3.14.2025 -- NLS -- Mickelson's Gun Debate & Schumer’s Shutdown Stumble

On this episode with Neal and Julie, they discuss a range of hot-button topics, from Second Amendment rights to government transparency and political maneuvering. They break down Representative Stephanie Mickelson's controversial comments on gun rights at public events, examining the broader implications of language in legislative debates. The duo also dives into the latest political drama, including Chuck Schumer's strategic misstep on government funding and the motivations behind a new bill aimed at transparency in government.

Later, they touch on the intersection of public service and personal employment, questioning whether teachers who serve in the legislature should receive both salaries. Plus, they reflect on the latest viral debates—from Yellowstone tourists to online comment wars. And, as always, they keep things entertaining with a mix of insight, humor, and a little Foo Fighters love.

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Transcript

And good morning. It is 807 on Newstalk 1079. Welcome to a Friday edition of The Neil Larson Show. I thought that that was one of the most inauthentic things I have seen. Gavin Newsom, doing what he did was he showed his pretty white teeth and his cute face and did nothing other than that. And I think it's despicable.

Take a look at he signs by Auto Pen who is signing all this stuff by auto Pen. Who would think you're signing important documents by auto pen? If it's too graphic for me to talk about here on the floor of the house. Is it not too graphic for a teenager to be taking home? And yeah, we have a lot to get to today, by the way, and welcome.

Good to have you with us. Some of you waking up to snow this morning, which is that welcome. Now, like I know the moisture is welcome. We'll always take that. But we had a nice rain yesterday, but it turned to snow overnight. So please be careful if you're traveling and your roads are slick. We have coming up in a half an hour.

Our studio for cover. Very much looking forward to this. Foo Fighters, I've always been a fan of Foo Fighters, and, we're going to have times like these performed by Lane one later this morning. And we also have a great news cycle to talk about with you that is both national and state, state based as well. So, I feel like how would I say this?

I feel like tempers are getting are shortening as the legislative session goes on. We're they're their target date for signing day is a week from today. We have talked to different lawmakers, and they're not that confident that they're actually going to be able to say any day next Friday. But maybe we'll see. However, this was an interesting exchange on the floor with the bill, the Second Amendment bill that Dell Hawkins has put forward.

And Representative Stephanie Mickelson asks this question, then can they could they take an assault rifle, like, just hang it over their shoulder and walk into a private event that's held at a public park? And that's okay, because I didn't that I didn't even think about this when I was a committee. So I'm just wondering, jump do, Mr. Speaker, good lady.

The Second Amendment is clear. We're dealing with weapons, so that would be included. Just like somebody can walk through this building. And we've even seen it in testimony committee where someone had an AR on their back. That is correct. There was a reference to an assault weapon. We'd like to have that definition one day. What assault weapon would be described in the dictionary by any weapon used in an assault?

That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about our right to carry our firearms in a peaceful manner wherever we go normally. And this is a good bill should pass. I would appreciate your green. Okay, so that's Dale Hawkins. Basically. His bill says you still have your Second Amendment right if it's on public property, even if that private property is being rented for some events.

So private event, wedding reception at a city park or whatever you'd still be able to carry if you wanted to. And Representative Mickelson said, even if it's, in her words, an assault rifle strapped to your back. Yep. Even even if it's an assault rifle. Now, I none of us who really, truly love the Second Amendment like that term.

Sometimes in just conversation, it's flowing that that phrase may come out, but it's not the right one because it's a recreation rifle. It's a self-defense rifle. It's a sport shooting rifle. But it's always it always gets funneled into assault violence. That's what guns are, violence. And so we don't we don't like that term for obvious and very, very easily explained reasons.

But that's the term that Representative Mickelson used. I kind of liken it to if you're out and about, and what if even an F word is on a t shirt? Is that allowed? Well, yes. I mean, the First Amendment does allow that in the very same way the Second Amendment would allow you to carry an AR visible strapped to your back, whatever.

I mean, there's a lot of emotional, emotionally loaded imagery here, but that's America. That's that's what it is. You may not like it, but you don't really have the right to regulate it because other people's freedoms aren't subject to other people's emotions. And so that was an interesting piece. And then we also had this drama go down where Representative Mickelson put forward a bill that would require travel cost or reimbursed travel transparency for lawmakers.

So in this body, we scream and yell about having transparency, transparency in our schools, transparency by every government agency. So today this is the transparent bill for us as legislators to show that we walk the walk and talk the talk, if we ourselves are unwilling to be transparent about what we are doing, how can we expect anyone else to do anything less than that?

So this bill that you have before you is so that anyone that is a state legislator, within 30 days of having travel paid for, that goes out of state that they will be required to tell their travel destination the date of the travel, the purpose of the travel, and the entity that paid for that out of state travel.

And if you don't report within 30 days, it's a $25 fine each day until you report. I think it is very wise of us to take a proactive approach to being transparent. We all know that there is travel that takes place out of state. Most of us think that sometimes these out of state organizations are actually reporting it, when in fact they're not.

Not only that, it will allow our citizens to be able to see who is traveling and who is paying who as legislators are traveling, and who is paying for that travel. So with that, I would stand for questions. Mr. speaker. Okay, so the bill is out on the floor. It's being debated and all hell kind of broke loose.

Not not like throwing things and screaming and yelling. But you had a number of lawmakers who just left the chamber like they didn't want to debate the bill. I don't really know why. I'm not sure. It wasn't really identified how that happened. And because so many lawmakers had left, there was a question over whether or not they could continue to debate.

And, I it's for me, the drama here isn't there was more drama then of what it's worth to sift through all the drama, if that makes sense. Like, you know, when you're at the mall and you see a couple fighting and they're yelling and you're like, oh, I'm interested in this. And after about a minute and a half, you're like, I don't want any more.

Like, I, I'm, I'm about done. So I think it's in some ways it's a function of we are now in mid-March, there's the last stretch. And a lot of these people are probably getting kind of tired of each other. They've had to spend a lot of time looking at each other, talking to each other in a confined space inside the Capitol.

And they're they're needing a break. So I think there was that. I also believe there may have been a sense that this bill was put forward with motives other than I just am randomly thinking we need more transparency in government, that maybe it was put forward because there was within the political opposition, some trips were getting paid for by groups that maybe Stephanie Mikkelson didn't like.

And so in order to apply some pressure or apply something that she made this happen. So you had, a couple of lawmakers that addressed that particular issue. So, I have a question. Leavitt. By the way, just a hypothetical question. Generalized question. How many people attended the Citizens Alliance of Idaho event in Philadelphia? How many people have attended the Wallbuilders event that they had in Texas?

How about the National Conference for State Legislators? My point being is that this bill is not about transparency. This bill is about control. It's about creating an environment where it really suppresses our ability to be able to go to these events, to learn or learn about these different things, whether that's, you know, for the Democrats, in my opinion, it'd be about going to some sort of event dealing with, you know, climate change for conservatives.

It'd be going to an event dealing with the NRA. So I think that this bill is a bad bill because it really suppresses our ability to be able to go about our business and learn about the different issues that this nation is facing, as well as the things that could be happening here at the state. With that, I will not be supporting this legislation.

