3-9-26 Dan Carroll in for Scott Sloan

we are. Obviously, the conflict in the in the Middle East is right to call it a Is it a conflict? Is it a war? Operation? Epic fury? We're gonna have to figure that out. I guess we are at war? How long is this going to last? Of course, we're all paying higher electricity prices as well, so we'll talk to Daniel Turner about that. But we start off this morning with my buddy who is the opinion editor at

the Cincinnati Inquirer, and that is Kevin Aldrich. And Kevin Aldrich great to have you back on the show this morning.

lot of people in that area are feeling. And they're looking at city Hall and they're saying, look, we've been promised things, and it really points out just how unresponsive in the general sense. I guess there's been a couple of things that have been done, but in a general sense, it really seems like the city Hall has been unresponsive to the serious needs and the serious things that are going on in that part of town.

probably that neighborhood. I think there are a lot of neighborhoods in the City of Cincinnati that sort of feel like city Council is not necessarily as responsive as they would like for them to be, or as intentional towards some neighborhoods as they would like to be, and feel like there are certain neighborhoods in the city, whether you're talking about downtown or other particular neighborhoods that dominate city Council's attention at the expense of other neighborhoods that has

suffered disinvestment, crime problems, and things of that nature. And I think that, you know, that's one of the challenges that this council and past councils have kind of continued to struggle with, is listening to folks. I mean, you know, the folks out in Hyde Park, even one of the more affluent communities, sort of found out last year how difficult it is sometimes to get your voice heard down down at city Hall, particularly when they had their designs on other things.

things square with each other? Because it seems to me, Kevin Aldridge, it's a lot more than just about putting some money into a particular neighborhood that is really going to make any meaningful change for the people who live there.

glass theory. You know that we're all familiar with that when the neighborhoods that have a lot of disinvestment, where you don't have a lot of quality housing, you have a lot of you know, no thriving business center and things of that nature, where you have just sort of like a lot of low income that that breeds a

lot of crime and situations like that there. So I think that what someone city council and rightfully have identified is that neighborhood that have not seen investment, whether that's in infrastructure or where you have high high levels of home ownership, you know, in communities, that is where you see a lot of a lot of crime issues at in the city. So I don't think the two things

are unrelated. That I think that there probably needs to be a little bit more investment in neighborhoods and bringing those neighborhoods up to a standard where people have opportunities, or they have things that they can be proud of, or they have ownership in that community in terms of home so that properties are taken care of and the area is beautified and it's not allowed to run down, to be run down where it becomes a breeding ground for crime. I don't think those two things are unrelated.

And I think there's some on city Council who see that these fifteen rising communities have been communities that have been neglected over the years, and they're looking for ways to maybe infuse some resources in those communities to kind of bring them back up and get them to a place where you know, crime is is, it's less of an inviting environment for crime and those sorts of things. So I don't think they're totally completely unrelated.

are already already being picked. It just so happens that most of these fifteen rising communities that they're trying to target are typically the communities whose voices never get heard. So I think you already have a scenario down at eight oh one Plumb Street where winners and losers are being picked all the time, and you just have the same folks who are winning all the time there at City Hall. And I think that's what a lot of folks are frustrated and set up with.

and county government. And he wrote a piece in the Inquiry about the city needs an agency to identify corruption at City Hall and He's talking about an independent agency that would have subpoena power, that could really dig deep and do investigations. And I look at that, and I look at what is and you and I. I don't

think you and I have talked since the extension. The second extension came out into the investigation into the police chief Teresa Thigi, and so I look at that, and I wonder to myself, how long is this going to I think a lot of people are asking that, how long is the investigation and the Thigi going to drag on? Is this really a good look for Cincinnati to have our chief twisting in the wind for this amount of time? And it looks like this idea that Carl Kayden has might be a solution for.

City Hall. I think, you know, Todd Zenzer might have proposed something similar. Charlie Winburn I think maybe if maybe around the time of the Gang of Five made a similar suggestion. So I think there's a strong sense among some in Cincinnati that you need an independent sort of third party that's able to kind of take a you know, kind of take a look at at what's going on down there and doing some investigations of corruption or suspected corruption.

And I don't know that that's necessarily a bad idea. I mean, and I think, you know, to to create an air of trust and transparency with the public, I think you need to have some mechanism that lets folks know and believe that that there are folks who are taking look taking a look at how things are handled and making sure that tax dollars aren't being abused, and that that there's uh not excessive or or really any waste, prouder,

frauder abuse that's happening down there. So I think I think it would be uh, I think it would be a good idea, and I think a lot of people have have been calling for that. As far as the police chief is concerned. Yeah, I think it's it's been. It's been. I think it's been way too long for them to have made some type of determination on what her status is. And and I'm really struggling to understand, you know, what is the need for all of these extensions.

