4.29.2025 -- NLS -- Trump, Truckers, and Tension on I-15

On this episode with Neal and Julie, the conversation spans national politics, law enforcement concerns, and real-world frustrations on the road. Neal expresses deep skepticism about how Donald Trump has been treated by the media and legal system, likening it to unprecedented political warfare. Julie adds perspective on how evolving media ecosystems are reshaping public discourse, as well as how law enforcement morale is being impacted by weak judicial support.

The show then pivots to a lively debate on traffic issues, especially involving semi-trucks, merging lanes, and highway etiquette. Callers weigh in on whether truckers should be given the left lane to improve safety and traffic flow, and the discussion touches on everything from truck governors to yield signs and freeway design. The episode ends with rapid-fire calls from passionate listeners, making for a fast-paced and opinionated ride through local and national frustrations.

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Transcript

Welcome. East Idaho, it's 807 on Newstalk 1079. It is Tuesday, and if you'd like to reach us on the Stones Automotive Group call and text line, that number is (208) 542-1079. And Julie, I love these headlines on Fox right now. Dems pitch far left messaging to stop the Trump agenda and keep it up. Keep it up lefties. Yeah.

This is, good news for for us for Trump. Of course. Today's big day. He is going to, give a big rally tonight in Michigan. And I wonder what the Michigan governor thinks of that, because it's going to be a big rally. There's going to be a lot of people there. It'll be. It'll be the biggest rally ever seen.

And, I'm sure it's going to be thousands of people. So I, I'm having to kind of check myself with this whole frustration that the left is bringing forward with the first hundred days of Trump's presidency. I need to remember we're playing the long game here. CNN's run a poll all morning saying, you know, how how horrible Trump is doing.

And they're able to manipulate these numbers and get that talking point out there. I need to remember that, let's say the Ukraine Russia war ends next week. Yeah, he gets that done. Complete success there in a cease fire right now. Gets it done next week after that meeting at the Pope's funeral as well. In a week. Do you know how all of this goes away?

That's how fickle year is a casino. Yeah. And so we're playing the long game here. He might you might be hearing in the news that he has a bad favorability rating on the hunt on day 100. Don't listen to it. We are playing the long game. All of this can change. Not even in a week. Overnight it can change.

Yeah. And I myself have to keep my myself in check with that. So I'm reminding the listener, don't get caught up in it. No don't don't get caught up in it. But I want to I want to contrast the way they over exaggerate and over cover every tiny little thing that they view as negative about the Trump administration.

But look at what they ignored for four years with Joe Biden. Yeah. And this is they just deepen the distrust when they act like this. And I don't think they're even aware of it because I watch this and I'm thinking, you don't even know this is happening. You you cannot you're not even cognizant of your own collapse right now because of the way that you're trying to report the news.

Big quotes around that, the way you're trying to present whatever it is you're presenting to the American people, it is collapsing your careers. It is collapsing your network. It is collapsing your credibility. Everything that is important to you, you are destroying because you are so locked in on this approach. We all have friends like this on social media.

Julie. And quite, quite frankly, they are the leading contenders to be snoozed for 30 days among my Facebook friends. That's like an award you can win. Yes it is. Yeah, I should have. But you know what? I'm going to start giving out that award. Yeah, just name it something like Grammy or Emmy or whatever. Something a little bit the Snoozy.

Yeah. Snoozy there, they get the Snoozy award, and, maybe I'll screenshot their last seven posts that they put up every four hours. And every single one is an anti-Trump meme. Yeah. The Snoozy Award for the month of April. Yes, yes. Drumroll. I'm like, I had to, I'll be your friend. But we have boundaries. And it's one of the few things that I actually like about Facebook is it allows you to go, I gotta snooze that person.

I just need to take a break. And, you know, you know what else I think of this added functionality that they could do on Facebook. Snooze the person for 30 days. I like that, but don't automatically, snooze like in 30 days. Just give me a message. Like a little pop up that says you've been snoozing. Alfred.

Do you want to snooze, Alfred? And and just remind me that I snooze Alfred in 30 days, but don't automatically answer, because, quite frankly, Trump Derangement syndrome is chronic. You don't usually have just a temporary case of Trump derangement. And I've seen people actually go the other direction where they like Trump, and then they end up hating Trump, but they don't come back from that abyss.

Right. There were people early on that initially didn't care for Trump, but they saw what he was doing. I wouldn't even call that Trump Derangement Syndrome. I would call that you haven't seen Trump work yet syndrome. But once they saw him do his stuff, they're like, okay, yeah, now I'm and I'm one of those I early on in 20 in the 2016 cycle I was like okay, the only one I would vote for after Trump would be Jeb.

It was Trump and then Jeb at the very tail end. But he started winning me over. He won the nomination. I'm like, okay, well, I certainly can't vote for Hillary. And so I somewhat maybe lukewarm. Lee voted for Donald Trump and he quickly won me over. And I haven't looked back. I think he's great. I when his home got raided, Mar-A-Lago got raided by the FBI because Joe Biden had had weaponized the FBI in that moment, about midway through Biden's, one term, I said, Donald Trump has to run again.

He has to. There can be no other. We can't. We can't defeat this with a proxy candidate. It has to be. It's like a bully on a playground. The bullied has to be the one to confront the bully. And, at that moment, it was crystal clear in my mind. Donald Trump must run and he must win or we have no chance in our republic.

And thankfully, that's that's what happened. That's what. That's what he did. But, he he it's so fun to watch. I'll be honest with you, Julie. I am probably too obsessed. Obsessed with what? The current what current events are going to look like in history, in 20, 30, 40 years? And I should probably dial that back a little bit.

But almost every day I look at this and I'm like, people have no clue what they're living through right now and how it's going to be remembered in the future. This is such a pivotal time. The changes that were made. Can can I talk about the raid at Mar-A-Lago for a second and compare it to these this raid that happened in New Mexico at the retired judge's home where he was providing weapons to a member of trendy arugula?

Yes. Okay. The I have seen, Twitter or excuse me, ex posts that, are referencing. How dare they weaponize against judges? I am in shock. I am in shock that these people have forgotten that Mar-A-Lago, that has a skiff, was raided by the FBI, and then photos were leaked that were staged about documents that were found. And in that scenario, Trump was the bad guy.

But in the in the New Mexico judge scenario, Trump is still the bad guy. Oh, Trump is always the bad guy. Julie, I can't even understand. They were giving weapons to a person who wants to murder Americans and Trump still the bad guy. Julie. They're broken. I mean, there is truth to Trump derangement. It it truly is the clinical whatever the clinical definition of deranged is, if that is a clinical term, it's true and accurate.

With him, you said something and you you nailed it. Trump's the bad guy that is always there starting. It doesn't matter the context. It doesn't matter. Everything else, nothing else matters. The fixed truth in their mind is Trump is the bad guy. Yeah, the this the Wisconsin judge. So there is, person that's ready to be captured by ice in her courtroom.

She is told by like a bailiff or somebody that this is happening. She says to the illegal immigrant, immigrant who's committed crimes in my office now, she takes him in there and has that illegal immigrant exit out her private door to each state capture. And people feel bad for the Wisconsin judge. And how is that not obstruction of justice?

How how is your obstructing law enforcement at that time? Yeah, I harboring a criminal. I mean, I don't know what the exact charges, but that is clearly illegal. It was obstruction of justice. That was the exact charge that they they nailed her with. I don't understand how I'm supposed to feel bad for that person when you have behaved the way you did against Donald Trump, when you made up lies about prostitutes and Pete and the collusion, and when you made up lies at Mar-A-Lago, when you reinvented laws in New York to bust him for, like real estate fraud.

Yeah. Well, you have done all of that. I'm going to feel bad for a judge that helps a criminal exit and evade right out of her chambers in the courthouse, and I'm supposed to feel bad for her? They are so broken. You know, this reminds me, Julie, let's go back a year and a half or two when we we had listeners that had bought into the jail, the librarian narrative.

And you and I are like, we don't want to jail librarians, but we do want to penalize people who peddle porn to kids. If you happen to be a librarian, you're in you're peddling porn to kids. We're not jailing a librarian. We're Jen. We're jailing a person peddling porn to kids who happens to be a librarian. And that to me is like, I don't care that she's a judge.

