12.23.2024 -- NLS -- Snow Blunders, Burnt Turkeys, and the Great Eggnog Debate

On this episode with Neal and Julie, the show kicks off with a laugh about last week's incorrect snow prediction, quickly corrected by Michael Coates. Neal and Julie embrace the challenge of being engaging talk show hosts during a slow news week, inviting listeners to share amusing Christmas mishaps like burnt turkeys, ugly sweaters, and hilarious family feuds.

The conversation touches on seasonal traditions, like the polarizing love-or-hate relationships with eggnog, Hallmark movies, and Christmas music. They debate Paul McCartney's "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime" and dive into the quirks of White Elephant gift exchanges, from creative gifts to outrageous ones that no one wants.

The duo also explore deeper topics, such as childhood beliefs about Santa, shifting political dynamics, and recent news highlights like the GLP-1 weight loss drugs' impact and shortages. They wrap up with reflections on gratitude for the holiday season, the evolution of cultural traditions, and the enduring "Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays" debate.

Tune in for a mix of festive fun, thought-provoking discussions, and a little holiday cheer! Plus, don’t forget to call in at (208) 542-1079 to share your own stories and join the conversation.

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Transcript

And good morning. It is 807. It's a Monday, and as my kids, they're all. You're kind of raised already. They still call today Christmas. Adam. Because Adam came before Eve and anyway, so, it is Christmas. Adam I'll go ahead and use the joke, I guess, but, we do have snow falling and which is, bringing some life to Julie's hopes for a white Christmas.

It's working. And congratulations, Michael Coates. Because when we said last week, there wasn't going to be snow, we were quickly corrected by Michael Coates saying, hey, what? Where are you guys getting your weather? Because I've got a snow system coming in on Monday. And guess what? It it's here right? Yeah. Yeah it is, it's it is. I don't know how much it's going to fall.

I hope it's a whole bunch, but I'm probably not going to get that. Yeah. This is the one week I will allow it. Okay.

You and Michael are going to have words. Okay, I know no, we need the snow. I'm. I'm happy to see it. So, but if you'd like to reach us (208) 542-1079 and I will tell you, this is the week that tests your skills as a as radio talk show host. Because listener engagement is down. The news cycle, quite frankly, is rather lame.

Because most of the journalists are on vacation and, you know, they, they skip town. So. But that's okay because we've got lots of great things to talk about. I actually turned to ChatGPT. Okay. You want to hear the prompt that I did? I put it, sure. It's two days before Christmas. We're radio talk show hosts. The news cycle is really lame, but we have 2.5 hours left in our on air shift.

Provide some ideas for topics that are engaging and entertaining that we could talk about because we're out of ideas. Not really anyway. But, Christmas traditions gone wrong. Ask listeners to share stories about Christmas mishaps like burnt turkeys, ugly sweater disasters, or funny, funny family feuds. Our family feud is funny. I suppose they could be if they if enough time has passed or it's just a fun package.

Okay, unpopular holiday opinions. Like, is eggnog overrated? Yes. You're quick to answer that. How about our hallmark Christmas movies? Unbearable or amazing? They're neutral for me. I am never going to watch one, but it makes me happy that people like them, because that brings them joy. That makes me happy. What if eggnog brings them joy? Oh, it's eggnog can bring them joy.

It's overrated. It's not. But not hallmark movies. Well, I don't think people I don't think there's this overwhelming draw for hallmark movies like there is for eggnog. Like people. Yeah. That's true. I mean, people drink eggnog just because they're supposed to, not because they actually like it. You know, I, you know how I feel about eggnog. I don't make a mad dash for eggnog like I.

But I usually will have, like, one, like, one half a cup. It's so rich. It. But I like it. I actually like the one cup, but it's sort of like, I don't know, candy corn at Halloween or the circus peanuts. But you you have to have one. Just making my case for me. I it's supposed to. You're supposed to have it.

Like I actually enjoy the one, the one, the first one. Beyond that, it's not necessary. Like it's it. I do enjoy it. I don't do it just as an obligatory. Yeah. Move. At what age should kids know? I'll rephrase this. Learn the whole truth about Christmas. I don't know, but I had a client in my my studio last week whose 12 year old still believes.

Oh, that's that's getting on the edge now, I said, this girl's got some great friends. Yeah. That's true. Really good friends who care about her but don't want to ruin her life. Like. Okay, but how far beyond 12 do you? I don't know, okay, that's a I. And I guess it's it's going to be different for every kid in every family.

I started having questions when I was probably eight, maybe seven. Are you brave enough to talk to your parents about these questions? No. Heavens no. I know, like, I just know it was like, you're having roundtable discussions with your friends at recess. Well, here's what I found it. I remember because I grew up on a farm, and I remember as a kid, I might have been nine or so, and I went out to our old milk barn and, just in the barnyard, and I went and I looked in this little, I know, little back storage area in the milk barn.

And Santa had stashed some of the gifts there that I had found. His his warehouse in the North Pole is only so big now. He's got a distribution plan that makes Jeff Bezos blush like a Santa has got a great distribution method, I'll just put it like that. And, so that's when I really started realizing what Santa distribution model looked like.

We're really good at talk to you were Santa and now maybe nine at that age. Okay. Eight, nine, ten somewhere in there. Okay. And by the time I was ten, I was a a full on skeptic. Okay. But I hadn't aired it because, hey, there was always that little. But what if it's true? Yeah. Do you know, my sibling didn't ruin the holiday for me.

Oh, good. Which was very nice. Yeah, yeah, I can't say that's true for my kids.

Okay, so. Gotcha. My. It was ruined for me. Yes it was. Yeah, it was by her older siblings. So I, my older siblings didn't ruin it for me. But there was a gap like between yes, my sister and I and the oldest three. And so they they were man, they were out of the house by the time I was about 5 or 6.

And so they. Yeah, it wasn't ruined for me either. So yeah. Does the truth about Christmas, we'll just put it under that umbrella create trust issues for kids later in life? I don't know, there's a lot to talk about this online. Yeah, I don't know. I maybe I don't know, I was sure the like if I took a psychology class about this, it would probably change my mind.

So I like I have a hard I'm on a hard line here on this. Yeah, maybe the answer is some kids and some kids. No, there's some kids just aren't going to think that deep about it. No they won't, but some some do because, I mean, what do we did? We we teach our kids always tell the truth and don't lie.

And, you know, and then we get to about age 11, 12, 13, and we realize this really important part of our lives growing up was a lie. You're like, wait, these are the people that tell me not to lie. And that's what they've been doing for the first decade of my life. But okay, look what we've done.

And on steroids, though you and I grew up, with a beautiful Christmas tradition, that almost all of America. Yeah. You know, a good portion of America celebrates. Yes. All we've done is infused that with more lies. Think about everything else we lie about. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I know there's a lot. Oh, there is, there is a lot.

Because I'm going to be the fun mom or I'm going to be the fun parent. And we're going to have all these extra things. And so we just keep piling it on. And Christmas is not the only holiday were lying about. Right? Yeah. We just keep rabbits, tea teeth. I know, I know, what did you call it a boombox the other day.

