7-3-26 Mike Allen in for Scott Sloan

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News Radio 700 WLW, Mike Allen, in for Sloanee today on 4th of July Eve. All kinds of things going on, as you might expect. We're going to try to keep it somewhat light today, though. I wanted to let you know, too, tomorrow, Saturday, midday. Of course, I'll be in for that. We are going to be talking to Janice Heisel. I forget what time we're talking to her, but I'll find out later and tell you. She is at Mount Rushmore as we speak covering President Trump's speech that's going to come tonight, I believe at 1150 p.m. I don't know why I know they're out west, but I don't know why that's so late. Anyway, she's there. Try to talk her into calling today, but she just said she'd have too much to do and certainly understand that. But anyway, it's 1150 tonight if you want to stay up for it. But we'll be talking to her tomorrow. You know, there are lots of reasons to celebrate this year, the 4th of July. Of course, it's the 250th birthday of our great country. I'm old enough to remember the bicentennial in 1976. You know, my recollection is it was kind of a big deal, but nothing on the scale that this one is. It's just great to see all of this stuff. Just for the heck of it yesterday, I was curious. You know, we're at our 250th birthday. I googled this question. What is the average lifespan of a country? Well, it came back and AI kind of condenses all of them down. And I was a little surprised by the answer to that. And I'm going to tell you what it is just in a second here. But again, the question is, what is the average lifespan of a country? Okay, here we go. While the lifespan of a sovereign state varies. Historical analyses such as British historian. Sir John Glob's classic study on major civilizations placed the average lifespan of a major empire or nation at approximately 250 years. Well, then it goes on from another source, political scientists and databases tracking global regimes. often point to an average closer to 150 to 200 years for modern nation states before they experience a massive regime change or systemic collapse. So, you know, if this guy, Sir John Grubb, is correct, 250 years, times ticking away for us. I don't believe that at all. Well, we got some serious issues and some serious problems. But anyway,

I was always curious about that. So it looks like it's in the area of 250 years. So, you know, we've been around a long time. We're going to be around even longer, but it makes you think. I mean, it really does. I think I'm an optimist in general, but I'm an eternal optimist when it comes to the United States of America, but I'll tell you, like a lot of people, boy, the polling bears this out, I'm getting pessimistic these days. You know, you see these polls, and of course, if you listen to my Saturday show, I give you all polls to you're sick of it. But the polls coming out now. The concern is young people, and their seeming acceptance of socialism and communism. It just frightens the heck out of you. And you just ask yourself, where is this coming from? And I don't think you have to go any further than the classroom. And it used to be just the college classroom. Well, now the indoctrination begins K through 12. I mean, it really does. You know. Some are wondering in this country whether the USA is in the midst of, as it was just described, a massive regime change or systemic collapse. I don't see anything like that on the immediate horizon or really on the horizon at all, but it's a good question to ask. And it's a good question to be concerned about. What do we as a nation think of ourselves? And again, according to the polls, Not a lot. I mean, and it comes down pretty much as you would expect it. Republicans are generally very optimistic about the future of our country. Democrats and liberals, which of course are one and the same. I'm going to correct that. Democrats and ultra liberals are pretty much the same. They don't seem to like this country. They just don't seem to like it at all. I saw something yesterday. I should have printed it out. Again, it was a poll. But, and I'll dig it out for tomorrow. The poll.

The results of the poll was, the question I think was, if you could move to another country, move out of the United States to another country, would you? It was over half, I think just barely over half of liberals, Democrats said yes. And, of course, on the Republican conservative end, it was like next to no one was interested in that. You know, maybe we can do this. I mean, hell, I'd kick in in a heartbeat. You know, get a big fun together, you know, a go fund me or whatever to get these people the hell out of there. I mean, I'd pay for their ticket. But again, it just shows the pessimism that you have on that side of the coin. And, you know, it's concerning. I didn't think we'd ever be in this situation. I really didn't. You know, the question of what we think of ourselves is one thing, but there's some good news in this department. What do other countries think of us? You know, I used to kind of say, hell, I don't care what they think of us. But it really is important. That doesn't mean we alter the way we do things or any of our national customs or traditions. But the question, what do other countries think of is we're getting a, at least to me, I think to everybody, we're getting a surprising answer from the world's reaction to the World Cup soccer tournament. I'm not a soccer person. I'm kind of starting to become. a soccer person a little bit. I went to two FC Cincinnati games this year. Boy, I tell you what, I liked both of them. I spent a lot of time on my phone Googling the rules because although my daughter played all the way through high school, not real up with all the rules. But again, it's really making us look good. And it's surprising answer to me. Okay, once again, according to my good friend, AI, The ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup is providing a massive soft power boost for the United States as millions of international visitors flood its 11 host cities and share their unfit. Listen to this part. And share their unfiltered positive experiences of Americana. Across global social media, observers note that the tournament has shifted global perceptions by showcasing an unexported version of everyday American life, highlighting local hospitality, convenience, and distinct cultural staples rather than curated media scripts. You know, you probably could have said that a little bit easier, but that's exactly what the deal is. I didn't see this coming. I really didn't. And, you know, you don't see a lot of things coming in this day and age from the political civic world, whatever, but this is good. I mean, it really is. It's just making us look great.

Just a couple of things, the observations of what's going on with this thing. International fans are created, this is cool, creating viral trends out of everyday American experiences, expressing genuine obsession over massive retail stores like Walmart, casual dining chains like Cheesecake Factory. I didn't know they hit that. And regional staples such as ranch dressing and barbecue. Now, The ranch dressing thing, I got to tell you. I mean, I like ranch dressing as much as the next guy, but that kind of took me by surprise. But, hey, if you're living in a country that doesn't have it, you taste it for the first time. I could see where somebody could kind of get hooked on it, even to the point where TSA. at the airport, kind of made a tongue-in-cheek announcement that if you're bringing back ranch dressing and you're flying, make sure you put it in your, not your carry-on, but on your packed luggage, because they'd have to take it if it was carry-on. And talking about the infrastructure, said visitors are marveling. at the sheer scale of modern NFL stadiums like Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and SoFi in Los Angeles with capacities topping 80,000 that far outsize typical local European venues. So you know what? I mean, if you're walking it, we do it all the time, but if you're from Europe or some other place. If you're walking into something like that, I mean, it would shock you and it would be something that you find interesting. You got unprecedented engagement, too, by these people. And a lot of the people at the games are Americans, but a good number of them are foreigners. Group stage matches filled 99.7% of seats, setting an all-time tournament attendance record with over 4.6 million stadium attendees and with an additional 5.5 million at localized fan festivals. I saw some footage of those. They look like they're fun, but... Last part on this, despite initial concerns about high prices or complex transportation logistics, visiting crowds have praised the organic helpfulness and friendly nature of local communities. And you know what, people, you can't buy that. I mean, that is huge. And I get that, you know, when it's over, maybe this feeling will fade, but... For once, for once, for once on the world stage, we are being portrayed by the mainstream media as really a good place to go, a good place to visit. We're looking good on the world stage to the point that even, even the New York Times got into this thing.

Okay, so this is about knock me on my, you know what, an op-ed piece from the New York Times and not certainly known for their overabiding patriotism. But here's the thing, here's the headline. World Cup success is giving Americans, quote, permission to be patriotic. Now, that, you wouldn't be surprised, came from the New York Times. Permission to be patriotic is if you need it. But overall, the thing is pretty, it's very positive, actually. And I commend them for doing it because their editorial staff is not one that's known for. It's praise for the United States of America. I just want to read just a paragraph or two from the New York Times again, you know, while you're listening this, keep in mind where it's coming from. All right. Douglas Hartman, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota, said that the ways foreign visitors have celebrated and been amused by the small things have brightened the mood of Americans who may be down on their country. That's correct. He said that many Americans, particularly liberals, have been reluctant to be outwardly patriotic, even if they still love their country. But seeing international visitors appreciate the United States, along with watching their team advance, has given them reasons to cheer the nation. Quote, this is this sociologist, Mr. Hartman, quote, I think it's given a lot of Americans, especially on the liberal side. almost permission to be patriotic, said Professor Hartman, whose specialties include American society and sports studies. Now, you don't need permission to be patriotic, but maybe on the liberal side of things, on the other side of the coin, perhaps you do. I mean, perhaps you have to go to your local Starbucks and, you know, talk to the commissar and ask if there's permission to be happy and patriotic about what's going on with this World Cup. But like I said, the New York Times, even getting in on the action here. Just one last thing I want to do to read to you about this or tell you about. Josh Hammer, he's a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He's the host of the Josh Hammer Show. I've had him on my show a number of times and I think Dan Carroll's got him coming up too. He is great and he did a piece on this thing and I'm going to close out with this. The World Cup tourists are not blind. They see in America that remains dynamic.

