3-19-26 - *FULL SHOW* GoFundMe Request; JBS Strike; DIA Lawyer Sues Denver

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Gina, do they also? And channel two. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, this merger has been pending for quite some time. And. What Phil and these other attorneys general are arguing is that this would create a company that is too dominant in television across the United States. They say if allowed to proceed, the merged company would own 265 television stations across 44 states in D.C. reaching 80% of U.S. households that would create the largest broadcast station group in the United States, putting more broadcast. programming in the hands of fewer people. Then they go on to talk about specifics here in Colorado. Let's see. In Denver, the merger would create a dominant local broadcast station. I don't know that station is really the right word there. But anyway, that's what they wrote. With over 57% of the market. in the hands of a single company, making the merger presumptively illegal under established antitrust standards. So there's that. I have no idea whether they will succeed. I will just note one thing. And this isn't a perfect comparison, but then I am president of the Bad Analogy Club. Remember how many times we saw... the government sue some company over having a dominant position in in some industry. And then what happened over a relatively short period of time is that is that new industries that were related but not identical but competed. came into being and a lot of the previous worries became kind of irrelevant. And again, this is not a perfect analogy, but you think these days about. all the other options on television. And how few people only use antennas anymore, right? How many people are actually only able to get two and four and seven and nine and 31 in Denver because they've got a metal antenna on their roof? Like almost nobody. So now you've got YouTube TV and Sling and all these other things. And I realize that these are channels that are being routed through those platforms. But you also have so many other channels. And at some point.

companies will need some kind of economy of scale just to survive. I have no idea. I am not expert in Denver's television market. And I have no idea how viable or not 31 or 9 are as standalone entities in the long term in this environment. They might be perfectly viable. I don't know. But we will have to see how this all plays out. And I'm sure that if this gets to court, and it probably will. then the folks who want the merger are probably going to be making an argument like that, that you're looking at too narrow a sector of the media market when you claim. that this is inherently problematic merger. Anyway, wanted to share that with you. So yesterday, the Dow was down something like 770 points. It's looking down modestly again this morning, and I'll see the numbers here in a second, although Gina mentioned them a minute ago. And it's been a little bit volatile, it's been up and down, but mostly down overnight. And here's what happened. There are two things that happened, actually. And one of which, Gina and I talked about yesterday at 630, because 630 is when most economic announcements come out. And is that just more of the same dragon? America, F, yeah. Is that what's going on with Pete Hegseth? This is a much better war than any of the other presidents, and Trump knows what he's doing in America, F yeah. Yeah, okay. So we don't need to hear that. So here's the concept. The producer price index came out yesterday. GNI gave you the news within seconds after when it was released. And then I was talking about how it was a much higher number than estimates. And if you combine that with the inflationary pressures from the war. It's very likely that the Fed, the Fed was already not likely to cut rates yesterday. They were already expected to keep rates the same. But what happened coming out of yesterday's Fed meeting is they said not only are we keeping rates the same right now, but we'd expect that we will have fewer rate cuts this year than we had previously expected. So that's one thing that hurt the market yesterday. And so I will note that money and markets commentary brought to you by Blue Heron Capital. And I'm going to keep going with a little bit more here now. So the other thing that happened, and Gina mentioned this in the newscast just a moment ago, is that part of the Iranian South Pars natural gas field, the biggest natural gas field in the world. was struck actually by Israel, not by the U.S. Trump is saying he didn't know about it and they won't want it and they won't do it again. But I bet you Trump did know about it and gave the green light for it to put a little more pressure on Iran. Meanwhile, Iran retaliated by lobbying some missiles at some energy infrastructure, oil and gas in the region.

Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's J-A-S-E dot com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind. We're getting back to the theme. The theme. It's all wind all the time right here on K-O-A. Dragon, would you be open? to occasional listener suggestions at the beginning of a show for a music theme for the show? Yeah. This is something that would really only be available to people who are listening in the first segment or two of the show. If there's a news story, if there's something that you hear me or Gina or Dragon say, if there's just something on your brain and you want to suggest it and you want to text into Dragon and just say, you know, the theme for... Today's show music should be peanut butter or soccer or whatever. Then text it in and Dragon will decide whether to take your advice or ignore you or whatever. But that's what you can do when you're the boss. So. If you have a theme idea any morning, text them in at 56690 and maybe you'll hear your theme become the music theme of the day here on K-O-A rock radio, all wind all the time. So I saw an interesting story that is a kind of story we have seen over and over for years now. And, well, I'll just read you the headline. This is from NPR. The Postal Service may be out of cash in 2027 without Congress's help, Postmaster says. By the way, the Postmaster is a guy named David Steiner, not the guy named, what was his name, Joy, I think. Dejoy, maybe, Dejoy, right, who was a little bit controversial, although I didn't think he was. I didn't think he deserved all the controversy he got. I think he got the controversy because Trump named him. But anyway, again, NPR.com. If it continues business as usual, the U.S. Postal Service is on track to run out of cash for paying its workers and vendors in about a year and may have to stop deliveries, the Postmaster General told lawmakers this week. It's the latest development in longstanding. That's what I was saying before. Money troubles at U.S.PS, a unique federal government agency that relies on stamps and service not tax dollars to deliver mail and packages six days a week to every address in the country. He said, and I quote, Postmaster said,

I'm not sure the American public is aware that the postal service is at a critical juncture. I know that I wasn't aware of the extent of it before I took on this role, but at our current run rate, and if we continue to pay our required obligations in the same manner as we have done in recent years, then we will be out of cash in less than 12 months. So let me just translate that for you. Okay. So obviously with any business, you've got revenue and you've got expenses. And the revenue is pretty clear for the Postal Service, right? It's mostly first class mail, but then they've been doing a lot of packages as well. They've actually spent an immense amount of money buying new machines and buying or leasing much larger spaces to process package shipping. So there's all that. That's kind of the revenue stuff. The expense side is everything you can think of to name. And so I won't bother naming them because the same kinds of stuff that, you know, every business has, basically. But they've got one other enormous problem that is not quite unique to the Postal Service, but at its scale, it's close to unique. And that is pension liabilities because there has long been a powerful postal workers union. And they negotiated a contract as many government workers do with... If not gold-plated retirements, at least silver-plated retirements. And you have, obviously, many, many, many thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of retired postal workers collecting these pensions. And the pensions are the thing that this is what's bankrupting the postal service. So when the postmaster says that if we continue to pay our required obligations, in the same manner as we've done in recent years, then we'll be out of money in less than a year. When he's talking about obligations, he's not talking about what you might think with in normal business. He's not talking about if we keep paying rent and if we keep paying salary and if we keep paying our electric bills. What he's talking about is, and this is code, is if Congress doesn't do something. to let us out of at least some part of our pension obligations, then the postal system is going to go bankrupt. So there's that. And then, so I had the story on the show sheet yesterday and didn't get to it. As I was putting that together the previous night and seeing this story, I got, I saw at the Wall Street Journal another story like as if the news couldn't get any worse for USPS. Here's the headline. Amazon plans drastic cut in packages sent by already struggling postal service. Wow. Already struggling postal service. So.

