The Rod and Greg Show: Rep. Mike Kennedy Explains Vote Against Ban on Child Trans Surgeries; Referendum Against SLCO Property Tax Increase

Well, we've got a lot to get today. We'll follow up on the president's speech last night. A member of Utah's congressional delegation is getting a little and a little hot water for a vote that took place on the floor of the house last night. We'll get into that. Steve Moore, boy, good economic news today. Even Steve Moore, and we'll play this little bit later on, was just giddy today when the numbers came in about inflation. You know that there's good things happening when economists get giddy. I didn't even think they had it in them. I didn't think that was a thing with these bean counters. I didn't know they could get giddy. But we saw it. We saw the clip of Stephen Moore. So we're going to have them on the show. Steve will join us a little bit later on and talk about that. So we've got a lot to get to today as we do each and every day. And if you want to be a part of the program, 888-5708010 on your cell phone, dial pound 250 and say, hey, Rod. Or you can... Download the iHeart radio app, brand new app, you'll like it, and you'll leave a talk back message as well. So, jam-pack show again today. Yes, it is. It's a great show. Now, I want to start off, though, Greg. Heidi Hatch over at KUTV is reporting some breaking news today on the Tyler Robinson case. Tyler Robinson is the alleged assassin of Charlie Kirk down at Utah Valley University in September. And they got some breaking news on this today. Apparently. She is reporting tonight, and we're talking about Heidi Hatch over Channel 2. A major shakeup could be coming in the Capitol murder case against Robinson. Defense attorneys, Greg, according to her story, are now asking a judge to remove the entire Utah County Attorney's Office from prosecuting the case, arguing a serious conflict of interest. Yes, and does she say in her report what that conflict of interest is? Here's what it says. According to a newly unsealed court filing, a close family member of a Utah County prosecutor was present there at UVU when Charlie Kirk was shot. Defense attorney say that family connection to someone who witnessed the shooting could compromise. prosecutor's ability to fairly handle a death penalty case. The motion is arguing that the prosecutor, and I'm reading this post from Heidi today, the motion argues that the prosecutor received real-time text messages from a family member, a student during the shooting, discuss those messages with colleagues, and failed to implement any screening or firewall to prevent conflicts. That's the case. I'm not a lawyer, but I was a lawmaker, so I'd argue that I was higher in the food chain. But I'm going to tell you this, a defense attorney is supposed to do their job. And there would be no greater accomplishment for a defense attorney to put a wrench in any kind of prosecution than to take a county attorney's office who'd been coordinating with the county sheriffs and been working on this and really being careful as they were, as this investigation rolled out. Yeah. If you could remove them from that case entirely. The defendant would have, their odds would go through the roof in terms of making it harder for them to get a conviction because they can remove that Utah County Attorney's Office. Here's why I don't take that seriously and I would be shocked if the judge does or anyone else.

Utah's a small state. If we're talking about separation, degrees of separation in terms of people that were at that campus that day and being close family relatives or the text that any of us were receiving from people that were there that day, we all heard. We were all getting that. There are people throughout this entire state who will know someone or be related to someone who was there because of how small the state we are and how many people we know, especially. And, you know, there's politics. There's campaigns that are run for Utah County or for county attorneys and sheriffs, everything else. So there's, that is an impossible standard to satisfy, be it the Utah County Sheriff or anywhere else in terms of some family member who might have seen this. The other thing is they're talking about the assassination itself. They're not talking about the defendant. There was no discussion about the defendant or that person or who would have done that, committed that crime. All of that is later, anybody that saw that assassination or all of us that saw it online. If you haven't seen it, don't go look at it, but you can't unsee it. But I mean, anyone that saw that, that doesn't have one thing to do. with the defendant. That defendant wasn't known at the time. It's not the guy they arrested that a lot of us actually know through politics, a gadfly in politics that they apprehended at the scene. It's not even that. So I think it's a reach. I think that it would be a major shakeup and it would be a major advantage to the defendant if that were to happen. But I think that's a standard that you're going to find a relative and you're going to find text messages that saw that in real time. across the state. Well, you have a relatively new judge handling this case. That we do. You know, and you don't know what's going to happen here with a new judge and where he'll come down on this. According to the affidavit that Heidi apparently has had a look at, the defense is asking the judge to disqualify. Not only the prosecutor, but the entire county attorney's office. I know. I think they're crazy. I think the defense attorney, I hear she's good. She's from out of state. She's flown in here to do this. It would be if you had a 1% chance, you try to do it because you're going to have a much stronger defense case. If you have a flat-footed, don't know anything about anything, county attorney's office, it has to take that case from the Utah County prosecution attorney's office. So she's going to make that, she's going to make that attempt. Just because you can make that filing doesn't mean it has much merit. I can't imagine. again, with all that I just described that that would be taken seriously. But we do have a brand new judge. He was confirmed as a judge in May. Here we are in the same calendar year in December. I mean, he's been on the job for seven months. Yeah. Well, let me ask you this, Greg. You bringing this all up, and I'm thinking, are they doing this simply to put this in their quiver just in case they have an appeal? They decide to appeal whatever comes out of this. And one of the appeals would be. the county attorney's office should not have prosecuted this case because of this possible conflict of interest. I mean, could they be setting that strategy up? Well, I will just, they could. They could. And look, she wants to win it right now. And she would be well served to win it right now for her client and not for justice, but for her client. But again, Utah County, good luck. That means you can commit any crime in Utah County. And if it's high profile enough.

