The Mark Arum Show 07-17-26 HR 2

Shelly Winter in for Mark Aaron. Mark will be back on Monday, ladies and gentlemen. You can follow me on Facebook at Shelly Winter, S-H-E-L-L-E-Y, W-Y-N-T-E-R. I am normally heard Monday through Friday 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. If you've never heard the show, please come back Monday night and check out my show 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. I want to talk about a story really quickly. So, cancel culture has been around for a little while, and there's always been people who boycott businesses, and they're usually big, large conglomerates, right? There's, you know... There have been boycotts all the time for different reasons, right? And I'm one, in an integrated society, I think boycotts are ridiculous, to be honest with you. I understand why you did it in the 60s when there was a segregated society, but when you're in an integrated society and African Americans and whites and Hispanics and Asians and everyone's working together to boycott a big business ends up hurting the very people that you're... trying to help, right? So from that aspect, I don't necessarily agree with them. But this is a story about cancel culture that is so self-defeating and so suicidal and, dare I say, so crippling to a community that I just don't understand why people do it. So the story is this. Rick Jackson's running for governor. He has security now because he's a mate, he's one of two candidates running for governor. So he's got security, like the state troopers. He has a security team because he's running for governor. And so he can't just leave his house, get in the car and drive and say, go to a restaurant. They've got to call ahead and say, hey, Mr. Jackson running for governor. He's coming by. We've got to kind of just check your place out, you know, like that. That's what they have to do it. When I had Mr. Jackson on my show a couple weeks ago after the election, his security team came to the station. This is a radio station. We're locked down here. You got to go through, pass all kinds of stuff to get in here. They still came here and did a walkthrough before he got here. Okay, so you can imagine about a public restaurant where anybody can walk in what's going to happen. So they did that. They called a restaurant owner or the restaurant called Toast on Lennox. There's a location in Buckhead and one on 14th Street. Toast on Lenox. So they called ahead. Mr. Jackson's going to come. The owner, which is an African-American woman, it's important to the story. Normally it doesn't matter, but it's important to the story. An African-American woman owns the restaurant. So she says, oh, wow, he's running for governor. I'd like to meet him. That's all she said. So Mr. Jackson came with his team. They all ate. They had a good time. The food was delicious. She came over, introduced herself, and they sat down and just talked. She talked to the man. She asked him questions. It was just a conversation.

She didn't endorse him. She'd say, I'm going to vote for you. She didn't hang a sign outside. She didn't do anything. She just had a conversation with one of two people running for governor as a business owner. Mr. Jackson's team posted it on there with he and her standing there, and he said, hey, I'm working for all Georgians, especially small business owners like Toast on Lennox. Great food, had a wonderful conversation. That's all he posted. Now this is being shared everywhere. And the African-American community, particularly those who are supporting Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor, are going after this woman and calling for people not to support her business anymore. Let me say this, as strong in as strong a words as I possibly can without getting trouble and being walked out of here. This is the stupidest, craziest, most childish thing I've ever seen in my life. This woman has spent several years doing everything she can to start one location and then open up another location. She's probably put in 16, 18, 19 hours a day running this business. She hires people. That's the most important thing. She hires people. She has staff. Many of those staffers might be college students who are working their way through school. Some of them may be single mothers who have to put food in their baby's mouths. But none of these so-called social influencers. care about that. You don't really care about that community of which you claim to care so much about if you're willing to boycott a business owner simply for having a conversation with one of two people who may be running the state of Georgia after November. It's self-defeating, it's crazy, and it's childish. And I've never seen anything like it before. Hispanics don't do it. Jewish people don't do it. Asians don't do it. No other group of people in this country are so, no other group of people are so small-minded that they would destroy someone's business for having a conversation with a politician. A politician. Under the guise of his policies will destroy us. Really? You said that about every single Republican that's ever run for office, whether there's dog catch or a president, they're going to destroy us. Yet and still, here's a woman, African-American, in Georgia, where you say the Republicans are going to destroy us, meaning African-Americans, they run everything, and she's got two locations, one in Buckhead, one on 14th Street in Midtown, high-rent locations. But they're going to be, they're going to destroy us. Republican policies allow for that business to open in the first place, because Georgia is such a great state to do business. But you're going to yell at her. You're going to slam her. You're going to post videos about it and tell people not to go. But then, six months from now, you're going to lament the loss of the black business community. It's silly and self-defeating.

