Morning Run with Amy and TJ and iHeartRadio Podcast. Welcome everyone to this Saturday edition, a weekend edition of Morning Run where we talk about the stories that kept us talking after we turned off our microphones on this week's Morning runs.
And we have a ton of.
Stories to get deeper into, but I don't know, Let's begin with perhaps the one that the world is talking about, Pope Leo the fourteenth, the first American pope in the history of the Vatican. And really, you and I watched it happen, and I think, like most of the world, we were shocked, and then at least for probably most Americans, I felt a sense and a source.
Of pride, incredibly excited.
You know, I had some initial concerns about the rest of the world being turned off by here they go again, we had another American in some power position. We are already, right, we're always the the I don't want to call us the bully on the block, but oftentimes we're the big dog. And now this powerful position is going to an American
as well. I wondered how people receive that. Obviously a lot of people are excited about him, but when you start to hear about him, I'm excited about him bringing American culture to something as archaic in a lot of ways as the Vatican and their traditions.
And maybe as secretive.
You know, people, there's always been such mystery and wonder about what really happens, what the power structure is truly like inside the halls of the Sistine Chapel and beyond in the Vatican. But I do think there is, at least for us as Americans, there's so much relatability. This is a dude who comes from Chicago, He went to
Villanova University. He has family, obviously still his brothers talking to reporters saying he at a young age always knew he wanted to go into some sort of service within the church. And I believe it's pretty remarkable. Someone came up to him, his brother told the story early on in his life and said, you're going to be the first American pope. That's pretty remarkable that this is a man whom I have no reason not to believe.
I heard stories like that before.
People who end up in big positions, they say when they were a kid, I always knew.
But I mean, it's a it's kind of a cool story that from a very young age, he felt called to serve, and I think that is very unusual and incredibly remarkable. And to think he actually not just he he got there, he was voted on by one hundred and thirty two other cardinals.
Who chose him. So it's it's cool.
It wasn't some popular election or what the world wanted. These cardinals who got to know each other, and most of them didn't know one another because they were newly appointed by Pope Francis. And I think it's it says something about him and who he is that he was able to get the collective support from all of these cardinals from around the world.
And the Villanova is a great school. Chicago's a great town. But when you think about the elites in this country, when the elite schools even you talk about the Ivy Leagues and the Harvard's and the all those types of schools, Bella was a great school. But in Chicago's a great time. But it's still not New York. It's still not La There's something still blue collar about those places salting over
in Chicago. Those are places you've got to be in the thick of it, you got to be have a little grime to you, there's something it says about him those two places, even so I look forward to seeing what this guy does. Haven't heard him speaking was yet.
I'm in school.
I haven't earlier. Like they've put out some of his earlier it not as pope.
Yes, yes, he's only been speaking in Italian and Spanish, that's what we've heard. I know he knows some Latin. I believe I was looking he knows. I mean, this is a he was living in Peru. He is a learned man and knows multiple languages and is going to hopefully unite so many people.
It's exciting.
It's from the interviews I heard from him earlier, when he was just a bishop.
I hate to say just a bishop or a cardinal.
But it's funny. My family hails from Michigan. I got a lot of fans in Chicago, so there's this like classic Chicago accent.
And to hear him.
Speak like my family speaks was so interesting because when we think of the pope, it just seems like it is obviously one of the most powerful positions historically in the world. And so to hear him talk like people I know and I'm from talk was just an interesting connection. So anyway, we're rooting him on and we cannot wait to hear what he has to say. He's going to be speaking to reporters on Monday, so we'll hopefully maybe hear a little bit of English from him. Also, another
story that kept us talking. You loved this one, TJ. Because it's so hard to get your head around. The Navy found a way in less than a week to literally lose two seventy eighty million dollar Fa eighteen fighter jets in the ocean.
Then lose him in battle. They weren't shot down by the enemy. They fell off the side of an aircraft carrier, same one. Somebody's got to get fired for this something. But an investigator, should planes even be taking off from that aircraft carrier anymore?
This is wild to me. This is in the Red Sea.
Of course they're supporting the US operation against the Huthis is what this aircraft carrier the USS.
Truman, right, Yes, USS Truman one.
The toe crew just lost control of the one as they were towing it. It just rolled, literally rolled off the side of an aircraft carrier. Eight days later, another one trying to land misses the hook. It can't slow down, can't stop, so it rolls right off the side. Nobody no major injuries, we should say, but this blows my mind that we can just waste we just dropping planes.
It's it's frightening and hard to imagine.
Like and thankfully, look, I have had a unique experience to actually be in an air on a Fa eighteen and land on aircraft carrier the HW Bush. This is years and years ago. But when you hook on that on that line, it's you have the tail and it hooks on. You go from like, I don't know, eight hundred miles an hour to zero in three seconds. This is like a very carefully calculated car crash. The impact of just getting to a complete stop when you're at such a high rate of speed for them to just
keep going, I can't even imagine. So remarkably they were able to eject. They probably just had seconds to do so I'm thinking about that the level of expertise those pilots had to have to actually even get out of there safely with minor injuries. And so that's the good news that no one was hurt. But someone has to explain or account for almost two hundred million dollars of equipment just falling into the sea.
