I'm right, Jesus right, hell ya sa America and Jerry.
Holland for Regius one Nation God.
And yes it is wrong. This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher Thompson on one O three point five FM and five sixty AM w VOC.
Well morning, tell you and welcome in. It's Monday, February the tenth, sixteen after six and good to have you here, Good to be back. I'm Gary David, Christopher Thompson.
Good to have you here. Hey man for a change for change drop byen stay awhise.
I was only gone for a week.
It felt like a month.
It felt like two days to me. Man, I don't know. I don't know where the time went, but boy it went in a hurry.
Well, we're glad to have you back. All right, it's good to be back. Give us a give us a feel of the islands.
Month. Well I got out before the earthquake hit. We'll put it that way.
That's good.
Yeah, that's always a good thing. I actually we're in a We did a couple of stops at a cruise out of Miami and hit Jamaica and uh and and Cayman. Grant Cayman where we left there Thursday, and I guess it was Saturday that the what was that? What was the seven point something or a six what was it? It was a big quake, yankes, but uh no, no damage,
I guess reported. I think it's I think we're a jinx because you know, several years ago we cruised and we were down north of Puerto Rico when an earthquake hit there and knocked out all the power. Yeah, it must be must be me. I don't know what it is. But anyway, good to be back. Did I miss anything, because you know me, when I when I go, I go, I just I just I just totally detach. I think I've caught up on most things.
I mean, there were things that were happening. I probably couldn't recap it all for you.
But that busy, huh, I.
Mean it was fairly busy.
Yeah, okay, all right, Well to give I can tell me get back in like midnight Saturday night before we got home. So yesterday was kind of a wash. But col didn't didn't see much of the Super Bowl saw some of it. Well, you didn't miss much apparently not. Apparently, it was just a bad night all around for Taylor Swift. Yeah that too, of course. Keep it listen this when her when she appeared on the jumbo tron, he got mercilessly booed by the crowd New Orleans, remember a bunch
of Philadelphia Eagles fans in that crowd. Wasn't so much about Taylor Swift the entertainer, or the fact that Donald Trump got a big rousing uh uh round of applause when he appeared in the jumbo tron. No, it was wasn't politic necessarily. It was, well, there Eagles fans and she's you know that the Chiefs whatever you want to call her.
The Eagles monopolized that That's Superdome, and you know, the Chiefs fans have seen it and done it already for three years.
So okay, I did see. I'm not sure what that halftime show was all about, but I did see that.
I turned to my wife about halfway through and said, this isn't for us, This isn't a men for us.
No, we've aged out of the demographic. Apparently, it made no sense to me. I had no clue. I've heard the name Kendrick Lamar, but and it's about it.
They showed Paul McCartney up in the stands at one point, and I was thinking, Wow, couldn't he come down and do it halftime?
Come on down and sing a song or two? Would you please for us old folks? Anyway, Okay, well you got a little details on the field on that run down, big stories, hot topics. Now when was this? When did this break? This Thomas Ravenel gonna run for a governor story? Did you have that on Friday? Or was that after as we got off the air Force?
It was Thursday night, I think when he posted on X and I didn't even have a chance to get to it on Friday, and I wasn't sure how serious to take it. So I wasn't sure if I should bring it up to begin with.
Yeah, well, and I guess since there's been a post from Ravenel saying he's not sure he can do this because of the what the because of his family and whatever, and as if you know he's being threatened by people or something in his it was being threatened because he's talked about running for governor.
You get the dealing that he likes the attention every now and then on social media. Yeah, I know, No which is why I didn't mention it, because I wasn't sure how serious he was.
So what was the official The initial post was he's running for governor. None of the lightweights currently in the race are going to stop me, right.
Well, and he's he's been building up to that, saying he was thinking about running.
M M.
Okay, well all right, okay, that's a hard note for me.
He's one of those until you see him file the paperwork, you might want to just hold off on that story.
