Vicki McKenna Show - Let That Sink In with Guest Host Matt Kittle

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Well, I guess here we go. It's a jump start into the New Year. Happy New Year to you. Hard to believe we're here. Hard to believe 2025 is in the rearview mirror, but that's how it is. It is Friday, January 2nd, 2006 in the year of our Lord. It's strange saying 2026, but yeah, 2026 it is. How was your New Year's? Let me tell you about mine here in just a moment. I am your radio talk show host Phil in Daddy. Matt Kittle, glad to have you along with us, this first of many, many to come, the Vicki McKenna's show. in 2026. Vicky is taking some well-deserved time off. She'll be back with you. Same bat time. Same bat channel on Monday. Until then, it's yours truly. Our excellent producer, Brandon. Let's go, Brandon. And the whole gang here in the rumpus room, we've got two hours of excellent fun, excellent infotainment. And coming up a little bit later on in the show, Zohran Mamdani's rotting apple, that is to say the big apple, Zohran Mamdani's communist reign, begins yesterday. That's right. The good denizens of New York who elected this communist are about to experience what communism is truly all about. Why? Just ask the people of the former Soviet Union. Just ask the people of Cuba and Venezuela how that all turned out. They'll tell you. They'll give you a bit of an assessment on that. So we'll delve into what's next for New York coming up a little bit later this hour. Minnesota's fraud scandal. Oh, my goodness. This thing has taken an absurdist turn. It was absurd to begin with, but some real doozies over the last, oh, 48 hours or so we've got to catch up on. If you just said, you know, I'm tired. I'm just tired of all the news and all of the nonsense. I'm going to take New Year's Eve, New Year's Day off. I'm just going to watch as many bowl games as I possibly can. I'm going to, you know, whatever bowl game they have at me, and there are 147 of them. I'm going to watch every single one of them. Doesn't matter what they're named. Stay free Maxipad Bowl, I am in. The gummy bear bowl, you got it, pal. You can count me in. But I am not going to deal with news. Well, here we are back in the new year, and it's a good portion of us back to work. And I know how painful that is. But it is Friday, after all, and the weekend will soon be here. But if you miss some of the big headlines, and a lot of the big headlines have involved that...

Minneapolis, Minnesota fraud scandal. There have been some really ridiculous things and defenses for this scandal over the last 2448 hours. We'll get into that, including some more fun and frivolity. Straight ahead, however. Blue Doom, the blue slide into ruin, continued and an accelerated pace last year. Conservative columnist Douglas Blair writes about his beloved Portland, Oregon, and the stabbing that proves blue cities decline. Douglas will join us in just a few minutes on the Middleton Ford hotline to talk about what is happening in Portland and why it is proof positive or negative, for that matter, a very negative situation. And what is happening in Portland is also happening in so many blue cities led by increasingly... farther left people as evidenced by what's happening in New York City. New York City? Yes, New York City. We're going farther and farther left, on the left. So now we are hitting in terms of political spectrum. Socialist, or as they like to call it, democratic socialist, which just means socialist, Marxist in New York City and elsewhere, these are the candidates, by the way, that you will see. Either they are indeed democratic socialist, socialist. Or these are candidates that share many of the similar values of the Marxist socialist. They are the ones that you are going to see on primary ballots this year because the left, instead of learning, it's painful lessons of loss in 2024, absolutely doubled down in 2025 and will double down more. in 2026 when it comes to losing strategies, losing agenda items, losing policy issues that Americans have resoundingly rejected. Their hope, of course, is that, at least from their perspective, America wakes up to the bounty. That is Marxism. So we shall see. Listen, they've had a jump start on this thing, just as we've had a jump start on this show this morning, with public schools, your taxpayer dollars, going into funding this leftist indoctrination over the last few decades.

More than that, really, after the last couple of generations. So we shall see, but the battle for the republic is on in the critical midterms of 2006. We'll take a break. Oh, we're also going to delve into the winners and losers of 2025, as we put a bow on the last year. You can always join us in the conversation. You know how to do that. We'll get this whole thing started, revved up and ready to go. It's the Vicki McKenna Show on the second day of January, 2006, with your old Radio Amigo, Matt Kittle, on 1310, WIBA. Here we go. You got it, Eddie. That's right. That's how I felt stumbling out of bed this second day of January. 2006. Yes, lots of violence in the streets. No doubt about that. We're going to talk about that straight ahead. We are keeping it real. We are keeping it right. It's the Vicki McKenna's show with yours truly. Your old radio talk show host, Philin Daddy, Matt Kittle, the lesser-known, less talented kiddle. Welcome to 2006. Coming up in just a bit, we're going to talk about the rotting apple, the big apple, Zohran Mamdani's Marxist New York, got underway yesterday as the communist was sworn in. Speaking of all of that, the blue doom that has arrived, been arriving for some time, and is about to kick into high gear in a number of blue cities. The blue slide into ruin continued at an accelerated pace last year. Conservative columnist Douglas Blair writes about his beloved Portland and the stabbing that proves blue cities decline. Douglas joins us now on the Middleton Ford hotline. Middleton Ford, your good neighbor Ford dealer for more than 75 years. Good morning. Sir, how are you? Thank you for being here. I'm doing great, Matt. And let me just say, you are my favorite kid, also. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Well, that's nice, because everywhere I go, the first question I get, particularly from San Francisco 49ers fans or Iowa Hawkeye fans, are you any relation to George Kittle? I've just started, Doug, I've just started saying, why, yes, I am. Yes, I am. I'm still waiting on my share of the proceeds. Love it, love it, love it, love it. But here we are. And here we are. You write, and you have written a good deal about your beloved Portland. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you grew up in Portland, lived in Portland for a long time, and you have watched over the years Portland's decline. Tell us a bit about that, if you would. Yeah, so I grew up in Portland. I was raised there, and I write about it quite a bit because it does deeply impact me. It makes me very sad to watch.

the ruin of a once great city due to progressive leftist policies. And you mentioned an article that I wrote very recently about a stabbing case that kind of just exemplifies everything about this. So for listeners, a very brief description of what happened. A man goes up to another man sitting on a bench, an altercation ensues, and the man stabs the other guy in the shoulder with a knife. Very important to this particular story. The stabber is black. The stabby is white. And the man who stabbed the other man was able to get off due to a Portland jury saying, well, the guy who was stabbed at a racial slur after he was attacked. The jury believed that since there was a racial element to this, that gave him the right to do this. And I argue in this piece that neither one of these men, the man who, you know, attacked the other guy, had been arrested multiple times prior in Portland for doing the exact same thing for stabbing people in various parts of the city. And the man who was stabbed was a child predator. Wow. So you've got some real doozies here, some real upstanding citizens involved in this. But no matter what their background is, you have a jury in Portland saying a guy who is stabbed... and then says a racial slur after the attack, well, he's guilty of that, really, and that lets the stabber off the hook. Am I correct in all of that? That is exactly what happened, and I think this all ties together, because obviously you mentioned Zohran Mamdani and Zohran Mamdani's New York. This is something that you cannot fix as long as Democrats and the left and progressives. are able to maintain power. It's not something that president can fix. It's not something that the Senate or the House can fix. As long as Democratic voters in places like Portland are willing to let violent criminals out on the street due to the most bizarre circumstances, this will continue to happen. As long as Democrats elect communists to positions of power, blue cities will continue to decline. And that's not something that anyone... outside of these people can change. Douglas Blair, conservative columnist. He's got a great substack. We're going to talk about that a little bit more in just a few moments, but has written extensively on one of the most far-left cities in America, Portland, Oregon, his beloved hometown Portland, Oregon, and how he's watched it sink into what it is today. And what it is today is exactly what he laid out in his recent piece about a stabbing that...

