12.5.2024 -- NLS -- Nominees, Traffic Troubles, and Trump Effect

On this episode with Neal and Julie...

The duo dives into an engaging mix of national politics, local frustrations, and global issues. They kick off discussing the nomination process and FBI background checks, with Neal emphasizing the importance of letting the process unfold while questioning trust in the FBI given its history. Julie highlights the political rumor mill, touching on shifting Republican support for certain candidates.

On international matters, they dissect the situation in Ukraine, voicing concerns about mismanagement of aid and the need for accountability. They also explore Trump’s proposed solutions to the conflict and his impact as a “transformational president.”

Shifting gears, Neal and Julie address local traffic diversions causing community frustrations, noting the unintended consequences of poor planning. They also delve into broader societal debates, from education funding to the complexities of identity politics, and the ripple effects on culture and faith.

Throughout the episode, Neal and Julie’s dynamic banter and thoughtful insights keep the conversation compelling, blending seriousness with moments of levity.

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Transcript

And we're back on Newstalk 179. It's Neal Larsen, along with Julie Mason. And, Julie, we're just gonna have to let this play out. There's nothing I can do right now. It's all right. It's going to. That's what we get for trying to figure out the new system. And.

Yeah, it's all good. You just get more music. Well, here we are. And again, these are the little, little things that we're, working, working out here. So, we want to waste no more time. We have Senator Risch. Until when? Julie. 815 815. So we have a limited amount of time. Let's go to the phones. And, Senator Risch, it's always great to talk with you.

And I trust things are much better in Washington. Still. Well, the past more than back here, here and around the world, obviously. But, yeah, it's a good time to be a Republican. You know, I, I lived through this with Ronald Reagan. Kidnaper turned upside down in 1980. And, now, this is the first time really, it's been happened significantly since then.

And, gosh, it's, it's a it's a breath of fresh air, and we're, we're get we're getting reorganized here and getting their feet undressed. And come January 3rd for Congress and January 20th for, for the executive branch, we're going to have a new government. So, Senator, I have to ask you about something about a week and a half ago.

I'm sure you're aware of this. There was a meme that was bouncing around that you were demanding. Every one of Trump's nominees needs to undergo an extensive FBI background check, and you're getting hate for it. But Julie and I, we're looking at this going, okay, there's no quote here. There's no actual news report. There's no any other evidence out there that you're making that demand of the the president elect.

And, how did those things start? And where do you stand on that particular issue? Well, how things start. This is Washington, DC. We run the rumors here. If they ever turned off the rumor machine, the lights go out because that's what they use to generate electricity. Well, I don't I haven't heard this, so you just mentioned it, but, I, you know, we're always the subject of a gazillion rumors.

Listen, I don't demand anything of Donald Trump. I work with Donald Trump. I he's a friend. I, I, I would never demand anything of him, and I don't I don't need to because we can discuss stuff if we ever have differences of opinion. But, the FBI background checks, I have heard a little bit about, people talking about, not doing it or what have you, but the law is clear, and it's been the process.

We've done it for decades. Or if not centuries for, having a background check. So, look, the process I think is going to work. It's working fine right now. I'm meeting with these people, regularly, because I'm going to be one of the ones that has to get their, nominations through. I have never voted against one of Trump's, nominees, either, in his first administration.

I have no intention of voting against him in this. I I'm here to help them. We're on the same team. So you don't know where this stuff starts, but, yeah, it is what it is. So I said, I, I think an obvious follow up question to this is, can we trust the FBI to do a good background check because you have cash Patel, who has been, put forward by, by Trump to head up the FBI.

He's already saying he's going to fire Chris Wray. And we kind of have an insight into what the culture is at. The FBI can we trust them to to do this effectively and and with integrity? You know what? I, I've been doing this a long time, and, the the part of the FBI that does these investigations really isn't as connected to the upper echelon, where all those problems are.

And to be honest, I have never had a problem on the thousands of FBI checks that I've been involved with. So, I mean, if that doesn't mean there won't be a problem, if there is, obviously I'll be the first one to jump in the middle of it, but, you know, at this point, I say, let's let the process work and, and submitted for the, as they do.

And, and we'll go forward from, from there. I'm I'm not I haven't heard that Trump is saying that we shouldn't have FBI, background checks. I had I hadn't heard that at all. He certainly communicated that to me. So that was my, I so, yeah, you know, I, I don't I, I, you know, is there a concern there?

There's always concern when you're dealing with not only the FBI, but every government agency should be a concern. But so far, the, the thousands I have seen, I've, I haven't seen any, on, background checks. Now, I've seen them do some other things, you know, obviously the Russia stuff and things like that that they did against Trump.

That's a different deal. But it's done by an entirely different operation of the FBI background checks. So there's a lot of things to worry about. I don't I don't know enough worked up about that. You mentioned the rumor mill and for a few about a week, the rumor mill was that there was going to be a handful of Republican senators who would not support specifically somebody like Pete Hegseth.

And then yesterday, the rumor mill came out and said, it looks like all of the Republican senators are in support. What's your take on your peers over there in DC? Well, you know, every one of us is an individual. So, you know, I mean, and everybody has a different view of what their relationship is with the president.

Like, the president has just gotten a huge victory here in America. We need to get behind him. We need to support him. We we want to make, President Trump's administration a tremendous success. And we want to help make America great again and, and put his policies into effect. So that is the general feeling amongst the Republicans here.

Will you get 1 or 2 or somewhere along the line? Somebody has the difference. Yeah, you get that. But by and large, look, we're we're just delighted with how things happened. Last thing we wanted to do was get in the way that we have right now. We want to we want to move the we want to move the ball forward together.

Senator, one of the things that you, interviewed with Neil Cavuto on Fox yesterday and you mentioned that you had met with Pete Hegseth. Of course. That's President Trump's pick for defense secretary. Can you tell us how that meeting went yesterday? Yesterday? Yeah, it was like I said, I met with I think four yesterday or maybe more of, of potential nominees.

And, we had we had a really good, meeting with, very forthcoming came in with his wife and, had, the usual Sherpas and entourage that they bring with him on these things and, was, invited, invited me to ask him any cross-examine him on any, any questions or whatever. And we had a good we had a good discussion.

So it, Yeah, it was fine. Yeah. All right, let's shift gears a little bit, Senator. You did some work yesterday. You introduced a bill to accelerate, possible new nuclear investment, which is obviously important to East Idaho. Do you want to get us up to date on that? Yeah. I'll, that's probably a subject we could spend a whole, program on.

But let me let me say this, nuclear is enjoying a tremendous, boom and renaissance not only in America, but especially around the world, particularly with the, coming of the small modular reactors. And behind that, micro reactors, America and Idaho needs to be on the cutting edge of that, that we compete with the Russians, the Chinese and the French on deals that are made, in other countries.

And we need to be competitive there. One of the there are always risks when you're dealing with a whole list of risks. One of them is the, problems with cost overruns. And, so the bill I've got is a bill that, will ensure will provide an insurance policy essentially against cost overruns. And it's paid for.

There's there's money in, the Department of Energy for similar kinds of things. And I'm using that fund to, to fund this, but it will, it will, accelerate the, the research and the development of these, of these new nuclear, properties and, and reactors and, that's something we really need to do.

And any way we can, any way we can smooth the tracks for it, that's what I want to do. And that's that's what the purpose of this is. And, and I've dealt with industry and with the scientists at the INL and all that sort of thing. And, so far, there's nobody against it. Everybody thinks it's a good idea.