If you're aiding and abetting a gang member or some criminal or some deportable illegal and you're helping them evade the consequences of their crime, that's illegal. I don't I don't care if you're the Pope, right. It doesn't matter who you are, what your job is, but you have these people who are there either who authentically low IQ or they're artificially low IQ.

It doesn't matter their low IQ when you try to argue, oh, now he's going after judges, stopping so obtuse. That's not what's happening. The judge broke the law. And yet for for so long it was the left saying where you have a two tiered justice system. Well, now they're defending a two tiered justice system when they think that judges should be able to break the law overtly and get away with it.

I mean, they're they're so conflicted. There's every there's hypocrisy that absolutely everything that they do. I that's been a pretty frustrating thing for me to watch these judges just step into these cases. And if you're on the Supreme Court, are you just tired? These are your peers. I mean, they're not at your level. Yeah, but you were there once.

If you're on the Supreme Court, you were most likely there once. Yeah. Well, are you not just looking in that going? Why are you giving me all of this work? Stop it. Yeah. Stop it. Yes, it. Oh, it's so true. It's so true. So, they had Bill Barr on who? Former AG doesn't really like Trump. Not the biggest fan of Trump.

But listen to this truth bomb. The Secretary of state made a determination that is continued presence and activities in the United States poses a serious consequence for American foreign policy. Adverse consequence. That's a determination that the Secretary of State makes. Process due process only requires that that decision be made by the Secretary of state. And it's a defensible, position, but it doesn't allow for judges to come in and have a trial as to whether they think it's serious consequences.

And and it's the same thing, by the way, with these Venezuelans, they had process they had, a process in the executive branch where there was a review of their situation, investigation, and their termination made that they were members of TDA. That was one of them has evidence that they're not they the proper approach is to go for a writ of habeas corpus and put forward your evidence and have a response to that by the court, some specific showing.

But but to say that, as this judge has said, is that the if the act requires individualized trial like hearings for every single one, then then it just makes a mockery of the statute. The reason the statute is there is to provide, as the Supreme Court has said, a summary way of quickly removing a large number of people.

So essentially the left, the lefty judges, the media, they've all in vented a process that doesn't even exist or doesn't need to exist. This idea, their due process, is what does the Secretary of State deem their status to be? And what should be done with this illegal immigrant. That is their due process. But they're inventing new requirements. They're they're adding, well, it's got to go through the court.

It's got it. No it doesn't. It's already met all the requirements of due process. And Trump's just acting on it now. And that's why these judges are all upset about it. So I'm going to try to compare this a little bit because there's not something that's exact like this law. And that's part of the conflict here. But let's look at the criminal justice system for a minute and due process there.

Right. So we'll use a case that everybody's currently familiar with. Brian Kielburger, University of Idaho four college students murdered. Yeah. Has that man not received his due process? That that would be my question for all of these people yelling about illegal immigrants, because if I was to apply the same concept to Brian Kielburger that they're applying to a member of trend arugula, it would be, well, they get to walk free until a judge says they're guilty.

Well, Brian, coworkers not walking free. Do you know why? Because he's a danger to society with the evidence that's currently available. Yeah. And so he needs to be kept behind bars. Members of them, as 13 members of trend arugula are a danger to society. And when that is, they term and they need to be kept behind bars, whether it's in another country or in our country.

And one of those options is to deport them. If that somehow gets proven that that's wrong, go ahead and try to come back. There's not that much difference. So my question would be, do you want Brian Kielburger walking all over the streets of Moscow, Idaho, or do you want the ability for those who care for you, those who ensure your safety, to use a portion of their judgment to go?

We have enough evidence. This guy needs to be behind bars without bail. Yeah, it's the same thing with these gang members. So I'm going to play a clip for you because CNN it's sometimes I'll watch CNN, Julie. And when they have Harry Enten on courageously telling us that Trump's doing great and whatever, like I'm like, okay, CNN's doing okay.

But then they throw Jake Tapper on there. And once in a while you get journalist Jake. But most of the time, probably 80 to 90% of the time you get leftist hack Jake. And this is leftist hack Jake talking about all of the mug shots that the white House lined the driveway up to the white House with, and there were maybe hundreds.

I think there was 100. Yeah, there were dozens and dozens of these. The Trump administration is approaching its first 100 day mark with a full court press on the issue of illegal immigration, and they really don't want you to miss it. So they subtly and tastefully decked the white House North Lawn with dozens of yard signs featuring photos of people that the Trump administration claims are in the country illegally, each poster saying arrested and listing the alleged offensive with which they have been charged.

CNN is working to confirm the identities and if there are actual allegations against these people, and so then we are blurring their identity. Okay, so let's stop for just a minute here and think about this. When has CNN ever applied this standard to posting any other mugshot of a crime? They trust the courts and they trust law enforcement to put out that issue, and they don't feel like they have to.

Then independently go out and verify this. But because it's Trump, suddenly they've invented this new standard of fact checking that you have an official government agency that's charged these people with crimes. The mug shots are legitimate, the charges are legitimate. But now all of a sudden, CNN creates some new, bizarre journalistic standard that now we blur those mug shots because they're lining the road leading up to the white House.

And CNN has the capability to do the investigation better. How are they going to do it? What are they going to do? I don't know, see, this question was asked in that press conference yesterday morning while Tom Homan was there with Caroline Leavitt. And, I think it was somebody from the daily. Right. But I can't remember. But they said, why are there so many, so many of these crimes, of these 100 that are out on the lawn are crimes against children?

Yeah. Tom Homan said back, I can't answer that other than these are the sickest of the sick that we have in America. But CNN's there to defend them. It's so weird. It's so bizarre. And, and, what's his name, a prego? Garcia's just a Maryland man. This is this is the root. This is the new this this week's version of that.

They're like, well, we're going to blur their faces because we have we haven't proven. Julie, this is the same psychological sickness that led Lesley Stahl to say, well, maybe Hamas just ran out of food. And that's why they didn't they didn't feed you. That's why they starved you. They just maybe didn't have food. It's like they're manufacturing this weird sympathy from somewhere deep in their cancerous psyche to offer some grace and some deference to child rapists.

Yep. Where in the world now, if they have evidence that it's not true, you can put that out. But I don't think the Trump administration I mean, are they implying that the Trump administration is deliberately going out and framing illegals with these crimes? Oh, I would believe that's what they're implying there. They didn't say it. But basically what they said is we have to prove it.

And until we prove it, we don't believe anything that they say. And so. Well, they're, they're they're we we operate under this concept that the Trump administration is nefarious and all that they do. And we're going to be the arbiters of truth, okay. They're inferior. I look, it's CNN. They can blur whatever they want to blur. But they do it at their own peril.

Because it's a it's a new double standard that they've created now. I don't believe that CNN has been in the business of blurring mug shots in other contexts. So but okay, you mentioned the Lesley Stahl interview. Yeah. And the fact that she well, maybe they just ran out of food and that's why they didn't feed you.

Comment. Okay. They also CNN, CBS, like they ran with stories about how so many Palestinians were innocent and they didn't deserve the backlash that Israel laid on them after the attack on the music festival. I don't know if you were listening and you have not seen the video of them dragging women through the streets of Palestine. Yeah, with blood from their crotch to their knees, because they have raped them and harmed them.

So, so aggressively and so maniacal in their harm. Yeah. If you're I don't know how CBS can look at that and Goldman's you know what? Maybe they just ran out of food. Yeah, they did it. It was a victory tour for them carrying those women through the street with the blood all over their pants. Yeah. It was they're the good guys.

Until we prove differently. Yeah, it's it's a weird it's a weird psycho phenomenon. 829 we're way past time. Quick break. We'll come back. If you'd like to reach us, you can call or text on the Stones Automotive Group. Call and text line 208542 179.

All right. It's 832 on Newstalk 107. And the program is brought to you by Town and Country Gardens. And when I say our friends at Town and Country Gardens, what I mean is our friends at Town and Country Garden. Rex is such a great guy. He's hired just a great bunch of people that are so friendly when you walk in the door.

But they're not just friendly, Julie, they're smart and they're informed, they're educated and so much expertise. When you go in and you say, hey, what's this thing that's happening with my tomatoes? Or is it too late to trim my apple tree? Or, my lawn is struggling right now. What do I do? And they always have an answer for you.