It's just unbelievable to me that grown people would think like this when nobody else in the world does that. Let me tell you about business for those, because many of the people that are making these charges and causing this trouble for any African-American-owned business that does business or does an event for a Republican candidate. First of all, and I know this for a fact because I talk to them all the time. Republicans reach out like me, Republicans like me, Republicans like others, Dr. Anita Lane and Karen Walker and all, I can name a bunch of them. Republican operatives reach out to black-owned businesses and say, hey, we'd like to do an event. How much does it cost? Or we're having a fundraiser. Can you cater the event? What's the cost? I know for a fact, most Democrat candidates reach out and say, can we get it for free? I'm telling you this because I've heard it from business owners mouths themselves. So as a business, what do you do? Do you risk the wrath of this childish community yelling at you for doing business? You're a restaurant. You cater. Someone asked you to cater food for their event. You've got to hide the fact that you're doing it when you're making money and that's all you're there to do is make money. It's silly. It's self-defeating. It's suicidal. For a community that represents 13% of a population, probably 4% in a business community to boycott any business for talking to a Republican. It's killing us. Yet in the same time, you will buy hair products from Asian businesses. You'll buy weaves from Asian businesses. You'll go support the nail salons where there are no African Americans doing your nails and your pedicures and your manicures. But I don't see them in your businesses and you don't say a word. So you spend your money someplace else, not asking them to spend it back with you, but when someone, a Republican, they're a Republican. Oh, my God. goes to support a business because he's hungry, you want to put that business out of business. It's self-defeating. It's suicidal. It's dag near genocide and an economic level, which is ridiculous to me for a community. Let's really quickly, ladies and gentlemen, I'll go right back to that grocery and gas giveaway presented by reliable heating and air. Caller number 20 wins a $150 gas gift card, a $150 grocery store gift card, and check this out. A free HVAC checkup, courtesy of reliable heating and air. 448720-750, 1-800-WSB talk. Caller number 20 right now. That's a pretty cool giveaway. That is a very cool giveaway. I can't win, can I? I don't think you're eligible, no. $300? $150 for gas? $150 for gas will take you three weeks, a good three weeks at the prices they are or not. They're about $40-something to fill up. $150 for grocery store gift card, man.

Be calling number 20, ladies and gentlemen. Let's go. I want to go back to what I was just talking about. I'll end it here. Just have a couple more minutes. It's very important that I finish this thought. And I hope you guys don't mind. This canceled culture. We've canceled comedians. We've canceled bakeries. We've canceled a lot of people for various different reasons. This is the silliest. I understand. I don't like the tactic, but I understand the LGBT community going to a baker saying, hey, would you bake a same-sex cake for my same-sex wedding? And a Christian baker says, no. I can get, I understand LGBT community getting upset at that. Now, I don't like the tactic because they target these people. There's a difference. You didn't just walk in off the street. You targeted the man. But as a general rule of thumb, I can understand that. I don't agree with it, but I understand it. What I don't understand is the only group of people in this country that would boycott a business. Years ago, Donald Trump had a brunch in, I want to say, Michigan. where he went to a black-owned restaurant, and because he had the brunch of the black-owned restaurant, they ran him out of business. The guy eventually opened up another business, but they destroyed his business. It's silly. You can't complain about the lack of economic empowerment in a black community. You can't complain about the dollar not circulating in our community. You can't complain about utilizing and supporting black businesses if you're willing to destroy them overnight because they had a conversation. with one of two people running to lead the entire state of Georgia, a state which the last governor and the governor before them, before him, made it the best state to do business almost nine or ten years in a row. Why do you think so many people move here? Because they want to open up a business. And that's because the Republicans are running everything. It's silly. It's self-defeating. It's genocidal. It's suicidal. for any group of people to destroy a business for having a conversation with the politician. It's crazy. And I hope it stops. This woman doesn't deserve it. No one does. But she especially doesn't deserve it. She's worked too hard. So if you're listening to me right now, I'm going to do a shameless plug. Please. She's located at Lennox Mall and on 14th Street. If you're ever looking to have brunch, go to toast on Lennox. And when you get there, say, sorry for what you're going through. I'm here to buy food because the service is good. The prices are good. And the food is on delicious times 10. That's my shameless plug for Toast on Linux. Stop it, African-American community. What you're doing is wrong. And you know it's wrong. And many of you weren't raised this way. And let me end with this because I have just a minute left. Keisha Lance Bottoms does not like it. You think you're helping her, but you're really hurting her. Because if you're willing to put an African-American-owned business out of business because you think she doesn't support Keisha, she doesn't support anybody, I have no idea who she supports, she just had a conversation with. But Keisha Lands Scott Bottoms doesn't want that woman to lose her business.