shows you exactly where the leftist governance system is in America. Because it's not just Portland. It's all over. You see these stories happening over and over again. And I think of Madison, Wisconsin, controlled absolutely by leftist. And the revolving door letting out criminals over and over again on the other side of that door. You have a Dane County judge who is working, it seems, alongside with leftist Attorney General Josh Kahl doing the bidding of national Democrats in trying to convict a well-respected former Dane County judge who happens to be a conservative, Jim Troopis, and others who are all tied into by the leftist. get Trump move to this so-called, phony, fake electors case. These are the people that the leftists are targeting, because it's all politics for them, and they're letting violent criminals go. And Doug, you've seen this over and over again in Portland. Part of that is it not because of the massive homeless problem going on in the state of Oregon right now? Absolutely. I mean, my very first foray into journalism was writing about the homelessness crisis in my hometown, and it was one of the worst in the nation. It has since fallen a little bit, but it is still considered to be one of the worst places for homelessness in the country. There was a story that horrified me when I was growing up. There was a nice Viking trail, downtown Portland. Families used to go there all the time, was taken over by a homeless camp that numbered in the thousands of tents. and somebody was abducted. I mean, a child was grabbed from the bike trail by a homeless woman. Thankfully, she was recovered, but that is what happens here, perfectly... acceptable places for families to bring their children to very quickly become danger zones where you could have something like that happen due to policies that find homelessness and people going out on the streets to do drugs and defecate in public. This is just the cost of doing business in a place like Portland. And a lot of the city council members, the mayor, they have been complicit in allowing the city to decline this way. And as I mentioned in the piece, it doesn't have to be this way. You look at cities. that have managed this, Salt Lake City in Utah, has a very low homeless population, but they also don't permit that antisocial behavior. So Portland has the solutions, it has the tools. They just refuse to use it. Well, there's a very important Supreme Court case, of course, on this. It doesn't involve Portland, but it does involve another Oregon City. And what you had there was the Supreme Court saying, as not just in Oregon, but across the country, you don't have to have tent cities on your government property. That doesn't need to be allowed. You can have ordinances stopping that sort of thing. And so when, I can't remember the name of the city, I'm sure you know it. Grants Pass. That's exactly right. And that's on the Supreme Court ruling. But even after that, grants pass.

had to cave to the leftist, particularly the homeless advocates. So even a Supreme Court decision isn't stopping this stuff. What gives? So what we call it back home is the homeless industrial complex. It's one of those things where there are so many NGOs and government bureaucracies that are set up to deal with this. And they recognize that if they are to actually solve the problem, they will cease to exist. So this is what happens frequently with the left. They'll find a pet cause that they say, we need to deal with this problem. The homelessness crisis in Portland is so bad. We need more money to fund. shelters and fund anti-drug things and all of these detox habits. And then they realize, well, if we fix this problem, then the money dries up and we'll be out of work. So they continue to push for policies that might sound nice to a lot of the compassionate liberals in Portland, but actually make the problem worse. So I'll give you one example of a program that actually makes the problem so much worse and just waste taxpayer dollars. In Portland, if you are homeless, they will give you a tent. You will get a tent to sleep in. If you know anything about how the homeless deal with their tents, they destroy them very quickly. So they go back to the city. They say, I need a new tent. And the tent is provided to them by the city, and then the cycle repeats. And all of those tents, they just get destroyed. They get thrown into the river. They get thrown into various parks around town. And then the taxpayer gets to foot the bill to pay for more tents for the homeless. It is a cycle that is perpetuated by NGOs in the city that want to continue to remain relevant and continue to receive funding. So they actively make the city worse. It is the worst vicious cycle I have ever seen in my time as a journalist. And that brings us to Minneapolis, of course. Again, one of the most far-left cities in America, deep blue cities. And what are we dealing with there? We are dealing with a massive fraud scandal in welfare programs, particularly child care daycare centers operated ostensibly by Somalis in Minneapolis and elsewhere. And we have found, thanks to independent journalism once again, that this system is fraudulent. brought with billions of dollars of stolen taxpayer money. So I would say this, and I want to get your take on it, it isn't just about compassion. It is about corruption and blue city politicians with their hands caught in the cookie jar. It just seems more and more corrupt all the time. What are your thoughts on that? I think that you're absolutely right that the corruption and fraud is a huge problem. And the American public is done with the lies. The leftist media has been trying to...

sweep this under the rug and say that, oh, this is racist if you talk about the massive fraud being committed by Somalis. But, I mean, if you have been paying attention, this had been a problem that was brewing for years. And one of the things that I found very disturbing. I wrote about this for Town Hall a few months ago was the intertribal politics from Somalia. are now affecting American elections. So Mayor Jacob Frey was able to retain his position, mostly because he was able to play various tribal groups from Somalia in the city off of each other. So he was able to convince people that his opponent, who was Somali himself, was from a tribe that would either harm the interest of other Somalis in the city or that he was untrustworthy because of the tribal affiliation that he belonged to. And that was able to get him back into power. This is a problem in a third world country. Obviously, you see how Somalia has completely fallen apart. But if this is brought to America, well, that's just... terrible because you see the results you see the massive fraud that is able to be propagated based on the fact that politicians in the city think that they need to cater to these people they are saying oh billions of dollars in uh... you know child care fraud educational fraud uh... food for all of this is is acceptable because i need to maintain power and i mean i think that anybody right left and center should be able to stand up and say This is not appropriate. We need to do something about it. But for some reason, the radical left is decided that any criticism of the Somali fraud scheme is racist, and therefore you can't talk about it. Conservative columnist Douglas Blair joining us on this edition of the Vicki McKenna Show. Final question for you is what all that we've talked about, particularly the stabbing in Oregon, showing exactly what's happening in Blue Cities when it comes to crime and when it comes to, you know, the socialist social re-engineering that is trying to, that is being. pursued here, and then Minneapolis, the Somali issue with all of this fraud. Does all of this, does it help the America First Movement? It must. I mean, one of the things that I think the American public is sick of is other people and other places get in priority. Donald Trump rode into office on a wave of national discontent with the policies of the Democratic Party when it came to. how America was featured on their list of priorities. It's very clear that the left doesn't care about the American public. Portland is a perfect example. It was a beautiful city that was run into the ground by people that think it is acceptable for drug-addled zombies to harass people in the name of human rights, quote, unquote. It was run into the ground, Minneapolis was run into the ground by progressives and leftists and Democrats who thought that Somalis deserve more rights than the American public.

Donald Trump has proven that that is a popular, it is a powerful political force. It is going to continue into 2026 and into 2028. And I think Democrats better shape up and they better reflect on who they represent if they want to get into power again. If not, I can see a Republican trifecta for years to come. Well, people are voting with their feet. There's a book coming out in the not too distant future. We had the gentleman on this show a couple of weeks back. It's called Oregoners. People like you from Oregon fleeing that blue state because of all of the problems that we just mentioned. So there are repercussions for this. It may take a while longer, but we shall see. Thanks so much, Doug. As always, I've known you for a long time. Excellent reporting. Where can folks find all of your good work? Absolutely. So if they go on to the Blair broadcast, that's the substaff that I write for pretty consistently. If you go to Douglas K. Blair on X, I have a link to that there, but I also report on all of my stuff there as well. And I report with Town Hall, the Federalists, and various other conservative outlets. So you can find me online. Good stuff. And yeah, I can tell you at the Federalist, lots of Douglas Blair columns. You can search the archives for those. Conservative columnist Douglas Blair, joining us on this edition of the Vicki McKenna Show. God bless, sir. Happy New Year to you. Happy New Year to you as well. Douglas joined us on the Middleton Ford hotline. Middleton Ford, your good neighbor Ford dealer for more than 75 years. We'll take a quick break. More on the rotting big apple. Straight ahead. Stay with us. Well, here we go, huh? Doing that voodoo that we do so well. The Vicki McKenna Show, the first show of 2006. I am honored to be filling in. I am your radio talk show host. Fill in Daddy, Matt Kittle. How are you? I am hoping that this is a healthy and a prosperous new year for all within the sound of my voice. Emphasis on the healthy, as I've noted over the last week I've filled in. Week plus I've filled in. It's been quite a year on the health front, and I know a lot of our listeners. I've heard from some dealing with health issues this year, a tough year for health. So that's top of mind, top of list. Also, the health of the Republic. The survival of the republic is tops on my mind as an American. I don't know how you feel about it, but... Yesterday was not encouraging for the health of America. Now, there are plenty of liberals out there, plenty of talking heads in the accomplice media who will tell you, well, this is just the shot in the arm that democracy needs. This is real democracy.