Yeah. Boombox. Yeah. And I don't I don't know who brings the boombox. If it's the Halloween fairy or Satan Claus, because it's Halloween. Freddy Krueger. Yeah, maybe. I don't know, like, do we have to create a new figure here? Like, I don't I don't know what the. So I pretty soon we're going to have like some box, a gift basket or something to celebrate Arbor Day because that parent has to be over the top for Arbor Day.

Well, yeah, that's true, that's true. We need yeah, trees or something. So yeah. What we could ask, what is your least favorite Christmas song like when it comes on? It's like it your you don't react to music like the normal person. You're just say it's just background to you, so it doesn't bother you. But I'm not a huge fan of Dominick the Donkey.

It just tires so quickly. Yes. Then it just sticks in your brain. And now we have multiple listeners mad at us. I know they're going to have that in there. You know what song I was? I was driving down the road. I had the radio on. I was listening to Christmas music, and I had this thought when Paul McCartney's Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime came out and like, he was a Beatle.

That is the worst song ever. How did the A beetle write that song? I don't know, it's. Yeah. Not a fan of that. The other day I was playing Lauren Daigle. Yeah. In my studio. We were on about our between our three and four. It had been going for a long time on my listening speaker device.

I won't activate everybody's device by saying, Alexa, that one. Okay. Go ahead. You're such a twerp.

Anyway, all of a sudden it's just playing music. It's as if she overrode what I asked for. Yeah, and was like, you're not festive enough. So I'm going to infuse Christmas music into this. Really? Like it overrode this. Wow. Yeah, it can sense Grinch ism. And yeah, ironically, I would had told one of my clients what a Grinch I am this year.

So maybe. Yeah, it's that intuitive. Do you have a favorite Christmas movie? Oh, I love Jim Carrey's The Grinch. Yeah. That movie. That's good. Yeah, I, I love that movie. I don't mind the elf. I don't I'm not old school like Mary on 34th Street. Like. Yeah. I'm not an old school Christmas movie gal. You a diehard?

It's probably the best Christmas music. I just knew you knew that was coming. Yeah, right. I only do that to bait people because people get in screaming matches over whether or not diehard is a Christmas, movie. So. Right. Well, there's a new one on Netflix you and I both have seen called Carry On. And it's sort of.

It's got a Christmas yes holiday tinge to travel time. Yeah. So I liked it, though. I think it's worth a watch. It is worth it. Just don't have high expectations of of, factual accounts of how TSA works. And you're going to be fine. Yeah. That's true. And with that concept in mind and you're going to be fine, I will say I've never been since he was like when he was a kid actor in the 1980s.

Jason Bateman was fine. I've never liked him since then, really, and I think he's great. Really? Yeah. Like, I don't love his personal life, but I think he's great to me. Like, it's it's like maybe it's the politics thing because he's so liberal. And I think that that taints it for me. So. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think he's a talented actor.

I'm not going to take that away from him. But it just that my he did pretty well. He did good in carry on. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Question for you crowdsource inventive and inexpensive ideas for procrastinators. So what would you tell people who went, oh holy crap, today is the White Elephant party at my work, and I haven't gotten anything.

What do you tell them today? White elephant is different, I would say. Other gifts. Yeah. Hey, I think there was probably a time where people looked at gift cards as you didn't even try. Yeah, in a gift. I think that is long gone. Okay. You think people like, like gift cards? Okay. Yeah. So I would say hit up your local, big box store.

They all have those displays with, you know, dozens of cases of gift cards on them. Okay. Just do that. It's not the hallmark of White Elephant. It's complicated because some white elephant gifts are who can bring the most creative gift that somebody actually wants. Some white elephant parties are actually about who can bring the most outrageous gift that nobody wants, right?

Yeah. And remember, White Elephant originally was you bring something from your house that you already have and you regift it. Yeah. And I don't think that I don't think that happens hardly anymore. And white elephants like we've. Yeah. We've morphed what an actual white elephant party is. Yeah I that was that's what I always had believed. And usually like at a white elephant party, there's the one gift that keeps returning.

And you don't want to get that gift because then you have to hold on to it for a year and for a year and bring it back. Like in a previous era, there was this really hideous and very sexually provocative. We called it the Booty Mug because it was a coffee mug, but it, it, it was in the shape of this very voluptuous woman.

And I got the booty mug one year, so I had to store it forever. Yeah, I had to store it under a counter somewhere. And then we somebody else got the booty mug the next year. So it was. It was fun. It was fine. Yes, it was good. But I'm not good at storing things for a year.

I will just say that I've not shocked by that. I know I don't want to hold on to it for a year. All right. It's 822 on Newstalk 179, Neil Larson along with Julie Mason. There is a news cycle. By the way. It's Christmas week here, but President Biden has commuted the death sentences of 37 of 40 death row inmates.

We'll talk about that coming up. And also, Luigi Mangione has pleaded guilty to 11 counts. I just saw that this morning. He's pleaded guilty. Not guilty. Yeah. I was like, wait, what? Not guilty. Okay. My bad. Okay. So all right, we'll have that and much more coming up. And if you'd like to reach us, (208) 542-1079.

And we're back. It's 827. Make it 828 on Newstalk 107. Do you like the Christmas new song? Yeah, I'm okay with that one. I mean, I don't want it on repeat, but yeah. Gotcha. Okay. For me it's like eggnog once is great, then that's enough. Yeah. We had several people send in that they don't like. Grandma got run over by a reindeer.

That was fun. It had its day right mid 80s. I think that's about when it came out. Yeah. I'm okay if I hear that once every five years or so. Because she'd been drinking too much eggnog. Spiked eggnog, like, tie everything together. All right. If you'd like to be on the program with us, (208) 542-1079. It's a very laid back morning here as we, sort of slip into the holiday week.

Christmas week. And it looks like it outside. We've got light snow falling. It's starting to accumulate on the windshields out there. Loving it. So yeah. We also have the story of Joe Biden, the president of the United States, commuting 37 sentences of federal death row inmates. Out of 40, there were 40, mostly men on death row, if not all men.

And 37 of them, will not face the death penalty at. This is going to ruffle some feathers. Well, they're going through some of the crimes that have been committed from some of these death row inmates where their sentence has been commuted. One of the men killed, like two little girls. Can you imagine if you're that family, what they're going through right now?

And furthermore, were they were they told ahead of time, that's what I want to know. Did the white House at least have enough class to reach out to the victim's families and and give them a little bit of a heads up and let them know, hey, we just want to let you know this is happening. I'm sure that will come out whether or not they did or didn't.

And I'm going to ask the unanswerable question that I and I said this to you or the commercial break, who's back? Was he scratching you? Don't just do this to do it. There's a reason to do it. I want to know why. I want the why. Will we ever find out? Not likely, but I would love to know the why.

Yeah, yeah, I don't I don't know why either. That would be, nice to know, too. So apparently, Don lemon got into, kind of a verbal war against, TikToker over Elon Musk's influence on president elect Trump. The ex CNN host spoke to various people in New York City over the weekend about the claim Democrats were pushing, that the ex CEO was the shadow president Musk over Trump, based on Musk leading an online conservative opposition to a bipartisan deal to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Lemon asked, who is the real president elect, you think? And the TikToker said, well, Donald Trump won. I believe, Democrat lawmakers in Washington are calling Elon Musk now, and they're saying Donald Trump is the vice president or the head of communication. And the TikToker said, wait, wait a second. No one said that, lemon interrupted, really? Have you not paid attention?

