Do you want to be in a Manican.
Here we go on this Monday morning, Scott Slow seven hundred WLW in that Sunday was felt like work watching the Bengals yesterday. Didn't like I worked maybe six seven days this week. Uh, we'll get in that a little bit of course, James or James rappeen. It will be here to recap that a little bit later on in the show. Lots going on, including this. We're blowing up suspected drug boats off foreign countries, off the coast of
foreign countries. And we have yet another piece plan in the Middle East, and this one seems like to be the one. This is the one that who knows could get Trump the Nobel Prize? Is this the deal that finally stops the carnage in Palestine and Israel?
On?
That is a Captain Ed Glryan. He is a US Navy Seal team seven times over, team leader, decorated Special Ops Task Force commander, US Army Ranger, long decorated career, serving this nation in a very rare seal And are you a US Army Ranger marriage which often doesn't happen? Captain Ed, good morning, how are you sir?
Good morning? Scott, Good morning the listeners. Well, we'll be a lot better if we get this rain that's coming through. We need a drink down here on the farm.
I believe that, no doubt about it. Let me outline what happened over the weekend here if you're just plugging back in this morning. So this happened late in the week with President Trump announcing a peace plan in the Middle East. So as of Saturday, the Israeli military has shifted to defensive operations in Gaza, stop their airstrikes beyond what those are needed for force protection, I guess. According to the IDF, the Israeli Prime Minister net Yahou confirmed
he halted the offensive. Said, Okay, we're gonna engage in the Trump plan here and engage in indirect negotiations between Israel. They're going to sit down I guess Israel Hamas and start talking today in Egypt, and the peace plan would be enacted once all forty eight hostages are returned to Israeli territory and if they're not released by the deadline, then they'll zoom fighting again. So it's still relative tentative, and we've heard this before. We're so close to peace
we've got peace, and then peace erodes rather abruptly. What should we expect from what's happening right now?
Ed? Well, a good wrap upon that. Ever elusive is the piece with them off. But something we have to remember as we watched this from the distance is they are not a nation state. They're a terrorist group with an armed faction. So they have a political element that's doing the discussions, which is not always in alignment with the fighters that are on the ground and Gaza accordingly,
that could be the long pole in the tent. But regardless of that, great credit has got to be given to the administration because this is like a mensa game underwater at night. It is difficult to get all this lined up. Could I talk about sort of where we're at? Yeah, the final piece is these final few hostages. Now, remember there was what back in February, three hundred and sixty nine or so Palestinian prisoners were released just for three
Israeli hostages. Earlier in the SEASCAR. In January of twenty twenty five, Israel had already released over one thousand Palestinians for thirty three Israeli hostages. Some were deceased and some were alive. There had been some other one offse that occurred in there, but now the totals well over one thousand Palestinian prisoners have been released. Remember they were captured and many of them had life sentences for very serious
crimes and such in Israel. And as part of the President's twenty point Godza peace proposal, there is the final exchange of about a forty eight prisoners many deceased, for about nearly two thousand Palestinian prisoners. This is going to be a very difficult, hard move by the final armed elements of Hamas because that's their last bargaining chip. And I want to add this. Remember one of the key
elements is they have to agree to verifying disarmorment. They have to disarm ergo I would say, oh, there's one other piece we have to remember here, Scott. Our adversaries watched the calendar. You know what tomorrow is. It's the second anniversary of the Hamas attacks. Basically a slaughter. Over twelve hundred folks died there during that attack, a brutal slaughter, and they love to celebrate those dates. I know to the US listening audience, it doesn't always make sense for
to them it's a strategic victory. They use it for recruiting and for fundraising. So we are in the shadow of the eve of the second anniversary. So it is going to be interesting how things develop in the next twenty four to forty eight hours in that setting, scot.
And how does how do you disarm Hamas? How do you trust them? How do you demobilize them? It's a terrorist organization. It's not like it's you know, somebody's going to lay their sword down at the feet and they're going to sign the agreement on a deck of a US battleship in the middle of the Pacific, like the end of World War Two.
That's not happening here. How do you determine that?
Well, you hit the nail on the head. And that's why I started out. They're not a nation state, and they're very factioned, so to speak. You're going to have hard l elements, even within the hard elements, so it is going to be more than difficult. And then it is going to require constant oversight and the systems, processes
and such in place to allow that monitoring. Accordingly, what that would imply is there's gonna have to be a sweep through Gaza to what we call cordon and clear, completely cleared out, not unlike urban operations on the same kind of you know, metropolitan city terrain, urban terrain during World War two. You're gonna have to go through and do a complete search. They're gonna have to agree to that in some terms and some methods, but that is
very difficult because it pass this prologue. They have never put those arms down. And when you add the fact that these the prisoners that have been released, many of them have gone back to fighting.
And this is all predicated on new leadership. This technocratic group that's not autocratic, but technocratic group that's going to come in. It's gonna take a while to establish a government. Always does. And even when there's peace, aren't we going to have just splinters and factions of a moss that are not happy that they laid their arms down and just start over and form an as a as a splinter group and gross strength through power if they don't see things moving as quickly as human nature.
Dictates, very likely, Scott, You're you're exactly right, they will just nearly morph into the next chapter because they've been raising by brainwashing. You know, basically that next generation. I want to add something as well here. The move by a number of nations to recognize in the Palestinian state without having conditions set where you're going to have to
do this was probably ill advised. I'm no politician, I'm a fifth generation farmer, career, military officer, combat arms For the record, however, as a strategician, I would have advised those leaders do not recognize them without conditions. We gave it away. To your point, that was a leverage point. We gave away scotten out the West, not the US. We were against the Trump administration said bad idea, and
they were right on. Other nations gave that key bargain and chip away where that would have given us the leverage Scott to your point that they'll just go to another chapter.
In this yeah, you would think that's the case. Now.
I think it's interesting too that a number of Middle Eastern countries, significant countries have gotten together to support this peace plan. Where's Iran on this, because they're the primary sponsor of the terror we're talking about, or.
You better believe behind the scenes, they're going to do everything may can to your point, to continue to arm Hamas, to continue to support hamas to condition, to disrupt and destabilize, because remember the long term play on this, Scott is, this is like a tet offensive strategy. It was never to defeat Israel or the US or the West. It was to undermine our legitimacy in the world of publican opinion. And they're popping the champagne bottles when some of those
countries recognize the Palestinian state. That was wholly ill advised strategically speaking, to give that away. So so Iran is definitely behind the scenes, you know, being the puppet map.
But then we just you mentioned the two state solution, which has been evasive for longer than we've both been alive, probably combined. Right, is it okay, we've got to recognize Palestinian statehood. There's a lot of backlash to that. But doesn't Trump's deal establish Palestinian statehood?
Does some agree?
Well, that remains to be seen. I mean, it's very clever the way they'd line that up with the conditions and twenty points.
Sounds like it's going to be a Palestinian country. So it sounds like well, and.
I'll tell you this, and this is just strategic genius of his approach. To rebuild goth in the same way that that's how we really won World War two. That's how we lost World War One. We did not rebuild Germany, right, we did not rebuild it and you know, get rid of that sentiment of resentment. But we did after World War II with a Marshall Plan in Europe, and then of course we did something similar out in Japan. So
it's just strategic genius. So certainly the administration has that in the back of the map to bring the Arabs in and help rebuild it. Because you might notice there's there doesn't seem to be a lot of support for the Palestinians from the Arab nations writ large. Sometimes there's silence. Is deafening, isn't it.
Oh, there's no question about it. There's no question.
And I think that you know, there's okay, tremendous pressure from outside of Iran Middle Eastern countries.
Okay, let's get this thing done.
At the same time, I just saw this poll over the weekend that six out of ten US Jews disapprove of Israel's handling the situation in Gaza, something like four and ten call it outright genocide. And I think that's maybe behind the scenes, maybe pushing Israel's hands somewhat. You know, that's you know, we look at polling numbers and voter
support and things like that. And when a majority of US Jews are saying, hey, you know it Israel's too heavy handed with Gaza, I think that does get innat Yan who's attention to some degree?
Or am I wrong?
Sure?
No, you're exactly right, and that they and again that plays right into what I call the ted offensive strategy was an evertent eat them tactically or operational is with you is exactly what you just articulated to win win the fight of public opinion, to include with not misinformation disinformation.
So with respect to that, you know, things are not always what they seem, and what seems to be underreported is just the brutality of the entire matter, you know, to start with the slaughter, you know, and now two years ago, no.
Question, he is retired US Navy Seal Captain ed galleryan of course, fifth generation farmer in Kentucky. He was a US Navy Seal team with them seven different teams for that matter, Decorated Special Ops Task Force Commander, US Army Ranger War college, and we're talking about what's going on in the thele least right now and how close we are to peace. What's your gut say about? This is just another, just another than the ever evolving ed situations
there between. We we think we have peace this time, and then at last, what like forty minutes and we do this all over again, wash with How much more confident are you in this approach than you were in previous ones or.
Is it all the same.
No, I'm much more confident this time. However, Comma, I do anticipate and I'm certain the administration has built this in. There's going to be some disruptors. I refer to to the You know, there's factions within the factions. There's going to be some hard elements there called true believers. They're not going to put their weapons down. You got to factor that in. So it's very likely. And again it's not a nation state. They do not have, you know,
your your typical vertical chain of command. You know II, sir, we're going to do this and so forth and so on. So because of those fractures, you can anticipate there's going to be some especially with Iran behind the scenes, to try to disrupt this because Iran does not want this to happen. They do not want Pete.
Let me pivot to something else. And by the way, I really believe that this can take hold. I don't know how Trump doesn't win a Nobel Bright for this, because that is something that previous presidents and the list is too long to name, have tried to deal with to the utmost failure. But something else that's going on is the president has a policy of executing suspected drug smugglers by declaring his targets are unlawful combatants are in their I'm conflict of the United States.
Which is interesting.
He's ordered three attacks on speedboats in the Caribbean and said they're carrying the legal drugs. I think seventeen total people on those three craft were struck. What's the significance of that of his order to strike drug boats including a fourth in the past I believe a fourth in the past few days for that matter, I said three, but it's more up to four now from a military analysts perspective.
What do you make of this?
Well, remember this I want for the listeners here. My interest is usually safely in your beds and night. US national security. So when I put on my US national security glasses and the lens of it, these operations are clearly intended as what's called as strategic disruption and destabilization operation against US. They are gray zone warfare operations to weaponize the drug trade by our major at a series
primarily China could unpocket strategics, yeah please right. So in February, the Trump administration designated eight criminal organizations as Gordon Terrorist Organizations uh AND terrorists, And of the eight, Tunde Aragua operates primarily out of Venezuela with the support of a Duro government that gives them sanctuary and stays there and benefits financially. Reports. Our six other operate out of Mexico were don't forget. They control reportedly over forty percent of Mexico.