Yeah, this is look, we expect losses, but like if it happens in war and military operations, you can't just be dropping stuff off the side into the water.
The first one had you talking, the second one your jaw drops.
They have got to stop that. They need to take the USS Truman out of commission. I forgot what's going on?
All right, So you know, here's another story that just it had us ah sad. And then moving on to a larger question. So the news of Smokey Robinson in this fifty million dollar lawsuit. This is a Motown legend. His music is iconic and still holds to this day. You love him, you love his voice, and then you hear these heinous acts he's accused of committing by four women who were housekeepers at his home, saying that they were repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped, some of them two
of them, I believe, saying more than twenty times. And it gets into this larger question of can you you know, we don't know. He hasn't been proven to have done any of these crimes or convicted of anything.
But then you still.
Start to wonder, can you separate the art from the artist when you hear these types of allegations, we.
Should maintain it.
We should also make sure we say he has maintained his innocence.
Absolutely.
These are vile and false allegations from people trying to shake them down for money. We have seen cases like that before. I'm sure we have also in cases where people have been accused and things like this and turn out and end up guilty. Not suggesting that about Smokey. It's just it's eighty. He's eighty five years old. We call a motown legend, but he started that.
He was an original.
He was like, he's royalty when it comes to music and certainly motown. We were asked this question something completely unrelated, having to do with Woody Allen right watching his art.
Yeah, you can you watch his movies knowing what you know about him, and.
What do you do? What do we do?
Again, Smokey Robinson is innocent. We just this is is said, He's innocent. I'm saying we It just reminded us in that conversation, what do you do with artists who are accused of really heinous things or even convicted?
What do you do with their art?
Yeah? You start thinking about r Kelly Michael Jackson, Sean Diddy Coombs. These are people who have created art and music that is truly phenomenal.
Oh, legendary stuff all.
Time great and like nostalgic and takes you back and you know you love listening to because you remember where you were and all of that stuff. Do you have to stop watching? Do you have to stop listening? Can you find a way to appreciate without feeling like you're doing something wrong?
Well a couple questions.
Is that just a personal should that only be a personal conflict and a personal question. But what turns into an issue is that someone else takes issue with you with the personal choice you have made.
See that's where I actually do think one hundred percent it is a personal choice, and I don't think that you should impose what you choose on other people. I'm someone who believes and who has been able to judge me if you'd like. But I can separate the art from the artist. I think about it a little bit, But sometimes I have to admit I still enjoy a lot of this music and a lot of those.
Movies, And you know you could.
There's so many and I just feel like there are so many things we don't know about people. If you're going to start now looking at every single person, even look at politicians, what they've done in the past, what they've been accused of doing, everybody. And I just feel like I couldn't consume anything because and I'm not saying that some acts aren't more heinous than others, but still, I just feel like it's the glass house thing for me. You know, throw the stones, but just remember you live
in a glass house. We're all sinners, We've all made mistakes, and I'm not again, I'm not comparing, but I just try to keep that in mind, and I personally still choose to enjoy the art.
You know what, I have a limit. I just realized that there are some things I don't want to name, folks, but there are some artists who have done things in particularly use the N word.
Yes, I get that.
That I don't make a conscious decision that I refuse. I just see the name or see the song come up.
Now I know I know some of the people you're talking about. That makes that makes it perfect natural for me.
Folks who have been caught doing some stuff that I.
But could you like, could you stop? Would you want to watch stop? Watching Harvey Weinstein movies. I mean, where do you draw the lo There's just so many.
I think that's a big thing there.
So how can I I look at a name and I'm still turned off because that person is using an in word and I just doesn't work for me. But then I don't have the same reaction to a Michael Jackson or an R. Kelly song.
Now why is it TJ?
Somebody could fairly ask, yeah, wait, you got one problem with this one word. You won't listen to that. But these folks have been accused of some of the most heinous things you and one is in jail, so why not?
So what is that that's personal me? And I don't really have an.
Answer, and I don't think you have to explain.
It's to explain.
To myself, you know, what's something that needs explanation.
And we had a lot of conversation about this NFL fan who's sued, or at least a football fan sued the NFL for one hundred million dollars because he got so upset and had so much trauma over watching Chador Sanders' NFL draft debacle happened.
I wish Shaduur would respond to this would really brohad or tough night.
It was hard for you? Was how hard was it for you?
Frivolous? Right, this is what we should call. This is frivolous.
But just the idea, it was so ridiculous.
Look, I you know, I we both suffered. We had trauma watching this game.
You had a lot of trauma.
Oh we say trauma.
I suggested a class action lawsuit that you could join.
I will no, you know what I the suggestion. I know, I don't know how.
