I'm as sick as you are. Bengals lose yesterday. We'll get into that later on this morning on the Scott Floan Show on seven hundred w ODA. But in the meantime we know religion and politics that the line has been blurred. It used to be two things that don't talking about religion and politics. Then we started talking about it, and now those two things have come together and the line is blurred. And when that happens, you tend to not question the people who are doing the bidding for you.
And you went up with the crisis and government that we have not solely because of religion and politics and all that. I'm not saying that at all, but it certainly allows more will room and more cover to do what you want, even though it may be in your worst interest. Pat Hurley is an expert in logic and word intersects with religion and how it's averted by authority. Doctor Hurley, Good morning, How are.
You very good? Scott?
Thank you for having me on.
You know, having gone to school and I here have friends again. I'm taking logic this semester and everyone got a bad grade in logic because it seemed like it was oh this should be a pretty good course. You know, it'll be interesting, and it's really hard. Why is that logic seems like it should be rather easy.
Well, logic really involves something. You know, a lot of college courses these days you all to sit back, take it easy, but you actually have to learn something. You know, sign up for a logic for it. There's a genuine material there.
You know.
You can't just simply through it.
Well, maybe I just had to surround myself with dumb friends. I'm guilty.
Uh.
The thing is, today especially people believe things merely because they want to believe them. We put all our prejudices, We have all those prejudices in our mind because we can't put that aside and go okay, let's let me think about this from a factual standpoint, and.
We have we lost our ability to do that.
Or maybe this is me being old, doctor Hurley, is that maybe we were just never good at it to begin with, what's the truth?
Well, it is something that you have to commit yourself too. And going back to what you start, what you said at the beginning. I do think that there is a decline in critical thinking nowadays, and I think this is suggested by at least two things. One is the growth
of these unfounded conspiracy theories. They seem to be coming out of a woodwork and to the person who believes them, and they look like beautiful structures, you know, gorgeous castles, but they're castles in the air and they're not supported by anything. And then the second thing I think is, as you said, people seem to believe anything they want these days. They believe anything they read on the internet, anything they hear on TV. And I think the problem
in both cases is a lack of evidence. There's no evidence to support these things. So what's worse? People think that evidence is not necessary. I just believe anything that you want. But critical thinking mean supporting your views and believes with evidence. And you might wonder, you know, what is the cause of this? Well, they have many causes, you know, lack of familiar familiarity with logic if I picked up logick cook and steady maybe sometimes, But I
think religion plays a role in this. Religion blade plays a big role in practically everything when many people think and believe.
And I know it's kind of different things, but I think you can be you know, scientific and critical, but also be a firm believer in God. Those two things are mutually exclusive, are they?
I think he can for the couples a lot of people who are not doing it. You may recall that story of the doubting Thomas from the Gospel of John.
Trained as a Christian anyway, and.
The way the story went, the apostle Thomas was present with the other apostles and who were telling the story that Jesus had risen from the dead, and Thomas said, no, I'm not going to believe it until I put my fingers into the wounds in his hands and my hand into the wound in his side. And he just wasn't going to have anything to do with it. But then miraculously Jesus showed up he apparently allowed him to do that,
and then he became a believer. Well, the point of this story, I think is that it's better to believe without having evidence. There's something holy about believing without evidence.
Uh.
Religious religious belief brings higher kinds of truth, a higher kind of knowledge about God and related things. And there's another another problem I think that goes with this. Faith of course means belief without evidence, and faith play plays a big role in many people's religious fact every religion. But then there are books like the Bible and the Torah and the Kloran, and people believe that these things
contain the absolute final truths about everything. If you can find it in the Bible, there you in your need. But the problem is the Bible hasn't been found to be wrong about hundreds of things, and people don't look at that. So this is sometimes called the fallacy of the perfect dictionary. You want to know the meaning of a word, you want to know where some about something came from it. If it's in the Bible, that's all you need to do, and the same thing for the
for the Quran and the Taurus. But I would argue that there's absolutely no book anywhere that contains every single truth. But people don't don't recognize this, and they carry this maximum. You know, if it's in the Bible or some other sort, that's all you need, and they carry it into politics in ordinary life and some political figure, some guru you know, comes out and says something that's it. You don't need to even think further about it.
Right, Well, well, I think I think also part of this Doctor Hurley too, Once you brought up at the Bible is that it doesn't answer everything. But here's the problem is you have this this sacred text, but it's up to human interpretation. And so you can read a passage from the Bible and for one religion it means one thing, and for some other religion it means something else, which is why you have what over four thousand different interpretations of of worship or a deity or whatever it
might be. And you're just hoping your guys, right, that's basically what.
That's That's absolutely true. But I think the cure for this kind of thing is to educate yourself, you know, become a little bit more educated about what religion is and where.
It came from.
And recently most of my writings are the fancy then about logic, But recently.
I wrote a book called Religion, Power and Illusion, Genealogy of.
Religious Beliefs, and it offers an explanation for where religion came from and why it is the way it is, and why do religious leaders have so much power? Why does religion have rituals and festivals? Why is religion run by priests? Who are people that I call priests? And why is faith so important? And why does religion involve
where worship and sacrifice. So that's that's really the focus of this book intended to explain things and doesn't just throw mud at religion like many recent books to do, but it tries to give you reasons why you know it is the way it is.
Yeah.
Yeah, Well, because you're going to have people exploiting religion for their own benefit. I mean, I think of the televangelists, for example, the Prosperity Gospel. It's a nothing but multi level marketing is what it is. It's a pyramid scheme and your money floats to the top and you may
not have to give. Now that's your choice. And I think the problem is a lot of this gets in the way of understanding God and having that belief and that faith, because we want people to interpret stuff for us all the time, which is your point about logic and religion. And this is why I'm talking to doctor Pat Hurley this morning about this in the intersection of those two things that when blended with politics, tends to morph your worldview, and it's politicizing religion and vice versa,
and that discourages critical thinking and promotes blind faith. And you want that in religion. If you believe in one god, if you live in your God, whatever det that is. But that's really dangerous in politics. Was there time in the world or in America when when we are much better at being logical.
Well, I think there was. And the problem is that emotion seems to back most of the things that we think nowadays, you know, and part of its religion get to this sub polarization that we find when we find in society emotion runs the rules of today and practically in every case, if emotion competes with reason, emotion is going to win. Unfortunately, that's that's the problem, you know.
So I think if we just settled down, I think for what we are doing, we may come back, you know, perhaps the earlier times where we thought through things a little bit more thoroughly. But anyway, this book that I that I have written traces religion back twelve thousand years all the way to the Neolithic period, and that was the time that people began the abandoned the hunter, gathered our lifestyle and.
They settle down in communities.
To raise crops. And what happened at that time twelve thousand years ago, there were some very clever spituals who thought to themselves, wow, if I could figure out some way of improving the cop yield, know, that would be really popular among my group, right, And that's what they did. That's what they did.
They have they that, you know, the.
Seeds and the field and the rain and the sun and the wind and the warm temperatures with gods, and then they persuaded the people in the community that they could communicate with those gods, they could bargain with those gods, you know, for a better harvest. And that turned out that the harvest was good. Well, of course, then the people in the community rewarded these team these are shamans I call them. I call them these a proto priests. This is where priests came from, rewarded them with all
kinds of power. They gave them wealth and control, social status, good living conditions, madeing opportunities.
And so on.
And these were the first priests. And this pattern of priests creating gods, you know, and then persuading the people that they could bargain with those stuffs has continued for twelve thousand years. And it's the very same thing. The
three seasons lives behind them. The main religions today Christianity, Judaism, and well, so people you know, would come to the real if they would conclude that what I've said in this book is correct, they would see religion in a different life and they would see that maybe just because it comes out of the mouth of some shama, it's not a good reason to believe it. And just because it comes out of the mouth of some political leader, again, it's not a good good reason to believe it.
Is it just easier for us as human beings to have someone go okay, they seem to have all the answers. I'm like, they're affiable, they have a charisma about them that.
It's more important.
And I think it's also part of the tribalism that we've seen too talk talking about ancient history is obvious believe that, you know, for a lot of people, it seems more important to be part of the tribe than it is to be independent. And go, well, wait a minute, now you're saying this, but this is true. Also, how to these coincides? Because you don't want to be the person challenging it's the Thompson gazelle, right, You want to
be the gazelle standing out near the pond. When the rest of the pack is gone, because then the predator is going to come and eat your head off. That's a lot of what I think people think these days too. We're kind of seeing a reversion, you know. We're kind of addressing into that, aren't we.
Yes, I think we are.
Uh.
And this tribalism that you mentioned, of course goes back tens of thousands of years of a pre historic time, and we're seeing, you know, a new eruption of this, brought on, I think by by the disparity that that people have an interview, by the diversity of opinions, and by the emotion and come to the surface. You're absolutely right, is the question of a survival and if you stick your head out first, so be very careful, and they're not careful.
That's the thing.
Critical thinking means being careful with what you believe. It means having evidence to support your views. That's that's what it is. People have to come back to that, they have to abandon this tribalism that you see today and and and come to see that it's important to speak ahead on what you believe.
Yeah, but unfortunately we have political leaders that don't espouse that. And I guess that's part of politics too. It sounds like it's the shaman of old days and we've ascribed that no out of political leaders on both sides of the which is part of the screaming and pandering that goes on, and that's that's not a good thing.
How what role is education? Now?
You have worked for years and as an educator, as a professor of logic, and you study this for a long time, But is education is our educational system to blame here too?
I think it is.
I think in recent years we've seen a dumbing down of the curriculums and that I think is really really unfortunate, and we teach all kinds of things that people uh compared with basket weaving and snow and stuff. I think in recent years this has come come to that a lot of our courses thought in the university don't have any content really to speak of. And that's that's really really as a basis, I think there were a lot of this and a lot of schools don't teach logic anymore,
which is unfortunate. Project used to be one of the seven liberal arts, you know, and uh, it's forgot be where the liberal arts you know or all about.