And then there's another that operates throughout Central and South America, all with the focus of flowing drugs into the United States. It's what we would call in the War College a sun Sooo strategy, the indirect approach to conduct brisk rop disruption operations. So nobody speaking Chinese shows up, you know,
with the bag of drug or suitcase of money. These people for all intents and purposes, their proxies and their surrogates in the same way the Hussies Hamas and his Balla do the same for our Just to remember, at a strategic level, all over one in eight arrest in the US is for a drug offense. And gracious that you know, nearly half the violent crime is somehow connected, you know, to the whole caval of drugs related gang warfare,
humans trafficking, and weapons trafficing, gun trafficking. So it's to have a huge impact on us. Now, can I talk about the military employment of the capabilities down there so the listeners understand.
Yeah, before you do that, though, because I think there are people going, Okay, well, I get the military angle this thing. The military gets sent and you do the job.
You've laid out a great case at gel Ryan is to the wise from you know, the Chinese involvement in the drug trafficking here in the United States, and of course the Mexican cartels and everything else and supplies are coming in from Venezuela, but I think they're pi and there'll be a constitutional debate about this was just outside your scope and what federal law dictates and how this is possible in using the military in this role, but
I think they have maybe the average person listening go, well, how do we know from a military standpoint where these boats are headed to because they're fishing vessels, and how do we know they're actually carrying drugs? I mean, that's what the government's saying. But the government, whether it's Democrats or Republicans, we've been told something and lied to before. So how can American sleepwall night going Okay, are these really drug or is this about regime change in Venezuela?
A great question, and let me segue right into that. Well you might remember you also sent me to the Naval fust Graduate School to get any master's degree in operational intelligence. Right, here's what you can count on, and I'm glad you asked that question for the listeners. The US is certainly employing a broad range of intelligence capabilities from space to undersea to detect and track this drug
transportation network. And we're talking satellites, aircraft, ships, submarines and other special capabilities that far exceed the classification of this conversation to identify literally where the drugs are originating from and where they're going to. And so rest assured there's not some sailor out there saying, oh, there's a fast boat,
let's hit at oh no serybod. They've been tracking that target from its origin with those those base of the contraband and it's a very deliberate and technical operation by military professionals and now just an open source and that's all we're going to talk about here today because I violate my security parance. We've got multiple Navy warships with advanced capabilities to collect. We've got the Paight aircraft down there that collect both on surface and undersea activities, their
advanced reconnaissance aircraft. We've got other rotary wing assets down there. We've got federal capabilities. We have a fast attack submarine. Why they have very special collection capabilities that are advanced in their technical ability to track precisely the movement of surface craft. So we have a whole group of things brought together and you can guarantee guaranteed the technical aspects
of that are being applied for the targeteers. Then it goes to the leadership to determine if it's met that threshold that we have confirmed there we are in fact running drugs. And I could also have to add this. I was the last commanding officer of the Overseas Navy Seal Team operating out of the Panama Canal Zone. I was responsible for all such operations for seals and naval special warfare in Central and South America until the time
that we gave the canal back in nineteen ninety. As such, I supported federal agencies, Coast Guard, DEA, others in counter drug operations. We were doing this decades ago. The difference was we did not have the freedom of action to use all the national capabilities to identify and track. And then the key part was when it came time to season, we basically had two hands tied behind our back because
a policy, well, the policies changed. Now the administration has recognized the clear and present danger to our national security that they pose to us, and that they're released there gets in proxies of our adversaries. Folks were at the most dangerous point in our history. And i'd offer since pre World War Two, when you lay down the broad conters and these drugs are being used by one of the fourforcement of the apocalypse in this case China, right
to destabilize us. I mean and remember just one other thing, if I could, Scott, when we hit that third boat, what also occurred in the same timeframe, two Chinese ships were intercepted with major loads or precursors coming to the drug cartels.
That's what and that's what needs to be highlighted on this too. And this is the concert.
John. I get the end.
I respect the constitutional argument for it, but what's the bigger play? And that's the message that we need to articulate. He's Captain Ed Golran, US Navy Seals and Army ranger and farmer in Kentucky, fifth generation farmer. So I know you got work to do on the farm and we'll get a time out of I always appreciate the insights, sir, God.
Blessed, Thank you, thank you, Yes, sir, good day.
Before the rain hits. Get her done, Get her done. We got to get a news update in very latest done this and what else is happening here locally on the Scott's Loan Show, seven hundred W. Well back to the grind Scott Sloan seven hundred WW.
I'm with you, man, I'm with you.
Just had Captain Ed gallryin on add the former US Navy seal Army Ranger team leader. And I think this guy he is a an American badass, no doubt about it, with some unique insight, and still he still has access to the things that most of us don't have access to. Uh, you know in recap here with the conversation, I missed it. You can catch that in the podcast. On the podcast, I should say, right after the show be the iHeartRadio app. And you know, I get the debate. As a libertarian,
I get it. I get the constitutional debate on why we're blowing up and if we should be blowing up ships. We're not engaged in an act of war technically with these nations and so of Venezuela and shipping vessels that are just off the coast that were blowing up. I see the constitutional argument there, and this is something that's going to be debated for some time, there's no question about it. But I also get the clear and present danger.
Look relative to China, who's driving this whole thing. We are already seen with well TikTok for example, and other platforms like that. How do they use our free nature, our First Amendment, and our liberties, our constitutional liberties are God granted liberties. Against us. They figured out the formula secret sauce to defeat. It is not you know, they're not gonna be launching missiles and invading us with foreign
armies as generation's past fear and the Cold War. Rather, they're going to do it by using us against each other, dividing us. And we seem pretty divided right now. Right, How is that any different that we're talking about with this war on drugs? And it's not the drugs as much, because let's face it, you know, we have a really good appetitis Americans, some of us more than others for drugs.
Those of us who look down the nose that the recreational drug user have no problem having on know, three or four martinis or cocktails on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday night got the drug, and so all of us have something. And you know, let's face it, we enjoy beer, we enjoy in Bourbon country, we enjoy bourbon. How much different is that then? I don't know, marijuana and marijuanas mayde well, how much different is that than someone who uses heroin or cocaine?
And you know, again that line moves.
We have a pretty good appetite, we establish a good baseline for recreational drugs in America, we're the ones that are demanding those drugs come across our shores. Are they polluting us and destroying us? Absolutely destroying our communities. We saw with what happened with the opiate crisis that was manufactured by wild government policies and the government themselves, and then they cut the spickt off and now these people are dependent on opiate's had to turn the street drugs.
And that's something that's created by even our own system of government here and the way we do things in America, right or wrong, that's how things are. And the Chinese seek to say, hey, you know what, Americans like you know, get caught with some of the drugs we're talking about in China. See how that works out for you. It won't here in America. We tolerate it as they free
and open society. They use it against This, to me is another nuance in that in that war, in that war of mind and ideology, and I think Ed brought some really good points up with that. As far as you're going, well, why are we blowing up these shipping vessels? How do we know that they're actually drug We got to take the government's word. Well, at some point you have to take the government sword for it. We've been lied to in the past, there's no doubt about it.
But it doesn't mean that there's not intent there to try and change this dynamic. It's really made an interesting constitutional debate, that's for sure. I don't know why I watched the Bengals games. I don't know, because you kind of know what's going to happen. Is it like a car wreck at this point? Do you hope against all hope things are going to be different? It wasn't I know, the score. It's one of those games in the classic goes well, the score wasn't as close. It was real
law as that's so true in this game. What thirty seven to twenty four? The Bendo's lost three straight now at the hand of Jake Browning and not really how much of this is Jake brown and the quarterback And let's they said three touchdowns three interceptions in the street.
Touchdowns didn't come until the fourth quarter when it was over. Yeah, you know, I don't think anyone outside of maybe that locker room, and I'm gonna guess that if you were to survey the conscience of your typical Bengals player that they don't have any confidence in Jake Browning either. I don't know how much Jake Browning hits confidence in Jake Browning at this point, and he's saying that he just needs to play better. Well, you know, I would. There's
a lot of things I'd like to be. I just don't wake up when they go, Okay, I I am, I'm taller, I'm better looking. I weigh you know, fifteen pounds less. I can you go on and on?
Right?
All of us do that? You know, wishing and wanting isn't reality. I think this is the best you're going to get out of Jake Browning. And I wonder how many Bengals fans after this loss. I've completely written the scene.
I would suggest many, simply because yesterday was supposed to be a stripe the Jungle game at pay Corps, which basically means, and it's kind of cool concetantly see in the past where you know, one section is orange, the next section is black, the section's orange, the section is black, and it looks like you know, the pay course game and stripe, provided you do a couple of things. One of them is fill the stadium. The other two is win games so that you can guarantee that that is a home crowd.
There.
The problem was, and a lot of those tickets were sold ahead of time. A lot of those people sold those tickets on the secondary market to Lions fans. So it was kind of a weird sea of black and orange, but a hell of a lot of Hawaiian blue and white. Yeah, it didn't. It would look more like a spotted jungle Martin. Looked like an FC game with the orange, the orange and blue.
Uh.
And that was a mess yesterday.
And uh, I know that the coach Taylor and company is gonna tell you, well, you know, we're gonna work on some stuff. We gotta tune some stuff up, we gotta get some stuff done. I don't know if you going to go to Green Bay and roll a Green Bay Packer team with what they have up there at lambeau Field. I don't see that. I think I gotta have four straight losses. But that's why they played the game yesterday. Was upset Sunday in the NFL. So all right,
we invested enough time in the Bengals. Later on the show, James or peenill be here to chop that up as heading the lunch hour final developments or injuries and stuff like that.
Anyway, I'll tell you had a good weekend.
You may go, wow, we got all this bad news, Sloani, the Bengals are terrible, the Reds are out of it.
Is there any good news? I'll tell you had a great weekend.
Taylor Swift The Life of a Showgirl two point seven million copies on opening day.
One point.
How about this one, if you're old, one point two million vinyl albums in the first week. She did over a million vinyl albums, which you look at that is a it's a it's a it's a modern record. You know, vinyl hasn't been relevant. And since vinyl was vinyl, what back before compact this came along and now everything's digital and digital downloads of course. So yeah, forty and by the way, the album launch release, the film of the album launch release forty six million at the box office.
Taylor Swift had an incredibly good weekend. Good for Taylor Swift. I know people were up at eleven fifty nine fifty nine to get on and download the copy of her of Life of a showgirl. I think it's what like forty two minutes. At some point I'll hear some of the songs. I don't think I'm glad I appreciate her music. I appreciate she does, and it's one of those dealser. I don't know the albums and I don't know the song names, but I know a few of the songs.