Yeah, I mean, this is a serious thing. Amazon for, I'm not going to get into the whole thing, but I'll just tell you, USPS delivered more than a billion packages for Amazon last year. which was about 15% of all the packages delivered by the Postal Service were Amazon packages. And by the way, in fiscal 2025, the Postal Service reported a net loss of, wait for it now, $9 billion. So what's happened, and a lot of this gets technical and a little beyond me, so I'm not going to get too far into it. But the postal service was in some kind of negotiation with Amazon. And they ended up kind of changing the process to some kind of bidding thing. And Amazon said, well, now we can't rely on the postal service. We don't actually know if we'll have a deal with them. And since we don't know if we'll have a deal, we have to make sure we can deliver our own packages. So we're going to, and they already do a lot of that, but we're going to look to do even more. And they're looking to cut back. So as if things couldn't be bad. It couldn't be worse for USPS. Right after the dude said, we're going to run out of money in less than a year, the news got even... Peace of mind is one freedom worth protecting. That's why Jace Medical is celebrating with Liberty Sales Savings on preparedness essentials through the end of July. Right now, you can secure a year of Jace Plus membership for just $17.76. Normally, $359. Your membership includes year-round savings on Jace products, 24-7 access to a first aid helpline, and helpful resources to give you more confidence when life's unexpected moments happen. Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's J-A-S-E dot com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind. You asked for it. Oh, was there a listener? Was there a listener request for the theme? The request was leg washing theme? Leg washing theme. So I wrote back like, I'm not sure I can do exactly that. Okay. Maybe one or the other. Yeah, washing. A washing theme today. Let me share with you the first short paragraph from an article at denverite.com.

Everett Martinez, the General Counsel for Denver International Airport, is suing the city and a trio of big-week mayoral appointees in a lawsuit that touches on several of the airport's most debated issues of the past few years. So that is the first paragraph of an article about our current topic, about which we will discuss with our guest in studio. Stephen Murray is the attorney representing the aforementioned Everett Martinez. Stephen has done employment law, discrimination law, including as a federal prosecutor for over three decades. He joins us in studio. Stephen, welcome to K-O-A. It's good to have you here. Thank you for inviting me. Glad to be here. So tell us just kind of at a high level at first. What are the accusations you are making in this lawsuit against the city? And also specifically, who are the defendants? The defendants are Miko Brown. She is a city attorney. Nicole Doheny, she's a chief financial officer, and Jeff Dolan, he is the chief strategist and the city. There are four defendants. The allegations are from an overview standpoint is Mr. Martinez, loved his job, was very successful there. And in May of 2024, began a series of events that are related to the Park Hill Golf Course deal. And he would repeatedly object the FAA has very strict requirements whenever there's a real estate transaction between the airport and a city. Long story short, a... A city cannot take airport revenue and use it for any purpose other than the airport. So as Mr. Martinez made his objections, made his concerns known, the relationships became more rocky. And then when Ms. Brown became the city attorney, it became even more so. And there was a serious, there's serious issues where. Mr. Martinez had to make a serious choice. There was a direction to him to not keep records on the Park Hill land deal. There was a direction to not tell the FAA about the private developer involved. There was a direction. They wanted, the political people wanted Mr. Martinez to work with him to possibly push Phil Washington CEO out. And then once we got it, once Mr. Martinez complained officially, and once I complained on Mr. Martinez's behalf, then they had this meeting on March 11, and his current status is they told him. You will no longer be the general counsel. You can resign. We will remove you or we will declare you unqualified. So that's where we are today. There's a lot of allegations in this case when it comes to just city officials and Martinez. I'm curious if the key lime airport lease, if that's also part of the claims that are being made in this case? Yes, ma'am.

The key line comes to play in this is that on this specific issue, the FAA says an airport cannot investigate on its own. That's up to them to do. And the only legitimate reason there is to do that is a safety reason. So what happened in this situation is... The airport team, legal team, advise the city council that there may be a problem, well, there would be a problem for this in regard to disqualifying key lime over the immigration issue. Let me just jump in for a second. We haven't really told listeners what this is. Sure. Let me do it very, very briefly. The city council decided to essentially punish a particular airline called Key Lime when they found out that Key Lime was working with ICE or Border Patrol to deport illegal aliens using some Keyline planes. Keyline also works with CU. They do a lot of things, but the city council voted essentially to punish key lime. I don't need to get into the details of that, but this is what it sounds like Mr. Martinez was warning the city council that they couldn't do. And everything went very well between Mr. Martinez's city council. They acknowledge that they received the advice and they, you know, they made the decision they made. The problem for Mr. Martinez is after the city council voted, The exchanges with the city attorney's office, the city attorney wanted the airport legal team to launch an investigation after the fact for an alleged safety reason. So it would have been a fabricated... investigation for a fabricated reason. And the reason the city attorney did this is they wanted to offer that up to the FAA if there were any concerns. And there have been because in late, late December, the FAA contacted Washington. They're concerned about it. As you know, Ted Cruz is very concerned about it in terms of the potential loss of grants, which can come into the millions of dollars. A theme in this case, Ross, is almost at every stage, Mr. Martinez, because he is a lawyer, because he's bound by these ethical restrictions, was on the, you know, he had to make a decision because he could very well have done some things that would have put his law license in jeopardy. What do you think is the strongest argument in this case when you talk about the Park Hill golf course land swap, key lime air, racial discrimination, retaliation, him trying to launch or having to launch a fake investigation, pushing out Phil Washington. What do you think if you had to pick one is the strongest argument? I think the retaliation because he, until March 11th, there was never.

never any idea that he had done anything that would ever jeopardize his employment. So once he started complaining about his discrimination claims, his First Amendment claims, lo and behold, after about 10 years of service, they came up with all these reasons to have him no longer there. And he had been performing at a high level for a long time. For example, Phil Washington recommended that he get a pay raise and reclassification. The prior CFO at the airport made the same recommendation, as did the current CFO. And the latest recommendation was at the end of December of 25. And the political people declined to grant him that. So, all right, we're just about out of time here. Let me give me quick answers to two quick questions. Why are you claiming discrimination? Are you claiming a racial aspect to this? Well, there is. Mr. Martinez is Hispanic. He's a person of color. Phil Washington is a black man. And they, if the collective actions of the political team were to get both of them out of the agency. But some of the political team include Hispanics and blacks as well, right? Yes. And then she made the noose comment. to him as well. Okay, the last thing I want to ask you very quickly. So you are alleging that that Mr. Martinez was told to fabricate an investigation and was told to not keep records about certain things. Do you have any documentary evidence of either of those claims? Any emails, any anything? Yes, we do. Everything we've alleged, we have documents. I don't have them on me now. No, I don't need to see them. Yeah, but there's nothing that's. For example, when he was called, he has memorialized everything. So none of this is after the fact making this up. Wow. All right. So folks, obviously, we're going to keep a close eye on this very interesting lawsuit. Stephen Murray represents Everett Martinez, the General Counsel for Denver International Airport, who is suing the city. The city declined to make a guest available to us today. We will ask the mayor if he has any thoughts on this when he joins us tomorrow. Attorney Stephen Murray, thanks for joining us in studio. Thank you both. Peace of mind is one freedom worth protecting. That's why Jace Medical is celebrating with Liberty Sales savings on preparedness essentials through the end of July. Right now, you can secure a year of Jace Plus membership for just $17.76. Normally, $359. Your membership includes year-round savings on Jace products, 24-7 access to a first aid helpline, and helpful resources to give you more confidence when life's unexpected moments happen.

Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's J-A-S-E dot com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind. Today's theme is washing up, washing legs, washing whatever. Okay, I'd like to take a moment of personal privilege here, if I may. And the past couple of days I've mentioned what happened to my friend Brad. Not, yeah, and so Brad was riding his motorcycle, gotten a collision with a car. He was thrown about 50 feet. He broke one hand, the other arm, and then one of his legs got broken in the upper leg and so massively mangled. in the lower leg that the doctors had to amputate his foot. Now, Brad's in his 30s. He's a single dad. He's an electrician who, you know, sort of recently just started his own electrician company. It's just him and his partner, who's sort of a junior partner. Brad is the main guy. But when you, you know, you don't work for a big company, then you... You don't have income if you're not working. And this just happened this past weekend, okay? Just happened this past weekend. I think he's already been through four surgeries. I think that's right. Somewhere right around. He's not done. This is a mess. And when I mentioned this the other day, a bunch of people texted in saying, Ross, you should start a go fund me for Brad. And so I did. I've never done a go fund me before. I did this at your inspiration. And I would like to ask you to contribute a little bit to a guy you don't know and will likely never meet. If you go to Ross Kaminsky.com and click on the Thursday blogcast, it's right at the top. It's the very first thing, and it's got the link to the GoFundMe. And I don't, you know, it could be, you could contribute five bucks or 50 bucks or 100. I don't, I'm not looking for anybody to contribute big money. I contributed, here's what I'm doing. I contributed 100 bucks as the first donation, and then I'm going to do a small match. on the next money that comes in. Again, not huge, but just to kind of boost what you do a little bit. Like I'm thinking maybe.

Like, I'll match 10% of the next $1,500 of contributions to another $150 from me. But I realize it's small, right? But so if you donate, you know, 20 bucks, then I'll donate another two. And Brad will get 22 to help with the costs of health care and, and, you know, feeding him and his kid and whatever physical therapy is going to cost when he has to learn to walk again. and all of this kind of stuff. So again, this is inspired by you. And I hope you will join me in helping a, you know, a good dude who doesn't deserve this. And anyway, if you go to rosskimoski.com, right up near the top, right on the Thursday blogcast at the top is the link for the GoFundMe. So I hope that you will join me in that. I would very, very much appreciate it. Let me do just 30 seconds on this next thing. There's a lot of bad laws out there that come through the state legislature, and there's a lot more coming. This year, there was one a couple of years ago that Gina and I have actually talked about quite a bit on the show, this law about AI. And it was, we knew it was bad. Everybody accepted people who wrote it knew it was bad. Governor Jared Polis knew it was bad and said it was bad when he signed it. And it was very dumb of him to sign it. He shouldn't have signed it. He said, oh, I'm going to sign this, but then we'll fix it up before we implement it. But they've never fixed it up. And that's probably one of the reasons Palantir, this huge company left the state. So now they've put together this working group, artificial intelligence working group, and they've put together some kind of framework to replace the law in Colorado. So I don't have all the details of it yet, but it will be less burdensome on companies that use AI for just about anything because basically what you had was a law written by people who didn't know anything. And it was much more harmful than beneficial. And so this group is trying to save the state when it comes to a piece of money. is one freedom worth protecting. That's why Jace Medical is celebrating with Liberty Sales Savings on preparedness essentials through the end of July. Right now, you can secure a year of Jace Plus membership for just $17.76. Normally, $359. Your membership includes year-round savings on Jace products, 24-7 access to a first aid helpline, and helpful resources to give you more confidence when life's unexpected moments happen. Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's jase.com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind.

AI. Gina created our company bracket here, or K-O-A bracket, and she filled hers out, and I filled mine out. And we'll get to the reasons how Gina filled hers out, which is more interesting than how I filled mine out. But Keenan Dixon from the K-O-A Newsdesk knows enough and watches enough college basketball for all of us, including producer Dragon, who also doesn't watch college basketball. So Keenan joins us to talk about March Madness, the men's NCAA basketball tournament. And, well, fire away because you know way more than I do. Well, here's the problem. I do know a lot. And that's why I'm probably going to lose in terms of my bracket this year because I know, I think about it too much. Just starting here with my bracket that I've printed out, Gina may or may not appreciate this, but I have Michigan winning it. I know you're a Michigander. So the connection there. Wisconsin in the final four St. John's and Florida. So those are my four. Look, this tournament is going to be incredible. I think this is one of the better tournaments that we've had in recent years. Last year wasn't as exciting if you were like a big underdog fan. But that's just kind of how it works. You know, some of these teams, you may see an upset today, two upsets, maybe three. By next week in the Sweet 16, those are going to be the best teams. And that's kind of how it always works. I know I talked to Ryan Schueling earlier. He is Akron in the Sweet 16. So some big upsets potentially coming if these brackets hold up. Last year, it was just two. Top seat number ones, right? Yeah. Was it Florida? Yeah, it was... Florida winning? Chalky pretty much all the way through. And Florida beat Houston. Those were the two top seats going into the tournament. Yeah. They're in the same region this year. They're both in the south region. So... I actually have them meeting in the elite eight to go to the final four. And Florida winning that. I think they're going to get the best of them again. Over at the hill, they say March Madness could cost employers more than $12 billion in lost productivity. So out of that 12 billion, like people doing this on work hours, how many millions of the 12 billion will be you? I've lost productivity. I don't make that much. But it could be a lot. And me and everyone else who is just like me and watches a ton of college basketball all year from November all the way through. Yeah, absolutely. You just add it up. I could absolutely see $12 billion. And the thing is that $12 billion just goes right back into the economy from all the sports betting. There you go. Perfect. Yeah. It all balances out. How do you choose what you're going to watch? Do you follow it bracket? Like, your bracket and watch those games? So the beautiful thing that I have in my living space is three TVs. Oh my God. It's unbelievable. That's commitment. It's perfect for college football season, for NFL season, and then for March Madness. Because you could put all the games on. There are usually three games on kind of overlapping at one time during these first two days. So you could just have all three games on and not miss a single second.

All right, I got a nerdy question for you. What's the video source for the TV? So you have like a YouTube TV subscription and can you can one YouTube TV subscription do all three TVs or do you need two subscriptions? Yeah, no, one YouTube TV subscription does all three. So you can get like three screens at one time. And then the best part, and this is like a college football thing that I do, I'll put 12 games on at one time because you can do a quad box on each one. You just kind of melt into the couch. Yeah. Dog by your side and watch the sport. My eyes hurt just thinking about that. Like there's no way I could try to follow along. What kind of dog? A little Australian Shepherd. Excellent. Yeah. Kenan, for listeners who maybe are like us and haven't watched a single game, if you had to choose one that you're like, this might be one that you want to keep your eye on coming up. What would that one be? That's a great question. You know, I'm really interested in the Alabama Hofstra game. That's tomorrow. The games today, I think Nebraska is Troy. Nebraska has never won an NCAA tournament game. In all of their sports legacy and history, they've never done it. They're the only power conference team to have never won a tournament game. They have their best team that they've ever had this year. They're a four seed, but they're playing a Troy team that's really dangerous. And Nebraska's athletic director's name is Troy. So, like, is he torn? I don't know. Just for fun, let me ask listeners, if you filled out a bracket, text us. who you have winning the tournament. Actually, Texas, who you think will be in the final game and who you have winning the tournament. That'll be kind of fun. Who do you have? I don't remember. I don't care. You said Michigan. I do have Michigan in one. I did two brackets. I have Michigan in one. I don't remember who I have any other one. Gotcha. And Gina does not, as long as we're going to do this for a couple seconds. Gina does not have Michigan winning, even though she's from Michigan. In fact, she doesn't have Michigan getting very far in the tournament, which might surprise some people unless you know how Gina picked your bracket. I don't have Michigan going anywhere in my bracket. This year, I decided to be funny with it. I actually tried last year and I don't think I did that bad. But this year, I think I spent more time just trying to figure out what was my favorite mascot in... All of the teams. That had to be a lot of research. It took way more than it probably would have if I just like tried and it picked real teams. So I had to look up every single mascot and then decide what I was going to do from there. So when I saw the Michigan Howard matchup, well, Michigan technically doesn't have a costumed or live mascot. They love to call themselves the Wolverines, but there isn't.