Look, Ed, Rex has made it easy for you if you go to my garden. Wkyc.com. That's town and country's official web website. My garden wkyc.com. There are three tabs right at the very top. The middle tab is meet our team. So if you're looking at your let's just pick a tree like an apple tree and you're not like in the way the leaves are looking, or you're worried that it has it got nipped by frost or whatever, you can take a picture, go to my garden Wkyc.com figure out which member of the team you want to talk to.

Head on down to town and country gardens and ask for that person specifically and they will help you. That's what Rex expects you to do. That's why he's hired the staff. Yeah, they have the expertise. They are truly your aid and making your your garden, your lawn, your outdoor spaces the most beautiful possible. And by the way, it is still not too late to get started on the four step lawn.

You can start at any time. Ideally. Yeah. You you put on in March, April, you put the, you made sun. That's step one. It's still April, but even if it turns into May, you can still do that and, get get started today. If you buy all four steps at once, you get a discount. You'll get some savings in doing that.

But either way, get going on it. It is the easiest way to have a lush, green, beautiful lawn. Yep. So again, my garden Wkyc.com and Town and Country Gardens is located south of Idaho Falls, across from the malting plant right there off of Yellowstone Highway. All right. Speaker Mike Johnson is talking right now. This is live. Oh, no.

They cut away. Never mind. We don't carry. But he's talking about Trump's first 100 days. And let's talk about I think that there has been far more wins than the left leaning media is giving them credit for. That's also what I hope in the interview that is aired on ABC tonight is that by creating this relationship where Trump got to choose who was interviewing him, he'll actually have a chance to explain, you know, here's what I'm still working on.

I wish it had gone faster, but we're going to get there. And here's the things that we have scored touchdowns on. Yeah. Agreed. And he's going to get some tough questions. That's a foregone conclusion. However, it will be interesting to see what ABC news demeanor is as they approach this interview. I, I, I'm guessing it's actually going to be a fairly good journalistic interview.

I think so too. 834 will break for the news. We'll be back after this.

It's 840 on Newstalk 117, the Nielsen Show, and you. If you'd like to join us today, the number to call is (208) 542-1079. Neil Larson, along with Julie Mason, documenting the downfall of the legacy media. I think that could just be the ongoing theme. Julie. It's been remarkable to watch. And, fascinating. You know, what's what's great about it.

It would be absolutely catastrophic if the legacy media collapsed and there was nothing to go in and take its place. But we have a new media that I think is doing a very robust job on the right and the left that is filling the vacuum of these failed legacy journalists. And so it's great. Things change. People, the mainstream media just needs to accept that things change.

Yeah. It's a different playground. Yeah. Okay I'm going to read some headlines to you. You tell me what you want to talk about. Okay. I-15 widening project plans to be unveiled. I'll gladly talk about that. Okay. Let me give out a few here. Okay. You pick the one. It's your favorite. Pocatello animal shelter set to reopen after parvovirus scare.

I don't want to talk about that. That makes me sad. Okay. I don't want to talk about the car crashes. That's not. Police organization criticizes a probation sentence for a man who injured an officer. You heard about this one? No, I could talk about that one. Okay. Good one. 11 first high school seniors earn associate degrees before they graduate.

Now, I knew about this headline before you read that, and I'm not sure what there is to talk about except for saying well done first. Good job. Yeah. That is that's great. And the dual enrollment program is is phenomenal. It is. Yeah. It's great. Idaho State University reports their third straight spring enrollment gain. Okay, good. That's good.

I have long contested that. I feel like ISU is under utilized in the Pocatello area. So good. I'm glad their numbers are growing. So, Yeah. No, it's it's, like, the biggest since 2016, I believe. Great. So, Okay, which one of those. Okay. Since I know so little about the sheriff one tell me that one or the police.

One. The police. Okay. This is a story out of Idaho Falls. So the Idaho Falls Fraternal Order of Police, they're now publicly questioning the sentence given to a man who broke an officer's hand during an arrest last August. Bradley Cory Willard got five years of probation after pleading guilty to felony assault on an officer and a misdemeanor DUI.

And in plea agreement, the FOP stated it's a deep concern, highlighting Willard's criminal history and arguing that the sentence does not reflect the gravity of fracturing officer Peter Hansen's hand. An injury that required surgery, and while respecting the judicial process, the police organization believes the outcome fails to uphold accountability and sends a troubling message regarding assaults on law enforcement.

Judge Stephen Dunn affirmed the sentence, citing Willard's participation in treatment, but sternly warned him against any future alcohol consumption. No drinking. Oh. That stern warning. It works every time. Yeah. What do you think? I appreciate that a judge wants to offer a stern warning, and you should. I'm not saying that shouldn't be a part of it.

That's like a strongly worded letter. Yeah. I mean, that's a deterrent. Yeah, right. I mean, when I used to tell my kids, stop forging my name and go to class. Yeah, that was a stern warning, but they still did it. Yeah, right. That's that's true. I mean, yeah, I feel like I totally get why the FOP is, is saying that, like, you know, when you injure a cop, that's a serious, serious thing.

Well, and if you don't think that that doesn't affect me and you, because I think right now, due to some of the the recent event, yes, in Pocatello, people might have a bad taste. Yeah. Right now. Yeah. You're right. I think that that sort of colors people's opinions of this, right? I'm asking you to put that aside, because I'm going to offer you a very non-emotional take on this story, which is every time a cop gets injured, it costs me and you money.

Yeah. It cost the residents of that city or that county, depending upon which, you know, force it is, whether it's the bottom county sheriff's office or or Idaho Falls police tell police or, you know, yeah, it costs money to the people who live within that area because that person is now not an active part of the police force until they heal.

But they have to be paid while they're off and then it might take a long time and they're on desk duty instead of out there protecting and serving. Right. Yeah. So that's a very non-emotional way to look at it. It's when we allow this kind of behavior against cops, it's inefficient for tax dollars. Yeah. Whether or not you think a cop deserves to have his hand broken or not.

That actually doesn't play into this. Yeah, I would agree. And I the two very separate instances here that I think need to be handled individually without one impacting the other. That's that's how I would approach it. People aren't very good at that. They are not very good at that. I will agree with that. Yeah. And yeah you're right.

It's easy if you will just take a deep breath. It's satisfactory to say. I feel like the Pocatello Police Department and the mayor's office did not handle that well. Yeah. And then also say, this is kind of a crap sentence for somebody who broke a police officer's hand. Yeah. And you can have both opinions. Well, can I can I blend?

I mean, I'm violating what I just said. However, when violence against police officers is treated lightly, doesn't that make the police officer more likely to be maybe make decisions differently in a dangerous situation? Absolutely. So these two stories actually could kind of work together, because if you're slapping the, the, the, the, the guy who hurt a police officer, injured, seriously injured, a police officer.

For most people, they would look at this and say, that's a slap on the wrist. That is not that's not much for what was done. I think that cops are like, we don't even have judges that have our back. So when they go out on a call and there's a potential for danger against them, their calculation is different.

So I these stories are clearly not directly related. But I think tangentially you could argue they're, they're, there's a mentality that may be at play here because cops want and want to feel like the whole system has their back. If they're going to put their lives on the line. Can I go even deeper than that? Yeah. So another ripple effect that could come from this is the cops going.

Okay. Well, you don't have my back. I'm going to be a little less willing to take down a bad guy, knowing that if I get hurt, you're not protecting me. Yeah. So cops are. Cops potentially will change their behavior, too. All of this leading to a more lawless society. Yeah, that's. Yeah, that's a really good point. Now, most cops would say, no, we're going to uphold the law.

We're going to we're going to do our jobs. But I think there is sort of that underlying sense of we're going to risk our lives to bring in this bad guy, and let's just hope a judge doesn't give him a writer, set him free for, you know. Absolutely. Yeah. So, you know, I, I look at this and the probation with no jail time for me should be for people that write bad checks or, you know, they, they, they commit a financial crime or that, you know, I and even then some don't like if you embezzle massive amounts of money.