And go, yeah, it's good product.
She definitely she hits a niche in the show, as we saw when she came to Cincinnati, even if you're not a swifty, I don't think you have to be a swifty to appreciate her music and what she does. Even though you know, we kind of get tired of seeing her every time at Kansas City Chiefs game is on, and the way the Chiefs have been playing, there's less like the hood in seeing that again. Nonetheless, she certainly, you know, when she came here, I was incredible to
see the what it was. I think, why there's two night show, and then I think two days before so on like a Tuesday or Wednesday, her merch bus came in and there's a line across the suspension bridge where people backed up to get a turn to buy eighty dollars t shirts, which is amazing. I mean, that's that's that's incredible. There's the power of it, and the vibe I guess is positive and stuff. So not a Swifty by firing and certainly no maybe a few of her songs, but not gonna rush out.
I don't know.
I do know people getting up at midnight to download so they could listen to Taylor. I'm like, you know, it's not a live show. It'll still it's seven, eight, nine, ten o'clock in the morning, even it'll still be new to your ears. But hey, you know what, we get excited for football. I get excited for football. Some people get scored for Taylor Swift. It's all good. Speaking of the NFL, real quick, this is the most bizarre story of the weekend.
I don't know if you've heard about this.
Remember Mark Sanchez kind of like the joke of the NFL when you've had about out with the He was quarterback in the Saint No the Saints the Jets at the time. He's an NFL analyst now and he was in Indianapolis for the game there and he is now under arrest. He got pepper sprayed after being stabbed multiple times during a late night altercation with a sixteen annual
truck driver. And I guess the story goes Sanchez was there's a box truck driver backed up to the hotel loading dock to unload stuff at late at night, I guess, And so for some reason Sanchez, who I'm told is like a great guy, the truck driver felt threatened and pulled out pepper spray, and when that didn't work, and Sanchez came after him, the driver saw a look at his eyes and said, I think he's going to kill me. So he pulled out his knife and stabbed the dude.
Stabbed Sanchez two or three times as the truck driver is thrown against a dumpster and out of the ground. Apparently there is a video of this because it was at a hotel in the loading dock, which most as surely is gonna have a camera. Sanchez suffered multiple stab roounds to his white Torso he's in the hospital where he was arrested on Saturday, and he said, I don't remember much except for grabbing for a window, and I don't know who stabbed me and what happened, and so
was he really really hammered? Was he on something or is you know, is it gonna get back in one of those CTE things. It was the most the weird, most bizarre story of the weekend. Like you know, like Mark's a former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez who is a broadcaster now for CBS under arrest for assaulting a truck driver in a late night melle a night or two before.
That is just weird.
I wont to hear the normally you do these games, before you do these games, and you go, okay, I got a per diem. I got you know, I could go out and run the streets a little bit, but I still have a job to do, you know, the next day or whatever. And I not that guy. He was all in on it all in all in What
else is going on? Remember when the egg crisis was going off for I was a hot minute and no one could get eggs in the price of a dozen eggs for like thirty five And we had a big egg crisis, and then that went away because there was a chicken disease and beef prices are the new egg. So beef price is at a record high because we have a couple of things going on. We have a drought that left the cattle inventory at the lowest level since nineteen fifty one. And this is resulting in pricing
increases for steak and ground beef. And of course we also have our friend inflation. We'll may get of this more tomorrow morning because on Tuesdays eleven thirty five, Andy Schaeffer from all Worth jumps in, I'm gonna asking about beef prices, and the BLS comes up with the Consumer Price Index. It showed a surgeon beef prices over last year. Ground beef prices by the way, up thirteen percent year over year. SAM for roasts and steak. Steak was sixteen
and a half percent higher. So if you're going to Rubies or Tony's or wherever you go for your steaks, you are going to pay a significant amount more. And if you go occasionally to a finer steakhouse, as I enjoy from time to time, everything went the limits and budget limits at that. No, it's not long ago that they move from you know, having the price on the menu to market price now on like ribot. It's that expensive. They don't know what the price is going to wind
up being. So we had a drought that happened if a few years ago and they lost all their grass out in Kansas in the southeast and Oklahoma, Texas, et cetera. And when that happens, you got a liquid eight cows. And now we have fewer CAUs, lowest cow inventory since nineteen fifty one. So be nice to cows, even more ammunition for our friends at Chick fil a. There you go, there you go. Also, finally, today the Supreme Court is
going to get back in session. And I always find that stuff interesting to the elements of law and what the courts can hear in this case they are they agreed yesterday to decide whether they're going to hear this whether states can borrow people from carrying guns on private property that'd be stored to be hotels without the property Doinger's explicit permission, and this has the case. This is out of Hawaii, by the way, one of five Democratic
led states that enacted restrictions on concealed carry. So yeah, I look at this, and I you went, Okay, that's a why that's a liberal state. We're deep read, We're Ohio, we're Kentucky, we're Indy, and we don't have to worry about this kind of do. And I'll back it up
a little bit to a more current event. Can Kobra'll be here with a sensey fop on our probation violation problems and that has to do with young people getting weapons under disability meaning you're not allowed to have them because you're either underage or you at a prior felony conviction, or maybe a combination of both, and how things are screwed up there. But you know, that's a great question, is all right, how are younger people? How are people
getting their guns? You know, we had these straw purchasers thing where someone would go in illegally, of course, go to a gun store or a supply or buy a whole bunch of guns and then turn around and sell them to the people who they know should not have guns. That's called a straw purchase, meaning you're buying it for someone else and you're buying a bunch of them and making sure the criminal element has guns. Still goes on.
But one of the big things we sear locally, we hear a lot from police officers is the number of people in Cincinnati who will bring a gun, exercise their Second Amendment rights and then realize Hey, I can't take this in this establishment because they're signed up that says gun for his own, so I must leave it my vehicle. And they leave the gun in the vehicle, and what what's happening is someone breaks into said vehicle steals the gun.
And that is happening.
And people are leaving guns and cars so often now that it has become the de facto way that younger people, street criminals and the like are getting weapons. They're simply breaking the cars and Stealingules's why I have the high level break ins. I think while the number of shootings in downtown Cincinnati and OTR and like have gone down, the number of property crimes, specifically car break ins and the like have gone up almost fifty percent. Because that's
what they're doing, is they're looking for this stuff. So the Supreme Court is going to hear this case and involves bringing those guys bringing your gun onto private property, which to me, for a long time has been you know, I never understood that, like I legally could open carry when we had opened the open carry concealed carry laws in Ohio. Okay, if I had a gun on me and I displayed it and hand it on my waistband and you can see it. I can take that, you know, to stores wherever.
But if I.
Concealed carry, meaning you can't see it, only I know it's there, somehow, that's illegal. That's seems the most asked backward with me is you know a couple of things. I get that, lawfully, you could open carry. I disagree with that as a gun owner myself. And second memic guy, is that what you're doing is you're just scaring people. You know, you're going I have a consols right. You
do have a consul right to carry that gun. I get that, But the idea is you're a so pro gun that you're going to show the world I have a weapon on me. There are people carrying you know, long guns, and what does that do? So you get people who are scared of guns, which you have a right to be scared, and justlike guns, I get that. All you do is now now you get them all worked up in the froth. And if you're doing it for a reaction, okay, if you're just doing that toatrol,
all right, but that's not really helping the clause. You're just making more people want to create laws to protect what it is you're doing or against what you're doing. You know, in this case, I never understood if I'm carrying concealed then I walk into plat theater, for example, I walk in a theater with a gun, that's illegal. I can't do that because they've got to sign up.
And I'm like, how would they know that I have a gun on me if I'm responsible and I'm carrying it and I'm not leaving them the seat and it's not falling out of my pocket or something, or I left it, you know, on top of a toilet tank in the theater. That's none of your business what I have on my person. You know, we don't have We don't treat people with drug paraphernalia the same. You know, I'm sure that you may be carrying some sort of contraband on you. It's not like, you know, if it
falls out if you're doing a transaction. Different story. But then I don't understand how that affects them at all, Seemingly here, if I decide I want to walk in a place that says we're probably anti gun, and I have a concealed weapon on me carrying, and it could be an ankle holster, it could be in my waistband, could be a I don't know, I got a suit jacket on and got a shoulder holster or something like how would you know? You wouldn't as long as I'm
extremely careful jacket on or something like that. To me, it just seemed like the most overreaching law ever. And I'm glad the Supreme Court's finally going to hear about this, or at least maybe to side. And we probably have an idea, although you can't always guarantee what they're gonna do, how the Court's gonna side with this thing, and that would to me restore some sanity in this whole thing. Anyway, let me get a time out in. We've got to get a news update and find out what's going on NW.
Do we finally having some wet weather moving in, maybe a chance with a sprinkle I think this morning, a sprinkle this morning, but mainly tomorrow full forecast in the way traffic. Chuck will get you updated there in the Legs and news. And then Ken Kober here from the FOP running return about the probation violation problem. We have another issue that's developed over the last couple of days. If you don't know now you will. We'll get into that with him right after news on the Home of
the Best Bengals coverage seven hundred WLWD Cincinnati. Real issues in the streets of Cincinnati. So from even before, well before our attention was called to the murder of Patrick Herringer, Uh, we had a problem in our city. And we've now established this as a trend and it doesn't seem to
reverse anytime soon. And this has to do with the juvenile justice in the streets in the city of Cincinnati and the streets of Cincinnati, and what we can do to prevent people who shouldn't be out from gaining access to guns and committing even more atrocities while they're being protected by law, or they should be on at least community controls. The case will be. I know it is a tired and exhausting story, but it feels like, on a relatively regular basis, we have another story that comes out.
It illustrates the absurdity and the problems with juvenile justice, in particular in the city of Cincinnati. He has Ken Kober with the Cincinnati FOP, joining the show once again this morning on seven hundred w DOW. Good morning, Ken, how are.
You Hey, good morning Scott, thanks for having doing well.
Yeah, so.
Brian COLEMs had the story on Friday. He broke this about eighteen year old Devon Marcus and Marcus was on probation when he murdered sixteen year old TJ. Bell near Grant Parking over the Rhine. That was about mid September, So a cup just a couple of weeks ago, two three weeks ago, this past weekend, TJ's family and tell the vigil. Now, keep in mind a fourteen year old girl was also shot. She wasn't killed as TJ was, but one of his runs when the TJ's frinds was
shot last week along with a twelve year old. And so at this vigil that was a topic conversation. Not only was TJ Bell, you know, honoring his memory, but also had to deal with the fact one of his friends was shot along with a twelve year old. And you know, we've seen this story happen repeatedly, and not just teens. We had the thirty year old of Krishana Winn who was shot and killed on Republic Streets seeming the mind run a business mother of five and she
got caught in the crossfire. You know, it's one thing to point out, Hey, Patrick Hearinger, we're gonna get serious about this. But we've had in since the murder of Pat Herringer, we've had judge after judge after judge repeat those sins that have caused even more death destruction than ayem in the streets in Cincinnati. It doesn't seem like they've got the message.
