Really easy to use. I like that. Love my presets. If you're not using it, you're missing out. Go get it. Get in on what everyone's talking about and get the new and improved free iHeartRadio app today. Mike Porcaro, behind the mic of your 50,000-watt blowtorch. News Radio 650, KENI. Live from Anchorage, it's your news and information blowtorch. On your front porch The Michael Carr
February, a month that kind of went by pretty quick. 38 degrees here in Anchorage under cloudy skies. Palmer's 39. Soldotna, 38. Homer, 41. Talkeetna, 38. Fairbanks, 31, minus 12 up in Prudhoe. Seattle's at 55. New York is at 44. Akaroa, New Zealand is 74. Pensacola, Florida, 60. Tampa, Florida, 63. Tifton, Georgia, 60. And Lake Havasu City. is a pleasant 79 crash. You could be there in just a few hours. Think about that. I think I'm going to go now. Okay. We should get a place down there.
Yeah, it's... Separate places. It quickly has become my favorite place. My mom's spot in Havasu is my favorite place. It's such a cool... I just heard all of her friends and I just, like I said, I want to be 75 and hang out with all of those people. Now, is she kind of like in a little compound? No, no, no. She owns her home. It just ended up being a weird thing where a lot of the people that were snowboarding back and forth ended up being kind of in the same neighborhood.
No, it's not like a dedicated community or anything like that. It's just a regular residential neighborhood that you got lucky with. And there's a lot of people that go back and forth that travel to Alaska and then Havasu. And there's the number that stay there a year. round is getting bigger and bigger. I think so. In fact, I know that Alaska, I don't know if they still do it, but I know Alaska had a nonstop between Phoenix and here.
Oh, I don't know. I always fly into Las Vegas because my sister lives in Boulder City, and then she just comes to the airport and gets me, and then we all rally out to my mom's spot. So how long a trip is it from Vegas down to Havasu? A couple hours, two and a half, I think. You're not going to get snow. No, no, it's not bad. And then there's a shuttle that runs back and forth, too. It leaves at 9 a.m. and then leaves at 9 a.m. from Havasu to...
the Vegas airport, and then at 2 p.m. it goes from the Vegas airport to Havasu. You just tell them your address, and they drop you off or pick you up right at your front door. Pretty slick. Yeah, so if I go down there with the family, I don't mind spending the money to rent a car because there's a bunch of us and a shuttle is about, you know, it'd be about the same if my whole family went down there. But if it's just me...
The shuttle's like 80 bucks to get me from Havasu to Las Vegas. So it just picked me up at 9 a.m. at my mom's front door. Guy honked three times. I jumped in the shuttle. We picked up two more people, and we all headed out to the airport. It was a pretty slick deal.
Yeah, and that's a big airport. Well, I'll tell you, too, when I landed, this is kind of embarrassing to admit, but when we landed, my sister picked me up, and she's like, look, we're going to take a different route. We're going to go through Kingman.
Because my mom's car was in the shop. It was under warranty, so they could only have it done at the dealership, the work. So they towed it from Havasu to Kingman. And then my sister drove me into Kingman. My sister's like, I'll drive my car, and you can follow me in mom's car into Havasu. It is. I'll be 55 years old in two weeks. It is the first time I have ever driven a car in a different state. Oh, my gosh. It's the first time I have ever driven a car anyplace other than Alaska.
That's kind of cool. Five minutes, ten minutes or so in Portland with my wife, and I got us lost, and she'll never let me do it again. So every time we go somewhere to rent, hell, she doesn't let me drive in town. And that's fine with me. I've seen you drive.
Well, and it's also too, I mean, it was a bone of contention for a while, but it's turned into, I'd rather not, because according to her, I'm always quote unquote doing it incorrectly. So I don't really want to drive because I don't want to hear it. the whole time, so it's easier for me just to let her do it. But yeah, it was the first time I've ever spent any time driving in a different state. First time in my whole life. Wow. So I am now a world traveler.
You are. I still to this day have never purchased my own airline ticket, though. I've never done that. Never bought an airline ticket. Well, that's too confusing. It doesn't. No, it's not. It's too confusing. I don't understand all of that. Miles or Cash or whatever. I don't know how that works. Thank goodness you have Mrs. Crash. Seriously. In every way, shape, and form. She handles everything. I wouldn't find my socks in the morning without her. Well, and I'm glad she's with you.
Okay, the Alaska legislature today did something unanimous. Now, this is interesting. They unanimously rejected an automatic pay raise. for legislators, the governor, and department heads. The State Officers' Compensation Commission recently recommended that pay adjustments go into effect automatically every other year based on the Anchorage Consumer Price Index. The cost of living adjustments were set to go into effect. on 2027. According to state law, and this is from the Anchorage Daily News,
The Compensation Commission is supposed to recommend pay adjustments if needed every other year. The recommendations go into effect unless both House and Senate approve a measure or reject it. Now, you remember the last time they did this, right? It was basically one nanosecond, and they said, yes, we'll take it. Remember that one? I do. They all agreed. This year.
Kodiak Republican Louise Stutes, who really is a Democrat, said before the final vote that the state is struggling to find basic services with constrained finances. So even they, even she couldn't justify... I'm sure she thought about it, but she said the pay raises were estimated to cost over $500,000 in total, and that is basically the change you find in the seat cushions in the capital.
I mean, you know, that's... So this was theater, okay? This was what this was. This was theater. They got a raise last time. It was a pretty good one. And they figured, you know, heck, we can just make this work. So that's what they're going to do. All right. Just thought I would bring that up, if I might. Okay. Lots of stuff to do. 5-2-2-0-6-50. That's the phone number. We will be right back. For Carl's show with Crash on NewsRadio 650.
K-E-N-I. Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Friday afternoon. Steady traffic now around the Anchorage Bowl. If you see traffic problems on the road, dial pound 250 on your cell. Say total traffic. From the Stricker and Chevrolet Anchorage Traffic Studios, I'm Daryl Dean. This report is...