Thank you. Okay, so I, I understand that there was actually extra things that were going on at that time that the speaker wasn't in the chamber, in his office. The other people had things to get to. So like I said, maybe there was more, going on than just the legislature itself and disagreement. It was a weird look, like you watch this series of back and forth and the debate back and forth and the people leaving and the people, all of it just seemed hard to follow, albeit you knew there was drama, but it was kind of a kind of hard to follow.

So I I'll, I'll again, I don't know everything, but I did just get word that there were extra things going on outside the chamber drawing people away from it. And that's what caused some of this. So it wasn't necessarily the legislation itself. At any rate, you you had that. We also, in the spirit of more legislation, we had, this one, which we just talked minutes ago with Representative Jordan Redman about.

And it's removing candy and soda from food stamps. Listen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. House Bill 109 requires that our Department of Health and Welfare submit a waiver request to the US Department of Agriculture to exclude soda and candy from our Snap program. The Snap program stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Nutrition Assistance Program. With nutrition being the operative word.

This is part of a larger national movement that I think we've seen called the Maha movement Make America Healthy Again. Newly, confirmed, Health and Human Services Director Bobby Kennedy has been very outspoken about this, as well as a new agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins. Kennedy most recently made a statement where he said, the federal government is paying for these things and we shouldn't be subsidizing people to eat poison.

Secretary Rollins has also said that the taxpayers are putting money into Snap. And if we're okay with using tax dollars to feed really bad foods and sugary drinks to children, then perhaps we need to find something more nutritious. They both agreed to work on this issue, and so we're just putting our step forward and addressing it at this point from the state level.

Folks have brought up the waiver program and what that looks like. All that is, it expends $0 because it's just an email from our, Director of Health and welfare to the USDA. The number one commodity spent on snap today is soda. And it we're talking about $113 billion, program, federal program serving 42 million people.

Some of the objections I've heard from from the retailers and others is that the definition is difficult to understand. This is the exact same definition that was used in a tax credit bill earlier this year. It's also been used by 24 other states, dealing with sales tax. So the definition is ease of use for processing for our state and for the federal government.

Another objection that I've heard is that, it will be difficult for the retailers to deal with snap is not a mandatory program if it's if it's too difficult, they're not required to accept Snap. They don't have to be involved in the program. However, I do think with point of sale systems today that the ease of use is is actually a lot easier.

We already exclude tobacco, alcohol, adding more items on there should not be that difficult with technology for the, point of sale systems. Okay, so, pretty basic idea and a very defensible, move forward. I did ask him during our interview this morning, our other states doing this, and he didn't really answer that question. He did say, though, with the new administration and the Make America Healthy Again movement underway, he felt like this was going to be a pretty likely that the federal government would allow the exclusion of soda and and candy.

Now, I, I would have voted for this bill, but I, I will say I, I have a little pause with this because and I'll tell you why I and and don't and it's multilayered but I don't like the government dictating the individual choices of people's lives. And I can argue with myself here because I would say, well, they still can buy candy and soda.

They just have to do it with their own money. You just can't buy it with snap. And so, you know, we we talk about how when you receive a federal grant, we gripe about strings attached. Is there a correlating principle here that snap is a grant. And not being able to buy candy and soda is a string attached.

Just a question to make you think, like I said, I would have voted for the bill. But at the same time, this is the government reaching its tentacles into into people's lives. It in a way, but that's what people sign up for when they get snap. So again, I could go either way on it. I just, I it's, it's sort of it's one of those issues where once you go down that road, then all of a sudden you've got lots and lots of additional questions to, to ask yourself.

And then before we take a break on the national level, we well, we have, multiple things going on. Of course, we played this clip yesterday, Donald Trump, the president of the United States, referencing Chuck Schumer as a Palestinians. And Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I'm concerned. You know, he's become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish.

He's not Jewish anymore. He's a Palestinian. Okay. So he just declares Chuck Schumer a Palestinian, which we all know why he's saying that, that Schumer's not apparently a friend of Israel. I mean, he's walking that tightrope. He's trying to to be that middle thing, right? Which you really can't in a, in a conflict like what we're watching. So given that Chuck Schumer was standing strong against the CR and they wouldn't bend in it, you know, it looked like the Democrats were poised to take us to a government shutdown.

Well, that lasted a few hours. And then Chuck caved public in. Rejection leads us to a decision. And it's not really a decision. It's a Hobson's choice either. Proceed with the bill before us or risk Donald Trump throwing America into the chaos of a shutdown. This, in my view, is no choice at all. While the CR bill is very bad, the potential for a shutdown has consequences for America that are much, much worse.

For sure, the Republican bill is a terrible option. It is not a clean CR. It is deeply partizan. It doesn't address far too many of this country's needs, but I believe allowing Donald Trump to take even more, even much more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option. Okay, so he's caving and all the headlines actually say he's caving.

Even Democrats are probably saying he's caving. That wanted to take us to a government shutdown. So my question now that's as a Palestinian any do we okay. I already made this joke. Is it a Palestinian surrender. That's my my question. It's 825. We're going to break away. We'll come back with a quick segment about ten minutes from now.

Joining us laying bone for our studio for cover, doing Foo Fighters this morning. Times like this stick with us.

Dancing night is a wild C. Subway up. It's a fire resistant to. You do 831 on Newstalk 179. Look, I heard lane warming up. No, don't go. That does not know you as an open air see. Okay. I knew there was an insult coming. Who doesn't sing along with Duran Duran? And it's hard not to. That's true. But.

And who doesn't want a good steak now and then from Grand Peaks? Prime meat. Not just now and then several times a week. Let's sign up for it. Yeah. Guess what I had for dinner last night. Oh, tell me. Steak bites. Yeah. You've become quite thick like this. You've got that down. Perfect. You cube them, you butter them, you garlic them, and you spice them up, and you toss them in the air fryer for about perfect ten, 11 minutes.

Perfect. And if you want them like medium rare, you can, you know, it's like cooking a steak but it's just a just. Yeah. And you know what I like about the airfryer too. There's just a little side note because I don't think Grand sells air fryers, but I like that it actually charge the edges of it. Yeah. Like a, like a charm.

It's like a little crunchy. Like a little some like, you know when brisket gets those like tougher bits to it, but they're so yummy. Oh yeah. That's what happens in the air fryer. Yeah. So, if you. Well, they have so much more than steak. They have sous vide crockpot meals and meals and ribs and dogs and pork and chicken.

Yeah. GP Prime meats.com. That's g p prime needs.com. Good friends of ours. They have everything you need when it comes to protein. So get a hold of them. All right. We're going to get our friend Lane Bone set up here. And that's our studio for cover today little Foo Fighters just minutes away on Newstalk 1079.

All right 839. On Newstalk 1079 on this Friday morning. And joining us for our weekly studio. For cover in studio is Lane Bow and Lane. How are you? I am good, how are you? Good. I, I find myself saying this more often, like, I don't know you, but I know your parents, so that seems to you have most people say that that's happened.

A lot of people know my more frequently great, great, great couple. And like I said, I've known him for years, but I saw online your mom was posting some things about you performing, and I thought studio for covers. So tell us, for our audience is sake. Tell us about Lane Bowen. Sure. Yeah. So I am, married with five kids.

