ON TODAYS SHOW 7-14-26

Hey, I'm Chris Van Fleet. Go behind the scenes and beyond the headlines with the biggest names in pro wrestling and beyond. Jeff Jarrett, great to see you. In this business, the story behind the scenes, so much more entertaining than what you see on camera. Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul Heyman. Mr. Heyman. You are a master at the little things. That's how you turn good into great. What does it take to achieve greatness? Whatever it takes I'm willing to do. That's an Emmy winning performance. How about it? Insight with Chris Van Fleet. Follow and listen on your favorite. platform all right max is there something maybe i found that you could donate to here is there a cause here let's see if max is going to be into this cause i'm guessing probably not didn't you didn't get enough from the tip jar in the no if it costs money i'm not in the green room yeah i understand me either things are expensive these days yeah um did you see this did dale talk about it where the guy who got fired from the incline Yeah, he's got a GoFundMe page. He's got a GoFundMe and he's raised over $18,000. That's quite a bit of money. Well, let me go from an opposite direction here. If I were to get fired today, how many people you think would start a GoFundMe page and start sending me money? I don't know, you're a public figure. You know, there might be some. Okay, that's one strike against me there. Now, it also depends why he got fired. That's the other thing. Because the reason why he's getting all this money is because people disagree with him being fired, which I did too. I mean, I understand what the business is trying to do, but I thought firing him was a little bit too far. Yeah, they're kind of protecting their image. Yeah, I get all that. And I disagreed with Dale on that. Dale defended. Yeah. Look out. Oh, I know. So I don't think he's giving any money. Well, he's not right. Listen, if anybody ever got fired for saying something, it would be deal, should I? Well, I'll just be quiet. I won't say it. You are listening to Yappy Live. This is the show where you can count on the latest news, the best guess, and yes, the best live and local talk, all for your midday commute right here on the Talk Monster. I am going to talk a little bit more about that story. Can I remind you what this guy said? And also how the Times Free Press puts it in the article's pretty revealing kind of makes me upset. So we'll get to that. I bought a new car, so I can't afford to give. You know, it's all going to the new car, remember. I know the feeling. Well, I got a wife. I have one of those two and two kids. And no money. So we'll talk about that. I do have the Tennessee bullet points, the top stories from around the state. And Derek Green is going to join the show at the bottom of the hour. He's running for a state executive committee in Hamilton County. He is the husband of Gail Green who heads the Hamilton County Republican Party.

You might as well just give up at that point. Just, you know, at least, you know, no one else can see in. So that's good. Well, that's true. But goats work in the rain. I need to give me some coach. Yeah, there you go. Well, the neighbors would love that. Well, the coyotes might like it, too. That's the one problem with getting the goat or something. The coyotes like it, too. We've got some up there, too. All right. So here's the story on the guy who was fired, raising money. Got this from the Times Free Press here. It says fired Inclined Railway Conductor's fundraiser tops $18,000 as some call for its removal. How can you remove it? What would be the call for it to be removed? Just because you disagree with it? You can remove stuff? Well, here's the deal. If you want to give to it, do it. If you don't, don't. So it says here, as online donations to fired part-time Inclined Railway Conductors surpassed $18,000 a Monday, Some Chattanoogaans organized online to have the fundraiser reported and removed. The Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority fired Jack Peterson. This is the first time I actually heard his name. But this is how the Times Free Press puts it, and this is why they're saying, oh, it must be removed. The Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority fired Jack Peterson after he made xenophobic remarks. That's how the Times Free Press put it in their article. This is not an opinion piece. This is how they put it. After he made xenophobic remarks during a July 4th Inclined Railway ride that went viral on social media made national headlines. So here, just to remind you what he said, these are apparently xenophobic. He just hates foreigners, I guess, and all that stuff. Here's what it is. To the very, very few Americans in here, happy independence. To the rest of you, welcome to the greatest country on the face of the planet. If you disagree, you can leave. That was it. Is it really that xenophobic? I get it. Maybe it's not the place to do it. He got a little carried away, but I think he was just caught up in the celebration of... I saw several people, friends of mine, other people, post similar stuff on Fourth of July. It's kind of a joke. You know, we're the greatest country. We're celebrating our birthday 250 years. You don't like it. You can leave. All that stuff. Now we're going to go on a headline here and say, in a news report, like I said, this is not an opinion piece. This is their supposed to be straight line journalism. Yeah. You could have just said, like, okay, if I'm writing an article like this, I'd say the Chattanooga, I'd say he was fired after making controversial remarks. I don't even think they're that controversial, but you could say that, right? No, they said xenophobic. I don't think this guy is xenophobic. I think he's patriotic and he let it get away from it. Yeah. Maybe it wasn't the place to do it. I understand that kind of criticism. But yeah, he loves the country. He got carried away. Oh, it's xenophobic. Oh, we need to get rid of this.