Okay, all right, Well we'll put it over here to the side and see what happens there. Okay. Rallies across the nation, and then here's South Carolina over the weekend. Uh again, they're they're they're protesting Trump, wanting to get illegals out of this country. Okay, Yeah, there were some here in South Carolina, about a one hundred or so shut up at the state House Saturday. There were some ice raids. Nancy Mace, matter of fact, rode along with some of those raids in the Goose Creek area down
in the low country. Alan Wilson writing to the Columbia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America last week warning them against any interference with fed' or state law enforcement officers carrying out operations here in our state. A meeting was planned for this past Saturday here in town to organize resistance to these raids. So this is what they've chosen to resist. Okay, all right, have at it and have fun. There's a bill over the state House dubbed
the Educator Assistance Act. Yeah, we talked so much about you know, teachers and being able to get them here, to retain them, to keep them in the classrooms. The issues that we're having with it, and always it's well, pay them more, pay them, and we've done that. But this bill would help address some of the complaints they have about these teacher contracts. We've talked about this before, but our teachers are having to sign these contracts and they are locked in and if they happen to break
a contract and leave, they can be blackball. That's happened. But they're signing some of these contracts even before they know what the well what all the details are going to be, Like you know how much are gonna get paid? Do you sign that contract? Well, teachers are having to do that, and well does a move over the state House to change that the a big announcement today from the Trump team, apparently a twenty five percent tariff on aluminum and steel products imported. He made this mention on
board Air Force One yesterday. That announcement is supposed to come today. Foeball still planning to announce reciprocal tariffs, those tariffs directed at countries that impose duties on US exports, and that's supposed to come down sometime this week as well. By the way, when it comes to aluminum steel, you're talking about countries, well, we are still one of the biggest importers of illuminumn there, along with Germany and China. This hits hard for places like Canada in Mexico, So
look for that to come down today. Trump also, in a Super Bowl interview with Brett bar on Fox which the entirety of that will they're on Fox later today, says he is serious about Canaday coming the fifty first date. Okay, And this idea that popped up last week while I was out. I did catch this while I was out about you know, we as a nation owning the Gaza Strip. It sounds pretty crazy to me. I'm just gonna be
honest with you here sounds pretty crazy. If for no other reason that will never be peace in that place, why would we invest all this tax payer money to develop that Well anyway, my.
Thought last week was that this was one of those chess moves by Trump to force some of the Middle Eastern countries to take action there. If the United States is going to do it, we've got to get involved too.
Yeah, well, and that's you're probably you know, this dude plays like you know, four d chess. Okay, so who really knows what the what the the end goal is here? Federal court again blocking something else Trump wants through. That's sending detained Venezuelan migrants immigrants to Guantanamo Bay Federal court yesterday issuing a temporary straining order there. Trump and his team are just going ballistic over all these courts, stepping in and blocking everything. Of course, we knew that was
going to happen. New polling data out from CBS and a U Gov. Well, it says when it comes to Trump, most people say he's doing what he said he would do, and he is. As a matter of fact, this approval rating fifty three percent are proving so far, this is the biggest numbers that Trump has seen in either of his terms as presidents. So people are liking what they're seeing for the most part. But remember, some who don't like what he's doing are saying that, yeah, he's doing
what he said he would do. And I guess, boy, last week and we got more details on this this morning. The whole USA aid US AID thing here and what kind of money you and I are giving to other countries for well liberal things is just astounding. And boy, this has been a a big controversy, has it. It shouldn't be.
We talked about it quite a bit last week.
I'm sure, and we've had a nice round of weather here. Things cool down certainly this week, and we got rain on the way, as Tyler Is mentioned. But boy, count yourself fortunate. I said, how many people that I was talking to on that cruise last week? He said, Yeah, we're going back into the frozen tundra. Not three, but apparently four winter storms this week. Forty states looking to see snow.
Yikes.
Some two hundred million Americans will be impacted by this. Thankfully we won't be one of those.
Well, I don't know if I don't want to see snow again, but I don't know if I want to see eighty degrees on February ninth, either what bad that?
And more coming up on this the back added Monday edition of Columbia's Morning News Always good to have you with us.
When bringing a new family member into your home starts with some basic commands Alexa sit, I don't know that asket to play one O three point five FM w VOC.
Now I'm informed.
This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher Thompson on one O three point five FM and five sixty AM w VOC.