a wolverine. There's a costume wolverine. There isn't a live wolverine. That would be awesome. So they're out. Because based on my decision of if we're going to stay with just the mascots, Howard University has a bison for their mascot. In fact, they have two, which I really like when they have like the little couple mascots that they have, a female and a male mascot, I guess. So they move on. That's my biggest upset that I already have. I'll tell you this. The last time a 16 seed beat a one seed in the NCAA tournament was in 2023, Fairleigh Dickinson, out of New Jersey. They had to play in the first four, just like Howard did, and they won the first four game, and then they had that momentum, and they beat Purdue. So maybe that's going in your favor. Not a chance. Because Howard... You know, they won their first ever tournament game on Tuesday. At some point, I'll have to walk through my final four Ross and explain who are my favorite mascots based on what I saw. I'm just trying to find my bracket so I can tell you who I pick. But it's not that important because you lock them in later this morning. So, yeah, the games start. 10, 15. But Russ, it is nice that we both have Michigan so we can kind of cheer for them the whole way through the tournament. You can do all the cheering for both of us. I'm definitely still cheering for them too, even though they don't have a mascot, so they don't move forward. So you're not going home after the show and just turning on every screen you have and watching. 12 games. No, look, let me just say, I admire you for that. I kind of wish I were doing that because it sounds awesome, especially with the dog by your side on the couch. It's an addiction. Yeah, that's okay. The first step in curing a problem is admitting you have one. Maybe I'm the one with the problem, though. Kenna Dixon from the K-O-A news desk, he'll be back throughout the tournament. We'll be talking tournament stuff on an ongoing basis, and every single time, Kenan will know. 875,000 times more than me and Gina and Dragonhole. Peace of mind is one freedom worth protecting. That's why Jace Medical is celebrating with Liberty Sales Savings on preparedness essentials through the end of July. Right now, you can secure a year of Jace Plus membership for just $17.76. Normally, $359. Your membership includes year-round savings on Jace products, 24-7 access to a first aid helpline, and helpful resources to give you more confidence when life's unexpected moments happen. Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's J-A-S-E dot com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind.

Together. Listener request. You can send your music theme requests anytime I'd say in the first half hour of the show and Dragon can decide whether to go along with your request or not. And if not, he will come up with his own theme. Let's do just a... Two, three minutes here. And then we're going to have a guest to talk about one of the many aggressive anti-gun laws that is coming up here in Colorado. But let me just do a couple of quick things. Gina mentioned two or three or four times yesterday in various newscasts about this effort within the state legislature to. Put restrictions on sports betting. And there's a particular bill that's about this. And it has a lot of things in it. And I'll just give you a few of them from axios.com. Restrict advertising and social media to venues that don't target children. Disallow the use of credit cards for betting, not allow more than five deposits over the course of 24 hours. So the purpose there is like you put money in and you lose it. So you put more money in and you lose it and you put more money in. So they want to. limit the number of deposits, block promotional bonus payments for placing a bet and eliminate mobile push notifications or text messages to solicit bets. And then there's penalties there. Now, John Frank, who's a very good reporter and wrote this for Axios, left out the most important part of the bill, or at least what I should say is the most controversial part of the bill and the part of the bill that I expect will sink the bill. I'd be somewhat. surprised if this bill passes because it also includes a provision to ban prop bets. There are already not prop bets in college, but a prop bet is something like, will Bow Nicks throw for over 250 yards? Will such and such a quarterback throw an interception? Will Nick Benito have a sack? These kinds of bets. And these are... These are very, very, very popular bets. And I should also say, as someone who does this stuff, although not on a large scale, they're very fun bets. I love prop bets. But the thing with prop bets that makes them a little, you know, kind of interesting is you can bet a lot of stuff over the course of the game, too. They've got these live bets, right? So, so. The idea from the legislature is they're afraid that some people will be addicted to sports gambling and they want to put some restrictions in so that that doesn't happen, right? So that or to minimize the addiction from sports gambling. But. As always, with people who probably don't know much about what they're writing laws about, they end up writing stuff that goes too far, or sometimes they write stuff that doesn't make a difference. But in this case, I think they've gone way too far with the prop bet thing. Let me mention one other gambling thing as long as we're on the subject. Senator John Hickenlooper has...

introduced a bill along with Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who is a guy I really can't stand. But it's an interesting bill, and it would ban the... It would ban people, at least Americans, being allowed to bet on these prediction markets, like polymarket and so on, about actions of government or about wars or assassinations or things like that. And part of the idea here is that you maybe, it seems like, there have been people or at least a person who knew that the... that the attack on Venezuela was going to happen and bet a whole lot of money on it and made an immense amount of money on it. And then took his money out and closed his account. And it sure did look like insider trading. And the other thing you could imagine, the other direction of this is maybe you've got someone very influential in government who has, who bets a bunch of money and then either makes the decision or pushes the president to make a decision so they can win a million dollars. So this is a bill. We'll see. I don't know if it will go anywhere. But it's certainly an interesting bill. I don't like government involvement in this stuff, but I do understand the motive. Peace of mind is one freedom worth protecting. That's why Jace Medical is celebrating with Liberty Sales Savings on preparedness essentials through the end of July. Right now, you can secure a year of Jace Plus membership for just $17.76. Normally, $359. Your membership includes year-round savings on Jace products, 24-7 access to a first aid helpline, and helpful resources to give you more confidence when life's unexpected moments happen. Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's jase.com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind. There is a trend for many years now in the state legislature, especially since Democrats took full control of everything, to go after gun rights, to go after firearms, to go after legal firearm owners, to go after gun stores in particular in the past couple of years. And there's a bill in the legislature this year, House Bill 1126, entitled Requirements for Firearms Dealers.

that, well, I think is problematic. I hate that word, but I'm going to use it anyway. Joining us to talk about it, Kirk Evans, who is president of U.S. LawShield.uslawshield.com is that website. Kirk, thanks so much for being here today. And tell us a little about House Bill 1126 and what bothers you so much about it. All right, so a lot of these seem like sort of common sense and maybe kind of innocuous, but when you dig down, there's a whole bunch of trouble for gun stores and gun dealers in the state of Colorado if this passes. So the, you know, the first one is they want added. security measures for every gun dealer in the state. Well, you know, okay, who wouldn't want folks to have security at their gun store? That doesn't sound too bad. But the new law will require that every exterior door and window have bars or grates or commercial grade metal doors or security screens, essentially extra step security screens. You know, well, that sounds great for a guy who's got one door and one, you know, window. But some of these stores, you know, have 45 different windows and... 12 doors. And, you know, gun business is not a high margin business. This will certainly put some folks out of business that they have to put bars and grates all over every single door they got. And then not to mention a lot of, you know, FFLs and dealers in the state of Colorado are rural and operate out of their home or their barn. And, you know, if you operate out of your home, you've now got every single one of your windows. You've got to put bars and grates or commercial grade metal doors on your windows. So if you're in favor of big box doors, you know, running the universe, maybe this is okay, but it's going to be very, very tough on the little guy. So the next one is they add what's called a responsible person to all of the lists of folks that have to get training and have to have certain qualifications in an FFL. And that, you know, so that sounds maybe kind of innocuous too, right? So instead of just the dealer. If you've got a responsible person who's running the gun store, he's got to get training and he can't have certain disqualifying crimes. Okay, that sounds fine. But technically the responsible person could be your head of accounting, could be your social, you know, person in charge of social media or marketing. And so now every single one of those persons, it technically qualifies as a responsible person.