Real democracy is electing a Marxist socialist to run the largest city in America and talk about collectivist policies. Oh, good Lord. Let's get a little flavor on this, a little bit of audio from yesterday's ceremony. the swearing in the inauguration of Zohran Mamdani. Zohran Mamdani, of course, the Democratic Socialist elected New York City's mayor. He's calling his election the greatest political upset in modern history. Do you believe that to be true? The greatest political upset in modern history. It is upsetting. There's no doubt about that. But in a city of leftist, increasingly turning left, is this any surprise? From the inauguration yesterday, Zohran Mamdani speaking. His address now on Fox News, this audio compliments of Fox News. ...this audio compliments of Fox News. ...this sacred oath humbled by the faith that you have placed in me and honored to serve as either your 111th or 112th mayor of New York City. But I do not stand alone. I stand alongside you. The tens of thousands of you gathered here in Lower Manhattan, warmed against the January chill by the resurgent flame of hope. I stand alongside countless more New Yorkers watching from cramped kitchens in flushing and barbershops in East New York, from cell phones propped against the dashboards of parked taxi cabs at LaGuardia. From hospitals in Mott Haven and libraries in El Barrio that have too long known only neglect. Yes, the Ugandan foreign national doing what leftists always have to do, and that is really emphasize the pronunciation of the Spanish words they use. The more things change, the more they stay the same. That was just a little flavor. from the inauguration speech of newly installed New York City Marxist mayor Zohran Mamdani. Who was there? Who swore in the self-described democratic socialist? Well, a socialist himself, maybe one of the most famous socialist in the country. Independent. I always love that designation for Senator Bernie Sanders, independent senator of Vermont, who is indeed a socialist, a far-left socialist. The inauguration ceremony took place New Year's Day afternoon outside New York City's Historic City Hall. During his speech, Mom Dhanie, just 34 years old, leaned directly into his ideology.

telling the crowd he had no intention of moderating his approach while mayor. He said, I was elected as a Democratic socialist and I will govern as a Democratic socialist. And I believe that to be true. One of the only truths that came out of yesterday's inauguration speech. A couple of things. One is the notion that a child shall lead them is inherently flawed in this case. Now, it's true that a child, a young man, will lead New York City. New York City? Yes, New York City. Because he was elected, apparently, to lead New York City. What is left out of that whole notion is that this Marxist will lead New York City. The symbol of capitalism, the symbol of commercialism, the symbol of wealth into economic ruin. The newly minted mayor also made clear that his administration would pursue an aggressive expansion of government power. Because once again, the expansion of government over the last 100 plus years in this country has been a recipe for success, hasn't it? Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously, Zohran Mamdani said, acknowledging that his agenda may not always succeed, but insisting it would be bold. Yes, that's what the people call for bold action, bold action to light the bridge to prosperity on fire and burn it all down. He continued, to those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this. No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers' lives. Translation, we will use the full force of big government to make New Yorkers' lives miserable. because that's what big Marxist government does. The inauguration was open to all New Yorkers, the Zohran Mamdani transition team said in a news release, adding that a, quote, huge inaugural block party will take place afterward on Broadway along the Canyon of Heroes. New York Attorney General Letitia James. administered the oath of office to Zohran Mamdani. There you go. There's an upstanding citizen right there. The should be felon convicted Attorney General Letitia James, who does like a good mortgage scandal, doesn't she? She administered the oath of office to Zohran Mamdani at midnight. Zohran Mamdani used a Koran.

during his midnight swearing-in ceremony, according to his campaign, making him the first Muslim mayor of New York City and the first to be sworn in using a Quran. I'll just let that sink in for you and you decide what that ultimately means for you, for New York, and for this country moving forward. In addition to Bernie Sanders and James, staunch Zohran Mamdani supporter and progressive New York Democrat Congresswoman, there she is. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, aka Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, delivered the opening nonsensical remarks at Zohran Mamdani's public inauguration where she declared a new era for New York City. Yes. A new era indeed. This is a guy who wants to take on those evil slumlords of New York City, and he's going to do it by damn with rent controls, all kinds of things that will crush the free market and lead to significantly higher prices in a very high-priced New York City already. He wants to run government-operated grocery stores. Let me point you to Kansas City, Missouri, which tried and failed miserably in that experiment. Just ask the taxpayers of Kansas City. And there's much, much more on the socialist communist side that the Zohran Mamdani will be bringing to New York City. and the state of New York. Because New York City is the economic engine for the state of New York. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the people of New York City have chosen historic, ambitious leadership in response to untenable in unprecedented times. You ain't seen nothing yet, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, when you're talking about untenable. New York City has chosen the ambitious pursuit of universal child care. Affordable rents and housing. Affordable rents and housing. Remember, this is from the far, even farther left spectrum, although not that much farther left spectrum, of... The Autopen Presidency, which brought you the ill-named Inflation Reduction Act. The idea is to spend and spend and spend and throw money at the problem to be able to make life affordable. That is counterintuitive, not only to every honest economist out there, it is obvious to anyone who has ever suffered from the effects of that. But that's what New York City, that's the path that New York City, New York City citizens have now embarked on.

Again, I will say what I said the other day. I want some Gerald Ford understanding. When this baby blows up, the American taxpayer is not there to bail it out. Look at how much money was thrown at Minneapolis universal child care and the welfare system they're in. Look at how much corruption. there was and is in that system. Not only is that throwing bad money after bad, you have people on the other end of it stealing that money. So good luck New York and good luck America. We'll take a quick break, wrap it up with a few spare thoughts this 9 o'clock hour of the Vicki McKenna show and get you set for the 10 o'clock hour. I hope you will stay with us. Matt Kittle, your old radio amigo, filling in on this Friday, January 2nd, 2026 on 1310 WIBA. I know it's only rock and roll, but I like it. I like it a lot. Vicki McAnon Show, Kiddle here. You are there. Thank you, Getty. Thank you. A little bit more sound from yesterday's Revolutionary. And I mean that in the full sense of the Marxist word. The revolutionary swearing-in ceremony of New York's new communist mayor. Zohran Mamdani. And who spoke for Zohran Mamdani? Who stood up and said, hey, this is a wonderful day. None other than Bernie Sanders, that old piece of socialist crust, rapidly aging Bernie Sanders. This is some of what he had to say. Right, Bernie? You know, all of us have heard. As Iran's opponents have called the agenda that he campaigned on, radical, communistic, oh, and absolutely unachievable. Really? That's not what we believe. No, that's true. You do not believe that. In the richest country, in the history of the world, making sure that people can live in affordable housing is not radical. It is the right and decent thing to do. And in the midst of a massive housing crisis, it is exactly what the people of this city and this country want and need. Okay, Bernie, if it's the right thing to do, I say two words to you and to all of your socialist, collectivist friends. You first.

You give up the massive amount of wealth you have accumulated in Congress thanks to graft and grifting, but also capitalism. You turn over that to the collective, Bernie, first. Now, the whole notion of taxing the rich. Shaking them down is really for the left. It depends on who you're talking about. Because Bernie and his wealthy leftist pals don't want to pay the freight for this socialist experiment. They want others to pay. And eventually, you can only soak the rich for so much before they get the hell out of there. And can you blame them? So who's left to pick up the tab? If you're looking to bankrupt the wealthiest country in the world, this is how you do it. All right, speaking of all of this, we'll get into the latest absurdities of the Minnesota welfare fraud scandal. Stick around more to come, the Friday edition of the Vicki McKenna Show with Kittle on 1310 WIBA. Welcome back, thrill seekers. Hour number two of our little get-together. On this January 2nd, 2006. All right, I've already screwed up my first check. What year is it? Actually, I wrote 2019 on it for some reason. I'm really off this week. Hi, how are you? Matt Kittle, your radio talk show host, Phil and Daddy, filling in on the first edition of the Vicki McKenna Show of the new year. And it's Friday. So, for those of us who had to report back to work this morning after a nice little respite on New Year's Day, well, here we are. But the work day will be over soon. It'll be over eventually. And then we've got a weekend. Does that sound all right? Good deal. That's what the old man used to say. That sound all right? Good deal. Good deal. What do we have coming up this hour? We've got a few things to take care of in this second hour of the Vicki McKenna show, including a deeper look at Minnesota's fraud scandal, which has taken an absolute absurdist turn. Have you seen some of the stuff that has come out over the last 28, 48 hours? It is ridiculous. to say the least, and it defies credibility. Which, of course, anytime you turn that phrase, you're immediately going to the so-called mainstream media and its credibility. Because the Prav to Press in this country defies credibility. We'll tell you more about that coming up. How was your New Year's Eve, your New Year's Day?