chances are you'd have to disqualify the Utah County Attorney's Office because the degrees of separation are so small. Yeah. Especially once you get into things like UVU and or politics and have a very prolific, very famous person, national figure coming to our state, you would, it would, that, that strategy would eliminate the attorney's office, I would argue. from many, many cases. If someone high profile that were to happen to. Well, apparently, or according to this story or this post from Heidi on X, a judge is scheduled to hear the issue on January 16th. At the hearing, the court will decide whether the conflict is significant enough to remove the prosecutor or the entire office from the case. I'm not sure if it's significant enough. Like you were saying, you know, degrees of separation. It does not have one. I don't know if it rings. You see the shot, but you don't, it's not him. You don't see the person apprehended. There's no, there's no leap of logic as to who would have been the assailant in that moment because nobody knew anything about where that shot came from, who did it. There's, I don't know what prejudicial information would have been found. We can watch it. People can watch it live as if they were there grotesquely, but you could see it. And, you know, I'm sure, I know it's much more traumatic if you're there, but Jason Chavits was there. He was present. I mean, you're going to say that he can't have an opinion about this or that his opinion from what he witnessed and what happened there somehow disqualifies him. I just, I think it's a leap. But, again, that's a defense attorney's job. So, yeah. But apparently, Greg, I mean, what is a prosecutor supposed to do? He has a son of this event by the sounds of it. Yes. He sees what's going on. You'd pick up the phone. Your dad's law enforcement. You'd call your father. And you'd say, dad, you won't believe what just happened. If you watched a car accident. They're going to be, they're going to be disqualified from this case because of something like that. I'm with you. I don't see it. I don't. I don't. It's, and again. watching that and being there and the concern it's a small state's a small state UVU and having that with that environment the way they did they go find me another county where someone's relative wasn't at that event I you I'm telling you you're probably going to find what there's four Wasatch counties there's 29 counties where you're going to play we're going to go to yeah Paiute yeah And maybe Paiute County is the only county that doesn't have a family member that's sitting in that, you know, in that section or thousands and thousands of people there. I just remember the day of the shooting. We could have taken phone calls for five or six hours that day. Yes. People who were that event and talking about what happened. Every call we did take was either someone present or who had a direct family member that was present. And. That would, you're, even you, I mean, I just don't, I think it's something that it would, it would rock this investigation and it would advantage the defendant in a, in a big way to take away that all the work that's been done up till now from the Utah County's attorney's office. But I think that the argument for that is one that the defense attorney should make, I guess, on behalf of their client, but I.

I would be shocked if it was taken seriously. Well, if you want more information on that, our news partner, KUTV and Heidi, we'll have more in that tonight. I would imagine coming up on KUTV. All right. A lot to get to today when we come back, a referendum on that ugly property tax in Salt Lake County. That's coming up on the Rodding Greg Show in Utah's talk radio 105 dying KNRS. It seems to be a stampede. I mean, Davis County. And then you got even you have some that are just the. The dust hasn't even settled on some of the school taxes that have come. And so other counties have actually gone through it as well. So it seems like it seems to be a bit of a thing. It seems to be a trend happening. Well, I love the excuse. Well, we haven't raised taxes for years, so we've got to catch up. There's that. Is that the excuse I hear all the time? Yeah. And they say, well, we have inflation. Well, welcome to the club. Yeah, yeah. Join the club. Yeah, join the club. Well, a property tax hike of nearly 15% in Salt Lake County is under attack from a group of residents who filed a petition for a referendum to overturn it. Leading that effort is our next guest. He's joining us on our newsmaker line, Goud Marigani. He is a former GOP candidate for Salt Lake County clerk. Goud, how are you? And welcome. to the Rod and Greg show. Thanks for joining us out. Oh, I'm good. Thanks for having me. Why did you launch this? Well, after the county approved this massive tax increase, I got calls and emails from people across the political spectrum saying, what can we do? We're at our breaking point. We've had five years of inflation. Property taxes have been skyrocketing. We need to do something because we just can't afford to give anymore. I did some research, realized we can do a referendum. I got some friends together. We have a photo up where I got... 13 of my friends in the Grinch. We went down to the county and we filed to do a referendum. So, Gowd, I love it. I think it's drawn appropriate attention. I think you got people nervous out there in Salt Lake County building over there. So tell me, strategy-wise, do you think you have, how many signatures do you have to get? Well, we have to get 45,000 signatures. So it's 7.75% of the registered voters in the county. And we'll have 45 days to do it once the county clerk approves our petition. Okay. So just clear, we're not collecting signatures yet. Okay. And then I'm assuming you got a great ground game plan, but. Are you confident or do you need or do you need people to volunteer? What's your status on getting? Because that's actually, that's always been the challenge is getting the signatures. It's designed to be tough. So are you ready? Yeah.

We are getting ready. So we've decided that this is going to be an all-volunteer effort. This is about the people rising up and getting the signatures to push back against our elected officials. And so we're gathering volunteers right now. And actually, I have an exclusive for your listeners. We just got our website up. If people want to go to it, it's no-tax-S-L-C-O.com. They can go there, they can get information and updates about our efforts, and they can sign up to be volunteers. Because once we get approval, we will be going at 100 miles an hour. We'll need volunteers because our goal is to collect those 45,000 signatures and to get this on the ballot. So let me take no-tax-S-L-C. Did you say L? Or is it what? Just give that website to me again. Yeah, it's no tax. S-L-C-O-S-L-C-O-S-L-A-C-S-L-A-C-C-L-A. All right. I got it, you know, it's like living in a jigsaw puzzle in this valley. You've got municipalities all over the place. Someone has once referred to it as the Jigsaw Valley. How difficult will it be for people to sign this petition? Can people who are living in Salt Lake City sign this? Can people in Murray City sign this? Or it just has to be county residents, doesn't it? Yeah, it just has to be county residents. I actually think we will have signing locations all over the county and people collecting all over the county. We've had a huge outpouring of support coming from everywhere. I mean, Riverton, Salt Lake City, Draper, all over the county. People are contacting us. They're asking to sign up to volunteer because they want this on the ballot. We've even had elected officials reach out and say that they want to support us and they want to help us. So there's a huge outpouring of support. People are tired of their property taxes constantly going up and they're looking for some relief. And this is our way to do it. This is our tool that we can use to control taxes in our county. And to be clear, it's not just signers that would reside in unincorporated Salt Lake County because you're going to get tax. You're going to see it on that property tax, whether you live in a city within a county or you live in an unincorporated part of Salt Lake County. It's the tax man's arriving if you live inside of Salt Lake County. unincorporated or in a city we're all the same here is there any qualifications about proportions around the the county itself or is it just you can get them from anywhere because that's when you get to statewide ballots that's always the kind of the tough thing is where you collect those signatures do you have any of those barriers for the county Yeah, the main requirement is that we have to collect signatures from 75% of what are called voter participation areas within the county. There's not a minimum requirement per voter participation area. We just have to have some signatures from each one. But like I said, I don't think we'll have any problem because we are getting widespread support all over the county as people hear more and more about this. And when you hear from people, what are they telling you, Gaud? What are they saying about this?