has to go through training, not just once, but every year. And, you know, can't have a bunch of disqualifiers. Maybe they, in college, they wrote three bad checks and it escalated to a felony. And this person is never going to be around the gun whatsoever. But, you know, now, now they are disqualified from being a responsible person at your gun store. In addition, the, they've added fines. to what the state can do to you if you mess up on these regulations. So, you know, used to be that the only thing the state could do was either suspend or disqualify your license, basically put you out of business. Well, now they can fine you before they do that. So, okay, maybe that's not a bad deal. Maybe you get a warning and a fine. But they set the limits on the fines, this bill would, at $100,000. Basically, that puts everybody out of business except for a big box store. So if you were to get hit with a $100,000 fine, you know, I would say 98% of the gun stores in Colorado would go out of business after $100,000 fine. A couple other things. They make, want to track or add to the list of things you have to track and do paperwork on firearms transfers. So the old law was sales and purchases, things like that. If you sell a gun, you got to, you know, keep track of it. Okay, no, you know, that's federal law anyway. So they've now thrown in transfers here. And for folks who aren't that experience in firearms, The way folks purchase a gun from out of state, a lot of times as a favor, gun stores will do the transfers for an out-of-state transaction. You buy a gun in Texas, you want to ship it to Colorado. It's got to go through an FFL. And they do it either as a favor or really minimal, minimal charge that you don't make any money on. Well, now that's included with all the list of everything that you've got to do the paperwork on and keep track of and all of that. It's already required under federal law, but now there's, you know, sort of an extra headache for gun dealers. Kirk, well, look at all of this, everything that's just, and this is just one bill, and there's a lot of gun control legislation that's being rolled out in this legislative session, and it feels like every legislative session. Does it feel like some parts of the bill does have some good intentions with it, but they just go one step too far and maybe they're penalizing gun businesses in the way of the expenses. They're going to have to fork out just to comply with the law or the bill? No, that's exactly the case. And we don't even have enough time this morning to go through all of them. Another, you know, another one is, you know, say you're a small mom-and-pop shop and you've got ring cameras that, you know, guard your doors. You would think, that's probably reasonable. I only sell eight guns a year. Now you can't just have a ring camera. You've got to have one that's monitored by the police or centrally, you know, monitored. And the list goes on and on here.

So let me just follow up on Gina's question, and we only have about one minute, but I want to stick with genus concept here. And I'm sort of asking you to play mind reader, but do you do how much of the motivation behind this law and similar laws do you think is coming from people who maybe. don't understand the world of guns very much, but are focused on safety and legitimately think they're making things safer. And how much do you think is coming from people who want to pretend they care about safety, but their real goal is putting gun stores out of business? Oh, 90 plus percent is the second category. This is in the anti-gun playbook and is going on throughout the United States, throughout the country. You try to propose things that sound reasonable so you can sway that independent or moderate group over to your side. But in reality, it's let's cause as much trouble as possible for gun owners or gun retailers. Kirk Evans is president of U.S. Law Shield, which we haven't talked about. But folks, if you, if you. Do carry concealed in particular, you should know about U.S. Law Shield. You want them on your side. I've got them on my side. You can check them out at us lawshield.com. It's very, very important, actually. Kirk Evans, thanks so much for your time today. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for having us on. Yeah, there's a lot of those laws, and they are coming from people who hate guns, hate gun stores, and I agree with him. I think most of this is not actually about safety. It's pretending to be about safety with a goal of putting gun stores out of it. Your whole neighborhood goes black in seconds. Except your house. The Patriot Power Generator 2,200X from Four Patriots keeps your lights on when the grid goes down. It's the most powerful generator Four Patriots has ever built. Four Patriots gives you backup power without gas, fumes, or a loud engine. Just lights, a cold fridge, and peace of mind when the power fails. Right now, save $500 and get two solar panels free. That means you can recharge twice as fast, but only while supplies last. Keep your lights on, your food cold, and your family calm when the grid goes down. Don't wait for the next blackout. Visit 4Patriates.com today. That's the number four, P-A-T-R-I-O-T-S dot com. and see why families trust four patriots to stay ready. Peace of mind is one freedom worth protecting. That's why Jace Medical is celebrating with Liberty Sales savings on preparedness essentials through the end of July. Right now, you can secure a year of Jace Plus membership for just $17.76. Normally, $359. Your membership includes year-round savings on Jace products, 24-7 access to a first aid helpline, and helpful resources to give you more confidence when life's unexpected moments happen.

Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's J-A-S-E dot com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind. It's just like me. Minus your legs. Lower legs. Let's be clear about this. I want to mention this briefly because I mentioned it less than briefly, or more than briefly, I should say, an hour ago. But I had told you a little story on the show in the past couple of days about a friend of my name Brad who was riding his motorcycle, was in a collision with a car, ended up badly injured. This is just this past Friday night, Saturday, and has had, I think, four surgeries already, and they amputated his foot. And the dude is in his mid-30s. He's a single dad. He's basically a solo entrepreneur. He's got one partner who he works with as an electrician, but they don't work for a big company. So when he's not working, which obviously is not surgery after surgery every day. He doesn't have any income. And a... Many listeners texted in saying you should start a GoFundMe for him. So I did at your inspiration. And I hope that you will consider a little bit of kindness and generosity. I realize you don't know him. You're never going to meet him probably. But if you go to Ross Kaminsky.com, the link for the GoFundMe is right near the top. And whatever you contribute, I'm going to add another 10%. On top of what I already donated, but whatever you contribute, I'm going to add another 10% to that. So if you give, you know, 10 bucks, I'll give another so he'll get 11. If you give 100 bucks, I'll give 10, so he'll get 110, that kind of thing. Just to encourage you to give a little bit early here. And I just want to help this guy. What a just a terrible... thing for just a, you know, a good dude just out riding his motorcycle and then this car driver. Oh my gosh. And now, and now he's going to have to learn to walk again on a prosthetic foot and you get it. Okay, so please, if you go to rosskaminski.com and click on the Thursday blogcast right near the top, you will see the GoFundMe link. And I, and actually, he doesn't know about this. I don't think he knows about it yet. I didn't ask him about it. Didn't tell him I was doing it. And so he doesn't know. Hopefully he'll find out at some point. But let's try to help the guy out if you don't mind. All right, let me switch gears. I mentioned yesterday without numbers, though, that a socialist named Milot, M-E-L-A-T, K-I-R-O-S, was leading Diana to get in the Democratic... caucuses, and this would be in Denver, or I guess it would be the, I guess they call it an assembly. And I, what I didn't mention, because I didn't have the numbers in front of me, was just how badly Milot Quiros, and I hope I'm pronouncing the name correctly, as the Denver Post put it,

crushed Diana DeGette. And let me just quote a little more from the Denver Post. The shock drubbing delivered ahead of a formal assembly vote next week was among signs that Democrats participating in the parties, caucuses and assemblies are dissatisfied with incumbent officials. Some other incumbents, including U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, in his re-election race, and Michael Bennett in the governor's race, have been leaning on the petition route to the ballot rather than facing primary opponents at the March 28th State Assembly. Part of what's going on here that I think is quite interesting is this incredible drift, or not just drift, sprint to the left, to the far, far left among the activist base of the Democratic Party, kind of like there was a sprint to, I wouldn't exactly call it the far right. I would call it the populist right, which is a different thing. among much of the Republican Party. And you've got, especially among young online men, you've got to sprint towards almost Nazism. You know, people who follow Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens and Megyn Kelly is drifting in that direction. She's not quite that bad yet, but she's moving in that direction. And these people are all, you know, you get the, the horseshoe theory of politics going on right now where the far left and the far right, you just go so far around on the horseshoe, you end up right next to each other. And that's what's happening with the far left and the far right and anti-Semitism, for example. But in any case, check this out. And remember, Diana DeGette has been in Congress since 1997. Right? So it's basically 30 years in Congress. So at the at the county assembly on Saturday, Keros, who's 28 years old, she got 63% of the vote. Diana DeGette had 32% of the vote. And the Denver Post says this is the first time to get has lost a county assembly vote ever. Ever since going into Congress about 30 years ago. And this is not the primary. This is just for ballot access, okay? But it looks very, very clear that Kiros will be on the ballot. And Diana DeGette can't afford to go below 30%. And she was just at 32 in this. If she goes below 30%, She won't make the ballot at all. And Diana DeGette really has to figure something out. She's got to either figure out how to get more support or she's got to try to get signatures, but I don't think she can't. Actually, no, she can't. No, she can't. The deadline was yesterday. So never mind about signatures. So this is going to be very interesting. One other thing, one other thing I'll say. I'm not an expert on Democratic Party politics, okay? But here's what I suspect happened. What I suspect happened is that Diana to get just figured she's fine and that she doesn't need to do anything. She's been there so long. Everybody loves her in her own mind. And she's an institution.

