The Rod and Greg Show: Utah Lawmakers to Study Environmental Effects of Data Centers

absent in the report. So if you're going to take all those things out, what did you report? It's not too good. Apparently, they lost because of misinformation, disinformation. They were the best candidate, but that people were tricked. And as to the Republicans, they beat, they called them the Republicans were deeply flawed that they beat and they were able to run negative campaigns about them. If that's the best you've got in this leaked. uh autopsy of the lost campaign for president in 24 i hate to see what you omitted out of this thing yeah i mean even the head of the dnc is disavowing it now saying you know we don't we don't think it's a right report you have all kinds of democrats running around today greg basically saying look at we don't you know this report isn't true the facts aren't right they're disavowing this report it's absolutely amazing but in many ways It is spot on. If you go through some of this, they talk about Harrison, how the Trump administration, very wisely, Greg, and the campaign ran this trans ad in which Kamala Harris is talking about transgenderism, and that really hit a chord with a lot of American people. The interesting point they also made, Greg, I thought was interesting in all this. They ran on a campaign of almost, they were fearful. They didn't want to do podcast. They didn't take questions from the media. You know, Joe Biden certainly did. And even when Kamala Harris became the nominee, she didn't hold too many interviews. And here you have Donald Trump who will interview with anybody. All you do is have to ask him. Yeah, you know, and when they brought up the transgender issue, they didn't bring it up is, is this an issue that's resonating with the public at large? Are we on the right side of all this? The only thing they talked about is they complained how it was manipulated against them. So what's missing from that report is anything about issues, whether they resonated with the public or not, doesn't talk about women's sports, doesn't talk about the bathrooms, doesn't talk about whether the pronouns were compelling issues to be... pushing or promoting. It doesn't talk about the inflation or Biden inflation. It talks about the role of religion and how hostile that campaign seemed towards people of faith. It didn't talk about make America healthy again. I mean, there's just so much missing. And so even the things they touched on, they just gloss over it. And even their narration is, we were awesome. People just didn't know how great we were. That's what the problem was. Okay. Well, run with that. Keep running with that, I say. Yeah, it didn't sell. Well, we'll talk more about this on the show today. Coming up next, we'll talk about America's chilling embrace of anti-Semitism. Probably should mention, Greg, that we won't be here tomorrow. Should we mention that? Yeah. Yeah, let's, you know, because it's Memorial Day weekend. Yeah, we'll take a little bit of a break. You must hate our military. You must hate the fallen of our military. And you are, then you just hate America. And if you're working tomorrow. So we love America, so we're not working tomorrow. Oh, well, I just thought we're not working to enjoy a day off.

No, no, it's Memorial Day weekend. That should be a four-day weekend anyway. Greg, you and I have talked about this because you have young people, young adults in your family, and we've talked about, you know, the feeling toward Israel and some of the anti-sentimism that is taking place around the country, especially with young people. It's kind of perplexing. Well, I can't say. I mean, I find that there's a strong narrative out there that Israel, APEC, they have a disproportionate influence in Washington than other stakeholders or other influences that are in D.C. is what you hear more often. There's a cynicism about them. I don't hear necessarily a sympathy for Iran or for... uh you know for even palestine or whatever it may be i don't hear a sympathy for them but i do hear a cynicism about the the strength of lobbying from uh apache and from israel and and i you know i don't get it all i i do i I hear it, especially coming from young people, but I don't know. It's, it's curious to me. You know, joining us on our newsmaker line to talk more about this is our next guest. His name is Yoav Potash. He is a Holocaust expert in a documentarian. Let's talk about America's chilling embrace, I think, anymore, of anti-Semitism. You have, how are you? Welcome to the show. Thank you for joining us. Well, thank you for having me. What is your take on what you see taking place in this country when it comes to this feeling of anti-Semitism that is taking place, especially among young people in this country? What do you see happening? Well, I see a lot of people, young people in particular, but not limited to young people, are upset around what they see happening in Gaza, in Palestinian areas, and upset about the policies of Israel. And I kind of want to put that aside for a moment and just say there's a difference between Jewish people. in the nation of Israel. And what I see is really dangerous. is, you know, people are entitled to have their opinions about Israel. They can think what Israel is doing is horrible. They can think what Israel is doing is great. Where I have a problem is when people think, if people do have a problem with Israel, then they turn that into hating all Jews and conducting acts of violence against Jews. And that's...

really scary to me. It's obviously very wrong and has echoes of things that happened not only during World War II, but after. What my film among neighbors focuses on is the fact that even after the Nazis were defeated and it should have been a time of peace. Jews were actually still being murdered in Poland by their neighbors. And so flash forward to today, and that's why the film, by the way, is called Among Neighbors. But flash forward today, when you have Jewish people being killed. by their fellow countrymen, by fellow Americans in this country. It's happened on multiple occasions. Synagogue shootings or the shooting that happened a year ago today at the museum in Washington, D.C. So, you know, that's my perspective on it, but the film... Among neighbors, I did not expect it to be so timely. You know, as I was making it, it seemed at first like this is a piece of history that I want to bring to light. I had no way of knowing that the echoes would only get louder in our present day as not only anti-Semitism is on the rise, but political violence is also on the rise. And that's a real deadly cocktail when you mix those two together. I just want to ask a question, is there a space in the political arena to actually question the lobbying efforts or what I've heard is undue influence or oversized influence without it being anti-Semitic towards people that are Jewish, whether they live in America or they live in Israel, or towards even Israelis themselves, but towards the political infrastructure, can there be critical questions asked? Or is it immediately assumed that this is all anti-Semitism if you find criticism in any of that space? I mean, I would certainly like for there to be that space. Part of what that requires is everyone understanding, as I was saying, you know, there's a difference between Jewish people. and the government of Israel. Yes, Israel is a Jewish state. That's true, and that's part of why people get confused. But, you know, I'm an American citizen. You're an American citizen, I assume. That doesn't necessarily always mean you support and believe every single action that the government, that the American government is taking. And I know it fits. You know, we've seen this country go back and forth from being led by Democrats to Republicans and back and forth. So it's almost, you know, half the country is probably always disagreeing with what's happening, depending on who's in charge and which half you're asking. But what's happening now to Jewish people, that maybe it's a little hard for non-Jewish people to understand.

That's why I'm here to try to explain, you know, what we feel is happening to us is we're all being blamed. We're all being targeted because of something that's happening on the other side of the world that some of us, you know, that we have a whole range of different opinions about. And yet there's a lot of. anti-Semitism that's really broad, really aggressive, growing in the number of people who are kind of jumping into this swamp and swimming around in it. And of course, young people are really susceptible to learning things on social media. And there's always been lies about Jews long before social media. There's all kinds of crazy myths. about Jewish people, but now some of them are really getting amplified and unfortunately elevated because somebody out there wants to get more clicks. And I realize, oh, if I'm sensational, then I'll get a whole lot of activity. Yeah, that's sad. You have great insight. Thank you for joining this and sharing some of your thoughts with us today. Oh, my pleasure. I hope your listeners will check out the film. It's on Apple TV and Prime Video, and it's called Among Neighbors. Thank you. Good luck with it. We appreciate your time. Enjoy Memorial Day weekend as well. All right, more coming up. It is the Rod and Greg Show right here on Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. Hey, this is Ryan Seekrest here, and I have discovered a fun to escape from the daily grind. Chumba Casino. Chumba Casino. It's all free to play anytime, anywhere, with daily bonuses. So get to Chumbacasino.com. No purchase necessary. VigW. Boy, we're prohibited by loss. In terms of conditions, 21 plus. Doug Owens is joining us. uh you had us so representative owens welcome to the rod and gregg show but i'm going to ask you this question i love that the legislature made a motion i guess this is in committee to study this um the issue of the data centers. But studies can mean different things to different people. I mean, and what I mean by that is if you want to build a road or a bridge in Utah, you'll have an environmental impact study. That could take 18 months. Right after that, you have an Army Corps of Engineers study. It could take another year to 18 months. By the time you're finished with that when the first study's expired, you've got to go back and ask for that to be renewed or revised. Sometimes when environmental groups say we want to study something, there seems to be a slow bake going on. But I want to believe that there's good information out there that people need to understand. What kind of study do you envision the legislature looking into for data centers? And are you going to look at other data centers out there to answer questions? And how quick of a process do you envision this to be?