So don't do it in the name of support of Keisha Land's Scott Bottoms. And if I'm the Scott Bottoms campaign, I definitely am trying my best to reach out to the community and say, hey, stop going after this woman. And then I'd reach out to the woman and say, hey, I'd like to come by with my campaign team and have brunch and take a picture with me. That's how it should work. Because business is not red. Business is not blue. Business is green for those who are serious about their business. Oh, sooky, sucky now. Sorry, Shelley Winter, in for Mark Aaron, one of the great tracks of all time. Have you ever played name that tune? Two beats. Shelly Winter in for Mark. Aaron, Mark will be back on Monday, ladies and gentlemen. What a great weekend. Oh, I've got something to tell you. Follow me on Facebook, S-H-E-L-L-L-E-Y-W-Y-N-T-R and see what I'm doing this Sunday. Going to have a great time, a FIFA watch party at P-M-A-M-P-M-A-P-M. I normally air Monday through Friday 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. So please tune in on Monday to hear my show if you've never heard my show. It's a pretty decent show. We get it going on at night. Our music is phenomenal. You're doing a good job as well, my cousin Vinnie. I want to talk about this story. This is a hilarious story. So I, okay, so let me be honest with everyone. I'm a gambler. I gamble. I bet on football. I have several accounts. I have a real guy. I have online accounts. You know, I've got another real guy. I've got online accounts. I do Kaushi. Use the code pass. Jared Yamamoto has a pass. Has a code. It's called pass. Shameless plug. But I'm a gambler. I've been betting since I was a teenager. Last vice I have. Cut everything else out. But... I got to tell you, this is the funniest story ever. And it's one of those stories where I wish I knew somebody. Gabriel Perez. Now, a couple years ago, 2018, I think it was. Yeah, 2018 during the midterms, Donald Trump came here for a rally. And I met Mr. Perez. Right? I met him. We're backstage at one of the rallies. Someone introduced, hey, Shelley Winter, he's on a radio. This is Gabriel Perez. Hey, Gabriel, how are you doing? He says, what do you do? He's like I work with President Trump. on the rallies. At the time, he wasn't a teleprompter guy. He was just kind of, you know, a close associate at the rallies, doing a pre-set-up and all that kind of stuff. And then he gravitated to the teleprompter guy. The teleprompter guy is a guy that makes sure the speech that he's going to give is right there. Make sure the screens that you're reading from are at the right height and the right, you know, not shady or sunny or anything like that. That's his job, making sure the speeches. are a good in order and everything. There's a guy that does that for these speeches and he travels with the president because the president, one of those presidents, is always speaking everywhere he goes.

And so he's been with him since 2016. I met him in person in 2018. Didn't get a feeling from him one way or the other. So let me tell you what he's done. So on Kaushy, which is one of these profiline, what they call bet, they're not bets, but they call props. What is it called, Deborah? The prediction market. Prediction market. Thank you very much. Right. Kauci is one of the prediction market opportunities. And so when Trump gives a big speech like a state of the union, they will have. You know, 10 to 1 Trump mentions Iran, 20 to 1 this or whatever it is. So what this guy was doing, because he had the speeches, he was betting on the different words or phrases that Trump would say. And he made about $100,000. He lost his job. Here's the funny part of it. He would drop the bet if Trump was going to say Iran and didn't mention it and kept going. He would cancel the bet. So we don't really know how much he won or lost because he was manipulating. But it's a hilarious story, but it's a story that speaks volumes as to what's going on with this administration. A guy doing this on Kashi about speeches, you don't think mining deals are being cut for billions by billionaires? Come on, people. We'll be right back. Shelley Winter, in for Mark Aram. That's what I'm upset about. That's why I'm casting the votes that I'm casting in the Senate. Someone has to pay. Someone has to pay for the corruption and the fraud and the lies that have been told to me over the last several years. Shelley Winter in for Mark Aram. We'll be back in a few minutes.