Sponsored by Compassion International. President Trump, we've got some audio on Trump today and Zelensky, so if you're wondering about how that meeting went, not well, but you can hear it for yourself. President Trump has set the sign, I think he already has, signed an executive order to make English the official language of the United States. This rescinds a mandate issued by former President Clinton.
in 2000 that required federal agencies and recipients of federal funding to provide language assistance to non-English speakers, a White House official shared with Fox News Digital. The U.S. has never had an official language in its nearly 250 years of being around, though every major document, including the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, has been written in English.
of the 195 countries across the globe have official languages, leaving the United States as one of the few countries that has not had an official language. This will be left to the individual federal agencies to assess whether to offer services in languages other than English, as the Fox report said. We have languages coming into our country.
We don't have one instructor in the entire nation that can speak that language, Trump said, while speaking for a conservative action conference in 2024. These are languages. It's the craziest thing. They have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It's a very horrible thing, he said. The order is intended to celebrate the multilingual Americans who have learned English and passed it down to their family members.
while also empowering immigrants to reach the American dream via a common language. That's kind of what happened in my family. His executive orders and actions have included renaming areas of the country to better celebrate the nation and its history, including renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
and signing an executive order to drop the Obama-era name Mount Denali, I think it's just Denali, the tallest peak in the U.S., located in the Alaska Range, back to its original name of Mount McKinley. I don't know if his original name was Mount McKinley, but he changed. All right. And I, you know, whatever you want to call it, it's fine with me. But so English would be the official thing. And Crash, you know, I mean.
That was kind of the thing for immigrants, and I come from immigrants, and we spoke Italian in the household. My grandparents spoke Italian. They were very set on people learning how to speak English, because we were in this country, and English was the language that people spoke. All the documents were written in English, and in order to... be successful, you had to learn English. And now you have many, many languages that we do tests in Spanish.
driver's licenses you can vote in different languages and you know and then then you also have the situation of native languages in this country as well so it's it's an interesting situation so should we have one common language It's probably best to have a language that everything is written in so we know. And I don't know. I kind of see...
The benefit of having a common language, because then everybody speaks it, and you don't have to push, you know, one for English and two for Spanish and three for something else. The Canadians do that. They've got two official languages, English and French, but that's only two. And so it kind of gets interesting. To me, my preference would be speak English. Everybody should learn it. It doesn't mean you shouldn't celebrate your own language or speak it whenever you wish to speak it.
But I think when we start getting to a situation where we have 90 languages, like we have in the Anchorage public schools, I think we start getting just, it becomes very confusing. And the kids, if they're going to be successful in this country, they need to speak English. It's not that we think English is better than the other languages. It's just that that's the language that's here.
and the most common. I don't know how you feel about it, but it bothers me when I'm on the phone. I don't really want to choose English. I want it to be there, and if I want to choose another language... You know, if the company wants to provide other language services, fine. That's up to them. And this executive order in no way is saying that you shouldn't do that or you could do that.
It's just that we have an official language, and it's go to court. It's English. Get a traffic ticket. It's in English. Everything's in English. You know, it seems to me that's the way it has been. And I think, I don't know, I just think that simplifies stuff. And again, it doesn't mean that companies or businesses can't provide other languages as they wish. It's up to them.
Anyway, 5-2-2-0-6-50. It's 425. And did you say Mike was on the phone when I crashed? That's an Amy Gamey. All right, Mike, go ahead. Hello, Mike. Yeah. I was wondering if you were aware that your gas bills and your other utility bills are going to double and possibly Even more than that in the next, oh, I don't know, three years maybe? Because of gas shortages and we have to import gas?
Yeah, well, I don't know if you've read your NSTAR bulletin that comes with your NSTAR bill, or perhaps you don't get a mailed bill, but... I get a bill. They send me the bill, and every month I'm always amazed at how much the gas costs and how much all of these surcharges cost. Well, if you review your bulletin that they sent out the brochure with your bill this month, you'll see that there's a gas supply update, which I'm sure about maybe 1 in 10 in this entire state, if that.
are aware that NSTAR is going to have to be importing natural gas very soon in the big scheme of things. And in order to do that, they're building a terminal down on the Kenai Peninsula, which shows foresight on their part. But it leads me to a question, and that is... Why in the heck hasn't the Alaska legislature addressed the fact that we're going to be running out of natural gas to power all of our utilities because natural gas...
It powers electricity as well. And electricity powers our water pumps. So it isn't going to just be your gas bill that goes up. It's going to be your electric bill. It's going to be your water bill. Why haven't they addressed that fact in the legislature and encouraged somebody to drill for gas in Cook Inlet?
Well, you ask a very, very good question, and I'll give you an answer, which I also believe is a good answer. It is because it is the Alaska legislature. That's why. Take a look at who's in charge. Yeah, well, that's because they're in Juneau, and it's a long way to travel with our torches and pitchforks. Yes. You're exactly right. The other thing is we've known this is coming. It's not like this just happened overnight. We've been talking about this for a long time.
We had a couple of really cold snaps 10 years ago. And we were talking about turning down your heat, putting on sweaters, doing all of that stuff. I try to do that anyway simply because I really don't like to see a gigantic gas pill. But at some point, you're exactly right, it is going to become almost uneconomic to do anything here. And if we're looking at...
doing any sort of business expansion, they're going to look at the utility rates and go, well, it's crazy. We're not going to go there. It's too expensive. And if people think that the Alaska natural gas pipeline is going to save us, then they're wrong. Because if it started tomorrow with the permitting and the other pre-requirements, I'm guessing that we wouldn't have gas in Kenai.
for probably three and a half going on four years if they expedited the completion. And that's if we don't get a Democratic president that says, What do you mean you've got a natural gas pipeline that's nearing Fairbanks? No, I'm going to cancel that pipeline. We're not going to have it. We might as well name the Alaska natural gas pipeline the Alaska XL pipeline.
Well, you bring up some excellent points, and we had opportunities to do a bullet line just for us. We've had plenty of opportunities, and Mike, the tragedy of all of this is we've had plenty of time. with which to solve our problem. But we don't do that. We're a very reactive people.