No, you need to go to jail. I'm not saying that, but I'm just saying if if you have caused physical injury against someone, if you have molested a child, if you have created mass, if you've ruined someone's life, you need to go to jail for a good long time. And just as a matter of justice and deterrence, I can give you two exact examples, but I will tell you if you do a comparison for financial crimes and a comparison for crimes against children.

The financial crimes have longer prison sentences and we have one. They do look at. I do not understand it. I do not understand the sentencing structure. I specifically in Idaho, but you and I were talking about George Santos yesterday. You read a headline. It looks like he's slated to go to prison for two years. Basically, he lied to people.

I heard 84 months like seven years. Okay, maybe it is seven years. Yeah. Okay. He did not cause any physical harm to people. Did he lie to people? Did it change money situations? 100%. And should he be penalized? Yes, absolutely he should. But compare those two. You've got someone who physically harmed a police officer who and who knows this police officer's hand might not even be fully normal.

Yeah, we don't know. Not even going to serve jail time yet. George Santos didn't cause any physical harm to anybody, and he's up for years to prison for seven years. Yeah. Well, and the most egregious of all, you. You deprive a child of their innocence, and you ruin their lives. And you, you set them up for a lifetime of difficulty and pain.

You go to a six month writer. Yep. How does that make sense in any the sentencing structures are. Now, look, we're going to get some texts from people saying, well, no, there's a good reason and it's not de camp and I don't care. You've ruined a kid's life for their whole life. You probably ought to go to jail for a good part of the rest of your life.

Right. That's a it's such a, it's one of the mysteries of our system that I'm, I'm not sure I'm ever going to fully understand. And you know what. Maybe the argument is just simply logistically it seems like we're having 2 or 3 of these kinds of stories regionally every single week, whether it's child porn, molestation, lewd conduct, whatever, teacher on child.

Yes, absolutely. That these sexual crimes against children are becoming so prevalent. Maybe the the challenge here is we don't have enough space and we can't build enough jails in order to house all of them. Oh, I would I would bet if you talked to members of law enforcement, that's the that's the I was going to say gamble. But the the game of Tetris that they're playing.

Yeah. Inside the sentencing structures and these plea deals, how do we make sure that we can house these people and where will they go? Like it plays into it. That sounds ugly because we look at it as crime. As crime. Yeah. But that's actually factored into it. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's a shame. 851 now on Newstalk 1279 really quick the story on I-15, the widening project.

In the next five years ish. This is something that could happen as early as 2030 where they're going to widen I-15. All the way three, three lanes continually from Idaho Falls to Pocatello and vice versa. So both north and southbound and, you know what? My fear is? The left lane computers are still going to be left lane camper.

And of course they will. Yeah. Why why if you don't got ticket money, get out of the left lane. All right. Yes. You know what? You know how we could solve this? Although it's it's not legal to use a handheld device while you're driving. So it'd have to be a passenger. If you can get video of someone camping out in the left lane, that could be.

And you submit it to law enforcement. That should be prosecutable. Flagpole. Yes or no? If you can get video evidence of someone camping out in the left lane, should it be prosecutable? Oh, I bet a lot of people will say yes to that text in. Well. Yeah. I want to hear your answers. But, sad to say.

Widening I-15 to three lanes is not going to fix that. Persistent persist societal problem. It's not going away. Do you know what it does help with? What? When? Because this is a problem right now between, that section of I-15, between Pocatello and Idol Falls, the semis passing each other, and one is going 72 miles an hour, and the other one is going 71 miles an hour.

And it takes many miles for the 72 mile per hour semis to finally get past the 71 mile per hour semis. Yeah. And I'm I'm not correcting your speeds here, but I feel like one is going 72mph and the other one is going 72.00000001mph. That's the problem. We won't at least have to deal with that anymore. Yeah, that's true until you get three truckers who decide they want to go side by side.

853 on Newstalk 107 and we'll be back.

It's 857 on Newstalk 1078. Julie, we have a mixed reaction to my idea of reporting left lane camper hours and the context of talking about I-15 expanding in the next decade or so to three lanes, from Pokey to Idaho Falls. I get it. They're saying, no, we don't want a vigilante society or a tattletale society.

And that I would generally agree with. But why can't the left lane drivers? If you're someone and said, what about the ones going 90, I don't care, then they're not camping. They're not disrupting people. They're getting they're getting passed. And now speeding is not great. But that's not. Look, I have said this before. I will say it again and I will go to fisticuffs over this.

The left lane driver going 90 or 95 is far less dangerous than the left lane driver going 65 or 70. Yes, I agree with that 100%. After we solve this problem, can we solve one other on I-15? Yeah. Please explain the psychological phenomenon that if you're a non cruise user. So if you're that person who wants to use your gas pedal.

When you pass a semi, you slow down by 5 to 7mph. What is up with that? Please explain that psychological phenomenon to me. Another one. Julie, you're going along. You're going 87. Somebody is going 84. So you scooch over into the left lane to pass them. They speed up to 87. What's up with that? I don't understand that one either.

Or two coming up. By the way, it's just three straight nominations or Democratic voters didn't get a chance to pick the nominee. The elites picked Hillary Clinton, the elites picked Biden, and the elites picked Kamala Harris. There was no actual set of voters who felt like they had a say in this. 907 On Newstalk 107, I, Neal Larson, along with Julie Mason.

It's our two. If you would like to reach us on the Stones Automotive Group. Colin Text Line, that number is (208) 542-1079. And Julie, we're going to go right to the phones. We have a caller, Darryl, standing by. Hi, Darrell. How are you? Doing good. Good. What's up? Yeah. My pet peeve on I-15 was to get in the right lane and you put on cruise, and then going 80 and the semis because they're restrictions they're going slower.

And I can pass them but I'm coming up on a semi and some double head comes racing up in that outside lane. It's right even with me. And then he slows down and he follows me into that semi. And then I've got to hit my brake to slow down for him to get around. And then I got to get into the outside lane to get around the semi.

I am I know that's a able. We should be able to shoot their tires out. Okay. Well we we're not going to get on board with that as a solution. But I understand I would be there but it is frustrating. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you for the call. He mentioned something. I don't know why I thought about this, but I don't use my brakes much on the interstate.

So I use cruise control and I'll hit cancel and resume. And I'll use my brakes if I need to use my brakes, but I don't, I don't tap my brakes to go out a cruise anymore, like it's. Yeah, I do cancel also. You know those non cruise users. Yeah. And they have a passenger with them and they're having a fun animated conversation.

Yeah. And you're with them for about two hour. Yes. Speed up. Slow down. Yeah. Oh it's a break in the conversation I'm going to do 90. Oh I got involved in the conversation. I'm back down to 72. Yeah. I'm only laughing because. Yeah, I don't want to cry because it it is frustrating. And, sometimes I feel like.

And it's probably me just being paranoid, like somebody is following me. Yeah. Like, you get past them and you'll get a quarter mile ahead of them. And then all of a sudden, del, race up and go past you like, okay, is this like a CIA plant or what? Like what's happening here? Yeah. Have you ever had that? I haven't had that.

But you know what I haven't I haven't talked about on the show. What when I was headed to Arizona. So that was a Thursday afternoon. Headed to Arizona. There were, two dozen, maybe three dozen Amazon trucks on I-15. Oh, yeah. All in a row. I have no idea where they were headed. They were being driven by Amazon workers because they had the appropriate clothing on.

Okay, so it wasn't like a transfer of trucks that the. They hired a company to bring in 20 drivers and move these. These. Yeah. They were in Amazon clothes. I don't know where they were headed. I don't know what was going on. Okay. That's interesting. Yeah. If anyone has the link to the Amazon warehouse and can tell me what was happening that day, I can't explain why, but that feels very dystopian to me.

It felt dystopian, driving past, like all these identical trucks going by. You know what I remember? I used to commute, to to work because I lived about you know, 20 minutes away. So I do an I-15 stretch, and it wasn't every morning, but it was at least once, maybe twice a week when I would pass government vehicles that were completely unmarked.

And I thought, what are? Because if it's like an Intel thing or a military like, you can tell that. And I thought, these are weird vehicles. Was the FBI office there yet in Pocatello? Oh, it's been there for ever, ever. So it was well established. Could have been that, but it was just and and speaking of dystopian, like, the driver was just very focused on almost looked like a zombie.