All right, Senator, I know we've got to cut you loose. We appreciate the time that you spend with us and look forward to our future conversations. All right. Good talk to you guys. Thanks. All right. It's 816 now on Newstalk 1079. We'll be back after this. It's 8:20 p.m. on Newstalk 179. Neal Larson, Julie Mason and you.

(208) 542-1079 is the fall River propane call and text line if you'd like to join us. And congratulations to new legislative leadership. Julie. We, finally saw this news. Mike Moyle will remain as House speaker. And over on the Senate side, the Senate pro tem is drumroll.

Senator Kelly Anthon. Yeah. So he's, out of Burley expected. Yeah, yeah. That's true. It's not not a big surprise. There's, in in leadership. Majority leader is Jason Monks of Meridian, majority leader Josh Tanner of excuse me, assistant majority leader josh Tanner of Eagle and Majority Caucus chair is Jaron Crane of Nampa. So all of them Treasure Valley?

Yes. On the House side, on the Senate side, Kelly Anthon of Burley is the pro tem majority leader, is, Senator Laurie den Hartog of Meridian. Assistant majority leader is Senator Mark Harris of Soda Springs, and majority caucus chair is Senator Ben Tozer. Tus how do you say that? Tus tus tus okay, so s t o e w s so very little other than Mark Harris.

Very little East Idaho representation there. Which can we dice that up for just a minute? I think it should. I think you should be wondering why there isn't a bigger president presence on, yeah. On this leadership stage from East Idaho. So I'll, I will say and this I mean, I'm a little disappointed we don't have more East Idaho representation there.

I would say this is the Main Street caucus effect, that they are being isolated and not they look, we don't even know what they stand for. We don't know how they're funded or we know how their their members vote. They're more center at best, center left. Quite often. If you have Republicans that are voting with the Democrats, they typically are part of the Main Street caucus.

And so from that vantage point, I think that had to be part of this. Now, the these discussions happen behind closed doors, right? Like we don't when they decide on this stuff. So we don't know what led to this, but the fact that I don't see a single is Mark Harris Main Street Caucus. I don't not not high profile if he is.

But it is interesting that you don't have. Yeah, I don't I don't think he is I, I don't remember having his name crop up at all in our times when we were discussing and, and looking through, trying to figure out what that group even stands for. Yeah. I don't remember Mark Harris's name popping up. I would also say I, I think that my takeaway is there's a just a general slight uncertainty about East Idaho lawmakers right now.

Yeah, I think that they fight too much with each other. I, I think that there's been maybe some, underhanded politics that existed amongst the group. Yeah. I think it hasn't helped that we've had some Republican central committees that have had some issues. And when you combine all of that, people might just be a little, a little worried, a little gun shy about putting that drama into this situation.

Yeah. They're like you guys are a hot mess. We guess. Yeah that and I think that's that, that might be the Occam's razor in this too. On the Democrat side, Melissa intro is the Senate minority leader. Assistant minority leader is Senator James Roxi of Pocatello, and the minority caucus chair is Senator Jamie Ward. Engel. King. Why not the House side?

Democrats? I don't know at all, I don't know. Did they not vote on them yesterday? I don't know, maybe there are no Democrats in the House. Oh, I'm kidding, that's a joke. But there isn't very many, though. What they're for. They're all in leadership, then. Yeah, I think I was there only for I think so I think it's is it four on that side and five on the other.

Yeah. Maybe. Yeah I think so. So maybe they're just all like let's just share the duties. They probably are like, if you're a Democrat in the House, there's a leadership slot for you because there's so few people. I mean, we're laughing, but that's that's true. That's that's absolutely true. It's a way to rise in the ranks quickly.

Yeah. And said, okay, this slate of candidates, you like it. What do you think of it. Oh, I, I don't I'm looking at this I don't see any big, red flags like I'm, I think it's going to be fine. Yeah. There would be people that would say Mike Moyle is a red flag. I, I didn't I didn't feel that watching his leadership last year, I didn't I know I don't think he's far right Freedom Caucus guy.

But I think he's a solid conservative. I one of my favorite things about Mike Moyle is he just doesn't take himself himself so darn serious. Yeah, I like, like, lots of other people. Yeah, yeah. These I like Jaren Crain. I think that's a good pick. He's stood up, especially on some of these cultural battles.

He's been really solid. Yeah, yeah, I think Josh Tanner's kind of an up and coming. Yeah. I don't know much about him. Yeah. Kelly Anthony, I would call him center right from what I know of him. And I think Senator Mark Harris is sort of a moderate, a little bit, but I think he'll be fine.

And, you know, assistant, you know, it reminds me when you when I see majority leader and assistant majority leader, it reminds me of the office where. There was this fight between Jim and Dwight of over. Whether he's an assistant manager or an assistant to the manager. So he's an assistant majority leader, an assistant majority leader or an assistant to the majority leader?

Yeah. Which one? I don't I don't know, it's a title. It. Yeah. They get to put it on their resume. It is. All right. Let's go to the phones. (208) 542-1079 caller welcome to the show. How are you? Hey, Neal and Julie, good morning. It's Bill. Hi, Bill. Can I switch subject for a second? A few days ago, you had a call from a very obnoxious listener about Ukraine.

And Julie's being so obvious. Entice Zelensky. You probably remember. Yes. Oh, yes, we remember it. We got a lot of feedback over that call. Yes. Yeah. I you know, I want to I want to tell people and obviously, you know, that Will and I have traveled into the country a number of times. Yeah. That this guy was clueless.

As to what he was talking about, the I bet you he's never been inside Ukraine. He's never been inside the corruption world of Ukraine. And to make that statement that he knows more than you do, well, you're privy to a lot of information that he is not is just rude and obnoxious and narcissistic on his part. Yeah.

We saw so much corruption where supplies were disappearing within a day or two after getting there and the money was disappearing and the military aid was disappearing. And when we were traveling there, we were not helping the government or the military. We were helping regular families and regular people, and those regular families and regular people are suffering by far more now.

After trillions of dollars of billions of dollars of aid, quote unquote, then, they were early on in the war. And so a lot of the talk right now from those same families that we helped, that went back into Ukraine, they're now at a point of permanently leaving the country, making those decisions because there is very little left of the infrastructure in their homes and their villages and whatever it is for them to stay there.

So this guy has no idea. Like you said, you cannot have a blank, you know, open checkbook. And I was born in Ukraine. So of all the people I would be jumping up and down on this help, help, help bandwagon. But I see it realistically and pragmatically that that is not the answer. And, you guys are absolutely correct.

The checkbook either has to close or it has to come with significant conditions and very quick peace resolution. Bill, I mean, while we have you and I, and I love that you called in on this, because if anybody can talk about this as an expert, as someone who you're from Ukraine, I mean, this is this is where you come from and you understand it.

You're very politically involved. You get it? If you, for some, for some reason, among some people, the metric of virtue for America when it comes to Ukraine is how much money and how much equipment and supplies can we send them when it's much more dynamic than that? There are incentives and disincentives that can be at play here.

There are deals that can be negotiated. I know one that, you know, Trump already has put forward at least a draft or an outline of an idea which basically means that, okay, right now Russia has taken some territory from Ukraine. And I mean, would you be open as someone who's from that area, bill to Ukraine conceding some of this land?

The war stops, Ukraine joins NATO, and people can get back to somewhat of a peaceful existence in that in that region of the world. Would you be open to that? I don't think there is, a way around this conflict without Ukraine giving up some territory, but I am against Ukraine joining NATO because, number one, there is no North Atlantic, anywhere in the vicinity of Ukraine.

That's number one. And number two, that's like poking a finger into Putin's eye. Why would you want to stick a needle on the border of, Russia when Ukraine again has no access to the North Atlantic? That was the purpose of the NATO is the protection of the North Atlantic with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. You know, all the countries that are in there have access, direct access to North Atlantic.