I mean, what is she She's been out now, what since October November? So it's yeah, it's been. It's been quite a while now, and I think to you know, to continue to push this thing out. Uh again, it's it's just not a good look for the city because it just makes you wonder, Uh, you know, if if she had been doing such a such a terrible job, it seems like this would be, you know a bit

of an open and shut case, right. But uh, but given the safe history and the fact that, you know, some recent hirings that they've had have resulted in some lawsuits that that have turned out favorably for the city, maybe they're just trying to make sure they've got every

eye dotted and t cross. I don't know, but it but it certainly is not a certainly is not a great look for the City of Cincinnati to hear we are in March, you know, four or five months after the fact that we still don't have a resolution on our police chief status and and she still continues to get paid on the tax dollar dime. Yeah, raises a lot of questions.

come to this. Our old friend Alex Trantefilu posted this on his social media over the weekend, and he writes, finally some good news and relief for a city suffering from the scourge of crime. Federal charges have been brought against the two shooters at the Cincinnati night club over the weekend. For those unfamiliar with the justice system, the federal gun charge will bring a significantly longer prison sentence

and real consequences. These two repeat violent offenders will assuredly be given sentences much longer than our local judges would have handed down. And he says thank you President Trump to in federal law enforcement for stepping in to help

our failing justice system. So I look at this what Alex is saying, and then we had another stabbing in the in the West End, I guess over the weekend, and the idea that we need to have a federal backstop for local prosecutors, local judges are our local justice system that continually has a revolving door that lets criminals in and out of the system, sometimes in the matter

of hours. And even though you you get involved in a shooting at a nightclub where nine people wind up getting shot, you're talking about you walk on five thousand dollars worth of bond uh to have the idea that we need a federal backstop for this to bring serious charges and bring down some serious punishment for individuals like this, Again, I don't think that's a good look for for Cincinnati or for Hamilton County.

larger bond set in that situation, I don't think. I mean, I can't say this one hundred percent sure, but my suspicion is that the federal government probably wouldn't have been involved if if a higher bond had gotten set in

that case. So I don't know. I mean, I'm not sure what the sentencing guidelines are at the federal level, So I don't necessarily know that it's fair to say that they would have gotten you know, large longer sentences at the federal level than they would have the or the ultimately that they will you know when they go through you know, the the the more local system here, Uh, that remain that remains to be seen if that would if that would happen. So I don't necessarily know if

that's a if that's a completely fair assessment. But what I would say is, I do think the low bond in that situation, which I would say, was a mistake by that judge. And I think he's a fairly new judge, so you know, one might might chalk that up to

perhaps a bit of a real mistake there. But yeah, I mean, we'll I guess we'll have to see in that situation and you know, the whole subject around bond, you know, I think that's a lot that's a very nuanced conversation that I think we don't often have, you know, whether that's you know, stories that are reported in the news, or when we have these conversations, you know, in formats like this. I think it's I think in many ways it's it's a little bit more complex than a lot

of times that we make it. I mean, look, the judge indeed gave the guy a low bond, but I think the fact that you know, he remains in jail at this point sort of signifies to the fact that and I think these judges go through a process of where they look at, you know, hey, what is a person's financial means, what is their situation? Do they have the ability to you know, even make that amount of money?

And I think the fact that the guy, at least in my knowledge, is still sitting in jail says that even at even at ten percent of fifty thousand dollars, he didn't have the means to get out of jail, and so if he if he's still in jail, these you'll get the same result. And how much are these these super high bonds a million two million dollar bond? Is it more for is it more for statement or show than the actual reality of keeping someone in jail or making sure that they show up for their core day.

So that's what I mean by you know, somewhat of the nuanced conversation.

to a break. Funline is going to be open next half hour five one three, seven four nine, seven thousand, one eight hundred the Big One. As we roll on till noon today. Dan Carroll in for Sloany on seven hundred WW seven hundred WLW nine nine Dan carrellin for scott'sloan. Well, chilly starts to the day today, going to warm up to seventy, so that's gonna be nice. And we a little I wasn't really expecting this, but our buddy Chris Smitheman has been able to join us for a segment

here on the Big One. And Chris Smitheman, thanks for being here. How are you today?

them make informed decisions. CPS officers made an arrest of a guy named Brandon Hill, charged with violining protection order three times, listing arrests, failed to comply with an officer, aggravated robbery, trying to disarm an officer. Hill has a history of convictions domestic violence, felony, drug possession, trafficking drugs, burglary, and more. Officers appeared in room A, so Judge Mundy had a clear picture of this defendant's history and danger

to the community. Monday asked if the defendant could make a five thousand dollars bond. The defendant said he could. The judge Monday gave fifty thousand dollars bond ten percent, and off this guy goes. So this is just a snapshot of the kind of things that happened in the court system. And now we have the specter of the and thank god we have a federal prosecutors who are and I was talking to Kevin Aldrich about this in the last segment, apparently backstopping now our local judicial system

because they fail time and time and time again. But the notion that we have to run a lot on the Feds to get the job done here in Cincinnati and in Hamilton County, I don't think that's a good look. And I don't think that's a viable long term solution, do.