And the TikToker said, absolutely not. I'm paying attention to what I'm doing during my day so I can try and get a better life and get ahead. Lemon then told John to look up President Musk on his phone to prove his point, to which John then obliged. That's already a loaded question, you realize, John remarked while looking.

John found. Reports from Axios, Business Insider, ABC news, Washington Post, New York Times and The Atlantic using the term President Musk, which lemon considered a win. And then the TikToker said, we don't trust any of these. The common man doesn't trust any of this, John fired back. I don't trust any of these. I don't trust any of them.

I don't trust any of these. We're the common man. We don't trust any of these. No one trust the government. The common news. We don't trust any of that anymore. Independent news. We're the ones that own the news. Now, people trust me. They don't trust MSNBC. See, because I care. And I'm actually one of them. Okay, I like this.

This this was actually a theme that kind of went through several of the speakers at Turning Point USA in Arizona on Sunday, which was, like, congratulations to the people watching that. You're the ones who made the difference. You are the ones who, when this, cr was a bloated 1500 plus pages, you spoke out and they whittle it down.

You are the ones that made the difference and and watched all of the videos with Trump, with Joe Rogan and on TikTok. And the voter went out and made the difference. And now, like I said, it was a resounding theme at Turning Point USA. I, I think, I think the everyday person should be frustrated with mainstream media that they're trying to take the credit away from the the efforts that you guys did.

Yeah. Like they're trying to take credit or or grab the credit and give it all to one man. No, none of it could have happened if the voters hadn't gone out and voted the C, the CR, the bloated CR wouldn't have been stopped if the common man hadn't gone and done something. Yeah, you have so much more power and they don't want you to think you have power.

Well, an X was a big part of that too. Like it's become the the new town square. And it it has a tremendous amount of influence. I like what the TikToker said. He's like, why are you throwing these stories at me? These are all the outlets that have disparaged themselves. Nobody believes them anymore. They don't have the voice that they used to have.

And Don lemon actually said, I can't disagree with that. Yeah, like he knows this. It couldn't be more accurate. And the Wall Street Journal is going to publish an exposé. And I put air quotes around exposé last week about Joe, Joe Biden and his failed health. Guess what? Everybody saw it. The only people that didn't see it were those that were spreading the lies surrounding Joe Biden and the mainstream media.

Everybody else knew their president was dementia ridden. Yeah, we all knew. Well, so worse is obvious. Yeah. So like, we're supposed to believe these mainstream media outlets when they push that lie. Yeah, yeah. Here's another interesting story. We can get into it in greater detail after the break, but Matt Gates is suing to block the release of the House House Ethics Committee report on his behavior and a complaint filed in federal court in Washington, D.C..

The Republican's attorneys maintain gates innocence. They say that the conduct detailed in the report is untrue. They claim the committee does not have jurisdiction over him because he's no longer in office. He may have a case here. I think he has a case and he's not up for anything. Like what would be the purpose of releasing this report other than vindictiveness?

Like what is the public interest in them and then releasing it? And don't get me wrong, I'm not a huge fan of Matt Gates, but I will say them releasing this report at this point, it just feels like it's a vindictive move, sort of as a as a nod to Kevin McCarthy, like you did what you did to Kevin McCarthy.

We're going to do this back at you. Yeah, that's what it feels like to me, I do. I think that's a fair assessment of what it is. I, I don't know. Here's my thing about the report. I appreciate that Matt Gates is suing and I want the appropriate thing to happen. I don't think people care. I think the report gets released and nobody pays attention, not a single person.

So I think all Matt Gates is trying to do is secure future positions for himself. Yeah, he I mean, he he said on Sunday that he quite possibly thinks he's going to run for some office, possibly, Marco Rubio's Senate seat. Yeah. When it becomes available. I don't know what Matt Gates is going to do, but I think that that's what the lawsuit about is actually securing his future.

I don't think the average person cares. Did you see that Lara Trump pulled her name from I did contention in that seat. So that's you know, that tells me is DeSantis has signaled he's not going to pick her. Yeah. Because you want you wouldn't want to be in the running if you're Lara Trump and not get picked. Yeah.

You want to save face ahead of time. Yeah. Yeah. So, in fact, it was interesting because Trump was asked about this last week and I my read on it was incorrect last week because Trump said I well, I don't think that Ron DeSantis is going to pick her. He might he could I thought he was doing that to create distance, that he's not influencing the decision.

Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. Like you want to make it look like you're not the one pressing it, pressuring to have your daughter in law be put in as a U.S. senator. I think he's become to this place where he's had, a bit of respect with Ron DeSantis, and he wants Ron to look like Ron's in charge.

Yeah, yeah. That's right, that's right. I think Ron DeSantis, in one way or another, is, is going to be the future of presidential politics. Yeah, somehow. And so, so yeah. But apparently she withdrew her name, so they must have somebody else in mind. So. Yeah. And who knows? And maybe it's Matt Gates. I have no idea. But I think the lawsuit is more about him rehabbing his reputation than you or I or anybody else feeling differently about this man, because I, I just don't know.

Yeah. I don't know if it changes that much for me. Yeah. I don't know either. Yeah, that's a good question. All right. We're going to break at 838 a Newstalk 1079. We'll be back. And I think we need something a little peppier than this. Welcome back. I'm waiting for it to develop. I am too, but I just loaded up a, page with Christmas music, and, this was one of them, so, we could let it develop.

It'll be. I'm sure it'll be fine, at some point, but, we'd love to hear from you. This morning. (208) 542-1079 is the number to call or to text. It's the fall River propane call and text line. And, so, Julie, remember that top DNC fundraiser who was very, very vocal after the election? Lynn or Lindy Lee? Lindy Lee that's what it is.

And she I'm going to use a word here that we usually don't use. It's not quite a swear word, but it's not a nice word. Okay. So hands over the kid's ears for just a moment. Lindy Leash says she was ostracized from the party and labeled a whore after criticizing Kamala Harris. She referred to the Democrat Party as a cult.

After facing an onslaught of internal attacks for criticizing, Kamala Harris last week. Lee is a Democrat strategist, served as both a surrogate for Harris and a member of the DNC national fundraising committee, where she raised tens of millions of dollars on behalf of Democrat candidates. Also frequently appeared on the air to stump for Harris Is 2024 presidential campaign.

She became the target of the left's attacks early this month, when she expressed support for president elect Donald Trump's defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth. But it was the party's vitriolic response to a subsequent appearance on Fox News that pushed her rightward. This past week has been harrowing for me, Lee told Piers Morgan in Wednesday's episode. This Saturday I went on Fox and Friends and I said, Democrats have a stench of loser hanging over them.

As soon as I said that, there were boycott campaigns against me. Unblock. Unfollow campaigns. She said, so I watch this clip. She said that she lost 40,000 followers within just a matter of hours. Okay. And she also said, which one of my favorite parts of the clip is, I mean, it could be all about poor me. And she wasn't really trying to make it about her.

She was just saying, this is what's happened to me, and it's been a rough week. But then she pointed out, I'm not the only Democrat they've done this to. Yeah. There's a there's a group of us and we're all struggling because that's how you treat people when it's a cult. If you disagree, this is how you get treated.