The FBI did not look over to like it was just a weird, just a weird vibe. Yeah. So maybe the aliens are among us, and they're just some of them? Quite possibly. Let's go to the phones. Caller, how are you today? I'm doing fantastic. Good. My my favorite is when you're an 80,000 pound truck and you go to pass the person that's not paying attention in the right lane.

And then as soon as you get even with their rear bumper, they realize, oh, I'm being passed by a truck and they gotta speed up. And then they hold you in that left lane and won't let you back over. Oh yeah. Yeah. That's true. Now, are you a truck driver? I am, okay. I'm a little jealous. I'll be honest with you.

Do you like the road time? It has its pros and cons. You're stuck with your own thoughts for a long time, but, for the most part, it's. It's enjoyable. Are you, Are you long haul or are you regional? I do regional, so I do Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado. I have to Washington and Oregon.

Okay. I have to if you have to. I hold my nose as I crossed the state line. Yeah. Yeah, well, Oregon thinks they're special, and you got to pay extra taxes and do extra things to be able to drive to Oregon. Okay. Yeah, they're great, aren't they? But yeah. Yeah, but yeah, but if if you want horrible drivers.

Yeah Seattle is the spot. Oh, really? Utah is frustrating. Yeah. But when they cut you off, they're out of that lane and they're gone to the next lane lickety split. That's true. And Seattle, not so much, Can I I have a question about Oregon. If you're a truck, if you're a trucker, can you pump your own gas in Oregon?

Yes. Okay, so that just applies to us small lives. Yeah. The you peasants cannot allow to do that kind of stuff. It's only for us professionals. So I heard that Oregon eased up on this just a little bit. Like during certain hours, you can pump your own gas, and maybe in certain areas of Oregon where they can't find enough workers to work the gas stations, you can pump your own gas.

Is that right? I've heard that. I haven't driven through the personal vehicle, so I haven't experienced it. But I'm at the truck stop that I stop at in, Oh my goodness. It's just on the other side of, it's just on the other side of Ontario. It's past Baker. Sorry, but, it's up to 84 and 82 split.

Yeah, I never I never see attendants up there pumping fuel for the for the regular drivers. Okay. Gotcha. Maybe they're just far enough away from Eugene in Portland that they feel comfortable not requiring that. Yeah, it could be. Could be. Yeah. Well, thank you for the call. I appreciate it, and I hope you do listen to us when you're on the road.

I hope you grab us on the app. As far as ways Texas and everywhere. I've listened to you guys, everywhere I've been. That's great. Thank you. All right, well, safe travels to you. Thank you for calling today. Yep. Thanks. Have a good one. All right. (208) 542-1278. Speaking of Oregon on last night, I stumbled across somebody who had posted a TikTok from a liberal in Oregon.

He had purposely moved to Oregon. He was like, I'm going to find my like minded people, okay. And he was from the East Coast, moved to Oregon. Lasted less than a year. He said, these aren't liberals. These are whack jobs. I moved to people who are crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Could have told him. I should have done a little better research.

You know, I would never want to require this because I'm, you know, kind of liberal. But we should do things that will encourage like minded gatherings. Like do a resident swap. So, like, we set up a market and Idaho could say, look, we we will give relocation assistance, to some Ada County residents and then find, you know, enclaves in Oregon or Washington or, or or, California, where they wouldn't be a much better fit.

They would feel more at home. And we sort of like in the pros, they trade athletes, you know, we could trade residents and and get more of the flavor that we're looking for. A liberal conservative transfer portal. Yeah I would agree. And we could do that with lawmakers too. I think we should create a lawmaker transfer portal so that we can trade and trade legislators and let you know what we have.

And you could it could be cross party, too. So if you are a certain Republican in Idaho, but you'd feel more at home as a Democrat, you could go to a place where you could thrive being a Democrat and be honest of integrity and actually put a D behind your name. Right. You know, I think this idea of a legislator transfer portal is a great idea.

Look at us brainstorming, Julie, fixing all the state's problems in one fell swoop. Absolutely. Phones are, Lighten up. Let's go to our next caller. Welcome to the show. Hey, what do you guys think about having the semis just run in the left lane? You know, because they go slower than everyone. Well, the reason I say that is because semis drive past every exit.

But one. Okay, so they're having to get into the left lane every time they come to a to an exit to go around it. If their travel lane is just the left lane, then the passing lane would be the right lane. Most cars exit, on the other exits. Like I said, the semi race has every one of them got one.

So then they have to get over in the left lane to merge with traffic. I think it'd just be easier for them to travel in the left lane. Maybe, I see the problem we're trying to solve here, but I feel like that might create more problems in other situations. I'd have to think through. I won't dismiss the idea.

You think it over. And I'm excited about this. This transfer portal. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the call. 285421279. I don't I don't want to immediately dismiss the idea, but I don't know if I want all the trucks in the left lane because I. I use the left lane again. So, I mean, and maybe I'm thinking about it wrong, but aren't we all just going to one exit and the exits vary?

I mean, if my destination is my daughter's house in Utah. I'm not taking an exit until Lehigh, right? But I'm going to pass multiple trucks to exit in Pocatello and exit in McCammon and exit in at this truck stop and exit in Malad and exit. So we're all just going to eventually exit. I he might be saying, though, it's a lot easier for you to move over to let traffic merge than it is for a semi to move over, to let traffic merge.

Well, you know what we need. We need the prior caller who is the trucker to call back. Good. And tell us what he thinks of this idea. To just give the left lane to the truck. Here we have the luxury in Idaho that you should be able to get up to speed, and nobody should have to move over.

Yeah, most times if you enter the freeway. Yeah. If you enter the interstate at the appropriate speed, you can slide right between cars. Yeah, that's true. And people don't need that. The for me the the having to move over. And maybe truckers have a rule they have to move or I don't know. But hey you you should be able to enter into the freeway if you are appropriate in your car.

Our truckers. Colin back. Okay. Trucker. What do you think of that last caller's idea of just giving the left lane to the truckers? In the congested areas like Salt Lake areas. It's a fantastic idea. Yeah, because the majority of your truck involved accidents are changing lanes and merchant traffic. Okay, so if you scoot all the trucks over to the left lane and you keep them over there until it's time for them to exit, then everybody else can get on and get off and get on and get off and do all the things they need to do.

Without worrying about interfering with the trucks and you just mark them out like you do the carpooling. Yeah. And it would take some I mean Utah and now Idaho. We're, we're surviving learning how to drive on the wrong side of the road. Now they're rebuilding all these exits and everything. Yeah. But you know, I mean, if we can handle that and surely, you know, we can handle that.

So going up and down the the rural parts of the 15 and the 84 and everywhere else in the country, I don't think it matters. Okay. Gotcha. Interesting suggested areas. It would be a big help to keep the trucks on one side of the interstate where they're not. That's interfering with traffic getting on and off. That's an interesting thought.

So you have an HOV lanes and men may be right next to it. You could have a long haul or trucker lane. Yeah. I think you put the trucks all the way against the far side and then everybody else starts staggered in the back. Okay, gotcha. Okay. Thank you for the for calling back and give us the, giving us the skinny on that.

I personally think Salt Lake would be a lot better if they would just, actually enforce the cell phone laws that are in Utah because everybody you pass in the Salt Lake corridor is on their phone doing 80mph. Yeah. That's true. It's a little terrifying that that's true. Let's go back to the phones. Hi, caller. How are you doing on this highway issue?

One thing that might possibly help. Now, you know, like in Oregon, if somebody comes down, pumps you gas. So if you're coming from Oregon into Idaho, you stop at the state line and an Idaho driver takes over, drives you through the state. Now, but if you're going to stay inside from an from like Oregon, and it has to be a Jefferson County resident, that drives your vehicle, state.

Okay, I, I think that's worth considering. Yeah, it could be part of the transfer portal. Yeah. You switch car driver transfer portal. That's right. You two have a great day. But all right. Thank you for the call. All right. Somebody texted and said this left lane for truckers exists. It's in Zanesville, Ohio. They've already passed the law.

Oh, really? Okay. I just going off the text. Haven't done a fact check of that, but. Zanesville, Ohio, while we're airing our traffic pet peeves, can I add one to the list? People who slow down before they reach the exit, especially in Idaho, the exit, the off ramps are there like a half a mile long. They're long, you know, they they're made long so that you can stay at full speed.