The six forty three Good Morning. Well. Needless to say, one of the big objectives of the new Trump administration the first couple of weeks has been the illegal immigration. Now the reports that ICE plans for mass migration crackdowns have been leaked. Newly minted AG Pam Bondy is is out talking about that. We had Christy nome Now, since we had a number of confirmations while I was out last week, did we not? Christy nome is the DHS
secretary appearing to call the FBI corrupt. She called him corrupt. She didn't appear to she did, but appeared to accuse the FBI of again leaking plans for large scale immigration enforcement in the LA area. The La Times published an article Friday saying that ICE would lead the operation, focusing on those without legal status in the US or having pending orders of removal, and they sourced this from an
internal government document that they had reviewed. The FBI is so corrupt, Gnome wrote on x we will work with any and every agency to stop leagues and prosecute those crooked deep state agents to the false extent of the law. Some about people in the FBI. Wow, Okay again Pambondi as the age she's in charge of the FBI, saying if people don't want to follow the law, then her department of the dj will prosecute them. Okay. This has been the biggest source of resistance, of course, to the
new Trump administration has been on this front. We had again another protest over the State House this past Saturday, not quite one hundred according to the state the Watch TV not quite one hundred shot showed up. We had Nancy Mace riding along with ICE officers down in the low Country in the Goose Creek area where they were sourcing out folks, and Alan Wilson, the AG urging sheriffs to cooperate with ICE. I don't know that we're going to have Well, we did have a problem in Charleston
with that, with the last sheriff down there. I'm not sure we have much of a problem with that now, but still now. Wilson also writing to the Columbia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. I don't know how many how many members do you think they have here in Columbia that organization?
Who knows? We read some of that letter on Friday on the air.
Oh, dijon. Yeah, so they we're going to have a get together, right. They'd announced a community ICE raid Response Network and they're going to meet at the originally County library over the weekend. They then later moved it to another place, actually, an address that is home to the state papers is to grow, which is the grassroots organizing workshop. The se Progressive Network is housed there. They said they
needed to move that because they needed a bigger space. Okay, well whatever, Well again, Wilson writing is tot discussed on Friday that will every South Carolinian has the constitutional right to peacefully assemble and advocate against government policies for which they disagree. Any effort to obstruct or interfere with law enforcement will have consequences. So you know, meeting is that's fine,
there's no problem with that. But now if you want to actively resist local sheriffs or the FEDS in carrying out their mission here, well that's a whole nother story. And Wilson warning that any such interference would be prosecuted the false extent of the law.
And there were also some reports, and I don't know if they were ever confirmed, there were reports yes last week that when the raids started in the Aurora, Colorado area, that some of those gangs, those Venezuelan gangs, had been tipped off.
Yeah, what is wrong with people? And that again, that's that's the maybe the extreme example, but it's a great example. You've got this trend to argua just taking over apartment complexes. It's like their own little personal kingdoms. And yeah, you have people out there who want to tip folks like this off. It boggles the mind. But I think that that I read that one of the leaders of that group in Aurora, Colorado, they busted him in New York City,
weapons everything else. Wow, Okay, Well for their response, now is the the group that was meeting was that they uh, they were it was simply an educational and community building session, and that they absolutely condemn any form of physical, political, and rhetorical violence. Okay, but they also added that Wilson, in their words, has decided to side with this administration's imperials, imperial and fascist agenda. Yeah, okay, there you have it now,
it makes sense, doesn't it. All Right, So another rally of the State House, fewer than one hundred, and we're seeing this all across the country. This is so far the only real former resistance to Trump. But boy, we got a lots of news to talk about when it comes to the what he's the USA thing right now probably the biggest topic, and will have more on that. Some of the things that our money is being spent on just beyond ridiculous. We'll get to it.
You're listening to Columbia's Morning News on one oh three point five FM and five sixty am WVOC. Once again, here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson. Eddie Steele coming into the United States is going to have a twenty five percent territory over him to.