Well, thanks for having me on to talk about this stuff. Yeah, I think it's not an effort just to kill stuff by studying forever and ever. It's an effort to have an honest look, to have government have good information. It's not just related to the one in Box Elder that's been proposed up there. Of course, that's what brought it to the four because the issue to the four because there's been such a... A lot of information that might be correct, that conflicts, that lacks, there's stuff where we clearly don't have the information clearly in front of us. So it was just an effort to, and it got bipartisan support, by the way, Rod, to. To, you know, to take an honest look, but not to study to kill things. I think nobody would have scored that. But just to just to have an honest look and have government reacting and governing based on good information. Representative, the governor said yesterday that the rollout of this data center project, the one in Boxelzer County, was not good. It could have been done better. In your opinion, what should have happened here in regard to this data center there in Boxelzer County as far as the rollout is concerned? Yeah, I saw that and agreed. I guess that was Greg earlier. Sorry, I got the names mixed up, you guys. The, I thought there was a, it was too hasty, you know, the, the, the decision got rolled out from the MITA entity that doesn't have to make its decisions out in front of the public. And then the Box Elder County Commission had, I think it was 10 days or two weeks to. to decide whether or not to enter into the municipal services agreement with the with the proponent and I just thought that that wasn't I agreed that was a little too hasty and again I think probably the governor I don't want to put words in his mouth but I think he's probably had in mind the idea that we've had conflicting information we've had a lack of information we have You know, I don't think the public clearly understands. One day we're told it's the biggest 2,000 Walmart centers. Another time we're told it's one building that looks nice. And, you know, we just need to have clarity about what we're, it could have a huge impact on a lot of people. So what time frame are you looking at? I know the state government works a lot faster in our federal government, so I have high hopes. But, Representative, how do you see this starting and where do you see, how do you see this rolling out? Yeah, Greg, I think, you know, this is a state that where the Republican majority is running stuff in the legislature, and I think there was bipartisan support over this interim to consider, which means before the fall, to take into account where all the proposals are for data centers. You know, there isn't just the one in Box Elder County. There's, there's 20 odd proposals right at the moment to put data centers in different places in the state.

So to look at, you know, how much energy are these guys going to be producing? Where are they, how are they going to source that? Are there, you know, are we going to have the water to cool these things? So I don't, there was no, this is not an effort to get into detail about the one place, uh, going, proposed in a box elder and to decide whether or not to kill that. I think that's. going forward or not on its own merits. This is an effort to look more holistically as a state. You know, is this how we want to use water resources? This is how we want to dedicate? You know, because these could have a lot of impacts on the scope they're talking about for the energy production, you know, up there. It could, they're talking about generating more than twice the electricity of the entire state already, that the entire state already uses, which could have a lot of impact on our wildlife if you're a hunter or fisher, if you care about those. The birds in the wildlife refuge. It could have impacts there. It could have impacts on water usage. You know, we've got a lake we want to save. We got houses we need to build for our kids and grandkids. We need water for lots of different things in the state. So I don't, there's no, there's no precise timeline being proposed about looking at the data center. But I think, I hope we come up with a holistic assessment and then come out with a detailed process. for the next legislative session where maybe we do look, we do have a process in place that creates a timely process to decide whether or not we should build some giant transformational facility, you know, and get, and get. Step into the world of power, loyalty, and luck. I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse. With family, canoles, and spins mean everything. Now, you want to get mixed up in the family business. Introducing the godfather at chumpacasino.com. Test your luck in the shadowy world of the godfather's slots. Someday, I will call upon you to do a service for me. Play the godfather. Now at chumpacasino.com. Welcome to the family.

Yeah, we're talking with State Representative Doug Owens about the data center and a study that lawmakers wanted to do. I have a final question for your representative. Is a broader issue here? Yes, there is concern about data centers. I understand that. But it's also fear of AI because we don't know exactly what AI is going to do our lives in the future. Is that a fair question? I think so, Rod. I think it's all wrapped up. People are wondering about the utility of that. But, you know, those are really two different issues, right? You know, there's people out there who say, oh, we got to be competitive with China and so forth. You know, what if they're right? Let's assume let's, you know, that's its own issue we could debate all day long. But if they were right, then the question would be where should you cite these data centers? And one thing would be, you know, where you have the energy supply or if you generate it. The electricity for it, are you going to have the water to cool? You know, they want to burn natural gas for this one up there. And that would generate an enormous amount of heat. Do you have the water to cool that? And, you know, we got a lake we want to take care of, make sure we all don't end up in a toxic dust cloud. Why wouldn't we think about that? So, yeah, you're right, Rod, yeah. Do we want AI and what that's doing to us and how that's changing our job market? That's a whole different thing, right? But let's, if we do assume you want them, then what the next question is, where do you put them in? You know, it might make sense to put them where they got more water. We've got to think about our future, right, if you're a hunter or if you care about. whether the lake stays in place and all those issues. It's fair for the public to want to have a look at that. Yeah, they should. Representative Doug Owens, thank you for joining us. Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend. Thank you. Thanks, Rod. Thanks, Greg. All right. On our newsmaker line, I think it's a good idea. Study this, but I'm with you, Greg. Don't drag this thing out forever. And that tends to happen with studies, I think. Yeah, I know. And I just think there is, you know, I've heard so much information, but how they enforce the agreements and things, I think, should be part of how you bring it to the public as well. So people can make it great assertions on how they're going to generate power, how they're not going to waste water. But what's your structure for enforcing those things? I think that's another area of interest. The public will need to know. It sure is. All right. More coming up on the Rodin' Greg show. Coming up in the 5 o'clock hour, Congressman Burgess Owens will be joining us, not Doug Owens, but Burgess Owens. He'll be joining us talking about this bill about schools hiding gender transitions from parents. He's really been working hard on this, and we'll talk about that with the congressman coming up at the top of the hour. Greg, some news out of Washington today, the commission of... Fine Arts has now approved President Trump's plan to build a 250-foot triumphal arch in Washington. Have you seen artists pictures of this?