They're saying, sign me up. Where are the packets? I want to sign right now. I have 50 people that I can get to sign tomorrow. I mean, those are the messages we're getting. People are really excited because they've just had enough. They don't want to get taxed anymore. So I'll tell you, I think it's, who would you go up to and say, hey, we want your signature. Do you live in Salt Lake County? Yes. Would you like your taxes to go up or down? I don't want them to go up. Would you like to sign here? Yes, I would. I think that's going to be the conversation. I don't know who's going to tell you, Gowd. No, no, no, I want this tax increase. Go away. Like, don't, I don't want to sign that. I want it. So I think you're, I think that it's just a manpower issue. I think that it's such an intuitive issue that we don't. It shouldn't be that we're getting tax more, just be more efficient with what they're doing. So I'm optimistic for you as well. I guess my final question is the time that you're given, 45 days, once it's been approved, and that's when the timer goes off, where will we see you? Where will these opportunities to sign take place? Do you have that in your mind right now? We have a lot of ideas. We're working on solidifying those right now. So what I would tell people is go to the website, no tax, sLCO.com. You can also follow me on X. I'm at Goud, the number four, Utah. You can also follow Phil Lyman. He's been helping with this, so Phil underscore Lyman, and we will be putting out updates as we get them. While we are in this period waiting for the clerk to approve the petition, We are working our butts off to get this organized, to get everything together so that on the day when we are ready to go, this will be, it'll be boom, and we are going at 100 miles an hour until we have the signatures we need. All right. Well, Goud, we appreciate your time, and good luck. Keep us up to date on this. See how it goes. And folks, we put that we've linked on our at Rodding Greg Show, the website, no tax, sLCO.com. Yeah, Goud, thank you. I know we'll be talking down the road. Thanks. Goud Marigani, he is a one-time candidate for Salt Lake County Clerk, but he's leading up an effort now, a referendum to overturn a nearly 15% property tax increase in Salt Lake County. We'll see how that goes. All right, more coming up here on the Rod and Greg Show in Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS. And we see this article. that the members of the Republican Party in the House had passed a bill, which basically, it's an outright ban on transgender surgeries for minors. Yes, very intuitive. But then we noticed there are four Republicans who voted against it. And among those Republicans who voted against it was Utah third district congressman Mike Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. One of our guys. One of our guys. One of the good guys. I were saying, uh, what's up with that? Mm-mm. Don't like it because I'll tell you, we had four Republicans in the House voted for Obamacare expansion, you know, extensions. And I thought that was traitorous.

difficult issues that we confront. So, so, Congressman, here might, I have two questions, but bottom line, the first question is, you would, you would argue that what you passed in the state legislature in 2023 does more to prevent the mutilation of children and, and protects children and has kicked some of these, these surgeons out of our state. Net net does more as a state policy than the federal bill that you, that you voted against. Is that, am I, did I hear you right? That's one piece, yes. And also we voted today to ban Medicaid from covering these procedures, which is a direct federal connection. So, yeah, that's a big deal, though, is we've already got a great piece of legislation in the state of Utah and 25 other states or 26 total states and passed that legislation, that type of legislation. And it could be... preempted by the federal government getting involved in this if it's not well thought out good policy so so let me ask you i'm going to call you mike on this question because i know you we work together we were colleagues and i know that you're not a perfect is the enemy of good uh lawmaker i i've seen i know how you work i know how we you got to change the status quo this looks like a protest vote and that's not a mike Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that's just a protest vote and i know why on its substance it's not worthy of your vote So I guess my question, and it's easy to look for me to be in the cheap seats and ask, but how come you couldn't get more colleagues? Because the fewer you are, the more extreme that position looks like it takes. And you're being misrepresented as to why you would vote the way you did. Was there any ability or why wasn't their ability to really, even if she cut that deal to put that on the floor to have more of your colleagues say, it's not true. It's actually, it's like the Patriot Act. And it's not, it's not, you don't vote for it because you're a patriot. You're, you know, you know how this goes. legislatively is that I've got colleagues reaching out saying I was going to vote no on this bill, but I was intimidated, bullied. I had reasons to please whomever about this that I wasn't going to vote now. I've got texts as well as signal chats where people intended to vote no, but were... persuaded. And you and I know what that persuasion can be like to vote yes for a bill that was brought up on Monday and voted on Wednesday. So there's no time for these people to consider. And there's been a lot of people that are. They're politically pleased with their vote, but policy-wise, they have questions and concerns like I do, but my vote reflects those questions and concerns. Theirs is willing politically to just go forward with what was there. Well, final question for you, because I know you're trying to catch a plane, Mike. Where does this vote go now? I mean, the House has approved it. Is the Senate even going to bother looking at it other than being a message bill? What happens with this thing? I suspect this will never see the light of day just because of the nature of what it is. I don't see any possibility that 60 senators would get on board. I think there's many senators would see this as a step in the right direction. That's why I'm committed to working on policy, just like I did in the state legislature, that accomplishes the goal, but it actually is passable in both houses and signable by the president. In our case in the state, we got the governor to sign that. So I don't believe this is ever going to see the light of day, and time will.

tell, but I, myself and others are committed to working on policy. We could get through the Senate that actually preserves and protects our children because we all would agree your listeners as well as the three of us on this. conversation is our children are our greatest asset, our greatest blessing for the future, and we should do everything to protect them from the mutilation and surgeries, the permanent damage associated with these procedures and medications that can happen to them. We're working diligently on that, but we're not done with the policy yet, so it's... It's still going through that well-thought-out process. Congressman Mike Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joining us on the Rod and Greg show talking about his vote concerning transgender surgeries for minors. It makes a lot of sense to me. I mean, he's getting a lot of heat for this today. But, you know, he's a lawyer and he's a doctor. So I think he understands what's going on. Well, there's two things I want to point it real quick. And that is, number one, if Mike Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was not one of those four. I would have joined the course of just disgusted people in this country. There were four Republicans that don't have the decency to vote to ban the mutilation of these children. And I, I, without knowing that Mike Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s eyes were on this or that he disapproved, I thought this was, it's terrible that the Republicans going to do. But I know Mike Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. And here's a little, here's a little fact that he didn't mention that I, maybe I shouldn't, but I'll tell you, he got his home vandalized. for the bill he ran in 23. He got a spray panel. Here in this state. In this state, he got his home vandalized and spray painted because he was running this bill to stop this mutilation in the state. So I know he's, I know the good work he's done in this space. That's what slowed my role. I had to, I had to understand what's happening because he doesn't do protest votes. He's not a, he's not, he's not, he's not that kind of guy. And so I, if you, if you want to say he still made the wrong choice, it's that he should have been part of the performative. We're going to, it's a title you can't really be on the wrong side of. He did believe that it would undermine this state and the good work he did here in preventing that. But knowing it's not going to pass in the Senate, you could say we can fake it, no harm, no file. I'll just vote for it, but it's, it's garbage, but I know it'll never pass. But he voted his conscience there. And so I just, I think it's worth everyone's consideration when we look at that bill and we look at that vote because it's very counterintuitive to see someone vote against that. and think that's the right vote. The Rod and Greg show rolling along on this Thursday afternoon on Talk Radio 1059 KNRS. Brown University. Oh, Brown University. But apparently they're now thinking it could be linked to the murder of an MIT professor in Boston. It was only a fit, what did they say 90 miles apart or something? It was close in proximity. I listened to something yesterday morning that thought they didn't think it was related, but people are asking that question. If they have someone in, I heard they have a person of interest in custody or something. And so maybe there is a connection there. A parade of clowns out there. And here's the, do I, should I get into, do you have to go? 10 seconds. Oh.