and therefore she doesn't need to do anything. Well, this is exactly the mindset that caused that guy in the Bronx, whose name escapes me, who was like the fifth most senior Democrat in the House to lose to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez several years ago. He took it for granted. He was complacent. He didn't get out there and knock on doors. He really didn't do much of anything. And he lost to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic primary. So to get has to get on the ballot if she wants to end up being the Democratic candidate. And whoever is the Democratic candidate will be the member of Congress. No Republicans going to win that seat. We'll see. Now because you have semi-open primaries and unaffiliated folks can vote in the primary, you know, if she makes the ballot at all and she probably will, then there's a good chance she wins. The primary, but this whole thing just shows the danger of complacency. Peace of mind is one freedom worth protecting. That's why Jace Medical is celebrating with Liberty Sales Savings on preparedness essentials through the end of July. Right now, you can secure a year of Jace Plus membership for just $17.76. Normally, $359. Your membership includes year-round savings on Jace products, 24-7 access to a first aid helpline, and helpful resources to give you more confidence when life's unexpected moments happen. Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's J-A-S-E dot com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind. Your Jewish talk show host to let you know that today is St. Joseph's Day, lest the Irish have all the fun with St. Patrick's Day. Today is St. Joseph's Day, which I guess is celebrated much more in Italy and some other places as well, St. Joseph being the Joseph who was the husband of Mary and the father of Jesus. And apparently for St. Joseph's, whereas on St. Patrick's Day you wear green. On St. Joseph's Day, you wear red. And according to Wikipedia, you carry blessed Fava beans. And my only reference for Fava beans is. As long as you have it with a nice kianti. Exactly right. Silence of the lambs is my only reference for Fava Beans. Gina will understand that reference soon enough. A couple of quick things I want to mention, and then we're going to have Gina's skiing news. So if you look on the blog at rosskomenski.com, I've got a couple videos in there in the Thursday blog, short videos of some of the interactions yesterday between Senator Rand Paul and Senator...

Markwayne Mullin, who's about to become the Secretary of Homeland Security. These two are not good friends. And the interaction was very interesting because the short version, you remember years ago where Rand Paul's neighbor attacked him. And I believe, if I remember the story correctly, that it actually wasn't about politics. It was about something going on at the intersection of the two backyards like trees or leaves or long grass. It was something like that. It wasn't political. But this guy. blindsided Rand Paul jumped him, tackled him, broke six of Rand Paul's ribs, some separated ribs. He had to have, as Rand Paul says, he had to have a section of his lung removed. That's how badly he was injured. And Markwayne Mullin at some point said that he is fine with it. And he figures, you know, Rand Paul just deserves it. Like he called him a snake and so on. And Rand Paul yesterday called him out on that. Like, what do you mean saying I deserved to be attacked? And Markwayne Mullin did not back down, did not apologize, said I'm, you know, I'm just, Rand Paul said, you didn't apologize. And he said, Mullen said, I don't apologize for pointing out your character or something like that. So it seems very unlikely that Rand Paul. We'll be voting for Markwayne Mullin for confirmation. But this does not look like a confirmation hearing that's going to go strictly down party lines. So I think that Mullen will get votes from at least a couple of Democratic senators on that committee, and he will get through the committee even without Rand Paul. So that's an interesting thing. One other quick thing I want to share with you. We talked a little bit earlier in the show about one of these very aggressive anti-gun bills. working its way through the state legislature. There's another one that is tangentially gun related that I wanted to mention. It's House Bill 1321. And it says modify school security grant program. So I will just tell you what the what the Colorado Shooting Sports Association says about it because it's a better summary than I would put together. This bill. takes grant money from the state's school security disbursement program, money originally meant to fund training for law enforcement response to school shootings and to harden our schools against attack and redirects it toward violence prevention and behavioral health training provided by nonprofits. Colorado, again, this is from Colorado Shooting Sports Association. Colorado already fully funds mental health programs through other parts of state government. This is not new money for kids mental health. It is a deliberate raid on the very grants designed to prepare schools and first responders for the worst case scenario. So this is House Bill 1321. I encourage you to get in touch with your member of the State House. If that is a Democrat, you don't need to convince Republicans.

If it's a Democrat, get in touch with them and urge them to vote against both House bills 1321. and 1126. But 1321 is it. I mean, they're both egregious in different ways. But imagine taking money, especially after what happened in Evergreen just recently, imagine taking money from the fund that's designed for law enforcement response to school shootings and to harden schools against attack and saying you can only spend that money toward like behavioral health training. Are you kidding me? Okay. It is now time for Gina's skiing news. Fire away, Gina. Oh, we don't have like a song. We need to. No, we need to. We need to come up with a thing like the farm report. It's probably not even worth it because by the time we come up with a jingle, the skiing report will be at. Well, this is over. This year has been so weird that maybe we'll have skiing in July. Because everything else about this year has been so weird. That's true. What's you got? Well, the latest right now is what we're seeing is steamboat has already announced its closing date due to the dry winter and the low record snow. fall that we've seen as of late. Their final day of operations will be April 12th. Now that's not as, you know, like, I'll be surprised to see if they can make it to April 12th because last year, their closing date was April 20th. So it's like a week earlier than what they had last year, but I've seen photos from Steamboat of truly just the tiniest little patch of white in a sea of brown dirt and mud and just terrible, terrible ski conditions at steamboat. And probably all the white came from their own snowmaking machines. Right, exactly, barely just trying to get a little ribbon down so skiers and boarders can enjoy it. So looking at On the Snow.com, they usually do like a ski report of the snowfall of what we've seen. The three-day snowfall in the past three days and the future three days. There's only a couple resorts statewide that saw maybe an inch. two inches of snow in the last three days. And then the whole column for the future three-day snow report, big fat zeros next to every single ski resort in Colorado. Wow. And his spring break is a big time for skiing. Huge. Huge. Yeah. This is when they should be making their money. I had a friend who was at Beaver Creek last weekend and she said the conditions were not ideal. And the Denver Post article said that, No major ski resort in Colorado has had on the epic or icon passes have had 100% of their terrain open this season. Unbelievable. Gina's an epic girl, by the way. I'm epic. At Steamboat Resort, according to the Denver Post, only 77% of the skiable terrain was open on Friday. We're talking about a time of the year. where in a normal year you would expect well into the 90s at least, like that would be a bad year, and otherwise 100, right, at this time of year. And it's steamboat only 77. And like Gina said, at Winter Park, 69%. Unbelievable. Yeah.