You know, Turkey, I don't necessarily agree with because they're nothing but a problem for the U.S, but, I don't know if, admission into NATO should be a condition, but what I do want to say to that gentleman who called, we're now two and a half years into the war again. Billions of dollars. Where are we?

Has there been any progress? Can anybody with a rational state of mind say that Ukraine has made any advances since that February of 20? One, or February of 22 or whatever? On the, on the battlefield or infrastructure wise? And the answer is absolutely not. It's a stalemate. Russia has lost probably close to half a million people.

Ukraine lost a few hundred thousand people, towns, cities, villages, infrastructure has been totally destroyed. And where did that money go? Where is it? Yeah, it's it's a great point. And you know what? It's similar. This will come out of left field a little bit. It's kind of like the discussion we have around education. There's some people that just think just throw more money into education.

Just just put more money in it. Boost the budget. At some point you have to say we need systemic reform here and you got to change how you do education. And I think that also applies to this situation in in Ukraine. We can't just sit there and go, okay, let's send more money and hope they win. It just doesn't it doesn't work.

Yeah, absolutely. And and that point that, you brought up and Julie brought up on Zelensky coming in on his knees versus demanding he may have been on his knees the very first trip or the first few months, but it is clear that the guy comes in now demanding money. And he expected both from NATO countries and from the U.S..

I mean, you could just see the demeanor, the change in his behavior. And I would be willing to bet that if there is an investigation post peaceful resolution, I am confident that Trump is going to negotiate peace. I have no doubt about it. But if there is a negotiated resolution and there was some investigation into Zelensky, they're going to find out he's sitting on millions of dollars in some Swiss account or UK account, the money that was coming in from this, war system.

Yeah. No. Good point Bill. Thank you. I appreciate the the backup there. This this is great. You guys have a great. Yeah. Great. Great week. Yeah. Bill, you're going to be my reference point from here on out because that caller clearly has an issue with me. So I'm just sending him your way okay. Hey, Julie a lot of people have an issue with you, but you could send them my way anyway.

Okay, great. All right, Bill, thank you. All right, all right. Take care. (208) 542-1079. And, any thoughts on that? He did know I look, he said everything I would have said about the whole thing, and and I just do a quick reminder. You and I have never had a problem with the concept of helping the people of Ukraine.

Yeah, but this is two and a half, almost three years in. It's not a help to the people of Ukraine, you know, so you can't stand behind that virtue signal. We want that for the people of Ukraine, this, this money, these supplies. They're not going to the people. You know, we you don't know how much it of it actually filters down and helps people.

That's the problem. Let's go to our next call. Welcome to the program. Good morning. Is that me? It's you. Yes. Go ahead. Okay. First of all, one thing I learned earlier this week. Boy, you do not want to kick off Julie.

I can speak from experience. That is true. I am for you. I'm sure you walk on thin ice someday. I don't want to answer that question. Look here. He pulled the. He poured the hot water on the ice to make it ten. Okay. Yeah. All right. Couple points I want to make. Bear with me. I agree with what Julie's point was.

Where's the money going? You know who's paying all the high officials, who's. I mean, because I don't see it going to the people themselves in, in, supply relief or trying to help them build back their country or anything like that. The next question is, is, wouldn't you think if you're Germany or Poland or France, wouldn't you be scared to death that if Putin takes over Ukraine, you're neck?

Yeah. You would think they would be worried about that. Yeah. Well. Well wouldn't it be a vested interest to put some money and time and supply to help them? Because I don't hear much about Europe trying to help them. It always seems to be us. Yeah. And we're sending all these billions of dollars over there when we have people in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, all those hurricanes have been hit.

The they haven't seen a drop of water of relief. Yeah. I mean, that's got to be so frustrating. Yeah. You know so and another side point how come Biden did not do the pardon until the minute he's on an airplane flying to Angola? Who what the world is in Angola. That would benefit our country. It just kind of stinks.

Yeah. Well it does. Yeah. So it made my point. Well, we we appreciate your point. Thank you. And and I think the point is well taken Julie. There are questions. I just looked it up. Well while he was talking. And it says here how much is, Vladimir Zelensky's net worth? $596 million. He just built a gigantic estate in France.

I believe I might have the wrong country, but in a European country, a leader of another country just built a an estate. Hold on. There's another result that says he's worth 20 million. So still rich is rich, right in in this case. How did he get there? He was. I know he was didn't he wasn't an actor or something.

That's the other thing is that's even been disputed. I feel like we don't even know who this guy is. You're. Yeah. That's true, that's true. And maybe that's the point. Maybe it's purposeful that the different sources are saying he's only worth 20, that other sources are saying he's worth over 500 and. And the if you shroud this man in secrecy, he can get away with more things.

Yeah, yeah. That's true. Okay, so he's not worth $596 million according to PolitiFact. That's actually a fact check that they were doing saying that. Well, says there's no evidence that he's worth that much. They didn't falsify it. They just can't prove it. Okay. So we don't we don't know how much he's worth. I think by any measure he's he's wealthy.

Yeah. And, you, he has real estate. He's got cars. He's, a report by Forbes, which is probably a little more accurate. Said that his net worth is around between 20 and $30 million, so how did he get there? Right. I'm not suggesting fraud. I think he was. Wasn't he a celebrity in Ukraine like you?

Yes. I mean, like a TV guy. Yes. He had some sort of celebrity behind him. And I would just like to point out the net worth of Joe Biden. Is it reflective of the money that's been laundered from Ukraine? So, yeah, the net worth of Zelensky is not going to be reflective of the money that's been laundered through Ukraine.

Yeah, no, you're you're not wrong. All right, one more call. We're going to have to take a break soon, but, caller. Go ahead. Hey. Good morning. This is Chris. This is just a curiosity keeping politics local. There's a there's some traffic diversion going on at curlew, over there on the admin side, and they, like, blocked a major artery off and around about.

Okay. So anyway, I'll talk to the guy who filed the petition and he said that the county or the state or somebody, they set up a device at the intersection there, to figure out where people were coming and going from. And he said 70% of the people were from out of the county. And I said, well, how do they do that?

He said, well, they used a Bluetooth device, and they pinged it when it went through this intersection. And then at Pingdom along the way to let them know where these people were at or where they were going to or coming from. And I thought that was curious that they were able to scrape data that way in order to figure out the population and who was coming through little bitty town there in Amman, Idaho.

So just curious, I didn't know, you know, if that's, public disclosure or what, but I just found it odd they were able to do that. It. Yeah. So you were talking to a friend that told you this? Yeah. How reliable would. Oh, no, he was a guy. He was. He was the guy who who got the petition started.

So he lived up the street. I was doing some work. Okay. U-Haul. He said, hey, are you the new neighbor? I said, no, I said, but this this streets got awful quiet. He said, yeah, let me tell you what they did. And then he told me, he said, yeah, they set up a Bluetooth or some kind of a ping thing, and it pinged your cell phone when it went through.

And then that tracked you throughout your day or. I don't know, I don't know duration. I don't know what. But he was able to say, they were able to say that 70% of the people that were coming down that street were not coming from this county. And when they typed in Waze or Google that this was the quickest way, if you're coming from Daytona, Driggs and all that area, to get into that part of town in order to get to like the back way and the sportsman's and all that kind of stuff.