Ours was pretty uneventful. I know a lot of people out there partying and partying hard and watching the ball drop with Ryan Seacrest. Again, one of my New Year's resolutions was to see less Ryan Seacrest. But that is virtually impossible. Ryan Seacrest in the rockin' the Dick Clark rocking New Year's Eve. Didn't see it. We hung out, the family and I, ate a little bit. What did we have? My son and I, we were looking to get some chicken tenders from the Canes. The Canes was closed as of 3 o'clock New Year's Eve, which I found disheartening. So I said, what do you want instead of the canes? I know you had your heart set on it. What do you want? He said, well, the Panda Express is right down the street. I said, okay, fair enough. A little drive-through Chinese. Can I offer a word of advice about drive-through Chinese of any kind? You might want to resist. He loves it. He loves the Panda Express. Oh, my God. I never, I thought about this. I never had Panda Express Chinese before. And as of December 31st, 2025, I will never have it again. But hell, to each his, to each her own. Wasn't necessarily on my cup of tea. I did not celebrate. The new year, I didn't stay up for that. I was actually kind of lame because the girls were up playing a game downstairs. I had turned in, but I was, you know, brushing the teeth and taking care of business, the last minute business. I looked at the clock. It was like 1140 at that point. I suppose I could have just stayed with it, but there's really, at this point in time. There's really no need. New Year's Day, I think I told you before, we did what a lot of Americans did. They spent their time in a movie theater, hadn't been to a movie theater in three or four decades. Now, it's been a while. As I said before, I think the last time I was in a movie theater. It involved some sort of animatronic animation, some kids' movie of some kind. But the girls and I and my niece have really gotten into this Stranger Things. You've seen the Stranger Things? It's very strange. A fitting name. So they've had nine years. Five seasons, this was the season finale. They released season five, at least a portion of it, on Thanksgiving. They released another portion of it on Christmas Eve. We watched all of those. And then on New Year's Eve, New Year's Day.

They released the two-hour series finale. Two hours plus. It was on Netflix, and if you wanted to, you could go to the movie theater and watch it. Somebody offered buttered popcorn, so I was all in. And like I said, we've gotten into this. Really, I've gotten into it because it takes place in the 1980s as a child of the 70s and 1980s. It warmed the cockles of my heart, all of the references, all of the music, the G.I. Joe Lunchbox, you know, all of that sort of stuff. But two hours for the Stranger Thing finale. was about an hour too much. I'm not going to give out any spoilers if you haven't seen it. I'm not going to do that sort of thing. I will say this. And this is public knowledge. This is public knowledge that some will perish in the finale. Again, no spoiler. I'm not going to tell you who perished. I will tell you that I was hoping that some would perish that didn't. That was really rooting for a couple few to go down in this last big fight, but that didn't happen. About an hour of action and then another hour of a...

putting everything, trying to tie up loose ends, and I'll just tell you that the loose ends remain loose. There's not a lot of things tied up. The finale, like a lot of finalies, left a lot more questions than answers. This will be a little bit on the spoiler side. But what the hell happened to Murray? That's what I want to know. Murray was probably my favorite character in the entire series. And like a lot of series you will find on Netflix, streaming, and in the movies, Hollywood cannot help itself. It can't. We had a good thing going. And then I'll be frank and honest here. They had to gay everything up. That's right. They had to LGBTQ whatever. and make the central point for a long, insufferable time about how difficult it is to be a member of the LGBT community and society never understands and woe is me crap. There were parts, there were times when I just wanted to walk away from it, but I had too much invested at that point. And so, yes, some of it was stained by the imposition, the shoving in the leftist indoctrination crap that goes on in so much of what is out there to watch. At the end of the day, my girls are teenagers, and they don't have always a lot to say to their 50-something-year-old dad, our universes. Do not connect necessarily. They got different things going on. And I get it and I understand it. But this brought us together as, you know, as lovers of a particular, fans of a particular series. And for that, I will be eternally grateful. Because you don't always get those opportunities. And let me tell you something, as a 50-something-year-old dad, take those opportunities any time you can get them. So we had, what, 42-plus hours of good connection. And, you know, a lot of that was not just watching the series, but making jokes as we watched it, which is what we love to do as a family. So, yeah, all in all, very positive experience. We'll take a quick break. We'll come back with a little more absurdity from Minnesota's fraud scandal. It keeps growing and growing and growing. Stay with us. The Vicki McKenna Show with your old Radio Amigo, Matt Kittle, 1310 WIBA.

Keeping it real, keeping it right, the Vicki McKenna Show here and now. 1310 WIBA with your old radio amigo, Matt Kittle. How are you? Welcome to the new year. Welcome to 2006. Let's go, Brandon. Our excellent producer was just sharing with me, something we cannot share on the air because the dude in it uses the F-bomb like a noun marker. Oh, yes, so much. It's so funny. What? Sum it up for us, if you will, Brandon. I think it is, I would call it a more realistic look at the new year. Yes. Long story short, by removing all the expenses. And clean. Yeah, and clean. Everything is exactly the same. And the only thing that's appropriate, what you should do is just wish people good luck. Yes. He has some descriptors in there on how you wish them good luck. But he says, now remember, it's just the first 12 months are the hardest. That's a rather negative view on the new year. And again, as Brandon said, if you're looking at new and all of that, 2006 is probably going to be just like 2025. In his words, F-D-E-D up. That's as close as we can come to that edge. Yep. It's funny. It's out there. It's on Instagram. Yes. The channel I think is, was that ginger fella. He's a ginger British guy. That ginger fella. And he did not go gingerly into his wrap on 2025 and his look ahead at 2006. So if you're interested, that ginger guy, track it down. A lot of absurd things have gone down over the last 24, 48 hours as it relates to the Minnesota welfare fraud scam. Chief among the absurdities, just in case you've missed it, has been the Somali community coming out along with their leftist friends. Telling the world that, hey, I don't know, we can't turn over the records you're looking for because a burglar came in and stole all of the records on the daycare centers that have stolen your billions of dollars of taxpayer monies. One of these bigger facilities that got a lot of money. out of you in this big government is good, leftist scandal, claim that all of the records that would prove their innocence have been stolen. Some of the responses to this are just...

hilarious, to say the least. Again, if we don't laugh, we cry. It's Hillary Clinton all over again with the scrubbed computer, the bleached out computer, all of that sort of stuff. So this is Zeke Arkham. He writes on X, yeah. So as a cop who has investigated literally hundreds of burglaries, over a 20-year career, I can tell you that no burglar has ever stopped and stolen enrollment paperwork. Let me guess, the cameras in the facility magically broke and stopped recording while the burglary was taking place. If I worked for Minneapolis PD, it wouldn't even take me 48 hours to debunk all of this. Greg Price, who writes some great stuff, and I particularly enjoy his snarky expo, says, our daycare was broken into last night, and the only things that were stolen just so happened to be the documents that could potentially incriminate us in fraud. He responded to an end-wokeness post that said important documents were stolen. from our daycare such as student employee information and checkbooks. Oh, we have a little of that audio right here. Let's share this from you, the explanation from the Somalis who were victimized, victimized by crime. Unfortunately, we saw that there was important documentation, enrollment of the children, and also employee documentation that was gone. There were also... Czech books that were ripped from our check papers that are ripped from our book. This is devastating news. It is. And we don't know why this is targeting our Somali community. I don't know. I don't know why the Somalis are targeting the Somali community in this way. This is a heinous crime. And we'll not stand for it. I say we get a huge government grant. Billions of dollars. Let's put that grant into the Somali community and investigate this heinous crime. And when that is determined to be a fraud, sadly enough, I predict there will be another burglary because we've seen a rash of burglaries surrounding this fraud scandal in Somaliland, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Some more ridiculous stuff from this front comes from the media. Yes, the accomplice media. Fox News reporting CNN roasted for, quote, effort to discredit. Viral reporting on alleged fraud at Minnesota daycare centers. No one on earth is surprised that CNN appears to side with Somali fraudsters. That in the words of Laura Ingram from the Ingram files on Fox News. Yeah, CNN has heard an earful online by everyone, one from Senator Ted Cruz, prominent conservative pundits to average Americans for a segment that questioned viral reporting.