in our city. And I think it's important Dan for me to highlight that these injuries. The only reason there are not more people did I want to seek try to speak playing to this is because we have a UC trauma team that is just remarkable, a Christ's Hospital trauma team. I mean, these people are putting citizens back together like they're in a war, like they're in a war zone. And under normal circumstances, some of these people that are shot would die too, they would have succumbed

to their injuries. So my hats go off to our hospital teams, our emergency teams, our firefighters and police officers who are giving life aid to these victims before the fire department gets there and as they transport them over to er. Having said all of that, look the politicians aren't getting you know, the headlines that they want. So when you have the beatdown that occurred in downtown Cincinnati, all of the politicians were everywhere, Dan, they were on

every press conference. You couldn't turn on your TV and not see them talking about you got to go out and arrest somebody white, demanding it right. And all of that was going.

culture at city Hall, please listen your listening audience. I don't care whether you're a Democrat, whether you're Republican or an independent. Dan, don't carr either. I'm speaking Ran. We want we're concerned about our safety as number one. Right, you would think that would be unifying, no matter what your political party or persuasion was right. So the end of you have a council that's anti cop or defund the police or reimagine the police. We don't want our

sight police officers out there doing proactive policing. And that is one of the reasons you constantly see this increase, this pick up that you're seeing in our neighborhoods, in our fifty two neighborhoods of this kind of crime and this kind of violence.

of a firearm. And then we have a prosecutor who comes out and says, well, this is self defense for the one guy. The one guy would you know, pulled the trigger on the other guy, but the other guy was acting in self defense. I mean, how can we possibly have a prosecutor that is going to excuse the other crimes that were taking place that should not have

taken place. And again, multiple felonies, multiple convictions, and yet I think there was a time when these people were not on the streets when they face serious consequences for committing crimes. But if we don't deliver serious consequences, then these are the results that we get. Like you've just been.

silent majority. The only thing that I have not been able to get my head wrapped around, and I'm hoping that this changes, is that we meaning me as a black American and speaking to black Americans, that we get to the point where we're not wedded to a party, so that we're not just wedded to the Democratic Party, no matter what they say, no matter what they do, no matter how they treat us. For example, the governor of California two weeks ago in Atlanta saying, hey, here's

here's my SAT score. And by the way, I can read or I don't read well, in some way I'm going to connect with you. I'm not connecting you with you with your nine to sixty on your SAT. And I'm not connecting with you when you say that you have problems reading. Let me be clear with everybody. All of my children, all four of my boys, are all academic scholars, engineers, holding jobs, or they're working on a master's degree. And my daughter is a scholar at Setan.

I have no idea what that man is talking about in Atlanta, and the people in his audience didn't know. That is what we call the identity politics that are dead. That's why Jesse Jackson Junior Dan Carroll said this week, why did these three presidents who didn't even know my father come to his funeral and give us political talk. It's not what they were supposed to do. It's not

what I asked them to do. That's a new philosophy, he said, Republican, Democrat, independent, no matter who you are, this is Jesse Jackson Junior speaking at his father's services his memorial, He's saying, we are about the public policy, we are not about the party, and so we've got

to separate as Black Americans from the party. So when you see eleven people shot, Dan Carroll and you don't find mayor Purevall anywhere, You cannot find any of the members of council with a search warrant, you can't find the administration anywhere to speak about the violence and say what is the plan? And the reason they don't want to do it. I'm gonna make it real clear is they don't want to send a message that they support cops.

I don't know where these these blue dog democrats who don't exist anymore, who we used the Tom Lukens of the world, to Charlie Lukens of the world, the John Cranley's of the world, who said, hey man, I can support the police, I can make sure that we have a safe community. They want to basically coddle criminals. And that's what you're speaking about when you say you shot nine people and I'm going to give you a fifty thousand dollars bond and back on the street the next day. That's crazy.

being assassinated. That was the world that he lived in. And so I just want to state, yes, we're in a much better place today than we were in the nineteen sixties, but it's because of some of the work, and some of the work like people like Jesse Jackson

and did. And so what the Son was saying here is why don't you come and speak to his great work right places where you found common ground with him, not using his services as a political launching point for your presidential run or for some position that you want to talk about to democrats. It's not who we are. And I was very appreciative of Jesse Jackson Junior highlighting that for the three presidents, and what he said was not any of the none of these presidents. Dan Carroll

knew my father. I mean that was very powerful. He was sitting a message like, dude, all you all had to do here is come and just say eulogize him and appreciate the work that his work that he did. We didn't want you to come here and be political. Whether it was Biden, whether it was Kamala Eiris, or whether it was a President Barack Obama, none of them should have been doing any of that at his services.