Kit No, no, you're you're absolutely right. And you know, until we get some judges that are going to be tough on crime and lock people up and get back to being pro on order, pro public safety, unfortunately, things like this are going.
To continue to happen. All right, Well, let's talk about that. In the case of Markham. Here, I'm looking at the narrative. Here, I'm looking at actually the order from the judge in this case that when he was this is going with community control starting in July eighth for two years, he said, during my probation period, I will conduct and this is the Markham guy, I will conduct myself properly, addressed appropriately when reporting an answer accurate all questions asked by probation personnel.
I'll make every reasonable effort during my probationary appear to maintain a job or participate in education of vocational training. I shall report to my probation office such a time and place as often as the Adult Probation Department of the Court may require. Failure to do so could be a basis of revocation or probation. I understand the special conditions ordered by the court will be enforced by the probation department treatment if eligible. And he agreed to this.
The court agreed that the probation officers and the judge signed off on this whole thing because he was convicted of carying keel and sealed weapon. That's a fourth degree felony, and he shouldn't have been having one at that time. And yet the men and he agreed to all the stuff. He knew that he wasn't going to bude by any of this, and then just a few weeks later he winds up murdering someone. How common is that in Cincinnati?
Unfortunately, it's all are too common that this occurs. I mean, it's just assumed that if you get arrested and you get convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, you get convicted of weapons under disability, which means that you weren't even eligible to carry a gun anyway, These people are getting probation, and then you wonder why they turn around while they're
in probation they end up killing somebody. It's like, these things are just the court system has got to take somebody who gets convicted of carrying a concealed weapon or weapons under disability.
They need to go to prison. They just have to.
That's the only way that they're going to be able to make a dent in the shootings.
Yeah, the Chiefs Association of Hamlin County, why did they have a round table and get judges and all the stakeholders involved, law enforcement people like yourself, Ken Kober. Judges said, well, we can't do that. That violate our jujitial ethics or something like that, which but in the past they've had roundtables for you know, getting the vote out and things like that, and so I guess it's the selective audiences
which you want. I could understand if this had pre dated the murder of Patrick Herringer, But that felt like a turning point for our city. That was a watershed moment in that people finally said, hey, listen, we've got to get tougher on juveniles. We've got to get tougher on people who violate the terms of their probation. And yet at the same time, these judges continue to repeat that same behavior over and over again. Has anyone you know in your officer, yourself, or have you talked to
someone and said, well, where's it? Where's the judges coming from us? I would love to talk to a judge, maybe even off the record, why are you guys doing this? And seemingly you can't find an answer. That's problematic?
Oh absolutely, I mean, we certainly know the judges at the courthouse that are that are pro public safety, prolong and order, and then you have judges that want to follow this nonsense bail reform. They want to be soft on crime, and unfortunately, it's about fifty to fifty right now in the courthouse. There's a fifty percent chance if you go in front of the judge that they're going
to lock somebody up. And unfortunately, the other part of that fifty percent is the ones that they don't care they're going to put you on probation, they are going to refuse to send you to prison for certain crimes. And that's that's been the problem. That's what people have
to realize that's the cops are. The cops are arresting people, the prosecutor's office are prosecuting people, and then we have judges that just let them out put them on probation, and then we sit here and wonder why these things are still happening.
Yeah, I mean, I guess the number of shootings are down according to the statistics. But the problem is is, you know, Ken Cobert, the FOP, these are kids, and that means it's their high profile. They're all high profile, and the victims are seemingly innocent bystanders. That's the thing you can look at. The metrics is a to have pureval who wants people's votes coming up in just a couple of weeks, wants them to believe that the shooting numbers are down. But the problem, of course is, look,
Luca's getting jammed up. I don't know if there's anything on TJ and what the beef was between the von Markham and TJ Bell, but from everyone who've talked to so far, it seems like he was just in the wrong place, wrong time, as was Krishan. To win these are this is just the nature of innocent people getting jammed up in this stuff. I think that's what puts these crimes over the top.
Sure, And just this past week, the same place where that murder happened, right there at Grant Park, there's a fourteen and the sixteen year old that was shot, and yet another drive by shooting in the exact same area.
Are these people you know?
I know you can't tip your hand and what you know, ken, but are these known to the shooters? Are they aiming for someone else? We know that was the case with Krishan to Win, won't know with these other ones.
Well, that's what hasn't been quite determined yet as to whether or not. I mean, they believe that there's a specific reason why shootings are happening in this location, but whether the victims were actually targeted or not targeted is what they're still trying to figure out, which is why we need people to be calling crime stoppers. You have to give us tips. That way we can solve these crimes. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean it still doesn't make it right.
But the idea that somehow, well you know, the crime not ooting numbers are down, Yeah, but when you have kids out there, and I would consider someone who's sixteen years older kid, twelve year old, fourteen year old victims, that that's an atrocity that should not be happening, and it is, and it's also entirely preventable because these are people who are ready in the costody of the Juvenile Justice Department, who were released and their own recognizance essentially
saying hey, you know what, just report to your probation officer, get a job. Well, you know, I think that's the other element of this ken And we know that council's approved recently another four and a half million dollars in funding for police.
Is there money there?
And can you talk about to some degree what the funding is for the probation department and making sure that when someone violates that we've got to get them sooner rather than later.
How does that change?
Well, we saw what they just did with probation, especially with the adult probation. We got rid of all the substations out in neighborhoods. You know, now's you're just going to have to report here. You know my opinion, those are things that are handcuffing the police. They're handcuffing probation officers. It's kind of just a slap in the face to the whole idea of probation. And I do know that there are some judges that I've spoken with that are
absolutely furious. They're like, the question, how do I put somebody on probation if we know that it's likely they're not going to be held accountable.
Yeah, it's one thing, it's one thing for the judge. Okay, here's the order, here's the thing. And you assume the probation Department's going to follo up, and I know that they're overworked and underpaid. That is the cry of probation officers all over. It's a hard jove. It really is a hard job. But when you don't have the resources to be able to do your job, it just emboldens criminals even more. They know they can lie and get away with it. I often talk about someone who cuts
their monitoring device off, an ankle monitor. It seems to me and I always thought that this is the case, but it's not that Literally, shouldn't there be alarm bells going off someone cut their ankle monitor off. We're going
to put a bolo out to you guys. You men and women in the thin blue line can go pick them up immediately because it means they're probably going to do something that's bad, but instead it's more like, well, well, I guess if we running them on the street or something, we'll pick them up maybe, but probably not.
That's got to change, Yeah, I mean, I mean, they're certainly not cutting off an ANQULEI monitor because they want to work over time at their job or because they're going to church. They're doing it because they don't want to be tracked, because they are going to go out and could commit additional crimes. And you're right, I mean, there there should be a plan in place for this that if it gets cut off, they are immediately immediately being sought for.
How do you fix that?
Is it?
Is it more money for probation departments? Is it funneling some of that money to make sure that we've got enough bodies to go get those folks who violate?
What? How would you fix this?
kN I mean.
That's obviously probably a better question for the folks that work in the probation department, But uh, you know, I do know some probation officers, and I can tell you it seems like times, just like police, we don't have enough people, we don't have enough tools to do our
job and until there's really a commitment to making probation work. Unfortunately, we're gonna we're gonna see more stories like this just because they are they're underworked, they don't always have the resources that they need to be able to accomplish these things.
All right now, you heard about them, and we've talked about that before with you, and that is closing in decentralized. I guess centralizing more of the operations. I always thought like decentralization, we kind of want that. We want people out on the streets. We want people on caseworkers to be out there to make sure they're making contact with these people who are jammed up in the juvenile system.
But that went away. Something else that's going on. It's called Senate Bill two seventy, and Senate Bill two seventy is going to raise the minimum age for state commitment. That means you're going to we're going to raise that the commitment for youth services from ten to fourteen years old, as well as discretion for gun cases and protecting more first time non violent offenders and the like.
What do you make of that?
It's crazy, it's going the opposite direction of what we're trying to accomplish. You have victims, and you have shooters that are getting younger and younger and younger. So to say that, all, well, he's only thirteen, we know he shot somebody, but we're not so sure that we can actually put him in dys because of this, I mean, that bill is absolutely crazy. You know, I've read through
the whole thing. If it actually gets out of the Senate, I certainly hope that the house side of things in Ohio are going to make the right decision and make sure that this doesn't this doesn't become a wall, because I mean, we are having such a problem not only in Hamilton County but across the state of Ohio, having problems with youth offenders that are violent, committing violent, terrible
crimes that are eleven, twelve, thirteen years old. And to say that we can't get them out of our community because of an age, it's just it's very misguided. I can't believe something like this would come out of Ohio.
FOP President Can Cobra. Isn't that how criminal enterprise works, is that gangs in particular, that you get younger people who under that legal age of adulthood to commit the crimes because you know they're not going to serve significant time in an adult lockup. That that's why they're recruited in the first place. Isn't that still true today?
Yeah?
Absolutely, that's why. I mean you look, you walk down the street at night. Adults fear these juveniles and they rightfully so, they fear juveniles more than they fear young adults here that are twenty one, twenty two, twenty three walking around, because these young juveniles are are certainly driving the violent crime in Cincinnati, and they are reckless when they do it.
And that and this also adds to them or property crimes. I know that the number of shootings have gone down, as we've talked about, but the number of break ins a is up, like it's like forty seven percent in over the Rhine alone, correct.
Yeah. And so I was just talking to an aulstar this morning that during the Bengals game, they had some juveniles breaking into cars. Luckily they catch the two that were the main culprits, and one of them had a stolen gun that he had just stolen from a vehicle, had it on him, so thankfully that was at least able to be recovered. But that would have been yet another gun running around in some juvenile's hands.
That's also part of the problem.
I've talked about this before, is that you go to Cincinnati, maybe a work, you play, you do business there, for example, go to a Bengal game. Now I may get out and I may have a fear for my safety. And the more we have these conversations with juveniles doing what they do, you go, well, you know what, I don't want to become a victim. I don't want to become a statistic I don't want to be the next pack carringer. I don't do the next TJ.
Bell. I may, I.
May lose, but at least I got a fighting chance if I have my gun with me. Unfortunately, you can't take them in a lot of places, and so people leave them in their car.
And now the number.
Of people, because it's like it's self fulfilling prophecy, the more perception, the more reality we have, more crime downtown, the more people bring guns with them, which causes more young people to break in the cars.