Twenty five percent. Twenty five about it is sixteen after seven o'clock. It's Monday, February tenth, and good morning to you. This is going to be the big story this week. The president of the Board Air Force one on the way to the Super Bowl in New Orleans yesterday, announcing that he would be announcing today officially steel and aluminum tariffs twenty five percent on all aluminum steel imports coming into this country. He also says he plans to announce
maybe tomorrow or Wednesday, reciprocal tariffs. Very simply, he says, if they charge us, we charge them. If they're charging us one hundred and thirty percent and we're charging them, nothing is not going to stay that way. Every country will be reciprocal. Okay, Well, this is this sort of thing, you know, spooks Wall Street. It spooks some people down
on Main Street as well. You know, wait a minute, twenty five percent tariff on imported Still, we're still one of the largest importers of aluminum, for example, in the in the world, so this will have an impact certainly. But again Trump is playing the long game here, and you got to think that, okay, is it we really want to charge these tariffs or do we just want things to be fair and balanced here when it comes to our trade deals with other countries. Well, this is
I'll watch the markets today see what happens. But this is going to be Uh, this is going to be a big story this week. Again. He just he mentioned this on Air Force one yesterday. The official announcement expected to come today.
Uh.
He'd mentioned well late last week about the reciprocal tariffs, and the stock markets fell on on on word of that we don't have details on this yet. And the previously threatened twenty five percent import taxes on everything from Canada and Mexico due to the borders not being sealed, Well that's been paused for thirty days. This is part of the bigger plan here. And yes, it does freak people out. And he even said, yeah, listen, expect you know, they expect in the short term prices to go up.
So it's yeah, it's somewhat of a gamble, but arguably we're still the most powerful country on earth. Arguably so may disagree with that, but in Trump's world and his vision of the world, we even as it was in his first term with with like Nata, for example, we had been taking advantage of for way too long and he wants to write that as far as reciprocal terrorts are concerned, I would expect to see some of these countries that may be charging us right now to see
a lot of change there. Now steal in a littleit whole, the whole different story here, that's just a flat there's other thing that reciprocal about that in trumps, that's just Hey, if we're going to import this stuff, well we're going to impose a tearff on it.
And doesn't a lot of that come from Mexico.
Mexico and Canada. Yes, as it turns out it does.
So they thought they were getting off the hook last week, and now they're right back on it.
Again, Right back on the hook now. In his interview with Brett Baer, part of the portions that aired yesterday before the Super Bowl, he talked about Canada was actary, Are you serious about Canada coming to fifty first Day? He said yeah, saying I think Canada would be much better off being the fifty first date because we lose two hundred billion a year with Canada and I'm not going to let that happen. Why are we paying two
hundred billion dollars a year? He says, essentially a subsidy Canada. Well, we're not subsidizing them, We're we we're buying products from a country that's got well a lot of resources when it comes to natural resources, oil for example. So yeah, there's a financial reason why Trump wants to go after Canada. You know, the whole Greenland idea is just a security thing. Canada is a financial thing. And no, the Canadians do not want to become the fifty first date. And I
know it sounds crazy. I think I said as much when we first heard this, But it's is purely financial. Yeah, it's it's it's it's almost hard to to to focus on exactly what all is going on because there is so much going on. We've been seen anything like this before, right, and where what is of today? Three weeks in? Is that right? I think? So we've never seen anything like this before. And the whole Gaza strip thing, I don't know. Well,
maybe we'll get to that later on. Okay, you know, the Canada thing, I'm starting to understand the Greenland thing. I'm starting to understand the Panama Canal thing. I definitely understand Gaza strip. I had a hard time with that concept but anyway, just a lot to focus on here. But again, the big story this week is going to be this idea. Uh and the announcement officially supposed to come out today of the tariffs on stealing and aluminum in the course of reciprocal tariffs to be announced later
on this week. Hey, nothing else. The rest of the world is paying attention right now, right after four years of Hey, do whatever you want to do to us, we don't care. And you know, the prior eight years before Trump took office the first time pretty much, Yeah, let's put America in the back seat. You are where we're We're not We're not this great nation anymore. We shouldn't be blah blah blah blah blah. That was the
Obama thing. You know, you could say, the adults are back in the room now and they're playing hardball, serious hardball. Will there be short term pain for us? Yeah, So it's it's a bit of all the dice here, but the long term payoff could be a very good the United States of America. It's the idea, that's the that's the concept. Anyway, your world happens here.
But let me be clear and updated accordingly. I have no doubt, Uncle your seat belts one on three point five FM and five sixty AM w VOC. This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher Thompson on one O three point five FM and five sixty AM w VOC.