Yeah. And so they were able to ping, but Bluetooth or why, I don't know how they did it, but he, he, I think he said Bluetooth. But they were able to to get geolocation on people and track them and say these people are from here. So George, is there something very dystopian about this? Yeah. Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Is it right? Is it wrong? I don't know, but man, that just gives me the eggs. Yeah. You know that they get that kind of capability and we don't even know about it, you know? So, that's all right. Well, yeah, it's funny, Neal and I actually discussed this traffic diversion off air this morning because we haven't talked about it on air and if you follow the community pages, people are frustrated with the traffic diversion.

Yeah. And it's interesting to know that possibly they got the information about it via tracking. It's got to be your cell phones, right. Yeah. I get and you know what. Who who's to say Google doesn't? Because when you are driving and you're like, okay, navigate from this place to that place, it'll show you where the traffic slowdowns are.

And the reason it knows that is because other drivers have said, okay to Google's terms of of agreement. Yeah. And so you can see traffic so that that actually is probably not all that surprising if you extend the capability of that technology out. Yeah, they can probably tell where the is going through that neighborhood have been. You can't individually identify them, but you can probably say, okay, this is where these people are coming from.

Are you surprised if this is accurate? Are you surprised that 70% would have come from out of the county? Because I would have thought it would have been. Now, do people cheat and go through there all the time? Up? Yes. Yeah, I might cheat and go through there. I too may be guilty of no, I'm not even say guilty, but yeah, yeah.

So I'm surprised it's out of county people because I would have thought it would be local people who would know how to navigate the back streets. Can I ask a question here? I because I feel like this is setting a weird precedent. You're preventing people who paid for the roads from driving on, from navigating the roads because they don't live in that neighborhood.

So you're opening a Pandora's box here? I think in this case, what it means is it was bad planning in the first place in terms of traffic that's causing people to need to or want to go through, a neighborhood, like that. And, and I don't think any level of public, please don't do this or please be nice.

Is going to help out. It's just I, I don't know, I look at it and I'm thinking, how can you tell someone? We all have busy lives and we all try to get from A to B in in a timely manner, but they blocked off the road because it's inconvenient for the reason I like. I don't know people, a lot of people who paid for those roads are being told, you can't use this road because it's a residential street.

Yeah. That's just it feels like it's hyper control too much control will end. And where do you where do you draw the line at what roads to do it on? Yeah, because there's multiple roads that I have used throughout. I grew up here. I know all of the back roads. I know how to get places. You could put that you could put these traffic limitations, I would say, in dozens of places throughout Amman and Idaho Falls.

Yeah. And where do you draw the line? Well, and you're you're pushing the problem to another area too, if that's what you're doing. And, and now you've got people that are complaining because a trip that would take 2.5 minutes or three minutes now takes some 8 or 12 minutes to do the big around the loop thing. And, and so people are not happy about about that either.

So, I mean, I'm sorry if you live in that neighborhood and you're frustrated with lots of traffic going through, but now all we've done is transfer the frustration to motorists who have to drive 3 or 4 times, not to mention the carbon footprint, not to mention the congestion in other areas, not to I mean, you're you're not solving a problem.

You're just moving a problem. Right? You're shuffling a problem. Yeah, yeah. By doing this and potentially more car accidents, that's I mean, those who made the switch, which I believe was the city of Amman, but I could I don't have 100% guarantee there. They would probably say back, well, it's, it's a danger to pedestrians because you're in a neighborhood and blah, blah.

Okay. But car accidents or car accidents, you have people who live along 17th Street or first Street. They have kids to. Yeah, they learn to deal with it. And so I, I, I understand that argument, I get it. But you that's the neighborhood you've chosen to live it. Yeah. So that's you know, do they need to solve the problem.

Yes. But I don't think blocking drivers who've helped pay for those roads from using those roads because you don't like why they're using it or where they're going to or where they're from, if this data is correct. And who wants that? Yeah. Okay. Should we take a break or, overtime here. We'll be back after this. We do have we have news.

We do have some phone lines stacked up here. We'll answer the phones coming up on Newstalk 1078. All right. We're going to go to the phones. We only have a minute or two left. But caller go ahead. What's on your mind this morning? Well, I got a couple things. Neal, I want to say good morning to you both, Neal and Julie.

I'm really kind of sad that I missed, Julie opening the can of, Anyway, Yes, I wish, I wish I could have heard that I just stepped out of the truck to fuel up. So, I'm really sad that I missed that. First thing I want to say is I'm wondering when our country is going to figure out that we need to monitor the money that we're sending to other countries.

It's just ridiculous that we spend billions and billions of dollars, enough to, as, I can't remember who it was that says we're sending enough to outfit more than our our Marine Corps. To Ukraine, and we're not even monitoring it. Yeah, we're not keeping tabs on anything. We're just sending it out there. Really quick.

We're we're up against the clock. Caller. Do you have one one last quick final point. One last thing. The, Bluetooth stuff does not take into account people that have moved and have not updated the residence on their phone. So I live here now. I've called here, called in before. Neal. I'm Steve, I live in Idaho Falls. I still have a Wyoming number on my phone.

And it's still registered to Wyoming. Yeah. And if you don't update your phone number to Idaho, it still says I'm from out of out of state. In fact, when I called in, it probably said Casper, Wyoming. Gotcha. Well, Steve, thank you for the call. I've got to let you go. We're up against the clock. We'll be back after this.

All right. 858 on Newstalk 1079, it's Neal Larson and Julie Mason. And if you'd like to join us in the next hour, we've got another hour ahead. (208) 542-1079 and, Julie, we didn't talk too much about the Supreme Court decision yesterday or not decision, but the the hearings, we can touch on that and then dive into those.

Yeah. We got an hour to do it. All right. It's coming up. Let's talk about it. We've got our two underway. 907. That's our time on the ocean Show. If you'd like to join the program, the number is (208) 542-1079. That's the fall River propane call and text line. And, Julie, it's interesting to watch. I saw a headline earlier this morning that Jeff Bezos is now offering to be part of the Department of Government Efficiency.

Doe's he wants to be in doze. Yes. And I'm I'm like, look, Bezos is far left. He's a liberal and I don't know that we can I I'm he's a good businessman. Don't get me wrong. He built Amazon so the guy knows stuff but I don't I, I don't know if I trust him to say this is an unnecessary part of the government.

And I feel like his desire to be included is him wanting to protect some things in government that Elon Musk and Vikram Swamy are going to take the ax to. Yeah, that would be my only thought of. Why he would want to do this is to protect his own interests. Yes. Yeah I, I would, I would agree and I and is there sort of a kind of a pathetic me to feel to this like, wait a minute, I'm a billionaire too.

And I should be the club. Yeah. So they named a Democrat to the Doge. Oh, I didn't know they did that either. Yeah, I forgot the guy's name, but I he's a fairly conservative Democrat, but it's bipartisan. I think the only reason they probably included him was to be able to say, well, this is a bipartisan effort. So, yeah, Trump's killing it.

By the way, can I just say he's doing a fantastic job so far and he's not even the president yet. I think he's done a great job. I think it's been incredibly beneficial that he has allowed other people to speak for him when needed. Yeah, because he has now surrounded himself with the appropriate people. I also think that there is a little bit of fear, on anyone who aligns with the left, that, Trump has too many avenues now.

Yeah. If you think how they had pushed him into one narrow spot and that's the only place where his voice was for a little bit. Yeah, that's been decimated. Yes. He has the ability to have a voice all over the place now via certain people and via certain platforms. That's gotta make the left so nervous. You know, it's interesting.

I remember back when Barack Obama was coming onto the scene and he promised to be this transformational president, that he and that was the word that they used. It was sort of the gagai buzzword of the time, transformational. And but ever since that time, I've thought about that word, and you can say a word, but it doesn't actually hold true.