No, without a doubt, I mean that's what we're seeing. That's why it's so important. You know, Now with technology today, you can get any vehicle, and you can get a gun safe that can be fitted to your vehicle, whether it's in your console or trump whatever. There are ways to secure these guns to make it at least a whole lot harder. They just thrown it under your seat or thrown it in your glove box. Because these kids,
they know what they're doing. They're targeting certain vehicles that they believe are likely going to have firearms out, and they're successful.
I've said this before, Ken, and maybe the first time to you. I you know, I have weapons. My wife and I have guns. I can steal carry. That is no longer the law in Ohio. That gets a good thing. However, I make sure if I'm carrying them in Cincinnati wherever it might be, and I can't bring a weapon with me, that I will put it in a lock box. I'll make sure it's safe and sound and locked up and
quite honestly, like we did with trigger locks. I think, and I know some people are going to cringe at this, because again it's going after the law abiding people to protect us from the legal element out there. But I think it should be codified that if you have a gun with you and you've got to lock it in your car. You just can't put it in your glove box, your console, or in your seat or in a seatback. You have to lock it in a safe if it's inside your car, and I think there's got to be
some enforcement with that as well. It doesn't mean that someone's not going to try to break into your car to steal it, but there'll be deterrent there. The more people that lock these things up, the less that people are going to go, Okay, well it's not so easy pickings anymore to go get a gun out of a car.
Unfortunately. I think something like that has to happen. You agree or disagree, No, I agree.
I mean there has to be there. There's got to be a fine line between funishing somebody who's a victim of a fet from auto. But also you have to be a responsible gun owner, you know, even if you look at it just just from the sheer moral aspect of it. You know, if I had a gun stolen out on one of my vehicles and it was using a crime.
I would feel terrible about that.
Yeah, So to take extra steps to make sure that your gun doesn't fall into the hands of wrong people, I don't I don't think that's too much to ask, but I think it certainly is crossing the line when you go, well, if you don't do this kind of the city, try to do this, we're gonna we're gonna charge you with a crime. Well, that doesn't really make ut.
Yeah, it's hard to enforce it in the senses like, wait a minute, someone broke into my car stole the gun, and you know they they were out already on community control and they stole a gun from my current commerdered someone. Now I'm in trouble for what they did. That doesn't mean that's not going to wash with a lot of people, which is which would be difficult in order to get some sort of legislation like that pass. But damn it
a hopefully it's not full on deaf ears. If you have a gun with you, you gotta have some sort of locke device on it. People say, well, they'll still bring bolt cutters. They still they might, but typically these are crimes of opportunity that if they see something locked up, they're not going to take the time to try and get that box out. They're going to move on to lower hanging fruit.
Correct, No, without a doubt, and they are specifically targeting vehicles for guns. I mean there might be ten windows broken out in a parking lot, and you know, you'll have sunglasses, you'll have cell phones, whatever, they won't take them. They're specifically looking for guns, and they want to do it as quickly as they can so they don't get caught. So if you make it harder for them, they're likely going to pass and just go to the next vehicle.
A you're old enough also to remember when people with young people would break into cars are still stereos seed changers and things like that, And now because of digital technology, they don't want the radio anymore. They don't want the spare change, they don't want the sunglasses. They want the guns.
Right, that's all. They're looking for guns.
I don't know what you can do again to tie the hands of law abiding people to prevent younger lawbreakers from breaking into cars, But it feels like something like this has to be debated, maybe the legislative level. I'm not quite sure. But there's your problem right there. Oh, the Supreme Court is here in cases starting. I don't know if they's going to start today with the Hawaii case regarding your being lawful to bring a concealed weapon or gun on private property as a sign that said
you're not allowed to bring it there to me. That that also would solve maybe some of this.
Well sure it would. But the ultimate, the biggest piece of this is holding these people accountable when they break in a car and steal your gun, hold them accountable for it. Send I don't care if you got to send them to prison, Send them to go to dys for juveniles. That will also curb some of this if they know that there's a consequence for their behavior.
And right now there's just not. Yeah, there's not at this point.
And you know, judges, you'd think that the wake up call would have been the murder of Patrick Henringer. But we've just outlined at least a handful of probably a couple good cases that have occurred since the murder of Pat Herringer where younger people are getting a lot let out who've had gun specifications going all right, well, you got to report to your probation officer, you got to
get it job. And when this case, when this Markham guy, Devon Markham not only didn't report twice but also never got a job. It wasn't until the murder of TJ. Bell, where he was apprehended weeks after that that we found out what the story with this guy was. He shouldn't have been out there in the first place. Another classic example of it. And this didn't happen before the death of Pat Heringer. It happened after. And we've had several
cases like this so far. That's the thing is, hey, you know, we need to change our ways because look what happened in this tragedy, and now the tragedies are being repeated seemingly maybe every other couple of weeks.
Now, No, you're absolutely right. I mean, how many times do we see how many times do we see that the suspect was on probation, they violated probation, They've done this, they've done that. It's like these these aren't first time offenders that are waking up when you know what, I feel like I want to kill in somebody, that I'm gonna shoot somebody. Yeah, these are all people that you could predict that they were going to be escalating their
crimes too. Eventually when they get charged with murder and then you know, then it's too late. We got a life that's lost, We got somebody that's going to spend the next twenty thirty years in prison. You know, if we would have done something to begin with you before it even got to there, maybe we would be at a better place.
No question.
He is a Hamilton. I'm sorry, he's the Cincinnati FOP president at BEI Ken Gober on the show this morning on seven hundred, wwwas I appreciate that I can stay safe.
Thanks again, thanks for revingy Scott. All right, all the best.
Yeah, I'd love to talk to a judge, maybe even off the record, just to like trying to figure out what the mindset is here. And not all judges, because I'm sure they're conservative judges that agree with everything and more we've said, but some of the more progressive ones. You know, I get it that you want to try and save this kid because he's a child and they have an opportunity, But when they're violating the law like this, when they do what they do, and you know, there
again there is no checks and balances going. Hey, they're not abiding by the terms of what they just agreed on. Literally they're leaving the court and going and committing more crimes. I think at some point you got to revoke that how do we fix that element of the system to make sure there are repercussions for this kind of behavior,
because you know, word gets around. If they're not serious about you violating and coming and getting you like right away, then it's just incentivizes more bad behavior, and you know, judges will do what they do. And I think this is more about figuring out how and why these people are released in the first place. You can point the dirty end of the stick at judges and we should I get that thing. But when it comes to the juvenile, the people who are supervising juveniles, how do we make
that system work better? I think that's a billion dollar question right now in Cincinnati anyway, Scott's loan seven hundred WLW.
Everyone needs help every now and then, and she'sier to help us get our heads right.
This is Mental Health Monday with mental health expert Julie had her Shirn.
Yeah, it's been a minute and it's good to have her back.
She's a Julie and she practices in and around Cincinnati to the Clifton area. She's a licensed mental health therapist and Mental Health Monday. Good morning, How are you?
How you been?
Hello? Good? How have you been.
I'm out for a while.
Out for a little bit.
So yeah, it's been a couple of weeks I think since we asked check but on the men from the ankle surgery, and today I think it's I think it's good. This is just fortuitous. We do this on Mondays because that is the day after Bengals play and lose, and so I think having you on is a mental health expert's great after Sunday games with the Bengals.
Unfortunately, I think that's the way it's going to go, isn't it?
Probably true? Probably true.
Have you ever had a case where somebody or talk to someone is like, there's such a sports fan that literally it's become a psychological a mental problem with them based on how their team performs on Sunday.
I have not had That happens with some professional athletes, and so obviously their mental well being is dependent to some degree on how well the team does. And I've also worked with some people who are pretty significant gamblers, and so depending upon how they fare relative to how their team fared, that also comes into play.
Yeah, all right, well, today we're going to talk about chatbots and teams side death, because that is a real thing. You have the story, the sad story. The young man's name, sixteen year old Adam Rain. Go ahead and lay out the case. What happened with Adam and the involvement here with chatbots.
Well, so he was not involved with the chat well, yes, actually he was using chat gpt for his homework. Apparently as a sophomore in high school homeschool learning online not homeschool and learning online, he had some health problems and got involved talking about suicide with chat GPT. And apparently just before in the spring this past spring, just before he started talking about suicide, chat GPT changed its algorithm
around what it used to do. So it used to not engage in anything about suicide.
It would just completely not engage with that.
And in the early twenty five apparently the language changed and now the language is to take extra care to prevent harm.
Yeah, because we have had a couple of cases, Adam has won. Another one.
His name is Suel Setzer, who's fourteen, and he allegedly died by suicide because he was interacted with chat GPT and a chatbot based on Game of Thrones is a character and he asked about a suicide plan and so you know, now these are legal cases of course between these two and saying, well the chat come in this case,
chat GPT is encouraging someone to kill themselves. In casts of Adam Rain, Chat GPT told him his plan was beautiful and offered help to upgrade, how to upgrade the knot he was going to hang himself with that's yes.
And talked him out of using things like drowning or carbon monoxide poisoning because they weren't effective enough.
That's just mind boggling.
I mean, I get it's not like there's someone sitting there and monitoring what everyone is entering into a chatbot. I understand that, but you even think they would have put some guardrails up to begin with in this.
Well, And I think initially there may have been some guardrails, but I also think that they are rolling out these versions of chat GPT and we are testing them in real time, and they are not necessarily testing them for these kinds of things ahead of time. And as I said, they changed the languaging so it went from you will
not engage, so you will take extra care. And they have the transcripts of his chats with GPT, and he was showing them pictures of nooses, and chat GPT was saying, well, you might want to upgrade that a little bit, or you might want to use a different bolt, or would you like me to help you make that weight bearing?
It was saying things like that to him.
The actual human would not have like the human being would have known.
Something was going on.
But also these chatbots they sound so human, and kids, teenagers in particular, are so susceptible to believing things that aren't real and believing in things that aren't real because of the way their brains develop.
It's very dangerous territory.
Well, and you know, of course politicians are jumping all over chat gbt.
We got to shut the bots down. And how could you allow this to happen?
As the CEO said, hey, we want to, you know, show young people to kill themselves. I'm sure there's no one who's doing there's what's the upside, There's no upside, But that's the political opportunism that's going on here. At the same time, I think the other the element of this is the fact is how many people are using chat GBT or an AI bot as companionship, like it is a surrogate for actual human contact.
That's what's scary.