She said, people have called me the word days before the C-word. They asked for me to be deported. She is Asian. Lee said she was also accused of working as a, quote, communist spy. The accusation was particularly offensive to her, she said, considering her family history. They're calling me a spy for the regime that killed my great grandfather.

And these are the people who call themselves the social justice warriors. They're going headfirst into racism. Any time someone dares to disagree with them. I want to be a part of the team that says men are men and women are women, and men shouldn't play in women's sports. It's that common sense thing we were talking about. It is that common sense thing.

And there are some on the far militant left. They can't handle it. They just can't let go of this sexualized version of America. And I think it speaks a lot about what they're doing in their private lives. And the religion and the cult that they have turned their, their worship into. Well, speaking of the cult, she addressed that.

She said, my donors are proud. It's my responsibility to ask what the hell happened with their money. These are legitimate questions. But no, in the cult, you can't ask questions. And leaving the Democrat Party or even questioning the Democratic Party is like leaving a cult. It's terrifying. I don't want to be a part of this crazy craziness anymore.

They are accelerating my rightward shift. Wow. Yeah. She I the clip was impressive. It wasn't. Oh, a whiny all poor me. It just wasn't that. She's just. She's being very non-emotional and calling it what it is. In the clip, she wasn't even going to say that what word? She was called. And Piers Morgan said, you can say whatever you want to on this show.

So tell us what the words were. And that's when she said the actual word. Yeah. I mean, she wasn't. I don't feel like she was on. Please feel sorry for me. To her, she's on an explanation of the dangerous place the Democrat Party is in. Sure. You know, it's it's fascinating, Julia, because we talk a lot about the projection, the rampant projection that has gone on by Democrats on so many different fronts.

And you you almost talk about any major issue. And if there are big accusations by Democrats against Republicans, chances are very good it's because they're doing it themselves. And when they call MAGA a cult, when they call anybody who supports Trump part of this sycophantic, cultish relationship, what she's saying actually really resonates that, that these people it, it would be very, very hard to leave the if in fact, you and I both have watched many a documentary about people who leave like a polygamist cult or they and it's really hard.

The ostracization that goes on, the marginalizing that happens, the excommunication that goes on. She's going through that exact thing right now, simply deciding that she's leaving the Democrat Party. It's fascinating and heartbreaking for her, but it's a fascinating thing to watch. It is fascinating as a dual level for her because she wasn't just a member of it. She was also somebody who stumped for them, who brought in millions of dollars for them.

And these are her friends. These are her business partners. These are her confidants. And now she's saying. She's saying they're mad. You. Oh, you you wasted the money that was raised. You represent things that we don't believe in. We want to be part of the Democrat Party. We donated to the Democrat Party. And this is who you are.

You know, I, I actually think her comments represent the bigger problem that the Democrats have, and they don't currently have a plan to fix it. No, I don't I don't think they most of them can even see the problem. I think they're dug in and they're entrenched. They think they're right. And and that's why they, they try to thrust out anyone who disagrees with them.

Yeah. Fascinating. I mentioned something to you, and I'm going to be very vague here, but I mentioned something to you. And when we were talking about the news cycle earlier this morning, which is I think I can I can expect that some people hate Trump so much and this has become their religion that they will actually purposely trans their kids to prove Trump wrong.

Yeah. To prove it wrong that you want it. You want to watch me? Well, I'll turn my kid into this and we'll see how it how I. Yes, that's devastating to me. Yeah, but I think it exists. They actually shepherd their kids in that direction. Yeah. All right. We're going to take a break. It's 853. A new stock, 179.

Gun to stay and some ribs and SUV, something or other. It's 857. Guess what I didn't do. What didn't you do? Remember I said, I've got to call Grand Peaks? Julie. Remember I was supposed to call it them in the 8:00 hour? I will remind you, it'll be all right. Okay. Guess what we had yesterday? Because we have.

We had the big family party at our house. Ribs. Oh, I bet they were so good. We had ribs and funeral potatoes. That was kind of the meal. And they were so good. There's still a few leftover. So I'll be eating some of those this week. But ribs from Grand Peaks primates. You're getting a roast. Is that right?

That's the point. My son in law is in town, and he asked me to make the roast that I make for everybody, which, you know, part of it's what I do, but part of it's the good cut of meat that I get from Grand Peaks. All right. They're going to love it. Meats.com. Check out their packages and specials.

They have delivery in the local area. Our two coming up on Newstalk 107 nine. Hello and good morning. It's our 290 seven hour time on Newstalk 1079. If you'd like to reach the program. The fall River propane Collin text line is (208) 542-1079. And, Julie, a mushroom. Death in Utah. Did you hear about this? I saw the headline.

I haven't I haven't read deep into what happened, but. Yeah. The Utah Poison Control Center was recently notified about a possible case of a toxin that's mushroom induced liver failure and death. The patient reportedly ingested psychedelic mushrooms purchased on the street. After eating the mushrooms, the individual reportedly began to experience severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Their condition worsened, experiencing fulminant liver failure, acidosis, and hypertension. The individual died around 36 hours later, according to the Poison Control Center. Many species of mushrooms have the Hepa toxins. No. Excuse me? Hepatic toxins called, which is, you know, substances that damage the liver, called ama toxins. But only the ballerina mushroom species is known to grow in Utah.

Normally, psychedelic mushrooms do not cause liver damage, and officials said it is highly unusual for hepatic toxic mushrooms to be mistaken for psychedelic mushrooms. The center has not had any confirmed cases of AMA toxin induced liver failure ever in Utah. Okay, you don't hear about this. To us, mushrooms are becoming more popular, though. They've kind of made, like like 70s was the time and now they're they're kind of resurging and people are using them again.

That's been going on, for a few years now. I, I have this question about the people who, fight for marijuana legalization. Here's the issue. You don't know what you're smoking. Yeah, there's no real regulation of this stuff, you know, and and it's much more potent than it used to be. So when I would just say to anybody who's arguing for marijuana legalization, at least be, like, true to your argument and argue for whatever sort of regulation to the, the substance that's being put out there.

Yes. But I think some of them would actually say that's why it needs to be legalized. So it can be regulated so that you can slap, because the moment you decide you're going to, you know, require certain levels of things or whatever you're saying, it should be legal, then it's like alcohol. Sure. You know, and so that that would be that say, I'm fine with that.

So let's legalize is and that's just my thing. If you're going to fight for it, you probably should say you're fine with the yeah, the regulation of it because you have no idea what's in the stuff you're smoking. It's true. Yeah. And I think that that's true for mushrooms. I think that people are it's become like in vogue again.

You don't know what you're doing. Yeah. You don't, you know, speaking of drugs, apparently there has been some off brand copies of obesity and diabetes drugs. They're going to have to phase it out. The FDA said that a nationwide shortage of Eli Lilly Zep bound in Mount Jarrow has been resolved, eliminating the need for copycat versions of the drugs that have become wildly popular with Americans trying to lose weight.

The decision is a win for Lilly, which has been pressing the FDA to take the step for months and is expected to impact how patients access the drugs, including how much they pay. Zep bound is FDA approved to treat obesity Montero's approved for diabetes. They use the same active ingredient tears appetite. The FDA said Thursday that Lilly's supply is currently meeting or exceeding demand after two years of shortages.