I mean, come on. Can we just not overreact to everything? Let's see if we can get a hold of the guy that wrote that article and bring him on the radio, let him explain it. Okay, apparently Mason Edwards is the guy from the Chattanooga Times Free Press. I'm sure he would just say, well, that's the definition of xenophobia or something. I don't know. It says on July 7th, Peterson opened a GoFundMe account with a donation of $700. And in its description, he identified himself as the conductor recently fired. He said, these funds will solely go to me to help during this hard time. It will allow me to not go under while I try to find a new job. So he'll ask for $700. It's supposed to be so upset about this. Well, we want this guy on the street now because he said, if you don't like America, you can leave. It says the following day, the fundraising goal increased six times, reaching $13,000. On Thursday, the new goal jumped to 24,000. His top five donors all sent over $200 each. One comment under the fundraiser prayed Peterson would get hired by a real American company who doesn't hate Patriots, and I hoped he would bring a civil lawsuit against the passengers who accused him of racism and xenophobia. Now, Peterson did not answer a phone call to a number tied to him. But of course, here it is Chattanooga activist Mary Mott, or Marie Mott, first saw the fundraiser, which had amassed around $6,000 at the time on Reddit, where she said users posted about it trying to get it flagged and reported as non-compliant with the platform's rules. Why is it? Oh, this is why they say it's non-compliant, which this is such an overreaction. Come on, people. He just made a joke about America on Independence Day being the greatest country. But the Times Tree, this is what, fundraisers that are misleading or promote violence or intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, and more are prohibited from the platform. Okay. Because he said America is the best country in the world. That means he's either racist, xenophobic, and this is... promoting violence or intolerance to other races? Come on. Come on. Most people would see it as a joke on social media and be like, that's kind of funny. And maybe it was not necessarily appropriate for the incline, whatever, but just say, hey, that's not the place for this. Reprimand them and move on. And he only wanted $700. It's just people kept giving him money because they want to support him. You know, it'll probably take a week or so for him and find him another job. Yeah. And that'll just keep him from starving to death, you know? Now, Mott said Peterson was acting like a victim of his own actions and said she said it was crazy that he would receive more donations than any individual who suffered. Well, I've heard this lady's name before. Yeah. Many times. Yeah, not surprising. Okay, it's not surprising. She said, this is just where we are in this country. He's done nothing to positively contribute to the community and can get $20,000. That says everything about how a certain portion of our community feels. Oh, because he likes America. It's it. He just likes the country. Oh, my gosh.

I don't know. I mean, I'm not saying you should donate to this guy. I don't think I'm going to donate to his guy. You can if you want to. This is America. You can do what you want to on this deal. Yeah, that's a good point. But to say that it should be removed because it's xenophobic. I mean, we are, we, man, we get easily offended in this society. Some people just wake up in the morning, just pissed off at the world. Yeah, it seems like it. So there you go. It's got a GoFundMe page. I wouldn't be surprised people in this audience. I donated because they feel bad for the guy. Yeah. He said a joke about the 4th of July on the 4th of July weekend and he gets fired for it and they just want to help him out. And now he's being called xenophobic. Now that I think about it, I'm mad at the world today too. You mad? No, never. Just pick something. Yeah, never. There we go. All right, so we'll talk about that. We already got texts coming in. Your wife didn't send me any cookies today? I have one, actually, if you need one. I got one. I really don't need it. All right, we got Tennessee bullet points coming up next here on the FBI Live. Jim Rome takes on sports. Part of what makes this show, the show, is the show within the show. The biggest topic on the show always seems to be the show itself. This is a way to give you clones, a way to interact with one another. Yes, we will be going through the chat. Yes, it'll be a part of the program. The only thing that could ruin the show are the old school clones spitting up the same bull crap that they always have. The jungle is out taking names and ready to dominate. Let's get it. The Jim Rome Show podcast. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Form.