I have not. You haven't seen this? Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah, the chairman of that committee says, Washington is not a static city, making a motion to fast-track approval of this project. It must grow to allow the next 250 years of Americans to celebrate. It's kind of like the Arc de Triumph that they have in Paris. This would kind of like the Arc de Trumpeth. In Washington. Trump's triumph. Trump's triumph. Yeah, that's what it is. Oh, by the way, this will come as no big surprise to you or to any of us out there. Nine of the ten best American cities in this country today in which to live are located where in GOP-led states with mayors that lean conservative. Surprise, surprise, huh? This is my shocked face. Yeah. Yeah, the report released today by U.S. News and World revealed the 10 best cities to live in are mostly in ruby red states with mayors that lean into conservative values. The cities include Carmel, Indiana, Fisher's, Indiana, Flower Mountain, Texas, Town, Ankeny and Iowa, I believe it's towns in Georgia, Alabama, Michigan, Texas, Texas, and Texas. living in conservative states with conservative leaning mayors yeah it's no surprise there i think you were just in florida you felt you could feel the freedom yeah you could feel it was palpable yeah you do you feel freedom i i i don't know what it was i couldn't put my finger on it the one thing i did notice a lot of american flags flying down there i mean everywhere you look there were american flags flying down in the state of florida Yeah, no, I think you're going to see more of that. I mean, honestly, people are retreating out of California first time since the census. They did the census, and since statehood, you're seeing smaller numbers in California, and they've got such great weather. You've got to be pretty bad to chase people out of that state with the good weather they have. But they're doing it. And so I think the good state, the well-run states are going to start to stand out even more and more amongst Americans. Yeah, it would. All right. Coming up in the 5 o'clock hour, as I mentioned, Congressman Burgess Owens will join us. He's been working on a bill which prevents schools, I love this bill, from hiding gender transitions from parents. I don't know what educators are thinking about that, but they shouldn't be doing that. And Congressman Owen says, you want to play that game? We're going to pull federal funding from you, and he'll talk about that. Coming up in hour number two, the Rod and Greg show, as you head home to this Memorial Day weekend with Utah's Talk Radio 1059, KNRS. Hour number two is on its way. Stay with us.

Operation Gigalog. It's all the rage. It's a quite timely topic, isn't it? So I know some of the folks out here, I'm going to be watching and I'm going to report. I see anything suspect. I'll give you my take. So, yeah, well, you're on top of it. Our ace reporter. That's right. That's right. That's right. I'm your roving reporter on Thursday. I'm your roving reporter, folks. That's what I'm here. Hey, guess what? John Curtis has decided to play kissy face with Mark Kelly, the Arizona Democratic Senator. They want us to disagree better. You know, how about do some work together better? Yeah. How about that? Can we have a do some work better campaign? How about actually move the needle? And if you didn't get along on the issue, you still get along as humans. That's kind of what the political arena is supposed to do when you disagree better. You're actually supposed to be getting things done. Both sides don't win, but they can appreciate each other at the end of the day. They're getting nothing done. They're doing nothing. They're leaving this late, Memorial Day weekend. They're leaving no reconciliation bill. They're doing nothing. Yeah. And they're going to get it, but they're going to get along famously doing nothing. Give me a break. They're going to disagree better, according to these two. We'll talk about that, let you hear this new public service announcement that they have put out. That's coming up here in a little bit. But right now we want to bring out our next gas. That is, you saw Congressman Burgess Owens, the House passed legislation yesterday. I love this bill. Greg, I know you do as well. It mandates. elementary and middle schools obtain explicit approval from parents before implementing changes to their children's pronouns or making other sex-based changes. It's about time. And joining us on our newsmaker line to talk about that is Utah Congressman Burgess Owens, who's a key player in all of this. Congressman, thanks for joining us tonight. Tell us about this bill and why it's so important. Well, it's common sense. When you think about it, it's, you know, at the end of the day, parents should have the knowledge of what's going with their kids. I mean, it's something that we all knew and have always drawn up with and we wonder what happened over the last few years. Well, we're back to common sense. This is something parents want, parents demand. And we're saying at the end of the day, if you do not respect the relationship the parents have with their children, then we'll just, will not fund you. So they have a choice to make here. They can. Keep doing what they want to do, but just won't get any funding for it. So with that being said, since money does make a big difference to these folks, so they're going to pay attention and do the right thing. You know, Congressman, I know you're not running for reelection. I love that you're running hard. Anyone calls you a lame duck? You're, you know they would find a wounded wolf, okay? They're not, you're not messing around. So you're working very hard. I know you just came off the floor to participate from the house just to participate in this interview. My question is this, we need your bills to pass. We just need them. Yeah, I don't want them just to pass in the house. We need your legislation to become law. Tell me there's a, you see a pathway in the time you have left to get this thing, get your bills passed into law.

Well, you know, the next steps, obviously, we're getting, we're getting through the markups. And on the floor here, I'm very confident we'll get it through because it makes sense. What the next step will be get to the Senate. And then once we get there, obviously, the goal is how can we, I can find a good partner to work that through in the past with the choice that I had before, it was Ted Cruz, who was actually another end just made, made that happen. So. We're going to work this hard. It's spread time now. We want to get things accomplished of all the times in the history of our country. I think now we can do it with the president we have, who has a great voice. And we do have a Congress and Senate, even though it's a little bit tough at times that. It ends up coming to do the right things at the right time. So I'm going to very confident we're going to get this through this year. Congressman Owens, how do administrators in schools, teachers justify not telling the parents of such an important decision on the part of the kids? How do they justify that parents don't need to know this? You can't justify it unless you're a Marxist, unless you believe that the government truly owns our kids. And that's what we're dealing with, my friends. All those are listening out there. This is a result of years. of indoctrination, of our kids believing that there's something special about elitism and government, that they have more control over the people. So this has been a process over time. And what we're seeing now as a result of that teaching that started decades ago, we have parents that are willing to let to buy into it. So we're now, the great thing about what we are now is that we have a president, we have a administration that understands that education needs to go back to the basics. about science, but truth. And in this case here, about the family, everything that deals with faith, family, the free market, things that we believe in Utah. We're now bringing that back to the plate. We're going to start teaching our kids this. They're going to be hopeful and positive. And that's what I'm excited about as we move forward. We now understand it. And once we now understand we can do the right things and the right kind of people of Congress and understand we're against, and we're fighting this an ideology that hates everything that we stand for. We understand that and we can be real busy and get really engaged. Congressman, I remember reading, and this was a little while ago, in working class school districts in California, of all places, where it's not a heavily Republican area. You had parents that were going to school board meetings that were outraged, that the schools had policies that would leave the parents out of these decisions or informing them. So what it said to me was this isn't actually a Republican issue or Democrat issues. Parents across the board. want to know what's happening with their children. And they want to be part of those decisions. Is your bill and the work that you're doing, are you finding bipartisan support for this? Hey, it is Ryan Seacrest here. If you love great games and a little extra excitement to your day, I got something fun for you. Chumba Casino and I have teamed up to create an exclusive online social casino game. It's called Ryan Seacrest 10K ways. It's fun and free to play. Just like all your favorites from Chumba Casino. And every spin brings 10,000 ways to keep the good times going. Check it out and play for free today at chumbac casino.com. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Voidware prohibited by law. CTs and C is 21 plus.