entrepreneurial, and welcoming. They encounter strangers eager to offer travel advice. They find communities proud to share local traditions. They discover a country that is far friendlier than the caricatures would suggest. The America that they are experiencing bears little resemblance to the negative stereotypes they had long imbibed back home. He could not be more right about that. Goes on to say America, like every other country has problems. The risk of prolonged decline is very real. Patriotism also does not require pretending that everything is perfect. But it does require perspective and above all gratitude. You know, it's really hard to say it any better than that. And, you know, I compliment Mr. Hammer for the way he wrote this thing. And again, I know he's going to be on Dan Sullivan show at some point. I'm just not sure when. But it's great to see that. It's great to see that the United States is finally being portrayed in the international media in a favorable way. Shouldn't surprise us at all because that's who and what we are. But again, I think it's very, very welcome news. Hey, listen, we got to take a break. But when we get back, I believe we've got James Bogan coming up. We're going to talk about the cases, especially the cases dealing with biological men participating in female sports. The biggie decided by the Supreme Court just this week and talk to him about some other things. We'll do that when we'll get back. Mike Allen, in for Sloanee 700 WLW.

That's kind of catchy. I think I know what's coming. Dave, is that the great amen? I think it is in the form of bumper music. At any rate, Well, I'll tell you what, it's been a big, big week in the United States Supreme Court. Many cases of substance have been decided. We're decided this week. Birthright citizenship did not go the way that a lot of us thought that it would and should. But there are, I guess, ways around that is one way to say it. You can look at something, a legislative answer to it. I guess we'll just have to see. But at any rate, really a big, big win for the situation we talk constantly about on my Saturday show. That's the situation with biological men participating in women's sports at a huge decision on that issue. It's not to be all to end all, but it's still a big decision and good news regardless. Here to talk about it is former NCAA athlete and current attorney, legal analyst, and the host of a really, really good podcast called Past the Clock. James Bogan, James, thanks so much for being with us this morning. Well, as always, thanks for having me on, Mike. It's my pleasure. Hey, listen, I'm going to ask this question of all my guests this morning because I think it's proper and appropriate. James Bogan, what does it mean to you to be an American? And before you answer, let me tell the audience, James is a product of immigration and I shall underline legal immigration. What does it mean to be an American to you, James? Being an American means embracing traditional values like freedom, faith, family, opportunity, and personal responsibility rather than handouts, achieving on individual merit. And my mom, who immigrated here from Hong Kong, she exemplifies that. She came here for opportunity, not handouts, not CEI. And she told me, when she first arrived in the U.S., She was inspired by JFK's famous speech, asked not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. Unfortunately, you see a lot of people on the left. You don't seem to embrace that anymore. They're all about, what can my country do for me? We're entitled to do it. You know, James, I thought I was the only person talking about that particular quote, but obviously not. And I brought it up in the context of rising gas prices. I mean, nobody wants to pay more for gas. You know, ask not what your country can do for you.

ask what you can do for your country. That is as foreign as the Chinese language now. I mean, and that's unfortunate. Maybe sometime in the future we can get back to it, but as for now. That's a great fact. If K wouldn't get elected in a Democratic primary these days. No. No, and he was one that would easily be considered a moderate Democrat, perhaps even moderate to conservative, but boy, that kind of Democrat. Crack is gone, but hey, down to business, the big case, one of the big cases this week, the Hero case, I think I'm pronouncing it right, and of course that's the one that, Ecox, I think. Ecox, yeah, that took a chunk out of the whole situation of boys pretending to be girls in sports. Break it down for us, James, you know, the high points and also, you know, maybe some things that we would have hoped would have been in there that weren't. Well, here's the thing. This case only addresses state bans on guys and girls sports, nothing else, because that was the issue of the case. The plaintiffs were transgender athletes represented by the ACLU and so on who were trying to say these. state laws in West Virginia and Idaho violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14 Amendment and Title IX. And the Supreme Court did not have the question before of whether or not allowing guys and girls sports violates Title IX. That's a question that's being directly addressed in Riley Gaines' lawsuit. But this case here, I mean, a couple of the high points. If you remember one of the best soundbites from oral arguments. Samuel Alito asked the ACLU attorney. Yeah. How can a court determine whether there's discrimination on basis of sex without knowing what sex means? And the ACLU lawyer's response, we do not have a definition for the court. I mean, a million dollars question. Doesn't that speak volumes? I mean, really. And then I don't mean to interrupt you, but also when you're finished with what you're going to say, tell us what. Justice Clarence Thomas said, too, because it's also... I was going to get to that next. He described a scenario in his question where a lousy male tennis player did not make the men's team and wants to try out for the women's team. He asked the ACLU lawyer or the plaintiff's lawyer, how is that different from being required to allow transgender women on the women's tennis team? And the ACLU lawyer or whatever gave a response that said not at all different. So if I wanted to be a swimming superstar on the women's team under that line of thinking, you know, the same line of thinking. You know, and good appellate lawyers of which you are, I know most of what you do is trial work, but good appellate lawyers can get a feel and usually a pretty good feel and accurate feel about how a case is going to go based upon questions from the court to the attorneys. Would you agree with that? Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, sometimes in most pretrial motions, you get questions like that from the judge that show where they're leading.

Let me ask you this. A lot of people have asked me about it in discussing it. It's a situation where, of course, Title IX comes into play. Title IX is federal. Okay. Why would Title IX not prevent this and really preclude having to send it back to the states? Explain to us why that is. Liberals and activists judges saying that Title IX actually requires schools and so on to allow transgender athletes into girls' sports and a faulty reading of the Supreme Court case, Bowstock versus Jay Clayton County, which in the plain English reading of that ruling, the justices only said it applies to employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identification and nothing else. And I don't know. How the hell you could read that opinion and that little thing called plain English and interpreted it to mean anything else? When they expressly say, it only means this and go, oh, no, it also means this and this and this. Yeah. I mean, that was an interpretation by the Autopenn administration and the lower court judges in the Supreme Court case and in the Riley Gaines case embrace that. faulty interpretation. Yeah, it sure sounds like it. You know, you mentioned the autopen case. I know I'm hitting you right out of left field on this, but do you know what the progress of that? I know there at least one case may be more winding their way through the system. Have you taken a look at that? Oh, Riley Gaines, you mean? No, no, no. James, I meant the autopen case. There's litigation. Oh, the investigation on that? No, there's litigation, actually. Yeah, I haven't seen much of that at all. I mean, right now it's still in the beginning stages. I mean, this just came out in the last several months. Right. To get any kind of federal, you know how federal cases move on in the civil in the civil. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Extremely so. That's why we're talking about Riley Gaines' lawsuit. Yeah. still, you know, percolating at the lower court level. It's still at the district court level, correct? Yep. And it's not just her, it's other plaintiffs as well. Is that correct? Yeah, it's a bunch of other plaintiffs too, like a volleyball player who was affected by that San Jose state. Yeah. Volleyball issue that we've talked about. And this ruling here. absolutely shreds the reasoning used by lower courts that made rulings against the plaintiffs in this case. And they basically now they can't say, oh, no, we have to rule against you because of Bostock. I mean, it took the Supreme Court to say what's obvious on plain reading of that case.