Seven forty two. Well, the game was a bust, but what about the rest of Super Bowl fifty nine? Good morning? It is Monday, February tenth day, which should be a national holiday. I mean, come on, I mean, seriously, none of us should be at work today.
I don't think people stayed up quite as late as they usually do just because the game was such a bust.
Well, but then again, how many people are watching just for the commercials?
It's true.
I saw the first half last night, and I don't know why I stuck through the halftime show. I did fall a sleep during a halftime show. Uh, I don't know. It's you mentioned earlier. It's not made for folks like you and me anymore.
We've aged out.
We're no longer in that demographic that they're trying to appeal to, whatever that is. I mean.
Kendrick Lamar right, yes, okay, and Sisa Serena Williams's maiden appearance. Samuel L. Jackson was in it.
That that that got your attention, Yeah, dressed up as uncle Sam. I'm not real sure at this point what message are trying to impart to us there, But I just had the feeling like, you're you're somehow this is this is not really a patriotic message here. I don't I don't know, I don't know what the intent was, And maybe I just came from a position thinking, well, okay, you know, everything else these days the NFL does is well, not as much as it was, but you know, it's.
Kind of I don't know that it was anti anti patriotic. It was just I mean, it was loaded with a lot of his hits and including a diss track of Drake that got everyone's attention because that's all everyone was anticipating. You know, Drake has already sued him and his record company, so there was a lot of questions about whether he would perform that or not. He kept teasing it, and then he performed it. Anyway, I'm not going to ask how you know all this?
Well, I've got much more in tune with popular culture than I am.
Apparently a little bit.
I was somewhat aware of that story.
Okay, but yeah, you know little it just it came up with the Grammys, so I kind of read up a little bit. Yeah, the Grammys the week before. Okay, I know something else we've aged out of exactly well, I you know.
It's I don't know. I mean the super Bowl halftime performance. They got me long for the old days of even Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, you know, which I thought was a joke.
But you still you have Prince, you have Bruce Springsteen, you have the Rolling Stone, you.
Had Sir Paul McCartney in the house last night. True. Anyway, it wasn't I'm not gonna knock it because it wasn't made for us, right. But I didn't get any of it, man, I mean, I just I don't know.
That's what about the ads, since you said you saw, yeah, I didn't think there were that many that really hit home. I mean there were there were some that were good.
Yeah, And again I didn't see that many of them because I wasn't around for the whole thing. The one I remember, and that was the only one I remember what I saw, just because it was like WHOA look at That was the I don't remember who it was for the ad where you had the singer seal. Yeah, Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew.
That was creepy.
That was creepy, you know, as a seal, you know, I mean with AI or however they generate all that these days. I mean, that was very creepy, but it got your attention.
They had the Nike ad with so Win with a lot of famous women as Wilson was in that. Yeah, right right, Caitlin Clark of course. But yeah, that was that got a lot of attention. The David Beckham ad for Stella Artois, the Beckam ad where he had a secret brother who was Matt Damon.
Yeah, I'd missed that one. I didn't see that one.
Did you see the Hellman's ad the when Harry met Sally Creation?
Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, I did see that one.
One of the ones that caught our attention. And this may have been after you went to bed, but the Reeses Don' Eat Lava.
I did see that.
It was pretty creative, didn't have any celebrities in it. It was just a creative ad.
Yeah. Here's what what blows my mind is you know these agents, these are advertising agencies and all these they can be very creative when they want to be. Yeah, why did they just pick to do it one time a year?
Because those are the ones that cost a fortune.
Well, and how about I guess you and I paid for this one, the Secret Service recruitment ad. I didn't see it. I heard about Michael Bay the very famous movie. He actually directed this commercial.
Huh. I must have missed that one. Say.
It was an ad trying to recruit people for the secret story. So I'm thinking, okay, how much should we taxpayers pay for that ad? And you know, I mean, come on, if you want to, you know, spend millions and millions and millions of dollars to place a thirty second ad for a beer okay, because you know most people drink beer. How many people are even remotely not just interested, but even remotely qualified to be a secret
surface agent? You talk about, you know, a scatter shot here with an advertisement that was kind of crazy, I thought, But I guess we paid for that one. I guess me.