The chief of police there is the once chief of police of the University of Utah. They got fired because he was not licensed to be carrying his weapon and wearing a badge yet. He'd just been hired. And they put him on suspension and he got, yeah, he got booted. But he's the chief of Brown University. So Brown scooped him up and said, hey, that's, that's great credentials for us. Come on board. 45 armed law enforcement, 95 employees, take it over. All right. Coming up, wait to hear reaction to the inflation numbers today. Joyous. That's coming up next. The disapproval rating for the Democrats is at an all record. They've never seen it. No, no, no. Harry Enton from CNN is saying it's 55, is a minus 55%. So 18% plus minus 55. They've never seen the gap as big as since they've been doing it as it is right now. Yeah, but I saw a survey today in Reuters who said, yes, we hold them in very low esteem, but we'll probably vote for them. Yeah, we'll see. Now, what sense does that make? Explain that one to me. It's because the Democrats are great at fomenting fear, and they just want to make you say, you hate us. Wait until you see those Republicans, they're worse than us. So if you don't approve of us, you're going to disapprove more of the Republicans. That's all they have. They don't have anything. They don't build anything. They turn everything into dust. The Chicago Bears are going to leave soldiers field? Are you kidding me? I mean, come on. I would just love to see that. Oh, I bet what a, what is a testament or indictment on that state? Yep. And that city. That, that you have the Chicago Bears that, with all the money they spend and dole out to everybody in that state and all that they're doing, protecting illegals and protecting criminals and all the homicide rates, they don't give a wit about. that they're going to chase that NFL franchise right to the next state over the border into Indiana. If that happens, you know, I just think that normal everyday Americans go, I don't know that that's a, I think that's a tell of something bad. And so whatever's going on in Chicago and Illinois, I know they're both. Democrat blue. There you go. There we go. Sure. All right. Now, the big story of the day today, we all woke up and got the news about inflation. The fact that it dropped, they were expecting about 3.1, 3.2%, 2.7%. I put together a montage of economists, including our own Steve Moore, who would be talking to in the next hour, his reaction as those numbers came in today. They were all giddy. Amazing. I mean, I predicted that, didn't I 10 minutes ago? Yes, you know. We were going to see a slight reduction in the inflation rate. By the way, this is good news for Wall Street. It's good news for May Street. It's good news for the Federal Reserve Board, which means it's more likely that we're going to see another quarter percentage point reduction in rates. I got a big smile on my face right before Christmas with this number. Oh, maybe coming in a little bit better than expected. 2.7%, a little light here. I'm not calling, I'm just reading the headlines here, year over year, 27, X food and energy core 26, so four tenths off. That is a very good number here. Brand new numbers on inflation. You can see the annual rate of inflation down.

The government just put out this new report saying that consumer prices were by 2.7% year over year in November. That is much better than the forecast from economists, which was for 3%. And as you mentioned, this is a step in the right direction. I mean, I was surprised it was a better number than anyone was expecting. Look, inflation's been very... high it stayed high it has not been coming down but you know people were expecting it to be above three percent it was well below three percent i mean i think uh the president will take this as good news i think all americans take this as good news but what i loved every one of these economists surprised yeah oh he goes it's down you know i you know i how i can tell economists is getting it wrong I can see their lips move. That's how I can tell it. That's my powers of observation nowadays. Yeah. If I see an economist's lips move, they're wrong. Yeah. They don't know how to give us a, they predict it. Just go the other way. Yeah. The arguments being made, of course, we didn't get it last month. So you're having to adjust it this month. That's why it's down. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I've tested that with some of these bean counters, and nobody thinks that because the shutdown in October occurred, that somehow that was why. That helped at all? Yeah, they're not accounting for that. So whoever is is, again, wrong. That's what they're so good at, being wrong and never accounting for it. Well, it is good. What did you think of the president's speech last night? So I liked it. I, I, I, I say that with a fleeting voice. No, I loved the speech. And I loved many aspects of it. I loved his closing statements about how crooked politicians have been giving away taxpayer money and it's been harming the American people. They've been coddling to criminals, letting illegal immigration run rampant. He just wanted to just assessed all of that. And all of it, pointing out, I think, really well. all to the detriment of everyday Americans and how committed he is to reversing that and protecting everyday Americans in this country. And I thought it was a very strong statement. I think that the criticism from Democrats is just so sad. I mean, they, one of the comments was on CNN. I listened to the panel and it was, she said, oh, 1700 to the military dividend. of $1,776. So, you know, whatever, 1.4 million, 450,000 service members would receive that $1,776 a dividend that's in the mail, he said right now. She says, you know, that's nothing. That doesn't even pay for rent in D.C. If she wanted to say that other first responders deserved it or something, I could see, I wouldn't agree with that argument, but I could see how you make it. For her to scoff at $1,700 is the most elitist disconnected observation. And I hope that when the American people hear the Democrats condemn that because that's chump change. $1,700 is chump change.