There's almost a conspiracy theory there right as they want us dumb.
It is onto something, but there's maybe a founded conspiracy there is not unbounded. There's evidence. I think that what's happening, you know, to our educational system in these days.
So yeah, I mean I didn't really start thinking like this until I was out of school, I think, which is a sad indictment of my my education. Doctor Patrick Curley on the show on seven hundred WLW, he taught logic for a long time. It's always a hard class, but how to put your prejudices aside, like religion, power and illusion, And I think it gives some context for
going through here. Typically politically in a mayor Okay, you know, we have about twenty percent of extremes and probably less than that on both sides on the on the right and on the left, and the rest of us kind of just sit in the middle of the independent. Maybe that's why maybe there's hope here. Something like I just saw a new poll forty two percent of Americans consider themselves independent, which would make them the large make us I guess, the largest political party in the United States.
So I think a lot of people are getting tired of this.
They are, and there are extremes on the right and the left. An Aristotle that I think best, you know, in the middle stands virtue and the US just going to the middle, and I think they may restore these maybe the people who restore sanity in this situation, at least I hope they do. I'm a little closer myself, so.
Yeah, I kind of feel like this is maybe the end of that. But I don't know. Maybe it's a generational thing with baby boomers. I'm not sure, but doctor Patrick Curley, Religion, Power and Illusion. Thanks again for the time, appreciate.
It, Thank you very much.
Take care. We've got to talk about the inevitable.
The Bengal arguably one of the worst losses of all time, and that's saying a lot for this franchise. We also have the thievery in front of Great American Ballpark. Now only we get kicked in the crotch yesterday at Pekar. He got kicked in the crotch at gabp All in the same day. We'll get to that right after news Sloany on seven hundred WLW. iHeart Scott's blowing back on seven hundred w LW lost the cover on this Monday morning,
and hey, Monday morning, we're coming back just being in pain. Well, we got just absolutely shafted, got boned over the last twenty four hours. I mean, first of all, you get the Bengals and a horrific loss, and arguably, if you've been a long suffering Bengals fan, this one that this
loss feels like it's among the worst. The other indignity And Tom Brenneman just an hour agohead his dad on Marty Brenneman, somebody stole the microphone from the brand spaky new Marty Brenneman statue in front of Great American Ballpark, broke the mind microphone off. Like I don't know if it's like the two guys still missing from the Louver heist. I'm not sure who's now now they're still in the Brenneman statue pieces from Cincinnati.
What's this world coming to?
I wonder if the Bengals defense had any to do with guarding Marty statue.
I'm not quite sure. I have to look.
An investigation is forthcoming, as we'll roll, But what an embarrassing loss if you invested your time the hell if you went down to the stadium yesterday expecting a beatdown and making it, you know, the Bengals rolling, they get to even all as well and good. I can't imagine how sick in your stomach and the pit of your stomach he must feel, having invested all that time and hope that this should be a lock. Right, you look at the schedule and go, dah, there's no question about
Bengals got this. We look right past the Jets, and you should have because the Jets are bad football. There's a reason that they're well were until yesterday. It went seven. In addition to being bad, all their guys were hurt. You had one guy it bris Hall, that was it. You had a running back that's it, justin Fields was terr You got benched. His quarterback rating was less than sixty from the past two games, and you lost to
that guy. I mean, he put up some some really good numbers, no interceptions, a touchdown, two hundred and forty four yards. Fine, good enough to win. Good, But the Bengals offense was just so much better. And I would say that the play calling and of course the level of talent on defense are the two big issues for this football team, and there's a low looking past that.
You know.
Now, we got of that conversation where I think, go, okay, well you change your defensive coordinator. Well you know Shamar Stewart, it's going to take a well, well yeah, you're with it on draft picks on defense, and I don't I don't think that's I mean, you blame the defensive coordinator arout Ol Golden, and I think that, you know, some of Zach's play calling was certainly questionable, especially down the stretch, and that's fair, but that's not like, Okay, who do
we blame? Who's this on? Is to be the big question? And I can't help but look at it, and there's a core thing going on here, and that is the fact that you know, they were mess around with contract with Trey hendricks In and getting getting receivers under contract and how are they going to get this done? And then and really didn't do anything in the off season to address the big concerns. As a matter of fact, they just stood pat with the guys they had because
they didn't want to spend the money. That's above Zach Taylor, that's above Al Golton, that's above the players on the field, that's front off of stuff. So we're back to that conversation again, the ugly conversation that quite honestly, the Brown family doesn't want us to have because now you're casting dispersions on their ability to draft, on their ability to run football operations. And that's what it's coming down to. I mean, explain to me if it's indeed a coaching
Oh wow, this is different. Just come coaching. They're not going to fire Zach Taylor. He's been to the Super Bowl of the Century, so he's good for another one hundred years. You got rid of Loui Anrumo who went to Indianapolis and how they do and they're what they're seven to one, pretty good, pretty good football team. He's doing. His defense is pretty good. Right, that's the same guy they ran out of town here. And so you bring Al Golden while he's going to coach up the he's
gonna coach up these guys. Schmar is still he's gonna coach. He's got Shamar Stewart has been terrible. I mean he's literally done nothing. And you could talk about the holdout, you could talk about the ankle injury, and he missed the Mond Okay, great, but if you have that god given ability, you're gonna at least make some places, especially against a horrible line like the Jets have nothing. At some point you got to start looking above the coaching
and okay, well, these players are bad. Well why do they have bad players? Why are they drafting poor players? Why are they hitting on the wrong guys. It's a fair question ask, and that falls squarely on the feet of Duke Tobin and everyone else above him for that matter. Thirty nine thirty eight they lose yesterday. That's about as embarrassing as it gets. I was thinking back in history
and I had to look it up. Last time they one of the teams that really smoked him was like twenty seven, nothing like fifteen years ago to the same New York Jets team. Apparently the Jets have their number, but fortunately only play them every so often.
Oh my god.
It's just I don't know how you stood that didn't leave that game yesterday not sick to your stomach. I really really don't. That's embarrassing. And a team that's had some really embarrassing losses, let's face it, you beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. Defense was okay, it was good enough to win. But man, in this game yesterday though, it was It's just inexplicable how poorly they played against the worst team
in the National Football League. You can go out again in Sunday and they were, you know, nothing more desperate than a winless team. I get all that stuff, but they were so hurt, they were so decimated with injuries. They had one weapon they're running back, and he torched it for like one hundred and thirty plus yards. Makes no sense. You had one job. All you got to do is stop that guy from running the ball, and they were running the ball in the fourth quarter to
show you how confident they were. M really makes you want to rip your head out, or your your head off, or maybe your hair out. Maybe your head and your hair.
That's that bad. We're done.
We're beyond ripping hair out. We're ripping our own heads off right now?
All right?
What else is going on in this world of ours? I hate to start it with such a downer. Always try to look something positive on Monday morning. I don't know how many of those those things are going on. Later on in the show, We're going to get ten oh seven this morning. Kurt Ribers on from Freestore Food Bank. We are now in the stage of the shutdown where you're starting to feel its effects. You know, in the early stages, first couple of weeks, for first two three
weeks in this thing, it's all theater. And I said that, look, this is you know, when you're closing national parks and not cutting grass and picking up trash, and you know you're still doing construction on the White House. Army Navy football game is tell you the service academies that are doing what they we're paying soldiers. Okay, all, well, I'm good.
The first few weeks of this thing is theater. Then you know, federal employees, okay, we're not getting a pay check office start and it's like, okay, get a little more serious, but still not that serious. Now you're talking about snap benefits and stuff and people not eating. That's a different story. And we'll see what happens on Saturday if they can't find the money to keep people fed in this country, I mean, think of it. We are collectively a nation of largely fat bastards. We have more
food than we can possibly eat. We throw more food out than most nations can produce, and at the same time we have hungry people. You don't have to be a diet in the world, progressive liberal, handwringing, tree hugging democrat to not feel for your fellow man, especially if you're I would say, if you're a Christian, do you look at that and go that's that's horrific. But that is part and parcel for what we're talking about. With a government that only cares about their party, you know
you think they both care, they care about people. Now, this is putting party over politics. And when we have a shutdown that continues to plot along. When you get to that thirty day mark, and there's a reason why this is the second longest in history. The longest was thirty five days, and thirty five days about the breaking point where they say, okay, we got a we got said this very well. Maybe what happens Saturday, if we get to that point, might be the wake up call
for this to change. But once you get past thirty days and it goes from theater into reality, and we'll see that on Saturday with the with the snap cuts, and both sides are just so dug in because of the events. They're winning the political and pr battle. That's all it is. They just look at their internals, They look at their poll and go, oh, there our supporters. There are one hundred percent with us year. They want
us to continue this fight. Well great, But in the meantime, don't like normal people, regular people, friends, family members, co workers, neighbors. Don't they get squeezed out? You know the idea that I understand that sometimes stereotypes exist for a reason, but they also tend to die of very slow death. You know, the idea that the people getting snap benefits are like a bunch of welfare queens and kings that simply sit around, exist on government benefits and don't produce anything. The Ball
and Kurtil talk about this after ten o'clock. The bulk of people or on that are actually working people and working families, folks who are working multiple jobs that still can't keep their head above water. That's an indictment of our system for sure. Dems think Republicans are going to shoulder the blame because they run washing and Trump dominates. The political sphaesots all on them. The only thing that they're above water on the Democrats talk about a you
think Republicans are messed up, that Democrats are horrible. The only issue that they're upside on the right side on them is healthcare. In the eyes of the American people, all the pulling them indicate that Republicans win pretty every major character, education, defense, you name it. But healthcare that's the one area where Democrats are winning on. And this is about subsidy to try and carry things on for people through the first of the year up ti the
first year. We don't know what's going to happen with an Affordable Care Act, which is of course just another money shift, and no one will address the root issue with this. No one wants to have a good faith conversation. You have to have trust. No one trusts each other, and so they'll look at their internal numbers to look at their supporters. And meanwhile, if you know, if you're a political kool aid drinker, you love that because your
side is winning, quote unquote winning. We're winning. We're winning this one. We're winning, We're winning. Don't back down. You got to win, stand and fight. And of course they'll send out appeals asking you for your money so they can continue that fight. But in the meantime, I think the middle part of us, the electorate, looks at it going. Who's benefiting from people starving or not getting their snap benefits. I don't want to see more people snap benefits. I
want to see left. I want to see people work and buy their own food. But because the way they've structured the system, the way the system is set up right now, it's hard for a lot of people to do that, and they get caught in the middle. I think you can be compact, you can be a conservative, and you can be compassionate about that too, and I don't so hopefully maybe we can fill that gap with
the free store food bank. And like Annaway Kurt ribers I mentioned coming up on the show at ten oh seven, they caught half of them out of the four thieves that used a ladder and a vehicle mounted the lift to break into the louver in the Apollo Gallery. Last week they have caught two of the four suspects of the four thieves, one of them at least is trying to flee the country. After the Crown jewel heust in France, they still eight pieces of royal jewelry, necklaces, earrings, brooches.