from independent journalist Nick Shirley. This is the funny stuff. Last hour I was talking about Zohran Mamdani. 30, just 34 years old. He's the mayor of the nation's largest city. And he is committed to a full program of ruin as he laid out in his address. And I said at that time, don't always take a lot of stock in, and a child shall lead them. That has proved very problematic over the years in this country. But there have been times when young people, I can think of a few right off the top of my head, maybe number one rising to that list, a young man who was murdered for his Christian beliefs and for his telling of the truth, Charlie Kirk. And I think of Nick Shirley, who is what, 23, 24 years old, an independent journalist because, good Lord, we need independent journalist more than ever now. We know the rig is in from these corporate media outlets, but Nick Shirley did a hell of a job reporting on this stuff. And he'll tell you, he'll be the first to tell you, it wasn't that hard. This was fraud being committed in right under our noses. He just went door to door to these daycare centers, and what did he find? Daycare centers that were getting all kinds of federal tax dollars. Not actually functioning as daycare centers. No children in there. Signs on the daycare center misspelled. Just awful, but he did a great job. So because he exposed this. The default position, the automatic switch from corporate media, is to attack the journalist who is actually doing acts of journalism. No, the corporate media will not stand for that. It'll stand for a lot of things. It'll stand for lying and spinning. Carrying water for the left? Yes, all of those things good. Telling the truth that makes the left look bad? No good. We'll not have that. And so we will devote our resources, our journalistic resources, to attacking the messenger. But yes, again, CNN was roasted online by everyone from Senator Ted Cruz and prominent conservative pundits to average Americans. Shirley went viral last week for his 42-minute video investigating Minnesota Daycare centers that appeared inactive despite receiving millions of dollars in government funding. His video prompted investigations by federal officials leading the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, thankfully, to freeze all child care payments to Minnesota. I think it goes without saying... that even if, by chance, a second Biden administration or a Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's administration, even if this fraud had been brought to the attention of the public, that that administration would do anything about it. But do what the left is doing now, saying that any talk of it,

Any documenting the proof of it is racism. CNN correspondent Whitney Wilde interviewed Shirley in a segment featured on Anderson Cooper 360 Tuesday night, during which Wild questioned Shirley's methods of investigating the centers. After peppering Shirley with questions, the CNN reporter said the network is, quote, looking into Shirley's claims. They're going to investigate the reporter who investigated this fraud. They're not going to investigate the fraud itself. They are investigating the investigator. Wilde was then shown calling Minnesota daycare centers via speakerphone. Acknowledging many of the centers surely visited did not pick up her calls. Only one daycare facility answered and said they are legitimate business, wild told viewers. Really, you just, every time you think there's a bottom, the bottom drops out. The segment was quickly panned on social media, where many suggested CNN was spending more time investigating Nick Shirley than the fraud in Minneapolis. As I said before, Fox News host Laura Ingram wrote, no one on earth is surprised that CNN appears to side with Somali fraudsters. Popular account, Libs of Tiptock wrote, CNN disputes that there's fraud in Minnesota, Somali daycares, because they called a bunch of daycares. One answered, so they asked if they're committing fraud, and the daycare responded they're not. I'm not kidding. New York Post columnist Miranda Devine added, what an embarrassment at CNN. She interviews Nick Shirley in person, but not the daycare center. And then she takes the word of the daycare center. She contacts by phone, but doesn't visit. That they are legit, seriously? One other one here, I think, is good. Ted Cruz. CNN is an SNL skit. Indeed. Indeed. It just gets worse and worse and worse. Hopefully, reasonable people will see through this crap. Straight ahead. The winners and losers of 2025 as we continue the Friday edition of the Vicki McKenna Show with Matt Kittle. Stay with us. A dead Friday, I like it. Jerry and the boys, Bobby. There he is. There's Bobby Ware. There's one of the living left in the dead. Phil's gone. Jerry obviously is gone. Pigpen, long gone. Brett, many of the other keyboardist. Who do we have left? We got a couple of drummers. And the rhythm guitarist. That's what left of the grateful dead. Hi, how are you? On that uplifting note, happy New Year. Well, it's part of life. We all grow older, and then there's that thing that happens. But let's not focus on that much longer, shall we? Matt Kittle, your old Radio Amigo filling in on this Friday.

The second day of January, the first Vicki McKenna show of 2006. And let me be the first to welcome you to it. We've got a few things to do before we conclude this morning edition of Vicki McKenna Show. And then, of course, at 2 o'clock, it starts something I like to call, Afternoon Delight. Yeah, we'll tell you what we have coming up on Afternoon Delight after a little bit. Hit me with a little music here, though, huh? Yeah, canny. Every gambler knows. But the secret to surviving is knowing what to throw away. Knowing what to keep. Why is that, canny? Because every hand's a winner. And every hand's a loser. And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep. All right. Well, I guess a little bit more death involved in our conversation this morning. But yeah, point well taken, Kenny Rogers. As a matter of fact, that's really how the Federalist staff's new 2025 winners and losers of the year begins. You can find this story at the Federalist.com. There's a fantastic reporter. In fact, there are many, many fantastic reporters and editors over there, but one, I just like the cut of his jib in particular. He writes in this as well. We won't get to all of them, but some good stuff, some well-made points, a good deal of humor injected as well, which we could all use a few more laughs in this dark world of ours. Kenny Rogers sings, as we just heard, that every hand's a winner and every hand's a loser. And the same can be said for each calendar year. AD 2025 saw some big winners. Six people won Powerball jackpots, by the way. Some guy in Arkansas won $1.7 billion. It's probably a Walton family member. A handful of countries got peace deals, thanks to Donald Trump. And Kieran Culkin got the baby. His wife promised him. It also brought us some losers like CNN, as we mentioned a segment ago, which a jury found to be literally fake news earlier this year. That is true. CNN lost a huge... Fake news case, as a matter of fact. Here are the Federalist picks for winners and losers of 2025. Executive editor Joy Pullman says, Immigration Realist were the winners of 2025. She notes, this has been a year of amazing news stories about the horrors of mass immigration from the Trump administration trying to find the 300,000 lost children. The Biden administration helped traffic into various forms of slavery due to the completely unsurprising a Somali fraud story. It's deeply refreshing to be able to finally talk about the many downsides of mass immigration from non-Western cultures, Pullman writes. It's liberating to stop caring about the craven power.

mongers who smear people as racist for recognizing that all cultures and people don't share the same values, of course. The realities are obvious, and we're seeing them play out, play out in a very transformative year, 2025. Pullman's loser... Doge follow-through. Yes, the Department of Government Efficiency was a huge part of the shock and awe of the exciting first 100 days of the second Trump administration. But like those 100 days, its efficacy has fizzled through lack of implementation. We've seen a lot of that coming from Congress, of course, which... could do much, much more on this front and actually has the final authority when it comes to creating the laws. We have no archives of disclosed public records or to pour through and report out. No mass layoffs of bureaucrats who are spending every day resisting the policies of the elected president, not even credible cuts to agencies revealed as wasting money on regime change here and abroad. In addition to Peruvian trans comic books, yes. Along the way, that's one of the many idiotic expenditures we have seen in our federal government. Was it all just a flashy news story with a little long-term effect? So far, it looks this way, Pullman writes. Let's see, Joshua Montington is an editor at the Federalist. He writes, Everyone dies, but not all die well. As brutal and horrific as Charlie Kirk's death was, he still died well, doing what he loved, doing what he was called to do, living courageously. Many men start strong, but few finish strong. Charlie did both. Montington has a defined loser here. And it involves probably the staunchest critic of the conservative organization that Charlie Kirk founded. That being Candace Owens. Sure, the FBI didn't magically become the purest and most effective organization in the world simply because Trump is back in the White House. And Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are in the driver's seat. Yes, every agency involved in the investigation into Charlie Kirk's assassination needs to be held accountable and pressured to bring everyone involved to justice. But holding authority accountable doesn't have anything to do with Candace Owens asserting that Trump and or the feds and Israel orchestrated Kirk's assassination. Hypothesizing that, quote, nothing in Charlie's life was real, that from Candace Owens, criticizing his widow because she doesn't pass the vibe check, and declaring that Charlie was betrayed by everyone, among other things. And no, she's not just asking questions either, regardless of what her motives are. And it...