We've, we've been married for coming up on 19 years this year, and, and I've been doing full time music for about two years now and just kind of locally while she finishes up school. And then, then we'll see what happens after that. So. So you perform solo, but you're also part of a band too. Yeah.

So I do 2 or 3 band gigs a month. And then most of the time every weekend I'm booked with a solo gig somewhere most of the time. So. Okay. What's your what's your favorite genre to perform? Whoo! It's it fluctuates. I always tell people I play anything from Britney Spears to Johnny Cash. It doesn't really matter.

That's her range. Yeah, yeah, it's, It's good. It's kind of all over the map, so I. But lately I've been playing a lot more country. I used to not like it as a kid. And I think as I got more mature, I've. I've grown to enjoy doing country stuff, but, but I grew up listening to Kurt Cobain and and.

Well, today I'll, I'll play something a little bit closer to that realm. Of course, Foo Fighters, which is kind of a child of nirvana, you know, so that that'll be that'll be fun. Tell us about your social media, because obviously you're doing this professionally. People hear you. Maybe they'd love to hire you to come perform. Yeah, sure.

So I am I am on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I'm I've got some stuff, out there. I, I mean, I could plug my email, I suppose, if that's, appropriate. Oh, whatever you want. Yeah. So I just lain bone music at gmail.com. That's probably the easiest way to to get Ahold of me to book something.

Private events, weddings, or public events. Doesn't really matter what it is. Laying with a y. Yeah, la y and e. Okay. Bone music. Yeah. Okay. And, again, you've chosen times like these from the Foo Fighters. Yeah. So, yeah, that's kind of a favorite of mine. I'm, what people would call me. It was, since it's a political show, I.

I'm a little bit more of a political agnostic. I don't really. You are so smart, by the way, that. Yeah, it's it's a I'm a I'm a fence sitter, without a doubt. But I like seeing all the perspectives, so. Yeah. Well that's. Well that's good. Yeah. All right. Well we're we're rolling. Mikes are on. We're just waiting for you to perform Lane's good lane bowing thing.

And.

I I'm a one way motorway. I'm the one that drives away and follows you back home.

I I'm street light shining. I'm a white light. Blinding bright. Burning off and on.

This. It's times like these. You learn live again. It's times like these again. Give again. It's times like these. You learn love again. It's times like these. Time and time again. I am a new day rising I'm a brand new sky. Hey, the stars upon the night.

I'm a little divided. Sure to stay on your under way. And leave it on behind. Whoa oh. It's times like these. You learn to live again. It's times like these again. Get I'm getting. It's times like this. You learn to love again. And it's times like these. Time and time again.

Oh, bow. Oh. It's times like these. You learn to live again. It's times like this again. Get up again. It's times like these. You learn to love again. And it's times like these. Time and time again.

I am a one way mode. Away. I'm the one that drives away and follows you back home. Lane. Boing! That was fantastic. Thank you. I can see how you're doing this full time. That is. That is really great. Thank you so much I appreciate that. And again, if you'd like to reach him via email, it's Lane Bone Music at gmail.com I'm Lane thank you, thank you.

All right. We'll be back.

All right. To 849 on Newstalk 1078 Neil Larson, along with Julie Mason. And if you'd like to reach us on the Stones Automotive Group calling text line (208) 542-1079. Great performance by lane today. We've got people asking like encore more I ain't I know, I know, it would have been great if he could have stayed and we could have had more.

He's he's very talented. You know, if we were a music format then we'd obviously consider that. But yeah, it's it's so much fun to have these very talented musicians in breaking everybody's eardrums by hitting the microphone with my mug. Julie on the percussion right there. Just a impromptu performance. So yeah. Okay, Julie, I don't know if you heard the monologue at all, but I did almost all of it.

Okay. So tell me your your take on the Stephanie Mickelson quote unquote assault rifle in a public place, like a private event on a public place, because that's what Dell Hawkins bill, bill, is dealing with that you're even if if you're on private property, even if it's a rented space, like a pavilion at a city park, you still have your Second Amendment right, because it's private.

It's public property. I would have to really dig in to his bill. I think I'm a full believer in Second Amendment. Obviously I was just telling you a story that, I have re-upped my concealed carry or my enhanced, I have a gun with me every day like I am a believer in this. Yeah, I walk the walk.

Yeah. And, I think that probably my biggest problem with the question that that Stephanie, broached in this House debate was that it's almost like there was some sort of evil behind wanting to own a gun, and and she used the big bad word assault. Yes. And that's what I don't love. There's so much, undue, hype surrounding that word.

Yeah. And so that's probably the part that I didn't like if she was being very genuine and just asking the question to try to clarify how the the bill is written and everything, that's great. I just don't like the dun dun dun behind the word, like, almost like there should have been a music track behind her as she was asking the question.

Yeah, yeah. I yeah, no, I, I, I would agree. And you know what? I think Dell Hawkins used it as, an education moment. Like, here's a teaching moment that we casually throw out that term assault rifle. Yeah. Well, that's a that's a term that that's another example of the left successfully using the language for their agenda.

Yes, but there's a mistruths underneath them. If I, if I take an AR 15 and I go out and I shoot pop cans with it, I have assaulted while I've assaulted the pop can, but there's four. Yeah, I can, but that's I do. That's not how they mean it, you know, like it's the, it's it's sports shooting.

It could be self-defense. It could just be, you know, target practice and and getting better at. And it might just be fun. It's fun to go out and shoot guns so it can be recreation. But we don't say recreation rifle. We don't say sport rifle. I mean, you can say that we do say that, but they they just want that one label on it because they want to own the issue.

And we we can't let that happen. So I'm, I'm glad he did that and I, I'm not sure how Representative Mickelson took it, but yeah, I'm not sure how she took it either. And, and remember, all we're getting is these little snippets that I'm loving are now available. The the capital via social media has become very open to us.

Yeah. And I appreciate that. And as voters, everyone should appreciate that that you I think there's been times where whatever happened over in that building, all we got was what one reporter put their spin on it. And when I started working with you eight years ago, that's pretty much how it was working. It it kind of was. Yeah.

And that's that is not a fair representation of what I should know about my lawmakers. Yeah. I should be able to have this visual. Hey, I mean, we've had it on the federal level for a long time. C-Span started because of this, the ability to see what's going on with your senators. I like that was important. And, now we're getting more of that on the state level.

I love that it does still leave some gaps for us, because there was time before this clip in time after this clip that we weren't there to see. But I do think it's a little telling that Dale Hawkins kind of laughs at her a little bit with the question. Yeah, and I think he was annoyed that she phrased it that way like that.

Dun dun dun version. Here's the audio so you can hear it for yourself then. Can they could they take an assault rifle like just hang it over their shoulder and walk into a private event that's held at a public park? And that's okay, because I didn't out. I didn't even think about this when I was in committee. So I'm just wondering, John, do.

Yes, Mr. speaker, so right there, you heard him listen to his laughter like he's Mr. Speaker. Good lady. The Second Amendment is clear. We're dealing with weapons, so that would be included. Just like somebody can walk through this building. And we've even seen it in testimony committee. Or someone had an AR on their back. That is correct.

There was a reference to an assault weapon. We'd like to have that definition one day. What assault weapon would be described in the dictionary by any weapon used in an assault? That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about our right to carry our firearms in a peaceful manner wherever we go normally. And this is a good bill should pass.