The brooches and belonged to Napoleon's wives and the French Royalty. So the question now is, well, that means we can recover this stuff, right?
I got that a.
Rabbit hole this weekend reading about this, it was fascinating that if you still let's say they still painting. Well, first of all, and the reason why they targeted jewels is because there are motorcycles. You can put them inside your coat and you can drive away trying to carry you, you know, a giant trying to carry the I don't know the bone elite though, may cause people to look at you go, I don't know. Yeah, that looks kind
of familiar. Probably not the best idea. And plus was stolen paintings, you can't it's hard to sell because thieves can't show legal ownership. You know, there's no title to it, like a car or house, and so you have to sit at it for a long time, maybe end up in you know, in a legitimate collection at some point in the future, but not anytime soon. So stolen artwork like that, I forget it. But jewelry a different story. And they're saying that there's a ten percent chance, a
ten percent chance that this can be recovered. The experts seem to think right now that the precious jewels, the crown jewels that were stolen had been broken up in the smaller gemstones, the metals had been melted down and reshaped and sold to dealers who have no idea what it is. And now, granted it's a fraction of the value, because we were talking about one hundred million dollars is what all these were worth. But guess what those gems and that melted down gold and silver and all that
stuff still worth millions and millions of dollars. And so maybe they said there's a ten percent chance I'll recover this stuff.
That's incredible.
Also, about ninety percent nine and ten museum heights are inside jobs, and this kind of feels like an inside job if you watch it, if you followed it at all. I did a little bit just because you know, art heists and heists in general kind of fascinating. You know, there's a Ocean's eleven, twelve and thirteen marathon on this WEEKND.
I kind of flipped around soft parts of that, thinking that it's like the Louver, right, But most of it is, you know, inside jobs, and most of it's stolen during storage or transit, not the stuff that's in the display gallery, which makes us even more compelling because actually brought broke in and stole items that are on display. Because most museums a lot of stuff. Museum, especially louve I think something like ten percent of their objects are on display.
Ninety percent of the stuff is in storage somewhere, and you think, okay, well, stealing it from storage is a hell of a lot easier then stealing something on display.
But again they had I think a third or more of the security cameras were down in that area, and it was just a logistical nightmare and mess and certainly makes the French government look incompetent and they don't need any more help looking like that, Like I guess they're I don't know, man, we may have to check the lineage of the Bengals defense and maybe a connection to France there.
I'm not quite sure.
But nonetheless, they caught two of these individuals, one trying to flee the country. But the idea they're going to get the jewels back, according to the experts are saying it's a ten percent chance that the stuff has already melted down and already sold. For that matter, I mean, I guess you could take I don't know, a bunch of jewelry, break the stones off, have somebody split the rocks down. Now you've got loose diamonds and emeralds and
rubies and sapphires and all those precious gemstones. And then just take the metal that was holding it and melt that down into what I don't know, but into maybe a different form of jewelry. Doesn't take all that much work, if you think about it. You just need some unscrupulous jewelers to do that for you. And there's probably enough money in it to find unscrupulous jewelers. So who knows, maybe that next engagementing Dimary and Pennant whatever it might
be one of the French ground jewels. You know, if you're getting engaged, can you buy the ring and say, you know, I don't say this, but that was that was one of the Napoleonic jewels are in there? Really, I can't tell anybody. You can't tell anybody. But then again, you better trust that person because they'll roll on you.
That's what they do. Eventually, they'll roll on you. It's five point three seven four nine seven eight hundred the Big One talkback iHeartRadio app on this Monday Morning with Scott's Loan here on seven hundred WLW.
I want you got something back on seven hundred WW.
So starting Saturday, we're on the clock right now, about forty two million low income people will not get their SNAP that's a supplemental Nutrition Assistance program benefits unless Congress breaks the stalemate. Got to fund the government and hit things back open. So as things stand right now, and this is a very local concern, is that the big beautiful Bill already cuts SNAP by like one hundred and eighty six billion, which is the largest cut in history.
We're headed into winter and the holidays, which means demand for services is going up. And right here in Sinsey, the Free Store Food Bank is the largest emergency food and service provider to children and families in all of Cincinnati or Kentucky and southeast Indiana. They hand out over fifty almost fifty million meals annually to low income people and families. And the question is the strain that they're going to face or maybe they're they're staying right now.
He is the CEO of the Free Store, and that's Kurt ryber Back on the show this.
Morning, How You Been, I'm Scot yourself. I'm doing well. Thank you so much.
You know, the story kept coming out and okay, we've got the government shutdown and now the snap benefits are going to go away starting Saturday, and we know they're already cuts to snap under the big beautiful bill, and we know that the appeal starts. It's ongoing appeal. Of course, it's year round, but seemingly around the holidays, right around Thanksgiving and Chris us in winter months, there's more demand for you guys as well. Are you starting to feel the impact.
Yet, Well, we've always seen just based on their higher growthery prices and the higher cost of living that we're seeing right now due to inflation. Scott, we're seeing an increase. Over the past two years. We've seen about a thirty five percent increase in demand at our two markets, our detailing market and our Liberty Street market, and then our six hundred plus pantry that we serve in the twenty counties served by the Free Star are letting us know
also that they're seeing increased demand. Typically, when kids go back to school, we see the demand drop off a little bit because eight out of ten kids are eligible for free and reduced lunches, which is also going to
be impacted by this government shutdown as well. But I think what we're seeing right now is that people were living paycheck to paycheck during the pandemic, and that continues because people have burned through those reserves, so they've been relying on a freestore food bank and our sister food banks across the country at a much higher level.
So we've got literally tens of thousands here in Cincinnati that are potentially losing food assistants coming up. How are you guys the freestore preparing for what could be a massive influx of people who never used the food bank before.
Well, we've been reaching out to the federal employees, the military families, the folks that have been impacted by the furloughs and the layoffs, because we want to let them know that we're available and we're there to help them
through this difficult, challenging time. We're looking right now as to whether or not we're able to increase our food distributions at least at our two markets, at our Betailor market and our Literaty market to twice a month, typically during the summer months when the kid drop from school, we allow our neighbors to come and shop twice a month, and then during the school year we had them shop
once a month. But we're looking right now to see whether or not we have the resources and the capacity to allow them to come and shop twice a month at least until the government shutdown's resolved and staff benefits we come to flow.
Yeah, so double the demand here and at least so there's a capacity concerned here. Do you have enough food, you have tech? Do you have enough volunteers and resources to handle that?
Well? The volunteers, obviously, we can always use more volunteers. I encourage folks to go to Freestorefoodbank dot org and uh, you know, volunteer on our volunteer button. But also as far as reserves and resources we have, you know, we we've acted very you know, frugally, We've been good storages
of the resource we've gotten in. We would always encourage folks if they have the capacity to make the gifts now, especially during these more challenging times for the families that are serving, now would be an opportune time to do that. But I think what we're looking at right now is making sure that we're Unfortunately, we've been buying more food than we have in the past because of supply chain
issues and the like. But I think what we're trying to now is talk to our food service partners, the grocery stores that are out there, the manufacturers that are out there, and trying to say, if we're buying food from you all, is there also some food that you could donate as well. So we're trying to hit it on all front, Scott, so that you know we're there
for the families. But the reality is this is that nine out of ten meals are provided by SNAP Benefits and one out of ten meals is provided by Freestop Food Bank our sister food banks across the country. Just in Ohio, almost one and a half million families receive individuals receive SNAP benefits. Forty five thousand of those are veterans, and sixty two percent of them are our families with children.
So we know that it's going to be felt fifty percent of the families that we serve, and we serve two hundred and seventy five thousand of our neighbors that are food and secure eighty two thousand wich your kids. So we serve about half of those are receiving SNAFF benefits, and most of the families that we serve are working just not making enough money to make ends meet when it comes time to buying groceries, or paying the rent, or buying medicine for the kids, or paying you know,
buying food. So those are the things that we've been confronted with for years. But this community has really rallied behind us over the year, Scott, and I know that they're going to do that again.
Now I'm sure you've also looked at it too. I mean, you have to do a I guess, find out what your breaking point is for lack of a better term, right, I mean, how close are you to that? If you start to add up all these numbers, you go, how are we going to sustain this? If we're now twice a month, then we've increased demand, you know, thirty percent? Is that sustainable for how long?
Well?
You know, the way we look at this is that you know, we've prepared for, you know, to maintain reserves for events like this. We've gone through some natural disasters where we've partner with other food banks across the country. We've rallied behind folks during the pandemic during the Great Recession. So Free Store is going to stand tall and be there as well as our six n the food pantries that are across the twenty countside. Twenty County is served
by the Free Store. But at some point in time, we will get to a point where, you know, if this is a prolonged government shutdown, then more and more families will be turning to Freestore and our sister food banks, and at that point in time we'll have to assess the situation. But right now we're not there. Right now, we are in a situation where we have resources and
reserves to weather the storm on a temporary basis. I would say if we go out there another you know, thirty days, then things are going to have to get a little bit more tighter.