Yeah, well, that's the Alaska legislature, and they're making the movie Dumb and Dumber look like an intellectual pursuit compared to what they're doing down there. Thanks for your time, Mike. You bet, Mike. I appreciate your call. All right. He's right. Crash, we're going to have to start breaking down the furniture, you know, start burning that. How many people have wood-burning fireplaces in their houses? Yeah, I don't know.
You know, I think, I know in Fairbanks they were wanting to get rid of that because of the air quality. But I don't know, when they build houses anymore, are they building wood-burning fireplaces or are they building gas fireplaces? And if they're building gas fireplaces, you're going to have to look and decide whether or not you want to actually... fire the thing up, because if we're looking at increased natural gas prices, it's crazy. There's an expression, taking coals to Newcastle.
Obviously, it was a major coal producing area. Well, that's like importing gas to Alaska is like that, isn't it? We need better leadership, folks. And Mike makes a number of excellent points. And guess what? Guess who has to pay for it? You and I. We'll be back. Back to the Mike Porcaro Show with Crash on News Radio 650. This is News Radio 650, KENI, Anchorage. A plan to add in-state natural gas pipelines from North Slope to South Central Alaska, getting momentum, the Daily News Biner.
says a potential new bill would require a Fairbanks terminal for the project. The Economic Development Corporation in Alaska and the Trump administration will have shown support for the plan. Larson Bay is getting fiber optic technology, the first of three Kodiak Island communities, to be connected to GCI's Aleutians Fiber Project to expand high-speed internet access across remote Alaskan communities. Winter moose hunt in Bristol Bay extended hundreds of an extra month through March 31st.
for the Unit 17A area after poor travel conditions prevented them from reaching the moose populations. And the Iditarod's underway this weekend. Ceremonial start in Anchorage. Official restart Monday at Pikes Waterfront Lodge in Fairbranks. 33 teams taking part tied with... two years ago for the smallest field. New track this year because of lack of snow in some parts of the southern route. That's the latest. I'm Jack Cronin. This is News Radio 650. KENI Anchorage.
Looking at your Alaska. Total traffic cameras on this Friday afternoon. Still steady traffic around the Anchorage Bowl. Midtown intersections. New Short Highway. Definitely busy and backing up through that section. Outbound. All right, welcome back, everyone. It is 438. Let's go to Peter Goldberg. Hi, Peter. Well, hello, Michael. How are you? Well, I'm great. Good. I'm glad to hear that. Well, yeah. Are you great? I think so. Good. Don't ask my wife, but I'll tell you I am.
All right. I've got some commentary on that. This president declaring English is the national language. Sure. I want to preface this by saying... I strongly encourage and applaud every different immigrant culture and people that come to the United States legally. that they should do their best to make sure their children and their grandchildren still understand that language and appreciate the culture and the music.
and the foods and all the other things that come from their background and ethnicity. Absolutely. I absolutely agree 100%. Now, starting with that presumption that the parents... are diligent at doing that, and they should. Just as your Italian ancestors, and on my mother's side, my Italian ancestors, my father's side, Hungarian ancestors, they should all have done that.
Now, that being said, I just returned Monday. I arrived back in Anchorage at just about noon after a trip to Italy and then from Italy to Israel. Yeah, and I had a brief stay in Romania as I was coming back. So right now I've got 53 countries under my belt. I've done a bit of traveling. Yes, you have. That's pretty great.
Yeah, that's a lot, and I've got two more coming up. I'm leaving in 19 days. I'll go through Guatemala to Costa Rica, so that'll take me to 55. But there's something that is in common everywhere I have been. Every airport I've gone through, in most places, the road signs, when shopping, the signs that are on the stores, not all of them.
But almost everywhere I've gone, and I don't know that I can think of a place that I can't include in that, English is used in addition to the local language. Right. Everywhere. Everywhere. And it's to the advantage of everyone who's going to live here to learn English. not just because we need a common language where we're all talking the same thing, but for the good of the country and the good of each of those individuals that in any way, shape, or form...
might want to travel or in business interact somewhere else, they've got to head up. Because English is used in business everywhere. There's no exceptions to that. There are some things I've learned as I go, like just on this last trip, I learned that if you want to buy property in Israel, Even though the price will be advertised in shekels, you better have dollars to pay for it. Because the dollar is more acceptable.
than the shekel in their own country. And Israel is a pretty well-to-do country. And just about everywhere I've gone, I have been surprised at how much the dollar is king. I remember... I had just about a six-hour layover once in United Arab Emirates. And after arranging for a few hours in an airport hotel, I went to find something to eat. And the only thing I could find was a Burger King.
And you know what? The only currency they would take is the dollar. They wouldn't even take their own money. Well, you're right. To me, it makes sense. It doesn't mean you're abandoning your culture. It just means this is... This is the language. It's the language of commerce.
You know, it's not the language of diplomacy, although I think it is now. It used to be French, but now I think the language of diplomacy is English. I think the language of everything is English. Yeah, it's about as world... oriented a language as exists everywhere everywhere there's some you're going to find people who speak english in the in the most remote places on earth that i have been to and i've been i've been
on some third-world androids airlines that make you shiver when they take off. But English is everywhere. And if any of our people, whether they're born here... or they come here from somewhere else, English is going to make them or give them the possibility of having a happier, healthier, and certainly wealthier lifestyle. I would agree. I would agree. Peter, always good to talk to you. Literally, have a good trip on your next trip there. Yeah, I plan on it. All right. Ciao.
Ciao, ciao, ciao. All right, it is 4.43. Let's go to Jay. Hi, Jay. Hi, Mike. Last segment, you were talking about the gas line. price of natural gas in our fine state. Yes. And about 15 years ago, we had a flurry of activity with the possibility of gas line and wound up paying treble damages to Canada, did we? Yes, we did. And, uh... NSTAR at the time owned NSTAR. Now it's changed hands. But during that period of time, from 1999 to 2013, NSTAR started to raise rates.