for our republic. It is not healthy to have the president of the United States giving prime time addresses aimed at undermining public confidence in elections with all of these menacing conspiratorial terms he's thrown around, giving the impression that he's going to use his power to put his thumb on the scale. It's not conduct becoming of the president, and I think that it's not just Democrats who feel that way. It's a growing number of independence and Republicans as well. And that's why so many of the people you spoke to elected officials here in Georgia are distraught because of the independence part of what you just said. As a candidate, though, you're running for re-election. As a candidate, you've got to kind of be happy about this, you know, for your campaign, yes? No, Shelly, and I mean that sincerely, because, you know, this is obviously not what Georgia Republicans want the Republican president talking about, but I take no pleasure or satisfaction in the fact that the president of the United States, who I want to be the president for all Americans, is instead of addressing the concerns of the people. spending his time on a prime time address, nursing grievances, pursuing sour grates. It's just not healthy for the country. Let me ask this. He talked about, I said last night when I was on that I felt, I felt this speech was to get the SAVE Act passed. Would you vote for the SAVE Act if it comes up for a vote? One, and the second part of that question is why your answer? No, I would not. And there are Republican senators who wouldn't either. And look, you should have to prove you are who you are in order to vote. And I'm glad in Georgia you have to. But it's a deeply flawed bill. And it doesn't even have the unified support of Republicans in the Senate, let alone Democratic support. So that's, I'm glad you said. I wanted to give you an opportunity to say that because many of the attacks on you are that you don't want voter ID, and I wanted you to say exactly what you said. We're on a phone with Senator Jon Ossoff talking to him about President Trump's speech last night. One of the more interesting things that I heard last night was the role of China. In 2016 or 2017, after the election, I had Democrats telling me the Russians hacked our election, and that's why he won. him telling me China hacked our elections, and that's why he lost in 20, but I guess they stopped hacking our election in 2024 when he won. What are your thoughts on his comments about China? Do you feel that those are dangerous as well? Look, the irony you just noted, right, is he's giving a speech saying that you can't trust the system just after he was elected. Republicans were elected to a majority in the House. Republicans were elected to a majority in the Senate. I mean, it seems like what Donald Trump is saying is the only elections he trusts are the ones where he and his allies win. And do foreign governments try to manipulate American public opinion?

and, you know, whip up division in our politics, they do. This is known. They've done it for decades, and technology enables them to do it in even more manipulative ways. And that's a real issue. But for the president to get up there and say, you know, as a result, we shouldn't trust the system by which we vote and tally votes is nonsense. And I think the public sees it as nonsense. Well, before we let you go, Mr. Senator, we're on the phone with Senator Jon Ossoff. For the record, those of you who listen to me may know, for those of you who've never heard me before, I've endorsed Senator Jon Ossoff for re-election. Oh, by the way, as I say that, can I ask you a favor? So I've seen where you've mentioned my endorsement of you for Senate on your different rally speeches. Could you just add in there 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. or 955? I got to check with my lawyer. All right, my brother. I just said, you know, at least give out my socials. A couple last questions for you. I want to ask you, we have Carathon starting next Thursday and Friday, and I'm told that you may be calling in. Can you say something about your involvement with our Carathon this year? It's such a great annual tradition. And, you know, I mentioned this morning I got to kiss my two little girls before I went to work, which is something that I wish I could do every day. I'm, you know, I'm so pleased and honor to represent Georgia in the Senate, but it means some separation from my kids. And I say all that just to say that every parent knows. that your child's health is the most important thing to you. It's more important than your own health. It's more important than anything else in your life. When you have a sick child, it is consuming concern. And the work that you and your colleagues do to generate these resources so that sick children can get the care they need in the state of Georgia is just vital. It's to be praised and admired, and I'm grateful that you do it, and I look forward to participating next week. We appreciate you participating. When you talked about the importance of being a father and your children and everything, it popped up in my mind. Can I get your thoughts, going back to one more political question? Can I get your thoughts on a recent story that dropped on CNN about Mike Collins' son-in-law? Because I'm hearing people saying, well, everyone's different, but I... I don't see, I see son-in-law's family. Like, you've got to agree in a family with different things. Can you talk about that story that dropped yesterday? Yeah, Shelly, and it's worse than that. Let me be really clear. And this needs to be reported. Mike Collins today. on the record needs to answer whether he or his businesses or his office or his campaign have been paying this neo-Nazi propagandist and whether this neo-Nazi propagandist has been disseminating neo-Nazi propaganda from Mike Collins property. And if he won't answer those questions in a forthright way on the record immediately.