I hope people hear that and realize these people don't understand. They don't understand what goes on in this country. They don't like us. They are not here for us. They're not here to protect us, defend us. They don't understand. Anyway, I just think that that criticizing that over, it's just chump chain. It's not, that doesn't amount to anything. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. I bet, Greg, if you went out and talked to average Americans, right, and say, hey, how would you like a check for $1,700? Would you take it? They'd be giddy. Yes. Yeah, that does mean a lot to us. And you're right, these elite snobs in the Democratic Party brushing up, that didn't mean anything. What a pit in somehow. That is just nothing. Really? Yeah. That's nothing. Yeah. I'm going to tell you, that that means a lot. I'm going to tell you there's going to be a lot of appreciative people that that's happening. And to our military that protect our freedoms, you know, land of the free because of the brave. I can think of no more appropriate gesture than what the president made last night and what they're doing. And by the way, they're using tariff money, so they're in the black. It's not deficit spending. It's one-time money that came in that they didn't budget for. Well, I've got more in the president's speech, but we've got some calls coming in on this tonight. Let's go to the phones. Let's hear from John in Pleasant Grove tonight. John, how are you? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Turn the radio down, John. Yeah, I'm trying to. Just turn it off. I was driving and trying to turn it off. Anyway, you know, you're talking about the economy going down, what was it, 2.5%? 2.7. Inflation. Yeah. Yeah. 2.7 inflation. Yeah. 2.7 inflation. Anyway, so this is not a big deal, but it happens in small increments. It's like, okay, so I, this is a dumb example, but I bought some gem donuts, and I usually say $1.59. They were up 40 cents in two weeks. They were up 40 cents. So, you know, like the economy just seems like, you know, it's hard for us to see that as an improvement, you know, you hear it, you know. 2.5, 2.7%. But little things like that. And there's other things that have gone up. Beef has gone up sky high. Yeah, beef is high, yeah. No, John, yeah, I appreciate the observation. I agree with you. I think that what 2.7 means is that you've gained 2.7 more pounds. It doesn't even mean that anything's actually gone down in price. It just means that inflation, every time you hear the quarterly or the monthly inflation rate, it's how much we're gaining weight. It's never going, you're ever losing weight. So. To your point, I mean, we're seeing that go up. What's supposed to happen is our income is supposed to rise, our returns from our taxes because we got tax cuts that took place when they signed the big, beautiful bill. So the rebate should be stronger and how much they take in taxes from us going forward should be less. Those types of things ought to amount to a higher household income that should manage that or outpace the inflation. Yeah, yeah. So I just want to know why John didn't bring us a donut.

They're jelly donuts, too. That may be... It sounded excellent. And actually, that price, I'd take... What do you say? About 50? Yeah, man. I like that. I don't know where that's that. Paid 40 cents more, though, buck 90 or something like that for it. But that's still a pretty good deal on a jelly donut. No, but I, you know, I, yeah, you're right. Think about it. I saw that eggs have gone down 27%. But, again, everybody wants to talk about eggs. But I think when you got to go to the store, you buy more than eggs, right? Yeah, I think you do. All right, we've got a lot more to get to some of your calls and comments coming up. It is the Rod and Greg Show on Utah's Talk Radio 1059 KNRS. Apparently, police have, from what we understand, found the suspects abandoned car. And they are taking a look at the possibility that the suspect may be in a building where that car was found in the parking lot there. There, you know, so a lot of cameras out there, a lot of helicopters, police out there right now. Not sure where this is going to lead, but that's a new development and we'll keep you up to date on it. If anything happens between now and the time off or the time that we sign off tonight. You know, the press conferences have been. You know, like bad comedy. Yeah. I mean, they've been not even not the, the, uh, the parody notwithstanding that the reason that parody even sound like it could be real is because the, the things they've tried to share or have had to share or contradicted themselves about this as Brown University. It's, uh, it's police department, police chief, which who has a Utah connection and not a good one. Yeah. Uh, or even the Providence, uh, chief of police. It's been a joke. Everything they've said has contradicted itself. They've turned off the cameras as per a pro-Palestinian organization that asked universities nationally to do it. So they complied at Brown. They turned them all off. There's just a parade of mistakes. To go from that where my confidence level just kept declining every time they had a press conference to be here right now and think they might have a suspect in a holdup in a building in I think New Hampshire, that's... That's some progress. Somebody has a brain. Somebody's doing some work out there. Well, you know what I find fascinating about this story? Have we heard from any of the other students who were trapped in that room when that guy started shooting and killing two people? Injuring what? About eight or nine others? Have we heard from anyone in that room? Why aren't they talking? Have police told him to shut up? What is going? And what did he say? A lot of people would like to know what he said when the shooting started. But we don't even have that information yet. Days and days after this had happened, the question was asked, what you just asked? They asked the president of Brown University, what did these students report back? What did they say? And the answer back, now again, whether this is true or not, who knows? But the answer back was, well, we sent them all emails asking for further information, and we've not received any back yet. Yeah. This is at least three days after it's happened. That is not, go knock on their door. Why don't you go find them? Why don't you go ask? You're waiting for the reply on the email? Yeah, yeah. It's just, it's been a, it's been a strange thing to watch. I am surprised the media hasn't tried to find these students. Because the media, having been there done that, you love to find their firsthand experience of what they witnessed.

I haven't seen any of that. And I'm going, are they sheltering these kids? Do these kids not want to talk? A lot of times they do. It's a good process to get through the grief period. It's to talk about what happened. I haven't heard or seen anything of that regard yet. And I'm going, what is going on here at Brown University? even the police and diehard went and found john mclean's wife's house and they put it on tv remember that was a reporter that was a reporter did some investigation that was that was in a diehard movie yeah and that was kind of the that was kind of the status quo with the journalist back then it was a movie you know i know but it was just reflecting reality that movie was like a documentary to me it's a christmas movie but it was a documentary i still look at nakotomi towers yeah wonder What happened again? Yeah. Could it ever happen again? Well, by the way, again, if you're just, just catching in, there are some new developments tonight in the Boston University shooting. Apparently, police of Brown University. I'm sorry, keep on saying Boston. Just throw Boston into it. They probably deserve it. Hey, they're only within 90 miles away from each other in that vicinity. But apparently they identified a suspect earlier today, but have not released who that is to the media. So we know who they're looking for. But apparently they may have found the individual's car, an abandoned car. And they think it could be linked to the Brown University shooting. Well, we'll find out. I would like some closure on this because I do think that it's so unsettling. We're six days after. Yeah. And again, I think we've gotten a real front row seat to the dysfunction of Providence, Rhode Island. It's a liberal approach to everything. And their university professors just, I don't find her competent at all. I really don't. If I was paying tuition to a school like that, I would be revisiting my decisions because I don't think that school's. On top of it. Yeah, it's not leaving us with any kind of assurity. Oh, yeah, they've got to center control or they're doing things. Well, the answers are just bizarre that they keep proffering to the press. It's just, none of it makes sense. Yeah, and you're asking some very basic questions, and they go, well, we don't know. Why were the students there on a Saturday? Don't know. Don't know. What did they have to say? How about the cameras? Don't know. Don't know. We have cameras inside. Well, you said you didn't. Well, we do. Or were they on? Don't know. Don't know. No. How about the students? What have they said? Well, we sent them emails, haven't heard back. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So it's like you almost think that they're just not telling you the truth, but to what end? I mean, you know, I just don't know. I find the whole thing to be disturbing. And I'm going to repeat, the chief of police of their campus, Brown University's campus police, is the chief of police that the University of Utah, well, suspended and was terminating, and he went and left the job. He received that job, hadn't been licensed or certified to carry his badge and gun, and was doing so prior to being able to legally. So he was suspended, and he ultimately left the university under a cloud. And Brown University said, well, that's the kind of, that's the top cop we need. That's how we need. 95 employees, 45 armed law enforcement officers for this university. Come on in. You got fired over there. Come here and run the show.