Yeah. Like man, woman boy girl boy girl him her issue in life. Yeah. Fetus. Right? Yes. So, but when you look at this, Donald Trump is truly the transformational president. And if you are on the far left and you've been conditioned that he's a fascist, that he's Hitler, that that may mean one thing. The way I mean it, though, is very different than that.

He's come along and he has tossed out the play, the playbook. The playbook used to be let the swamp be the swamp. Try to do as much good as you can within the framework of the swamp. But the swamp is always going to stay. And I think Trump and I'll use another Obama word, Trump has the audacity to come along and say, no, we're going to get rid of the Department of Education, but we're really going to do it this time.

Not just Reagan promised it and he tried, didn't. It kind of came up short. But I think Trump is very, very, and I'm not saying he'll do it, but I am saying he's very serious about about doing it right. And so when I look at it, I'm thinking, you know, we may have a completely restructured FBI over the next four years or replaced FBI.

I think a lot of the deep state is they're scampering like cockroaches. We had pictures of the shredding trucks in front of the Department of Justice a couple of weeks ago after the election. So you you have people playing CIA, and I think that they are they're updating their LinkedIn and they're brushing up their resume because they know their time is probably limited in a Trump environment.

Yeah, they're they're on word searching resume template. Oh no. I've been a government employee for 12 years. I don't have a current resume. ChatGPT examined my LinkedIn profile and rewrite my resume. Yeah, I and I think you probably have a number of these people that are absolutely dreading having to go into the public sector, private sector, and find a job that they have to show up to.

I think they're even dreading if they're going to stay in the in the government realm, they're dreading that they might actually have to work now. Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. You're right. Look how uncomfortable it's been for the expectation that they show up to work. They go to the office and go to work. Yeah, well, who even thought when Will was filling in for you all of those times.

And we called the FAA and he that has just been, burned in his side. Well, those are just going to take care of it for him. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. That's true. So, yeah, I mean, I'm excited to see what's going to happen. I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm level high, but my expectation level a little more closer to to Earth, because right now we're still in the exciting honeymoon phase.

I don't want to be. I don't want there to be so much hype in my head that I'm living in disappointment, because it doesn't live up to that, when in reality a lot of the things that will be accomplished will be things we should celebrate. Well, you said that Trump is a Trump is a, a transformational president, right?

That's what you were saying. Or has the potential to be in a month and a half. And, my thought was that is that, yeah. Keep talking. Okay. My thought with that is that there was times as a, as a parent where my kids were like a little bit threatened by maybe something that I might do.

They weren't quite sure I was going to do it. Yeah, but they thought that I was going to do it. And so that's still accomplished it without me actually doing it. Yes. Right. So just having that little, you know, I'm the parent, you're the child. There's a threat that having that out there would cause enough of just them going I need to rethink my decisions.

That alone, I think it's going to help with the date. Yeah, I, I think you're right. I think you're right about that. So, again, if you'd like to join us. 285421079 and, we're back. We're glad to be back. Everything's everything's fine now. You and I were having a great conversation without all those people we talked about Obama and Trump, and y'all missed it.

I'm pretty sure what you missed for the last seven minutes, you will get on the podcast. Yeah. So. Okay. Yeah. We're still we got little bumps. We're working out here. Yeah. Okay. But again, if you'd like to join us. 285421079. So, did you watch the video of Joe Kernan grilling Anthony Scaramucci on CNBC now? Oh, you got to see this.

Yeah. No, you got to see this one. Yeah. You have Scaramucci, who of course was a big Trump guy. Trump made him a press secretary for like eight days or something like a very short amount of time. He wasn't the right guy. He ended up being a Trump hater, like, absolutely venomous, anti-Trump. And, so Joe Kernan and now that Trump's the president got elected, people like Scaramucci always, they lick their finger and put it into the wind thinking where, where's the most popular place for me to be anyway?

Listen to this. The rhetoric got heated everywhere. You you got pretty heated. Anthony, at what time did you. How did I get heated? What did I say? Joe, about Trump? You know, what did I say? I said I repeated what he was saying. I said, this is wrong. If you have it, you have. I've had an utter disdain for Trump.

You'll always be welcome at the table of legacy media and have people nodding as you trash Trump. That's always going to happen. But aren't you the slightest bit embarrassed or at least humbled about how wrong you were about the feeling of most Americans? Let me finish. Show up. And for enthusiastically supporting a candidate who a majority of people thought he had no business being anywhere near the Oval Office, and you're a Republican and you you saw all the different policies that he was talking about are anathema to what you thought your whole life, and yet you went along with it.

Do you ever eat any crow or not even even a little crow like a little cape on. Are you just I mean, Michael Avenatti could still be on TV trashing Trump. You'll always find a place on TV if he wasn't in prison, he'd still be on CNN running for president with Brian Stelter. Just give me a little bit.

Get little bit Anthony, about how wrong you were. Okay? I'm okay. If you're going to be a Trump hater, you better have something solid to talk about. And it's all right that you get pushback on if you're going to have that much passion about it. It's all right that it pushes back against you. This is one of my complaints about the women on The View.

They don't want any pushback at all. They don't want to have a discussion. They they look at every guest and they demand that they're correct. Yeah. Well that and when they when they have to fix something, they make fun of it. Because that's the new Sunny Hostin thing is to make fun of her legal notes that she has to talk about.

Yeah, so that she doesn't get sued. Well, what I found fascinating is you had Joy Behar since you brought up The View. Usually, I know it's usually you, but yet Joy Bejar, who is shaming celebrities for not endorsing Kamala Harris like you, should be required to endorse someone. You're so lucky you got a seat at this table. Now you will do this.

Here's the thing. And I mean, it was weird because usher, his first visit to The View, was like, I'm just here to make music. I make music for all kinds of people. And, you know, I don't want to. Anyway, he handled it really well, but I think there was enough shame. Over the next few days, he ends up showing up at a Kamala rally and and backing her.

And I'm like, sure, you had to take the right take the first time. Yeah, you don't have to. You don't have to jump into the ring of politics. Yes. Yeah. Anyway, so, but going back to Scaramucci for just a moment, I think Scaramucci feels stupid because he burned his bridge with Trump. Trump's going to be the president.

Yes. Is going to be for him two years for you. Yeah. And so he wants to gaslight. He wants to kind of smooth it over in hopes that he can be something in the, in Trump orbit. And I like that Joe Kernan from CNBC is like and, it doesn't happen that way. You you've never since you left Trump Orbit, you've never passed up an opportunity to, let the media use you and your Trump hatred.

So you don't you don't just get to turn that off and go back to what you were before this. This whole concept was actually a theme of my five clients that I had yesterday. It was weird. We went almost every client. We talked about this, which is I'm okay with whatever you're going to be if you're going to be a local politician and you're going to be active on Twitter and share every opinion that you have, even though it's not reflective of who you are eventually going to say you are.

Yeah, just own up to it. Yeah. That's it. That's all I ask of it. Just own up to where you're at. Don't hide it. And I would say that to Scaramucci, own up to it. Yeah. Say who you are. Don't dodge. Don't run around. If you're going to be somebody who is so vocal about your opinions, when it gets a little bit hot, when you're in the kitchen and it gets a little bit hot, don't run away from it.

Yeah, if you are bold enough to say it at one time, keep up the good work. Well quote unquote. And I also struggle with people who are sunshine loyalists to, you know, they just they show up. And when it's social safe to support Trump, then they'll support Trump. But when it gets a little dicey or a little scary, suddenly they're Trump's worst worst enemy and enemy.

Sorry, I said text came in. I did not say enemy, by the way. I said enemy.