I would appreciate your green. Okay. Okay. So I and I think del, Hawkins does an effective job of shutting her down. Some probably would say he probably shouldn't have laughed at her, but I think he's just like, okay, we're not. There's no need to villainize this bill. This is about allowing everyone to have a right that I in all situations, because that's how the Constitution intended it.

So there I and I don't look I don't want to go after Stephanie Mickelson because I think she's actually representative of a certain section of the moderate Republican Party that has adopted the Democrats language. And sometimes even often with some with some there was a lawmaker that was just censured by their own party because they vote way more often with the Democrats, especially on key issues than they do with the Republicans.

So I would, yeah, I don't I feel like he laughs. Because this is so freedom 101. Like it's interesting that you have to actually tell a fellow lawmaker that, yes, the Second Amendment gives you the right to bear arms and it shall not be infringed. And this bill. So that question probably just seemed like it had an obvious answer.

Yeah. And that that could be why he was laughing. I also said to you when we were discussing this during the break, a little bit ago, that, well, she really should fear, a knife on somebodys belt in a sheath as much as she fears the. Don't don't, don't assault rifle or strap to somebodys back. A now, the speed of the the one weapon is is tremendous.

But the harm that can come on 1 to 1 against each other with a knife. Very tremendous as well. But she doesn't ask that question. Yeah. It's not an assault knife. It's, Yeah, it's a nice it's a that. Yeah. That's a, that's a good point and a great example of, of how they misuse and abuse the abuse.

The language. You know, can we just call it a self-defense rifle? Yeah. Well, an innocent defense rifle. Yeah. Like a rifle didn't do anything. No. It's the person who operates it. That's. How can you assume a motive? Because that's what it is. Because we do that with a knife. Right? I say knife, and you might think in your head.

Butter knife, or you might think steak knife, or you might think, you know, aggressive hunting knife that that could gut an animal. They're all over the place. You might be thinking of that little teeny pocket knife in your seven year old's jeans. Yeah, you know it. Like it? The knife. We just say knife. Yeah. We don't say assault knife.

Okay, you just said something. And my poor A.D.D. brain. I'm trying to remember when I first had a pocket knife. I think I was 6 or 7. Oh, little. So two little. Fold out one. Yeah. We have an ongoing joke that that's when you crossover to becoming a man is when you start carrying a pocket knife with you all the time.

Yeah. Because now you did it back then. Most people do it now when they're like 25 or 26 or whatever. Yeah. That was just being a farm kid, you know? All right. It's eight 59 hour two coming up. I'm gonna stop using light on the light. All right, so we're back. 907 on Newstalk 179, Neil Larson, along with Julie Mason.

And it's a Friday and it's you. If you'd like to reach us, the stones automotive group calling text line is (208) 542-1079. Julie and I saw an interesting X earlier this week asking, well, I don't know if was asking a question, but it's put putting forward a scenario that I think is an interesting thought thought process, which is if a teacher wants to serve in the legislature, do they deserve their full teaching salary plus what they make as a lawmaker?

Yeah, plus what they make as a legislator because they're if they're in the legislature from January to the end of March, they're not teaching kids. And I think the the solution to this is reduce their teaching style, prorate their teaching salary. If they only teach half the year, they get half the teaching salary. Right. That's what it feels like it should be.

That would be the equitable or fair thing to do. Because why should you be able to go over and serve. And get paid with taxpayer dollars twice. Yeah. Like it's a it's a double dip in a way. So now this ex also said we do have teachers or at least a teacher in the legislature. Correct. That ex did say so during the commercial break.

I did a couple of quick searches on ChatGPT. It says there's no collated list, so I wasn't finding it. Then I did a quick search on an actual search engine. I still am not seeing. I'd love to know how many teachers is it? One. Is it three? Is it two? Is it four? I don't know how many are serving.

Yeah, but I think it's fair to ask the question and then analyze what those how those teacher's salaries are affected from the districts that they are absent. From. So here's a question because they might argue I'm only absent for three months out of the year, so I should only lose three months worth of pay. However you're paid for.

About nine months of teaching over 12 months. Because they just parcel out what they owe you. But you're so you're actually they should measure the school year and how much of the school year you're missing and prorate that not three months out of 12 months. Well that makes sense to me to prorate it because that's what we do with when you sell a house or you vacate an office space and maybe you stay an extra 12 days past your lease in the office space, we're not going to give you those 12 days for free.

They're going to prorate your rent. Yeah. So yeah, pro rating sounds like the right way to do it. Can I, can I say this to this particular example was about a teacher, but I would say this about anybody in a state position. If you work for the state as an inspector or something, and you're spending your time in the first three months as a lawmaker, your state salary, whatever it is, should be prorated as well.

I agree, I don't think you should get paid by the taxpayers twice. Agreed. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's a good point. And if you don't agree with that tough crap. Oh no, that's not true. Is that not how that works? No. But I'd love to hear why. Yeah, I'd love to hear an argument the other way. Also, if we've got any lawmakers listening, please let us know how many government employees work.

You know, their regular job is government employee and they're getting paid by taxpayer dollars. And then they go over there and they serve, with taxpayer dollars. But I, I'd like to know what the breakout is there. Yeah, yeah. Good point. All right. (200) 854-2107 nine. If you'd like to join us on the program this morning. Okay. Julie, I'm going to play this, clip where we're setting the table here.

That was that dish. Here's another dish. As a result, you and me, we were. We were physically close. Yeah. Grown up. Remember? We used to share a bedroom of. Of course, that was our life growing up. We shared the same room until you went to high school, right? That's right. Well, let's first just recall how small the apartment we lived in.

You know, it seemed like it was huge, but it was essentially two bedrooms, right? No, it was one bedroom for that little offshoot bedroom that mom and dad stayed in. That was you would consider that a bedroom? But that was the only bedroom. The room we were in was actually the living room and the living room that we what we called the living room was actually the dining room.

Okay. As a result. Okay. That was a riveting 48 seconds of Michelle Obama's podcast. First off, pretty boring. Yeah. Second off, is that weird that she the way that she responds to him is like, oh yeah, you grow up in that house. You hadn't figured that out before. Now, like, we took a conversation with your brother to understand that potentially the room that you and him shared was the dining room.

Yeah. She acts like this is new information to her. Yeah, well, and all of it was just weird. Yeah. Like, and not not all that compelling, like, you know. You know what I mean? Like, it just is. What does this apply to? What is the overall context? Yeah, I don't know. I did see lots of comments on X.

Yes. Today that most likely on their YouTube channel, they're going to have to turn the comments off because it is so negative against Michelle. Yeah. Everyone calling her big Mike. That's a nickname people like to call her. Yeah. Lots of references to comments like two men doing a podcast together or, you know, it's yeah, pretty negative.

I what I was seeing roll across was probably two thirds negative one third positive, maybe even a little more. On the negative side, you might come to a point where you've got to turn the comments off. But what that does is it kills your podcast. That's true. If you can't engage with it doesn't work like that. Yeah. That's a that's how you pop in the algorithm is lots of people are talking about it.