I'm curious if there's any listeners who could say if they have had good ski conditions this season at a specific resort because I'm not somebody who tries to dart up on I-70 when the snow is just coming down and it is just terrible conditions to drive, but great conditions to ski. So I know there's been a couple good days like that, but for the most part, I go on days where it's still sunny and nice and then the ski conditions are not ideal because it's icy, it's slushy, it's. The snowpack has been, you know, so low and so concerning that I just, every time that I've gone up this year has maybe been seven times, has not been great. Dragon listener request for the music to go along with the with Gina Skiing News. This listener says, Tom Sawyer is a perfect song. For Genus Skying Report. So there you go, Genus Skiing News. When we come back, we're going to talk again with Mark Mix from the National Right to Work, Legal Defense Foundation on two topics. One. They're going after the supermarket union that tried to find former members of the union who went to work at King Supers during a strike. So we got an update on that. But here's the other thing that you need to know that you might not have known. It's the same union. that has organized at the JBS plant in Greeley. So it is the same union behind that meat processing strike. We'll talk about all of that right after this news, weather, and traffic, and right after Gina updates us on a pretty big media story here in Colorado. I'm at that. Peace of mind is one freedom worth protecting. That's why Jace Medical is celebrating with Liberty Sales Savings on preparedness essentials through the end of July. Right now, you can secure a year of Jace Plus membership for just $17.76. Normally, $359. Your membership includes year-round savings on Jace products, 24-7 access to a first aid helpline, and helpful resources to give you more confidence when life's unexpected moments happen. Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's J-A-S-E dot com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind. Don't you think? I mean, if I worked in a coal mine, I would probably wash my legs every day. But I don't.

So there stands to reason. And we are joined once again by Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. And we've talked to Marco Rubio fair bit in recent years because there's been a lot of activity around Colorado, around the Denver metro area with supermarket strikes and Safeway with King Supers and so on. And the union there, UFCW Local 7, has been. doing some things that are not just, you know, unethical, but illegal. So Mark, we're going to talk with Mark about two things. An update on his efforts on behalf of some former union members when the union was still trying to penalize. And then we're going to talk about the JBS strike because that big meatpacker strike up in Greeley is actually the same union. So Mark, welcome back. It's good to have you. Ross, good to be with you. Thanks for the opportunity. These are interesting times for sure when it comes to this particular union and how they're treating workers they claim to represent. Okay, so we only have about five minutes, so I want to just get through a couple of things really, really quickly. What is the update about this union and your work on behalf of these King Supers workers who quit the union rather than go on strike because they needed to work to feed their families? Yeah, we've got the National Labor Relations Board, which is the federal agency that adjudicates private sector labor law, has filed a complaint against the union for actually fining workers that went to work. This is not something new for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. Basically, workers can resign union membership and they can go back to work. And they have to do that very specifically, according to the rules. And if they don't, the union has the ability to find them, in this case, up to literally thousands of dollars. 2002 strike, or excuse me, 2022 strike that were fined from $3,500 to $4,000 for going back to work. The NLRB has issued this complaint because the union has basically said you've got to pay us these fines when these people were not members. So that's the King Super Strike back in that started in February of 2025. We've got eight new charges against the union on behalf of Safeway Workers from the July, the June July strike back in 2025. And now we've got a legal notice going out to the employees at JBS saying that if they want to go to work and they don't exercise this process properly is very... likely this union will go after them and find them and discipline them with financial fines. In fact, we got a statement from JBS earlier this week and it said that many of the JBS Greeley team members have been choosing to report to work rather than participating in the UFCW Local 7 strike. So is it going to be a repeat? Are we expecting that we could see exactly what you're seeing with these two now Safeway Worker cases? Yeah, I think we will, Gina. And it's unfortunate. But if they followed the instructions that we're sending out in this legal notice that went out into the area and onto the Internet and all that, if they filed the steps here, they can't be fined. And the NLRB will come in and file complaints against the union if they do try to find them and financially punish them. I don't know how many members of this union or any other union are listening to us.

right now. But I wonder if you could just briefly and with the understanding to listeners that this is not going to be exhaustive and it's not going to be legal advice. But if you could just kind of give at least a thumbnail of what the process looks like for somebody to extricate himself or herself from a union in a way that would make sure that the union can't come back and say you did it wrong and we're going to find you. Yeah, Ross. It's really simple. If they go to the National Rights to Work Foundation's website, there is a letter there that they can file. It's very simple. You use the text in the letter. You sign it, and you put it in the mail to the union official and to the employer. That is enough. And the question is, you know, when does it get there? When do they honor it? The mailbox test is a legal test. But that's basically how you do it. You just sign the letter and say, I'm resigning my union membership. And you have to do that before you go back to work. Otherwise, you could be subject to union discipline and union fines that are really. substantial. So it's really quite easy. You just have to understand that you have to do it before you go back to work. One very quick follow up. And then Gene has got another question. My recollection, and I think this may be specific to teachers unions, but it was that with teachers unions, there was some window where you could file to get out. And if you didn't file within that window, they could keep you in because basically they want you to be their prisoner. Is it like that in other unions, like regular non-government union, you know, supermarket workers unions, or can someone extricate from a union at any time? Yeah, workers have the right to withdraw union membership at any time. The question is, do their dues deduction continue for the next year because they didn't get out during that window you spoke of, Ross? You know, and for teachers, sometimes it's a very narrow window right before school starts, and if you miss it, they get take union dues out of your paycheck for the entire year. But you can resign union membership, and in the context of this situation, a strike situation, that resignation can come, and that will protect you against financial fines. But the example you give about a teacher trying to get out, miss the window, you're in, you're quote unquote in financially for the entirety of the full next year. A little less than a minute here, but I'm curious if this is uncommon. Obviously these complaints and fines that we're seeing from workers illegal, but is local seven, is this union a bad apple in a series of unions that most people are actually following the law, but we're seeing more issues with Local 7? Well, Gene, in this case, the NLRB thinks they're doing the wrong thing here. That's why they bring a complaint and it's going to be adjudicated. But this is unfortunately not a one-off. This happens across the country. It happens with this particular union going back to 2022, 2025 at King Supers and Safeway. So there's a lot here. We suspect that JBS people that would cross the picket line, as Ross mentioned, just to go to work and feed their families might suffer from this as well. So we'll see how this works out. We're ready to help them. Mark Mix is president to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Mark, give the website real quick. Yeah, wwwnRtw.org, nrtw.org. National right to work, nrtw.org. Mark Mix is the president of their legal defense foundation. Always good to have you. Thanks for your time.

Thanks. No obscure question. Next time. Next time. I solved it with the grape issue, right? Oh, my gosh. My reputation is preceding us. Thank you, Mark. Oh, I love that he was ready for an obscure question. Just like the mayor. Just like the mayor. Don't worry. We'll make up for it with the mayor tomorrow. All right. We got some news, weather, and traffic. And then I got some thoughts for you on this guy, Kent, who just quit as... head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent. This guy is a piece of work, and I don't mean that. Peace of mind is one freedom worth protecting. That's why Jace Medical is celebrating with Liberty Sales Savings on preparedness essentials through the end of July. Right now, you can secure a year of Jace Plus membership for just $17.76. Normally, $359. Your membership includes year-round savings on Jace products, 24-7 access to a first aid helpline, and helpful resources to give you more confidence when life's unexpected moments happen. Need more? You'll also find special pricing on the Jace case, Jace trauma, and more to help you care for yourself and your loved ones. Whether you're traveling, building your emergency supplies, or simply planning ahead, now is the perfect time to prepare. These Liberty Sale prices end July 31st. Visit jace.com today. That's J-A-S-E.com and save on something that's always worth investing in. Peace of mind. In a good way. I would like to thank the folks who've contributed so far to the GoFundMe that I put together for my friend Brad. You've been very, very generous. And I've contributed more. Actually, I did the first donation. Now I just did another donation because I promised that I would match some of the early contributions. So I've just donated again. And again, you know, my friend Brad was riding a motorcycle and got a collision with a car. And I won't go through all the details, but short and most important thing is his foot was amputated by the doctors. They couldn't save his foot. He's in his 30s. He's an electrician who works for himself. And he's single dad. And I don't think he has health insurance. And, you know, I'm just, I'm trying to help him. And so I'm donating. And I hope you'll consider a little bit of generosity and kindness if you want to help a young guy who's just having a very, very difficult time right now. You can go to rosskaminski.com and click on the Thursday blogcast and you'll find the link right at the top, right? Rosskiminski.com, click on the Thursday blogcast and thank you. for everybody who's already donated and everybody who will donate. Brad doesn't even know about this yet. And he's going to be, I think, so incredibly grateful when he sees what you all have done. So let me take a minute and talk about this clown Joe Kent. I've got to say, I've never liked this guy. He ran for Congress twice as a Republican, and he's such a lunatic that he lost.