So I guess, correct me if I'm wrong, the way to put it this week on the main case we're talking about here is we kind of got half of the apple on it with respect to it going to the states. And if I'm not mistaken, James, it was about half and half. About 25 or so states said no, you can't do it. And 25 others said yes. The last count I saw was 27. 27. Yeah, but so that's why Riley Gaines' lawsuit, you know, with all the other parties, is important because allowing guys in girls' sports, it takes away opportunities from girls and biological women. It's not fair. And at the college level, you're talking about scholarships, NIL, and because of the house case, spots on college rosters are a lot more scarce. So that's even more so shows that it takes away opportunities. If you get, because if you want, if you want to get a full scholarship and you're average guy, gee, just say you're a woman. Yep. You're right. You know, I mean, and yeah, I mean, think about it. Well, you know, I mean, you were an NCAA college athlete. My daughter was a heck of a high school soccer player. She got some, you know, quasi offers. She ended up getting an academic scholarship instead. The purpose of me saying that is, I mean, this is something that's valuable to these people, you know? I mean, to be able to get a scholarship. And when you're competing. against a biological male. I, for the life of me, James Bogan, I can't figure out why in the heck people don't, some people don't understand how that is just blatantly unfair. Yeah, and there are definitely plenty of college athletes who wouldn't be able to go to college if they didn't have that scholarship. Of course. I know, because I went to school with a bunch of them. Yep. Well, listen, we can go on to the next topic, but I just want to kind of reiterate one thing you said from the beginning about the oral arguments. Okay, Samuel Alito, he's talking to the attorney's in oral argument on this case. Okay, Samuel Alito said, how can a court determine whether there is discrimination on the basis of sex without knowing what sex means and the ACLU lawyer? Well, we don't have a definition for the court. What are we doing, James Bogan? I mean, this is just insane. That lawyer should have watched the movie Kindergarten Cop, if you remember that famous flying by the 6-year-old. Yeah, I forgot about that. That's pretty good. Hey, listen, moving off the legal end of the things just for a little bit here, you made me aware of a thing that I didn't catch. The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, what a great guy, love him, extremely popular, probably now extremely wealthy as well.

We're talking about him, perhaps as a candidate, I believe at some point for a governor of the state of California like Arnold. He got into a whizz and match, I guess, with a guy, to be honest with, I can't. Actually, he didn't even say anything. It's just a couple of Star Trek actors who decided to attack him online. Yeah, tell me about that. The left wing press decided to blow it up because, you know, if you're... famous, successful, and you don't tow the liberal line publicly, they're going to try to tear you down, just like, you know, some on the left did with Chuck Norris after he died. Yep. But if you remember that article we talked about, and ironically, the article I sent you was from the same magazine variety. Sulu, George Taked, posted on social media silence as complicity. Right. Wesley Crusher from Star Trek, Will Wheaton said in that post and a comment, it's so disappointing to find out he is such a coward. Like, I'd like to see Wesley Crusher and Sulu say that to the Rock's face. I would too. He's 64250 solid muscle jacked and ripped. He is, and he's got a good head on his shoulder, too. I just wanted to read just for a minute, part of what the Rock had to say about this. And you know what? You take George Tikai and the other dude, Will Wheaton. He was in Standby Me, wasn't he, James, if you remember? And he was in Star Trek the next generation. One of the favorite memes from that is Captain Picard going, shut up, Wesley. I loved Stand by Me. I don't remember which one he played. Great movie. But anyway, back to the Rock. It says Johnson, who is currently embarking on a global press tour for Disney's live action Moana film, told Fox News in 2024 that he regretted endorsing Joe Biden. For president in 2020, and I didn't even know he did that because it caused division amongst his fans, adding at the time, and this is The Rock's quote here, my goal is to bring this country together. I believe in that. There will be no endorsement. I guess you're talking about 2024. At this level of influence, I will keep my politics to myself. It is between me and the ballot box. Amen, Rock. I mean, you can't say it any better than that. Yeah, and he also added in a recent interview with Esquire, he said about politics, I don't like it. I hate it at times. I hate the sling. I hate all the BS that comes with it. And that kind of stuff he said he hates is exactly what these Star Trek guys are doing, Exhibit 1. Yeah. And I mean, do Sulu and Wesley Crusher, do they plan to go after Elvis and Dolly Parton and Bob Jeter for staying out of politics? I mean, Dolly Parton's been very public about staying out of politics. Elvis.

If you remember, he was drafted at the height of his fame and actually served two years in a regular unit, not the U.S.O. This is in 1968. How do you think he felt about war protesters? He kept it to himself. And Bob Seeger, who knows his politics? And just how this relates to normal everyday people, my better half Shannon Campbell runs a very successful insurance agency and makes it a point to... stay out of politics and so do many other people. Yeah, and you know, it's smart. And you talked about Elvis. I think he said 1968. It was actually 58. 58. I'm a huge Elvis fan. And I know the deal on that. I mean, he could, and you point this out, James, or. I was off by one digit. That's okay. That's okay. You know, you point this out. He could have said, you know, hey, okay, I'll go in, but, you know, I want to do shows. I want cushy duty. He didn't do that. I mean, he was assigned over in Germany with a tank unit. And from everything I have read, and believe me, when it comes to Elvis Presley, I've probably read every written word that there is. He performed extremely admirably as a soldier. Now, Another thing with him, and this did, I think this was, now this was 70s, 1972, he's playing a huge concert out at Madison Square Garden, had a press conference beforehand. This female reporter very politely, respectfully said, you know, Mr. Presley, what do you think about the Vietnam War? Elvis did not take the bait at all. And he replied back, just as politely, ma'am, I'd rather keep those things to myself. I'm just an entertainer. Wouldn't it be great if some of these Hollywood clowns would learn that and abide by it? Nobody cares what George Tikai, who hasn't been in anything of substance in years, thinks. Yeah, and I mean, anyone think the Rock really cares what Sulu and Wesley Crusher think of him as he would say in character when he was in the WWE. It doesn't matter what you think. But more on point, though, underlying our freedoms in this country is the right to speak out and the right... To not speak out. Exactly. And these guys are saying there, no, you have to speak out because we say so. It's like, yeah, why the hell do we answer to you? Good point. Well, as you pointed out, Dolly Parton and the Rockets economically. uh a smart thing to do too and elvis knew that my guess would be Elvis was probably conservative you know coming from the south and and by the way i mean you know he's from the south but Elvis grew grew up with black people uh he didn't have any problem at all with black people but a lot of black people that he was uh strong friends with but he was just smart enough to keep his politics out of it because you know you alienate half of the country so

Last question, I want to ask you, and I know you like The Rock, as I do, do you think you'll see him run for office at any point in the future? I mean, given that he likes to stay out of politics, I'm not so sure. I mean, he's been focused on building up his brand, building up his business portfolio, and staying jacked and ripped. And he, you know, he's independent. You know, he's just, I just don't see him getting into politics now. I mean, maybe that could change when he gets older. But. And he's also on the board of directors for TKO, the company that owns WWE and UFC. I got you. Hey, listen, we are out of time. I really appreciate it, James. I mean, these are some very good subjects, and I'm certainly going to keep my eye out on the Supreme Court cases, and I'm going to keep an eye out for what's up with Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock. But as always, thanks, James. Oh, thank you, Mike. Always a privilege and happy fourth. You too, buddy. Happy America 250. There you go. There you go. Thanks, James. Thanks. Take care, Mike. Okay. Yeah, you know what? I'm just about sick of people like Bruce Springsteen and the rest. And Springsteen's a big star. I get that. But more often than not, it's like a George Decade, a B or C-List actor that shooting their big mouth off as if anybody cares. Anyway, we got to take a break. But, hey, once again, last night in Westwood, another shooting that resulted in a homicide. And also. a very successful establishment in Over the Rhine shut down, not because of money, but because of what's happening in that area. And we're going to talk to Christopher about that and other things. Mike Allen, in for Sloney 700W. Every dating app swipe is another loss. Jimbrose, big CEOs, straight up losers. So now the only app I open is Moto Casino because at least there I'm surrounded by winners. Real winners, thousands of them, while everyone else is in the single swamp. I'm at home relaxing while stacking bonuses, hit and wins and playing all my favorite Vegas-style games. Moto Casino, the only app worth your time. Moto Casino, the social casino, where prohibited, no purchase necessary, visit motto.us for more details. Download the Moto Casino app today. Must be 21 plus.