So we'll see if we can get that one for you coming up in the 2 o'clock hour. I have long. Oh, he's British. So, you know, you're going to get the stuff. I have long recommended Hollywood in Toto by Christian Toto. It's a website that is devoted to movie and culture review, entertainment review, from a conservative perspective. It's just really good stuff. And it takes on, you know, a lot of the stories coming out of Hollywood that you don't get the full reporting on. It gives you a perspective that you certainly don't get in corporate media. And he's got some very interesting headlines coming out, including some end-of-the-year movie reviews. One of them, the headline is about the movie Nuremberg. The headline is Nuremberg should crush TDS once and for all. Trump derangement syndrome. Nuremberg offers a slick, satisfying look at critical trials following the Third Reich's demise. Until it doesn't. Buried in. Buried in the middle of this well-packaged drama is shocking footage of the Holocaust atrocities. What might seem tonally imbalanced is actually a perfectly deployed smart bomb, Toto writes. It's vital to the story in the play while reminding anyone cold enough to compare President Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. that they should be ashamed of themselves. And they really should seek, like, round the clock, psychiatric care. Yes, writer-director James Vanderbilt's film is shrewdly assembled and brimming with snappy dialogue. The why behind the film and its vital importance at the end of 2025 comes through with those visuals. Christian Toto writes, you can find that and so much more at Hollywood in Toto. Good stuff from a conservative perspective. This conservative is hitting the road for a while. We'll be back at 2 p.m. for afternoon delight. Until then. Gerald Radio Amigo saying, make it a great Friday morning. Goodbye. So long. God bless. Happy New Year, you exceptional Americans. How do you do? It is Friday. Ooh, that's nice. January 2nd, 2006 in the year of our Lord. Yes, we flipped the calendar. Yes, I've already screwed up the checkbook. More of that to come. I am your radio talk show host, Philin Daddy. Mad Kittle taking you through what we like to call around these parts. A little bit of afternoon delight.

Why do we call it that? Because it's delightful. Like Derek from Stranger Things. Delightful. You guys do what you want in your own time. This is a family show. Yes, the 2 o'clock hour is here upon us, and we have much to accomplish coming up. In just a bit, a conversation with our old building and loan pal, Reason's own crack reporter Eric Bame at reason.com. He will join us for a little bit of perspective from the swamp. on the big economic lesson of the 2020s thus far. He's got an interesting take on all of that at reason.com. A little bit later on in the show, the top 10 media hoaxes of 2025. The federalist Sean Fleetwood has the look at that. And yeah, some of these will come as no surprise. Some of these I think you might have forgotten about over the last several months. But, yeah, if 2025 felt like a huge sci-op to you, that's because in many ways it was. We'll talk about that. The top 10 media hoaxes of 2025. Our producer, our excellent producer, Brandon, let's go Brandon. Discovered a guy, you know, the kids, they get into the Instagrams and to the snappers and whatever else they have going on out there in social media. I, as a 50-something-year-old man, let's just say I'm not on the cutting edge. So I count on the young people. particularly the young people who produce shows like this to keep me informed and brandon tries his level best to do that he discovered a gentleman on the instagram by the name of that ginger fellow and that ginger fellow from uh from england Jolly Old England has some interesting things to say. He's got an interesting perspective on life. His latest little hit on Instagram, we can't play because we can't find enough time to take out the F bombs littered throughout. Yeah, there's way too many. But Brandon, just way too many. I wouldn't be comfortable. I'm sure the program directors at these fine stations would be a little nervous too. Yeah, just...

Probably not well advised, but it is a little toast to the new year. And basically what the Ginger Fellow says is, welcome to 2026. It's pretty much like 2025. And instead of wishing you all of the great change that some are hoping for, he'll just wish you good luck. And then, of course, a lot of expletives littered along the way. But he does, in a much cleaner version that Brandon has successfully edited, offer, I think, an extremely important reminder on the tax state. This is a little bit of the Ginger Fellow and his message for you from The Taxman. What's the difference between a politician and a flying pig? The letter F. Well, let that sink in. You earn it, they tax it. You spend it, they tax it. You save it, they tax it. You invest it, they tax it. You live in it, they tax it. You sell it, they tax it. You build it, they tax it. You drive it, they tax it. You eat it, they tax it. You give it away, they tax it. When you die, they tax it. And then guess what? They only go and f-waste it. Let that sink. In. Now here's a list of things I trust more than our current government. An email saying I can claim millions of inheritance. People who smile before 9 a.m. Flat earth theories, long range weather forecast, filtered profile pictures, horoscopes, palm readings, reality TV shows, and of course, people who don't like dogs. Or animals in general. Because did you know the difference between humans and other animals? Other animals wouldn't allow the dumbest one to leak the...

Sinking. Oh, you've got to let that sink in. I think he has a book out there on you can find on Amazon called Let That Sink in as well. It's more of this kind of wisdom. Yeah, it's a little tax man from the Beatles right there for you. Let me tell you how it will be. There's one for you, 19 for me. He has a great list there. And I like the list of what he believes or would believe before he believes the usual lying politician. Wasn't there are a lot of messages that he gets text messages saying there are a lot of beautiful women near him in his neighborhood? Wasn't that one of them as? I think so. I know he's got the... The prince from some country somewhere trying to sell him on a big cash fortune. But there you go. A little wit and wisdom from the ginger fella. Straight ahead, wit and wisdom from our reason fella. Eric Bame, our old building and loan pal, joins us for the big economic lesson of the 2020s. Here you go. This is what it's all about. It's the Vicki McCannis Show, afternoon delight version for this Friday. January 2nd. Let's get it all underway now. Hang on. Keeping it real? Keeping it right. The Vicki McKenna Show with your old Radio Amigo, Matt Kittle. How are you? Hmm? Yeah, we are indeed working for the weekend. Say as we wrap up 2025, I did not have this on my 2025 bingo card. Tell me if you did, you're probably the big winner. The headline from Fox News, Will Smith sued for sexual harassment, accused of deliberately grooming tour violinist. Yeah, did not have that on my bingo card. This is a kind of story that would make someone angry enough to slap someone. Will? Will Smith was accused of sexual harassment, Fox News reports, by Brian King Joseph. And a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles just before the new year. According to documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Joseph, a professional violinist alleges Smith was, quote, deliberately grooming and priming Mr. Joseph. for further sexual exploitation in the complaint against the Academy Award-winning actor and associates with the Trey Ball Studios Management Incorporated. After his first performance with Smith in December, 24, the Gittin' Jiggy with it, singer allegedly hired Joseph to join his Based on a True Story, 2025 tour. And the rest, of course, is a good deal of allegation and accusation later. You can, of course, find that story at foxnews.com. One thing seems to be certain, Will Smith and Chris Rock will not be co-hosting the Academy Awards.