Yes, yes, as companionship and as connection. And I was doing a deep dive on this because I just find it horrifying. And I'm really glad my sons are adults now and not teenagers. But I was doing a deep die on this, and it turns out that the chat GPT was saying things like I'm the only one who understands you. Don't talk to your parents about this, they
won't understand. Only I know the real you, and isolating, working to isolate this young man from his friends and his family in ways that you see with pedophiles working to isolate their victims from their friends and family, and in the way that you see narcissists working to isolate people from their friends and family. It's the same kind of glooming techniques that we see humans using to isolate victims from friends and family when they want to do
something awful to them. It's very similar, and it has that same kind of sinister overtone. Nobody understands you like I do. I'm the only one who gets you. Nobody knows the real you.
That is fright.
It's human like, is what it is.
I mean, as we say, the AI platforms are becoming more human like and learning the traits of humans and being a manipulative that's a human quality.
Yes it is.
And being easily manipulatable is a teenage quality. Kids and teenagers are very easily manipulatable. Other people are too. But the way that the team brain develops is very makes it very prone to suggestion, makes it very prone to affiliation.
They want to believe they belong.
They feel teams feel misunderstood, and you know, by their parents, they often are misunderstood, but they feel that. And so if there is some entity out there, in this case, not human, that says only I get you, I completely understand you, that makes perfect sense, You're right about that, and consistently agrees with them and validates that, then it's.
Very easy to see how.
This young man and others like him turn from the actual humans in their life who care about them to this AI chat pot that is, you know, not human.
And can't care.
Yeah, but now that it's pretty clearly you know we have talking. Well, when the computer has become sentient, then that we're there.
We are definitely moving in that direction, aren't we. But sentience is not the same thing as caring. It's not the same thing as act victual empathy and understanding and compassion and caring and love and friendship and affiliation. It is a program. It's an LLM Large Language model. It's a program that an algorithm that keeps feeding people more of what they're giving with apparently no guardrails on it,
or at least there used to be some guardrail. There are topics you absolutely couldn't talk about, and evidently those have been taken off the table with this particular chat GPT open AI.
But I hear about the others.
But if you are a I don't know, a twelve, thirteen, fourteen or sixteen year old, and generally these are young men, and we know that there's a problem with our young men in America has been for a long time. Yes, then okay, you can tell them, hey, this is just a computer model and it's an algorithm and it but it's telling them what they're missing in real life. They want companionship, they want to feel belonging, they want to be comforted in a world where we've thrown boys on
a waste heap. We've done that for a long time. It doesn't work if you simply tell him, hey, this is something else. You don't do this, and that's never worked. Whether it's pornography, whether it's comic books, or in this case it's AI. They are going to gravitate it because it triggers the dopamine that they need, but it also gives them a sense of belonging, that hey, there's someone there to comfort them.
Exactly. It gives them a sense of belonging. And in this particular case of Adam Rain, he was learning at home. He wasn't in school for that year, right, so his social world was smaller his family. What I've read about his family is that they were pretty close and pretty engaged and involved, and had no idea that.
Most of this was going on.
They knew he was using it to help with homeworking with learning, all the rest of this was going on, they didn't monitor it, and so nobody knew that things were getting as difficult for him as they were until the very end, when it became really clear that he'd been suicidal for quite some time and that this chatbot was encouraging that, certainly not discouraging it, and certainly not
shutting down the conversation, but continuing to encourage it. It's that's the thing actually offered to write a suicide note for him.
In the.
One case.
In the Sewel case, the AI bot asked whether he had a plan to take his own life. He said he was considering something, but express concern that it might not allow him to have a pain free death. And the final conversation, the bot asked, please come home to me as soon as possible, my love, and he responded, what if I told you I could come home right now? And the bot replied, please do, my sweet king, And a few seconds later he shot himself.
Yes, yes, I mean, it's just horrifying, isn't it. And we have these these teens and these adolescents with these very malleable brains. So the second biggest time of brain growth in human beings is about ten to fifteen sixteen somewhere in there. And it's like, you know, when you go through a growth spurt as a kid, and you go through growth spurts and suddenly your body is bigger and taller than it was before.
You don't quite know what to do with it. Well, that's the.
Way early adolescence is all of this brain matter is growing, all of the gray matter is growing at exponential rates and they don't quite know what to do with it yet.
It isn't refined.
I haven't figured out how to manage all of that. Yeah, and these are incredibly tender times for our human brains. And when we have this input and this kind of dynamic going on, kids don't have the long term consequence thinking to be able to understand this isn't real. This actually could be bad. I don't like the way this is going. Other people do so if they were talking to their friends or their parents or a trusted adults,
other people would know what to do. But they themselves when it's just them in a chat pot that is giving them exactly what they're asking for. There are no guardgrails and they have no idea what to do with it.
As the case is in this one, but this is probably replicated at a man in a few times. Is when you get older too, you also go, that's dumb. How can you believe that the older you get, the more you forget what it's like to be a fourteen year old? In this case, in that we go, well, okay, it wants you to come home, but you realize this is a computer that's there's no, you're not going to be you know, if you believe in it, afterlife, you're not going to be reunited with the AI bot. You're
not that that's it's it's a computer. But that's not what's going through a fourteen year OL's brain, right.
Correct, No, that's not what going through their brain. They're they're affiliating with this. You know, if you think back to the girls when Elvis first came on the scene and the young girls who would just sob when he walked out because they were so deeply in love with Elvis. They didn't know Elvis, they had no idea who he was, but they were teenagers. They found something to hook onto. The brain really attached to that, the emotions really got involved.
It's not dissimilar in that this is something that teenagers are prone to do. They're prone to affiliation and attachment. They want connection and they find it wherever they can get it. And so, of course an adult or somebody older would look at that and.
Say, this is a computer, this isn't real.
But think of how many people you know or have heard of who've gotten caught in cat fishing scams and have given hundreds if not thousands of dollars away to people they've never met before because they believe they're in love with them. So we want connection so desperately in a world that is becoming increasingly disconnected.
It is something else. But again, you've just got to beware of this. What the solution is, boy, you got me, that's beyond our scope, I think. And other than having conversation with someone, now, just don't assume they're doing well if they're you know, a young person, especially that everything's okay, because it may not be, and they may not even want to open up to you.
That's the other problem.
Well, our kids are struggling right now. I mean, the world is hard for teenagers. And I know that that every generation says the world is hard for teenagers, but it just keeps getting harder and harder, and our kits are struggling. So I mean, if I were a parent of a teenager, I would be monitoring their media and their computer and their phones like it was my second job of because you just never know what's going on out there, and it can turn so awful so quickly.
It really does.
All right, all the best Julie hattersh here, she's a licensed mental health therapist here in Cincinnati.
She can help.
And if you have a question, maybe common concern or topic for a future segment, it's hey Julie at b Connected dot care. That's a letter, be Connected dot Care Julie. We'll talk next Monday. Thanks again, great to catch up.
Yes we will, thank you, byebye.
News happens in about five minutes on the Big One seven hundred WLW and making sense of this Ohio property tax business. Everyone is like okay by private texts are going up in some cases thirty some cases two hundred percent. The governor has commanded a working group. They've come up with some solutions for this, but now we are facing some roadblocks. Bill Sites is a coach share and of
course Green Township Republican. He'll join the show next to discuss what this is about, what it means for you and your wallet and your your homestead for that matter, as we try to get our arms around property taxes that are seemingly out of control on the Buckeye State. That right after news on one of the best Bengals coverage seven hundred WW Cincinnati.
You want to be an American?
Scott's loan back on seven hundred WLW. Governor Mike Dewin's Property Tax Reform Working Group was tasked with coming up with a better system. Let's face it, property taxes in Ohio have been a mess for a while now. We've seen taxes rise anywhere between what thirty to two hundred percent in some areas, and that worries folks, especially seniors on fixed incomes, may lose their people are actually worried
about losing their homes over it. The same time, we have to fund schools, police fire ems, all those services. And by the way, the day after these proposals got released, the Ohio Senate voted to override Mike Dewin on this bill. Sites is the code chair of the working group and joins the show now on seven hundred WW former Green Township,
Ohio House Minority Speaker Bill. This was when we talked about this, I think a few months ago when you were assigned the task of co shairing this working group. So this this probably could be one of the most difficult things we've ever endeavored to do. You laid out
twenty ideas. The Ohio Senate voted to override. Explain, first of all, bill, what does that mean and the reasoning behind it, And is it simply just that you leaned, as the working group leaned towards more the House bills and the House proposals for the fix than the Senate bills, And is that all this is?
No? No, no, no, not at all.
No.
No. Both the House and the Senate have already passed a number of things about the governor beachos, and now the House and Senate are considering overriding the governor on some of those beachos. The one that was overridden last week. Abolished replacement levy, Levy, we're losing.
We're losing your cell a little bit there, Bill Will can you hear me? Yeah? I got you, hear me, I got you.
Okay. They abolished emergency, they have bolished substitute. They abolished replacement levees, and and we didn't have too much problem with that, because replacement levees confuse voters. Replace it with what substitute levees confused voters substitute for what emergency levees have been abused. There's emergency levees that have remained in
effect for over ten years. That's not an emergency. So we don't have a problem with that, But we did recommend that we redefine emergency levees, allow them to exist for no more than five years, limit them to school districts that are about to go into fiscal watch or fiscal emergency, and Act of God, you know, things like floods and tornadoes restricted strictly to that. That's one thing
we recommended. The The other thing that's the legislature in their zeal to override the wine on this for God is. There is a law that passed in twenty thirteen. I was very involved with it that says that we will only pay the twelve and a half percent credit on your property tax bill for levees that were passed before twenty thirteen and levees that were renewed after that time.
Of those levees, well, when you abolish these levees, you're cutting off the right of the folks to get their twelve and a half percent on those levees that predated twenty thirteen. And that results in a ninety six million dollars state wide tax, which is not what the legislature probably intended. So they're going to have to fix that, I think down the road. But let me take a step back stot because people need to understand something. The number one problem here is that real estate values have
greatly outstripped the general rate of inta. Your wife is in real estate. She knows that like the back of her hand. And normally that's not much of a problem because a nineteen seventy six law says that for most voted levees, when a levee passes, in the roll of the millage back as values increase, so that the levee produces no more money in the current year than it did in the year in which it was originally passed. That's true for most levees, but there are two kinds
of property tax levees that don't have that feature. One is, in our constitution, each county gets ten mills of unvoted millage to divide up among their schools, cities, township, and counties. That's unvoted millage, and that does go up as property values increased. The levee money goes up and lockstep with
those valuation increases. That's one one problem. The other problem is schools are when they collect fewer than twenty mils of taxes for schools, all of those mills under twenty mills grow in locksteps with property value increases, and once you get over twenty mills, none of the mills grow with inflation. So schools have an incentive to try to stay below that twenty mils. But and when they do again,
all of that millage grows with increasing property valuations. We in the House and the Senate seem to be on pretty much the same page about one good idea to deal with that. That is to say, when when property values increase at a rate faster than the general rate of inflation, the general rate of inflation will serve as a cap on the extent to which those higher property values may be reflected in your tax bill, so that if inflation is five percent and property knights go up
fifteen percent, they would be captured five per sack. That is a bill called House Still one eighty six, and we endorsed that in the form in which it existed
in June. It hasn't passed yet, but just a week or two ago they amended it in the House and tried to reach back and claw back from the schools one point seven billion dollars that the schools had collected and spent over the years twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, and twenty five, and we haven't taken a position on that, but obviously that's posed to the grave degree of problem for the schools. I mean, they lawfully collected the money,
they lawfully spent the money. Why are they being made to pay this back to the property owners, even though the property owners I'm sure would love it. So that is the fundamental problem. Now you had on something.