the social casino. Entertain clients, reward employees, or enjoy a first-class race weekend with VIR's premium MSA hospitality experiences. August 21st through 23rd, enjoy exclusive viewing areas, premium amenities, food and beverage options, and access that puts you close to the action. Whether for business or pleasure, elevate your weekend at Virginia International Raceway. Explore and upgrade your tickets at VIRVIP.net. Vital doesn't always mean visible. Across America, advanced technology is working behind the scenes, strengthening our nation. It protects our war fighters, delivers mission-ready intelligence, advances life-saving healthcare, and defends the critical infrastructure that keeps our country moving. At GDIT, we power the systems that help America operate, connect, and stay secure. Every hour, every mission, every day. GDIT, behind America's invisible advantage. LW. Don't want to be an American idiot. Hey, we're back. Mike Allen in for Sloney on Fourth of July Eve. I'll tell you what, the beat goes on in the city of Cincinnati, another homicide this time in Westwood last night. But also very, very concerning, a financially successful nightclub downtown, I believe on Elm Street, had to close, and the owner was very emphatic that it's not because of money, it's because of the violence and all that kind of stuff going on downtown. Here to talk about it is former vice mayor and former chair of the Law and Public Safety Committee and current... Financial Advisor, Extraordinary Christopher Smythamon. Christopher, thanks for joining us this morning. You think? It's always troubling to, yeah. Okay. I'm here. Can you hear me? Yeah. It's always, it's always, it's always, it's always troubling, Mike, to hear about the level of violence. You know, you and I 30, 40 years ago didn't see anything like that. No way. This is very, very, very new. that we're waking up and out of 52 neighborhoods, you know, you could see five of them, people are murdered over just one weekend. Murdered or shot. So it's very, very troubling. And you see a nightclub throwing in the white towel. Yeah. I surrender, right? That's unheard of. I served as a chair of law and public safety and part of our job, my job as the chair, was overseeing liquor licenses. And normally what we would have to do is shut a location down based on the recommendation of our police department.

So to have someone say, I'm giving up down here because I got nine guns, you know, I don't want to put myself in a position. The liability insurance probably is astronomical for that owner. I've just, I've just got to pull out because I can't take the chance that one of my patrons is going to get killed. Or somebody randomly walking down the street, Mike Allen, there's a shootout at that club and someone outside the... the establishment gets killed. So that's a heavy, heavy sign for all members of council and the mayor and the city manager and the city solicitor's office to go. There's something really bad going on. No question about it. And it's the nightmare scenario that you and I and others have been talking about for quite some time when these businesses, successful businesses that. are making money, say, hey, wait a minute, yeah, I'm making money, but I just can't take the risk anymore. That's bad, and if that continues, this city's going to be in a bad way because countless millions, maybe billions of dollars have been pumped into downtown over the last 25, 30 years. And if that thing becomes a ghost town, people are going to be in trouble, and the city's going to suffer greatly. Well, I think that's what we're seeing right now, Mike. You know, businesses are really struggling in downtown Cincinnati. Um, because patrons are saying, I'm not talking about on a holiday weekend or, you know, uh, the, the pride parade where there's an event happening, right. But like every day, like a, a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, our businesses in downtown are really suffering because people are just concerned on a basic concept. Am I safe? And I think from my perspective, Mike, I would love to be able to pronounce what the mayor and members of council did last week saying, you know, violent crime or crime is down. You and I know that that's just not true. It's not. It's not. And I can say, unfortunately, with confidence, right, that somebody over this weekend is going to be murdered in Cincinnati. Yeah. So whether the temperature. The crowds, it's unfortunate. And every police person, peace officer, across our country, because 700 goes across the United States of America, my heart goes out to all of them. You and I are so thankful, like, for what they do every single day, being away from their family members and what they're going to have to protect. over the next three or four days. Because we know whether you're in Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, you know, Detroit, Florida, wherever you are, we're all dealing with the same types of spike in violence in our urban core. And it really puts our officers at risk.

It does. I mean, and that's without question. That job has always been a tough and dangerous job, but now, I mean, more than ever. Let me ask you, and I think I know what the answer is going to be. I certainly know what my answer is. What's the solution to this problem, Christopher Smytherman? How do you prevent? I mean, obviously, you prevent this kind of thing from happening, people moving out of the city by clamping down on the crime. But what's the overall solution in your opinion? Well, it's a staircase. Like, it's not one thing. It's a multiple prong approach to dealing with the crime. The first thing that you have to do is you have to establish a no-nonsense. approach to dealing with crime. Yeah. Meaning the criminals have to understand out of the gate, right? If you are a team and you're downtown and you're running around and it's after cofew and you're jumping people. We're going to hold you accountable, period. We're going to hold your parents accountable, period. And that takes some time. Like, you know, in running our homes, sometimes we have teenagers that think they can get away with something. You know, as a parent, you've got to put your foot down and say, who is the boss here? So there'll be a struggle initially, but that means that you've got to, you've got to let your officers and your police chief and your command staff know that you support them. So I've said two things. as a solution. One is the proactive policing. I didn't use that word. And number two, the electives have to send the message to those frontline officers that we have your back. Absolutely. So when you go and you do that job, when you go out there at 12 midnight or 2 o'clock in the morning and you stop a car with tenant windows and you don't know what's going on in that car that we're going to support you. And no matter what the racial dynamic is, meaning whether it's a black officer, a female officer, a white officer, and the people that you're dealing with are white or whether they're black or they're Latino, just throwing out of different examples. We have your back. Because the way the cops feel right now, Mike Allen, is if they stop a car, they can't see what's going on in the back. Somebody has a weapon. They're scared. They're on the right and left of that car. There is no routine stop. They then have to take a life. They understand, unfortunately, that City Hall will throw them under the bus. No question. So the culture, the culture has to change, right? Number three, right? We have to send the message out to these parents that you're responsible for your children. Right. And we've got to bring our partners to the table, which include the Cincinnati NAACPR, the Toledo NAACPR, the Columbus NAACP, the Urban League of using examples, right, the African American chambers, right, no matter what you're dealing with, the Hispanic chamber, you've got to bring the economic and the social.

entities to the table and the Baptist ministers. Yes. Bring them all to it. And we're all going to partner together. We're going to send a message that, hey, parents, if we catch your 12-year-old downtown with a gun, we're not going to be running around the next morning saying, hey, Johnny was the greatest kid in the world. And that white officer who stopped him and asked him three or four questions, right, was a racist. We can't allow that. So we have to come together as a community and establish. What are the ground rules and how are all of us as adults going to conduct ourselves instead of these wild press conferences that throw the officer under the bus for just simply asking a question and somebody says you're racially profiling the kid. No, you're not. You're downtown is 1 o'clock in the morning. You shouldn't be down here. You parents should know where your child is. And by the way, they had a gun on them. Yep. That's the frustration. I'm giving you specific. The last thing I'll say. is that I would, if I were the mayor, I would utilize our, our different departments like our sanitation department. I'd negotiate with AFSCME, switch their times around. So they're picking up trash from our community in the time periods where it's nine o'clock or two o'clock in the morning. I would fix streets. at 9 o'clock and 2 o'clock in the morning. I would light up those areas with men or women doing construction and work because crime doesn't like visibility. And so I would use my teams out there that are naturally doing work instead of doing work at, you know, 5 o'clock in the morning or 12 o'clock in the afternoon. I want some of those shifts going. I want to tear this whole road up. I want to fix it. And by the way, the project's going to take me two years. You know, I'm going to do a real deep dive and make those roads that need to be fixed in a good way. My point is that we can use our city workers who are out here every day. And by the way, what great role modeling for the young people to see those men and women out there getting up every day doing work, right? The last thing I'll say to you is that I would be engaging Cincinnati State and I would be engaging the military. Because every kid isn't going to college, right? We've got to send the message that a trade doing a, being a plumber and pipe fitter, bring a bricklayer, being a carpenter. They're making $100,000 a year, but our young people don't know that, Mike Allen. So we've got to switch around Cincinnati public schools mentality here where they're actually pitching, right, trades to our kids. Because every kid who graduates isn't going to college. Now, I can go on all day on your show, but I'm giving you some very specific things. If I were the mayor, if I'm serving on council, these are some specific solutions that I would be doing. And I agree with every one of them, and I think the majority of citizens would. But, you know, when it comes down to city council, good luck getting that by. Hey, listen, we've got about five minutes left. I want to ask you, how's it going on the ballot initiative, too?