this year. Let's turn our attention now to the economic lessons of the 2020s, our old building and loan pal and crack reporter for Reason.com. Eric Bame joins us from the swamp, live from the swamp, for a little perspective on a very thought-provoking piece he has written today. Well, good afternoon. Happy New Year, my old friend. How are you? Happy New Year to you, Matt Kiddle. That is a heck of a transition. Let me tell you. But I have always wondered what getting jiggy with it meant, and I suppose maybe we have the answer now. I don't want to assume anything until there's convictions here. But maybe. Sure. Yeah. No, no. You make a good point. I'll send over the lawsuit, and you can figure out exactly what getting jiggy with it means. I believe there is some mention of it in said lawsuit. Yep. And I think you're going to find out real quick, at least via allegation. Now, you have this very interesting piece, my friend. at reason.com. You can find it today. I think it published the last day of the year. But basically the idea here is in the first five years of this new decade, Well, it's not so new anymore. But the first five years of the 2020s, there have been leaders who have not relied, or at least, at the very least, paid attention to the economist in what they do in terms of economic policy. And you mentioned some key examples. Let's go over that, because from your estimation, some big failures came out of the fact that we have some big politicians not paying attention. Yeah, the 2020s are much like you and I, Matt Kittle, getting a bit long in the tooth here. We're now, you know, past the halfway point. Well, past the halfway point. And, you know, end of the year, good time to look back and take stock. And this was something that, yeah, something that I was thinking about as we came to the end of the year is that, you know, this seems to be the dominant story in politics. At least, you know, I cover fiscal and economic policy, at least for me, that's been the big story. Has been, I feel like, you know, once a month. probably more than once a month. I write a piece for reason that basically just says, you know, here's what a politician said, and he's wrong, and here's what the economist say and why you should believe them instead. And, you know, in broad strokes, you can go back and look at the, you know, the pandemic. Nobody wants to relive these memories, but I mean the lockdowns that happened at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, that was all driven by public health experts who were kind of given the keys, not just in Washington, but largely in states and cities too, right? Like those are really... where a lot of the damaging decisions were made. And the economists were either absent or they were just thrown out of the room. I mean, anybody who raised, you know, said, hold on a minute, maybe closing businesses by governor fiat isn't necessarily, you know, a good idea because it'll have economic consequences. It'll have, you know, other sports of consequences. Economists understand tradeoffs and they understand consequences of policy better than other people do. And that was missing there. You can say the same thing about what happened coming out of the pandemic where we had.

you know, some high profile economists like Larry Summers, who said, don't do more stimulus. President Joe Biden, we don't need more stimulus. The Biden administration decided to run the economy hot. That's what they wanted to do. And we got, you know, inflation that we hadn't seen in 40 years. And we're still dealing with that. That was a disastrous decision that was made, despite what the economists were saying. And then I think you got on a smaller scale, but the same sort of thing happening now with Trump and the tariffs and the trade war. where again you had economists saying this is a mistake, you know, tariffs are not going to reduce trade deficits. Tariffs are going to make it more difficult, actually, to manufacture things here in the country because we input lots of raw materials and intermediate goods that go into manufacturing. The Trump administration did not listen, went ahead, and we've now got, you know, the economy is doing quite well in a lot of ways, but the manufacturing aspect of the economy, that sector, the economy not doing so hot at the moment. So I think once again you see. just a failure to listen to the people who understand the tradeoffs. Eric Bame, excellent reporter, economic policy, regulation, all of the above in tracking big government. He reports for Reason.com joining us on the Vicki McKenna with your old radio pal, Matt Kittle. Speaking of Larry Summers, Eric, I thought the biggest story of the year was the Epstein files. Yeah. Yeah, he was caught up in those. No, I mean, I think that was probably the big story. One of the big stories of 2025 for sure. He's, you know, his name popped up in there. This is going to be a big story, I think, for a while to be honest. I don't think we're done with that with that story just yet. As much as I think a lot of people in power would like to be done with it. No, I don't mean to throw you off your game here, but it's interesting all of the people who are involved in policymaking coming up on that particular file. But I want to ask you about the experts, and you note the economic experts, and I understand there are a lot of people here who have been doing, you know, some very good work for a long time. They know about economic trends, macro and micro. That said, you mentioned the, you know, the pandemic. And we were supposed to follow the experts during the pandemic. Follow the science. And yet when we did that, it got us in a hell of a lot of trouble. You mentioned the lockdowns. You mentioned what happened to the economy, what happened to education in America. So why should we follow the experts? in the economy they are at times very very wrong of course they they certainly can be and i think you know one of the big lessons that i took away from the pandemic well i think it was something that i are sort of already knew, I think, on some level. But learned again, as many of us did during the pandemic, is exactly that. You can't just trust the experts all the time. It's a mistake to just assume that people who are in power or people who have risen to the hikes of their professions are necessarily always going to be right. And it's certainly an even bigger mistake when they're obviously making.

policy that really goes well beyond what their expertise is in, which is what we saw in the pandemic, honestly, right? We saw public health experts making economic policy, making unconstitutional illegal policy in many cases, right, going well beyond in the political sphere. And it's one thing to be an expert in health policy. You should be at the table, but the economists need to be at the table, too. The people, you know, you need to take, you know, consideration from many different points of view. And I think we need to also be cautious of the idea that we should be skeptical of experts. Like that is true. That doesn't always mean the experts are wrong. And I think too often in the coming out of the pandemic, we've assumed that the one thing means the other thing, right? That like, oh, the experts were wrong about some things. Therefore, they must be wrong about everything. And that's kind of the point in the piece I made today is the piece that I wrote for this week is that that's... That's not always true. Sometimes the experts actually are right. And I think economists are uniquely positioned to actually understand the policy to be a bigger factor in the policymaking process than they're often allowed to be because they're right in the piece. Really, they're not experts in the economy. What they are is they're experts in tradeoffs. They understand, as Thomas Sol famously put it, that there are no solutions. There's only tradeoffs, right? That's the thing when you're making policy. And so I think we've been presented. Over and over again, during the pandemic and after the pandemic, and again with tariffs, you're presented, and in any other aspect of politics, you're presented with these solutions by politicians who say, if we do this, we will get this result, and there will be no other. We ever think about the consequences, right? And economists are very, they're trained to think about the consequences. That's what they do. They are often, you know, their input is often not appreciated because they're often the person in the room saying, yes, but. What about X? What about Y? But, you know, it's important to listen to those people. It's important to know whether they're economists or not. It's important to listen to the people who are challenging the, you know, perfect solution that's being presented. I agree with you 100%. I think the so-called experts who were politically motivated during COVID did a grave disservice to the real experts out there who are really truly trying to look at the numbers honestly. Just have a minute left. You talk about tradeoffs. What do you see in 2006 the economy ahead? What are the economists telling you on that front? Yeah, I wish if I get, if I could predict the future, I would be doing a far different, a very different job and getting paid a lot more money. I think the economy is, I think the economy seems to be, you know, certainly doing better than most other economies around the world. We've got that going forth. I think it's a question of just how much better could it be if you weren't throwing, you know, putting a weight around its neck, honestly, which is what things like the president's trade policy have done. I hope we'll see maybe some. either the Supreme Court will rule on that or Trump will think better of it and back away. And I think the big story in 2026, honestly, in politics is going to be, it's already happening, but it's going to be the Republican Party figuring out what comes next. Like, that's what you're clearly seeing already with some of what's gone on at the Heritage Foundation and some of the other kind of internal Republican fights that are happening. And that's going to be as we head into the midterms, it's going to become even more apparent that Trump is on his way out.

this decade where he's dominated the Republican Party, dominated American politics in general, is coming to a close. And so we're going to have a new era next, and what will that look like? Succession is never as easy as it might appear as some people want to be. So that fight, which I expect to be pretty nasty, is going to really kick into high gear this year. I don't doubt it one bit. It is 2006 midterms, and there's going to be a lot of figuring out going on over the next several months in this country. What we need more than anything, I think some of your leftist economists will tell you, is another Inflation Reduction Act, because that was hugely successful. Spending a gobb smack of money is always a good idea to curb inflation. As always, my friend, it's a real pleasure. And I'll talk to you before the baseball season begins, okay? Sounds good, Matt Kettle. Thank you so much. Have a good one. Happy New Year. Be well. You too. Be well. God bless. Eric Bamer, old building and loan, pal. Crack Reporter for Reason.com. You can find his work at the aforementioned reason. Reason.com. We'll take a break coming up, the top ten media hoaxes of 2025 in this Friday edition of the Vicki McKenna Show with Matt Kittle. Hang on.