Both drugs are part of the GLP one class that has shown unprecedented results for helping people shed weight by decreasing appetite and boosting feelings of fullness with govi and ozempic, competing drugs from Novo Nordisk remain on the FDA's shortage list, so they allowed copycats to come along. Can you know people who are who are on this drug? I know people who are on this drug, right?

Yeah. Has anybody told you they have a hard time getting a hold of it? Usually what I hear is the insurance stop paying for it, but I don't I don't know if I've heard of any shortages. Like it. There's none around. Yeah, I don't think I've heard of any shortages either. Yeah. Okay. It says here that both drugs are part of the GLP one class that has shown unprecedented results for helping people shed weight by decree.

Oh, I did that with demand for GLP one drugs booming compounding pharmacies and telehealth companies like Hims and Row have jumped on to the market, selling cheaper versions online. People can usually get a month's supply for several hundred dollars. Thursday's decision gives businesses between 60 and 90 days, depending on their size, to phase out their products. So okay, how does this kind of uproar this.

So here's here's my question though, if if you're Eli Lilly, and Novo Nordisk or whatever, and you've gotten this reputation that there's a shortage, is that the reason why they've been able to keep up with the demand? Because people have stopped going to them because there's been shortages, and now the news is out. Oh, we have we have enough now there's going to be run on it.

And in a couple of months we're going to have a news stories of, oh, we now have shortages of Munjal. When I ozempic I can I just be like a non logical person for a minute. I don't want Eli Lilly. I don't want Eli Lilly to profit anymore. I do go ahead and let other people make the drug.

You're so stinking wealthy anyway. And I know that's a a very emotional answer. Yeah. So it's not what I should be saying, but it's kind of annoying. Like you're stomping your foot like we need to make more money. I think, yeah, I mean, that it's hard. That's a tough discussion, because that's the whole purpose of a corporation is to be as profitable as possible.

Absolutely. So, yeah, they're fine doing it. Yeah. It just rubs me the wrong way. Well, was it Elon Musk? I think Elon Musk a few weeks ago suggested they make these, these drugs easy and cheap to access for Americans. And we would save a lot of lives. Why wouldn't we want to get rid of obesity? Yeah, well, here's here's my thing, because I remember the days back when phen phen was all the rage and people were taking it.

They were losing massive weight, and now they ended up having to pay out these big settlements because it caused heart damage. And that's not the first one. And it's not going to be the last one. So I look at this and I'm thinking, if they're drugs that are kind of too good to be true, there's usually some kind of a hidden cost.

And I don't mean money, but a hidden health cost associated with with these kinds of things. And I'm not suggesting that they cause anything or, you know, I don't want to I don't want to suggest that. I'm just saying that it usually the way karma works in the universe is that. Yeah, it's not quite that easy. Just.

Yeah. What is the landscape of this look like in three years? Yeah. There's got to be a compensating factor here. And and for a lot of people, it's when you stop taking it, when you don't want to pay hundreds of dollars or a thousand plus every month for it. You haven't changed your habits. You haven't changed the core reason why you were overeating before you took the drug.

And then the the weight comes back on because they haven't changed anything. So great that they had the drug for the short amount of time. But you do wonder what would be the impact of having people on these drugs indefinitely in their lives. I don't know that that's a good thing. Well it's probably not a good thing.

And you would hope that okay. So let me go back to logical Julie now and not be frustrated with the pharmaceutical companies. You would hope that these drugs there is a doctor really watching and helping develop a plan that the drug is helping you not feel hungry. Yeah. And the drug is helping you, right now, like forcing you to change your habits.

But let's make a meal plan and let's get you on a place where you are already removing these things from your life. Then we'll give you a little, little bump with the drug. And and hopefully we've changed life patterns and not just administered a drug. See, and that's what I think is the proper use of this. If, if you're 2 or 300 pounds overweight and you need a jumpstart to get going just to, to start to lose some weight, get some enthusiasm and you pair that with changing your habits, then I think it could be beneficial.

Yes. Yeah. Just all depends on how much you're relying on it. Yeah. So you would hope there would be a physician more engaged. And in the situation of is it hims right. Is that company one of them. One of them. Yeah. There's not really anyone watching you. You're just taking the drug. That's true. You have a doctor online that say your prescription.

So. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. 917 (208) 542-1079 Julie, President Trump says we might, want to look at acquiring Greenland, which was weird when you read that headline to me because I heard about his scuffle over the Panama Canal. Yeah, he even put out stuff on Truth Social that he's going to take it back. So that'll be interesting to see if that happens.

But I haven't heard about Greenland. Yeah. It says here that he, has reignited his ambition for U.S. ownership and control of Greenland, declaring it an absolute necessity for national security and global freedom. This renewed interest, first expressed during his initial term, was announced alongside his selection of PayPal co-founder Ken Harry as the US ambassador to Denmark. And, he said, well, what did he say?

Here's a truth social. He said, for the purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity. Ken will do a wonderful job job in representing the interests of the United States. Thank you, Ken, and congratulations, Joe. Okay. I'll see. Yeah. He's got he got quite the list of stuff that he needs to get done.

Now, Trump has made himself quite the list. Yeah. Buckle up. I think the next four years are going to be, quite, quite a ride. There is some good things here. I think that there are some of these situations where he's going to have very little to do with what's going on. I think Tom Homan is going to take over immigration and it's going to be short, quick conversations with Trump and Trump's going to go, yep, do it.

And that's it. Like it's going to. So some of these problems aren't going to be overseen by Trump. That much. And and I think that Tom Holman's a perfect example of that. But some of these other things that Trump wants to, you know, address and and and really look into, I think he's going to have to be a little bit more involved.

It's going to be more for our night sleeps for him. He's not going to start sleeping eight hours. And I know I don't I don't think so. I don't think so. You so, really quick before the break, Julie, we're kind of getting to know the Mitt Romney replacement in Utah. His name is John Curtis. He's been in the House of Representatives for a few years, won overwhelmingly in Utah to win Mitt Romney's seat.

He sat down with ABC's Jonathan Karl. Here's what he had to say. You know, it's very important to me that, President Trump is successful. I want to see him wildly successful. And, I'll be supportive of him when he's talking about inflation and the economy and everything like that. But that doesn't mean there won't be moments when I disagree with him.

And I think it's very important to me and my constituents that that at those moments that I feel comfortable speaking up. So you I know you don't like labels. But you hear MAGA Republican. Yeah. Romney, Republican. McCain. I mean, where do you fit? So the best description for me is, is normal. Normal. Okay. I like that label.

Yeah. And the problem is with labels is it's kind of a shortcut to stereotype somebody. Right. We'd like to just have this very quick or you fit into this. And therefore I don't have to know anything more about you because you are moderate. Right. And the reality of it is it's not that simple. A moderate in Salt Lake City is different than a moderate in Saint George or a moderate in in Massachusetts.

So to try to say somebody is a moderate or something just doesn't fit. And I really like to align myself with core Utah values. And the best way to describe those are our pioneer values. Are you, ran for the Senate and Trump endorsed one of your opponents? That's correct. Actually did a campaign. I mean, it really got into it for one of your opponents and you still won.

So I'll just brag for a minute. I won in a four way primary with almost 50%. Yeah. And as the non Trump endorsed candidate and I think was it a double digit lead over the it was a substantial substantial lead over over the person. Trump. How did you do that I mean you're you know he's the king of the Republican Party.