like Trump a casino. Believe it or not, we did have, in this case here, we had eight Democrats that came across with us. So that does say something. Nice. And I'll say those, those Democrats in areas that are swing districts, there were where they cannot get away with not understanding that relationship with the parents have their kids. This is something that is so much common sense. All we have to do is get the word out. Get the word out that it's happening. Many parents, because of where they may live, maybe the way they're listening to their, they're getting their source of news, have no idea this is happening until it's way too late. And so now that we're talking about it, now we're passing these type of bills. It's going to get no question to get past the House. I have no doubt about that. I'll find a good, a good lead in the Senate. We'll get it passed there. And then it comes down to very simply those who believe, those who have an ideology. If they know they can lose money or lose their jobs, they'll stop it. That's the only thing they'll stop them. They need to know those consequences, accountability, and we're going to make sure that happens at the next level for sure. Congressman, before we let you go, I want to talk. You've got some new legislation that you're talking about today as well. I believe it's called the Charlie Act. What exactly is the Charlie Act, Congressman? The Charlie that comes down to very simply, it is saying we're going to teach now our civic history back based on facts and truth. We're no longer going to teach us the businessiness that we have going on based on race, creed, color, gender, all that stuff goes away. And what we're seeing is we're now going to teach our history the way it should be those who don't, again, do not apply, do not adhere to this. The funds will be taken away. The federal funds will be taken away. So it kind of fits in this entire process of education that's coming together, I think, in so many different ways. And this is one just a way that we can highlight the good work of Charlie Kurt by saying we're going to start having conversations. We're going to start teaching our history for what it is and then debate the process so we can get to a place that we can always continue to be that one, that more perfect union that we talk about at all times. Congressman, I don't want to throw cold water on that because I believe devoutly in what you just said. But here's my worry, and that is the continuing education that teachers go through, educators go through so that they can get better compensation. They go back to higher ed, institutions of higher learning, to get certificates, degrees. What I'm being told is that this is where you're seeing this indoctrination occur. You're seeing in that higher education, the teachers are taught new pedagogy that includes DEI and gender ideology. Even if you have a bill that says if your school does it, you can't get the funds, how do you stop that pipeline of teachers that didn't know this or didn't believe this, learning it in real time throughout their career? Greg, that's a good question. And it comes down to this. We're not going to pass laws at the end of the day. We'll pass laws to make sure that we have parameters. At the end of the day, it's the choice. When parents can take their kids to places that will give them the right type of education and take away from these, these leftists or these Marxist type of school systems, that's when that's when everything begins to change. So choice is really at the end of the day is going to be the bottom line of this is when parents.

can say, I'm going to, I'm going to vote my rights, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, that's the way I believe based on what's in my kids. And so that's, that's that's, that's, that's one of the greatest thing we did last year with the one big, beautiful bill. We now, we now have a federal choice program that across the country, uh, kids will not be stuck in, in the, in the, in the, the right kind of values. All that's changing now. So we're going to put together the, the, the, the laws that allows it to happen to make sure there's accountability in terms of, revenue that are going to these schools that are doing it. What's going to end up being the bottom line is when parents say, I'm going to make sure my kid gets the best education possible. And that's going to drive merit. That's going to drive the possibility of those who want to do it the right way. And those who do not want to do the right way will go out of business. And no matter what type of school we are who will not survive if folks don't, don't show up anymore. So that's going to be the bottom line I was going to get the thing done with. Congressman Burgess Owens joining us on our Any Hour Newsmaker line, Greg, and I have to support both of those efforts that he's undertaking. I think they're sorely needed. All right, more coming up on the Rod and Greg show in Utah's Talk Radio, 105-9, K&RS. Good to be with you on this Thursday afternoon, heading into the Memorial Day weekend. If you want to take a minute on Monday. There are always a number of various ceremonies at various communities around the state, as a matter of fact, to honor our fallen war dead. Hopefully you'll take a minute to honor them and think of them and maybe take part in some of those ceremonies. That's coming up this weekend. All right. John Curtis back in the news today, Greg. Him and Mark Kelly, who is the Democratic Senator from the state of Arizona, have now decided to do a new video campaign. And what they're doing is urging parties to disagree better. These days, it feels like every headline or social post is there to wind us up. More noise, more outrage, more division. One side says, your neighbor's destroying America. And the other side says you are. The truth is, Americans agree on a lot more than you think. For starters, 83% of Americans say reducing political divisiveness is important. Even more striking. 71% of Americans believe we have more in common than what separates us. fight isn't left versus right the real fight is not giving into division because while we're busy shouting at each other nothing's getting built so shut your phone off for a few minutes step outside help somebody listen to what they have to say even if you don't like it treat them like a person who wants the best for this country even if they have a different idea of how to get there to disagree is human but to disagree better is american all right now that That is John Curtis and Mark Kelly, a new public service campaign they've launched called Disagree Better, Greg. And the question I have on this, I know you've got some thoughts on it as well. So are they saying if we stop shouting at each other, things will get done? So because we're shouting at each other, we're being blamed for not getting anything done in Washington? Is that a fair take?

Yeah, well, I think that the tone I just heard and the message we just heard is it's our fault. You see, the American people are so mad and so divisive that it's preventing them from actually getting any work done. Maybe I heard it wrong, but I fundamentally don't understand how two members of the U.S. Senate, one Democrat, one Republican, can even delve into the topic of disagreeing better or getting along when there's nothing that they've actually done. to move the needle, to pass into law that they might have agreed with each other or not, but all the while doing it agreeable or disagreeing better. Don't you have to do something to disagree better to then talk about disagreeing better? I mean, I don't understand that ad. That ad sounds like, hey, people, if you'd stop to put your phones down and quit being so upset because... Because you are, we can't get anything accomplished out here. That's what I think they said. Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't even know how you can talk about some public service message about getting, disagreeing better when you don't have any work. Just do it by example. Go get some things done and say that, you know, if you didn't agree with each other, you agreed with some of it, I don't know what, but I just find the whole thing to be performative. I think it has no substance to it. And it's all just... theatrics. Well, here's another take I haven't. Another takeaway on this, in my opinion, Greg. And we talked about this. We took some calls from our listeners on this the other day. I think you and I agree. They talk about we have a lot in common in this country. I don't know if we do anymore, to be real honest. I mean, I don't know, you know, when they talk about, well, we have a lot in common. You know, we don't like, you know, the party's bickering at each other. Well, I don't hear anyone trying to stop it. But I don't think we have as much in common as these two men think we have. Maybe I'm wrong on this one. But I'm not sure, Greg, I don't think we have a whole lot in common anymore in many, many areas. No, I think there's a big, there's a solid, a bright line that's been drawn. And I mean it. I don't, I think there are people that love this country with all their hearts. They want to protect it, promote it. They want our institutional foundation, our foundational institutions to be protected. We want freedom of, you know, the, liberty. We want liberty of self-determination. We want all those freedoms. And then there's people that hate this country. hate our foundational institutions, and they don't want more of it. I mean, Gavin Newsom just said it's 250-year anniversary, and I'm not proud of this country at all. I can't even celebrate it. He has said as much. Senator Mark Kelly, when you go on one of these commercials and tell members of the military, as a former member of the military, to disobey laws that you think are not constitutional, what in the world do you think is disagreeing better about that? What, I mean, that is, I don't know what, I've not been in the military, but I, but from even our listeners that have called in, there's a chain of command, there's a process, some widespread, you know, internet commercial telling from members, former members of the military that are all Democrats telling members, current members of the military serving.