Almost every month. And from 1999 to 2013, the increase in rates was 390.09%. in anticipation of a gas line arriving here so that they would have inflated rates when it got here, and if they reduced them, they'd still be ahead of the game by 300%. If you're interested, there is an article by Democratic Lady Benson, Diane Benson, on Saturday, 2011, May.
And it says, we possess the ability, money, to build our own gas line. And this was 15 years ago. And when you read this article, you find out that... If you took the article and printed it today, it would be totally apropos for the time. Yeah, that's pretty typical of Alaska, though, isn't it, Jay? Yeah, it's a... I hate to say anything bad about our governor, but my God, he's had a gross of red veto pens. He's yet to use one of them. Now they're going 75-25 on the PFD.
Well, this is Highway Robbery. It is. It's a group of Republicans who have been masquerading as Republicans, who really were Democrats. But you know what, Jay? The citizens have got to... get off their behinds and make changes and start electing men and women that are actually going to do something for us, not to us. Well, they got off their butt and voted for Trump, thank God.
I might be in the minority, but I'm on Zelensky's side in that little sprat they had in the White House today. The NATO is going to look at this and say... What's next? Estonia, Lithuania? Is he going to take those back? Putin? Well, I think it's going to be interesting. I don't know what Trump... I think he's trying to make a deal. There's more to it than what we saw. There has to be. And I guess what I would have liked to have seen is nothing.
I would have liked to have seen them, if they're going to have an argument, do it behind closed doors. But there was a reason for his actions today, and I'm not so sure I know what they are. I'm not trying to say that I would have handled it better, but usually if you're going to get into an argument, you try to do it. away from the cameras. Yeah, I think there's only one hope left, and that's if the Russian people themselves wipe Putin out. Well, good luck on that one.
Yeah, but that's probably the only hope we have. Otherwise, it looks like half of Ukraine is going to be Russian. Well, we'll see what happens. We'll see what sort of deal is cooked up, and I don't know, but we'll see. Jay, I appreciate the call. Thank you. You bet. All right, time for us to take a break. We have audio of the Trump-Zelensky meeting. Also, you know, J.D. Vance, our vice president, was a part of that, too, and a bigger part of it than I think many people realize.
But there's a lot more to this to me than meets the eye. And I guess I'm waiting to see what the strategic, you know, tenets were of this meeting. We'll be back. Get on with Mike and Crash weekdays at 3 on NewsRadio 650 KENI.
Looking at your Alaska total traffic cameras on this Friday. Action will all be on full display. Watch March 10th on iHeartRadio's YouTube and Facebook. And listen on iHeartRadio stations across America. Lenovo is proud to be a part of the iHeart Podcast Awards at South by Southwest.
where creativity and innovation collide with the new Legion Go S, the first licensed handheld powered by SteamOS. Your game goes anywhere. Visit Lenovo.com slash Legion Go. Empowering creators everywhere. A mix of sun and clouds through the afternoon. with a chance of isolated showers. Temperatures warm into the upper 30s for our highs and drop back into the upper 20s for our lows, so we stay warmer than normal through the weekend. I'm meteorologist Tracy Sinclair.
Alaska's news source. Report traffic problems to NewsRadio 650 KNI by dialing pound 250 on your wireless phone and saying total traffic. Welcome back, everybody. And the sun came out, kind of nice, bathing the luxurious studio that I'm in, in sunlight. And I know that's not happening where you are, Crash, because you probably have all the shades drawn and it's dark. Pretty much. Now, when I was over there yesterday, I noted that there were even more lights out.
than normal? I wouldn't know. I don't turn them on when I come into the studios. I just leave them off. Do I need to make a trip to the lighting store and buy some lights? No, I think the ones in your room are okay. It's my room, my little room in here. There's, let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine places for lights, and one, two, three, four of them work.
Kind of. Yes. There's a little bit of flickering going on. Yes. Well, you know, I kind of like to see you bathed in light when I'm there. Yeah, well, I have a natural aura. You do, because... An identifiable musk. I want to see you do the show on your Philadelphia Eagles helmet.
Oh, yeah. I took it apart today. I took the plastic piece out and put some padding in it. I bought a replica helmet, right? But it's full size, and it looks pretty cool. Oh, and it does look cool. It looks like a real helmet, but I'm not going to spend the $500 on a helmet because it takes me six months to make that much money. around here. Although you do get what you pay for, don't you? But I bought one of those replica ones and there's a plastic covering over it so...
to make sure you can't put it on because they don't want people wearing it because you'll get hurt. I don't care about that. So I ripped the plastic cover off the inside of it and bought some, uh, like foam, like the insulation they use for plumbing pipes and cut some of that up and glued it to the inside of the helmet so now I can wear it while I work. How are you going to get headphones on? I'll get those little earbuds. That's true, yeah.
No, I sat in my office today with it on for about six hours. I work with my wife, and she actually came into the office today, and she wouldn't even look at me. Because I'm married to that. Yeah, she looks down her nose at me, and it's just, I mean, I could tell by the disdainful look on her face that she was less than impressed. But at this point, who cares? What is she going to do, all of a sudden, like me again? That ship sailed a long time ago.
Well, that's true. Well, I'll tell you one thing we like is pip They're Alaska's local printer and local graphics gurus. PIP is just one of these companies that's been around for 45 years. They started off small. They've grown into an incredible organization. Unbelievably good work. Whether you're looking for high-quality offset printing or digital printing, banners, signs, posters, indoor or outdoor signage, direct mail, creative service group, they've got it all, and they're very, very...
customer-centric. They want to make sure you get more than you pay for, Crash. And I got to tell you, I've been working with them for 43 years, and that's what they do.
Yeah, they are, without a doubt, the best in the business. There's a reason they're known as Alaska Sprinter. Everybody's familiar with them. And if you think about how successful and well-known they are, it's that much more impressive when you think about where the whole thing started. 45 years ago, it started as a two-person auction.