His endorsement matters more than any other endorsement in a Republican primary. What was what was the key there? I believe I was able to be the authentic John Curtis and the people are longing for authenticity. And, as I mentioned before, look, I support President Trump when he's dealing with some of these really tough issues that we have the economy and the conflicts overseas.

But I do have my own mind, and I'm not a rubber stamp. My stamp is the stamp of the state of Utah, and I represent those people. And I think people responded to that in the election, and they're dying for authenticity. And just tell us who you really are and then be that person. And I think that's why we did so well, thought, you know, I think he's saying all the right things, and I'm not even the least bit surprised that he did well in Utah.

You know, he kind of reeks of Utah, right? A little bit, I will say the aroma, it's smell him over here. And you were playing the clip on your computer. Yeah. But, I also feel like he's a pretty confident man. Yeah. And and he might need to be. He might need to be shown that there's some there's some steps that you have to take to work your way up through the Senate.

I don't know if somebody will do that. I think that when you follow in the footsteps of Mitt Romney and Mitt Romney's behave the way he has, you kind of feel like you you have all the right to act this way and a little less humble. I don't know, maybe something I'll smack him in the face. We'll see.

Yeah, well we'll see. My hopeful thought with all of this is he doesn't have the he. I mean, he sounds kind of, Romney esque. Spencer Cox ish, you know, very kind of has that vibe to him. But he doesn't have the personal history with Trump that Mitt Romney had. So there's not an ego pin match going on between between them.

So but I do think that he's going to recognize the voters in Utah, his constituency for whatever reason. They they want there to be a little tinge of anti-Trump ism in their in their candidate Mike Lee didn't need it. But I think if you're taking Mitt Romney's seat and you've inherited Mitt Romney's organization and his support base and persona and yeah, yeah, you're right.

And then there is going to be some level of expectation there. I think so, too, that, there will be people who say, why isn't he pushing back against Trump? Hey, look, I don't know. We'll see what this guy, this guy has a I need to give him a fair shake, because when I watch these clips, last night, I was just a little bit bothered.

Like, he's. He acts like he wants to be humble about his win. He's not being humble about his win. If you can see his face, he's pretty smug. There's another clip where he says that, they were talking about, making sure that Trump's cabinet picks get in place. And the question was framed that Trump has a mandate.

Shouldn't you just, accept all of these these picks that he's chosen and the new senator said, well, I got more votes than Trump did. So do I have a stronger mandate? Okay, that's not, as you know, when you pair that with him trying to be so, you know, pseudo humble in the clip that you played, I feel like that's exactly what it is.

A little pseudo humility. Yeah. Yeah I think so too. Yeah. That that that strikes his maybe not being all that authentic. Yeah to me. But we'll see. Maybe he'll he'll get in there and things will be great. I'll, we'll give him a fair shot. We do the same thing here. When, when, sometimes Republicans who aren't so strong on the conservative movement win in Idaho.

We always say, let's see what they do when they get over there to Boise. Let's see what happens. So we'll see what happens with Senator. It's Collins, right? Curtis. Curtis. Jonathan Pierce. Yeah. All right. 925 on Newstalk 107, I, Neil Larsen, along with Julie Mason. We'll be back after this. I'm all locked up. We gotta keep talking for just a minute.

Julie, let the computer catch up. Yeah, I got a I got to reboot this, so, we could talk about here. I'll talk about something while you're busy doing it. Because we haven't mentioned this today, so. And it was in the news. And to be fair, we need to mention it. So there was a Republican House member. I don't know why her name is escaping me right now.

She's out of Texas. Well, the story broke on Saturday morning that she has been in a retirement facility for the last six months, but she has still been serving as a member of Congress from Texas during that time. And, look, if Republican members knew this, I'm disappointed in you. I'm disappointed that this is exactly how it played out.

And I can't I can't be frustrated that we've continue to have people like Dianne Feinstein serving when she couldn't even make sense of the bills that were were being brought before her. I can't be frustrated about, President Biden, serving with what appears to be dementia and then not be frustrated about this. Yeah, it is time for the members who serve.

And that's what they are. They serve in these positions. If you serve in DC, you can't let this kind of crap happen. No, no, not at all. So what do you think? Does she have dementia? I don't know, she did come out or someone from her camp came out and made a statement saying yes, she spent time in their retirement home and yes, that retirement home does treat dementia.

But she is not suffering from dementia. She just has ailing health. I don't care what it is. You need to step down from your position. Well, we just had four years of the political establishment gaslighting about a man with dementia, so we might be a little twitchy on this one. Yeah. All right. 928 on Newstalk 1079 we'll be back.

Okay. What happened over there? You know, I don't know. Sometimes the program just freezes like it just sits there and it's not it'll do certain things, but it won't respond to my. Okay, so I just have to force it to stop and reload it, and it's fine. But I would say a couple times a week I have to do that.

Luckily it reloads quickly. You know, you guys, it's still snowing outside. It is at least where Neil and I are at. Julie's happy about that, Neil. And at least where I. Yeah, I make sure I'm speaking proper English. Got the hiccups a couple of times. Okay, guys, I this has been a weird bug that I've gotten because when did I start?

I started feeling it Thursday night at the ice you game? Yes. You texted from the ICU game and said, I think I'm getting sick. Yeah. The next morning I was almost ready to get in here and you sent me a text that said, I don't think you should come. I did, yes, yeah. And I was like, well, I didn't want to get you sick.

I'm about to start my car. I'm coming. We're going to figure this out. So, And I'm fine. I haven't gotten sick even though we share this little square studio together, so. Yeah, but you're still feeling it. You don't sound as congested right now as you did when we started the show, though. Yeah, that's loosened up a little bit.

Anyway, so I had a fever and just chills and week that went away pretty quick, probably within 36 hours or so. But now it's sort of in my head and a little bit in my, in my chest, too, in my lungs. Yeah. And I'm tired. Like, I usually when I get past the fever and the chills, I get my energy back.

I, I have been so wiped out. So. Yeah. It'll be good. You need the break? Yeah, a little slower. Workweek. Need to just go home and do your thing. We will be in tomorrow, but, an hour later, 7:00. We're going to start at seven. It's Christmas Eve. Are we exchanging gifts on Facebook Live tomorrow? Sure.

I need to wrap your gift card. Yeah, I've got a wrap. Yours too. I don't know, I. I'm forcing Neal to drink, so that's why I went and got him the Mountain Dew. Yeah. Flush that junk out of your, We did have, somebody recommend for me to use the Navajo nose thing? Yeah, for my nasal drip, which I didn't have any of this morning.

Really weird. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Why not? This morning? I don't know. Anyway, yes. What Neil did over the weekend, I did the nose flush.

He survived the waterboarding. Yeah. That works. So here we go. You just. All right. 933 on Newstalk 1078, Neil Larson, along with Julie Mason. Here we are on, this two days before Christmas, Christmas Eve, Eve. My kids always called it Christmas. Adam. Just a dumb dad joke because Adam came before Eve. So we have that, and it's kind of a lame news cycle.

It's just not that interesting. Yeah. Most eclipse I sent you last night were from Turning Point USA. There was some big headliners at Turning Point USA. Trump spoke was, you know, greeted so enthusiastically and warmly by the the crowd. So and that's his first real speech I like in that kind of arena sense, winning the election.