But getting back to your point, Dan Carroll, the violence that is happening in our core, we want to be honest here that these are predominantly Black Americans who are killing or shooting other Black Americans in the city of Cincinnati. You might go to another city and say it's a different violence between different cultures or different people, But in the city of Cincinnati, these are Black Americans who are

shooting and hurting other Black Americans. We've got to be real about this, and we've got to have a mayor and a council and an administration that not just a mural on the outside of city Hall that says Black lives matter, but they have public policy that matches that they are concerned about that. That's not a streetcar, Dan Carroll, It's not spending five million dollars a year or five

million dollars a month to operate a streetcar. Right their their mindset is around all of this other stuff that they're doing, and they really don't care. That's the frustration that we have. I think with the Democratic Party. Many a lot of people are telling me, right now, the Democratic Party has left me. I don't even know what this party represents. Right They're talking about I need men inside of locker rooms with women, which makes no sense.

If you talk to Black Americans who vote, many of them would say that just doesn't make sense to me. Doesn't mean that they don't support the LGBTQ plus community. They're saying, why is my party pushing me in this direction that I have to agree with a dude swimming or playing football or playing soccer and at a high school level against my daughters. That just doesn't make any sense. And that's where the Democratic Party is pushing us. Here's the last point. I'll say. We've got to vote in May.

We've got a primary, we got a November in Hamilton County. We need people to show up and participate and vote. We've got some judicial races, we have a gubernatorial race. I'm supporting the vet Ramaswami. I would like to see him be the next governor. I do not want to turn our state into Virginia. I don't want to wake up and we have a craziness that's coming out of Virginia. That's why that gubernatorial race is so important.

but nationally as well. We have a lot of kids that they need help, and this administration, the Trump administration, is actually trying to do something thing about it. And how are things going here locally? Tim Tebow was on Capitol Hill last week talking about the just thousands of kids who are out there who are an abusive situations, and he's trying to get Congress to act to create a task force that is going to go out and

rescue these kids. So we'll talk to Evangeline Deval after the news here at the top of the hour about that nine point fifty four. Dan Carroll for Scott's Slum on seven hundred WLW, Do.

in just absolutely horrible situations. And so whenever I see stuff like that, I think of my friend Evangeline Duval and she is with the Varner Foundation for Children and Families, and Evangeline Deval. It is great to have you back on seven hundred WIW.

they're really still in foster care. A lot of the kids so lived with a relative they'd never met, in a state that isn't their own.

educational opportunities. They talk about economic literacy for a lot of these kids who are aging out of the system. So it's only been a few months now, but when when you have a federal program like this and foster care gets the attention of the White House and the administration, have have you seen any results of that yet? Or do something like this is going to take a little while before you see any any any tangible evidence that it's making a difference.

age out, they're stuck in this cycle. Everybody knows that the foster system is broken and it needs some different attention. From my perspective, it needs to be brought down to the community level and giving a lot of these agencies with these people that just are so wonderful and working with these kids a lot more flexibility, less red hate, so that when they do age out, they don't have all the problems that the cop administration and Malaney are

trying to tackle. Let's go back to the source. And it's the same thing with Tim Tebow. He is on an international stage and he's talking about internationally all the children that are being traveled, well here in the United States on what who you want to cite anywhere from sixty to ninety percent of the children in the US that are traffic have spent time in foster care, So

wrap your head around that. So if that is true, and I have no way of knowing whether it's sixty or ninety percent, then let's go back to the foster care system because if we can make real out of the inroads in that system, there are left kids that are going to end up being traffic. So again, with what the Trump Trump administration is doing is amazing, but let's go back down to our route of how did we get here?

the hospital unless she was on oxygen. Well, they took her home, Medicare brought oxygen for her, but they would not take for a portable oxygen, so they couldn't go anywhere with her. So they were tethered to the house, and they applied and plied, applied to other things b jfs and all the rest of it. And the way is always at least twelve to eighteen months even to get a reply on whether they're going to even accommodate you. And by that time a lot of parents had given up.