to not obey any order that you don't think is constitutional is chaos. Yeah. And it is not disagreeing better. No, it is not. All right. When we come back, we want to get your thoughts on this. We've got a lot of great listeners, this whole Disagree Better campaign with John Curtis and Mark Kelly. What do you make of it? 888-5808-50 on your cell phone, dial 8808010, or leave us a message on our talkback line by downloading the IHeart Radio app. More coming up on the Rod and Greg show. Public service campaign or announcement that was put together by Utah Senator John Curtis and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. It's a brand new campaign and they're urging parties, political parties, and all of us to disagree better. Apparently, Greg, they feel if we disagree better, we'll get more things done. Well, I'll tell you what will soothe my soul is to hear from the collective wisdom of our audience. So let's just, can we just go to the phones, right? Can we just go and start that right now? Let's go. All right. Let's go to Scott in Salt Lake City. Scott, thank you for holding, and welcome to the Rod and Greg show. Hello, Scott. So one of the things that I would say, I just, yes, I hear. Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry. Can you hear me? Yes, go ahead. One of the things that I would say is that I just heard these two congressmen sitting there saying that we need to do something to actually get something done. And I would tell you guys that maybe we ought to pass that state act. I would actually get something done where 83 or whatever percent of America actually agrees to it. Democrat and Republican alike, I would say that we start there. And one of the things that I would say, too, that we wouldn't have to do this because it's a breach of national security, meaning the fact that if we were to have a million people from another country come into this country, they could actually dictate what happens in this country. That's all I got to say. All right, Scott, and it's well put. And I agree, Greg. You know, they want to talk about disk screen better and getting things done. Well, as Scott, our caller just pointed out, what is 80, 85% of the American people want the Save America Act, and all this act does is ask you to show ID before you vote, yet nothing seems to be done. So they should start in Washington when it comes to disagreeing better. I know. It's the weirdest. I just find it so strange to tell everyone to disagree better when that body can't come together to move the needle. Again, for something that has an 80% approval rating across the border of Americans, they're not doing it. And then they turn to us and say, put down your phone. Disagree better. Give me a break. Walk the talk, right? All right. We do have some talk bad comments coming in on this. Let's take a listen to a few of those. Ready to put a little spin on your day? Then check out Chumba Casino's new online social casino game, Ryan Seacrest, 10K Ways. It's free and packed with 10,000 ways to play. Only at Chamba Casino. No purchase necessary. VGW Group, void where prohibited by law. CTs and Cs, 21 Plus, sponsored by Chumba Casino.

Most of us agree on the Save America Act. So, hey, that's one thing. Why can't they pass it? Yeah, they should be able to save that. Well, that's what we just talked about, the Save America Act. Here's another comment. Hey, Rod and Greg, this is Darrell again from Clearfield. I just agree with what Greg was saying about the disagree better commercial. And my take is that it really sounds to me like they're saying, quit paying attention, quit complaining about what we're doing, sit down and shut up. which I don't like. I don't think we like. He was that listener, Greg, saying again, you know, they should, they should do something. Quit paying attention us and pay attention to what you're doing. And they aren't doing much. Honestly. They aren't doing much, are they? Mind your own business. Yeah, busy bodies. Mind your own business. Why don't you teach us by example instead of lecturing to us? Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. What's going on? All right. More of your calls and comments coming up. 888 57080101 on your cell phone. Dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod, of course, on the talkback line. All you need to do is download the iHeartRadio app. Look for KNS.com and you'll see that little red microphone up in the right hand corner. Hit that and you can leave us a message as well. Utah Senator John Curtis and Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly urging all parties to disagree. veteran. We're getting your reaction to it. Let's go back to our talkback line and hear what this listener, Preston, has to say from Salt Lake City. Hey, Rod and Greg, Preston from Salt Lake. You know, they conveniently forgot to mention, you know, the stat on the Save America Act about, you know, them disagreeing, us disagreeing better thinking 80%. want that passed, why can't they disagree better in the Senate and pass the Save America Act? I don't know. They just conveniently forgot to mention it, you know, maybe because they don't care. Maybe because they don't care. And he's so right, great. I mean, 80% of the American people more than that want the Save America Act passed. Very simple, being pushed by Mike Lee, but John Thune in the Senate won't allow it to happen. And let's talk about disagreeing better. How about agreeing to get that done? How difficult can that be? And we cannot let this point be repeated too often. I mean, I know we've heard it on the show already, and people are going right there going, wait a minute, you have truly a bipartisan sentiment in this country to do something to show ID to make sure those that vote are legally eligible to vote, not canceling out votes of legal voters by those that aren't supposed to vote. And if you want to disagree better, get that done. For every 80-20 issue out there, 80% support, 20% against, why don't you show how you guys can come together and pass those issues in this bill? Save America Act's a perfect example. And it's not lost on our listeners that there's a hypocrisy. If you're going to just try to hug it out on camera, but you can't get something done that we've all collectively as Americans hugged it out on. We've hugged it out on this issue. We know we want it. Why can't they deliver it?

It's, it's, yeah. Well, it's so frustrating to the American people because every one of our listeners, either on our talkback line or our callers, have brought this up today, Greg, and they said, look, look at the numbers and the numbers. I haven't seen a poll. Any different from the original one that shows, what, 80 to 70% of the American people think this is a good idea. They want it passed, but here we have these lawmakers who just can't seem to get their act together. They can say they disagree better. Well, disagree better and get this done. How difficult can that be, but they allow procedure to get in the way and say, well, we just haven't got the vote, so the procedure won't allow us to. This is what frustrates the American people when they want to get something done and the law. lawmakers in Washington go, well, there's a procedure. We can't do it. This is where the American people are saying, the heck with you guys, we want to throw you out of office. Well, I'll just tell you, you know how you disagree better? A talking filibuster by design was made to disagree better. It was to slow down the process. It was to debate a bill. It was to hear amendments, to hear every senator's concern specific to the bill to see if there was common ground that could be found, amendments that could be arrived at. Our civil rights act started out with like, 12 Senate yes votes, sat out there for months, you know, in this talking filibuster, as the filibuster in the Senate was designed to do. And at the end of the day, it finally passed. But it didn't pass without a robust debate for ages. They went on and on. It was a talking filibuster. This zombie filibuster where you just have to automatically have 60 votes to go to a final vote. It's a lazy, lazy way to do it. It was never intended to be that way. And if you want to disagree better, go back to a talking filibusters. It was designed so that it forces senators to talk together and guess what? Disagree better. Yeah. And find amendment. Find common ground. And pass that of Save America Act amongst other things. Yeah. This is, I think this is where the American people, Greg, just pull their hair out and say, come on, guys. This is one simple thing that we ask you to do. And you. still can do it. There are larger issues out there. But to me, this is a pretty cut and clear avenue to take when it comes to people who vote. They want Americans voting for American positions, American leadership, yet they can't even get that done anyway. Frustrating. Yeah. Economist Steve Moore is going to join us next. That's coming up in hour number three of the Rod and Great Show. Stay with us. We're going to take a little break for the Memorial Day weekend. We'll be off tomorrow. We have some great Fox News specials that will air during the hours that we're normally on from 4 to 7. And then on Monday, Iheart talk programming will take over the show from 4 to 7 on Monday afternoon. So we get a bit of a break this weekend. That's right. We'll miss our great listeners too, but hopefully this Memorial Day weekend, everyone's going to have a great safe Memorial Day weekend. And I hope that, I don't know, what do you do, Rod? I go to my mother's grave. She didn't serve in the military, but I try to clean up her grave site a little bit. We bring some flowers there. We've done that for many years. And so that's a tradition, many people.