So it was interesting to see that happen. Let's see, I'm trying to think what else went on over the weekend. Not much. Oh, on a side note, since it's a lighter news day, Tiger Woods son. Oh, yeah. Was playing in a golf tournament. Charlie. It's his name. Yeah. Hit a hole in one. And the excitement between him and Tiger is just,

You can't not smile. It is. It is so just, so fun to watch them celebrate that together. Then later on, the camera caught Tiger and Charlie talking, and, Tiger looks at him and says, you're buying a round for everybody. And and Charlie goes, I'm broke. And he goes, no, of course, rules you. You hit a hole in one rules are you buy a round for everybody.

And he says it again. He's like, I can't do that. I'm broke. I have no money. It's kind of cute. And you're like, dad, can I borrow 200 bucks? Yeah. So I saw this story. This kind of feeds into the San Jose State volleyball drama. The volleyball star, Brooke Slusser. She's also on San Jose State a warned the NCAA after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the organization over transgender inclusion in women's sports.

He filed the lawsuit on Sunday, accusing the organization of deceptive marketing practices for allowing transgender women to compete against biological females. Paxton said in a news release. The NCAA violated the Texas Trade Practices Act, which exists to protect consumers from businesses attempting to mislead or trick them into purchasing goods or services that are not as advertised. Slusser, who was a part of a lawsuit against her own school and the NCAA for allowing a transgender woman on the Spartans roster this season, posted about the suit and said, hey, NCAA, just in case you haven't realized yet, this fight will just keep getting harder for you until you make a change for another.

Plaintiffs had asked a judge to grant an injunction to prohibit Blaire Fleming from competing in the Mountain West Conference women's volleyball tournament last month, but they were denied. I absolutely love this, and I love that the tide is shifting on this. And that's the like the premiere headline. But there's the, you know, the criminal part of me that likes the angle that this lawsuit took.

It couldn't be more accurate that they're selling you a product that isn't representative of the name of the product. That's true. And there's people who buy tickets to go watch watch these volleyball players. There's people who donate to the school athletic programs. There's people that are investing in the product, and you're selling them a product that isn't what is actually advertised.

Yeah, brilliant. Absolutely brilliant lawsuit. It really is. It's it's kind of an unorthodox move, but I think it's applicable here. Yes. I think it's a perfectly applicable, approach to this. And I like it. I like let's hit them from all angles. This is the same thing we did with Roe v Wade. It wasn't the very first attack on Roe v Wade that was finally successful.

It was all of these little cuts of them figuring out how can we get to the core of Roe v Wade, and we finally made it. So same thing here. Attack it from all angles. Well, hasn't isn't this what the left has been doing for the longest time? And I think we're starting we're starting to learn. We're a little bit slow, but we're starting to learn that you can't give up like you.

You have to keep. You can't get a little win and then just celebrate and say, yay, we did this thing. We won a court case. No, you have to keep pushing. And you have to continually make create a hostile environment for bad ideas to thrive. And that that's what this is. You. If you file lawsuits that will make other, schools think twice about putting a transgender player on their team and, and recruiting transgenders in.

And so you might be tempted because maybe that man playing on the women's volleyball team is going to help you win. But if it is a tough row to hoe and you're going to get lawsuits and you're going to get forfeits and all all of the things you might think twice. And I like that. We just need to continue.

Just keep pushing. Yes. Look the NCAA is behind the curve here. LPGA came out and and drew a hard fast line that there is not going to be any transgenders playing in the golf world for females. Nya came out drew a hard line, said there is going to be no transgenders playing in our league. It and the NCAA is behind the curve.

Catch up. Well, they really are. And you know at some point and it it I don't know if this will happen. Maybe they'll wise up before it gets to this, but I think you could see some big schools deciding we don't want to be part of the NCAA anymore and then creating their own independent league or doing something different.

That's when it gets really rough for the NCAA losing your money. Yeah. They don't. That's going to be the bottom line. They don't want to lose the money. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. We're going to we're going to cut away for the news here. But we'll come back if you'd like to join us. (208) 542-1079 okay. Oh guess what. What we heard from our troll.

No. Since November 20th. How far down? Oh. Well. Four. Five. No, two. Two on mine. Two on mine. There he goes, determining what the program should be again. Like he has a say in any of it. Should I say something that. Sure.

I just said, okay, just send us a list of what opinions we can broadcast and not broadcast memo. We get paid to share our opinion and to broadcast our opinion. And you're not on the payroll, buddy. Yeah. You're not.

I, okay, so, Craig, I have probably a dozen green shirts in my closet, so, I was like, okay, I can wear Christmas colors all week this week. So I'm wearing green today. I'm going to wear my Santa hat tomorrow. I don't know if I'm going to wear red or green. Probably green again because I don't I'm not a big fan of myself in red.

It's not my favorite. So probably green again tomorrow. Good idea. I'm trying to not be such a Scrooge, because Friday I went home and I was such a scrooge about Christmas. Oh, come. Well, Friday wasn't a good day here. Like, we had lots of crap going on, so I was like. And then, you know, I'll be honest, it's all a cold medicine.

I'm trying to remember if you reminded me, but it's all a cold medicine. Yeah. So I'm going to be better this week. I'm recommitted. Merry Christmas, we're going to have a good week. And there's snow still falling outside. The things.

Oh thank you Stephanie. You say your message. You know what two things I was taking as supplements, but I just sort of let it phase. I let them phase out because I they're not prescriptions, and I just never bothered to get any more. Was CoQ10 and zinc and zinc is very good for your immune system. So, I got some zinc over the weekend and put it back in.

And as long as I took that, my energy levels were pretty good and I and I wasn't really getting sick during that time, like I went several months without without an issue. And so I have zinc in my, vitamin D supplement that I take. It's like a combo. Oh yeah. And I do. And vitamin K, I think is the other part of it.

That's potassium, I think because you're supposed to have that vitamin in order to absorb the vitamin D something, something along those lines. Yeah, I can't remember. I just buy the same bottle over and over and over again. I also let me tell you what I did though, because I'm still taking my supplements and I didn't want to get sick.

There were a couple of those nights I think it was, Thursday and Friday or Friday and Saturday because I had been around Neil, I forced myself to go to bed. Like, I made sure I got, eight hours sleep. Yeah. Here we go.

Well, hello, Arizona. It would be nice to win the election, that you're very nice to win. And I want to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas. They don't say that too much. Nice to win. Okay. Merry Christmas to, everyone. And, yeah Trump is saying we're going to say Merry Christmas again. Yeah. He is. It's great. Although I feel like the whole Merry Christmas versus Happy Holidays thing has sort of been phased out.

I okay, I actually had this moment yesterday where I had a lot of like time to think and I was thinking, I am so incredibly grateful for December of 2024. There were moments there when, Biden and Kamala, 2021, 2020 was a very pivotal year for you. And I, things that we said changed our entire. Yeah, workplace that causes you to have some PTSD, right?

About everything that you say and and what what's going to get me canceled and I remember just sitting there yesterday going, I am so grateful. I my level of worry is dramatically decreased from what it was three years ago. Like, like we're not having to apologize for these things. You can say Merry Christmas. You can, you can say it.