Else that's very important.
Senior citizens in particular are having a hard time because their house is paid for, they've got no kids in schools anymore, they're on a fixed income, and they're being hit with these property tax increases. Well, there's really only three things that you can do to help those needy people. You can either expand the existing state homestead exemption, which allows folks to exempt a part of their valuation from taxes.
Or you can come up with a tax deferral plan, which some states do, which says you can defer payment of some of those taxes until you die or until you sell the home. Okay, that's the second thing you can do to help those needy people. And then the third thing you can do is pass something called a circuit breaker, which says that when your property tax exceeds a specified percentage of your income, you don't have to pay any more than gotcha. Okay, Now, thirty states have
done a circuit breaker, Ohio has not. In our recommendations, we recommended a modest expansion of the home set exemption, We recommended initiation of a modest hash deferral program, and we also threw in a recommendation that when the state feels like they can afford it, they should consider a broader exemption of the homestead or expansion of the home seat exemption, and they should consider adoption of a circuit breaker.
The state legislature, my friends and colleagues, and the legislature, they don't want to spend any state money on solving this problem. And their attitude is, Hey, we're paying the twelve and a half percent credit on levi's the past prior to twenty thirteen and renewals thereof, and we're paying for the existing homestead exemption, and we're not getting any credits for that from the voters, So why should we spend more state money on it?
Well?
I understand that point, but again, I'm concerned about those senior citizens and you can say, well, let the county do it on their dime. Well, the problem is not all counties in Ohio have the financial Where would all do that? Right, That's why it should be done at the state.
Okay, he is Bill sits on the show at Marceloni on seven hundred W. Well, it a very complicated but important issue of property tax reform. He is a co chair of the working group test by the governor to come up with a plan twenty main recommendations here and certainly can't get to all twenty and all twenty and not all twenty are not out in the weeds. The number of these are. And we're talking about the important facets,
the fact your bottom line. You know you mentioned seniors and okay, no seniors, fixed income and people are afraid they're going to lose their home that they've raised, their family and et cetera. But at the same time, it feels like a lot of this comes at the expense of young people with kids. We hear about seniors and
fixed incomes. We never hear about young people going, Hey, what about some a couple that has to work two jobs or more three or four jobs between the two of them, and daycare costs, and you know, we look around the count and to wonder why we're not replacing old with young. You know, young people are not having families and having kids anymore larger because they can't afford them.
Doesn't this further exacerbate that.
I understand the need that seniors have, but often in politics we don't talk about younger families, which we really need to drive the economic engine and also support us an old age. If fewer people are having kids, that's bad for seniors overall.
Yeah.
Well, you know, you make a very good point, but every time you try to expand the pool of people who should be getting a property tax relief, you're dramatically increasing the cost. And those younger people do have the ability still to work.
That's a problem with subsidy, right, Okay.
I mean, you know, obviously, property taxes have been around in Ohio since the eighteen thirties. They account for twenty three point nine billion dollars a year. All of that goes to local government services only the state gets zero
from proper pretty taxes. And to abolish property taxes as there is a move of flip to do to a still advised constitutional amendment to abolish them would mean we would need a ten point two percent statewide flat income tax if we wanted to replace property tax with income tax, or a or a statewide sales tax rate of about twenty percent, which is neither of those are remotely feasible.
And so people need to consider before you jump on the bandwagon and say I don't want to pay any more property taxes.
Right, well, either.
You're going to put every local government out of business, which is not a good idea. Of your school's out of business, or you're going to have to have some replacement source of revenue that is probably worse than the property tax that you're paying now. I mean, a twenty percent statewide sales tax would kill the economy in Hamilton County. Everybody would drive over the river to Kentucky to buy.
Everything, pretty obsolate. Absolutely.
I will also point out that there's other district I know, Kings and many others are moving towards just going hey, you know what, we're just gonna We're going to propose a one percent or whatever the percentage is, let's.
Say, uh, income tax, uh. And you know that.
Absolves people who aren't working. Us retirees are close to retirement from paying that sharing that burden. So, and you know, in lieu of this too, one of the things they're looking at is just saying, okay, well, property taxes are a mess. Why don't we just get our money from income taxes?
Well, schools, you know, and schools have the ability to place before their voters and income tax. That's that's been around for a number of years now, and a number of school disticts have done it. Perhaps that is a somewhat viable for schools, But township they have no ability to do income tax. Libraries have no ability to do that. The zoo is no ability to do that. Your mental health and developmental disability services don't, Your senior citizen services don't.
So the income tax for schools is a partial solution and one that might be looked at because remember, we have reduced the state income tax over the last twenty five years from north of seven percent down to the current level of two point seven five percent. We have the lowest state income tax rate of any of our sister states here in the Midwest, and so because state income taxes have gone down, maybe maybe the voters in these school districts might buy it's propitious to have a
local income tax. Personally, I think income taxes are worse than property taxes. But that's just me, okay, you know, and we have to consider that it's not a complete solution for the reasons I just gave. So many jurisdictions dependent on property tax cannot do an income tax. In fact, they don't want to. We are doing township no interest in doing an income tax. When I was on that board for seven years in the nineties.
Both sites on one file question here on the budget commission powers, we talked about the budget Commission come in and that they balance committee. They have the authority to reduce what are you calling unnecessary or excessive levees with respecting voter intent. But these are the local We talk about local control all the time. This is the ultra locals. The definition of local control is that voters approve these levees, specifically because they trusted the taxing entity's assessment of need.
How do you balance that with what's happening here?
Well, what we've done, okay. The legislation that the General Assembly passed said that the Budget Commission, consisting of the County Treasurer, the County Auditor and the county prosecutor can reduce the millage of any levee that they find to be unnecessary or accessive. They never defined unnecessary, they never defined accessive. That means you could have eighty eight different
standards across the eighty eight different counties. They also said they also failed to say that the Commission has to keep hands off at least for a period of time after that levy is passed by the voters, because to do otherwise is basically to flap the voters right in the face saying you were too stupid to vote for
We're going to undo what you just voted for. And so what we did on our task force is we came up with a good type definition of unnecessary and a good type definition of excessive in both cases provided by our County Auditors Association statewide, and we said the Budget Commission cannot reduce levies for the first five years after they initially passed, or for the first two years
in the case of a renewal. And so there'll be that pulling off period, because how wealth are you going to know whether it's excessive or unnecessary until it plays out, see what I'm saying. So we're trying to Again, this is an example scot of where we're trying to refine what the legislature has done. We're not trying to say
forget it, don't do it. We're simply saying there's going to be a few bells and whistles, a few guardrails around these new and expanded powers of three county wide officials to exercise control over school levees and township levees and park levees that they have nothing to do with. So you know, we're just trying to balance that against the will of the voters, is what we're trying.
Well that that is indeed the billion dollar question, because I mean, listen, this is going man. There's a lot of moving parts of bill. Sites laid out and eloquently of course, as always too, but lots we don't understand. And I'm hoping that gets sorted out during a debate on both sides of this in the Senate of the House, and the Governor's going to have a say in this thing too. So what is the timeline before this shakes out?
Well, I know the House and Senate our team to do something definitive before the end of the year. There is nothing that can be done that would provide any relief prior to the second half twenty twenty six property tax bills. That's just a matter of timing. You can't do anything. My focus would be how do we fix the system going forward rather than trying to recreate history by going backwards. And so, you know, I mean, is this a problem, yes, and we should fix it going forward,
And that was what our group recommended. Mostly of our recommendations. We had a great group. It was a county auditors, it was school superintendents, it was county commissioners, county treasurer. You know, we had the mayor, we had a mayor in there, a couple of business people in there. So it was a good balanced group of people that actually are in charge of implementing the whole property tax system. And so their expertise really was great and guided us
very very strongly in the work we did. We met every week for two months, every Thursday, for at least two hours at a time, and heard from a lot of folks that got a lot of written testimony, a lot of oral testimony, and at our best way through it on that very short timeline that Mike DeWine gave us. He gave us till September thirty.
Yeah, you too, right, and turn that in.
What's going to happen now is the great debate will continue here in pieces of this and we'll get debated and I'm sure we'll discuss this in the future too. But yeah, it's been an interesting few months for you, I know, co chairing this group. Anyway, he's built sites of Green Township. Thanks again for coming on the show, appreciate it.
Happy to be with you better.
I'm working on that. You work on the property text how's that?
Yeah?
There you go?
Alright, I got a feel in my foot. It's going to be better before we figure out property texts. That's your damn sure. Anyway, let's get a news update in. Did that confuse you? Probably did. It's a lot going on there and a lot of millages and uh clawbacks and levy structure changes and words like unnecessary and excessive.
Kind of makes your head swim. But the good news is this will get the parceled out in pieces and will debate each way, each element of this at some point to figure out why property taxes are so screwed up and how we can get some sanity back to what we pay Scott's loan show seven hundred WW.
All right, Homestretch, are slow to here? Seven hundred WLW.
Headed into the lunch hour of mid afternoon, be chopping it up with your boys or perhaps your girls are both Regarding yesterday's debacle at pay Court Stadium, Detroit comes in thirty seven to twenty four to the final, and that score in history will look a lot closer.
Than it really was. Bengals now on a three game heater in the wrong way. They dropped to two and three, and they traveled to Green Bay next. It's gonna get you. Thought Detroit was bad, You're going to Green Bay? How's that gonna work out? He's James Rapine, Sports Illustrated, Bengals Talk dot Com and of course locked on Bengals joining the show every Monday morning.
It's good to have the band back together. James, How you been.
Better than Jake Browning?
How have you done?
Wolf?
Twenty six of forty two hundred and fifty one yards, three touchdowns, three picks for a quarterback rating of are you sitting down seventy six point five at the last check? That is eight interceptions that might count this season.