And they've grown exponentially since that time. And like I said, they're not just surviving. They're thriving because of the quality of work they can do. It's not just the print job. It's everything before, during, and after the print job they can help you out with. The creative is just as important as the actual print job itself.
any sense to wrap a vehicle or have some storefront signage put if it doesn't look great. So maybe you need something done and you go down there with kind of an unfinished idea. You tell them what your idea is, kind of an outline, and the guys and gals in the creative department will put something together that works great for you.
be done in a timely fashion to adhere to your budget you're going to love the work and then after the fact any type of mailing service or wrapping of the vehicle anything like that that needs to be done they can take care of that as well but i don't take my word for it you want some great visual representation and work they can provide go to the website
Pippalaska.com. Check out the portfolio section. There's literally thousands of pictures on their website. But go see for yourself. Again, Pippalaska.com. Or give them a call at 907-274-3584. That's 907-274-3584. We'll be right back. Hi, this is Morgan Freeman. Has anyone ever said, you're the picture of health? You look healthy, you feel fine, but that may not be the full picture.
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Screening can find colorectal cancer at an early stage when the chance for a full recovery is very high. Talk with your doctor and get tested for colorectal cancer. Medicare and many insurance plans help pay for screening. Get screened. Make sure you are the picture of health. A message from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Experience Alaska's beauty in comfort and style with Dependable RV. Alaska's one-stop shop for travel trailers and toy haulers. Hi, this is... 1000 Watt Blowtorch. News Radio 650. KENI. News and information blowtorch Like having a conversation on your front porch Bridge 37 in Palmer, 38 in Soldotna, 40 in Homer. Talkeetna is 36, Fairbanks 28, and minus 12 up in Prudhoe Bay. And hi to our friends up there.
Well, Crash, there was a meeting today at the White House that was televised. It was actually a question and answer. It was a press conference. And ostensibly... This was a visit by Vladimir Zelensky from Ukraine to sign a framework of a pact that would give the U.S. a stake in Ukraine's rare earth elements. Well, that was the intent, but things kind of got out of hand kind of midway through the press conference, ending with the president...
canceling a bunch of stuff, and I think he even canceled lunch, and Zulinski heading out the door. So, what happened? Well, the president told Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky that he was gambling with World War III. During the exchange and so a crash. We've got some tape on that and why don't you go ahead and roll it?
Coming to the Oval Office to try to litigate this in front of the American media. Right now, you guys are going around and forcing conscripts to the front lines because you have manpower problems. You should be thanking the president for trying to bring it into this conflict. say what problems we have. I have actually watched and seen the stories, and I know what happens is you bring people, you bring them on a propaganda tour, Mr. President. Do you disagree that you've had problems?
bringing people into your military? And do you think that it's respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country? A lot of questions. Let's start from the beginning. during the war everybody has problems even you but you have nice ocean and don't feel now but you will feel it in the future god bless god bless god bless you
Don't tell us what we're going to feel. We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel. I'm not telling you because you're in no position to dictate that. You're in no position to dictate what we're going to feel. We're going to feel very good. We're going to feel very good and very strong. You're right now not in a very good position.
You've allowed yourself to be in a very bad position and he happens to be right about it. You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cars. Right now, you're playing cars. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III. You're gambling with World War III.
And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that's backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have. Have you said thank you once? No, in this entire meeting, you said thank you. You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October, all for some words of appreciation for the United States of America and the president who's trying to save your.
country please you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war he's not speaking loudly he's not speaking loudly your country is in big trouble wait a minute no no you've done a lot of talking Your country is in big trouble. I know. You're not winning. You're not winning this. I.
You have a damn good chance of coming out okay because of us. Mr. President, we are staying in our country, staying strong from the very beginning of the war. We've been alone and we are thankful. I said thanks in this cabinet. The stupid president, $350 billion, we gave you military equipment, and you men are brave, but they had to use our military equipment. If you didn't have our military equipment, if you didn't have our military equipment, This war would have been over.
In two weeks. In three days. I heard it from Putin. In three days. This is something new. Maybe less. In two weeks. Of course, yes. It's going to be a very hard thing to do business like this. I tell you. To say thank you. I spent a lot of time. Except that there are disagreements and let's go litigate those disagreements rather than trying to fight it out in the American media when you're wrong.
We know that you're wrong. But you see, I think it's good for the American people to see what's going on. I think it's very important. That's why I kept this guy so long. You have to be thankful. You don't have the cards. You're buried there. People are dying. You're running low on soldiers. Listen, you're running low on soldiers. It would be a damn good thing. Then you tell us, I don't want to cease fire. I don't want to cease fire. I want to go and I want this. Look.
If you could get a ceasefire right now, I tell you, you take it. So the bullets stop flying and your men stop getting killed. Of course we want to stop the war. But I said to you, I want a ceasefire. Because you'll get a ceasefire faster than an agreement. Ask our people about it. this fire what they think it doesn't matter for you what that wasn't with me
That was with a guy named Biden who was not a smart person. That was with Obama. Excuse me. That was with Obama who gave you sheets and I gave you javelins. I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. obama gave you sheets in fact the statement is obama gave sheets and trump gave javelins you got to be more thankful because let me tell you you don't have the cards with us you have the cards
But without us, you don't have any guards. One more question to Mr. Vice President. It's going to be a tough deal to make because the attitudes have... And that's just a bit of how it went. That's like Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I mean, you know, this is interesting. There's more. There's obviously more to this. than we were privy to hear. Obviously, Trump is trying to make some sort of deal, and...
Zelensky, by the way, is still in the country. He had an interview with Bret Baier not long after the meeting with Trump. interview he talked about the fact that he wanted to work with the United States Trump was then interviewed on his way to Mar-a-Lago. He's having a fundraiser or some event down there tomorrow night. And it sounds like... Everybody needs to take a breath, but it sounds like there could still be a deal. Now remember, that's what Trump does. He's a deal maker.