I do over the Memorial Day weekend. Yeah, we do the same thing. Not my family. My family's all back east. But, you know, my wife's family's from southeast Utah, not very far away. And actually, she has. One of the original pioneers who came to the valley is her great-great-grandmother. And we visit that grave in Wellsville and then other graves as well and pay tribute to them. So it's a chance for the family to get together. And I know, you know, we live just east of the cemetery in Caysville. I tell you what, on Sunday and Monday, that place is packed. There are a lot of people dropping by flowers, meeting together as a family. It's just kind of nice to see. We venture into the Salt Lake City Cemetery there in the avenues. And again, that place is everybody's there. And they have a, it's good. There's people paying their respect. And they have a nice veterans section too where you can, we like to walk through and look at the different dates of the different veterans that are laid to rest there as well. So it's a, it's good. It's a good time to remember. Our loved ones are fallen. It is a great day to remember, Greg, and I totally agree with you. And hopefully, if you do have time and you want to pay your respects to those who have died and those who are still alive and the wars and what they fought in, there are a number of ceremonies taking place around the state. Check it out in your community and you have to have time swing by one of them. Now, before we talk to Steve Moore, you got a, I think, an email or a text message from one of our listeners talking about what's going on with his disagree better issue. I thought he brought up a very good point. Absolutely. This is great. From one of our, again, smartest listening audience in all the land, hey, how about making insider trading illegal for legislators like it is for the rest of the country? So I know how to disagree better. Why don't you pass some laws that you have to adhere to the way that Americans have to? Every day Americans have to. You get thrown in a clink if you engage in insider trading. Go ask Martha Stewart. Okay, but they don't. They're exempt from that. I think it would be a fine show of, you know, just agreeing with one another and even agreeing with us, the American people, if you were to outlaw insider trading. So to our listener who made that comment. Touche. I agree. 100%. Totally agree. All right. Steve Moore is now joining us. Of course, Steve has the Unleashed Prosperity newsletter that you need to get every morning. Always great information. A top economic advisor to President Trump during his first term, meeting with the president on a regular basis about the economy today, and he's joining us on our newsmaker line. Steve, I've got a question. You know, you hear people say they're concerned about prices. Gas prices above $4 a gallon, I think, at all 50 states now. Yet we hear reports that there may be more people going out this Memorial Day weekend than ever before. Explain that one to me, would you?

Well, it is kind of a paradox because if you look at consumer confidence and consumer sentiment, people, you know, say, oh, they're really financially stressed out. And I think a lot of people are financially stressed out. But, you know, incomes are still rising. And, you know, there's a concept in economics called where you basically look at people, what people are doing. They're what's called a revealed preference. In other words, what are they really doing? Now what are they telling pollsters? And so when we look at what they're actually doing, they're spending money. You know, the consumer spending numbers have been very strong. The consumer has been, you know, consumers and investors have really been building up the economy. There's a new report today that shows the economy growing at a very healthy pace so far this quarter, even though gas prices are rising. I was sort of surprised by that. But the word I used last week on your show, and I'll use it again this week, is resiliency. There's so much resiliency in this U.S. economy, and it's really quite impressive. Hey, guys, it's Ryan. I want to tell you about my new pastime, Chumba Casino. Chumba Casino has been around for over a decade delivering the most fun you can have online. Play social casino-style games for free, anytime, anywhere. So sign up at chumbac casino.com. No purchase necessary. PGW. Boy, prohibited by loss. See, terms of conditions, 21 plus. Steve, here's, you know, we've been waiting for Jerome Powell to get out of Dodge for how long. I mean, this guy has been just plaguing us. He's the most partisan Fed chair on the history of the Fed. Yeah. So we finally at least get him out of being chair. And we get a new guy. He's fresh on the job. It's his first day. And the next thing I hear are people talking about an interest rate hike. Is it real? I won't trust anything I hear. Tell me that we're not considering an interest rate hike or if we are, tell me why I shouldn't be wanting to throw myself out a window. Well, first of all, I will be there tomorrow at the White House when Kevin Warsh is sworn in, and I'm so proud to be invited to that. I'm a good friend of his, and we pulled hard to get him in there, and he will be exceptional. He is going to eat a great, great choice for the Fed. I could not be happier with this choice, and so it's very, very good news that he will be there. Now, I think it's, you know, we all wanted a rate cut, but I don't see how you can do that right now with inflation running at three and a half. He is a strong dollar guy. He's going to keep the dollar as good as gold. He's going to keep inflation down. So my own opinion, and you'll hear different opinions by different people, but I don't think now is the right time to be cutting rates. Because when you cut rates, you put more money in the economy, and you guys know this from economics 100. If you put more money in the economy, now you're going to see a little bit of a pickup in inflation. What we have to do is, you know, compress the inflation rate, get it back down to less than 2%. And if we do that, by the way, then I think you'll see interest rates come down. I think you'll see the economy much healthier even than it is today.

Well, what about a rate hike? There's no, I mean, the inflation, some people are starting to sweat. They're saying that the inflation with Iraq, all the, or with the Iran involvement, we might see a rate hike. You don't see a rate hike, do you? I don't, I don't think so. I don't think that a rate hike, although, you know, the betting markets, you know, now have it about 50-50 that there might be a rate hike, but that's because the oil price has been rising. And so a lot of it depends on what happens with the price of oil. So I have a hard time even answering that question. We've got to get the straight open in the Middle East. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin your Memorial Day weekend. But, you know, we've got to get inflation down. And by the way, the best way to get inflation down, you know what the best way to get inflation down is to cut government spending. Yeah, what a novel idea that would be, Steve. Steve, let's try. I'm shooting from the moon here. It's the moon shot right now. Steve, let's talk about gas prices. All 50 states is now above $4 a gallon. I know Iran and the straight causing all kinds of problems. There's been talk about eliminating the federal gas tax temporarily. What's your take on this and where gas prices are going? Is it all dependent on the straight end Iran right now? It is. Well, of course it is. And we got to get those supply chains fixed because they've been, you know, messed up now for three months. And that's why I don't know what you're paying there. And I'm almost afraid to ask because you guys have some of the lowest gas prices in the country. But, you know, in California, it's six bucks. Where I'm at, well, I'm at $4.50 a gallon. So we got to get those gas prices down. And I do like the idea of states and the federal government temporarily suspending their... their caps on gasoline. And, you know, the federal gas tax is 18 cents a gallon. And then states, I don't know what you do in Utah, I know you're probably pretty low, but some states are 50 to 70 cents a gallon. Yeah. So you could save consumers. And then once the prices come back down, then you reinstate the gas tax. That's something Trump wants to do. And I'd like to see that as well. So, Steve, in your Committee to Unleash Prosperity Newsletter, I read today that California, in fact, their Medicaid covers exorcisms. Now, you seem surprised by that, but I find that state solidly evil. I think people are running for their lives out of California. Medicaid having to fund exorcism seems absolutely intuitive to me. Why are you surprised by this? I mean, we laugh about this, but, you know, they also cover for tribal ceremonies and things like that, you know, rain dancers and things like that. Well, gee, whiz, I mean, what's next? I mean, if you get a tummy tuck or, you know, are you going to get coverage for Medicaid? But there's a reason why California is bankrupting the Medicaid budget and the federal budget. They're spending so much money in all of these procedures. And then the federal government picks up 80% of the cost. Yeah, pretty amazing. Crazy. Yeah. One final question, Steve, did you see the Jeff Bezos interview and him talking about taxes and the fact that you know you can continue to tax the rich, but it's really not going to help the average American? I agree with that. What are your thoughts? I don't know if you saw the interview, but I thought some of his comments were really interesting.