Well, as I've said a long you know, the first few weeks, days and weeks of this, it's all political theater. But as you get to that thirty day mark, and that's why the longest shutdown in the second longest and the longest one is thirty five days, because now that theater becomes reality in the case where you guys are at Freestore Food Bank.
Kurt Ryber.
You're going to see the families you serve hit the hardest and typically who gets hurt in there when the SNAP benefits disappear disappear. What kind of folks are we talking about here.
We're talking about you've got you've got seniors, You've got you know, military families. Uh. Forty three percent of the SNAPPER recipients in Ohio, our older adults are disabled individuals. As I said, sixty two per families with children. We have forty five thousand volunteer or veterans. I'm sorry to
receive SNAP benefits in Ohio. And that's that's just you know, those are the folks that have given so much of their own lives to this great country of ours, and now when we need to help them during their challenging times, we need to be there. And that's really what the free store is going to be about.
Uh.
You've mentioned Thanksgiving coming up. Then you'll have a Christmas holidays and the December holidays that are out there, uh, you know, and families will be relying on freestore more profound way in order to make ends meet. And Free Store in this community has rallied behind these situations in the past, and you know, my challenge right now is to let people know that they can make a difference by making a donation of the Free Store Food Bank.
Every dollar comes in and we compriabe the equivalent of three meals, and that's really going a long ways towards helping to meet the needs of these families that are struggling.
It really is consider you to make a thoughtful donation as well to the Freestore New Food Bank now more than ever because of what we're talking about here. And you know, you mentioned the families that show up and I'm sure there's some familiar faces there, but you're going to see a whole bunch of people have never needed help before. And on that too, how do you reach people and help ununderstand that food banks are there for them.
I mean, you're going to get a whole new if this continues, a whole new bunch of people showing up or people who may not know you exist in the first place.
Yeah, Scott, what we're doing is we're using all of our social media outlets in order to do that, or using folks like yourselves on seven hundred WW to raise awareness about the Free Store Food Bank. If people need assistance.
They can go to Freestore Foodbank dot org and click on to get help Now, and they can find a pantry that's close to them and be able to receive that assistance that they need for The free Store has continued to rally behind the families that we've served in the Tri State area, and we saw an uptick in the number of food and secure families over the past two years here. But I think what we're going to try to do is we're going to try to look at it and say, Okay, how can we make a difference.
And we do that through a couple of other things. We also have wrap around supportive services our Customer Connection Center, so we provide rental assistants to Utilia assistance. We have two wonderful workforce training programs. We're getting folks back into the workforce, and that's our culinary program CINCINNTI Cooks kind of Lift, the Tri State Logistics program. So there are things that we're doing to stem the tide right now.
We need people to support us so that we can support those families that are truly in a dire state.
Is this sustainable at this right? I mean, even if a fraction we said forty two million people turn to food banks across the country, including the Free Star Food Bank where you're the CEO of kurt ryber Can, the Charitable Food System, and I would include churches there as well. Can we possibly fill that gap that's a lot of people.
We can't. We can't food bank our way out of the scott and you've shared that with our elected officials, both of the state, federal, and local levels. We're working with folks at Hamilton County to figure out what we
can do as far as reallocating some resources there. We're talking to folks of the city, but we're also talking to our federal luck officials as well and trying to say through our government relations team at Feeding in America, they're continuing to let folks know that this is really impacting families because they're quite honestly not doing their job and getting a budget passed, and you know, having a continued resolution pass it is critically important and right now
is more than ever for the families that we're serving.
Yeah, now, three weeks ago is okay, We're going to shut some national parts and maybe not cut the grass. Now now you're talking about not feeding people and that that's the reality as this thing has gone from theater to looming damage. I know, I think it was Virginia. They declared a state of emergency and covered snap with state funds. Says you mentioned local and federal. What's the state's role in this. Have you reached out to the governor to Wine.
Well, we reached out to the elected officials, to our state associations. We have a Free State Association we're partners with and they are helping us, you know, message those you know, the folks at the governor's office, Governor Dwine, Governor Brasher, governor will come over in Indiana and they're really helping you tell the story and tell the impact.
What you have to understand too, is that for every dollar worth of stamp benefits that come in to our economy, that equates one to a dollar fifty four in economic impact. So you know, we're not on really impacting just the families that were serving, but we're impacting the retailers, the grocery stores, the folks that are or have hired a lot of people that will also be impacted. If this government continues to shut down, let's say.
In the next four or five days, that they finally are able to get this thing done in open government back up. But even beyond November, if the shutdown ends this week and benefits are restored, what's your outlook for like the next six or twelve months.
Kurt Well, I think what we're going to see is where you continue to see people that are that are struggling, you know, living paycheck to paycheck. You know, the inflationary pressures. The stock market may be going up, but that's not impacting the families that we're serving. So those economic benefits they receive are pretty really important to really stem the tide. Seventy percent of the families we serve, the neighbors that
come into our markets are are working families. You're just not making enough money to make ends meet when a child gets sick, or car breaks down, or your chili bills are out of site. I mean, if we have a rough winter to side, do I pay for my
heat and electricity or do buy food? And when they make that decision and they say I'm going to pay for my electricity and my heat, which is critically important, then they're going to come to our food bank and our food pantries and really try to figure out how they can leverage those resources as well. So everything works in dependently on each other, and right now, more than ever, we need as help.
Yeah, this is this isn't the old tired, stereotypical welfare queen Wright King who just shows up and gets free stuff from everybody who don't feel like they got to work. You're talking about people working multiple jobs with family and trying to keep their head above water because the cost inflation and everything has gone through the roof and skyrocketed because of a number of factors. And now if you cut off the benefits are getting the food benefits here, people really starve.
Well, it's really critically important when you know, and I want to encourage folks if they do need assistance, then you know, please go to our website Prestore Foodbank dot org and they can find help near them. They find a pandy that's close to them. We have over six hundred pantries that we support in twenty counties, about eighty percent of our faith based. So we know that the
faith community is rallying behind this as well. And we know that the families that were serving and we have one hundred and forty amazing team members to work as a free Store of Food Bank on the front lines of hunger each and every day. We have over twelve thousand volunteers that provide eighty two thousand dollars a volunteer service war US. So this community has rallied behind the
Free Store of Food Bank. We know they will do that again, and we just encourage folks to help us get through this time.
Talent, treasure, right, the three big things. And you can give one or maybe all of those in these efforts. And maybe you need want to volunteer, don't have money to give you, but you have time, certainly go and volunteer. Go to Freestorefoodbank dot org. If you have money and you want to give, please do that because they're going to need to fill this void. If indeed we get to Saturday and forty two million low income people don't get their Snap benefits.
We'll talk about food here.
We're not talking about anything else but just basic human sustenance at this point.
So Kurt Ryber, Yeah, one thing I would point out to Scott is that a lot of folks who have been asking questions about their Snap benefits that are already on their Snap cards, those benefits will be available and usable after this, you know, after this November one deadline. So if you have Snap benefits that are continuing to stay on your card, you can still use those as the retailers that you frequent until those are spent.
Important point to the Snap benefit card itself. If you have the credit on there, you're just not getting any new credit.
That's correct.
Yeah, as of Saturday anyway, Well, hopefully cooler health will prevailed. They'll come to a conclusion here and wrap this nonsense up because now you're really impacting people's lives. Kurt ryber at the Free Star of Food Bank. God bless you man. Thanks for what you do. We'll get the word out, try to get some volunteers, get you some money too, to maybe stem the tide here.
Thanks so much, Scott, I appreciate you. Take care. Thanks so much.
Yeah, it's the sad reality of it that, you know, if you're a political junkie and you're into this thing and you know you want your side to hold out Democrats want their side to hold out, Republicans on weather side. The reality is there are people, real people who are getting caught up in the middle of this. Kids, working families, especially seniors, veterans. How is government serving them? How's government serving us? This is self serving, is what this is. It's politics over people.
Right now.
You could be, you know, the strongest conservative in the world, Christian conservative all while and good. You can't look at this and hear about people who are working two three jobs. They've got kids, you've got seniors, you've got veterans who are fallen between the cracks and not be compassionate about that.
And I am.
I understand how dire the straits are for a country, our future and our tremendous national debt that's growing by the second. But this doesn't help that. This doesn't help people because you got to live for today. And the nonsense of shutting things down when they could be sitting and talking and negotiating, actually working for the people and not against them, I think should stand above all that. Scott's Loan Show seven hundred.
Everyone needs help every now and then, and she's heer to help us get our heads right. This is Mental Health Monday with mental health expert Julie Heattershire.
All right, the weekend to work week transition sucks.
It just sucks.
It sucks worse when the Bengals lose like they did, because then you just wake up mad. I just stay in bed. Oh you know what, just take the week off to the next game. That's how I feel. Julie Hatters here, Welcome to the show.
How are you?
Hello?
I'm good.
How are you?
There's no greater Bengal or NFL fan than you. I know, and I know how hard you take a loss.
Yes, I didn't even know they played yesterday. Much less less I know.
Because you sall text me like during the game, going what we should talk about this tomorrow, Charo getting a solve. But the rest of the world's watching football. You have no idea what's going no idea.
No, I had no idea, not a clue.
You are right.
You're the person who's out there, like super Bowl Sunday. She's one, she's shopping, she's at the store, she's doing anything. Why is everything? Why is there no one out today? This is stupid.
I no, I at least know about Super Bowl Sunday. I mean that's a big deal.
That's a big deal. That is a big deal. It is so hard.
And the reason why we do this segment of Metal Health Monday is because Monday is the worst day of the week for most people, but especially between you know what's going on inside that little head of your So transitioning from the weekend, it starts on Friday. You're in weekend mode. Maybe you work out of the house so it's even a little more lax, or maybe you get off a little early and hey, I got Friday, I
got Saturday. Sunday comes along. I know people that party right up until about ten o'clock Sunday night, and then Monday comes along and they're like, ah, it's all coming at me at the same time. Here is there a way to mentally ease that transition a little bit better?