The purpose of it would be to amend the city charter to where, with the police and fire chief, it would take, I think, seven out of nine on council to do that other than the city manager making that decision. But save a little time to Christopher, or we could do it now. I really want to ask you, Christopher Smithman, what does it mean to you to be an American? Well, this is the greatest country. in the world where you can be born no matter what your economic situation, your race, your gender, your sexual orientation. And you can rise to be the president of the United States of America or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. You could be a school teacher, a firefighter, a police officer, and you can achieve your greatest dreams. Right. And that doesn't mean there aren't navigating the process, right, in America. But there is nowhere in the world where you can start off coming from absolute poverty and be an absolute multi-billionaire or a millionaire. So one is the pridefulness that I have that my hard work is rewarded in this country. Number two, I would say, is that I'm very proud of the innovation that we have over 250 years in this country, like where we were 250 years ago, where we are now. Meaning the innovation, whether it's going space travel, whether it is the creation of cars, whether it's Boeing, creating planes, the technology that's there, whether it's our Ford and GM cars, those workers that do that. I mean, we really have really smart people, Americans in this country, in the area of AI innovation and how we're kind of interplaying all of that. There's no other place in the world like that. That's why so many countries are stealing our technology because of what is coming out of this country. And the last thing I'll say is even with our shortfalls of how we manage race in this world, the reality of it is most Americans, let me give a percentage. Over 99% of us get up every day racially, get along, go to work, pay our bills, take care of our family. I want to make sure that your listening audience knows that we don't paint races of people, race of people, black Americans or Latino with a broad brush. Most Americans are getting up loving this country and are doing what they're supposed to do. It's a very, very small group of people. So one of the things I love about this country is our diversity is our strength. You go to certain countries and you see the same thing. Everybody looks the same. In our country, man, we are truly this diverse, very smart living next to each other, working together, cooperating every single day. There is no other country like that.

in the world and i love that about this country period well put christopher smitherman got a couple minutes left here uh wanted to ask you to update us on the ballot initiative how it's going with signatures uh etc Well, it's going incredibly well. You know, Chief Washington spoke. He's doing great, you know, having been fired by a city manager and done so wrongfully. I think in the next two weeks, and I bring this up related to the petition because the petition is directly pointed at the termination of Chief Washington and Chief Fiji, our police chief. The reality of it is, is that... More petitions. I don't do this at all, really. These are people, citizens are out there. They pick up a petition. They collect signatures. They drop it in a mailbox. I mean, they're out there just doing the work. And it is accelerating. I feel like we'll be able to meet the objective over time. We need 7,000 good signatures to place the issue on the ballot. It's a charter, charter amendment. And it gets at. Making sure that in the future our city manager doesn't have the sole power to fire a police chief or fire chief going forward. Seven members of council would have to ratify that. Let me bring one racial components. Sure. We got about a minute. And I'm done. People are saying Mike Allen that I'm targeting the city manager and bringing her racial identity. I am a black American. She is a black female American. The person she terminated, the fire chief is a black male American. And Chief DG is a white female. This has nothing to do with race. This has to do with HR process, and most likely both of both police and fire will settle for $10 or $20 million. We can do better. Taxpayers should not be on the hook for that. That's the purpose of the petition. Thank you so much for so much time on the show. And Mike, I appreciate you. And thank you for acknowledging that I'm a financial planner. That's what I do for a living. And I love helping people get themselves into a good situation in life financially. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's important people know that. Christopher, as always, appreciate your point of view. And we certainly will be calling on you in the future. And people can follow me on social media at Vote Smitherman. That's on X. Thank you, brother. Have a great weekend. All right. See you. All right. Christopher Smitterman, never shy about giving his opinion. And you heard him. I mean, he concurs that the nightmare scenario for this city is when successful businesses, money-making businesses, pack their bags and leave because they don't want to deal with the horrible issues that you have with crime, especially with entertainment venues.

That's bad. And boy, I tell you, unless they get a handle on this, it's going to get worse. Hey, we've got to take a break. But when we get back, we are going to talk to James Hurst, and he is a great guest. Going to talk to him about the situation with young people, why they seem to be enamored of socialism and even communism. And we'll talk to him when we get back. Mike Allen, in for Sloney, 700 WLW. Hey, we're back. Mike Allen in for Sloan on Fourth of July Eve. You know, a lot of people, myself included, are scratching their heads when they see polling that indicates that young people are sympathetic to socialism and even communism. It is just beyond my ability to understand that. Here to talk about it is a guy that knows what he's talking about. He is a great guest because he gives it to you straight. I'm talking about James Hurst. And James, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Oh, great to be with you, Mike. And yes, happy Independence Weekend Eve. Absolutely, absolutely. You know, I'm going to ask you, James, what I've asked all of my guests this morning, what does it mean to you to be an American? I think, you know, when we talk about American exceptionalism, what we're talking about is what our founders were inspired. to place in the declaration. And that is, it's a single word, freedom. And but the important point is that the freedom comes as a gracious gift from God. And to me, that's the uniqueness. of America and that's what has made us great no question about it and i should let our listeners know that you a you are a new york times best selling author you're an international business attorney news analysts and cultural commentator great great columns in newsmax uh the left coast report is the name of it very aptly named Hey, the last piece you did, James, and you and I have talked a number of times over the years. This one's one of your best. They're all good. The title of it is radical leftist Democrats are following a communist script. I'll tell you what, in my wildest dreams, I did not think we would ever be dealing with communism, socialism, but especially communism. in this country again. It's just, it's beyond belief. Your thoughts on that. Did it surprise you? Well, yeah, it has surprised me how quickly it's kind of moved, you know, initially when Zohran Mamdani won, it was thought to be an aberration. Oh, that's, that's local, that's just New York. But now we're seeing this.

Democratic Socialist of America, DSA candidates winning in places outside of New, typically blue places, but they're not going to be content with just blue states and blue cities. Because remember, they're, what we're not seeing in the headlines is that they're going into towns in small towns. Admittedly now, Cambridge, Massachusetts. is a small town, but it has Harvard University. It's an influential town. But they're going to go into swing states and take over local governments. And we have to be clear-eyed about this. I'm really gratified that President Trump is calling them communist. Yes. Because the Democratic Socialists of America, their own... speakers. As a matter of fact, recently a leader said, our ultimate goal is communism. And if you look at phrases that they consistently use, it is we want to take over the means of production. That is classic communist manifesto, Karl Marx, Vladimir Putin Lenin, that is that language. of communism. And then, of course, you say, well, how is it possible that people that are with an organization that's clearly communist, how could they win political office in the financial center of America in Denver, Colorado, in places? I mean, but it has to do with the fact that the Democratic Party, the establishment Democratic Party, has paved the way for this. with taking over academia and dumbing down students, actually throughout the educational process, by opening the borders as Joe Biden did. And so what we have is an electorate in certain towns, like in Denver, district number one in Colorado is Denver. And if you win the Democrat primary, you're probably going to win general because it's kind of, and it's somewhat rigged. And in my state of California, it's like that now. And so primaries tend to have low voting percentages, no turnouts. And so they have low turnouts. And then the people that come out are these overeducated, wealthy liberals. And then, you know, some of the students, some of the constituents, and a lot of ballot harvesting. And so they're able to get these people in. But the other thing is, and Zohran Mamdani did this, these people run on a fake agenda because they have a much more radical, unpopular agenda, and they don't talk about it. You know, in the United States of America, None of these things pull well. Like, let's abolish the police, jails, and prison. What do you think? I mean, that's a 90-10 issue. Let's have surgeons sterilize children and adolescents so that they can change their sex. That's in 90-10. So the public hates these policies.