All right, after the break, we're going to talk about what happened in Australia and wait to hear what a journalist said about that. A lot of heat on that one as well. That's all coming up on the Thursday afternoon edition of the Rod and Greg Show and Talk Radio 105-9, KNRS. You know, I used to tell my kids when they were young, and I told my nieces and nephews, and now I got like those kids have grown up and I've got a new generation of little kids to scare. I tell them that, you know, Santa's basically breaking the law. It's called breaking and entering. You know, and he comes in, he steals the cookies, he steals milk. He just, he takes things that don't belong to him. And I'm tired of the breaking and entering. I'm tired of the, the man needs to go to jail. I tell us, I used to tell us to my kids, they'd be outraged. And then my nieces and nephews the same. So you scared your children. I said, man, if that guy comes in here, I am calling the cops. I'm done with them. I'm calling for Santa Claus. Yeah, and I didn't even get my friend Mer Walker to confirm that he's, they're up in the patrols to make sure that Santa doesn't start home invasions. We got to watch for this. You need help. Do you know that? You honestly need help. Yeah, these kids, though, they, you know, they fear me, but then they love me, okay? They did. They get so mad that I wanted to arrest Santa. It'd make them so mad. But then, you know, they would, it would bear other conversations. They just, you know, it was a attention getter for sure. You know, growing up as a kid during Christmas time, one thing that me and my siblings could never figure out. This just baffled us. we would go to midnight mass which is a big deal i used to go to midnight mass big big deal catholic church right and it's going to midnight mass when you're a kid knowing christmas that's pretty tough it is you know they had to basically hog tie us to keep us still well and i don't know if you if you haven't been to a mass just catholic mass there's a lot of kneeling standing sitting kneeling standing sitting and it's a lot of work and then you got to peace be with you you got to coughing a lung out into their hand and you got to shake it peace be with you you got shake their hands disgusting But it's Christmas Eve, and all you want to do is get home. We could never figure out how Santa knew to come to our house when we were all at Mass. Because we'd come home from Mass, there was Christmas. There was. And we could never figure out what happened. The guy had talent. Did you have both parents under our eye, watchful eye? Yeah, they were both witnesses all the time. And it would still show up. No, no, man. Guy has some magic about him. He does, but, you know, I've drawn a bright line. I think it's, I think it's home. It's breaking the law. So then I got a, they get a video of my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. They took a video of their kids screaming at me on the phone about how I better not get Santa arrested. Yeah, don't do it. And I said, no, I'm doing it. I'm done with it. It's been too long. Shall we hear from our great listeners? Yes. Yeah, we've been talking about the economy. Talking about the economy at a couple of listeners leave us a message on our talkback line. Here's one of them. Hey, Rod and Greg. Hopefully you're having a good Thursday. There's just something I've been thinking about with the economy, especially Trump's comments, is that a lot of... He does want to help the short-term effects of the economy, but he is trying to save our country from debt and, you know, economic collapse and everything Biden was headed towards. And I could say...

Obama as well. So I think it's important to remember that there are short-term things he's trying to save, but it's also the long-term effects he's looking for. Yeah, I would agree. 100%. Yeah, I would agree. And I think the short-term effects have an added urgency right now, because it's gotten a lot of attention. And there's an irony with the Democrats clutching pearls over this when we had so much worse under Biden, and they just ignored it entirely. But the reality is still the same. It is hard out there. And so... I think he's, I think he's laser focused. That's the one thing President Trump, I think, has a gift for. And that is, Even if he didn't sense it right away, he ultimately understands the American people. And I got to tell you, you can't spend 10 years in those rallies and traveling this country and enjoying the rallies and enjoying interacting with the American people at large the way he does and it not change you and it not for the better and for you not to understand the American people in a much deeper way after literally 10 years of these types of rallies and events that he has held and continues to hold throughout his presidency. And so I think that it is very authentic when he declare it. He is absolutely single-minded. He is going to address affordability in the short term, but also that long-term, which is the bigger deal. Yeah. Here's another comment on our talkback line. Inflation can go down all it wants, but since prices have always been up, they're always going to stay up because businesses like the higher prices, they don't want to lower the prices to match inflation. They want those record profits. You know, I've always wondered that. You know, if you're making money with higher prices, people are still buying your product, why would you reduce the price? You won't. Huh? You won't. Some products like eggs and beef, you know, is what the market is doing. But there are some products. Why would you want to lower them? And I think that wages have to outpace that because, again, they have to have a consumer market. They can't see their market share shrink. And the only time they lower it is if people are just so priced out, they can't buy it anymore. My concern about Utah is I think we're a captured market. I don't think we're going through the same. uh free market competition because of that idea that you can charge them more as long as they're still buying where else are they going to go and this mountainous state on this valley of four of four contiguous counties that account for 75 percent of the entire population of our state i think it's a captured market and so even some of the costs of of anything uh whether it's a grocery store or if it's it's the supplies to build homes or construction cost i think everything is higher here comparatively to other regions of the United States because there's the competition they all everybody understands they all understand that it's a no one there's nowhere else to go i was talking with a realtor several months ago and asked him about home prices and he said rod is this simple