Well, I think there are several things we can do. But I think one of the things that gets lost in the conversation about starting your work week, and as I was sort of prepping for this talk this show, I noticed this is that when we go to work versus on the weekend, it's not just shifting what we do, but to some degree, it's shifting who we are. We are most of us different people at work than we are on the weekends, and so for a lot of us,
that identity shift is a really hard thing. Going from who you have to be at home with your family or in your life on the weekend to going into work on Monday and being the productive or we hope productive worker that you are in. Whatever job you do requires not just doing different things, but being a different person. And for some of us, we don't like the person we are at work as much as we like the person we are at home. So sometimes I think that
gets lost in the conversation. And I think that's an important thing to recognize, is that it requires an identity shift that sometimes we don't enjoy very much.
Okay, because you got to put your work face, sounds what you're saying and be some like, for example, you got to go out and you know, if you're in sales, you got to go well, be a salesperson. Either that's a tough job or it's like wow, physical, abe, I'm still sore from Friday. I got to get back and get back to.
Yes.
And I know, I've worked with people in sales over the course of my career and many of them are
actually introverted. And so to go out and be in a sales position customer facing knocking on doors literally sometimes knocking on doctor's offices, doors to bring them lunch is difficult for them, and they have to sort of energize and gear up and kind of rev themselves up and put themselves into sort of a slightly altered identity in order to do that, and then they get to sort of go back to who they actually are on the weekend. So for a lot of people, becoming that worker on
Monday is difficult. It's not just about going to work, it's who you have to be when you're there.
Yeah, yeah, okay, putting that that face on. Okay, I get that whole thing. Yeah all right, So all right, I got to make that When should that transition start?
Well, I think people need to start doing that Sunday evening. I think the most successful productive people that I've worked with have sort of a Sunday evening routine where they sort of gear down from the weekend and start to transition into before they go to bed on Sunday night, start to transition into two Monday mode. That doesn't necessarily mean looking at their calendars, that doesn't necessarily mean diving
back in. That means sort of, for many of them, setting an intention of what do I need to do this week? What are my big projects? What are my big goals and who do I need to be in order to accomplish them, and how can I set myself up for success tonight so that tomorrow morning I hit the ground running and I'm able to get done what I need to get done. So it's sort of a larger goal intention setting kind of shift than it is looking at what you have first thing Monday morning on your calendar.
Kind of Okay, yeah, I guess, but that feels like you're demand's cheating out of hours on your weekend again. You know, wait a minute, I I got to get my game face on. It's still Sunday's till my day. Man, come on the Lord's day.
What do we doing?
No?
I get that. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And so a way to think about that is how to protect enough of who I am and my identity and my life by making the shift as seamless and the transition as easy as possible, versus that jarring the alarm goes off and you're like, oh, shoot, now it's Monday. Now what am I going to do? So optimizing it for you, not optimizing it for your employer. How can I make my Monday morning go better for me? For my partner, for my family if I have one at home. How
can I ease this transition for myself? Not how can I start working on Sunday night when they're not paying me till Monday morning. It's a different it's a different way of looking at it.
Okay, all right, just a different Julie Hendershare here, our licensed mental health therapist on this mental health Monday here on seven hundred WW Scott's Loan show. The weekend and
work week transition. It is a tough shift and over the course of a few hours, because you could also do a little bit like like for me, you know, I'll pull behind the curtain, like after the show, I'll get a stuff lined up for the week ahead, kind of cut through some old email and kind of wrap things up for the week, and then look ahead and lay some stuff out, and then a little bit on Saturday and a little bit on Sunday, and I just kind of spread it out over the weekend when I'm
up having my coffee, like I had a little time I'm waking up anyway, it's a good time before all the cob webs start to come back into my head to get all that.
Stuff out of the way great.
I was wondering what productivity things you do, because I know that you stay on top of what's going on in the world and in the news every day, whether you're working or not, whether you have a show coming up or not. I know that you do that.
But I also know that.
You don't let that run your life, that that's not how you organize the rest of your life. And so I was wondering what kind of productivity and work life balance kinds of things you utilize.
I just try to do it little pieces. You know, obviously during the week is busier, but I notice if I if I'm out of town or something and come back and on side or something, it's like, oh my
God's chaos. Because but you know, there are all times you can slip away, even on you know, if you're out of town or doing something else, like okay, I just need to you know, get half hour forty minutes and kind of run through some stuff, line some stuff up because you're always thinking ahead, but just doing the little nuggets when you're staying around no typically instead of you know, doom scrolling social media. If you took a half hour forty minutes just to kind of do that.
It seems like it's it's just not so I don't know, you know, like Sunday comes are like, oh my god, I get get ready for Monday. You know how people are. It's like, if you do a little bit, I think each day, I mean just could could be twenty minutes, half hour, it seems to make that Sunday and then the Monday transition a lot better, at least that for me anyway.
Yes, yes, I have had clients who are military and firefighters, and one of the things that they've all said to me is, if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. If you stay on top of it, it's not such a big deal to jump into it. So if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. And so those people who have jobs that allow or require or some level of readiness in that way, spending a little time on the weekend just kind of staying on top of things. So like you, over the weekend,
I will do a little work. One of the things I will do is read my notes from the last session for the people I have coming up in the week, just so I kind of have a sense of how difficult or easy my week with clients is going to be. If I knew we had a rough session with five clients and I'm seeing all five this week, well, okay, that's going to be kind of a heavy week. If I know things are going pretty smoothly for some of them, then I have an idea of energetically what my week
is going to look like. So I just kind of get a sense of that, so I know what I'm heading into on Monday.
Yeah, I think so.
Like you, I kind of stay on it.
Yeah, just a task size it, right. What about the element of you know, worktime's work time typically you know you're dialed in your focus like that too, But what about weekend? Should we because man, it's so easy for all this stuff to start bleeding over to the weekend too.
I think you got to put boundaries up, right, Oh.
I think you have to put boundaries and protect your off time as much as is humanly possible. I think you have to protect your off time. So for example, I read my notes from I don't read my notes from all my sessions, just for the ones I'm seeing for the next week, and I only give myself like twenty or thirty minutes tops to do that, and then I put it away and then I'm done. But you
need to protect that time. But then when you're in your workflow, you need It's really important for most people to have blocks of time where they can actually do deep work, where they can actually do the work that they're getting paid to do, instead of being interrupted by meetings or chit tech conversations at the office or email. So you know, turn off all your devices if you can protect chunks of time. Because there's a guy named
Pareto pa r Eto. He's a business EA kind of guy, and he says he's got this eighty twenty principle that says twenty percent of our actions account for eighty percent of our successful outcomes. So twenty percent of what we do, generally speaking, accounts for eighty percent of our successful outcomes. And the rest of what we do is extremeeous and perhaps unnecessary or certainly not as crucial as that twenty percent.
So for everybody, if you can start looking at identifying what are the things that I do in my workday that give me the best outcomes and the most good outcomes, let me focus my attention on those at the start of the week to the degree that I can to set myself up for a successful week the rest of the week, because part of sometimes what happens is you hit the ground in chaos on Monday, you play catch
up on Tuesday or Wednesday. Now you're actually getting into the work that you need to do on Thursday and Friday, and then it's the weekend and you abruptly stop. So if you frontload the success in the week, then by Friday you're tying up loose ends, you're managing a few last minute things, and then you're off for the weekend, and it's an easier transition into the weekend and then easier transition back into Monday.
Yeah, okay, Yeah, you're doing it in little bits and pieces, supposed all at one, so that makes a lot of sense. So and you've got to be consistent with it too. I think that's the other important thing. Just turned a new habit, is what you're.
Saying, Yeah, habitually set up a workflow that makes sense for you. I know you and I've had a previous conversation about what time of day people are at their most productive, and it's different for everyone. So also what day of the week are people most productive? And I think that if you can find a large chunk of your productivity early in your week, then you can relax the end of your week, ease into your weekend, and the Sunday to Monday transition doesn't feel quite so abrupt
because it wasn't abrupt Friday into Saturday. So it kind of creates a flow that makes sense. I think for many people, and many of us have the capacity to make those kinds of changes in the way that we work.
All right, Julie Harris, you're talking about transition from a weekend to work week. That's all well and good. What if you really hate what you do. What if you'd like just absolutely get fearful and sick that you've got to go back to work on money?
I know people like that.
Oh, there are a lot of people like that, And that's why you have Julie Bee on every week to talk about your stuff. But then I think can become not so much focusing on what you do and whether you like it or not, but what what you do allows you to do, be and have in the rest of your life. I know a lot of people who really dislike their jobs but really love the life that the money or the job itself allows them to have.
So I know people who travel for work a lot, and they don't really like traveling for work, but they love the miles that they rack up. They love the ability to maybe tack a day on on one end or the other and see a part of the country or the world they've never seen before. They love the opportunity to meet new people. They don't like it being away from home or their family, but they like the
opportunities that that offers them. So focus on either if there are aspects of your job that are less awful, focus on those, but also what does your job allow you to be, or do or have that you couldn't be or do or have if you didn't do it, And look at it more as a means to an end than the end.
In itself, which is more important. That's why it's so important to have outside work time too, so you can compartmentalize, you know, and hey, look, if your work you focus on what you're doing when you're not there, and especially if what you're doing when you're not at your job maybe I don't know, maybe you have a side hustle too or something, and you think about parlaying that into your full time job.
Yes, yes. Side hustles are great because they can people with an exit strategy at work if they hate what they're doing. People with an exit strategy generally feel better than people who have no exit strategy, either because they haven't created one or they don't believe that they could
access one. So if your side hustle is going to be your full time hustle at some point in time, working on that on your off hours can help make the work you're doing more tolerable, the job that you don't like more tolerable.
Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And then man, when you how do you do that on on a vacation?
Though?
It's one thing to say, hey, here's your pattern for the weekend, but you take a week off. Should you be doing a little bit each day? Do you wait till last?
How does that?