And then once you are on the exit then you slow down. Okay. Collectively can we get an amen? Hey, man. Oh, goodness. Text in your amen. Let's see how many amens we get because I think everybody other our do people just. What is that. I think they're nervous. Who does maybe maybe. And they just don't realize they've got so much room.

Yeah. Maybe. That could be. I don't even think I take my cruise off until I'm in the on the actual on route or off ramp. Right. I agree with you. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's true. Okay. Let's go back to the phones. Go ahead. Caller, how are you? Is it me? It's you. Yes. Go ahead. Calling my hair.

Sorry. Yeah, I, I mean, the trucker idea. I think it's a great idea to put the truckers with the commute lane. Yeah, I see nothing wrong with that. That's a great idea. Okay, you second the motion. All right. Thank you for the call. 285421279. Next caller, you're up on the program. Good morning. Good morning, Dale and Julie.

How are you? Good, good. Doing well, I see a lot of our traffic issues are really the people that don't understand the birds and the trap just setting, like you said, our audience at our website about our built so they can reach speeds they never do. Yeah. Bird birds traffic in particular highway 20 truck drivers. I drive it every day.

They can not get up to speed before they learn to traffic. We wait a lot. They think that we can just stop and move and go faster. We can't. Yeah, it's really frustrating that they cannot figure out how to merge into traffic. Yeah. Yeah that's I agree. Yeah. Yeah I would agree. Yeah I, I try to pilot that.

Yeah. Go ahead. Sorry I say I drive highway 21. So once a week and my off ramp and my on ramp are both long enough that I, I should be up to speed when I enter and should maintain speed when I exit, because there's plenty of ramp for me to do both things. There is. And it's just it's just a problem out here.

They just don't understand that you need to merge into the flow of traffic, whether the traffic is 45 or 85. Yeah, you have enough time to get into it. Yeah. Yep. So I wish you guys the best. Have a great day. Thank you. Be safe on the road. Yeah. Thank you for the call. 926 on Newstalk 1079.

We've got to take a break, but we will come back if you'd like to reach us on the phone. (208) 542-1079 okay. Guess what? I forgot to tell you guys. Friday. It was Friday, right? I was driving home. I pull into my house. And I have a deer nestled in between my lilac bushes at the front of my house.

That is so cool. It was so crazy easy. Now Neil knows where I live, and that makes this even weirder that I have a deer in my yard. Have you ever seen a deer in your neighborhood before? Never, never. So let's talk about the wildlife that I have in my yard, because my daughter Marlee has taken to calling me Snow White.

I regularly have bunnies. Yeah, I now have two cats that hang out and they can stay all they want because if they eat the mice, you take up residence in my yard. I got no problem with them. Yeah. I have bunnies, I have ducks. I've had a deer. Let me think what else we have seen.

Oh we have owls in the trees. Yeah. Okay. I have a city house, I am. Yeah. Now I do look like I'm in a wooded forest just because of the trees that surround my house. But I live. I'll give this much away. I live near the hospital. Yeah. I do not know where that deer went when it scampered out of my yard to safety.

How did it cross Sunnyside? I don't know. I don't know where it came from. And where did it go? I don't know, it scares me because I don't want him hurt. Yeah. Or hurt. I don't know what that's like. Questions that missionaries ask. Where did you come from? Why are you here and where are you going? I don't know.

Made me sad because I know I can feed the bunnies. I'll put, like, celery and carrots and stuff out there. So will my neighbor. Yeah. But the deer gone. Yeah, that's. And they need a water source. That's the other weird thing. So do the ducks. And there's the big canal, between Ammon and the hospital. Yeah. So I think that's where the ducks come from.

Yeah. I don't know.

All right. 929 on Newstalk 179. Julie, we had one of the Firefly petunias here yesterday. I don't think I even showed these to you. I took some while. You did a time lapse pictures. I, I went into a closet. I know the closet. You know, near it. They were making them here, too. Oh, Neil's coming out of the closet because I was going in and taking some time lapse pictures of the firefly Petunia that is available now at Town and Country Gardens.

They had a big event. And Julie, I heard the lines. There was massive, a massive event for Rex and our friends at Town and Country Gardens on Saturday night. And, that that thrills me. I'm glad because that makes me so happy because they were setting up quite the event for people. Yeah, it had to be so fun for kids and the live music and the food trucks and all the different things.

Plus getting your beautiful, needs for your yard or your garden or whatever, I challenged people, I think it was it was yesterday a challenge. People go to our Newstalk 179 page and look at the picture that, we put up at Town and Country Gardens of me and Neil holding a firefly. Petunia, just pay attention. Don't look at me and they'll look at the beautiful baskets in the background.

They are so amazing. You need those for, like, your front porch or for your back deck or whatever. Everything you need. If it's seeds for your vegetable garden, of course. The four step lawn program that we talk all the time about whatever it is that you need, you'll find it. Including this glow in the dark firefly Petunia. So, Town and Country Gardens is located south of Idaho Falls, across from the malt plant on Yellowstone Highway.

All right, we're going to go back to the phones. Caller, how are you today? Good. How are you guys this morning? Doing pretty well. What's up? So let me I have call in my $0.02 to the truck driver. There's three points that I'd like to make. First off, if you're in an area where there's three lanes of travel, one direction, you'll find the semis drive in the center lane.

That way they're not having to move over for cars coming on and off. More of that way is those guys that are wanting to do 90 mile an hour. They tend to stay in that lane and just stay there. Know. And the only reason they get out of that lane is if there's another truck driver in front of them doing 70 and they're doing 71, and they want to get around me.

So, you know, there's that that little bit there. Number two, when, when I'm approaching a, merge lane from an on and there's a car there and I need to move over, I'm not a big deal, I move over, I'm courteous, try to get over for him, or if I can't get over, I'll slow down. But let them again.

What drives me crazy is it's called an acceleration ramp. Get on the throttle. Come on, people, just accelerate. Get out there. You get right up to the roadway. I'm full down to let you in. And then you jam on the brakes. It's just a freaking, Sorry, sorry. I know it's. We we filled in the cuss words for you, so,

Thank you. All right. You know, and then once I'm in that left lane, you merge on, I'm going to stay there. So you catch me on the right side, and then I'll move back over. But if you just stay there on that lane, it kind of frustrates me because I can't get up. I can't build speed too fast.

Yeah, and all them people behind me start blaming me for being in the fast lane. I'm like, come on, just get off. Get out of my way so I can move back over. That's okay. Okay, you know what? We're in full agreement. We we absolutely are behind you on this. Just. Yep. Get out of the way so the truckers can get back in.

Or let's just give the truckers that left lane, like the previous caller said. Yeah. So now now, the third thing I want to do is, you know, if the if the state does this from Pocatello all the way down falls, how many bridges are they going to have to modify? I don't know if you guys have this experience.

I think I've talked to you about it before on their, these bridges. Can they not make a transition from the road to the bridge a little smoother? So, I mean, in a semi truck, when you hit that, that apron is what's called that goes from the roadway to the bridge and you see black marks on the road.

That's because it's rough and the tires of the semi are hit. And that's what's causing those black marks on the road. Well, inside the cab that gets transferred through my fanny, up my torso, and sometimes my head hits the top of the truck. It just they are so rough. I'm like, don't change anything. You guys just suck at making these transitions.

Just leave it the way it is. All right. Thank you for the thanks, guys. Thank you. Thank you for the call. That's very funny. I mean, it's not funny, but it's funny. I don't think we're going to change behavior because we've had a couple of techs come in and say they are not long enough, and they're listing ones that aren't long enough.

Oh, there's a couple that aren't like, I. Most of them are though. And and that's the thing, they're not long enough to what, decelerate on the exit or accelerate on the on a couple of each. And I especially the accelerate on unless you have a very old vehicle or a very gutless vehicle. I don't buy that because I can hit you know what?

I get on to, highway 20 right here. Yeah, I that is one of the shortest on ramps. And I can get up to 55. Yeah, that. Yes, I would agree. Yeah. They said not all on ramps and off ramps are long enough to do that. In Southeast Asia, there are multiple that are shorter than a quarter mile that you can't slow down on, especially for semis okay.