Okay. So let's talk for just a moment about Michelle Obama because she there was a story in the last few days floating her as a potential candidate for 2028. Gavin Newsom has launched a brand new podcast. And he his strategy is interview far right conservatives Charlie Kirk, Michael Savage, Steve Bannon and The View lost it. I have the audio here in just a moment.

But Sunny Hostin completely lost it. The what what Gavin Newsom is doing. And then you have Pete Buttigieg who he's clear clearly he has said, here's what I'm not running for. And it's he's not. Yeah. Like so he's he's making that clear, which is a pretty clear signal. It's like a tacit admission. I'm looking at running for president.

So I'll ready 52, 53 days into the Trump presidency, you have the Democrats that are starting to line up formula eight. You know, it's very preliminary, but we're starting to see this. But after Michelle Obama's podcast launch, I think it's clear there is no presidential viability there whatsoever. I would agree, I don't think there I didn't really feel like there was before.

More on the side that she wouldn't want or open herself up to the criticism and the critique of people. This might have been a softer launch of that. Yeah. Let's see what the criticism or the critique of people, what comments come forward? What? I'm with my brother. It's not good. Yeah. So I think she's off the list.

I also think Pete Pete Buttigieg has no chance. So he's off the list. And so that leaves you with Gavin Newsom and, you mentioned somebody else. Remind me. I just mentioned those three. Did you just do those three? That leaves you with Gavin Newsom. You still have Andy Beshears. You've got Josh Shapiro, who's embroiled in a couple of controversies.

Yeah. I don't know how well he's going to do. Gavin's launch of his podcast hasn't been that well received from Democrats even. Yeah. People think he's being soft. He's moderating too much. It needs to happen in the Democrat Party. But they're so dug in they won't moderate. You're you're right. They are dug in and they're they are cannibalizing themselves.

Yeah. Let's go to the phones. Caller. Welcome to the show. You're on the Neil Larsen show. How are you doing? Good. How are you guys? Good, good. What's up? Hey, have you guys see the story about the American over in Australia? That the girl or lady that took the baby wombat from the Yemen? Yes, I did see this.

Okay, okay. Yeah. Making sure it was real. So anyways, I was reading through the comments and it looked like the Prime minister over there made a big deal. And I don't know if that's like the president here in the United States, but like they, you know, blew it out of proportion. I'm not for animal cruelty anything. But I my first thought was, hey, there's tons of foreigners over here do stupid stuff, just, you know, disrupt our natural species, scenario.

What are you thinking about that. Okay. I say, because we have the Mahmud Khalili situation. Hang on. He's openly advocating his support for terrorists. Now, I'm not going to defend what this girl did, and I'm not going to tell Australia how to enforce their immigration. And if she she deserves to be sent home, if that's what Australia wants and she violated the rules I'm not going to stand up for, I might think, well, Australia is kind of overreacting here, but that's not my call.

That's not. Yeah, that's I'm not I'm I'm with you on that. I'm just more like, why don't we, you know, why don't we kind of, you know, step up, you know, and say, hey, okay, well, we want to protect our country, too. Yeah. You know, that that and I and I just maybe I'm missing it. Maybe we do.

And I just don't see the stories, that come out. But I don't recall anything where, you know, we really stand up for our, you know, country. Yeah. So the the video is that was this girl just a tourist or is she a student? There's not a visa there. Okay. Yeah, that's what yeah. I think a visa is different than just a passport.

Tourism visit. Like if, if you're here and yeah people talk about all the Asian visitors that go to Yellowstone and there, there are a lot of them. They're just here very temporarily on a passport. So, and, and quite frankly, when you meddle with the wildlife in Yellowstone, it carries its own punishment. So you give that make some comments about that too, about some people were saying, well, go try and pick up a crocodile, you know, baby and, you know, see what they.

Yes. Yeah. So anyways, it it's an interesting question. But thank you for the call. I do appreciate his call. And what's interesting is that I don't I don't know how Australians are reacting to this. I'm going to guess they're not, freaking out near at the level Americans would Americans like to take up activism at it at any turn?

Yeah. So, I mean, there's an understandable reason. The reason that they're, they're, they're doing so much activism around. Kahlil. Yeah. Because they're engaged in and fighting for Palestine and whatever I do, that's a whole separate thing. But let's go to what he was talking about, about Yellowstone Park. Can you imagine if we kicked an Asian tourist out of the country?

Yeah, the there would be outrage. Well, yeah, there would be outrage. Yeah. People would be upset because it's culturally insensitive and there's a language barrier there. And, you know, maybe they didn't understand the rules of not playing with the wildlife. Yeah. Yeah. There I think there there would be outrage. And so and also if they do violate the law, they can get a citation for it.

And they have. So there is a there is a punishment there. I know that we talk about deportation and you don't have the right to be in. That's true. But I think so many of those tourists are here for not a long time. They might be here for a week or two, and then they're headed back home. So I don't I don't know what your standard visa.

Yeah. I don't know what you're solving by I think the resources to send them back would be more punitive to America then just letting that run their course. They have a ticket and they have to pay it and they, you know. So yeah. Yeah. And it at what point does it start to just feel like a vindictiveness like, oh you're doing this us we're going to do it to them.

Like it. It's sort of a chain of events. All right. Let's go to the phones. Caller welcome to the show. Hey good morning. Morning. So, you know, if if Australia works well I'll say. And those other countries we might call it activism. But over there it's just part of who they are. And you look at the process of the UK losing its free speech and the rest of the world losing its free speech.

It's just a process. It's just part of who they are and part of their culture. Whereas we still have a large part of our culture that isn't that extreme yet. So yeah, so on our end, it looks like activist, but okay, you wants to food somebody because they weren't being nice to animals, you know and they're visiting their country.

That's it. It's you know it's the same. It's the same on our end. They have every right to do that. That's their country. Yeah. So if they're going to do that that's fine. And we we actually did have a major story not too long ago. It's only been a couple of years. There is an Asian couple in Yellowstone.

They put a baby bison in the back of their car because it was cold. Oh yes. And they wound up having to euthanize the bison if I remember right. And they have some pretty stiff penalties that they had to pay and go through. But I mean, that was I, I, I don't know if that was really a national or international headline, but it was pretty big news around here.

So yeah, but no, that's, that's a that is a good point. And I think the perspective issue is an interesting one that from one perspective it's sort of this outrage, it's activism whatever. And for other from another perspective. No that's just everyday life. Yeah. Yeah I, I don't know, I, I am not searching for anything to happen to the people who do weird stuff in Yellowstone.

Yeah, right. I think they get their comeuppance. Like it. It just happens. You get bad social media press and regular press, and I, you know, it was just horrible that that baby bison had to be euthanized. And so if if I was an active Peta member, I'd probably have a real strong issue with that. Yeah. But I think it all just turns out pretty much the way it's supposed to up there.

I yeah, I think so too. I also want to add one other layer to this. I admire people whose mission it is is to prevent cruelty to animals. I think that's a that's a good cause. However, I have a problem when people care more about the welfare of animals than they do about the welfare of human beings. Yes.

Yeah, and I'll leave it at that. I get that, like if you see a story about a wombat being separated from its mother and that creates more emotion for you, then seeing somebody get killed in a car accident or it that to me is you probably have to recalibrate your moral compass a little bit or a lot. Yeah.