Because it sucks you get on vacation. Then then you have an avalanche of email. For example, when we went to our little Australia to our big Australia trip for two weeks, it took me a good week and a half to respond to emails because a literal I had like a thou over one thousand emails waiting for me after two weeks.
So yes. So I think it's really important for people to protect vacation time. And I think it's really important to the degree that you possibly can, to let people know that you will not be responding while you're on vacation, that you will take some time to respond when you get back, because you will probably have an avalanche of projects and people and emails and phone calls and things to get back to immediately, and that you will get
to them just as quickly as you can. But if it's super duper important, they should pin you again when they know you're going to be back in the office to move it to the top of your pro list. So I think setting the expectation ahead of time and holding fast to that, because you can say I'm unplugged, but then if you an answer an email or too, well, now people know you're not really unplugged.
So if you.
Intend to be set that expectation and hold fast to it, and then if you can, when you can, create a transition day for yourself if possible, So instead of coming back in late on Sunday night and starting work on Monday, maybe come back in on Saturday and having Sunday to transition back and get back into the work week on Monday, or maybe take that Monday off as well and start
your work week on Tuesday. But set yourself a transition time to get everything cleaned up from the vacation, unpacked, put away and start working your way back into your work week and give yourself that buffer. Just plan that into your schedule if you possibly can. Can make a huge difference for how you re enter the work life after you've been on vacation.
Okay, yeah, it makes a lot of sense. She's Julie Hatters, your licensed mental health therapist that bconnected dot care. If you want to reach out to her, it's hey, Julie at the letter be connected at dot care. She practices Clifton and right here in the Cincinnati. It's mental health Monday. Good stuff as we transition. Probably should have had you on Friday to get ready a little late now, isn't that we're back at work?
Hi, you can start. You can start tonight for tomorrow. Pretend you've got a Tuesday start of the week.
Getting the groove. You got to get in the groove right grind. I just think you probably don't have a good twenty thirty more years of this work and stuff.
Just think what's in front of you. It's incredible.
All the best, have a great week, Appreciate you, Thanks you too. All right, let's get a news updata in just about five minutes away here on seven hundred Wlwmuch has been made of the fiscal impact of immigration, and the folks at Manhattan Institute have analyzed ten and twenty and thirty years of government data and all the programs we had in immigration, What we get right, what we
get wrong? In the eye opening conclusion and maybe not as eye opening as a fact that immigrants with advanced degrees tend to be a huge boom to our economy, whereas those who come in without such education tend to be a drain. But it also has to do with eight what age you immigrate to this country. It's an interesting outlook on things and would actually restore tens of millions of dollars to the bottom line, meaning reducing our deficit if we followed this plan. Really interesting stuff with
Daniel de Martinez. He's next on the Scottslowan Show on seven hundred WW Cincinnati Boom Dot.
On seven hundred WLW. The immigration fights that we needeep into lots of fights, including immigration, get illegals out, keep the legal at ten. But who out of that long line gets in? Who stays?
Maybe a better question of who is rather than maybe how many? And should the US admit them through reform and immigration system? Who should get in at this point? So the Manhattan Institute their thing tank, and they studied a ten and thirty year impacts of dozens of our nation's immigration policies over the years and categorize immigrants on tax revenue, federal spending GDP, population, and who gives us
a benefit in who takes away? With the answers Daniel di Martino of the Manhattan and Suit where he's a fellow, Daniel, welcome to the show.
How are you very good? Thank you for having me. Yeah.
So you find that if you're younger and you're educated, you have an advanced degree, those people generate large fiscal surpluses. They expand the economy. If you're low skilled, you tend to get more benefits than they contribute in taxes. That is the bottom line. And there's some other things we're going to get into here, but essentially that's the core of this thing is that's really not surprising.
Is it. It is not because we have a progressive tax system and we have a welfare system that gives benefits to people based on how little they make. Right, So if you bring in a lot of four people or elderly people that will receive entitlements, then those people will be a next cost to the federal government. That's a no brainer.
So why does the college agree make such a vast Efforence. I mean, you're talking millions of dollars in that one person's financial impact, and of course the ledge what's driving that game?
Yeah?
Yeah, a lot of people tell me, but you know, a college degree is and all you need, and like, of course these are all averages. This doesn't mean that there're aren't immigrants or high school dropouts that do better. Right. There are many college dropouts that create a big company, But that doesn't mean that that's the most common case.
Right.
And you also have to understand that for immigrants, college degrees mean much more than for native born Americans. A college degree in a foreign country is a much rarer thing to have than in America. And so when you bring in people discriminating by education instead of anything else, you can assure yourself that that person comes from a much more elit background.
But at the same time, you know, we have countless people who have college degrees that complain they can't find a job in their chosen field and they have a degree and go, okay, great, I can't service the loan that I took out to get that degree, and I'm doing something I don't want to do, and I never see myself getting ahead. And yet immigrants come to this country and sit seed and contribute to the GDP. Is it about degree choice? Are we talking about specific degrees here and not just a degree?
Well, it's true that immigrants do you specialize like the immigrants that are sponsored to come in fields that are even more highly paid, so like medicine, stam areas. And also they just have an even an even higher education and go to different universities. Right, So you know people talk about like people who graduate from the US University's Americans who get a STEM degree or it's an underground degree, you know, that counts biology, that counts like a regular
engineering degree. And if you're competing as people who have a master's degree or a PhD, I mean obviously you can't get the job that you want, and then you also have the other fact, which is infrant start businesses, so they expand the economy that way, the average immigrant does not look like the average person in that country. And then there's a lot of who tell me, well, but we want to keep those jobs for Americans, right like, we don't want them to replace the native born college
graduates who are seeking opportunities. And that's that's just not how the labor market works. When you have more people in the labor market, you don't have the same number of jobs. There are relative wage effects, that is true, but because immigrants also at the highly educated level, you know, people like you at Musk who came on a twenty visas or people like Jensen Huang, they end up also increasing productivity and wages for people who are college educated.
Dan, you found that the fifty year old immigrant looks great for the budget in year ten, so they immigrant by them mistic Okay, things are great to productive, but by year thirty it's terrible. Child immigrant the exact opposite. It tends to be a net gain for this country. So in that regard, shouldn't we be encouraging things like doc and can you walk?
Can you walk? Through us.
Well, why that that flip happens.
Yeah, so I did estimates on a ten and thirty year basis before I have done them last year on a lifetime basis. And the reason I switched to ten in thirty years is because of Congress. When they pass legislation, the Congressional Budget Office only cares about the ten year budget window and then secondarily.
About the thirty year budget window.
So when they're deciding to pay legislation, they need this estimates like I made it. And so that's a problem though, because you're right, a fifty year old limigrant on an average will look good over the next ten years because it's going to be from the age of fifty to age of sixty. And an immigrant who is ten years old, a child that comes with a family is going to look bad because it's not when I work from age
ten to twenty. So that shifts over the third year window because then the older imigrant is going to collect security and Medicare and the young evenion is going to start working. So people need to keep done in mind and understand these are averages and if you want to benefit the budget in the long run, you need younger people and you need more, you get it.
People got to Daniel D.
Martina, Manhattan Institute breaking a study here of ten and thirty year impacts of immigration, and the bottom line is that education drives fiscal impact, but age matters a lot too. That young immigrants look costly in the short term but benefits in the long term. Middle aged immigrants show the opposite because they get the retirement benefits. And that's the
flip that's going on here. Let me pivot to the H one visa debate that has become pretty controversial right with wanting to charge money and charging literally a small fortune to get that H one B. Some say it's essential or they say, well, we should just eliminate this thing.
What is your data show?
Well, the H one B regardless of what people think that based on the characteristics of the people who come on H one bs, they are the ones that pay the most taxes and receive the least government benefits of any of these categories. And so if you are a conservative and you're like like myself, I think you know work the immigrant. Do you want to come to America?
Do you want an immigrant who does not depend on the government, who speaks English, who have a job who there's no comic crimes, and who you know, adopts American costumes. And if that's the case, then immigrants to commin H one with visas are any deal immigrant. That doesn't mean that it's a perfect system, right, it's a lottery, So you don't want to distribute the spots on a lottery
but instead based on perhaps something more meritorious. But even then, the system is better than any other visa program that we have.
Ye I see a lot of communities are changing because of H one B workers and they bring a tremendous amount of money to the show. Now the other side of this, and someone casual listening go, okay, you got this guy from Manhattan and Daniel de Martino who wants I educated people with advanced degrees because they bring a small fortune and massive fortune, and even small fortune to the country could help balance the deficit and do all
these wonderful things. They don't drain the system, and they're paying the taxes and that's helping older people, and that's all well and good. But does this simply mean that we don't need anyone who's not educated in America? We don't need that immigrant labor that we don't need people at the low end.
Of the Trump.
Well, America has a program called the H two A and the HTVVSA programs. The H two A is seasonal agricultural labor. Now, even though those are on you know, people who generally don't have a high school diploma, they're working in farms.
For low wages.
The reality is that we didn't have them, the farms would shut down. It would be too expensive to farm in America. We would just import the food from other countries. But we cannot import everything, like we cannot import a hair cards because you have to do it in person. But we can import every agricultural product. So the advantage is that, yes, you keep that industry here, you create jobs for Americans and agriculture as well. And then the
second it's seasonal, so these immigrants never stay. They leave after a season or two, and so they never collect government benefits. That is okay to have, well you cannot have. It's allowing people who make very little money to immigrate permanently to the United States because if they do, the mass is that they will simply lower debt.
They will I get the agriculture element because that's a national security issue. We can't farm out all of our food. We could be starved to death, right and quite honestly, it'd be a waste because of we're the world's bread basket here in the United States of America, produce lot of corn, soybeing, et cetera, et cetera. But on the regard that there's jobs that aren't in the farm fields, whatsoever,
that are Americans going to fill that void? I mean working in a I don't know, a meat processing plant for example, or something along those lines, where it's physical labor, building houses work, doing roof jobs and construction and dry wall and landscaping. Those are necessary jobs. It's seemingly, and I know a little bit about this immigrant labor, if you completely.