Maybe semis. So you have to slow down on the highway. For instance, the South Blackfoot exit is maybe 100ft long than a sharp corner. That's one where I can understand it. You do need to. You don't want to have to slam on your brakes. And if it's slick, it's it's a hazard, you know? Whatever. So, yeah, there are exceptions to this, but I would say probably 80 or 90% of our on and off ramps are long enough and straight enough that you can stay at full speed on the interstate.

Yes, either. Either way. Okay. Let's go to the phones. Hi, caller. How are you today? I'm doing good. Are you doing good? Good. What's up? Okay, my pet peeve is with the truckers. And what can't what I can't stand. What drives me nuts is when you're driving on a two lane highway and two trucks want to go side by side, going 65 and an 80 for three miles, I cannot stand that.

And then the second one is when you try to pass them and they don't check their blind spots and they just start merging over. And you got to like either slam on your brakes and hope no one's behind you. Are you going to run off the road? But yeah, yeah, my pet peeves is with the trucks because with my experience, half the time they don't.

They're not observant and they don't check where they're going. Yeah. But yeah there's. So you guys have a good day. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. We're going to have a battle going on I know I think we're we'll probably hear some trucks. You know what. We would throw that out because we're generally, supportive. If you're a trucker there's a lot you got to think about.

Yeah, I do think one area they could improve in is passing each other. Like, sometimes they do. It'll be three, four miles before one gets past the other. One of you either slow down a little or one of your speed up a little, but you're clogging up traffic behind you. Yeah, because they've got, like, a governor or something or an alert system.

If they go over a certain speed limit, I'm sure. So they're not going to go above that. If you're the trucker getting passed, just decrease by 2 or 3mph and let it happen. Yeah. Yeah that would be the courteous. Yeah. Right. And maybe there's more that truckers are going to have an issue with me saying that they probably will.

But you know, that's why we have talk shows so that we can learn this stuff. So. Let's go to the next caller. Welcome to the show. Morning, guys. Hi. Hey, I'd like to say dittos to the semis in the middle lane on a three lane highway. I think that's by far the safest. That's the way I've always felt.

But I my big pet peeve, since we're all here in our laundry today, is getting up to highway speed. And having the drivers in the near lane paying no attention to merging traffic. And I get up to highway speed and I get a it's usually a passenger vehicle, rarely a semi, and they won't yield the lane to let me in.

They won't move over to the open lane. They stay in the near lane and cause me to have to slow down below highway speed to get into the travel lane behind them, and it's frustrating as hell. It's either they're on a cell phone or they have a Utah plate, or at Jefferson County plate almost all the time, and and they're paying absolutely no attention.

I would love to see some troopers or some deputies parked on some of those locations watching this failure. You know, traffic. I write bring citations. I'm going to I'm going to actually interject. Here it is. You are not required by law to move over to let oncoming traffic, get on the there are you there are signs on the highway yield signs instructing drivers to yield that merging lane and a yield sign if it is the same as ignoring a traffic.

I promise you, we have been through this. The yield. The people who are required to yield are those coming on to the interstate. The people on the interstate are not required to yield to oncoming traffic. That's not, it's not 100% correct if you look at the layout of the traffic signs, if this if the yield sign is on your right side, then you have to yield that lane.

If the yield sign is on your left side, that means that that traffic in that lane has to yield to you. It's the positioning of the sign that makes the difference. I, I cannot think of a single on ramp in East Idaho on I-15, where the full speed drivers on the interstate have a yield sign to yield to oncoming traffic.

Yet purely from a safety standpoint, whether it's required by law or not, it's actually even taught still in our in our, driver ed programs where yielding to emerging traffic is a standard for safety, whether it's the law or not. And since we're just airing our grievances and none of none of what we've discussed so far is the law, this is the first time you brought up the letter of the law this morning.

We've got what we've got is common sense and courtesy, and that's okay. Well, you want to be safe, be smart. Well, okay. But you're you have shifted your your position on this. There is no citation to give so that that's the bill. So just so just drag him out of the car and beat him. You don't have to talk.

Give him. Just give him a good deal okay. You know, pain to the back of the head or something and say smarten up and be safe. Okay. But now that would be illegal. So not if there's no would. That's true. If you don't, if they don't turn their dashcams on, they're going to say yeah, no, I you should.

Yeah. But thank you for the call, by the way. Great. Call. Yeah. Yeah, I think these are good conversations to have legally and correct. But it was a great call. You should see the phone lines. They are absolutely, lit up here, Julie. Okay. Let's do it. Okay. Do we have time? We have a bottom. Our news break to get to.

Give me a minute. We've got to take this break. We will come back and we will take rapid fire phone calls, because everybody and their dog is trying to get in right now. We'll be back after this. Okay? That was funny. Yeah. You know, this is I remember I had it out on the air one time.

This is a roundabout discussion, from a guy who insist that once you enter a roundabout, you should yield to the people wanting to come in to the roundabout. And I said that is absolutely the reverse purpose of the roundabout. You're not courtesy is not a virtue inside a roundabout. Get out of it because you're going to cause a wreck.

Yes, that's exactly it. And they're like, well, I think it should be like, four way stop rules that whoever got there first should be able to. I'm like, no, you're you're transitioning your courteous ness from the people behind you. Yeah. So you you don't ever stop in a roundabout to let anybody in. That's the whole purpose of the roundabout is you get to keep going once you're in.

Yeah. You wait until it's clear and then you enter. Yeah. So. Well and don't be a gutless wonder in entering a roundabout. Yeah. Right. You're going to be okay. Yeah. That's that is so true. That's them. It's supposed to all just kind of flow. And if if you're not driving erratically as you enter and you exit appropriately, everyone else can.

Just like it's supposed to be a smooth flow, not a jerk. Stop start stop start. Right. Yes. Great. And I have another thing about roundabouts. If you're approaching one and there's not a car in front of you, start paying attention well, before you get to the roundabout. Yeah, you do not need to stop and then go. Oh, is it my turn?

Yeah. Oh, it might be my turn. You can be looking from clear back and going, oh this car's going to exit or whatever. And that's how you slowly merge. And it just keeps rolling. Situational awareness like don't wait to do it until. Yeah, I actually have grown to to like the roundabouts. I don't hate them. I hate the little ones because they don't make sense.

Yeah, but the ones that are built appropriately, that have the appropriate right continuous lane. Yeah for sure. Yeah. Not if you don't get caught.

I'm confused. Somebody sent us a text today. It's the only text we've gotten from them today. And it says sorry about the talk to text misspellings or oh, the other one just came in. Oh okay. Man. Everybody's got traffic issues, right? Like, yeah, we all have our own pet peeves and we all have. That would be, it's it's too late in the show to do it, but that would be a good, best 10s what is your traffic pet peeve?

Yeah. What's your one thing? Yeah. Do you know what minus. It's not even with freeways. What? East Idaho is too big now for you to leave two car lengths between you and the car in front of you at a stop sign or a stoplight? Yeah, that's true. People are trying to enter from businesses. People are? Yeah. You you have got to pull forward.

When 30 years ago, you had that luxury. You do not have the luxury anymore. You have to close the distance at a stoplight. I don't know if it's the law or if it was just my driver's ed teacher, but he said that. The distance behind someone should be just enough to see their tire. Their tire. So that's what I was taught, too.

Okay, that's that's what if you can see their tires, but no road, you're the right distance. Yeah. At a stop. At a complete stop. Yeah. 945 on Newstalk 109, we have serendipitously stumbled into traffic pet peeves and some disagreements over traffic situations. This is a fun discussion. Everybody's got a traffic, issue. So we're going to jump right back to the phones.

I am going to ask our callers to be concise and get right to their point, because we have a lot of people trying to get in. So let's go to this caller. I believe this is our friend Carrie. Hi, Carrie. How are you? Good morning. I'm great. How are you guys? Good. Good. Doing well okay. Well, I'll be quick about it, but, so add to all this mix of, of the trucks and the cars is the busses that can only go 65 miles an hour.

And some of our busses actually have governors on them. That said, at 64 to 65. So we we have a slow person that, you know, it's like a I guess I'll go around them and, you know, you we just have no more to give. And you know, we of course we want to get we're going to. So it's frustrating.