The snapping turtle puppy from. Oh bring that. Oh, my. That was a thing for a while. Oh my goodness. I think we did three straight days of people freaking out about that puppy. Yeah. And I get it. I get the sadness. But wow. Were people riled up? Oh yeah. They were absolutely riled up. Don't bring that up. I'm twitchy now because I remember how controversial that was.

Let's go to the next caller. Welcome to the show at the me. Yes. Okay. Don't take away our entertainment as living close to the park.

We go when we go to the park, everybody else is watching the buffalo and the elk and all that other stuff. And we enjoy watching the stupid people. Yeah. Try to take a picture of a bull elk within five feet, or the buffalo and all that. As you indicated earlier, nature has its own way of, I guess, passing its judgment.

And just to the situation, you know, the park works hard to explain to these people that these are not here. We don't turn them loose at the break of dawn and then lock them up at night. Yeah. So you would think people would catch on to that, but they don't, you know, and I've already seen things on like Facebook saying, hey, the season is about ready to open.

Let's keep a score on how many get hit or board or whatever. So yeah, and it's our own form of entertainment. Yeah. No. And don't isn't it funny our reaction, despite what I just said about elevating animal welfare above human welfare, when you do see a human acting stupid, you start rooting for the animal like you're you're hoping to see that drunk guy get tossed 20ft into the air.

Yeah. You think you're such a moron. And and in that day of cell phones are that. That's the picture I want. You know, I want to be able to post that on Facebook if some guy getting thrown in the air. So. Yeah. All right. And then one other thing on Nicholson, I listened to what you said and what she said.

She came across as genuinely just asking a question and wanting clarification. I don't think she's trying to drive home some anti-gun or anything like that. I think she just wanted to understand. And yeah, he should in the laugh that, you know, sometimes people do ask silly questions, but yet they're genuine because they just help them. So with that thank you.

All right. Listen, every day. Well thank you for the call I appreciate that and that that may be true. I think it's fair that he she I can I add she ended up voting for that bill. She did. And I think it's fair to say that I also think that it's fair if I was her, you know, her aide or helping her with branding or marketing or whatever PR, I would recommend that in a very conservative state, she realign her, language.

Yeah, yeah. And and if it was a completely just honest asking of a question, I just think she should be careful with her language because you're buying into some, left leaning trope there. That's just not accurate. Well, you're right, and the use just the simple use of the term assault rifle. Yeah. Indicates what perspective you're coming from.

Yes. Yeah, yeah. So if if it was truly a question from an honest place, I would hope someone around her would say, hey, representative, let's try not to use that term. It's been weaponized. I yeah, there is no pun to pardon here. That's for real. Yeah. It's been weaponized by the left. And let's you know, let's take that back, control the language.

Yeah, yeah. No, no. Agreed. All right. 929 on Newstalk 179 will be back.

You know what? I think part of the issue too, is we the history with Stephanie Mickelson to where she inferred that if you're wanting illegals out of the country, you're racist. Remember that clip? Yeah, yeah. The one last year when Heather Scott said, yeah, watch it. Yeah. Yes. That's a good interpret. That was good. Like that's one of my favorite favorite exchanges that watch it.

And so I mean there's there's that. So I think there's an overall larger context of Stephanie Mickelson where for good reason. We think she does come from a particular perspective philosophically. And it's not strongly conservative. It's very, very moderate, maybe even center left on some issues. And and she's very solid on others. And so I don't want to take anything away from her.

But I do think any time she's asking a question, maybe, as you know, just in, in nod to that last caller, maybe we do make some assumptions that aren't actually accurate. It might have just been genuine curiosity. It could have been, I'm not going to assign that to her. I will assign what I said, change your language. Yeah, we have to, if you really are Republican, I'm not going to call her on conservative because she's not.

But if you really are a Republican, it's time that Republicans own the language again. And so own the language. You voted for the bill. You must have agreed with enough of it. Yeah. Don't damage it along the way. Yeah, yeah, I would agree. And I will say in in her defense, that term is used so frequently, it's easy to just let it be part of the lexicon because it's a really quick way to identify what genre of rifle you're talking about.

To the point where when I hear the word assault, I actually don't think about it's assaulting someone, right? Right. It's a it is absolutely a phrase that they have kidnaped and it's become part of the lexicon. Like it's just in here now. Yeah, but that doesn't mean we can't change it. No. Nope. Not at all. I agree, I think we should I just want to use accurate.

I feel like the give her precision in language, you know, but we we really want to be accurate about the words that we use. And it is not accurate to call it an assault. Right? Right. You know what it reminds me of a little bit a little bit, not a lot, but a little bit. Democracy versus republic or vaccine versus shot.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Back to the wombat story. There's video of that because she's trying to be an influencer. So the cameras are always rolling. She didn't hurt the baby wombat. So does the mama not want the baby wombat now because she touched it. Well that is what I didn't I didn't read that. But biological experts say that creates an awful lot of stress for the baby and the mom.

So that's the problem. Even though she didn't physically hurt it, she didn't. And just the separation. Yeah, just could be, you know, and,

You all right? 933 on Newstalk 179. It is Friday, March 14th. It's Pi Day, so eat something circular today. If you don't want pie, eat a cookie, eat a lifesaver. Eat a I mean, weekly, I mean, it's Pi Day, but what we're really talking about is circles, because that's what pi never, never. I just whatever carrot slices, orange rings, orange rings are fine.

Peach rings. Peach rings. Yeah yeah yeah. My daughter goes to the Maverick near her home. Yeah. To get peach rings. Yeah. And, she kind of made it part of her social media cause she would show up to get pictures and they'd be sold out. Yeah. She very hilariously was like, you know what? We're going to go to this.

You you stop taking all the peach rings, because when I come here, I better have at least one bag. Can't you beat one bag on the shelf? Leave one. I get to be the one to buy the last back. You don't get to be the one. But are they really gone? Sometimes. Oh, all the time. Really? I mean, I like peach rings, but.

Yeah. All right. Are you. You're not. I can't I can't eat any person. I can't ask you that question. I wouldn't care. All right, let's go to the phones. Caller. Welcome. How are you today? Good, good. Okay. I would like to make a comment with regards. And you were talking about attitudes serving in the legislature. Yeah.

And so in addition to what you guys says, I think what it needs to be consider is done when a teacher is not teaching, there would be many substitute teachers that wouldn't be called to do a cat. Yeah. And substitute teachers don't actually teach in general. They done. So and I know that because I was one and, you know, and they never taught us that we could teach actually do we only are supposed to do what the teacher leaves for assignments or even sometimes just make sure that the keystone, you know, they stay in the classroom during that hour.

Then we are working within. So so practically the students will lose a lot of instruction, he said. The teacher actually is not present. This that's a nice thing. That's a big problem. And so, and I now really know there is a lot of demand of substitute teachers. And at the same most of the teachers, they don't even have the, the proper education teach.

I mean, I have actually a college degree. So for me, it was actually easy to substitute and actually teach because I feel like, you know, that's what I was coached. I mean, I feel as, as the title, say, substitute teacher, even though I was still the I didn't need to teach, I was teaching because I feel bad for the students, you know, I they didn't feel like I was I supposed to be a babysitter, you know, and then the teachers like that.