Got rid of that, it ceased to exist.
I get that they you know, they live here, but they a lot of them go and start their own business too. There's got to be a carve out for that, right because, let's face it, there are jobs out there we don't want our kids to take well.
So the thing is that weges would change, even in agriculture, would change if you didn't have immigrant workers. The wages would increase. The problem is that for them, cultural industry. It would just end the industry, right that we would just import the food. But that's not the case. And the same thing first, for example tech, if we didn't have highly educated workers, what the tech industry is that they opened in an office in Canada and then they
do everything from there because everything's remote. So you would
rather have those resources here. But the issue with other things like construction is that you would still have construction, it would just be a higher price that Even then, most of the cost of housing has nothing to do with construction and everything to do with materials, so you know, the tiers are harming or sony laws which we can change, so we don't really need or it wouldn't really be beneficial to have a lot of immigrants, low paid coming
for construction because they will receive with just a lot of welfare. Alternatively, you could still have a guest worker program that is seasonal, ensuring that people go back and never stay permanently and collect entitlements.
Daniel de Martino, Manhattan Institute on Immigration. This morning on seven hundred WLW, so we talked about younger educated immigrants and advanced degrees a huge bunda the economy.
We need more of them.
Employment based high skilled visa holders not benefit there as well. What about extended family.
Yeah, the extended relatives, which are most of the immigrants coming to America. They come with very little English proficiency, you know, medium to low levels of education, and they end up receiving more government benefits than taxes they pay.
This is why my proposal to how we should change the imtigation system is simply we take in all these extended relative pieces and we just give them out based on whether immigrants have a good English, whether they have a good education, whether they're young, whether they have a job offer in the United States, and then that's how the labor market comes through the gap, you know, without
picking winners and losers. And then the employment based business that we already have, we just ranking them to the highest paid instead without care of the profession. You know, it's not about education, it's about who pays the most. If you are sponsoring a carpenter who's like incredible and he's getting paid one hundred and fifty K, then bringing that carpenter right, that's the market showing its signal through the price.
Yeah, that makes sense.
When the family comes along, it's different, But how many immigrants will that dissuade from coming to the United States if they can't bring their their wife, their kids, significant others, one of your.
Mom or I'm not saying anything about wife and children. I'm just saying eliminate the stibling category, the adult children category, who together they bring in one hundred and thirty one thousand people. You might say, well, now, but people want to bring in their siblings or they are adults children the relative that they can't anymore anyway, because the system, the family system already exists in is so backlog that it takes twenty years. It's the same of the didnert exists.
We need to get rid of it and give it based from marriage instead. In fact, you seem more fair because if you're an imager living into the Philippines and you don't have a relative in the US, when you're out of luck, you can't come. And no matter how educated you get, no matter how great you are, under a system based on your characteristics, you are not dependent on the law of how in a relative in America you come.
To a man and am of that.
You mentioned the backlog, the tremendous backlog which encourages illegal immigration. Here I mean, if you have to wait twenty years, fifteen twenty years for your case of here and possibly get at that point, why would you if you're coming from such an impoverished and most dangerous part of the world. I take my chances and slip across the border, fire them. It's a matter between life and death. Who's got fifteen twenty years to wait for you're allowed to come to the United States of America.
This would cut that down.
I would think, yes, I think I would re use the incentive. But at the same time, we have learned that if the president wants to, they can secure the border, and President Trump has so that's also note necessarily ast important to.
Yeah, we've got a government that can't function. I mean we're not functioning right now as we speak. As you know, Danielle, what's the political feasibility of this thing? You have to do some tremendous coalition building just to have someone hear this whole thing between family visa cuts and legalization with fees and deportations and all that stuff. It's a messy proposition. In reality, politics doesn't work that way.
So absolutely they I'll say, President Trump, with the funding that he got from the one big beautiful bills for deportations, and how that's drunk enough and hopefully you know, so we will know that the legality of the DAKA program from the Supreme courts. I think those two factors combined the fact that we already get done with the tax cuts and the spending debates and instead now it's probably going to go to another topic. Then that topic might
be immigration. I think Trump has built leverage with the funding he got for the deportations, and in the Democrats were smart, they would come to the negotiating table, right, because you need sixty votes in the Senate to pass.
Anything that's not budget related.
So if the Democrats say, you know, we negotiate, we can legalize some people. Yes, the tool will reduce family immigration, and we will bring in more high school immigrants. But if they don't negotiate, then maybe a million more people than deported. So we will know how much they really care about that very soon.
Dana d.
Martini, you analyze this. You looked at ten and thirty year impacts of literally dozens of immigration policy US has had and categorizing the immigrants on tax revenue and population GDP, federal spending and all that if this were to come to fruition and we did it the way you suggest here, what are we looking at as far as a savings relative to the national debt.
Yeah, So under my plan, which would just shift immigrant visas towards more highly educated categories with a change namagan flow very much, actually reducing it a little bit, and then legalizing the people who are here legally as long as they pay without a fiveway to citizenship, but allowing them to work in state as long as they pay five thousand dollars a year for ten years of fifty k to reduce the deb and they obviously they are
not criminals. All that that will reduce the national debt from its current trijectory by twenty trillion dollars over thirty years. It will reduce or essentially over the long run, it would even stabilize or debt to gdpuration. That is important because it means we don't to cut.
Some security or raise.
Access if we pursue radical immigration reform right now.
Yeah, And the other element here too, of course is unauthorized legal immigrants. But you're saying charging five thousand dollars a year for X number of years, and that would reduce the debt and their burden on the system. But how realistic is that to actually.
Execute the people who don't pay it. Then they are the fine targets for deportation because it means that they're not willing to pay it under skier of them, so they're much easier to report.
Very interesting, and that literally would take her. It's of course, you know, then we're back to the political questions because Democrats had scream about fairness and these people don't have much already and they can't afford five thousand dollars and to shake down. But you know, at the end of the day, we're all paying for this.
Daniel de Martin.
Yeah, America is not supposed to be the welfare state of the world. Right, if you do not sustain yourself, I pay it after you broke the law. It seems like a really reasonable penalty that would benefit the nation.
Seems like five grand to make this go away. Isn't that big an ask? I'll be honest with you, Daniel de Martino at the Manhattan Institute, Thanks so much for the time.
Really interesting, Thank you.
Yeah, I mean the program makes sense, but then you're gonna have the fields right, Well, you can't, you can't, Chary, you can't these people already, Oh my god, somebody's got to stand up for the And then, of course, you know, the thing stagnates, it gets water down, and what sounds like a pretty decent plan winds up while costing his money. That's the way government works. Scott's Loan Show with News in four minutes here seven hundred WLW Radio.
But embarrassing a game you had.
Well in hand against the winless team at pay Corps Stadium bends up thirty one sixteen and can't put it away. Gave up what twenty three to twenty in the fourth quarter thirty nine points to A guy was benched by the worst team in football, justin Fields twenty one thirty two, two hundred and forty four yards a TD and no interceptions and coming off two games, by the way, with a quarterback rating under sixty, so bad that his owner demanded him to be benched, and he was until Tyrod
Taylor got hurt. And now you got Justin fieldsen Now he looks like every bit the guy they ought he was when they got him. No Garrett Wilson, no Josh Reynolds, one guy essentially on offense running the football beat the Bengals yesterday thirty nine thirty eight. The Bengals fall to three and five with Chicago on the schedule next. James rapenis here from SIS Bengals Talk dot com and the Daily Lockdown Bengals podcast. James, your head has to be reeling this morning.
Yeah, it's it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable, Scott, and I still even now, would it at sixteen hours or whatever it is removed? I cannot believe they lost that game. And they had a fifteen.
Point lead in the fourth quarter, a fourteen point lead in the fourth quarter, five different times they had a double digit lead in that game. And yet we are talking about a three and five team and a one in five team without Joe Burrow.
I remember when the Bengals back in twenty eighteen, they lost like fifty one fourteen to the Saints and they got last time they got smoked in twenty ten by the Jets was thirty seven nothing. I thought, okay, that forty seven to ten loss against Minnesota just a couple of weeks ago, I thought that is that this is up there with one of the worst in Bengals, sister. I mean, think about this from a team that said
really really really low lows. Where in your mind, James Rapine does this lost rank yesterday?
Well, this could very well end up being the.
Worst loss of the Zach Taylor era outside of you know, the Super Bowl from a meaning standpoint, but when this could do to this season and what would have happened if they had won it versus what they could go down in the past, they could go down now like this is this is one of those games where you're like, oh, well, I wonder, I wonder what the twenty twenty five Bengals would be like if they had won that game against the right and instead they go on to win four
games total and they win one more game the rest of the way. I'm not saying that's going to happen, and I think there's enough talent, certainly on offense. But like, it's how it feels today. That's how it felt after the games, and Jamar Chase is saying, ask Zach, and that's a question for Zach, and it just it felt like that was a big, big moment. So I think historically at a huge game, huge loss because of what it could mean moving forward.
Yeah, you mentioned the Super Bowl lost the Rams, but that was the blanket. I'm literally a quarter of a second he completes the ball, and it's a different story the Bengals win the Super Bowl. We're that close. Bengals are that close. This is the exact opposite of that. This was what a demoralizing defeat to come back to put it up by that much and then lose the lead so many times and then at the end get beat essentially on a half back pass.
Who's this on? Who do you blame?
Oh?
Yeah, that that is going to be something. There's layers to it, and you know, you can certainly start with the front office for thinking that they should run it back with the defense. That's been as bad as the defense was last year, and so for them to run it back and do basically what they did is they changed a few of the coaches, obviously defensive coordinator out of Golden and then they said, oh, well, you know, we'll get a nose tackle in here. What they needed
one and that's going to fix it. Well it didn't fix it. In fact, it's worse. This is the worst base fin They are dead last in points per game, nearly thirty two points per game given up, dead last and rushing yards per game, dead last in yards per game, third last, and passing yards per game. You see an there like they stick. Their defensive line has had a sack since Week five. Their last sack came in week six when Gino Stone, a safety, had a sack on
Jordan Love in Green Bay. This defense stinks, and so it starts with the front office. It isn't just there is that Taylor picked out Golden Al Golden's not getting it done.