Yeah, well, he was very good on that. And he's right. The top 1% pay for over 40% of the income tax. So they're paying their fair share. But what we want in America is a rising tide. We want to make, you know, everyone rich, not everyone, but the left wants to make everybody poor. I wrote for the first option. Yeah, I'm with you as well. Steve Moore joined in us, Greg. And when we come back after our break, I do have an audio soundbite from that Jeff Bezos interview again, where he's talking about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being critical and criticizing billionaires, said you can't be a billionaire in this country. The only way to become a billionaire is to cheat. And I'm sorry about that one. I don't agree with that. Yeah. Yeah, no, no, no, we need to play that because I think you can only combat blather with truth. And, you know, we've got to be able to, I think Jeff Bezos lays it out pretty clearly. Yeah, he does. All right, more coming up, Rod and Greg with you on this Thursday afternoon and talk radio, 1059, KNRS. What do you think of this idea, Greg? A lot has been made of this conversation that Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon and now the Washington Post and a million other companies, apparently. He sat down and did a very interesting interview. with CNBC, the Business Channel. And one of the things he said is that there are Americans who should not pay federal taxes. He was talking about the fact that, you know, the Democrats want to raise taxes, and he claimed that raising taxes won't help out the average American. He said, look, how is this going to help a teacher in Queens? And he brings up the fact that that teacher in Queens makes about $75,000 a year. But he says, look, She pays $12,000 a year in taxes. And that doesn't make sense to me. He says, look, I'm a billionaire. I've got a lot of money. I pay a lot in taxes. And, you know, what do they say? The top 1% pay about 40% of the taxes. The bottom of the economic scale in this country pay only 3% of the taxes. And he's saying, why are they even paying a tax? Have you ever thought about that? I mean, should people of a lower income not pay taxes at all? No, I actually, I think everybody should have skin in the game. Yeah, I do too. I'm with you. I think this whole 10, you know, there's this concept out there. Maybe you've heard of it, this whole 10%, you know, of what your gain is. It seems to make a little bit of sense to me. And I think that there, I think everyone should have skin in the game if you have a social safety net. So I think everyone should be, I think you ought to be a flat tax. I want to get rid of all the exemptions and all the things that, you know, if you have a good tax attorney or a good accountant, you don't have to pay anything. I'm not interested in that. I think everybody should pay an honest percentage across the board without regard to how much you make with those making the most, paying the most by percentage, and those making the least, paying the least by percentage. Yeah, and I love what Jeff Bezos said about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Of course, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came out last week and said no one can earn billions of dollars. This was Jeff Bezos' response to that. Let me give you a simple example. Let's say you start a burger joint and you have 10 employees. And you make a little bit of money. Right. Until you have, this is this one outlet. And by the way, these are the most delicious burgers in the world. People love your burgers, Andrew. And so then you open a second outlet. Right. And now you're making a little bit more money, and you have 20 employees, and you open a third outlet. By the time you've opened a thousand outlets.

You are a billionaire. Right. And by the way, this is a real life story. It happens all the time. It's in and out burger. It's, you know, raisin canes, chicken. At what point did that money all of a sudden become unethical or it didn't? There was one outlet. And then there were two, and then there were three. What you're doing, the way you make a billion dollars or a hundred million dollars or ten million dollars or anything is you create a service that people love. And if millions of people choose your service, you're going to end up with a billion dollars. Right. And you can, you know, just try it with a chicken franchise. I love that comment, Greg, because he's right. I mean, I'm just thinking about people who advertise on this radio station. I think about people like Minky Couture, how that started and what that's grown into a business. Not because, you know, they cheated. They just offered a product that people like. I think about Harvest Red. I think about a lot of the advertisers who are on this radio station. These are people who started at the bottom and simply worked their way up because they had either a service or a product that people wanted. That's how you become billionaires. Not saying that any of these advertisers are billionaires, but for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to come out and say, you can't be a billionaire, you have to cheat your way to become a billionaire. Obviously, she doesn't understand what America is all about. I've stumbled onto these long form posts from France that Elon Musk is ex is translated into English, and I've been just reading these things. I can't get enough. Amazing observation. People don't wake up wanting anything. They have to be shown something or experience something that they want. The successful people, people that Jeff Bezos is talking about, whether it be the burger joint or whatever you want to be, it is. People want it. They want more of it. If you're smart enough to find or introduce to the public, something they want that they didn't even know they wanted. There you go. You're off to the races. And that's, especially in the United States. That's the, that is the American dream. That's what America is all about. All right. When we come back, we'll talk about the final night of Stephen Colbert and SNL. What's going on there? We'll talk about it. Coming up on the Rod and Greg Show and Utah's Talk Radio 105.9, KNRS. They have just found out that a stunningly low approval rating among men. minus 62 points. Those in favor, 60% those opposed, 78%. Men do not like the Democratic Party. When did we go over the statistics of men that self-described as liberal? And I said they're either trying to get a date. They're not really liberal. They're just trying to get a date or they're not men, if you know what I mean. So, you know, it's it was a bear because it was a very, the number was shocking. And I think that, I, I do think that the Democrats, the progressives, the leftists, whatever you want to call them, they do have a problem with men. They've just got, they've just been.

They've called their horse. They've been saying toxic masculinity and men are bad for so long that can you imagine why men are tired of them? Catching up, it sure is. All right. Hey guys, it's Ryan. I want to tell you about my new pastime, Chumba Casino. Chumba Casino has been around for over a decade delivering the most fun you can have online. Play social casino style games for free, anytime, anywhere. So sign up at chumbac casino.com. No purchase necessary. VGW. Boy, we're prohibited by loss. See terms and conditions, 21 plus. Tonight, the last night of Stephen Goldberg. Nobody's going to miss that great editorial today about this in USA Today, where the guy basically says, look, Stephen Colbert did this to himself. He has no one to blame. He can't blame CBS. He can't blame Donald Trump. He has to blame himself. But what about Saturday Night Live? They finished up their season last weekend. And joining us on our newsmaker line to talk about that is Curtis Hout, managing editor of newsbusters. And Curtis, you've done a survey. Can't believe this. But apparently, S&L is more liberal than it ever has been. No, I don't think so. I mean, the top line number here, 91% of their weekend update jokes from this season spanning September through May here were directed at conservatives. Well, 83% of its cold, open political characters were conservatives or Republicans that they lampooned. So cold open, obviously, is the opening sketch of the show. Now it was 20 episodes. So nice round number this year. There were 238 jokes on Weekend Update with Colin Jost, otherwise known as Mr. Scarlett Johansson and Michael Che. In 217, we're targeting conservatives, President Trump, Republicans, etc. Only 18 about liberals and only three nonpartisan jokes in which we kind of couldn't really pin down. uh a specific angle here and the thing is that i was talking to uh fox news digital over the weekend and i said you know folks that are worried liberals that are worried about where are we going to go for our political comedy satire quote unquote fix now that Stephen Colbert is about to be uh gonzo the late show that is um i think you can look no further than not only jimmy SNL, I'm pretty sure does that, you know, is going to scratch that it's just fine. You know, it begs the question that I wonder when you've self-selected and you've decided that half this country you're not even going to appeal to anymore because that's what those statistics you just highlighted showed is that they're, they're in the camp completely with the leftists and they just want to mock and criticize conservatives. If that's the case. Do television ratings actually matter anymore? What is the revenue stream that SNL or any of these broadcast companies use for their programming if they are just consciously deciding we're taking half this country and we're alienating them? It can't be ratings they care about. Correct, exactly. And I mean, there's a couple revenue streams, guys. You know, Tony DeCopal, he's now at the evening news, but when Stephen Colbert was, they announced the cancellation last summer, he was still on the morning show, and he pointed out that, you know, there were some reports that shows like Stephen Colbert and Kimmel, and I'm sure SNL is close to this as well, employ over 200 people crossed hundreds of millions of dollars to put on.