But they hide them. And they run in a different direction. And they try to coalesce angry liberals, angry, woke people. And all they have to talk about is Trump and they get their anger. Right. So this is where the energy is coming from. But as I say in my article, this is a serious danger because we look at. history. Now we know, you know, obviously, communism and places have come into power through a revolution, a military revolution. But that isn't always the case. Venezuela elected themselves into communism. The most prosperous country in Latin America became the most poverty-stricken. prison camp. Yep. And they did it through elections just like we are doing. So we have to have, you know, we have to sound the alarm. We have to resuscitate the anti-communist movement that was right. You know, some great anti-communist people that we can look at. President Eisenhower wanted to take away the citizenship of anyone that was a member of the Communist Party. John Wayne was an ardent anti-communist, which is why Stalin put a hit on him. You know, it's an important part of America. John F. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was an anti-communist. Big time. The Democrat Party used to be anti-communists. Now they're losing their careers. Because this communist organization is coming in with well-trained, funded candidates who then end their careers. Like that crazy lady from Ethiopia. Oh, yeah. She's never had a job. I saw that. That was a 15-term Democrat establishment incumbent. Oh, yeah. That was defeated. The power, the money. Yeah, you can't, and it was... It's happening all over the country. I mean, I thought I saw the last time, James, I think it was 28 or something like that. Local elect, not local, some congressional, but elections where the socialist slash communist candidate has been victorious in the primary. I think, and you asked the question, and it is the ultimate question, why are young people enamored of a system? uh socialism slash communism that has been a failure everywhere it has been tried i saw a poll and there are any number of polls james herson that say the same thing you take gen uh ziers uh those are people that were born from 1992 to 2012 you asked the question do you have a favorable view of communism 38 percent

of those people have a favorable opinion of communism you know it used to be and it still is of course the college campus uh is an intellectual sewer uh for any kind of diversity of thought and you know i think now it starts even earlier anyway your thoughts on no no it's true it's true it's a it's a disaster to have that higher percentage but it's the fact that They're not being taught history. They're not being taught. As you well point out, it's a failure every time it's tried. But more than just a failure, it causes misery and death. Communism has killed more than 100 million people. It spreads misery because when it fails, it always creates shortages, famines. a terrible quality of life. And you can even see it happening in New York City. I know nobody's going to listen to this. But Zohran Mamdani, in the midst of a heat wave, is telling everyone to keep their thermostat close to 80 degrees. So let's all suffer and be miserable. And you can bet. The city council and Zohran Mamdani's office will not be set near 80 degrees. And that's the other side of communism. The other side is behind communism and the talk is a grift. They're grifters. Like here in California, we have a congressman named Ro Khanna, who's been out railing against the billionaire class. And right with, he's aligned with the Democratic Socialist of America. This guy lives in an 8,000 square foot mansion with an elevator in it. This guy is like, it's like such hypocrisy. And we see that in all of it. Bernie Sanders has six homes. Bernie Sanders used to rail against... We've got to stop the millionaires, the millionaires. And then all of a sudden we heard him change to the billionaires because he's a millionaire. Yeah, really. And then, of course, when he becomes a billionaire, he'll rail against the trillioners. But it's a grift. They're con, it's communism. It is. I mean, and people are lapping it up, young people. I wanted to ask you in your piece, I mean, it's all of it's good, but one sentence I think is particularly frightening. You talk about, however, the trajectory of ideas in the leftward direction is particularly concerning for our country precisely because. More often than not, and here it is right here, James Herson. It is an incremental process. And boy, you can see the roadmap for that. These people, I think you would agree, meaning the lefties, they have their act together in a big way. I mean, they know what they're doing. Somebody's funding and probably the George Soros of the world. But I don't know. Your thoughts on that. And then you kind of...

With the rest of your piece, you lay that out. But it sure does seem like it's incremental. Oh, it always is. It always is incremental. And remember, the whole notion of so-called Democrat socialism, hey, we're going to give away stuff for free. And as Margaret Thatcher said, you know, it only works to you run on other people's money. Well, for a while. You know, they give away stuff for free. When Hugo Chavez took over Venezuela, he took over the oil, steel, food industries. He put in price controls. He had massive distribution of wealth. And people, some of the people, wow, this is fantastic. We're getting free stuff. But incrementally, he adds more stuff. you know, production collapse and there are inevitable shortages, meaning the shelf is bare, then they put in more communist, quote, fixes. Yep. The fixes are worse than the initial, and it's every, it's every pattern, and it's always incremental like that. So you can see it happening. For example, Zohran Mamdani in New York, is immediately has a group task force to go out in urban housing and cite lots of violations and jack up the fines. Yep. Now, so incrementally, they're going to take those properties. I mean, that's what this is. It's confiscation. Sure. And so you don't just all of a sudden... go from a communist person being elected to becoming a glorified prison camp. It doesn't happen overnight. But people, especially people from Venezuela, Cuba, people have lived it. They saw that incrementalism. And that's exactly, yes, that is the danger. And, of course, we have a media now. That is so ridiculous. Oh, yeah. So ridiculous. And they help perpetuate the misunderstanding of the meaning of what democratic socialism is. Caitlin Susan Collins on CNN on the very same day. She said, democratic socialism is not communism. On the very same day, a leader in the Democratic Socialist of America said, our goal is communism. So they're flagrantly dishonest. And so it's up to alternative media that shows like you do. And obviously podcasts and... and X and places where there's free thought. James, we're almost out of time here. I think the next time we talk, I'm going to see if you want to do it. We just go an hour because there's so much more to talk about. This is a great, great piece. Let me give you the name one more time. Radical leftist Democrats are following a communist script.

How do they get that, James? And we really do have to go, but I want you to tell that. Oh, sure. They can go to James Herson and it's spelled H-I-R-S-E-N-Herson. James Herson Rundtogether.com. It's up on newsmax.com. And, yeah, they can read the article. Sounds good. Sounds good. Okay. Hey, thanks so much for talking to us and we're going to be talking again soon. Well, God bless you. You have a wonderful Independence Day. You too. Thank you. All right, James Hurston. Boy, I tell you what, I love talking to that guy, and I know we're late, but I could spend the whole show talking him. Anyway, we do have to take a break, but when we get back, we're talking Reds baseball with none other than... Dave Yuddy Armbruster, our guy for all things Cincinnati Reds. We'll do that when we get back. Mike Allen in for Sloanies, 700. Hi, Uncle Laser here. America's built on fast cars, fast food, and even faster women. Photo casinos built in America. You know what they're fast out? Fast cast, rise, redemption. You see, only Moto is U.S. own and operate. Moto. It's American made. Is that who we are? And that's who we care about. Play for free at moto.us. Moto casinos, the social casino board, will prohibit. No purchase necessary. Visit moto.com. U.S. for more details. America's Social Casino. Got plans this summer? A brewery crawl? Another lake trip? The same festival you've been to three times already? Do something different. This August, Virginia International Raceway becomes the ultimate summer destination. Watch Inns's Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, August 21 through 23rd, bring some of the fastest sports cars to battle through VIR's legendary corners. Camp with friends, enjoy live music, and experience a weekend you'll actually be talking about afterward. Start planning now at govIR.net. Vital doesn't always mean visible. Across America, advanced technology is working behind the scenes, strengthening our nation. It protects our war fighters, delivers mission-ready intelligence, advances life-saving healthcare, and defends the critical infrastructure that keeps our country moving. At GDIT, we power the systems that help America operate, connect, and stay secure. Every hour, every mission, every day. GDIT, behind America's invisible advantage. WLW. I want to be an American idiot. Hey, we're back. Mike Allen in for Sloanee, 700 WLW. Well, our Cincinnati Reds were seven to two winners over the Brewers last night at American Family Field. They had a good crowd, too, 41,000 there. No surprise here. Chase Burns was just on fire. I mean, the guy is unbelievable. He, of course, was the winning pitcher. He went six innings giving up only two runs on four hits.

The guy's unbelievable. I mean, if the Cy Young Award were awarded now, I don't see there's any way you could take it away from him. He's 10 and 1 with a 2.40 ERA. The Reds, the bats came back. They banged out seven runs on 11 hits. Big night for Jose Trevino. He went three for four with a home run and three RBIs to bring his average up to 232. Well, he needed a night like that. Sal Stewart also homered in the first and T.J. Friedel homered in the eighth. The Reds are now 40 and 46. They're last in the NL Central. This is the hard part. 13 and a half games behind the league leading brewers. Reds take on the Baltimore Orioles at Great American Ballpark. Today, 705 course our coverage begins at 605 with the inside pitch. We've got Brady Singer, 3 and 7 with a 5.1 2ERA versus Trevor Rogers. He's 5 and 7, 5 and 7 with a 4.99 ERA. The Reds now are 29th out of 30 in team batting average at 228. They're 24th out of 30 in Team ERA at 4.59. Here to talk about it is our guy for all things Cincinnati Reds. Davey and E.R. and Brouser, but I want to ask you first, because I'm asking all my guests. What does it mean to you to be an American? Well, that's a good question, Mike. I think it means you have a chance. I mean, in this country, you have a chance. And I spent some time in 2016 with Matthew 25 in Haiti. And as screwed up as our... country is right now in the politics and believe me i'm not a fan of either side i think they're both crooks i think they're both i learned one thing i learned in high school that that i kept and i remembered forever and ever is a teacher said a politician's job is to get elected once elected his job is to get reelected they don't give a damn about you and me so you're just hoping for the less of two evils i guess and i hear you it's still better than other countries. The time I spend in Haiti, you've never seen such a mess. These people don't have anything because the government's completely crooked. They, I mean, you, they barely have running water. I mean, the cows in the water you drink come out of the same creek that's running through the middle of town. So it's, you know, it's funny because if you spend a little time someplace like that, it really puts perspective of what we have here.