Zach Taylor's the.
Head coach, so I always resort to that. I try to remind people he's not just the offensive side, right, he's the head coach. And so no, I think there's plenty of blame to go around. It starts at the top. It certainly trickles down to the coaching staff as well.
When the coaches. Someone's got to step up and make a play. Someone's got to step up and make a play. The lack of playmakers, that's on Duke Tobin.
Sure, no doubt in that is with without a doubt this defense. No one can debate it.
Nobody. They do not have enough playmakers. And and we saw that yesterday, and by playmakers. I can also just break that down to guys who can tackle, Guys who can run and hie off of the block and be a basic play can't tackle.
Wow, how do you look so good against Pittsburgh and then lay this egg?
Well they didn't. That's that's what's that's what's so concerning. This isn't one bad quarter. Yeah, this was a.
Defense that tried to give away that pause first game and they let Pat fryer Mouth get open and give up a sixty eight yard touchdown and move the league, bumble the lead away. And yeah, they forced a couple of turnovers, And I get that that's great, but you need to be able to get off the field and when you're up fourteen with and I tweeted this playout last night, when you're up fourteen thirty eight twenty four eight minutes to go and the Jets are still comfortable
running the ball, Like that's that's the biggest advice. Like that's so insulting, right, like so insulting, Like you never see that across the league. I watched a ton of NFL football. If you're done two scores in the fourth quarter, very rarely.
You're not running the ball. You're not running the ball in there running like crazy. Yeah, but but that is the only weapon.
I mean, look at the injuries that lovely oh and seven New York Jets came in and everybody was hurt. We thought, oh, it was gonna be a get to see Sauce Pardner homecoming weekend at you see see how he matches up against Chase And that'd be kind of fun, right because he shut him down last time.
Maybe some revenge.
Now he's out, your top two, your receivers are Garrett Wilson's out. Everyone in the building knew and everyone watching it new that Breese Hall was the only weapon they had. The only threat you had was Breese Hall. How did you hit one hundred and thirty three yards and what two touchdowns? And of course with the game winner? How is that possible?
And that's why I looked at the coaching because if you pay attention to and I posted all the postgame comments, but like Jamar Chase on the final drive when the Bengals are down and if they gotta have a moment, He's like, yeah, they ran double double on me and t because why they didn't want Jamar and hey, to beat them, so they double team both of those guys.
If you know Breese Hall is the only dude that can beat you realistically, is that there some way coaching wise you can make sure he does not beat you. And he did over and over and over again in the fourth quarter, when again they were so comfortable running the ball and getting explosive runs and trunk plays on the ground that they were running the ball late in this game down two scores.
Back to the play calling Taylor and his Marvin S clock management. I don't know what he was doing midfield, and it runs it with forty two seconds left, one yard gain on a running play when you're trying to score and then you're trying to hit Andre Joseavas twice with the game on the line, you're completely a coach there. What would you look at that and go, that's hip, that's bush league.
Well, this is where coaching slash the offense comes in because as bad as the defense was, yeah, you're right, the offense still could have done it. Could We could have been talking about a four and fourteen that needs to figure out the defense. But hey, they went too straight and so games on the line, you get a first down by hanging it off the chase Brown and so all right, you're at the forty five yard line. I like the first down play to andre Yosavash. It
was a it was a steam ball. It's really tough cashing and catch it clean and then he gets hit. But like, I like the idea of it, because if that ball is complete, your infield goal range boom right away second bound and this is where it falls apart is you run it with p Ryan, don't get it, have to call it time out. Now it's third and long. Guess what the whole world knows you're gonna throw it yep, and it makes it. It makes it much much tougher. Joe Flacko has to throw it away. Fourth down. Guess
what they do. They take away the bengals two best players by double teaming them, and then you have to go to andre Jo Sabash and so yeah, I totally get that. So the second down run is a huge play. And then then on the drive fire they had to punt give the ball back to the Jets and they're only up six. The fact that you don't run it, the fact that you're just passing on that drive and
you go three and out. That's another area. So like when things started to get tight, the Bengals got tight on offense, they needed to get one more score and at that point, you know it, you know you're going to have to score one more time, and they didn't. And so yeah, I do think that the defense is going to take a ton of blame, and rightfully so. We spent plenty of time talking about the defense. But this offense and Zach Taylor, they should have, could have and didn't.
Deliver with the game on the line on those final two jogs as good as they were all day long, and I did it thirty eight points five, but forty one is what it took to win the game, and they needed to go get a field goal and they didn't do it right.
And it's not the tail and it's the play calling. This questionable, But above that is the defensive coaching. You know what's changed with Al Golding replacing lou Anaruma that they gave up over five hundred yards total offense to the freaking Jets. Jets haven't had that much offense and like flat well since the last time they played the Bengals.
I think eleven.
Sacks Bengals in the cellar the league there they can't rush the pass or you can't stop the run. And this is what a bad Jets team, made worse by the fact that all their quote unquote stars were pretty much out except for Briest Hall, who killed you. And so I look at that and go defensively, all right, we got al Golden, they're great. Lou Anroumo seems to be doing a k and Indy, yeah he does.
And that's that was what lou was frustrated with. Like, he was frustrated with the lack of talent, right yep. And and the Bengal said, well, we've given you.
A lot of talent.
We've invested all these draft picks, and and that's where the disconnect was. And I think, one you better get better at drafting too. I do think Lou was wrong in the tooth here and there were some things that needed to change, so like, but clearly it wasn't just really Lou wasn't just a bad man and way off his rocker and wrong and you know, and that's what
we're seeing. And that's that's what I think is it could be such a why this could be such a era defining, not just season defining, era defining.
Loss, because I feel like if we if we looked off a few months from now, when we're talking about a new coaching staff and changes to the front office and all these things that could come, well, guess what you're going to point to that Judge game where if they win their four and four their half game back in the North because the Packers sable business last night.
What a missed opportunity by this Bengals team to not get back to five hundred and be right there in the division and instead you you fumble it away, you.
Know, Patty, you look at Pittsburgh. Man, it's a game that probably should liten.
They want to win.
In that game, everybody feels good. No one said up, you know the Jets are going to come in and beat the Bess. I thought, you know, going in and like, hey watch out and seventeams man, oh and seven teams oh in any team right in any league. They're a dangerous team. They'll do anything to win. But then you saw the injuris like there's no way, there's no way they can pull off this win.
And yet they did.
And as much as you talk about okay, well, Luina Roumo long in the tooth, put Al Golden in their new systems. It's the talent that they're getting, you know what I mean. Miles Murphy Shamar Stewart aren't getting the Bengals enough production in the investment they made. Let's face it, Miles Murphy's not exactly in the house down here. Stuart Okay, he sat out miss four games of the ankle. I
get that he was non existent. CTV Logan will sing good run on the list all the guys that they brought back too, and said, Okay, we're just gonna stand pat here. Look what's happening. That's that's above El Golden, that's above Zach Taylor.
Sure, there's no doubt. And I think.
That's why when they during free agency, because I'm really known, like there's not there's not someone in Cincinnati media that pushes for free agents and veterans more than me. I'm really loud about it because I want them to do it. And so guess what I've been loud about. I've been loud about it since I worked with Mo every day down right right. I just I want them to make moves because guess what, that's what wins in the NFL in twenty twenty five.
You gotta be agress. You've got to go get guys you just do, and they didn't. They're big. Their big move this offseason was getting Jamar and t done during free agency when they could be talking to these other guys.
Right and by dragged that whole thing out. And it's just and Trey.
That's it.
Yeah, I mean, it's just all of those that can wait till after mid March when you need to be focused on bringing an outside talent that can stop the run and tackle and do all of the things, the basic things that you need to do as an NFL football player that happens to play on defense.
And so that's where that's where it started. And then it's like, oh, well, maybe the scheme will work and some of these rookies will work and some of these young players will play better and all those things. It just has not.
It has not worked. I mean, I agree with you. How do Schamar Stewart not have a quarterback hit yesterday against you know, like you need.
Him to be that guy and he just hasn't been that s Is that coaching? Is it bad drafting? Is it not?
I think that that's all should be on the table. And I'll mention too, they're one superstar. And Trey Hendrickson he got that light bio as a cheap shots. What it looked like to me, the way he glept off that field with that hit. Again, I don't know when he's coming back. I really don't.
Yeah, I mean I agree, it would be a cheap shot, borderline dirty, you might call it dirty. And and yeah, now where is your pass rush? Where is it coming from? Shamar Stewart. We knew he was a raw prospect, but you need it, you got to have it now. And they didn't get it.
And the Bears are better than the get Jets, that's for sure. And they're coming to town Sunday.
Everyone's better than the Jets. That Jets teams still terrible.
That Jets teams stinks, So for them to lose to that, I mean, it's just there's we're not going to look back at the five weeks would be like, oh, we see you. The Judgs were good. No they're not, no, no, no, no, just terrible.
James Rapine with Bengals Talk dot Com Lockedown Bengals Podcast. He should be doing two podcasts four podcasts today with all this material. But I won't tell you how to you do your job, James, but somebody need to tell the Bengals, the defense.
How to do their job, to do their job.
I understand that the Bengals defense was in charge of the Marty Brennman statue guarding it the night the microphone got stolen. So I don't know what the hell to make of anything in this town with our sports teams. I really really don't. The Bengals were just got awful yesterday. There's no excuse for it, and I've been around long enough to know it's not gonna change anytime soon. James, all the best, Buddy, appreciate it.
I heard they tried to tackle the guy who took the mic. They got away.
He got away right in the end zone. Well the microphone, see you, buddy, appreciate it. Got to get to a news update here Cunningham on the way afterwards here home. The best Bengals coverage or the worst Bengals coverage seven hundred wo