And he referenced it, I don't know if you could hear over the fact that they were talking over each other, that he was essentially talking about how you need to make a deal. And you just can't decide you want to sign up for this but keep fighting. And that's one of the things. that Trump was trying to get Zelensky to agree to. And I don't think Zelensky is going to agree to that. So this is where we are. Ukraine obviously needs...
the American support in terms of material. It would be great if we could all work and get a deal on the rare earth elements. Will it happen? That's a good question. As I say, there's a lot more under the surface here than I think we're being let in on. But I thought it was interesting. I have never heard two... world leaders, I guess. I don't know if you want to call Zelensky a leader, but certainly he's leading his country in that kind of basically almost a food fight.
Yeah, that was very odd. That was really odd. I was only halfway joking when I said it sounded like an argument at Thanksgiving dinner between my wife and my uncle who tells everyone who was really behind 9-11 every year. Now, maybe that's what needed to happen. Maybe. I don't know. But that was strange. That's the first time I'd heard that audio. And that escalated fairly quickly. It did. And I think that usually you can have those what they call frank discussions behind closed doors.
But there was a reason for Trump doing what he did when he did it. And, again, I don't know what he's got on his mind or what his plan is or how he's playing chess. But for those people that don't quite, you know. I wonder what's going on. He's got a plan. And the question here is, was that just playing to the cameras?
Or was he really angry or both? Well, the thing that I think you raised a good point. Do we we don't know how often conversations like that take place that aren't don't have cameras around and things like that. That could be fairly commonplace for for people in those.
positions whereas for somebody like just plain old me i've never heard anything like that before as you said two world leaders just just kind of yelling at each other and nothing got done maybe it happens all the time maybe it doesn't i don't know but that was odd Yeah, it was very odd, and I think that there's going to be a bunch of people now sitting around tables in other countries going, whoa, what was that about, and now what?
And I think that now what? I think maybe I'm being a bit Pollyanna-ish. I think there will be a deal. I think that Zelensky has to carry a certain message. Trump's got to carry a certain message, and we'll see what happens. But it certainly would be to Zelensky's benefit. and the Ukraine's benefit if there was some sort of deal made and, you know, obviously stop the fighting. You know, the question is then, what does Ukraine look like?
After fighting has stopped. So there's a lot of things going on. But I thought that was probably in my lifetime. I have never heard. two presidents of their respective countries dealing with each other in that way. And again, I'm sure that it happens, but we're never really privy to it. 522-0650. We'll be right back. The Mike Percaro Show with Crash on NewsRadio 650.
K-E-N-I. ...for our highs and drop back into the upper 20s for our lows so we stay warmer than normal through the weekend. I'm meteorologist Tracy Sinclair. Alaska's News Source. Now, back to the Mike Porcaro Show with Crash on News Radio 650 KENI. Crash, that was kind of interesting audio, was it not?
Yeah, I've never heard anything like that before. I was only halfway kidding when I said it sounded like a family argument. I mean, it sounded like my two kids yelling at each other, and then you had J.D. Vance over the corner screaming and yelling, and I couldn't tell who was who, and everyone was yelling at each other. Why can't we all just get along? Yeah, well, again, I'm not getting the point that there's a lot of love here. No. The question is, what's going to happen?
I think if anybody had any questions as to whether or not J.D. Vance could hold his own in that type of arena, though, I think that question has been answered. Yes. He definitely... He was the loudest one in the room, that's for sure. Yeah, he definitely kind of jumped in. Tom, you're on. Go ahead, Tom. Hey, you know, Valenski was getting his hackles up a little bit, and then Vance jumps in and says,
We've got to do this with diplomacy. And then Galinsky got all totally ticked off. But we forget, a lot of people forget, that Crimea was... Russia took over Crimea in 2014. Obama was in 2014. Correct. From 2016 to 2020, they didn't do crap. So under... So Trump's diplomacy, Russia didn't invade Ukraine, but as soon as Biden gets in, he knew that he could do it, so he just did it. So the diplomacy that Trump has works.
And Zelensky totally forgot about that, I guess. Well, you know, I think so. And remember, Trump had that conversation with Zelensky. Back when he got impeached because of the phone call that he made. It's one of these things where I think before people start... passing too much judgment. We need some more information and some more facts. Trump's a dealmaker, first and foremost, and anybody that's calling him a lapdog of Putin needs to stop.
Because you're exactly correct. Putin's adventurism was not obvious or on the world stage when Trump was president. So that's kind of what I'm thinking. There's more to come. I think we're going to see a deal. I don't know. So we'll see what happens. All right. It's 527. 522-0650. We'll take some calls on that if you want to weigh in and tell me what you think. Also, there's also another story out of Juneau today.
With your favorite politician, Crash. I'm twisting my mustache in anticipation of this. And I think that... There's a great story on it on Must Read Alaska, so you can read it if you like. But it involves Kathy Giesel, Senator Kathy Giesel of South Anchorage. And a speech she made, she asked for some special time to talk about what's going on in terms of the Trump cuts.
which in her words would mean $880 billion in cuts to the federal budget, and the only place, that's what she says now, the only place it could come from is Medicaid. Well... Is she right? We'll let you know. Stay with us.
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and responding troopers before he was shot. The Alaska Department of Public Safety says David Patrick now is officially being charged with assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, and weapons misconduct. A new survey says Juno has the fewest credit cards of any city in the U.S. WalletHub comparing the...
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We've got that audio. If you missed it, you can listen to the podcast. It's audio that we had with Zelensky, Trump, and Vance. And again, Crash, it's remarkable in terms that I've never heard a discussion quite as frank as that in public. Well, I mean, either you're not paying attention or whatever the case may be. Trump is not like other presidents. Whether you like that or not is irrelevant to the conversation that he's not. He doesn't...
play by the same rules as everybody else. He says things that other and I'm not putting him down for it. That's one of the main reasons why a lot of the people that love him, love him. He doesn't do it the same way. He's the Charles Barkley of politics. He says what is on his mind. My only wish for something like that was going to happen. Now, don't get me wrong. I love the fact that we got to hear it. I've never heard anything like that.