Okay, speaking of beer ads. By the way, bud Light is back in a big way. They hit it that and they've been hitting it out of the park ever since they shot Shane Gillis. Yes, they have shed any thoughts of going back to the days of embracing what they used to embrace. Yeah, but they had some good stuff.
Well. Yeah. All in all, it was pretty much bust in my opinion.
I don't know if there are any home runs or not.
A lot of the between the halftime show, the ads of the game itself. You know, there wasn't a whole lot from me personally, from what I saw of it. To take away from it.
A lot of people were talking about the jeep ad with Harrison Ford, which got a lot of attention. Of course, is he unplugged his.
Jeep and knocked in Yeah, just don't find a plane with Harrison Ford because he continues to crash planes because I guess he doesn't fly anymore. But he had a problem that for a while. Yeah. AnyWho, All right, so there you go.
The duncan Ad got a lot of it just because it had so many stars in it.
Yeah, but Matt Damon wasn't, right.
Matt Damon wasn't. That was the running joke through the ad, right.
Yeah. So Ben Affleck trying to carry that one and his brother, well did he and Matt Damon have a divorce or something. No, they still work together. Okay, I think they produced that. Everybody else that afflecks around he just divorced. Problem true, just saying anyway, super Bowl fifty nine see you. Oh by the way, did anybody happen to notice the watch Tom Brady was wearing last night?
Yeah, because he kept touching it. Yeah, I would too, I.
Would do right. Yeah, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Really, dude, Come on.
Man, you're listening to Columbia's Morning News on one oh three point five FM and five sixty am WVOC. Once again, here's Gary David and Christopher Thompson.
It is sixteen minutes half eight o'clock in morning. Good to have you along. Good to be back with you after a week away. The week that felt like it was like maybe two days maybe three. Didn't feel that way around here. Oh please. I know some of y'all were like, gosh, Gary's back already. Really, come on, we're all happening. Well, it's going to be back regardless, and you know, I kind of picked a bad week to go. Man, it was a lot happened last week.
It felt like it. Yeah, I mean there's been a lot happening since Donald Trump took office.
It's been NonStop since January twentieth, I mean just NonStop. And I don't know what's getting the most reaction right now. Well, this week is going to be tariffs, as we talked about last hour. But between illegal immigration and deportations and Doge Man, it's a toss up as to what's getting the most reaction. I think, huh, and maybe in different corners. What was put it this way? Inside the bureaucracy, it's all about Doge Man, all about Doge.
And we talked about that before Trump took office, the fact that there were, you know, some sacred money pots that were going to have to be touched in order to make these cuts legitimate. And there are a lot of folks, Republicans who are trying to guard what they've got coming to them from the government. Oh sure, yes, not just the Democrats who were hiding away secret stashes of money that they get from the government every year.
Well, I guess last week the whole USA thing took center stage. Yes it did in a major way. USA. This is probably one of these things that did even you know, folks who keep up with them, what goes on inside DC may not be that familiar with. Certainly your average everyday American had no clue what USA was, or how much taxpayer money was being shipped overseas.
Really for what purpose, or how many people were employed by this organization.
And how money from taxpayer dollars through USAID went to things like the Clintons. For example, Chelsea's foundation reportedly got eighty four million dollars from USAID. Eighty four million.
Do you know?
Does anybody know what Chelsea Clinton's foundation actually does? I would challenge you to come up with one thing they do or it does well some of the spending. I mean, let's run out a qui quick list here, and then you've got to get the idea for exactly what's going on here and what the intention has been. Uh Seven point nine million dollars to teach Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid binary gendered language. Seven point nine million dollars.
Four and a half million dollars to combat disinformation in Kazakhstan. Two million dollars for sex changes in LGBT activism in Guatemala, one of my personal favorites. Two point one million dollars to help the BBC value the diversity of Libyan society. Who even comes up with that? And do you think the BBC asked for it? You know, somebody at US eight or some you know liberal out there somewhere apparently saw some BBC article and didn't think it highlighted enough
of the diversity of the Libyan society. They said, we need to send them some money to help them understand. They're the BBC. Do you think the BBC cash that check?