Guess what? I don't want my kids in public school because until you get rid of the D. I, my kids are not going to be there. And it's not this. How dare you, you bigot! You can say you're conservative and not have people run from you. I'm so grateful for the change that has occurred. You know, it's interesting.

As you were talking, my mind went back to a time I don't remember the exact time frame, but it was in there somewhere where you had Apple, Facebook. You had, back then it was Twitter under Jack Dorsey. You had Amazon even contributing with their, their servers that they they were actually canceling service. They were purging conservatives. And if you were a conservative blogger or if you had a YouTube was part of this too, if you had a if you had a large social media presence and you were conservative, they were essentially turning you off the monetizing you and and making it so they would not they would demonetize you, but they also wouldn't spread

your stuff around. They were shadow banning you, as well. And I remember being literally afraid of what the future held because I felt like even though, you know, we rely on terrestrial radio listenership and, and by extension, streaming, we're not subject to the algorithms of Mark Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey or anyone else back then. But we have an awesome audience.

Well, yes, we do, I know, but what I'm saying is that I felt like it wasn't going to stop there, that that was the low hanging fruit for these, these leftist techies to be able to silence conservatives and to sort of purge them from the culture. And it was orchestrated. It all happened like one day there were like 3 or 4 of these major services that decided that they were going to do this.

They were going to come after conservatives. And I thought, I don't know how they're going to come after us, but they're going to come after us. And I don't mean Neil and Julie, I just mean just any conservative that has any kind of a voice or a platform. And I think it might have been around that time that Elon Musk said, I can't I got to figure out how to not let this happen.

And, I think that they overshot their ambition at that time. And enough people woke up then and said, this is just like other other cultures. And other societies that are fascist, that go around and they decide what ideas can be allowed and what ideas can't be allowed. What ideas need to be cleansed from from society. And that's what they were doing.

And I think the pushback was strong enough that I don't know if they've learned their lesson. All I do know is that you have Zuckerberg now who's trying to warm up to Donald Trump. And I don't know if Mark Zuckerberg even knows what he believes at this point. Well, and you have the, you know, Washington Post not endorsing trying to.

Yeah, at least take a step to a more moderate place. You've got the LA times doing the same thing. There is some changes. And I think the biggest mandate that was allowed via Trump and the votes that he got is you're not alone. You are not alone. You can voice how you feel. You can stand up for family values.

You can say it's not right that immigration has been handled this way, and that criminal illegals are coming across the border. And you're not a bigot if you say that. Yeah, no you're not. And I feel more free today to be genuine, authentic. Use the words that I have in my mind on the air, than I have in in quite a while.

It's been a few years, I mean, large I don't mean today specifically, but I mean, in the last little while, it. I feel like we have defeated the left in the latest battle. The war continues. Absolutely. It's never going to end. But we had a resounding defeat. I think it's bigger than November 5th. I think we have decided we aren't going to take this anymore.

We're not we're not going to live in fear of of the you know, I even remember Julian. It I mean, it's it's it's in the past. So I'm not going to bring up the specifics of this. You even had local municipalities encouraging their employees to not say Merry Christmas and instead use the more generic term, Happy holidays. And I thought, that is absurd.

That that's absurd. I'm sorry. It it's it's driven by people who are on the left, who are worried about everybody's feelings when they don't need to be. Everybody's in charge of their own feelings. We live in a predominantly Christian area, and people are going to say, Merry Christmas. If I went to, and actually this happened to me when I was a missionary in Philadelphia, we would go into these predominantly Jewish neighborhoods happy Hanukkah was everywhere, and menorahs were in the window everywhere.

I loved it. It's not my faith, but I loved seeing that. And and, you know, if you're in a muslim area, they're going to, you know, they're going to share their holiday, Ramadan, their holiday greeting. It's okay. People can hear a greeting that doesn't align perfectly with their own religious viewpoint. So why do we have to tiptoe around that?

It's it's it's ridiculous. There is that's another thing I mean, we've listed all these things that we feel comfortable saying now. We also feel comfortable saying, toughen up, Buttercup. Become a little more mentally ready. Yet, you know, you can handle somebody saying, Merry Christmas. You can. It's not going to wreck your day. You can do it. I can I go one step further if I'm in a Jewish neighborhood and I stop and grab a soda at a store and, and it's, it's the holidays.

And the owner tells me, Happy Hanukkah is there any context under which I should find offensive that never. Never. Because it's his. It's his expression of goodwill, right? Yes. Even though I'm not Jewish, I will accept that greeting very, very warmly. And look, I know a lot of a lot of Christians that say Merry Christmas without regard to who's hearing it, but it's still a greeting of love.

It's still an expression of of joy and cheer and happiness. And I, I, you know, actually the the left is so destructive that they come to the scene with all of their wonderful intentions and I think it's just, actually, it's a thinly disguised way to make themselves feel important. Right? Kind of ridiculous. All right, we got to break 954.

We'll be back. We'll wrap it up after this. Okay. Oh, love to hear this. Somebody said unvaccinated left my job because of the mandates. Started my own business making twice as much money. Never looking back. Merry Christmas. Enjoy it. You two have earned it. Thanks for everything. That's a great. Yes. So good to hear Denzel Washington got baptized and was presented with a minister license.

Weird, but okay. Do you like him as an actor? Oh, yeah. I really do. On the phone the other night, we played. We were doing a family face, time, and we played. I gotta remember, it's three things. Start bench cut. So you give somebody three items and they have to pick which one they're going to start, which one they're going to bench and which one they're going to cut like it's a sports team okay.

So we did actors like Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves and and Brad Pitt. And then you have to pick which ones. And then we kind of would say, okay, let's take, Brad Pitt out, but put in Leonardo DiCaprio. Do you still have the same setup? I had a hard time starting Denzel Washington at any of the times.

Really? Yeah. What don't you like about him? I don't know, but I it's not that I. I don't like him. I guess I just realized I didn't love him as much as as maybe other actors. Was it just, it's just more neutral for me. Okay. Yeah. He is 70. He's getting old. Wow. Yeah. I didn't know he was that old.

Wow. Yeah. He. At what? At one point Washington took the microphone to reflect on what being baptized meant to him. He said, in one week I turned 70. It took a while, but I'm here. Later on, he told a story about meeting a woman at his mother's beauty parlor when he was 20, and she said, boy, you are going to travel the world and preach to millions of people.

She wouldn't even spell the word prophecy. My mother wrote the word prophecy. And 50 years later, look at God. If he can do this for me, there's nothing he can't do for you. The sky literally is the limit, and there's no limit to the sky. How good for him. That's wonderful. Okay, we're going to have less than a minute when we get back.

Okay? So 7 a.m. tomorrow. 7 a.m. tomorrow. Okay. I'll email news to you, okay? Because it'll be too late. Yes. We can manually run that process. You can upload it, I can upload it. And you. So grab it. Okay? I mean, you can email it if you want. All right. 958 on Newstalk 1079 Julie and I, yes, we will be here on Christmas Eve tomorrow.

We're going to start an hour late though, given that it's Christmas Eve. So we'll be here starting around 7:00 tomorrow morning, here until ten. And, should be fun. Yeah, we'll have a good time. Okay. And we're going to stick around on Facebook Live for a couple minutes a bit. Yep. And, it's still snowing, at least in parts of the region.

So be careful out there. All right. So we'll see you all tomorrow. It's 959.