Just the yelling to me and all of that. Everyone got so animated so quickly. I just think it's a bad look for everybody concerned, regardless of what the intent was. The intent of what the meeting was supposed to be about fell by the wayside and is now considered...
secondary to the screaming match that took place, if that makes any sense. No one's talking about the resolution or the deal. Everyone's talking about the principal's behavior. And the motives. Yeah, and the motives. They're not talking about why this was supposed to happen in the first place they're talking about tertiary things that had nothing to do with the initial purpose of the meeting in the first place which i think is a shame yeah now the question is did this blow up will that
be the catalyst to get the deal. I don't know. Like you said, maybe this stuff happens all the time. We just never hear it. You know what I mean? Maybe this is commonplace. I have no idea. I can tell you in business sometimes it happens where, you know, you may have a disagreement with somebody and you just kind of have to. sit down and get it all out on the table and then after you do you know a lot of times it it things start to sort themselves out because sometimes you didn't realize
that there was something that was sticking in somebody's craw. And, you know, just say it. A lot of times people are afraid to say what's really bothering them, and that doesn't help negotiations at all. So you've got to be straight on the table. It's not easy. All right. Your favorite politician, Crash. And we know who that is, right? Of course we do.
All right, Senator Kathy Giesel of South Anchorage, according to Must Read Alaska, she was channeling, these are Suzanne Downing's words, channeling the talking points of the Democrats on Wednesday. But they were guesswork, as she attempted to weaponize the federal budget process against Republicans, specifically Donald Trump and the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.
So she's a Republican, but she doesn't seem to like Donald Trump. Just like the other Republicans in that caucus down there, they're Republicans, but they don't like Donald Trump. Meanwhile, he won. Giesel, a Republican who has turned on her party, said on the Senate floor that Trump... The tax cut would mean $880 billion in cuts to the federal budget. And the only place, the only place they could come from would be... Medicaid so why don't we go ahead crash and run her
little floor speech. It runs about three minutes and you can hear her actually say it. So we're not putting words in her mouth. She's doing that all on her own. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, late last night. The U.S. House laid the groundwork for possible major overhaul of Medicaid. This will help pay for the Trump tax cuts, Mr. President.
This budget resolution passed 217 to 215. So you can see it was a very close vote, Mr. President. This safety net program has been a prime target for budget cuts. Republican budget writers have instructed the Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in cuts, Mr. President. The only place those cuts can come from is Medicaid. So Mr. President, multiple groups are speaking out.
against this, Mr. President, and certainly the state of Alaska needs to have special interest in this. The American Cancer Society points out that this severs the lifeline for Medicaid, which provides care for cancer patients and those at risk. For Alaska, Medicaid makes up over $1 billion annually of our budget, Mr. President. One-third of Alaskans receive Medicaid benefits.
including our seniors who are often dual beneficiaries. That means they get Medicaid and Medicare benefits to assist with their health care. There was a major letter sent by six national organizations last week, Mr. President. Those national organizations were the National Association of Counties, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National League of Cities.
the International City County Management Association, and two more that are familiar to all of us, the Council of State Governments and the National Conference of State Legislatures. This letter... speaks out about the concerns of changing or repealing Medicaid funding from the states, pointing out the effectiveness of these programs, the costly implications of reducing. Medicaid payments. Medicaid, in fact, spends $561 billion over the last nine years potentially could be cut, Mr. President.
So I just call this out. We need to be aware of this as we consider our budgets. You know, we feel that there's a $500 million or so shortfall. in this year's budget and FY 26. Mr. President, there is potential for much more than that coming forward. So I wanted to call this out so all of us recognize The federal government is attempting to cut $880 billion. The only place it can come from is Medicaid. Thank you. Okay, so the only place this $880 billion cut...
could come from is Medicaid. She said that a couple of times. I'm confused though. Was she talking to Mr. President? Yes, I believe she's talking to Gary Stevens, who's the president of the Senate. No, I understand, but I mean, it was like every other word. I know, Mr. President. Well, is she right? Well, I would say in typical fashion, we find that perhaps she may not be. Here's what the Speaker of the House of Representatives...
Mike Johnson from Louisiana had to say about... I challenge you or anybody on your step. Do a word search for Medicaid on the resolution that we passed last night. You will not find it. That is not part of this equation, okay? We're talking about finding efficiencies in every program, but not cutting benefits for people who rightly deserve that.
requirements work requirements for medicaid that is a something that is public opinion polls almost ninety percent you don't want able-bodied workers on a program that is intended
For example, for single mothers with two small children who's just trying to make it. That's what Medicaid is for. Not for 29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games. We're going to find those guys and we're going to send them back to work. That's what everybody supports. That's what the Republicans are...
for and by the way we find dignity in our work that's going to be good for it Okay, so that's the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America, who probably knows a little bit more about what the heck is actually in these things than, Mr. President. uh senator gays again we're not saying what she said you heard her say what she said right which was wrong i love this The budget resolution passed by the House doesn't cut Medicaid or Medicare.
It does set spending levels for congressional committees, and that includes the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which oversees Medicaid. But Kathy Giesel said the only place that cuts could be made would be there. Well, she's apparently not correct.
one more time now if you're looking at cutting waste fraud and abuse would you not be happy Would you not want to see something like Medicaid be run without waste, fraud, and abuse so that those people who need the help get the help and that there's not a lot of grifters?
who are basically sucking the money dry? Well, my question for Representative Johnson would be, I understand that none of these services are not for 29-year-olds sitting on their couch playing video games, but my question would be, what about... 55-year-olds sitting on their couch. Well, what can I say? A recent poll by Rasmussen Reports shows that 71% of voters support reducing growth of Medicaid spending by removing illegal immigrants.
and requiring able-bodied recipients to work. Fully 88% of Republicans and 51% of Democrats backed the proposal. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski also weighed in. Here's what she said. I'm glad to see Speaker Johnson definitively rule out per capita caps on Medicaid. One in every three Alaskans is insured through Medicaid, and per capita caps would be devastating to states like Alaska, shifting untenable costs to our state that would inevitably result in a loss of coverage.