So we ended up paying for a portable oxygen unit for this little girl. And the mom emailed me and said, we all get as a family to go watch my son's.

be rehomed. Well, every time you rehome them, it's more trauma up on trauma, trauma. And remember, these kids aren't in the foster system to anything that they've done wrong.

strain on the resources. And you got and you guys constantly talk about how fifty percent of those who are involved in foster care they they have to give it up simply because it's it's such a strain on the resources. I think you have a lot of people who are well intended and want to do right by these kids. So it's not always a nightmare scenario, but just when it comes down to the bottom financial line, a lot of these families just can't make it happen well.

these parents really love these kids and really want to make a difference, but sometimes it just gets to the point, especially with kids that were traffic and you and I have talked about this, once they're once they're rescued, and I take I mean Tim Tebow is a wonderful advocate for these kids that are trafficked and trying to make them, trying to find where they are and rescue them. But once they're rescued, what do we do with them? Our

foster program is already broken. If you take a kid that has been sexually abused for years and sold and beaten and all these other things that you know are addicted to drugs. A lot of them are because that's what makes them compliant during their abuse. And you turn around and want to place them in a foster home. That's a that doesn't work. It just doesn't work because you they have so many physical and mental and social

emotional needs that they don't sit in. So a lot has to go back to We cannot have all these one size stif doll trainings and programs. We need to really reach out and change the way that we do this. It needs to be individualized. And again that's why I

said it needs to come back to the community. And if we had it said that if every church in Ohio were to have one family fostering with the rest of the church family coming around them and supporting them by giving him rested care and helping them out with transportation and all this other kind of stuff, we wouldn't have any We wouldn't have a shortage of foster parents because it just takes a lot. I mean, for instance, when I had my my last foster kid, I have

a very great friend that lives in Kentucky. I'm not allowed to take her over state lines. I couldn't take her there. Real you're not allowed to take a child yet without permission. You can't.

What they're they're turning their lives upside down inside out for God's take. Then need a little bit of support, and the support is so tied up in the system

and the red tape. Again, I keep harping back to this, but let's put this back into into our community's hands, in their labs, and say, why don't we come around these kids in our own community, our own our own part of the part of Ohio, or even just the state, and let's decide how we're going to work with these kids, because other than that, they really don't have much of

a chance. These kids, you're never going to get anywhere with these kids, their behavior, their learning ability, they're all neurodivergent. They all are behind at school. Most of them will never graduate all this other kind of stuff because their brain doesn't feel safe, and they don't because they don't feel safe, they don't trust. They've been learned, they've learned not to trust people. And until they can and they

feel safe. You can't break through to them on so many different levels, and that we need to talk about that, and we need to understand what they've been through. When you have a child this place with you, you are not told, well, but why they are there, because that's privileged.

most important things. And I will never stop having you guys on because you're so dedicated to what you do and I just can't think of anything that's more important than helping these kids out in Ohio. Plays such a big part when it comes to children being trafficked and the lives of these kids being ruined. I know, look, I know there's great foster families out there, and not every case is the worst case scenario, but when people need help, Thank God for that, The Varner Foundation and people.

Dan Carroll for Scott Sloan today. I'm not sure if Slony is back tomorrow or not, but for me, it wouldn't be a show unless I had on this guy. Power of the Future is the website. The guy who puts it all together is my buddy, Daniel Turner, one of the most sought after analysts when it comes to energy, economic policy, political policy, anything under the sun. My buddy Daniel Turner can field it all. Daniel, how are you doing today?

about the Straits of Horror moves. The straits are open, the straits are not open. Ships that got through this weekend they didn't get through. I don't know what to believe about the reporting that's going on there, but I guess because really, anytime there's there're shooting going on and missiles flying around in the Middle East, that's going to have an effect on oil prices.

future is going to bring. We had sixty dollars barrel oil for the first year of the Trump administration because there were certainty, not just geopolitical, but there was permitting certainty, There was financing certainty, there was regulatory certainty. And when all of those things happened together, everyone just kind of calms down and oil prices drop. And that's why we saw very, very cheap oil and gasoline for as long

as we did. Right now, we don't know what the future is going to bring, and that makes people absolutely petrified. More specifically, the gasoline prices. The reason why they jump so high at the pump is that the price you pay currently is what your gas station knows it has to buy in the future. Right the gas, the gas you're filling in your car was paid last week with those prices. So if the future says, holy crap, how expensive is oil are going to be? How expensive is

gasoline going to be? I don't know. That is why you see those prices jump immediately because They don't know when the next tanker shows up what it's going to cost, so they prepare for the worst case scenario because that's how small the margins on gasoline actually are. So it's a complicated business and war in the Middle East does not help. But like I said, hopefully this will be the last time we have to worry about this region ever again.

and all that is controlled by China. And so here's the Trump administration saying, you know what, America can dominate the oil business, and then we will set the world stage. We will set the agenda. That explains what happened in Venezuela. It's explained what happened with the Panama Canal, It's explained what's happening in the stra of horn Mouse. If we can control the world's oil supply, we can control world peace, geostability,

and that is a good thing. We also have to realize we don't have a lot of friends out there, and that's the most frustrating thing. As much as this is bad for the world's economy, there are huge oil and gas producers. Who are the ones really getting stuck with this? Saudi Arabia, Uae, Kuwait, Ama, Oman, right, the United Arab Emirates, Doha, all these places we talked about, and all these that exotic vacation. Let's what the hell are they doing to open the straits of horn Mouse? Right?