And we also, some of us went and when I was in the legislature, we testified in the Senate committee to try and get that bumped up to 70. And, what I remember is it is kind of in charge of that. And they said no. And, I'd like to get back into the legislature and, and see if we can get that bumped up to 70.

So you're only having two speeds on the interstate instead of three, because it really it does jam things up, especially when you have a couple busses out there. So that's anyway my little. Well, no, that's great here. I didn't realize that they were governed it at 65 or possibly 64. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some of them are I know some districts they aren't.

But we have some in our district that our governor that 64 to 65 and it's yeah, it's hard because there's times when you just need that little extra push to get around somebody and, and like the truckers were saying, then you get blocked, you get a fair amount of people behind you and they probably, they probably call in and complain.

Yeah, yeah. Carrie, good to hear from you. Thank you. Yeah, I, I think because they are given their speeds, they should make them like big and yellow with lots of lights on. All right, let's go to the next call. Welcome to the show caller. How are you today? Fantastic. This has been a fantastic show this morning. That previous guy couldn't be more wrong.

There is not a highway in this country that requires you to slow down and let the merchant traffic come on the interstate. If I hit my brakes and allow him to get on the interstate, and the guy behind me reorients me, the dot is going to find me and put me out of service. And that action is going to be 1,000% my haul.

Yeah, yeah. Which is why they build the on ramps the way they do with a very wide shoulders. So you that can be used as a lane kind of an emergency lane to go into if there's if there's no room for you at that moment. So yeah, you can out accelerate this truck at every turn, no matter how cruddy your car is.

You can break my truck at every turn, no matter how cruddy your car is. Yeah, you you have more maneuverability than I will ever have in this truck. And so is your responsibility. If you. Even if it's a motorcycle sitting in that lane, it is your responsibility to get on, to get off that on ramp and into traffic without causing a disturbance.

It is not the traffic's responsibility to get you in there. Yeah, yeah. Thank you I appreciate oh go ahead and one more thing. Julie is 1,000% right. The truck driver that is being passed should slow down 2 to 3 miles an hour and let that other truck pass him. And this is from a trucker pass. It should be smart enough to know that it's going to take me ten miles to get around this clown.

I should just sit back, enjoy the ride, and not stress about it. I'm going to get there anyways. My favorite color of the day. Okay, you're welcome, but you're 100% right. There's no courtesy in trucking any more. Is the problem. Okay, okay. We have heard via text from that previous caller who said I never said slow down dummy.

I said move over to the open lane. I you you can't always move over. Yeah that's true. Yeah, that is true. I mean I was going up 20 this morning. I was hemmed in on all sides and another truck took it out. Accelerate me? Yeah. At by a long shot. Decided to hit the brakes and dive into the shoulder instead of out accelerating me and going around.

I was going 68 miles an hour. Yeah, you had more than enough opportunity to get around me. Gotcha. I'm going to let you go because we have other callers we've got to get to. And, our previous callers, it's like yelling. Yeah, they're yelling through text before you take the next caller, can I please read this text? Yeah.

My pet peeve is my passenger telling me to change directions.

That's very funny. That's probably, Yeah. I have a name of a good therapist. That's true, that the solution to that traffic problem is marriage counseling. So let's go to the next caller. Welcome to the show. Good morning. I feel somewhat qualified to speak on that subject. I've got about 45 years of driving about 5 million miles under my belt.

Wow. Being a driver, trainer, and Neil, you're 100% right is not the responsibility of the people going 70 miles an hour. I wait 20 to move over for people coming up to merge lane. And when you're in a truck and you move over into the left lane, then that guy comes up to the right side of you and 16 people follow him, while all the while having your right turn signal light on to get back in the right lane.

Nobody will let you back in. And then you got 15 people in the left lane behind you. Move over, idiot! Get the heck out of the way! Yeah. So what do you do? You know, and, Julie, you're 100% right. And like the last caller said, so you already tagged him as your favorite caller. But anyway, two I guess two favorite.

Is good deal. But I've never seen such craziness as I have in Idaho. I've driven every state in the Union. Idaho is the worst. Coming on to this in into traffic up and down highway 20. Point is the trucks cannot accelerate. You can't just smash on the gas and get it up to 90 miles an hour. We're governed at about 65 miles an hour.

So figure it out. Come up the ramp, and it is 100% your responsibility to safely get into traffic, not the people that are going to speed. Yeah, thanks. Thank you, for the call, I appreciate it. A lot of passion around this. Absolutely. And I think, I mean, the the sort of cautionary tale here is as you're, as you're on ramping, take a look at the road and you either need to punch it and get out ahead of someone, or you need to back off a little bit and wait to merge into the brake.

If you don't want to use that emergency, late, that little extra space that's given. So yeah. All right. Next caller, welcome to the show. Go ahead, caller I hear I hear your road noise. You're on. Hello. Hi. Go ahead. Oh, hey. I didn't know it was I was on. Hey, I'm a I think I'm an expert.

It's just because I have common sense, and I just wanted to say that, first of all, I'm a union worker, and we have the rule. Tonnage has the right away. Okay, so if you've got a big truck that you're, battling with position on the freeway, they have the right of way. They they have the tonnage. They can't stop, they can't accelerate.

The other one is I'm going to stick up for the truck drivers and it's people they get right beside. They get right beside the big truck. And if this truck has a blowout, it's going to blow a small car completely out of its lane past the truck. Get out of the way. Let people have room to maneuver in traffic.

I think these are very good points and that's all I got to say. Thank you. Julian. You guys are great. Yeah. You're welcome. Thank you. 208542 179 really quick. Next caller. Go ahead. Good morning, Neil and Julie. Hi. Where's Julie? You got her? Yeah, yeah.

This is the redneck. Anyway, I've been listening, and, there's a lot of differing opinions out there. I grew up in Cherokee. Actually, her dog Andrus, for quite a while. There's. And Mike, by the way, you know. Yes. Yeah, yeah. No, it's great to hear from you. Do you have a do you have a quick thought?

We're kind of under the pressure of time right now. Okay. Well, anyway, I'll speed up. Okay. My advice to all drivers out there, trucks are up to the motorcycles. All be courteous, all observe what's around you. And, do whatever is necessary not to cause an accident, because it takes courtesy from everybody. You know, one more thing.

You know, one more thing. Forget about the babies. Remember? Be. It's for dinner. Be fixed for dinner. Another great, great way to forget about the babies, right? I think that's right. In reference. Yeah. Okay. Ain't no demand. We'll be back 956. We'll wrap it up after this. Oh, man. Michael Coates, I couldn't agree more. He said this is like an argument on a community Facebook page.

Everyone is an expert, and boomers are typing in all caps.

It's so good. Yeah. It's funny. That is funny. We're going to be I actually think there's a really easy solution to the merging and not merging WhatsApp. We don't need to always defer to the trucks. We don't need to if everyone will just be thinking 2 to 3 steps ahead as they're driving. And all of this solves itself.

Yeah I would agree with that I think. So just be a little more active as a driver anticipatory and situationally aware. And yes if we can do that we're going to be things will be a little bit better. Yeah. This has turned into one of the more fun hours we've had in a long time. So, we should have at some point, as a follow up segment, have truckers call in and tell us their favorite swear words for when people cut them off for fun?

Well, I will say, there are certain situations, and people don't understand that the laws of of traffic, our traffic laws are not the same as the laws of physics. And it's sort of similar to the guy that called in that said, tonnage has the right of way. Well, that's that's a law of physics. That's that's not a law of the land.

I ran into a situation the other day where I had it come off highway 20, going around by the temple there on the right by the river, and there's a couple of those pedestrian walkways. And I'm it's that speed limit is 35 there. That's. Which is kind of fast, you know, cause you got people and lots of traffic.

So anyway, as I'm coming up on one, there's a guy walking, he hits the, the light to cross and immediately starts walking across which I had to slam on my brakes. And I'm like, okay, you technically did have the right of way there, but I think out of an out of caution, you should hit the light, make sure you check the road to to make sure you're not going to get hit because, it was the hold on.

All right. Thank you for the great hour, everyone. And, have a wonderful Tuesday. Julie and I back tomorrow. Yeah. See you then.