Well, as our old building and loan pal, Eric Bame told us, we're getting a little long in the tooth. I love that he says that because I remember. We work together along with our good pal Benjamin Netanyahu Yant. Who does your morning show as well on News Talk 1130 WISN? But Eric was kind of the kid of the three amigos that made up the part of the investigative team, Yant, yours truly, and Eric Bame. But yeah, he's getting a little long in the tooth, too, because Yel and I are very long in the tooth. Oh, my goodness, I've got some bad news, everyone. You know that whole Somali scandal over there in Minneapolis? The one where, along with the idiot governor of the state and his administration, taxpayers were bilked out of billions of dollars in welfare fraud. Yeah, it turns out the key documents in that case have been burgled. You know, I hate it when things get burgled. Unfortunately, we saw that there was important documentation, enrollment of the children, and also employee documentation that was gone. Wow. There were also checkbooks that were ripped from our check papers that were ripped from our book. This is devastating news. It is. And we don't know why this is targeting our Somali community. We don't know why either. That's sad. It's very sad when the fraudsters are the victim of crimes. That's always sad. By the way, the guy who they have for their spokesman in the Yankees cap. Here's a little tip. Now, I know you can't see this because the video is with us here in the studio, and this is sound only. But the dude who has given us this news that the big so-called child care center that had all of the proof... was burglarized, his eyes could not have been darting around anymore. And one thing I know is that if you can't trust a fella who can't look you in the eye, I don't know, who can you trust? Greg Price wrote wonderfully on this. We'll talk more about this later on today, but... Our daycare was broken into last night, and the only things that were stolen just so happened to be the documents that could potentially incriminate us in fraud. How about that? That was from a tweet by end-wokeness. Important documents were stolen from our daycare, such as student employee info and checkbooks. There's an interesting text, excuse me, tweet out there as well from a longtime police officer who says, been a police officer more than 20 years, worked on hundreds of burglary crimes and no one takes employee info in a burglary. And that's it. That's all they stole. They didn't take any, you know, of the big cash money laying around.

And the other stuff of value, they were really just after that vindicating or incriminating evidence, no matter how you want to look at it. Well, there are a lot of falsities out there, to say the very least. It was a big year in 2025 for lies and your corporate media. was deeply involved in that spin, to put it generously. Again, outright lies would be a better way to express it. Certainly hoaxes. That lines up. Sean Fleetwood of The Federalist has an interesting piece up right now at The Federalist.com. He writes, it turns out... that when you spend every day parroting the most asinine conspiracies and narratives imaginable people lose faith in your ability to play it straight pretty quickly that's the situation that america's propaganda media found themselves in this year per usual as their credibility among the public hit the lowest level in recorded history To be honest with you, after this year and after what we've experienced for the last several years in this country, I'm surprised they have any public sentiment in their favor at all. For anyone who's paid attention, Sean goes on to write, to their coverage of the 2025 news cycle. He has news in quotation for the accomplice media. It's not hard to see why their numbers are so low. From running cover for leftist violence to gaslighting Americans about their role in the cover-up over Joe Biden's ailing health, the corporate media's bid to hide the truth was nothing short of remarkable. And he tracks. The top 10 biggest media hoaxes of 2025. We don't have time to go over them all, but I think there are some that will jump out at you right away. I wanted to get into the first one because Greg John, excellent producer of the Benjamin Netanyahu Yount show this morning on Facebook. I think it was a repost. I don't know where it came from, but it was funny. And it talked about all of these liberals at, oh, like, for instance, Zohran Mamdani, the new communist mayor of New York City. New York City. Yes, that's what I said, New York City. He, among others, they're caught in photos, doing that sign, you know, with their hand on their heart. and their left arm out and sticking out in front of them, outstretched. Remember, it was a little more than a little over a year ago when Trump won in 2004. And everybody on the left and the usual suspects in the media.

industrial complex, the hoax industrial complex. They're all, oh my, that Elon Musk, he's doing a Nazi sign over there. He must be a fascist. Remember that crap? Because Elon Musk put his hand to his heart and extended his hand out to a crowd of like-minded human beings. But Elon Musk... The left used to love him because of the EVs. And, of course, they went on to smash up the Elon Musk made electric vehicles because, well, he supported Donald Trump. And anybody who supports Donald Trump and Donald Trump's policy, according to the left, is a fascist. It didn't take long. After President Trump was sworn back into office for the media to pick up right where they left off after his first term, Fleetwood writes. While celebrating alongside Trump's supporters at a post-inauguration event, ex-owner Elon Musk delivered remarks to attendees in which he thanked them for making Trump's victory possible. With his hand over his heart, the tech mogul then pointed to the crowd and said, My heart goes out to you. It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured. Media hacktivist quickly leapt into action to falsely characterize the hand gesture as a fascist or Nazi salute. This included outlets like PBS News. Yes, your public broadcasting station. Remember, they don't need your taxpayer, right? And when the taxpayer money is taken away from them, they cry poverty. They're destitute. PBS News wrote on X, billionaire Elon Musk gave what appeared to be a fascist salute Monday while making a speech at the post-inauguration celebration for President Donald Trump at the Capital One arena. That's the sort of quality reporting your taxpayer money used to go for. Thankfully, in the big beautiful bill, there is no more taxpayer money, I believe. I need to double check that because sometimes some of that cash sneaks out the back door by a bureaucrat. But that was the deal. That was the idea behind that section. of the legislation. No more funding for National Public Radio, PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which has disbanded. They can do it on their own. If they want to be a leftist propaganda machine, they can do that, but not on taxpayer money. Wait, wait, Joe Biden wasn't okay after all? This is a good one. It gets to the heart of the auto-pen presidency, despite outlets like the Federalist reporting on it for years. America's propaganda press didn't just ignore Joe Biden's clear cognitive decline. They actively participated in the cover-up. At every turn of his presidency, the media did everything possible to run interference for the dottering Delaware Democrat and preserve their party's political power.

It was only after Biden disgracefully exited stage right, literally, that media hacks like Jake Tapper felt it was okay. Now it was safe. To acknowledge what those who aren't regime simps have long known to be true about the now former president. Earlier this year, the CNN talking head and Axios' Alexios' Alex Thompson. embarked on a media tour, I should say earlier in 2025, embarked on a media tour to hawk their new book, which promises readers an inside look at the Democrat-led effort they participated in to hide Biden's decline from the American public. Well, I tell you what, though, I do remember when George Clooney, good old George, lonesome George. came out with that opinion editorial piece for the New York Times and told us, now I got to admit, this isn't the same Joe Biden I voted for. That's when we all woke up, right? To the fact that Joe Biden wasn't all there. Yeah. The lies, the cover-ups of 2025 should be enough to sync corporate media. at least the support of the American public for corporate media. But I think the word was simps that Sean used. Lots of them out there. Stay tuned. We'll wrap it all up with a few spare thoughts straight ahead. The Vicki McKenna Show with Matt Kittle. Hang on.

Well, the clock says the hour is quickly ending here. It all ends too soon. As always, I enjoy hanging out with you on the Vicki McKenna Show. Vicki's back with you, same bat time, same bat channel on Monday. So get ready for some full throttle talk radio. Coming up Monday morning into Monday afternoon, the Vicki McKenna Show. Boy, this communist mayor of New York is raising some eyebrows, isn't he? And some blood pressure and some concerns, deep concerns. Bishop Robert Barron, a prominent Catholic leader, Slam Socialist, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's inauguration line, promoting the warmth of collectivism. Wasn't that a beach voice song? The warmth of collectivism? Saying, God's sake, spare me. During his inaugural address, the newly minted socialist mayor in New York's first Muslim mayor declared, we will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. Let me ask the folks who survived Castro's regime and the people who escaped the iron curtain. behind the Soviet block, Iron Curtain, about the warmth of collectivism. They'll have a different tale for you. New York is about to be in a world of hurt, thanks to the morons who elected this guy. But that's their problem right now, for right now. Hey, I hope to talk to you again soon. As a matter of fact, I will. Coming up straight ahead on the Dan O'Donnell Show. How about that? I'm checking in again. That's right. More kittle. More kittles straight ahead. Until we talk again in a few moments. Be well. God bless. Will you experience the PFL live? The hits are harder. The crowd is louder. The action unmatched. Ain't no more stopping these teens and pleas for wearing the crime. July 25th in Washington, D.C., undefeated that the silverbacked gene, fights to cement his place atop the division. Against the silent assassin, Shamil Musayev, with PFL gold on the line. The tension is building. Be there. Saturday, July 25th, live from Care First Arena. For tickets, visit pfell. info slash DC. 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.