Worst enemy. And somebody said P Diddy might be the reason for us Jews.

That's going in a promo, isn't it? Is that is that is a big is my kerfuffle of mistaken know the kerfuffle mistake was the f bomb. So naman is not even close to that. Although it's similar. Yes okay. I so wish I knew a brand of an animal that I could make a joke about right now, but I don't know any.

I will also say with a great deal of pride, I don't know what. Yeah, I, I would love to supply you guys with some play on words here, but I don't have any knowledge, so. Yes. I don't like. No. Yeah. No, I wouldn't know. And when. No. So. I you know what. Let's just take a break because I'm wanting to now brainstorm brand names.

And that is a point at which we say pull the plug. The plug. No, you just did. Julie. Julie, we'll be right back.

Pull the plug. What's wrong with you?

I couldn't disappoint. I was trying so hard to come up with something. No. Oh, yeah.

Right. I have to text Shane really quick. The fleet is a brand name of an enema. I didn't know that. But if I had had that, I could have come up with a joke other than pull the plug. I'm not going to inquire as to who knew that. So. Oh, goodness. Okay. Do you want to know the the silent communication between Neal and I?

Here's how we figured out we weren't on air. I was looking at him. He was looking at me. I did not have Facebook Live as my open window. I had our text line as my open window. And, I all I did was briefly. How long was that glance at the. It was literally just a glance. And I saw dead air on about three texts.

I read it that quick. Yeah. Neal read my face when I say when I read Dead Air, it all happened in Under a second. You saw my face. That's how you knew? Yeah. You saw my face. Yeah. And the second I looked at it, I went, what? And he saw my face and he made the fix. Yeah. That's what that's what working for seven plus years with someone.

Five hours every weekday. And all of that happened in about a second and a half. Yeah. It was just like, okay. Yeah. Oh, my, my sister, who is a nurse, said, fleet. Yeah. That was good. That was good. That was good.

Did hear back from a lawmaker, you know who I texted. This person is happy with the choices. Okay. They also gave context saying that neither the speaker or the majority leader were challenged. So it was just going to be oil and then okay, so and this lawmaker is saying they're about to choose their seats.

Oh really. Like where they sit. That's what I think. I think that's what that means. Yeah. That's what you meant right. Yeah. You laughed. It was a dad joke. Pick your seat kind of joke I had I decided not to on the heels of an enema and engage in. Do not pick your seat on the heels of an enema or.

There's going to be a podcast for the ages. All that. And we got to get going here.

All right. 926 on Newstalk 179 (208) 542-1079 is the number, if you'd like to reach us on the fall River propane call and text line. And, we have text we cannot read. Julia.

The, Mitt Romney text in particular. So a lot of people are, not happy with both justice Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson for making some ridiculous comparisons during Supreme Court arguments yesterday. Here's, Justice Sotomayor. So it becomes a pure exercise of of weighing benefits versus risk and the question of how many minors have to have their bodies irreparably harmed for unproven benefits is one that is best left.

I'm sorry, counselor, every medical treatment has a risk. Even taking aspirin. There is always going to be a percentage of the population under any medical treatment that's going to suffer a harm. Okay. Is this really the best the country could do for a Supreme Court? No. I'm. Yeah, I don't mean to be rude. This is a point that a naive college sophomore would make in a class.

Well every medical thing has okay. But we're talking about cutting off their genitals. Okay. This is not popping an aspirin. And maybe your body has a bad reaction to the aspirin. Yeah. You're arguing law here. You've got to come up with more than that. And it was very obvious where these justices were going to fall on this.

We didn't even have to have the hearings to know where they were going to fall. The point of the hearings is it's just part of the the standards of what you do. The second thing is, I think it was interesting to push them on this trans issue and see what they came up with, and they came up with nothing.

They got nothing. You know, if your best argument is comparing taking the risk of an aspirin to mutilating a child. You've got nothing. Yeah. It, it was, it was a bad day. It was a bad day for those. Well there's three liberals but those two in particular, it was, it was a terrible day. We also have Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Where are you. We played her earlier. She's got to be there. I think I've got it. Yeah. No, this is Justice Alito. He had actually had a really good point. Here it is. Here is that argument comparing a ban on transgender surgery for children to a ban on interracial marriage being drawn by the statute. That was sort of like the starting point.

The question was whether it was discriminatory because it applied to both races and it wasn't, you know, necessarily invidious or whatever, but okay, I got to stop. Julie, dial me back if you need to. I've just listened to how she presents and I in fact, that's I'm going to play the 10s over again. Ketanji Brown Jackson does this vocal fry thing.

Okay. Merrick Garland does the same thing. I don't know what that is, but listen to some of the phrases that she tosses in. It's sort of like. And then at one point she says, or whatever. That's not how a Supreme Court justice speaks, because how you speak is reflecting how you think, and the law isn't sorta or whatever.

Right? But listen to it again. I just realized this is like you plucked a millennial from Starbucks and said, here, put on a robe. You're now a Supreme Court justice being drawn by the statute. That was sort of like the starting point. The question was whether it was discriminatory because it applied to both races and it wasn't, you know, necessarily invidious or whatever.

But, you know, as I read the statute here, the, excuse me, the case here, you know, the court starts off by saying that Virginia is now one of 16 states which prohibit and punish marriages on the basis of racial classifications. And when you look at the structure of that law, it looks in terms of inconceivable. You can't do something that is inconsistent with your own characteristics.

It's sort of the same thing. So it's interesting to me that we now have this different argument, and I wonder whether Virginia could have gotten away with what they did here by just making a classification argument the way, that Tennessee is in this case. Yes, I think that's exactly right. Okay. Then they go up to the solicitors.

Yeah. So the classification argument there, I that's what even if people didn't understand that that's what she's going for here. She's saying, well you're just trying to classify people. And if we did that in Virginia we would still have a ban on interracial marriage. Okay. Classifying people is not what was happening with these trans. It's not about the people.

Yeah. It's not about the fact that somebody is uncomfortable with the, biological sex that they are. That's not the classification. The concept they're talking about in Tennessee is not mutilating children. No, that those two things are miles apart. There is no irreversible, irreparable harm. In the discussion about interracial marriage. Yeah. It's not a physical change. It's a yes.

And it's not happening to children. No, it's it's not. And the thing is, once you remove those organs that you don't get them back. You don't get the function back. You don't get the sexual pleasure back. You don't, you don't get them back. You might be able to reattach something that looks like it, but that doesn't restore its purpose, its function in its experience that yeah, I mean it's just it's there is such a, apples and oranges comparison for her to make here that it again, it makes me wonder this is the best we could do.

Well in Tennessee's law is not stopping some crazy parent from calling their kid trans. They're not stopping the classification. That's true here. It wants to do that. A parent can do that. Yeah, I think it's highly damaging and abusive. But Uber yeah okay. You can do that. What Tennessee law is stopping is from you mutilating your child. Yes.

Someone texted in I feel dumber for having listened to her argument. What must the other justices who were present be thinking of her as they listened to our arguments and statements? How embarrassing. Yeah, it it really is. And it feels just very sort of amateurish. What they're what they're putting forward. We shouldn't expect much more though. We should have the bar be really low with this gal, because this is the woman who said that she couldn't tell you what a boy or a girl was because she's not a biologist.

Yeah, that's true. And someone else makes a great point. The courts have shown they aren't willing to accept how anorexic people view their own bodies. Yeah. Again that's a classification right. We call that dysfunction that we try to treat. Yeah. If you have body dysmorphia and you are classifying yourself as obese or overweight, when in reality you're 90 pounds.