It is disqualifying. And let me go further and say that I want to hear from Senate Republicans. Do they stand by their nominee here in Georgia whose office was just caught? supporting a Holocaust denier and briefing prominent white supremacists on its efforts on behalf of a Holocaust denier. That's Mike Collins' office. Do Senate Republicans stand by their nominee in Georgia, who's had a neo-Nazi propagandist based on his property and won't answer questions about whether he's been paying them? I mean, we just saw what happened in Maine. You know, I did not back that Democratic nominee in Maine because I had concerns about his character. And I think Senate Republicans should not support a man in Georgia who is widely known to be a poor character and low integrity and a bigot and an anti-Semite who apparently has had neo-Nazi propagandist based on his property. Senator Jon Ossoff joins us before I let you go. I've got to ask this one question. Finals are Sunday, FIFA finals or Sunday, Spain or Argentina. Oh, man, Shelley, now you're throwing heat. This is like controversial content. Can't lose any votes. You can't ask me this in an election year. I will say, I think, I think Messi is going to be tough to beat. I am publicly neutral. They are both great teams. And Atlanta has done, listen, Atlanta and the state should be commended for the job they've done hosting this. you know, I tip my cap to the whole team. They've done a great job, and I'm looking forward to the event. My man. Senator Jon Ossoff, have a wonderful weekend, my friend, and I hope to see you soon. Take care, Shelly. Bye-bye. Shelly went to in for Mark Aram, and before we go any further. I wanted to get an update on what's going on in the Gulf today. Alex Longley from Bloomberg. Alex, how are you, sir? I'm very well. Thank you. How are you? Thank you for having me. Thank you for being on with us. Really quickly update us on what's going on with Iran. Yeah, so it's been a very volatile week in the region. I think a few weeks ago, it would be fair to say, many in the oil and shipping markets came to the conclusion that the worst was probably behind us. And then we saw last weekend at the start of this week attacks on merchant shipping. And that's really kind of taken us back to square one to an extent in terms of getting things like oil and gas out of the strait of Hormuzza. that narrow choke point that counts for so much of global supply. And now we sort of find ourselves heading into the weekend with the U.S. and Iran attacking sites and the U.S. attacking sites in Iran and Iran attacking Middle Eastern nations and targeting U.S. bases and things like that. So we find ourselves here on Friday afternoon in a pretty tense situation in Hormuz and with a sort of a real risk that oil and gas flows through the strait of Hormuz.

are going to fall or have already fallen. Now, there's a story out there about a ship that was attacked. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Well, we've seen a big mix of attack so far this week. I think the most significant ones probably happened earlier in the week. Those were on some of these supertankers that have been crossing hormones with their satellite signals off, going dark, transiting at night so that they can kind of escape under the cover of darkness. That's been something that's going on for a long time. Can I ask you really quickly, when you say escaping undercover, are these ships... illegal or are they carrying sanctioned oil or are they just trying to get through and they think it's better to go through at night? The second one, they're very much legal. They're some of the highest quality ships in the world. They're run by Middle Eastern oil companies. They're carrying unsanctioned barrels. They're the supplies that you and I ultimately consume when we drive our cars around the world. But the best way for those ships to get out and the way that many of them have been advised to get out is to transit at night, switch all your lights off. It's to turn off your satellite signals so that you can't be seen. And so that's why they've been doing that. And Iran has kind of taken a move to attack some of those ships to kind of make people think twice about doing it again. Another interesting attack we've had in the last 24 hours coming from the U.S. side has been to attack an Iranian ship very deep inside the Persian Gulf. And that's not something we've seen since the start of the war. And it's a sign of U.S. military presence further in the Persian Gulf as well. Last question. Is that an escalation? It's certainly an escalation from where we were a few weeks ago, whether it's not quite an escalation from where we were at the peak of the war when we saw Iran attacking huge swaths of the energy assets of its Gulf neighbors. But certainly things are a lot worse now than they were in the middle of June, when flows through hormones had really, really picked up. So it doesn't look good going into the weekend, but this is certainly – I've been covering oil for 10 years, and this is the most volatile – four months we've had. So if the world looks completely different again on Monday, I wouldn't be surprised either. Alex Longley of Bloomberg News, we appreciate you. Have a wonderful weekend, my friend. You too, sir. Thank you. We'll be right back. Shelley Winter, in for Mark Aaron. Mark will be back on Monday. We will be right back.