Then I taught them and so but but in general, that's what substitute teachers do when the teacher is not there. They would just be there. Yes, yes. To watch. Other than that. So now, my other thing is this, I know that I don't like people that work in the legislature when they have jobs, even at the local level.

Like, for instance, he didn't he worked for city councilman, and he goes to the legislature, so he doesn't want to keep collecting salary for from the city and also from the legislature. And I think that that that's that shouldn't be the case. He is also so yeah, I think that we have to evaluate very well when we elect officials for the legislature, then getting that working mother in law that gets done, you know, requires that presence.

That's because they are friends with maybe like in this case, like the mayoral or whoever, you know, they have then to leave within those three months freely and they're collecting two paychecks from the taxpayers. Because with that being said, the ones who are paying for it. Yeah. No, thank you for bringing that up. And I appreciate your point.

I think it was Barbie Heart that put a bill forward that said, you got to pick one or the other. You can't you can't have two elected positions simultaneously. Yeah. Yeah. And that would address that. One in particular was that Barb's bill. Did you get that right? No, I think you're right. Okay. I think that's right. And then for the first part of her call, I hadn't even thought about it till she mentioned this, but I have a child who did exactly what she's talking about.

Her. She was in, college level French in high school, so she was going to get college credit for it, but her teacher had a baby. Awesome, great. Yeah, that meant she had a substitute for about 2 to 3 months. The substitute couldn't even speak French. Then what? Yeah, and so they did these lessons off of YouTube and I.

It was what it was. And my encouragement as a, as a parent was, okay, you've got to really immerse yourself. Don't just let the YouTube video play like you have got to pay attention. You have an AP test that you're going to take at the end of this semester, like you got to engage. And she did. But I'm guessing there were probably a few kids in the class who didn't.

Well, you don't pay thousands in college tuition to watch YouTube videos. You don't. But that was the situation and they couldn't get a substitute teacher that did speak French was a very difficult situation that they were put in. They all surrendered the opportunity like, yeah, we're going. So I what the caller was saying is actually real life. It does happen.

The substitute teacher can be great. This person was a really it was a woman. She was a great person. Yeah. And my daughter liked her. There was no conflict in the class. Everything was fine. She just didn't really have the smarts to be teaching the class. Yeah, yeah, I guess they did the best they could. Yeah, but. All right, next caller, welcome to the show.

We're a little more. Julie. Hi. I was working importantly, the customer the other day to do a fact. And this lady, real nice lady. She was very concerned about the all the stuff that those was doing. And as I was been working on her furnace, I overheard her talking with different, agencies to try to figure out, you know, how do I stop this from happening with my parents?

And so I asked her if there's, you know, you're really concerned with the whole thing with the Doge and everything else. So if I found out or your account had found that the people you had hired to provide end of life care for your parents and had been stealing money from their account, would you be upset with the accountant who found the crime, or the people who were stealing the money?

And you could literally hear the light switch slowly, full speed ahead? And on one hand, it was really sad to see her entire, worldview realize that that was wrong. And on the other hand, it was really cool to see her come to the realization of these people are evil. And it was like a double edged sword because I felt bad for her because like I said, nice lady.

And she cares about people, all the things. And then to watch her go undergo that transformation over the next minutes and then to see her just like she couldn't even talk after that, when she realized that that she was wrong at that, she was angry at the wrong people, and she was angry with me for pointing it out.

And then she came back later and says, you know, I'm sorry that I, you know, I wasn't very nice about it, but I just I don't know how to handle being lied to because I always believe that, you know, these people were good and had our best intentions. I said, ma'am, it's not a problem, but you need to understand that this is what's going on.

They're not trying to steal our money. They're simply showing us who is stealing them. Yeah. No, that's a that's a great analogy. And I, I think if I were to add anything, it would be. But if your accountant is an autistic billionaire, then it's okay to be mad at them. Yeah, right. Because that seems to be part of the problem with all of these people.

Well, he's rich. It has nothing to do with anything. Hey, I get what this is. Why does that matter? Yeah, it doesn't matter to the caller. Good job at being brave and levelheaded. Yeah. And calm in the conversation. This is how we shift the tide. Yeah, I agree, that's how you convince people. All right. 942. We'll be back after this.

You know what I'm going to do? We're going to do who made who is bumper music? And because that was really good. I'm sorry, Facebook Live, you won't get to hear it. He doesn't like you. That's not entirely true.

It's funny. All right. Okay, so it starts at 111. Who made who? And our rejoinder is probably started at 55 54 seconds. What? He has started out, at, needs to be a little bit more, probably 50. Yeah. Okay. The rejoins are usually 7 or 8 seconds. We'll know once it advances here in just a minute.

Okay. And then. And then I'll know exactly when to start it. For those who watched lane bowling, sing and play today, it was so fun to see him actually pick the guitar at the beginning of the song. And then he reached up and grabbed his, pick and then started strumming the guitar halfway through the song.

That was fun. He was pretty good with that guitar. Pretty talented. Yeah, he was really good. So I was fixing the. Yeah, he was really good. We've just had a good string. It's been I'm super excited for the people I've got lined up too. Super excited. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun. It is fun. Starting to produce the video.

It's been a little bit of a work in progress, but we're having a digital meeting today. Did you get my email. It did I read through it okay. I didn't even skim actually gave it the attention it deserved. Good. There's only about 2% of the population that does that with emails. Yeah that's true and I don't do it consistently.

So you should feel real good I think since I am making everyone work through that noon hour, I'll probably run and get a Little Caesars pizza before it starts. Oh, okay. Just for that, you and I probably won't eat any, but yeah, I won't have any. But, that'll be good, because I'm not writing. I'm podcasting for that hour.

Okay. So you're going to be podcasting in here and podcasting in here. Okay. Yeah. So we might cut our, our Facebook Live a little short. Yeah. We should probably be probably about 20 after. Yeah. Yeah okay. All right. Standby. If you do really.

Something you stay have.

All right. To 947 on Newstalk 107 I Neil Larsen Julie Mason on a Friday. Of course we play rock hair bands on Fridays. Why wouldn't we? Yeah. Now, I would never put Duran Duran and AcDc in the same genre, but they are in that regard. They shared an era. They did? Yeah, absolutely. And if you'd like to join us on the Stones Automotive Group, Colin text line that number (208) 542-1079.

You want to talk about the legislature? Let's talk about that. You want to talk about I don't feel like we have given the appreciation it deserves, that Chuck Schumer completely and utterly caved to Donald Trump and the Republicans. Oh, I think we should absolutely highlight the fact that he did it kicking and screaming, but that it was the right thing to do and that it would have just been better if he had never made a big deal about it.

Anyway, I know what why didn't he think this through and say, look, you know why? Because I think the Democrats always, always, always believe they can control the narrative. And in this case, they felt like they can make it look like Republicans were going to shut the government down. And they're not in the majority anywhere anymore. So they really can't control that narrative.

NC I would completely disagree with him. I would say either you dive all the way in and make people feel the pain. Yeah, turn it into the biggest news story ever. Go a week with a shut down, whatever. Or just keep quiet, let it roll. Because if you quit, if you keep quiet and let it roll. A lot of Democrats don't even know what happened, right?