But here we are as we as we struggle, you know, here in America to classify what is normal behavior and what isn't. And now they've taken that flag and planted in other areas. Yes, okay, let's let's normalize that radical behavior here and here and here.
Five and a half million dollars for LGBTQ activism in Uganda, you know, okay, in any of these cases, you say, well, I mean, that's what's eight million dollars we talked about, you know, government spending. But you start to add this all up, it becomes a hefty amount of money. Here, well, and how much of this has to do again with exporting our supposedly our values. Apparently, according to the results
of the number of fifth election. They're not our values but exporting the values of leftist activists in this country to other places around the globe. It's just nuts. So now I guess everybody was supposed to be laid off as a Friday, And again a judge step SAIDs that you can't do that, at least not for right now.
But the plan is to fold this agency into the State Department. And Marco Rubiu says, Okay, from now on, we're going to continue to give aid. We're going to continue to be, you know, the benevolent uncle Sam that everyone in the world expects us to be. But our giving, our donations are going to be in line with what our foreign policy values look like. Yeah, I mean there's got to be something in it for us, right, Yeah,
gotta be. And for starters, you can give a certain amount of I understand that even our enemies have you know, tragedies and you know, emergencies, and I mean, good for us for giving to them, but let's be careful about what we give and who we give it to.
Yah. And I think that the problem has been that anybody was even remotely aware that there was some organization called USAID fought that well, yeah, it's going for, you know, an earthquake and wherever, or you know, whatever natural tragedy took place, we're helping. Did you see that in that list? I'm just that's just I mean, that's just a small piece of the list. Six million dollars for tourism in Egypt. Do you think Egypt doesn't have enough tourism already? I'm sorry,
is where are the Great Pyramids? Are they in Egypt? I think so they're probably doing okay without our six million dollars in US taxpayer money going to them for that. You look at those of some of the stuff and you're thinking, how did you become up with that? Why? How did that ring anybody's bell to begin with?
Because it becomes somebody's pet project and somebody, some some congressman's district benefits from that spending, right, or you know, on the other hand, it advances there.
An agenda, yeah, exactly, an agenda. Oh and by the way, so are we going to stop mending the penny? When's the last time you actually took a penny out of your pocket for anything?
I mean every now and then?
Yeah, Well, what happens now somebody's going to be two dollars and one cent. Do you just give them a nickel and say keep the change? I don't know, but the idea that it's costing is more than three cents to manufacture every one penny. It's just nuts, it is.
But I wanted to know how this rounding up is going to work and how I'm not going to wind up paying more.
Can we not make the penny out of something that doesn't cost three cents?
That's another question.
I don't know. But how much we have to spend to retool all the machinery to do that? I guess whatever, Well.
What are we going to do with all the pennies we still have out there circulating?
Well, maybe then they become more three cents when they become rare. I don't know.
I got plenty of them, that's all I have, plenty of He's floating around.
Every day, every hour hour.
I'd like to stay inform everything you need to stay informed. One O three point five FM and five sixty am w VOC. This is Columbia's Morning News with Gary David and Christopher Thompson on one O three point five FM and five sixty am w VOC.
Alright, it is eight forty and our final thoughts here for this on Monday morning back with you and uh, well we got to start here.
Uh.
We talked about this earlier briefly in the toe if you mentioned that on Friday you weren't even sure he was really serious about this.
Or still not?
Still not and you may be right, t rave Governor t raf Thomas Ravenel uh talking about running for governor, posting the social media I'm running for governor of South Carolina and none of the lightweights currently in the race are going to stop me. Well, number one, there's nobody currently in the race, okay, saying he has a message that's going to change not just South Carolina but the
entire country. Uh okay. Now, there was a post what over the weekend and I don't have it in front of me right now, but it was something along the lines of, uh it, I may not be able to do this, and it kind of hinted around that was almost like there were certain threats made or what have you.
Family was being threatened or family being threatened?