Yeah. No one's taking away the classification from you. They're just saying your behavior is unhealthy and we didn't. We need to step in. Yes. Yeah, yeah. All right. Let's go to the phones. (208) 542-1079 hi, caller. How are you? How are you? Good. How you doing today? Good. Interesting topic. Just a quick question. These sex change procedures are operations.

Do insurance companies consider those to be elective? Yes, they they have. I remember this came up in the Adrian Mau case a few years back where the point was made. Insurance companies don't offer these as critical, necessary care. So why should the state be required to provide a sex change operation to this in, incarcerated person? Okay, so why don't more insurance companies just downright, deny the claims and just let people know they're worth like these?

They should pay for it? I think a lot of insurance companies do. I think the point here is that you shouldn't be able to do this to a kid. And that really was the the case before the Supreme Court. It's not who pays for it or who can have one or whatever. It wasn't insurance companies paying it, it was allowing minors or having a ban on minors getting these surgeries.

Okay. And then once they consider the age for a minor, then 16, 18, I think that that's different. On the 26 states. I'm pretty sure in Tennessee it's 18. Okay. Well, just personally, I'd like to see it banned totally until they're an adult and they should have to pay for it themselves. Yeah. I mean, I look at just when you get a sex change operation and I got skin hanging off my chin.

Is the insurance company going to cover that? And sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. But I personally feel that the person who wants this done should have to bear the cost of it. Yeah. Well, true. And not not happened among minors. So there is kind of two issues there. There's two issues. But his his statement is not different than what a majority of people in the United States think.

That's the reason the ad that the Trump campaign ran the talked about they them and played the audio of Kamala saying every inmate who wants a trans surgery should be able to get it and it should be paid for by the state. That's why it resonated. That's why it was their best performing ad, because most of America thinks this is ludicrous.

Yeah, it's a common sense issue. All right. 936 we've got to, take a break. But, for the news, we'll be back after this on Newstalk 179. Okay. Hold on. That work flow. Teach me what send IP message means. Okay. That will be the tool that we use to send an NDS message out. Okay.

To receivers in cars. Okay, okay, okay. You know, I believe you as Facebook gets to hear me chew. Thank you for believing me. But about what? No. You'll understand why I said why I believe you. Okay? Because you were questioning if you should believe you. Oh, okay. This is 50 to 60% more problems today than we had the first day.

Oh, yes. That's why you shouldn't question yourself. Yeah. That first day it ran really well. Yep. There's there's issues.

Something might be happening in the background. But why is it different today than it was Monday or Tuesday. Yeah. Day three is rougher than day one Two was okay but I'm so glad. Well how much time we got. Oh, we got time. Yeah. So, real quick, my son, I've mentioned to you guys he's in a DNP program, and he actually did they do six week blocks of of information and they did a block of information on genetic coding and, genetic coding, the way that it affects your, your brain and they have actually isolated genes and are getting close to being able to figure out if you're more likely to be

gay or less likely to be gay based upon your genetic coding. Now, understand, a lot of people choose to belong to the LGBTQ community that don't have the genetic coding. It's like a social decision for them, right? But there are definitely people in the LGBT Q community that it's a it's a DNA situation. Yeah. And they are that close.

So there's there's lots of good that comes with that because doctors will be able to test and determine, you know, you absolutely have this genetic coding. Let's treat you this way or whatever. The problem with that is, is once you can start to identify those things in a brain or a body, it gives people like Ketanji Brown Jackson more ammunition that this is biologically who you are.

Yeah. And we have to allow you to do these things. Oh, interesting. So there's an up and a downside to it. The upside is it will help be able to treat the mental illness. I'm going to say mental illness. There would be people that would have a massive problem with that. But the disorder or maybe even have a problem with that but be able to treat this issue.

Yeah. And so the more information helps you treat it better, but it also empowers those who want to mutilate children. Yeah. That's yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. It's a it's true League has a major win and a major downside.

942 Newstalk 107 I Neal Larson along with Julie Mason on this Thursday. And if you want to be a part of the program (208) 542-1079 is the number to to call. And, here we are. All right. Crazy. Life's crazy. Yeah, it is. Donald Trump's going to be the president that you you resort to that now all the time that if life isn't going so well, at least have got at least that's working for me.

Yes. I mean what's wrong with that. Yeah. Somebody asked the question via the text line, in this conversation about the gender mutilation, mutilation of children is what happens if that child changes their mind later. The problem is it's very hard to detransition that's what they call it. Yeah. And and we have lots of testimony from people who have tried to detransition and they, they never return to normal.

And if you'll remember, for a while there, about maybe two years ago, we had a caller who would call every once in a while and insist, insist that hormone therapy could be reversed. And these people are telling you it cannot. The people who have gone through the hormone therapy are telling you it doesn't return to them, quote unquote, normal.

I mean, because things are happening in that puberty window. That if you've if you've complicated things by adding hormones, it's not like you get to. It's not a pause button. Like well you're building a foundation of a house. And if you change the structure of the foundation you can't automatically cope. But I'd like it to look the way it did before.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay Julie I want to ask you a question. I'd love your thoughts on it. It's also kind of a rhetorical question, but there are a number of challenges that human beings have that altered their perception of reality. My mother is struggling with dementia right now. Sometimes she thinks my dad is still alive, sometimes just the other day.

And it was actually not as sad as it sounds. But, we're at the dinner table, and I said, so do you know who my mom is? Because I asked her that, and she's like, no, who's your mom? Like, she didn't recognize that connection. We treat that with a great deal of compassion and love and patience, while still recognizing that her brain is not perceiving reality correctly.

If you have a four year old who thinks he's a dinosaur or a dinosaur sometimes, or he thinks he's Batman or my son Jason used to dress up like Batman and get on the back of the couch and jump off the back of the couch onto the floor, and his cape would fly, and he thought he was Batman.

Okay. We let them pretend that they were Batman because that's kids should have a childhood. They should be able to have imaginations and to play. And even if they think they're Batman, we recognize, they're pretending. And in that context, it's perfectly fine that they pretend that. But if it went on for too long, we'd have to address the issue.

You have people who are schizophrenic who need medication. They see things. They hear things that aren't really there, and we treat it with compassion and we treat it with love. But we also recognize they are not perceiving reality correctly. Okay. I could go on and on and on and find these situations where people are not perceiving situations properly.

If someone is depressed, sometimes the way they view the world is skewed and it's inaccurate, and it can lead them to self-harm and even suicide. And it's it's very sad. So we try to help them see reality and do that. So why is it that we throw out all the rules of compassion? All the rules of corrective treatment, all the rules of of even what is reality?

When we talk about this transgender issue, if someone is born, they're a boy. They think they're a girl. We can't treat it like we treat someone with dementia. We can't treat it like the four year old who thinks he's a dinosaur and just let them be that. And of course, I would not intervene and tell them, you can't think that.

But I can't. I'm not expected to actually believe that my dad is still alive. If my mom thinks he's still alive. I'm not expected to think my four year old is a dinosaur because he thinks he's a dinosaur. Why are all the rules different? And the transgender issue that I have to agree that that man is a woman, because that man thinks he's a woman.

Okay, I actually have a response to this. I know that the actual responses you don't. Yeah, but let's walk through this. Someone in the text line mentioned anorexia, and we don't let anorexics indulge because it will kill them. Yes. Okay. So I have let's just play here. I've got a 16 year old daughter and she is anorexic. And I am searching for help for her.

That's what I would do because I'm Julie. Yeah. In these situations, that's not what's happening. You have the the dysmorphia that the anorexic is feeling. That 16. You also have the dysmorphia that the parent is feeling because can you even imagine a parent going, you're right. You're what? You are fat. You are fat. Yeah. You're overweight. You look horrible in those jeans.