Yeah, that's that's true. You're right. They don't. And and you know what the problem is, though, as Senator Risch said, the government shutdown is actually only about 15% of the government. Yeah. All you'd get from it is the media benefit everything. Still, nobody's actually in a lot of pain because of this. And so you're not actually putting the country in a lot of pain to try and force the Republicans.

I mean, it does. That's his strategy. I think he knew it wasn't going to work for him. But in retrospect, yeah, he probably just should have calculated all of it out before and then come out with one position saying, we can't let the government shut down. This isn't a great bill, which is what he said, but he just looked like he was the flip flopper.

He is. He could a week ago, could have had a conversation with Mike Johnson and said, get this passed. We will do it the next day. Yeah. I'm we're not in the place that we want to make a big deal about this. We've got things we got to do. We got we got junk. We got to get done as a Democrat party.

And we're not going to waste our effort here. You keep quiet, we'll keep quiet and let's get this done. I think it would have been done without any media fanfare. Yeah, I, I do too. I think it's insightful, though, the degree to which the Democrat Party is still beholden to that rabid, vicious, far left contingent of America. That's about maybe 10% at most of America.

But they are so mean and vicious that they are holding the Democrat Party hostage right now. And it does. There's a portion of it that does make sense because they lived years, decades controlling the media. It doesn't work for them anymore. Yeah. And but they're so used to it you can't break the old habit. Well, you can't you're right there.

I think going back to what Senator Risch said, though, they're in the grief. They're they're they're in the anger stage of grief right now. They're going through a grief, a grieving process. When you lose something that is that important to you, which is political power. When you lose it, you go through stages of grief. And they're they're not making it through it very well.

Yeah. Not not very well at all. Here's one. I don't know if this is an example of it, but it's sort of. Sunny Hostin on The View. Lost it because Gavin Newsom, of course, his new podcast, he interviewed Steve Bannon. And, here's how Sonny handled it. I think this is a poor strategy, for for Gavin Newsom.

I actually did think that he was one of the leaders, news that, yeah, that would come out in terms of 2028. I remember, watching his annual state of the Union address in California, and he criticized Republicans, and he promoted California as an anecdote to the poisonous populism of the right. Now he has a Steve Bannon on the show who's saying, you know, you're going to get to populism.

There's a long road. He gives zero pushback there. He gives zero pushback. As Sarah pointed out to really what what is a slur against, Senator Warren, a sitting senator? He gives a platform and normalizes, in my view, an election denier and someone who is the person who is behind project 2025. And I believe that, you know, if you are going to be a public servant, you better be unapologetically authentic, because voters can sniff out inauthenticity in a second.

And I thought that that was one of the most inauthentic things I have seen Gavin Newsom do terribly. Let them hang themselves. You know, I'm terribly disappointed. I think you meet energy with energy. And what he did was he showed his pretty white teeth and his cute face and did nothing other than that. And I think it's despicable.

Okay. I want I'm going to do something here. Julie. She talked herself into the anger. Listen to the first 6 or 7 seconds of what she said. It was criticism, but it was very measured. I think this is a poor strategy, for Gavin Newsom. I actually did think that he was one of the leaders. Okay. So it was a poor strategy, like, and one minute later, she goes from that to this pretty white teeth and it's cute face and death, nothing other than that.

And I think it's despicable. So he's she's denigrating his white teeth. His pretty face is despicable. These people are 100% governed by their emotions, and they work themselves into a frenzy. You're what you pointed out is really interesting, because what that means is she doesn't have control over her emotions. And that that can be said for every girl that sits at that table.

Yeah. Hey, the second thing when you played the very, very first part, she refers to Gavin Newsom in the past tense, was, yeah, she's already dismissed it. He did a podcast. You're out, you're done. And then she let that anger boil up and then started making the physical insults to him. Yeah, that they really cannot handle anybody. Now look, Gavin Newsom is is despicable, but probably not for the reasons we probably don't share the reasons for it.

No, it's if he was doing everything they love, they'd be praising him. Yeah. Yeah. He's just a despicable person. Yeah. Whether he does what they want or doesn't do what they want, he's just a despicable person. Yeah, yeah. It's true. Let's go to our call. We have a just a minute or two caller. Go ahead. Danny? Yes. Okay.

I got two things. I'll be brief. Okay. Good morning. Good morning. In 1945, General Patton, when he was alive, was asked about politics and politicians. His comment was a politician is low form of life. If he didn't say that, he should have. Number two. All the politics are going on here and there, everywhere. What needs to happen is to get a really good cowboy.

Two working dogs, or better yet, a sheep herder and two working dogs and put him in that capital and straighten that bunch out. And that also applies to Boise. Thank you. Have a good day. All right. Thank you for the call. All right. It's 955. We're going to break. We'll be back and we'll wrap up the show after this.

ABC does some you know, how, some reels or Facebook, videos, like just catch your eye and you really don't have any interest in that or are involved in that at all. Yeah, but you can't turn away. It's just so interesting to you watching sheep dogs herd. Oh, I know it's one of those things for me. Yeah.

I'll stick on a video. I'm like, that dog's freaking amazing. I know they're they're tireless. Yes. And it makes him so happy to do it. Yeah, yeah. That's true. What other ones do you stick with that you typically wouldn't. Oh, the ones that I cannot look away from are the ones where they, they're building, like a shelter or a little cabin out in the middle of nowhere.

I will sit and watch that for 15 minutes. Yeah. They're, scraping off the wood, making it soft. So they have a handrail? Yes. Food. Food making videos. Always food making videos. But they have to be condensed. Like I can't watch an extended one. But if they're showing me how to make this really delicious cheesy lasagna, whatever, whatever in the crock pot, if they can do that in like 45 seconds, then I'll stick it out.

One okay, can I give you my biggest pet peeve in food making videos? Yeah. When they're going to combine 7 or 8 ingredients and they think it's a statically pleasing to put it all in the nine by 13 and combine it in there. Yeah I'm like not that. Stop that. Yeah it is so much easier to get a bowl out.

Mix that four and five together, dump the pasta in and then dump the whole mix thing in over the past. I agree it is so annoying when they try to do it all. Yeah, in the nine by 13. So their hands are in the picture and they don't have to change the angle of the camera. And I'm,

Yeah, you're not even being realistic. No, it's it's true. Do you like the ones. There's a there's a 3 or 4 letter term for it, something MSR, Asmr, Asmr. And they, you hear the knife cut, right. Yeah I do you are you a fan of that. But so many videos I watch the sounds not even up.

So Asmr doesn't play. It doesn't matter. Yeah yeah yeah I, I like at first I liked it but it sort of lost its appeal now. Yeah. I wouldn't go searching out Asmr videos. Yeah. Yeah. I'll watch any cake decorating video. Good with that. Does it be shortened or. No. It's super awesome when they do it.

Like I'll watch a 4 or 5 minute video of that. Yeah. There's a guy on you see him on Facebook, but he does have a YouTube channel where once a week he goes and finds an area and cleans up the yard. Yeah. Oh, I love watching that. Yes, I love those. Yeah. He's.

All right. 959 everyone have a wonderful, wonderful weekend. We launch Clay in back on Monday. It's also somebody's birthday Monday as well. Let's hit it 52. We'll be celebrating Julie on Monday. Tim. And it's Saint Patty's Day. We'll see you on the other side.