people own a home are asking for this amount of money and guess what they're getting it so if they get the money why would they want to lower their price and that's the definition of a free market you know it's something's worth what someone's willing to pay yeah i used to drive me crazy about appraisers when they appraise your home if i have a higher offer and that person could afford to pay more for that home than the appraisal came in well that what the what the what i don't need an appraiser i know what the value is it's what someone was ready to to transact with that's the amount that's the value of it that's what i can get yeah all right more coming up the rodder and gregg show here on this thursday and talk radio 1059 knr s if that carbon footprint can get expanded i can i played last week i was thinking december playing golf that's kind of fun i'm i'm excited for it that's kind of fun uh we've been talking a little bit today about the president's speech last night Phil Wegman, Philip Wegman, who we've had on the show before with real clear politics, he covers the White House for RCP, wrote a wonderful article as to how it was handled last night. Guess who was in charge? Who? Not Donald Trump. Susie Wiles. Yes. According to Phil's article, Susie Wiles directed the president to use the teleprompter, which he doesn't do very often. You and I witnessed that. The goal, she said, was to deliver a clear, scripted message about affordability and accomplishments rather than his typical off-the-cuff rally style. Yeah, I think I, you know, and he, I mean, it was good. I mean, I, I want to say he was talking fast, but I will take that 19 minutes of really just getting as much information to the American people as he possibly can. Then the way that he can in a rally, you know, he'll keep wandering. You and I watched it. We watched the teleprompter. We were sitting behind the stage of the national convention. And we saw the teleprompter stop because he went off script. He went off for, he was talking just. off the cuff for 15 minutes before he went back to the teleprompter to keep going i i think Susie Wiles was was uh helping the president a lot by having him stay strict to that teleprompter and he did it in just 19 minutes well i actually before i left the studio and we were together i didn't think he was reading i thought he was freelancing because he'd seem to be i didn't think he was reading and uh but I guess he was, so good for Susie. You know, can you see Susie Wiles right next to the camera, right? And Trump in front, okay, and he's looking at the camera, and if he does one thing wrong, she's going, I could just see that. I think, I think Susie Wiles. and Melania are the two people who he listens to. And, you know, they didn't just get that assignment. They earned that assignment because there's a lot of people that don't control the president who he's very close to. They quite enjoys. But they don't have that role. They don't have that ability. But I think you're right. I think his wife and I think Susie Wiles can, and I bet you that one of the reasons they're so effective of that is that they probably use that strength judiciously. It's not something that they're...

constantly bossing them around. It's just when there's a certain moment, it's time it gets real. And I think that Donald Trump respects that. Yeah, well, here's what Wegman said in this article. I love this. Trump's primetime speech marked a shift toward discipline and focus. guided by Susie Wiles. Yes, yes. She's probably telling them, shut up and deliver the message. Yes. Well, I actually, I don't think she said the way you just said it. No, not that way. I mean, she has respect for the president. Yeah, she, but I think that he absolutely trusts her, her instincts, her eye. And, and. She knew if you're going to take prime time, you're going to, people, you know, there's other things they could watch. So don't waste the time. And they got all the, I thought it was unique to see how many networks covered that. All of them. Because he has been ignored largely by many in the past. But every network that I reviewed when we were together was covering that national address. And I love that the Democrats just, they're so unimpressed by it. Really? Yeah, who was it? Chuck Schumer gave them all Fs today. Of course. On everything. On the economy, you name it. That's not a surprise. Someone harkened back to remember the Biden speech that's all red behind him and he's got the two Marines. It looks like something off Star Wars. Yeah, it was, and it was a dark speech and it was ripping on Republicans and right of center ideology. And I mean, it was as partisan as you're going to get. If you compare that, the words, the imagery compared to last night, if Democrats want to call that a. partisan speech or not a substantive speech, go look at that moment when Biden, with that red behind him, you know, it was the Independence Hall or something with those Marines, those soldiers behind him. It was draconian as you get. Will the American people, and we'll find out. if they'll buy his message, and I think his message last night was, we were handed a mess and we're just trying to fix it. Yes. Do you think the American people will buy that? I think, no, no, I think they'll have to feel it. Yeah. I frankly feel like they're going to have to feel like things are looking up. Queen B, rodeo queen. I'll know when she says. She tells me things are getting better, and then I'll know. Yeah, he'll know. All right. Steve Moore, Giddy about the inflation report today. He'll join us next. Stay with us. Oh, wow. I order omelets. I cut up all the green peppers and the mushrooms and they get the little pieces of ham and onions and all the kids and they'll come around and my sister comes by and my niece and pick out what you want in your omelet and I cook those. I only cook once a year. I only cook omelets and it's because I was an omelet chef at a buffet in my college years. Man, I was awesome. In fact, my omelets are. top notch. And I know how to do it right because the chef at the restaurant taught me. It was a hotel. Is there a trick? Oh, yeah. Would you like share the trick? I can share some of it. Some of it I've acquired a secret recipe type things. I'm going to tell you right now, you've got to take, E. Ray, you've got to take your cyberbullying me or you're bullying me with those sounds. You got to take the ingredients. Yes. And you got to frame up. With your eggs? Well, no, no.

Prior to the eggs. Oh, prior to the ham. Oh, your ham and your onions, your green peppers, your mushroom, whatever you want, whatever you want. I brown that. I saute it. I get that all going for a while. And then I've already mixed my three egg concoction. I got it all ready to pour in, but I make sure all the ingredients are well cooked first. Then I pour it around the pan because I have a, my frying pan is the size of the omelet. It's an omelet pan, right? And then I can fluff it where I can. put it to the side and let the runny part get cooked and then move it over and over and then i i flip it i don't even use the spatula i can flip it and then i cook that side i flip it again no spatula and then i put the cheese on the top and then i fold it over and it is perfection we shouldn't have to put up with this kind of stuff he's just jealous but it's true and it is so that's what i do i don't i don't cook I actually have a phobia about cooking other than these omelets because I don't like taking, I don't like when it takes longer to make than to eat. Ladies and gentlemen, you've been listening to Cooking Time with Greg right here on the Rodding Greg show and Talk Radio 105. It's a Christmas time. It's a Christmas special. Because our kids are all grown up and they've got their own families to be with on Christmas morning, right? We have one tradition. My wife started a couple of years ago. What she is? She makes eggs Benedict. Ooh, that's good. I love this Benedict. And it's just the two of us. We have a nice breakfast with Eggs Benedict. I love Eggs Benedict. That is a nice. I like that. Yeah. And she knows how to do it. You know, she's here today or some of her holiday popcorn that everybody's been chewing on today. Yeah, I ate so much of it. I think the last bite I stopped at my esophagus. I think I had my whole stomach is full and it's worked its way up. It doesn't make me feel, I feel a little sluggish because of it, but it's so good, so good. The big news of the day, of course, inflation numbers came in a lot smaller than expected. Most people were saying 3, 3.1%, 2.7% today. Now, earlier we played a media montage of economists like our good friend, Steve Moore, who was Giddy this morning when he saw that number. He, you know, our friend, Steve Moore, our weekly contributor, he, where he made his, you know, he made his, he made his bones here at the, at the Rod and Greg show. That's where he got famous. But he's all over the country. I watched in real time as he found out about these numbers and he just got so. You see an economist get giddy? That's a moment. That's a moment. Well, Steve is joining us on our newsmaker line. Steve, we all witnessed you getting giddy today. What on Earth was that all about him? Oh, my God. You know, it was such an interesting thing because I was on. Ten minutes before the report came out, and she was saying, you know, all the experts say we're going to have 3.1, 3.2% inflation. And, you know, I say, well, you know, Marie, I'm going to predict that it's a little lower than that. And then my jaw dropped. She announced 2.7%. And, you know, in the last couple months it's dropped to 2.2%. So we are making huge progress on the inflation front and the affordability front. And this was a blockbuster number. All the experts were wrong, so much for economic experts. And it shows that Trump is making a huge progress in bringing the inflation rate down. We want to get it to 2%. We're not quite there yet. But remember, by the way, these numbers compare with an average rate over four years under Biden, which is 5%. And at one point, remember, in his presidency, the inflation rate went up to 9.1%. So this is real progress. It's blessed relief right before Christmas.