Are you going to be a gazillionaire? Probably not, but you still have a chance to make a decent living for you and your family. And that's the one thing this... country offers that i think a lot of countries don't offer that good stuff yeah i mean you know it offers people a chance and you can go from a janitor or a ceo uh if you work hard and you want to but on to things baseball it's it's it's more than hard work i mean it it you got a you got to right you know some of the richest people i know are slick mouth sales people and so you got to have some guts to you and not everybody has that i'm including me so you know you there's some luck in involved in that too but you have a chance that's what i'm saying and and you know you can everybody bitches about their employer uh but in this country you can leave and go someplace else if you want so that's that's where i am good stuff yet i really appreciate that uh down to business your thought on last night's game it's shame we can't have more of them Well, I mean, it's Chase Burns. Chase Burns is unbelievable. He's on fire. He will be an all-star. Yeah, he's on fire. And here's the thing, Mike, what he did. Those first three games of that series that they lost. The starting pitcher didn't throw a pitch in the sixth inning. Chase Burns went six innings yesterday, and I think he probably could have went longer, but that top of the six went pretty long, so I think that's why they maybe pulled him out at that point. But, you know, he's getting depth, and this team needs some more depth out of their starting pitcher. I mean, we can, and I have complained about the bullpen, but your starters have got to go more than four in a third or five innings. They really have to. You know, you got a team ERA 24th out of 30th in baseball with 4.5.9. I think you've got to do better than that, but that guy is just on fire. Let me ask you what may be a stupid question, but I'm just really curious about it. Let's say he went another inning or so. Let's just say no hits at all. Would he stay in to try to get the no-hitter or would he be pulled? like they pull pitchers now. What do you think he, it depends where his pitch count is. But I think, I mean, if he's under 100, we'll probably stay in. but with chase burns you one thing you have to remember with and ladders in the same boat is these guys didn't throw very many innings last year and you can only increase their workload like 10% a year so at some point at some point chase burns is going to be shut down he's either going to you know skip a start or maybe you know a short starts or i don't think they'll shut him down completely unless they're if they're completely out of it in the middle of september maybe he doesn't even make his last two or three starts um

But, no, I think it depends where his pitch count was. If he was under 100, yeah, maybe he goes back out for the ninth inning and a no-hitter. But it's, they got to protect him. You can't have him get hurt long term. No. Let me ask you, how long do we have him locked up until, you know. He's a rookie, so he's here for a while. Good. Yeah, so, I mean, it's, you know, it's, that's not a going to be, that's not a problem now. But it's still, it is a problem because you have to win now. Sure. Even though he's here, and I don't know what his contract says, but, you know, you got control of a guy for six years, I believe. But, but you have to win when you have them. You can't wait until it's too long. I mean, we're, you look at it with L.E. De La Cruz now. He's not that far away from when he can leave. Yeah. You got to win. You have to win or you're wasting the best years of these guys. And that comes down to Chase Burns. I think to some degree it comes down to Hunter Green. Because I think the minute he can go, he will. So, you know, it's a win now game. It really is. Let me ask you this. I mean... What I'm reading is Hunter Green is really close. He had some really good games in his warm up to kind of, you know, see how he's doing with the entry. When do you see him coming back? He is starting tomorrow. Oh, really? Yeah, he is making his debut tomorrow against the Baltimore Orioles and Brandon Young. So you will get his first taste to him. That means he'll make two starts before the All-Star break and then be, you know, knock on one if he stays healthy the rest of year. He'll make whatever's left, another, you know, 17-18 starts, something like that. That's great, man. I didn't know it was that close. Yeah, it's good. You know, if I can come up with some free tickets, I might go down there tomorrow and see him. Well, if you'd reach in those pockets, I mean, you're a rich lawyer that chases ambulances. You've got plenty of cash. Just go down there. Talk your way in. I mean, come on, Mike. I'll call Mr. Castellini. and say, sir, I want to be in the good seats, you know, where you get all the free time. Let's see how that works. Yeah, really, really. Hey, let me ask you about this too. And we talk about this every week. And I think last weekend you told me, asked me next weekend. Buyers or sellers, boy, it sure seems to me it's probably headed towards being sellers at the trade deadline. Yeah, they haven't said anything, but I think it's going to be sellers. I think losing three or four to Milwaukee is a problem. I mean, we talked about it last week when we had, you know, whatever, 13 games before the All-Star breaking, you have to have a winning record. Now, if they tweet Baltimore and win two or three from Philly and win two or three from Chicago, maybe they are buyers. But I don't, you know, at this point.

I don't know that that's going to happen. So I think there'll be sellers, but I think you'll, you know, when the All-Star break hits a week from Sunday, I think we'll all know for sure. Yep. It'll be interesting. Nobody expected that, you know, they'd have that. They'd be 13 and a half games out of first place. No. I mean, if you would, and we did, you did ask me. If you would ask me that in spring training, I didn't think there's any way in hell they'd be where they are right now. This team, I thought, had too much talent. But, you know, injuries played a part. I'm not going to say they didn't. The bullpen has been a disappointment. Now, they've dealt with injuries too, so I'm not saying that's not part of it as well. But it's just overall, you know, they haven't hit enough. They haven't pitched good. enough. They're not getting enough depth from their starters, and it's a problem. I wanted to ask you this. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal this week, and Wall Street Journal doesn't do much sports, but when they do it, they do it well. About the New York Mets, the travails that they're experiencing now, I forget what the figure was, Buku Bucks on bringing people in, and they're just, they're awful. I mean, I guess that goes to show. And then you compare and contrast them with the Milwaukee Brewers. Money ain't everything in baseball. It's important, obviously, but it's not everything. No, you've got to know what you're doing. They have 51 losses already, the New York Mets do it. That's incredible for the payroll they have. It's an organizational thing. I mean, that's a good comparison to Milwaukee Brewers compared to the Mets. The Milwaukee Brewers are a smaller market than Cincinnati. Milwaukee is, and you're talking about a team that, you know, they lose Derek Johnson in 2019, the guru of pitching. Well, they've only gotten better. They lose Craig Counsel. Everybody thought was this. this demigog that went to Chicago, they just keep winning. The guy they brought in one manager year, two years in a row. It's an organizational thing. I don't know what the magic is. I think a lot of it has to do with scouting and knowing who to bring in and just identifying really good players. But money... I mean, yeah, the L.A. Dodgers, money does help by championships, but you also have to know what you're doing. The Dodgers do. The Dodgers front office knows what they are doing. The New York Mets, they don't have a clue. No, they don't, but boy, they threw money at it. Yes, they did. It definitely did not work, so. You're right. Let me ask you this. On the injury front with the Reds, besides Hunter Green coming back, how are we doing on that? Who's close to coming back?

Are any of those players that you think can help? Well, you got, you know, this week you got Emilio Pagan back, and that's a biggie. That'll help. I think he's only pitched in one game since he's come back. But that's going to help this team a lot because once he's ready to be in the back end of the bullpen, it's going to stabilize what the jobs are for these players in the bullpen. Because everybody, you know, when your closer goes down, boy, it really kind of messes things up. Santion's still out and that's um you know he's not even eligible come off to the 11th so that that's a problem and then the two the two outfielders the we know blake done was having a good season playing center field for this team and then dain meyers was i mean he was doing a heck of a job especially coming off the bat right off the bench as a right-handed hitter he's having a good year and they're both going to be out you know for a couple more weeks anyway and and those are i mean those are big players to big pieces that this team that are hurting them a little bit. I'm not saying they're both impact players, but it does kind of screw everything up. All of a sudden, you're seeing Matt McLean playing center field and starting in center field, which he hasn't done that since college. So that's where the injuries have taken this team. I get that. All right, Ed, really appreciate your time. I hope we can check in with you tomorrow. You got it, Mike. Thanks. We need a win tonight against those Baltimore Orioles. Big time. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. You got it. All right. Hey, we got to take a short break, but when we get back, I'm going to tell you what I believe it means to be an American. We'll do that when we get back. Mike Allen, in for Sloney 700 WLW.