annually. And so you don't necessarily sell or make revenue through ratings or advertisements quite like you used to when a show airs. So then what do you do? You rely on revenue monetization from social media accounts. And I think that's what they're banking on, but with constantly changing algorithms on X and meta, so that's Facebook and Instagram and TikTok. I don't think those kinds of revenue streams can be guaranteed quite the same way that advertising, selling advertising, was... a couple decades ago, you know, when SNL first started, 51 years ago. So I'll be interested to see how long they can keep this going. And also, I mean, I think SNL could keep going, but you'll run into a situation where you have to rely more on these big celebrity cameos like Will Ferrell or, you know, or the celebrity host, because certain guys that are on the cast here... are just going to command too high of a salary to be able to keep them around to keep costs down. And I think that's the conscious choice here. Americans, you know, I tell people just vote with your feet, vote with your eyeballs. If you find something scrolling there that is from the official SNL social media pages, keep scrolling. Don't hover over it. That gives them more social media revenue. You know, that's the way of changing the channel, except unfortunately, you know, if you don't click to the channel on TV, you wouldn't see it or pass through it with social media on your timeline. Once it's there, it's hard to avoid. You just have to rapidly scroll past. It kind of sounds... glib, but it's kind of true. You know, Curtis, I'm one of these old guys that was there at the beginning of SNL. I remember watching it in the early years. I thought it was okay, but to be real honest, and maybe I'm just weird. I have never thought of that show as being really that funny. I mean, some of it to me is okay, but a lot of it is, to me, just silly. Agree or disagree? No, I think I'm with you. I mean, it's kind of a very few running bits on S&L I found funny. The only one that I've ever found to be funny in my 34 years of existence running bits that I enjoyed were two things. One, when Will Forte played George Sivie Bush, I thought he was kind of funny. And then two, the Californians, which is kind of this mockery of like a bold and the beautiful, young and the restless type social. soap opera type thing. Because that wasn't political. It was satirizing Californians, which, you know, are typically liberal. So there was also that kind of element that I thoroughly enjoyed as well because they had the maids and they were having affairs with the maids and that kind of thing that I kind of enjoyed. But yes, to your point, it's kind of just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks because that's why the show, as been heralded, is a proving ground for a lot of

Big Todd comedians. And you notice, too, guys, when they're going after Republicans, it's nasty. It's satirizing them in terms of critiquing to critique them. Whereas with Democrats, it's satirizing to support them. You know, Kamala Harris was played by Maya Rudolph, and it was not to lampoon her. It was to create this kind of... purposeful straw man that she's this queen that's some sort of unstoppable force. Barack Obama was portrayed as this cool cat, you know? Yeah. It's like with the left, you know, when they commit crimes or they do certain things that are unseemly, they say they just care too much. They just care so much. They sometimes forget about the law or they forget about the details. um they lose sight of what really matters because they're just trying so hard guys and that's how they frame liberal uh satire so here's is really not here's what i want to ask you there seems all liberals and leftists seem just angry i don't even know how comedy and leftists even work together honestly yeah so it seems like there's there should be low-hanging fruit for the mockery of and the enjoyment of Trump derangement syndrome for the leftist and all the things they say that none of it actually makes sense to common sense people. Do you see any kind of show or format that's actually going to be commercially successful that mocks maybe to the same proportion leftists and Democrats more than conservatives? Is there a market for that? I mean, I think there might be. I mean, we're going to find out the show that's replacing Stephen Colbert is called Comics Unleashed, and it's meant to be kind of this proving ground for stand-up comedians. But, you know, I think, unfortunately, we're just headed too far into our silos that, you know, when it comes to a network's priorities, they're going to go one way or the other. I mean, Jimmy Fallon is maybe the closest, but even then with his... monologue they're still very partisan he's just not like joking about like trump dying or something like that which is again it's a very low bar to clear um but yes he's playing games and you could tell you his heart's not as much into the politics as maybe some of the other guys but otherwise you know you you watch you know the great great gutfeld he's going to be making jokes about liberals as well because it's kind of a pushback to stick their finger in their eye to say hey you guys push us around we're going to push you back Curtis out joining us on our any hour newsmaker line talking about Saturday night live I can't tell you Greg how many years has been since I've even watched that show no interest whatsoever I don't watch it No, what most of us probably do is if they have a funny clip, which is rare, you'll see it on social media, and you can watch it there. You don't have to suffer through the whole show to get to the one clip that you liked. That's all you need to see for sure. All right, more coming up. Final segment of the Rod and Greg show on Talk Radio 1059, K&RS. You know what, Rod, you know it would make me feel...

like the senators are really disagreeing better. You know, it would give me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. If they weren't just running to the doors and to the airports to start their Memorial Day holiday as fast as they can because they will not be voting on a reconciliation bill because they are opposed to the Department of Justice's new anti-weaponization fund. That is just a bridge too far for them. But this would be the same Senate that approved provisions recently for senators to collect $500,000 in payments because their phone records were seized without their knowledge. Well, let me translate. They suffered from the weaponization of a Biden DOJ. And they had $500,000 payouts for them for having to go through such trauma. But to have a fund for everyday Americans, no. Well, I think you would disagree better if you thought of us the same way you think of yourselves, don't you? Yeah, yeah, probably so. You've got to love these guys sometimes. Hey, I've got one other story I wanted to bring up before we go, Greg. You won't believe this one. So we have this couple, very rich couple. I don't know how they made their money, name of Jeff and Janine Yaz. They are donating $25 million to give 500 students who reside in Philadelphia school districts that are shutting down a gift of $8,000 a year per student if they prefer to attend a superior, Catholic, or private school, right? Quite a prize, right? Well, guess who's attacking it? The educational establishment. A city council member says they're exploiting the board's ill-advised decision. Another one called them their opportunist. Another one called them dastardly for wanting to help kids get a better education, use their wealth to do so, but they're under attack. You got to love them. Got them. Yeah, having forbid these kids get an education. How, you know, that's, that is just exploiting kids, giving them an education. Yep. Well, there's your, there's your next 80-20 issue. Yeah. Well, you have a great weekend. We'll be off tomorrow. And again, on Monday, be safe out there. I know a lot of people will be traveling. We will as well. We wish you all a great Memorial Day weekend. We'll be back on Tuesday, of course. But have a fun weekend, everybody. That does it for us tonight. Head up, shoulders back. May God bless you and your family, this great country of ours. Thank you to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. Have a good weekend, everybody. We're back on Tuesday. Toleretic here from 2311 racing. Victory Lane? Yeah, it's even better with Chumba by my side. Race to Chumba Casino.com. Let's Chumba. No purchase necessary. VTW Group. Voidware prohibited by law. CTNCs, 21 Plus. Sponsored by Chumba Casino.