Aren't these they're Arab brothers. Aren't these all there Islamic friends and you're like, well, no, one is Wahabi and one is Sheite and the other is Sunni, and you blah blah blah. But you know what, They're not doing a damn thing because they don't care. It shows you who we have to deal with in the world. Why is not? Why is do buy not petrified that their oil is not getting out? Because Daniel, let me let me stop you. Right there is the straight of horror moves. Is it open right now or not?

world gets very complicated. Everything has insurance, right, every vehicle, every vessel, the world's largest insurers right now are saying I am not insuring your cargo ship, your five hundred million dollar cargo ship if you go through that area. So you're sitting there, you're waiting for someone to underwrite your insurance. And so the captain has just anchored. Now the American government has come in and said, we will provide your insurance and therefore you can go. I think

if they had the insurance they would go. So why don't the insurers want it? Well, because the insurers don't like Donald Trump. The insurers are Lloyd's of London. There are a bunch of of of Commy Pinkos who were based in London right there. There are a bunch of greenies. They hate the oil and gas industry. There's a lot going on right now of why we are on the pickle we're in, and it is not because we killed one of the most evil men in creation, the Ayatola.

It's because there's a lot of people who don't want to see America succeed, because they don't want America to control the oil and gas of the world. They want a reset global order.

on life goes on. I don't have to like you personal we have our invested interests in politics. That's not the same criteria. And maybe Donald Trump was stunned to see Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, saying no, we're not going to get We're not going to let you land your jets here. Not only that, but we've sold one of the most strategic bases in the Indian Ocean out from under you the eagle go to see it.

Maybe he was stunned that the CEO of Lloyd's of London is like, you know what, I'm not going to ensure those cargo ships because I want to see the Americans suffer because I'm deeply worried about climate change or whatever. There. I think Donald Trump is always stunned at how awful and evil politics actually is. And that explains why we can't get the Save Act passed. That explains our thirty nine prillion dollar debt, it explains our open borders, et cetera.

the strategic petroleum reserves. So I think that that's what a criticism is a little uncalled for.

six million barrels a day. What would happen to oil prices if two hundred thousand barrels a day went into the reserve, Well, oil prices would jump through the roof because that's a huge percentage of supply that is going towards the reserves, right, And two hundred thousand barrels a day to replenish three hundred million, we're talking about a very, very long process. So maybe we're doing, you know, fifty thousand barrels a day, enough to make an impact on

the supply, but not enough dwindled supply to increase the price. Right, So what's that calculation? All this goes back to what

you said, it was Joe Biden who did this. So once again, like the border, like Obamacare, like the strategic petroleum reserve, like the state of our military, will you give democrats power, they will do everything they can to destroy your once great institutions, and then you inherit a piece of dog crap, and then the voters or the media is like, well, I am surprised, Dan Carroll hasn't fixed this yet. You know what, It's been four d and I'm starting to get angry. Four years Joe Biden

had untethered control of this industry and people. Now in thirteen months, Rolfe Come hasn't fixed it yet. F you, buddy. That's why he hasn't fixed it because you guys did this. And you have Shreed Brown, who's trying to run for office. Who's the guy trying to run against Shareed Brown? Crucify that, sob on these points, where were you when Joe Biden dwindled the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Shared Brown? You want your

Senate feedback? What the hell did you do to get our oil and gas pipelines operating to protect America's infrastructure?

New York City. You had demonstrations over there on the weekend, and then you had some guys toss essentially IEDs into a demonstration that was happening there, and somehow Mandani is coming out and criticizing the people that I guess see he's criticizing the people that had the demonstration because that triggered the terrorists to do terrorists? Then now am I am I reading?

what Barack Obama does all the time, right. This is this is that idea that everyone is guilty, both sides are guilty, but the right is actually more guilt. This is Charlie Kirk got it right. If he just stopped going on college campuses and and and preaching his hate, as we say that, then then he wouldn't have gotten shot. So he actually he did this himself, right, This is this is the moral equivocation of the godless, gutless left. You know, hopefully Cash betel On the FBI can unravel

this network. What I am fascinated in in this thing? Is what nineteen year old kid from Cincinnati is going to go to the Chicago Mayor's office to protest? Right, You're like, what, I don't even know. I grew up in New York City. I've never been to Gracie Manchin. How did this kid from Bucks County, Pennsylvania show up in New York City? Oh? You know why? Because there is a Muslim network to protect the Muslim mayor and to fight for the Muslim mayor. And that network has

to be unraveled. They've got to be hung, hanged in the town square and the rest of them have to be deported.

that you bore on our soil do this? Because I have grandparents that were born in a foreign country. But my parents also, you know, fought and and and protected this country at a very different level of immigration that we have. So a lot has to be in question about you know, this is this, this unravels the well

it's legal versus illegal immigration. We we have a problem with who we allow into this country and assimilation and I am tired of unassimilated people posing a threat for me and my family.