1140 News Radio 700 WLW, Mike Allen, Saturday Midday. Well, I love talking to our next guest. I've talked to her a number of times, and she is one of the, if not the foremost expert on the homeless problem in this country. But she takes it a different way, a different approach with accountability. Gee, imagine that. Accountability being the watchword. She just recently published on June 1st, an op-ed on Fox News Digital is really good. Just read you the first couple sentences, then I will introduce her. America's homelessness crisis is routinely framed as a housing crisis. It is not. It is a crisis born from the collapse of accountability at every level of the system. Nowhere are the consequences of that collapse more visible than in. Are you ready? California. And it's in its capital city of Sacramento. Michelle, she is the CEO of the Free Up Foundation. She has been writing and lecturing. about the homelessness issue, which I think she's going to tell you is worse than ever for a long time. And she's got some good, fresh ideas. Michelle, thanks so much for joining us this morning. Well, thank you, Mike, and thank you for that comment. I really enjoy our discussions as well and appreciate you illuminating the crisis and what needs to be done to reverse it. Absolutely. And I think a lot of people, Michelle, probably think it's gone away, but as they're going to find out in a minute from you, it has not. But first, I'm asking all my guests this morning, Michelle, what it means to you. to be an American. So you're my last guest of the day, and I want to hear what you have to say on that. Oh, well, I'm a very proud American. And what America means to me is, you know, it was a country born and still surviving against so many odds. And not only are we still surviving, but we're prospering. And that's because of our core founding belief in God and God's desire. for freedom, right? The freedom that he gives us to choose him, the freedom he's given us, you know, to, in this country, it's founding principles. And I am very proud that so many of my family members have served this country, not, I mean, in the military, but also in...

So many other ways. And I'm very proud to be an American, especially right now as we continue to defy the odds that are stacked increasingly against us. And anyway, thank you for the question. Well, I tell you what, out of my guess this morning, I think you had the best answer. Thank you for that. Okay, let's get down to business here. Sacramento, and I think we're talking about Sacramento County, if I'm not mistaken. You recently kind of, I guess, took a tour, if you will. You saw the problem of homelessness, which you more than anyone certainly know has not gone away. What can you tell us about that? Yeah, so a little bit of context. So I, for 13 years, ran Northern California's largest program for homeless women and children. It was based in Sacramento. Sacramento is the capital of California, as many of your listeners will know. But also, I'm very familiar with Sacramento having run, you know, from the front lines of program there. Back, so the nation's homeless policy made a big seismic shift in 2013 under the Obama administration. We went from an approach that, in part, you know, provided housing, but it was housing with services that to address the issues that often accompany homeless, largely mental illness and addiction. And we went from that, you know, more comprehensive system to a very simplistic approach, which is we're just going to provide all the homeless keys to an apartment. And it's an apartment for life with no conditions, with, you know, no requirement that they engage in services, no requirement that they be sober, no requirement that they work ever. We were just going to provide them keys. And the thinking was, and if you want to call it thinking, right? Yeah. The thinking was that they would, you know, become stable in that housing, and then they would... address those issues on their own or request services well that hasn't happened and and they promised by the way that they were going to end homelessness in a decade by providing keys to an apartment with no conditions we're now at the highest point ever in our nation's history and I needed to give that context because

California is another, so we're at the highest point in the nation's history now. California is the only state in the nation that followed the federal government in adopting this keys to an apartment approach with no conditions. Homelessness in California has gone up. 40% since they did this in 2016. Now Sacramento, again, the capital of California, Sacramento was one of the only counties in the state to follow the state and the federal government in adopting this approach, which that, what that meant was all the federal money, all the state money, and all the local taxpayer money all went into housing subsidies, keys to an apartment. with no treatment services and no rules about sobriety, no requirement to work ever. Right. Sacramento's homelessness crisis is one of the highest increases in the nation. In just two years, there was a 69% increase, but they now have, their homeless population is nearly tripled. And it's a disaster. And what most people are not taught, I mean, the ramifications are so visible, not just in the numbers on the streets of Sacramento. But what I did in Sacramento was I actually toured the river. So we have three rivers that, you know. that meet in Sacramento and a lot of the as they've become more strict about no camping allowed downtown those people have been pushed out to the rivers and I accompanied a group of volunteers mostly in their 70s retired volunteers who clean out the rivers like four times a week In three years, they have cleaned almost 4 million pounds of trash. Wow. 20, 70,000 batteries, 1,900 shopping carts, you know, incredible amounts of trash and, you know, waste and dangerous waste that are polluting, right? The Sacramento Water Race. So what I really wanted to do is, you know, I spend a lot of time writing and talking about the people that are negatively impacted, meaning the homeless, by this horrible policy. But, you know, no one's really talking about the environmental downstream ramifications, the ramifications on pets.

Going into these encampments along the riverbanks, I found, you know, so many dozens of dogs chained up, clearly malnourished. In L.A., they're now reporting incidences, many incidences, of the homeless testing their drugs on the dogs before they take them to make sure they're not lethal. No one is talking about this. Where is... you know, Sierra Club. Oh, sure. There is PETA. No one is talking about this. And you know why they're not talking about it? Because their political allies put these policies in place and continue to support them. And they don't want to have to come up. I got it. I got you. Unfortunately, we got a short segment here. But I want to ask you, no, and the number of times that I've talked to you over the years, if I had to sum up your position. on homelessness, I could do it in one word, and that is accountability. You can't just throw money at it. You know, you've got to provide treatment. You've got to provide, you know, opportunities for rehab. You know, I spent 50 years in the criminal justice system in one form or another, and about three weeks into it, you figure that out. Is there hope for the future? Are people going to take your view, accept your view, and yeah, you know, we need money, but we also need accountability too. What do you think? Yes, well, and again, I just want to stress my point of view is based on 13 years of working with the homeless on the front lines. But yes, President Trump about a year ago issued an executive order basically said, This is crazy. This hasn't worked. We need to, as it relates to the homelessness system, the nation's homelessness system, we need to prioritize mental health treatment, drug and alcohol treatment. We need to hold people accountable for engaging in that. We need to measure recovery and restoration, which we haven't been measuring in the last 12 years. And that starts at the individual level, but it also translates to the nonprofit level and to the government level. I mean, no one has ever held President Obama accountable for the promise he made that this approach would end homelessness in a decade. So it is going to change, thankfully, this administration. is pointing the ship in the right direction but it won't change overnight right it's going to take a while for the system to adjust but i have great great hope that we're going to see a very uh a different look on our streets and and different numbers uh in the future that's great I really appreciate you talking to us. I'm sorry we didn't have more time, but I really want to have you on again because it is a problem that it seems like everybody's ignoring except for people like you. Michelle, thank you so much for calling in and we'll do it again. Thank you and happy 250th to all of you, your listeners, and to yourself. All right. Thank you so much. Back at you. Thank you. Okay.

You know what? I love talking to, Michelle, Steve. She gets it. She gets it. And it's not all that difficult. You just can't throw money at the homelessness problem. You can't just put them in apartments or homes or whatever. You've got to give them rehab. You've got to give them an opportunity. And not everyone succeeds in rehab. I get that. I see it. all the time. I saw it all the time in my time in the criminal justice system, but you have to give them that opportunity. Hey, I am out of here, but we'll be back. Tomorrow for Saturday, midday, at 11 o'clock, as I said, Janice Heisle, the Epoch Times. She is as we speak at Mount Rushmore checking things out, getting the story for us. President Trump speaks tonight, and Janice will be there. She'll give us a full report. I'd like to thank my producer for the week here, Dave Keaton, really a guy that takes his job seriously, and that helps me, and I appreciate it. Mike Allen 700 WLW. You ain't heard about Moto Casino? Moto has real Vegas slots. Any game you can find on the floor in Vegas, you can play it on Moto. I like my slots hot. Moto's free to play, like food stamps, in line at the grocery store, at a funeral, in traffic. Keep your eyes on the road. Hop on Moto Casino. Moto Casino got jackpots that are bigger than my belly. Moto, America's Hot is free to play social casino. Download the Moto Casino app today. Moto Casino.

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