neighbor. Um, Elwood, we appreciate that. I I I don't think that we have enough neighborly contact in the United States nowadays. And so I would happily be a neighbor. I think Elsa would be a blast to be a neighbor with. She'd probably be the lady who puts on the block party. Um all right, folks. That is uh that's it for this week. Uh, an hour and two minutes. So if you don't like how many times I said um, go ahead, try and talk for 60 minutes, let me know how it works out for you. And I can promise you it's not as easy as you think it is. And so thanks again for everything, and thanks for tuning in. I uh appreciate you tolerating me for an hour. And uh, as always from me, keep moving, keep shooting.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

The headlines will change by tomorrow, but the patterns won't. Thanks for spending this time with us. We'll be back to keep asking the harder questions and telling the quieter truths. Until then, stay grounded, be discerning, and we'll see you next time.