eight hundred. The Big One another probe by a criminal probe by the FBI into suspected election irregularities, something I've talked about quite a bit, and we are told time and time and time again that, uh, the election of twenty twenty was completely above board, safest best election we've ever had. Sources spoke on condition of anonymity because of

the secrecy of the grand jury probe. They are talking about FBI agents who are receiving gigabytes of electronic data from Maricopa County about a month after the bureau first disclosed an investigation into election irregularities by rating a warehouse near Atlanta seizing ballots from the twenty twenty election in Fulton County. So now they've got another one going on

in Arizona. Subpoena comes five years after the Arizona State Senate conducted a lengthy investigation into the twenty twenty election and concluded there were significant irregularities. And again, there were irregularities in November of twenty twenty four at a warehouse in Arizona where blank and filled out absentee ballots were observed in the same location, according to the sources. So the FBI is looking into that in Arizona and we will see what comes of that. What else, what else?

What else? Did you know that the federal government is shrinking. Three hundred and sixty thousand federal jobs have been shipped out of Washington. Workforce reduction that large cripples most organizations in the private sector. Losing that many positions triggers emergency meetings, halt production lines, sparks panic among executives. Washington, however, keeps moving along as if someone merely cleaned out a few

old files out of a drawer. Of this piece in PJA media, the federal workforce shrank by three hundred eighty six thousand, eight hundred and twenty six positions during the first year of Trump's second term. Administration. Leaders framed the effort as a long overdue overhaul or overdue correction of

decades of unchecked growth inside federal agencies. The work largely fell under the Department of Government Efficiency when Elon Musk served as the department's co chair and was tasked with identifying layers of bureaucracy that had quietly multiplied over many administrations.

And so this was what was happening on a regular basis under the Biden administration was we kept having these job reports about all these jobs that were created, and Joe Biden loves to go around and talk about all these jobs he created and all the economic activity that was happening under his administration. Well, a huge chunk of those jobs were government jobs. The numbers behind the reduction

reveal how large the bureaucracy had become. Roughly three hundred and seventeen thousand federal employees left government positions during twenty twenty five. About sixty eight thousand new workers entered federal service during the same period, departures far out pacing high across every major agency, Education, Housing, Treasury. The Trump administration effort to reduce staffing across agencies resulted in the loss of more than three hundred and seventeen thousand federal employees

thirteen point seven percent decrease. At the same time, sixty eight thousand new federal employees joined the civil service. So has anyone noticed any difference when it comes to government services? Maybe you deal with the government. I fortunately, I don't think I do. And maybe I do, but I don't think. I don't think I deal with the government, the federal government on a regular basis. I know, I don't go to my mailbox looking for a government check or I

guess it gets to direct deposited. I mean, I haven't done my taxes yet, so that'll be some interaction I have with the federal government when I do that. But I don't deal with the federal government on a regular basis. Maybe if you're involved with the VA or HUD or one of the other agencies on a regular basis, maybe you've noticed some difference, But I don't know. I really

haven't seen it. A piece in the Inquiry Today talking about written by Gordon Whittmeyer talking about Latin American players on edge as ICE tactics intensify, and he goes on to talk about several Reds players and I guess players across Major League Baseball who are concerned for themselves and their families about ICE activities. And I read this piece and it's it's a little disingenuous.

identities out there on social media. They seek to put their addresses out there, if their phone numbers, if they can get it, they're family members. It's called doxing. We all, we've all heard of doxing. And they want to make the lives of these agents and absolute living hell for doing nothing more than a job they are sworn to do.

This country gives you an opportunity to change your life Cincinnati Redstar Aua Halios Worrez said, now you feel pressured, you feel scared because you don't know what's going to happen if you're driving down the highway and somebody stops you, even if you're a citizen. Well, I've talked before on this show that if you are a citizen, if you are in the country legally, if you are not out committing crimes, then generally, genuinely you really don't have anything to fear.

they're free to go. And this whole notion that these mass men are coming in the middle of the night and scooping people up and sending them away and they are never seen or heard from again. That is the narrative that a lot of people want to get out there and want people to believe, but it is simply not true. A Major league players such as Suarez, who's from Venezuela, feel fear for their game, their families, their

own safety at times. With the start of spring training across Florida in Arizona, hundreds of major and minor league players from other countries are back in the US to prepare for the season. Training camps kicked off weeks after US military action in Venezuela that overthrew Nicholas Maduro and the killings by federal agents of two US citizens in Minneapolis.

The killing of two US citizens in Minneapolis. And so that sentence is right there, when when you read that and you see that printed that way, does that put that those two incidents in any sort of context whatsoever at all? It doesn't. Is that fair? Is that fair reporting? Is that? Is that a fair sentence too? I mean, I mean, it happened, But why did it happen? Didn't we discuss those two incidents ad nauseum on this radio station.