Is his income being threatened or something along those lines, so he may not be able to try to do this. Well, okay, so you remember Thomas Ravenel, one time state treasure so ten months in prison on a cocaine rap reality show,
star on a show I've never watched, Southern Jarm. Okay, this seems just getting silly now in my opinion, I don't know now, Okay, he wrote in that post back on February first, and he's thinking about getting back into politics, thinking about the governor's race, saying we've had terrible leadership of that position, that we're one of the least competitive states in the Southeast based on our extremely high counterproductive income tax rates, which getting something that the current governor
would like to see go away. Also, he wrote, we tax cars and boats and boat motors, and the cost to extract these taxes barely cover the revenue received. Okay, Well, I don't know you maybe, uh, maybe you're a big t raft fan. Maybe you're a fan of his time on Southern Charm or whatever. Would you vote for him for governor? Well?
Remember he won state office once upon a time.
Yeah, once upon a time before we knew all the rest of there is to know about Thomas Ravenel. He's trying to run for other offices since hasn't he unsuccessfully.
Didn't run against Lindsay Graham for Senate for a little while. Wasn't that the last race he ran.
Up? I think it was, yes, twice twice any.
Way, Yeah, a lot of baggage that comes with them, just a bet.
At least two bagsworth. New CBS poll released yesterday revealing that well, Donald Trump is at his highest approval rating over both of his terms, fifty three percent voter approval highest he never got to fifty three percent in his first four years and up to fifty three percent right now. And just like well, we thought, voters believe that he has followed through us campaign vowels. Uh, seventy percent believe he's sticking to his campaign vowels, which, as we talked
about before, that's something we're just not used to. You know, we hear these campaign vows all the time up until the vote is counted, and then suddenly they don't seem to exist anymore. Well, that's not the case with Trump. Now. We say seventy percent believe he's sticking to his vows. Doesn't mean that seventy percent agree with him, but they say, hey, you know, he's doing what he said you do, whether they like it or not. But fifty three percent approval
rating strong. This in a CBS You Go pull released yesterday. Interesting. They also mentioned that odors used positive words to describe him. Sixty nine percent say he's tough, sixty three percent energetic, unlike the last guy, sixty percent focus, fifty eight percent effective. There's are good words now. When it comes to Doze and Elon Musk, twenty three percent of us believe that this new agency should have a lot of influence over
government spending. Twenty eight percent say some so ye added up. That's fifty one percent. That's a majority.
There have been some uncomfortable moments with Musk and with Doge. I think people were uncomfortable with how much access he had to the government last week, specifically treasury records. But you know, if the guy's going to balance the books, if the guy's going to weed out all the inefficiency, you got to let him see everything. And for those who say, well, eel and Musk is, you know, he's an unelected person and we didn't put him in charge.
Trump told everybody what was gonna happen if he was elected, right, and and we elected him. They didn't have the name Doze yet, But everything else was in place.
Yes, something else that Trump is looking to do, and I got We took a cruise last week and the moment I got onto the ship, I told my wife, I said, Doc conne, you know what we forgot. We forgot to bring the plastic straws. I don't know what these straws were. These straws were actually edible. They made a sugar or something. I don't know what. But those paper straws you get these days. Has there ever been a worse idea than that? Well, thanks to Joe Biden,
that's what you get these days. But back to plastic. Trump says he will decide an executive order this week ending what he called the ridiculous Biden push for paper straws, which didn't work. I have yet to meet anybody who likes a paper straw. If you say you do, I'm sorry, you're lying. Thank you. Bring back the plastic straws. And this right here, my friends, may be the epitome of
Trump derangement syndrome. Laura Pohutsky, who was a Democrat representative of the state of Michigan, during a protest last Wednesday against Trump, announced this. This was at the state capital demonstrators gathered to support the National fifty five oh one movement. That's a grassroots anti Trump initiative that wants to get people on the streets to protest and resist Project twenty
twenty five. At that gathering, she said, just under two weeks ago, I underwent surgery to ensure that I would never have to navigate a pregnancy in Donald Trump's administration. I refuse to let my body be treated as currency by an administration that only sees value of my ability to pro create. In other words, she sterilized herself. She sterilized herself. Now, I don't know how old this woman is.
I don't know if she's, you know, beyond child bearing age or not, which would take some of the thrill away, I guess. But to think that that a woman says sterilized herself to protest Trump, maybe one day she might regret that move. I don't know, but that right there may well be the epitome of Trump derangement syndrome. Yes, the crown goes to that woman right there. Democrat Representative of the State of Michigan, Laura Pohutsky