in a slightly Republican-leaning district, even in the year that Trump won. He underperformed Trump by seven points. And he's just pretty nuts. Now, it's unfortunate because the guy has a distinguished military background, and he has quite a moving, I guess I will say, family story, his first wife, who was a member of the military. was killed by an IED, an ISIS attack in Syria when she was serving. And this guy has lost his mind. He's, I think, good friends with Tucker Carlson. And he's lost his mind. He resigned as head of the National Counterterrorism Center. and said that the reason he was resigning is because he didn't support the war in Iran. And then he said that we're in the war in Iran because President Trump was tricked by Israel. And just all this crazy anti-Semitic stuff that's going around on this part of the political right. right now. It's a scary time to be Jewish in America, I have to say. In fact, as a Jew in America, I would say it's the only time I've ever felt like it's kind of a scary time to be a Jew in America right now because the horseshoe theory of politics sure is playing out. The far left and the far right have both become aggressively anti-Semitic and it sucks. And they should be embarrassed and in a way America should be embarrassed. But in any case, so this guy, Joe Kent, is part of this. He blamed Israel for his wife's death in an ISIS attack in Syria. This is how out of his mind he is. And what the story really shows you, and I haven't given you the rest of the story yet, but what the story really shows you is that Trump never should have hired him. And a lot of people, including Republicans, said this guy is bad news. You should not put him. And imagine putting him in a situation like this. Like he's a counterterrorism official who now is functionally siding with Iran and blaming Israel for stuff because he's got this weird Nazi mindset like Tucker Carlson, like Candace Owens. Megyn Kelly is drifting in that direction. I won't say she's all the way there. But there's just too much of this stuff now. The news that came out yesterday, and I think it was first reported by semaphore and then confirmed by Axios. I've got the Axios report in front of me right now at Axios.com. Former counterterrorism official Joe Kent has been under FBI investigation for months on suspicion that he leaked classified information. Three sources familiar with the case tell Axios. Now, let me just, I'm going to go off here into the rumor mill, okay? This is rumor. This is not proven. This could turn out to be absolutely nothing. And in fact, I would say it's better than 50-50 chance that it's not true. But I'm going to mention it to you anyway, because just the fact that it's plausible and that it might be true, I think is already important enough. So there's been some rumor that Tucker Carlson may have given classified information to...

Iran and I don't know who else. Again, there isn't proof of this. It's rumor right now. I want to, I really, really want to stress that. When I read that, My first thought was, well, I don't know whether Tucker Carlson would do that as much of a douchebag as he's become. Sorry, that's not fair to douchebags. But as bad as Tucker Carlson has become, as anti-American, as as pro Russia and Iran as he has become, I'm not sure that he's a guy who would actually give classified information to our enemies. But if he did, where did he get it? He doesn't have a security clearance. Where did he get it? So one working theory, again, only a theory. is that Joe Kent, who had a security clearance and had access to classified information, told stuff to his friend Tucker Carlson who then told it to whoever. Again, it's just a theory right now, not my theory. I mean, it's in this Axios report. So it's really out there. But we will see. And in the meantime, apparently this guy, Joe Kent, Well before he resigned, for months before he resigned, was under investigation by the FBI. And it's also being reported that he was, bless you, Gina, that he was cut out of some meetings because people didn't trust him not to leak information. So this is what's going on. And this guy, Joe Kent, is a bad, bad. dude, right? He is what Tucker Carlson has become. He is what Candace Owens has become. He is the worst of what you might not even call the fringe of the Republican Party anymore. It's more like the fringe of the ultra-maga populist right that even Trump is disassociating himself from, which I think is very interesting. All right, what we're going to do in our last segment of the show together, It's something that I don't do very often, which I would like to do more, and we're going to do today. And that is Michael Brown is going to join us for a few minutes because I, as I was leaving the show yesterday, talking a little bit about the Jay Jones Act. And Michael Brown was coming in and he just made a comment to me about his thoughts about the Jay Jones Act in the context of having to deal with it as Undersecretary of Homeland Security and the Jay Jones Act impact on his job and what he thinks of the Jay Jones Act impact on the United States of America. So, you know, I have thoughts about the Jay Jones Act, but Brown has experience with it. So he's going to join us to talk about that after these brief words and some news weather. Your whole neighborhood goes black in seconds.

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September 1905 is when we finally, we asked for it much before that, but on September 19, we finally got Bush, I want you to think about this. So people bitch at me about a protracted response to Katrina. So I'm recognizing hearing from all the oil and gas companies and the refineries and everything else, hey, we can't get tankers in and out and we need, we need fuel, we need all of this stuff. We need a waiver on the Jay Jones Act. So normally prior to DHS, I would just reach out directly to the president and say, hey, I need a waiver on the Jay Jones Act. Just like we were trying to do with posse comitatis and everything else. But Chertoff had been named the new secretary, so I'd make the request up through his office, wait for him to decide whether or not he wanted to ask Bush about it. Meantime, I'm screaming at the White House to get the White House to do it, going around his back, obviously. And Bush finally agrees to do it. But that costs us like four days, four days before we can get the waiver. So we finally got that, and that was just to plug the gap on the fuel that we needed. But what nobody really talks about, we had 21, I write here, we had 21 agricultural groups exerting pressure, including the American Farm Bureau, that protested getting a Jay Jones Act waiver following Katrina because we were trying to get additional shipping options for grains and oil seeds. To keep that flowing. And we had the farm groups not wanting to do that because that would obviously increase competition and drive prices back down. So it really reflects a broader bureaucracy problem. The national response plan has what are called mission assignments. And that process is where I reach out directly and say to the Secretary of Transportation or the Secretary of Defense, I need XYZ. And under the response plan, they know to do that because they don't have to pay for it. I pay for it out of my budget. But when it came to the Jay Jones Act, nobody was willing to move because they wanted to wait for the president to do it. And I should have introduced this for those who weren't listening yesterday. And I'll just do this quickly. And Michael, are you talking about this more on your own show today or not? No. Okay. But the Jay Jones Act is a law that says that in order that only ships that are built in the U.S. flagged in the U.S. and crewed by U.S. workers, and I think owned by U.S. companies, only such ships can transport goods between two American ports, which massively drives up the cost by driving down the supply of ships, of shipping between these ports. So you end up with a lot of stuff on trains and a lot of stuff that just can't get anywhere in the time frame it needs. And Michael had to deal with that in a very time-sensitive way. And Michael, do you think there's any...

chance that President Trump might start making noises about just repealing it? I hope so. I mean, it needs to be repealed. It does. We had a problem with 9-11, too, because we had the port shut down. Normanetta, who was the transportation secretary, you know, brought all the planes down. Yeah. And now we had a jet fuel problem. We have problems at the ports. And we got that one worked out without a waiver. We just... kind of got people to do what they needed to do. But in Katrina, because we had all this new bureaucracy, we had to get a waiver, and it took like an extra four or five days to do it. All right. Fascinating. I love these stories from inside government. They're fascinating and also sometimes infuriating and infuriating. They're both. Michael Brown up next.