To see this as anything other than ridiculous. And I'm trying to justify it in some way because we were We watched it, and our heart went out to that kid to see him drop, and the draft the way it did, and the way people were talking about and continue to talk about your heart hurts from it.
And then the prank that it happened afterwards.
I mean, it was just it was just he just kept getting it was he was getting piled on and on and on.
It was just it was almost too much for him.
Why does anyone.
Really think they're going to get a dime out of this? What is the point Why would you take the time to draft this lawsuit?
Does he have a lawyer, did he do it pro se?
And I just feel like, at the very least there are going to be legal costs.
Incurred because of this.
And that's what drives me crazy about these frivolous lawsuits. If you want to make a point, you want to make a statement, go on social media, go on TikTok. Start involving the US court system, which should be used and preserved for actual, real lawsuits, people who actually need remedy, people who actually deserve some sort of.
Settlement.
And I just get frustrated when I see this because it clogs our legal system and it's annoying.
You know me, I always want to hear the other side. I would what could they possibly say? Or I go okay, man, I get it.
I would say, let's get him on the podcast. Except for, like most frivolous lawsuits, he filed it anonymously. Yeah yeah, this is a John Doe. And that's even more annoying. I don't think you should be allowed to file an anonymous lawsuit something like this.
With that amount of money. Put your name on it. That's what I would say to that.
Anyone who's flying right has dealt with and we're concerned about this real ID deadline. The cool news from everything I've seen about this, because this was really concerning because we already know what the delays are like, the lines are like. When you're trying to fly now with the real ID deadline, which happened on Wednesday, you cannot go through the normal lines and the normal procedures if you don't have a star a real ID on your driver's license.
I am among that group. So funny enough, the problem has been now the DMV lines. Everyone trying to get the real ID, but so far it appears in the airports. In the airlines, they actually have a separate area for people who don't have this specific ID and don't have a passport. Yeah, they've actually designated areas, and it's been reported that so far things have gone fairly smoothly. The
big issue are what's happening at the local DMA. Like I looked here in New York to try and get an appointment, and all the way through August, there is not one DMV office in all of Manhattan that I can get an appointment to so far through Labor Day. That's kind of crazy. So I know we've been told about the fact that we needed to get our IDs updated, but.
Nobody ever does anything until the last minute.
Twenty years.
Okay, you've known about this for twenty years, folks. Literally the Real Idea Act was passed in two thousand and five.
But then every time I've certainly gotten my ID renewed in twenty years.
You had the option for real ID, didn't you.
You know what? I remember? I did?
You know what? I didn't know that I had to bring some utility bill after I'd had a driver's license and a New York driver's license for twenty years, that now I suddenly had to bring a utility bill.
I know that's tough.
I know the internet is tough to find information out there sometimes about what you need to bring for your DMV appointment. I know it's tough. This is one I get. But this is a tough one. I'm talking issue about the rest of y'all. But the only reason I have a real idea is because I had a motorcycle license update within the past two years, so I had to get a new license with A and so they gave me a I got a new one. So yes, I'm going to settle my high real ID horse and look down at.
The rest of you.
But here that's fine. But here's what I don't understand this real ID. How is it any different than when I first got my first ID? Because when I first got my first driver's license at the age of sixteen, I had to show proof of residency, I had to show my birth certificate, I had to show my Social Security card. So I've done all of these things. Why do I have to now go in and repeat the process?
Safety?
It was supposed to be for a safety and have a uniform system across the country. And this was after nine to eleven, So this was a security measure put in place specifically to make us all uniform, make us all safer.
And if it was so important after nine to eleven, ye in two thousand and one, why is it only now in twenty twenty five we're doing it, we're implementing, we're enforcing it. When for the past twenty years, what has been the Why has there not been urgency? Why is the urgency now?
They just wanted to get procrastinators enough time to do it, and they thought twenty years might be enough.
So apparently that's not the case.
An urgency, Well, the deadline has been a place for years.
My point is, if it was so urgent that the nine to eleven Commission said this is something we need to do for the safety of our airlines and our Congress air safety.
Say again, congressis Congress one is?
It couldn't have been that important if we could wait twenty years.
We didn't wait. Things take time, didn't they. We just did a story about that they're doing improvements with the air traffic controllers.
It'll be ready in three years.
It won't be ready in three years. You know it won't.
Okay, Yeah, come on.
Three years. That's hilarious. We should we should keep it. Update on that.
Glad we can leave you on this happy note, folks here on this Saturday.
Tenth oh with Analysa's birthday.
Happy day, Analyse, and we got a weddingesday as well, So folks, we always appreciate you running with us.
We'll give you updates on birthdays.
And congratulations Madison and Jose Yes, and.
Happy birthday Analyse, and folks, you'll have yourself a good weekend.
We will keep running with you.
We'll see you tomorrow for a Sunday.
Morning run as well.
Right, we certainly will have a great Saturday everybody,