Yeah. Yep. You know what? Don't eat today. You look so bad. What would we. Would we just be so appalled? Horrible. It would be. You're gonna be the worst parent in the world if you did that. Yet in these situations of the trans kids, that's exactly what's happening. The parent has as much of a mental block as the child does.

Who thinks that they need to if their a boy thinks they need to be a girl to the point you would take them to a surgeon? Yes. As a minor and have this done to them. So you're not just dealing with one broken mind, you're dealing with two and potentially multiples more three and four, because then you get a doctor on board and that doctor is seeing dollar signs.

So that's good for them. And maybe you get an aunt that's like, oh, if my sister supports it, that I'm going to support it. So then you've got four people with this, this mental dysmorphia. You've got an army of people with mental dysmorphia. And now we're where we're at that it's being argued before the Supreme Court. It's a political movement now.

Think I mean think through that. Yeah. Think through that. It has become a, a political movement that luckily I think is losing steam. They're not nearly as intimidating as they were up until maybe 2 or 3 years ago. And I think Americans finally said enough of this. We're sick and tired of having reality challenged day in and day out and our common sense challenged day in and day out.

And we're now going to simply call it like it is. Yeah. Yeah, I believe it is shifting back. I really do believe it is shifting back. I, I ache for those who were surrounded by that army of people who couldn't think logically and have been pushed into these situations. There's a really big study that has just come out, and Matt Walsh referenced it, that that there is no decrease in suicide by trouncing.

There's by if you transition, there is no decrease in suicide. And so that fight or that ammunition that they use is not valid. You're basically shooting blanks. Listen to this audio. This is Justice Alito yesterday. True in every respect. But on page 195 of Cass report, it says there is no evidence that gender affirmative treatments, reduce suicide.

What I think that is referring to is, by the way, this attorney that you're hearing in response to Justice Alito is transgender. She goes by Chase Strangio. She has a mustache, but clearly her voice is feminine. So there is no evidence in some in the studies that this treatment reduces completed suicide. And the reason for that is completed suicide, thankfully and admittedly, is rare.

And we're talking about a very small population of individuals with studies that don't necessarily have completed suicides within them. However, there are multiple studies, long term longitudinal studies that do show that there is a reduction in suicidality, which I think is a is a positive outcome to this treatment. Okay. But aren't there multiple ways to treat suicide suicidality.

They're acting like the only way we can treat suicidal ideation is to have this surgery. Yeah. Well, because that's part of the ammunition that I'm talking about that they have to have. This argument is so weak that they have to go to well, it's a life or death situation. Yeah. And then when studies show that actually it's not suicide runs separate from this.

And it doesn't help to change biologically. Try to change who you are. They they lose the power of the ammunition. Like I said, they're shooting blanks. They're right there. There's just no power in it. And it's really unfortunate that a child's life becomes so weaponized. I mean, that's truly what you're doing. You're they're they're arguing to mutilate children.

They're arguing that if you if you don't agree with them, you're going to kill the child, even though they're the ones doing the physical damage to the child. Yeah. It feels so not genuine. You don't even care about the kid? No. It becomes about your own virtue. And like so many other things. 952 we'll come back. We'll wrap it up after this on the Nielsen show.

Okay. See what you're talking about. A kid pretending to be a dinosaur. Asher pretends to be a dinosaur half the time. Yeah. That kid stomps around with his hands up like a T-Rex and I. And then when we were on our walks, he was pretending to be a monster truck, and we were avoiding the obstacles, and he's screaming from the stroller.

I'm blase because that's the name of a cartoon with monster trucks. Like, leave these kids alone. Yeah. Let them organically grow up and you stop trying to do your weirdness through them. Yeah. Yeah, I know it's odd, and I think, you know what? We we could have the argument over. Do you try and correct a trans person's perception and that could go back and forth?

Yeah. Because I could see lots of ways of saying no, you don't. Well, and I would argue in the case of dementia and Alzheimer's. I don't try to argue with my mom. I don't. I just let her kind of believe what it is. Now, if reality can be more soothing to her than what she's thinking, then I'll try to present reality to her.

Well, I'll share this. I mean, it's a little more personal, but because her husband died, my dad died a couple of years ago. Her parents died 15 and 20 years ago. In her mind, in her broken mind. She thought we were killing people. And she said, I'm worried about my personal safety. And I'm like, well, mom, let's talk about this.

Why are you worried about this? And then she went on to say, because they were killed and you know, you're killing. At one point you said, you're killing people. I had to turn my head because I wanted to let you know because it's just it's cute. It's sort of endearing. And it's tender in one regard. But we had to assure her we're.

Mom, you're perfectly safe here. You're. You're not in danger at all. We love you. We take care of you. We. You know, and and so it in it did break my heart. And so that's when you want to present reality to them is if it'll be therapeutic. But sometimes if she's believing something and reality would add to her stress and or anxiety, you just let it go and you go along with it, you know?

So, I would also say that I believe the suicide angle of the trans issue. Yeah. It's more about not knowing who you are than it is about if you have this set of genitalia or if you wear this kind of clothing or. Yeah. Because I, I'm going to get religious here, but I'm a child of God. You're a child of God.

Yeah. And when we start questioning that, think about how your mental psyche becomes damaged when you stop believing you're a child of God. Yeah. Oh, it it. Satan's one. Yeah. Right. And I'm not saying these people are sinning. I'm not saying that. I'm saying it's a destruction of your your infinite worth. Yeah. That's where the suicide enters in.

Yeah. Yeah. It's separating you from having an understanding of who and what you are. Yeah. It's true. Sometimes I feel like a stepchild of God. But you know. The redheaded one. I didn't want to say it. It.

You said that. So, ginger. Two. Oh, I just like to be spicy.

Okay. And pull the plug. Sometimes those, like. That's awesome. Oh. All that. 956 on Newstalk 1079 Hello Sun and Julie Mason. And we're going to go to the phones. We just have about two minutes. Caller go ahead. What's on your mind this morning? Good morning Neal. Julie there's Mike. Oh hi Mike. It's been an interesting it's been an interesting show today.

I wish you both a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Keep up the good work. Well thank you, Mike. We appreciate that very much. And we wish you the same. Well, thank you and have a great day. Okay. It's just it. Good holiday wishes. I like that. And I'm making a political point at all. It's just spreading cheer and goodwill.

So because we can all say Merry Christmas again. Yeah. That's true. Yeah. We don't hear it enough. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas Neal. Merry Christmas to you and Julie. Okay. We have one minute left tomorrow. What are we doing tomorrow? It's studio cover sessions. Oh, yes. Yes. Yeah. Studio four covers? Yes. But. Yes. Yes. Not to direct you.

Yes. And McMurphy brothers. Correct? Yes. Okay. That's going to be good. We do that every Friday. It'll be at 835. You can catch it early on Facebook Live. Yes. That's good. Do anything fun tonight? Now, I think there's a football game on. Oh, yeah, I think. Detroit. Oh, is it Detroit? I think it might be, yeah.

Okay. Yeah. I think because they played Thanksgiving like they always do. But I think I saw on the schedule they have another one tonight. Okay, great. Yeah. And I'm painting. That's all I'm doing all the afternoon. So I'm not going to trade you. I'd rather I'd rather watch football. Me too. It's all right. I asked if she'd help and she said absolutely no no no no.

Yeah I'll donate to the go fund me so you can pay somebody to paint. No. All right. Eight 5958 that's going to do it for the show today. Everyone have a wonderful Thursday. Julie and I back tomorrow right here.