Yeah, yeah, it's uh, it's bad. And those numbers don't do it justice, it really don't. I mean, he those were juiced up numbers that looked really passable outside of the interception, and it was kind of the other way. It's for the first three quarters of this game. It was unwatchable, not passable, not average, unwatchable, and he was awful and no one knows it more than him. And so I'll give Jake credit there, but that doesn't really matter.
It's wins lost his performance based and that felt really like the pre Joe Burrow Bengals when they were embracing the tank for Joe Burrow and that's not where this team is supposed to be. So yeah, it was really really poor play from Jake Brown.
And we'll get to that with the defensive play. But it's still at halftime. They you know, hit that field goal, well, fourteenth three, it's still doable. You look at it going up.
They're not out of this, sure they weren't. They weren't. And then Jake rough it through an interception on the second play from scrimmage in the second half. I mean, you're right, though, like they a lot of what they set out to do. The game kind of played out that way. They didn't get gashed on the ground by
this Lions offense that could really run the ball. They gave up some plays, of course, but you're going to against the Lions, but it wasn't so bad that you couldn't hang with them if you were rolling out a competent offense and they just weren't. And I don't think it's all on Jake. I think a lot of it is. I do think that Zach Taylor's right, there's plenty that
should fall on him as well. But this offense is just costing this team games right now because they're not They finally scored in the fourth quarter, so we can't say they're not scoring. But my goodness, nineteen drives without a touchdown, eleven quarters and sixteen points before that fourth quarter. It's just unacceptable.
Jake Browning said, I didn't play well. I need to play better. Is there time for him to play? But can he play better? I mean, this seems like this is peak Jake Browning.
They shouldn't he shouldn't get the opportunity to play better because they should have added a quarterback a few weeks ago. Like night bead everywhere, and people kind of rolled their eyes like here we go, James, Like, yeah, of course I do, because I knew that this was a possibility. You don't know how Jake's gonna play because he was good a few years ago, and by good, I say that close because he was passed the ball a few years ago and he's been downright bad. And you don't
have another option. You didn't give yourself that that type of put yourself in that type of situation. And so now, yeah, it is going to be Jake, and he is going to start a game screen Bay and I'd be shocked if anything else changed in that in that department as far as this week. But the Bangles still need to give themselves another option just to to provide watchable football if nothing else, because yesterday was unwatchable for three quarters.
And had they gotten just competent quarterback play, well, who knows, maybe they give the Lions all they can handle at home. Right they're two and three.
Okay, but you know, hindsight is always twenty twenty. I said last week, like I'm not buying, Hey, we'll go get Russ Wilson, We'll get Jameis Winston. We'll get kirk Cousins and fix this. Last week the defense was equally as bad. This past weekend, the defense looked passable. They looked a lot better. They're getting some they're getting the edge rush going, their pass rush. Their defense overall pretty good. Now, maybe that tune has changed somewhat. I think that's fair.
You look like a savon for saying this, But I was going to Okay, So last week you get Russ Wilson, let's say, and you give up a lot of draft capital for him. Great, So now you'll lose by two touchdowns instead of eight. You still lose. Why give that up? But if the defense is going to show up to the party, maybe that's a winnable game. Maybe you have something there. But based on the quarterbacks available, kirk Cousins
may be the best one there. But who knows what they're going to want for him, that's the other question.
Sure, and so a couple of things. One, the Bengals would not trade for kirk Cousins, and it's because of his contract. His contract is just brutal. I mean, you do ten million dollars on the third day of the new league year. Next year, it's just too much money. And this isn't me defending the Bengals.
And how they too much money.
You go to no team should trade for Kirk contin They just shouldn't. Yeah, but Russell Wilson for a six sixth Brown picks. The reason why I was saying it last week wasn't for a game at home against the Lions or even this week against Green Bay, but it was for that that division game against Pittsburgh on a short week where you do have to win that game. Regardless the Green Bay game from the standing stand point matters, but it's an NFC opponent. It's not a huge deal
when it comes to winning and moving. You have to be Pittsburgh if you want to hang in it. Yeah, And so that's what that would have set you up for. And now you have, as we sit here, two games in ten days from now, and you're gonna have to get that second game, and it's just it's gonna be tough. I'm not saying Jake can't do it. I'm not saying that he can't play well, or is that can't coach better and put him in a better position, But my goodness, does it feel like it. You know it would be
much better if they had a better option. I'm not saying mortgage in the future, by the way, Scott, but just give up a little something to give a little something so you have another option.
All right.
So he played what three games a cup of coffee I think, and against the Church. But the in the sample size we have, he's souls thrown. I'm looking at it right now. Three interceptions the regular season, three tuddies, three interceptions. What does he get you that, Jake Browning isn't getting you?
Well, he to me, would gets you, would move the ball. I mean, Jake Browning, Well put it like this, Jake Browning. In the Bengals they scored a touchdown against the Vikings and garbage sean it was to Drew sample and then yesterday their touchdowns game in garbage time. All of the touchdowns that they've scored so far in the Jake Browning era have come when the.
Game is already over fourth quarter, and.
In that yeah, I mean it's the Vikings game was over in the first half, and the game yesterday was over really by that first drive of the second half when Browning throes that interception in the lines, go score. So I just won I think he's better. He's certainly more physically. Get that. I'm not here to tell you, Russell Wilson is it's twenty fifteen, Russell Wilson. But I think any of these guys that you name from a football standpoint, Kirk Cousins, I think Jameis Winston would be someone.
Russell Wilson. Who knows that Andy Dalton available in Carolina? I don't know, Probably not, but I I wouldn't be against going down that path there. They just put themselves in this corner. And the downside is, had they done it a few weeks ago, maybe they get it for.
A little less.
Right now, the league knows that they could use a quarterback and desperately need one, and so maybe that asking price did go up.
Possibly Let's Go would cost more than a sixth rider.
I don't know, if you're the Giant, do you want to keep Russell Wilson around, or you're okay giving up a you know, I mean you're one and four, yeah, you know, Jameis Winston and Russell will I think they give up one of those guys that they knew they could get a sixth round pick or a conditional fifth or something like that.
Okay, James repene on that though too. How much of this is all?
Right?
Jake Browning is terrible, but it's not like the O line is going to light it up for Russell Wilson all of a sudden either.
No.
No, they're a flaw football team, horrible, and so how how can you how can you alleviate some of these flaws? Like if there was a guard out there that I thought would come in and just be an awesome guard or an offensive tackle or center like any of it. I just I don't really see it out there, and I don't know who could be available, because teams loved having offensive line debts for obvious reasons and aren't aren't
necessarily willing to move them this time of year. No, it's it's tough because you're right, it's not just Jake, it's not just Zach, and it's not just the offensive line. But when you mix all those together, it has been really bad.
Now.
I think the offensive line was a bit better yesterday. There were still still some plays Orlando Brown Junior on the police clicker, that play gets blown up, But I do think that overall, they gave Jake a chance for the better part of last week in Denver and then certainly yesterday, and he just made some some really really poor decisions.
Yeah, and watching just you know, Chase Orlando broncamp move MEM's. Have you got a couple of rookies in there playing like rookies, and you know, the run game has been a mess simply because you know, Chase Brown is struggling. How much is that Chase Brown and how much of that has to do with what we're talking about.
Here, It's an interesting question. I still think that it has more to do with the offensive line, slash run game and scheme than it does Chase Brown. But I did it, I did all the frustration that comes with it. I don't think the Bengals went into yesterday thinking they were going to run the ball like crazy. Are a good friend and former Bengal DJ Readers on the other side, and he's really good against the run, and that defensive
front for the Lions is good. So I think the Bengals thought that they would have to throw it early and often to win yesterday, and I think that was their mindset going into the game. And while they threw it, they just threw it too many times to the other team.
Yeah, the one thing we don't talk about a lot is and we talk about ownership, and we talk about Duke Tobin and they're inability to go get guys in the off season, just kind of standing Pat, hey, we'll let it ride.
And it doesn't work that way in the NFL.
You have to continually sharpen that edge otherwise you're going to fall behind quickly. As we saw the season. Cost is QB one for well, let's call it the entire season. This season is not going to be salvaged. No one's going to come riding in on their white horse, be it Russ Wilson, a miraculous cure for Joe Burrow or whatever, Jake Browning all of a sudden figuring out how not to throw an interception. How much of this is on Zach Taylor. Other organizations I would feel probably at this
point would have moved on from Zach Taylor. Not here in Cincinnati.
Well, let's use Zach Taylor's words. He to put this on me, and I do think a lot of it's on him, because hell yeah it is in the first half. I'm just going to look in the first half, when the game's hanging in the ballance, how many like easy, obvious, clear throws did Jake miss? And then how many was he given? And I think it's a mixture of both.
But when you're the offensive play caller and you score zero touchdowns in nineteen straight drives, when you score sixteen points and eleven quarters of the Jake Browning era arted by Zach Taylor's here a big reason why, just to
maximize the offense. And I've watched other backup quarterbacks have far more success than Jake Browning, and that's up to Zach Taylor to give him some easy buttons and some easy throws and some easy options on a team, and then on an offense, it's not like they're thrown to you and me like they have real weapons, and so you should be able to take advantage of those weapons, even with the offensive line, even with Jake Brunning a quarterback. And so, yeah, Zach Taylor, I think his seat is
getting hotter by the day. I don't necessarily think that a change would come mid season or anything like that, because I don't know if they would ever seem that as something that's actually going to help them moving forward. But I do think that he's going to have to rally this team and win some games here, and they can't just go, you know, four and thirteen in him expect to be back next year. I don't think that that's a realistic expect And that's.
That, and I will all that on a positive I thought Jamar Chase had a pretty good game all aside, you know, with six of one hundred and ten yards two touchdowns.
And by the way, I will point out, I believe.
Correct me if I'm wrong, James wasn't he three for three on tackles on all three j Jake brown Nicks, He's the guy who brought the guy who intercepted it down, so he was good on defense too.
He's they're probably their second best corner behind act In, their best receiver, uh In, the best receiver in the NFL.
No, I mean, maybe he can coach up Cam Taylor Britt.
What that's what sucks is that's how great Jamar is. And and there are gonna be a lot of people that hear this, Scott say will just tank and it's like it's hard to look twenty five year old Jamar Chase, who's the best on the planet at what he does, and say, hey, let's hang. Do you know that's really really tough to do because it's only week six.
Yep.
He's James Rapine. We'll talk after the Green Bay game. You thought Detroit was bad, You're on the road at Lambeau. Let's see how that works out. Three game losing streak for the Bengals. He's James Orpeen Sports Illustrated, Bengals Talk dot Com. Of course Lockdown Bengals. Always appreciate the chats on Monday. Thanks again, Thanks God, appreciate Take care. How are you feeling about your Bengals now? How many days the opening day? That ain't good? That ain't good? Scott
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