Didn't we have a national debate about that for days after these incidents happen, thoroughly dissecting, reviewing the video over and over and over again, and just to throw that in there, as if that is a factor of why players who are playing baseball from other countries who are in the United States now should fear this administration or fear ice to throw that in there just like that, And to my way of thinking, is is not very good reporting. Teams have addressed the issue in team meetings.

Red's president Nick krawl on one of the first mornings after the full ostra players had arrived in Arizona, emphasizing vigilance and taking precautions as basic as always carrying identification, which to me sounds like a good idea. Last thing you want guys to do is be in compromising situations that could easily escalate into something it doesn't need to.

That's another good idea. Be aware of your surroundings if there are agitators who are out and first of all, during all of spring training, during all of the baseball season last season, was there any of this going on?

or in Florida. You know where they're going to be, you know when they're going to be there, if you wanted to round the And do we have any reason to suspect at all that anyone playing Major League Baseball who is from another country is in this country illegally?

wouldn't they be all over the World Baseball Classic? I mean there's multiple teams here from other countries, you got it, probably entire rosters in some cases that are made up of players from other countries. If ICE was so hell bent on harassing people who didn't don't deserve to be harassed wouldn't they be there? Have we seen any as anyone? And look, maybe I missed it. I mean I look at stuff all the time. I would like to think that if there was, if this situation was going on,

I would have seen some reporting on it. I haven't seen anything on it at all. The Dodgers, who won the past two World Series, have one of the most internationally diverse rosters in the league, the strongest Latino following among MLB fans, more than forty percent of Dodgers attendance and TV viewership as Latin American. Okay, well, that's great that,

I mean, that's that's fantastic. First incident the stadium spurred by protests or spurred protests by activists, and later reportedly a reluctance by some fan to fans to attend games, at least in part over Dodgers' lack of more vocal resistance to the ice activities. As if I'm the Dodgers, No, I mean, I can't think of any Major League I can't think of any organization, whether it's baseball, private business, that would want this type of attention brought to what

it is you're doing. So do you want ice agents there. Do you want to have demonstrations people marching around? Do you want to have confrontations like we saw in Minneapolis. I can't think of any entity that wants something like that. So this is a piece that goes on and on and on, and I just think it's kind of filled with sort of misleading statements, obviously incomplete information. Is it

an issue? I would I have no doubt that there are Major League Baseball players there who are concerned for themselves and their families and the reality of the world that we live in today. Are these fears a little bit unfounded? Are they hyped up a little bit in this piece? And I think so, But you have to look at what's really going on. And once the demonstration stopped in Minneapolis, unded up all kinds of bad ombrees got him out of there, and we don't see the

demonstrations anymore. Although the chaos is happening in New York City now because you had some want to be terrorists who thankfully are not very good at building bombs try and call some mass chaos there earlier this week or over the weekend. I mean, we got to get to a break and after the news here at the bottom of the hour, and Jim Suger is going to be here and talk about his new book. It's called Everybody Bunts and Lance mccallister's had a look at it, so

good for him. But Jim Seuger is always an interesting conversation, and I hope you can stick around for that. Dan Carroll for Scott's Loan seven hundred WLW seven hundred WLW eleven thirty seven, coming down the home stretch. Dan Carroll in for the Scott's Loan and always great to have on. My next guest, local guy graduated from UC spend time, spent time in the navy? Is that right? My buddy Jim Serger is here, and Jim, how are you doing today?

the title. But just because you have the title doesn't mean that you can carry out whatever that mission is.

baseball here. You're talking about life and that part of life that everyone can experience whether or not you play baseball. And you do that, and you do that a lot, and that's what I liked about so many of your books.

see what you do after a loss. It's how you fix that stuff and make it part of your day to day operation every day on and off the field.

young people. I think young people crave leadership and they will they will gravitate towards that leadership, whether that leadership leads them in a positive direction or a negative direction. So it's a little bit of a double edged sword. But just the fact that you recognize or you you spell that out and you recognize that, and again I'll go back to young people craving leadership, but it's also I think I think people just in general gravitate towards leadership,

and that leadership leads in a positive direction. It can it can be extremely beneficial for everyone involved.

component of that, I think is is that coaches. The influence that a coach can have on the life of a young person, and even a person who's not young, I still think so, you know, I mean, I spent a lot of time with the great Jerryderger when I was at me. Nicholas high school and that and that guy influenced my life and I still think about him almost every single day and some of the some of the life lessons that he taught me back then when I when I was bumping around high school with a guy.

your relationship going with Tunnel to Towers? And it must be extremely fulfilling for you to be involved in a project like that.

that again. We'll see you next time on the Home of the Reds seven hundred WLW