Not acknowledging the waste, fraud, and abuse in the program, particularly in Alaska. So, once more, we hear the sky is falling. We hear basically a misstatement of facts. I'm going to say they were unintentional, but she seemed to be doing a lot of research on it and was absolutely definite, definitive in saying the only place. The only place.
That this cut could happen would be Medicaid, which would be disastrous, and those damned Republicans are doing it to us again. So saith a Republican, with a small r and in quotes. Mr. President, I rest my case. We'll be right back. Back to the Mike Porcaro Show with Crash on NewsRadio 650. Looking at your Alaska total traffic. 30s for our highs and drop back into the upper 20s for our lows so we stay warmer than normal through the weekend. I'm meteorologist Tracy Sinclair, Alaska's news source.
Anchorage. All right, it is five. Let's round up 550. 522-0650. That I thought was an interesting piece of audio as well, Crash. And what I like about the fact that we're on, you know, this... kind of radio format, is we can actually play something and not just have a sound bite. I mean, we can actually let somebody develop their argument. We're not paraphrasing something we heard. Just let her dig her own grave is basically what happened right there.
retort by Representative Johnson. Basically, everything you said was wrong is what he said. And then when you play the audio of her speaking, you really get the... It's far more impactful because the tone and the timbre of her voice is very condescending. I think I'm the smartest one in the room. Just the way she delivered the message that, as turns out, was completely and totally false in every way, shape, or form.
The way she's speaking, I know more than the rest of you. Well, as it turns out, I think Representative Mike Johnson probably knows a little bit more about all of this than you do. And she got smacked down again. And I love it. Well, I think having the opportunity to actually hear the person say it rather than read it or have somebody read it to you, I think that's the power of radio.
I agree. I would totally agree. You know, it's like, okay. And again, I've said this on numerous occasions, and I will continue to say this and continue to do this. If somebody says something and we can get some tape on it, we'll play it for you so you can hear them say it, so that something is not taken out of context. It's what they said, and we're not making anything up. No. She is.
Well, apparently so. I don't know where she got the idea that this $880 billion with a B can only come out of one place. And that's the only place. She said it. That's the only place. and then framed her argument on that falsehood. I mean, I don't know. But if this is the kind of thing that goes on down in Juneau,
No wonder why we're in such trouble. It's interesting, too, because we've talked to enough legislators to know that they don't always agree on everything other than the raise thing. Although I have to say, when they turned the raise down, as you said, it's theater because the amount of money was a drop.
in the bucket and so they can point to it now and say look look what we did we we didn't give ourselves a raise but the last time they give themselves a raise it was a lot more than five hundred thousand dollars in totality but that being said i don't know how to react when they do something i agree with i have no idea
how to take that and process that information. So they don't always agree on everything. So I guarantee there's people that were listening to her give that ill-informed diatribe of falsehoods. And there were people in that room that knew she was incorrect. There's got to be...
be people in that room that probably have an axe to grind with it just are just thinking to themselves keep going keep going keep going well you would think that before somebody speaks and requests time to speak that they would have their Yeah, you'd figure there'd be a vetting process as to what it is you're going to say, especially when you go to the time and trouble of putting that whole thing together and asking for a special amount of time to address everybody and then find out.
later that everything you said was wrong that's kind of like being on the radio for two hours a day yeah exactly I don't quite understand where all this stuff is coming from. And the hatred, and I'm going to say that, or derangement, I don't know what it is. You've got Senator Giesel, Senator Stevens, who is Mr. President. He's the president of the Senate. And a couple of other Republicans down there who do not like Trump. That's okay. You don't have to like Trump.
But if you're a Republican, you have to kind of scratch your head and say, well, he's now the head of the party. He has been elected president. Not by a little bit, but he was elected bigly, you know, as he would say. What's the problem here? And then why in the world, and this just shows you, that you've kind of abandoned your core principles. And I'm just kind of waiting for the Republican Party to step up.
and say something, anything. You know, that would be nice. I realize that, you know, they're not a player in the financing of candidates. And I don't think they have any legal power to stop somebody from running as a Republican. But it would be nice if they could issue some sort of proclamation. condemnation, censure, something that says you folks are out of line with what we believe. And you folks aren't...
Following what you say you believe. And therefore we are going to say you are not a person we could back. as a Republican, and we would thank you very much to not run as a Republican. I mean, something, but we're not seeing that, and I think, you know, I don't think it takes a lot of courage to tell somebody they're full of it. You just do it. I mean, it doesn't seem to bother them at all. So this is what we've got in Juneau. Welcome to the world, you know.
All right, I got a note here from David. It said, before I ever heard your opinions about what happened today with Trump, and the president of Ukraine, you might want to read Trump's book, The Art of the Deal. Yes, David, I have. And that kind of very Trumpian. The deal is important to him, and he will do what he has to do to get the deal. And that's kind of what I was alluding to when we were talking. But no, you're right. All right, it is time for us to go.
End of February. Interesting way to end the month. Maybe there's more in store. Who knows? We will see everybody next month. Have a great weekend, everyone. There I was in my business suit, all dressed up, just uptight as I could possibly be. And I don't remember much of what was said at that first AA meeting. It was more the feeling of the meeting itself. That's what has kept me going.
I know it works, and I see the people ahead of me with more sobriety. I see how happy they are, and I want that. I want that too. And what I notice about AA is it's sort of... helps me to relax and learn to really be happy with my sobriety. It's a richer life to live. That's exactly what Alcoholics Anonymous does. He teaches us how to live without drinking.
It teaches us how to have fun and really enjoy life without drinking. This program's giving me the good life. The only good life I've ever known. Alcoholics Anonymous. It works. Look us up. Check your phone book, newspaper or AA.org. I don't know why my son would ruin himself with alcohol. Is someone's drinking breaking your heart? You might be surprised at what you can learn in an Al-Anon family group.
from people just like you. Call 1-888-4ALANON or go to alanon.org. He's back and he's got even more to say. Hear the O'Reilly Update with Bill O'Reilly. Only on News Radio 650 KENI. Net cap cost of $41,072. Total lease starts through MB Financial Services $17,316 based on 7500 miles per year. Stock number W.