for the great American family. Well, I got to tell you, finding that out in real time and watching an economist just burst with glee and just rattle off like a gatling gun. This is great for, you know, our interest rates. Did you see my, did you see my jaw drop when the number came out? Oh, my God. It was brilliant. And so when you get that excited, I have to take away that there's good things coming and that this is, this was really good news. Yeah. So what do we say to people say, well, we didn't have numbers in October. For some reason, that somehow is supposed to have a chilling effect on the good news we heard this morning. Is there any glass half empty scenario here? The only glass half empty scenario is, you know, we're making huge progress in so many areas. I mean, what about gas prices? I mean, I think you said you guys are paying about $269 a gallon there, and, you know, most of the country is below $2.80 a gallon when it was as high as $5 a gallon under Biden. Healthcare is a problem. Obamacare was not the Affordable Care Act. It was the unaffordable care act, and the prices went up and up and up. And we're still having a problem. We're having big debate now as we speak in Washington and Congress about what we're going to do about Obamacare. I say blow it up. I've got an idea. Why don't we try the free market in health care? And let people pick their own insurance. I know that's a radical idea for America. You know, look, healthcare costs are out of control. I mean, if I sound a little angry about this, I am, we just got our statement from our health insurance company saying our premiums are going to go up 12% next year. Wow. Wow. So I guess, Steve, good news that came. And these economists, do they ever lose your jobs? I mean, how many times can you be wrong? They're becoming our magic ape ball. Whatever they say, we know that won't happen. So what? It's true. I mean, and when you think about it, academics are the only people who have kind of lifetime tenure, and they can be wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, and it doesn't matter. And then they always. keep going back to those experts. And then if they're wrong enough, then they get a job working at the Federal Reserve Board. All right, Steve. I've got to ask you this, Steve. He only went 19 minutes last night, which I think is a record for Donald Trump. What did you make of the speech last night? You know, it was a great speech. And I did, by the way, I didn't see all the 19 minutes of it, but I saw a lot of it because I had to watch it on replay. I was, I was busy that night. But, you know, with Trump, less is more, don't you think? Yes, I do. I don't like it when he goes on for an hour and 15 minutes. You know, I think he was very disciplined in what he said. He presented the facts to American people.

He was, you know, he didn't say any crazy things, you know, like the asshole countries and all that. And so, you know, it was very, and he was factual. And you know what? The facts speak for themselves. We have a booming economy. How many times have I said this on your show? If you think it's good now, wait three months when people start seeing their paychecks expanded because in January, people are going to start to see less money with help from their paycheck. If you're a service worker, no tax on tips kicks in, no tax on overtime. I'm here to tell you. I'm with Trump. You know, he said this last night. We are going to have one of the biggest booming economies we've seen in a long, long time in 2026. You can go to the bank on it. So let me ask you this. I thought that the Democrats condemnation of the warrior dividend of the $1,776. They scoffed at it because it's just a pittance. It's such a small number. Whereas I stopped Steve yesterday on my way to a dinner or lunch appointment and saw a nickel on the ground. I'm not kidding. And I picked up that nickel on the ground. Okay. I actually think $1,700 is not chump change. I think that's something significant. It looks like he's using one-time money from the tariffs, so he's not deficit spending. Am I seeing that right? Or do you think that that's a gimmick? Well, I'm just surprised they still make nickels. You probably pick that up because it's a rarity now. It's a collector's item. That's right. Listen, I love, I really like that idea. I mean, the servicemen and women of our country are our heroes. And, you know, a lot of them didn't get pay raises during the government shutdown. And a lot of them worked without pay. And yeah, let's salute them with a little bonus. And for these. You know, people in Washington say, oh, well, 1776, that's not going to really. I'll bet you 95% of your listeners would love a $1,776. Sign me up. Sign me up. Sign me up. Yeah, me too. I think the average American would say $1,700, almost $1,800? Yeah, I'd take it. Yes, thank you, Stephen Moore. Thank you for your comments. I wouldn't turn my nose up on something like that, but the elite, not a big deal. And again, I think it just reveals their blatant disregard, disconnect from everyday people. I don't even think it's a Republican thing. I think they just don't like. everyday people. In fact, the disapproval numbers for the Democrats being as low, being so overwhelmingly low, so they're like at a minus 55 amongst all Americans. Amongst independents, it's like 66%. Yeah. You know when they were popular amongst their own party? Not independents or Republicans, but amongst registered Democrats. When were they popular? Shut down. Yes. So when things were the most miserable, when the government was shut down and that people weren't getting their checks and that is when they had a plus rated.

approval rating and now it's at minus eight it was at plus 22 in october in the month of october now they're at minus eight so what the people that are registered democrats are really angry about with their members of congress that are in their party is that they they they're they're not letting it get worse that they didn't let the government be shut down forever and blame the republicans all the while so i think if you're a democrat in america right now you've got a big decision to make between everyday americans and your base because they have they do not their interests are not aligned in any way and yet thanks to dirty diana yeah we'll probably be electing a democrat in that first district a plus 24 Kamala Harris district dirty Diana we have that on autoloup we have that as a button we can press any time I love it all right more coming up it is the rodding Greg show with you on this Thursday and talk radio 1059 knRS They're starting to hold the funerals for the 15 people that were killed. The youngest was a little 10-year-old girl. Just terrible. Terrible, terrible. But there is some controversy over there. Apparently, the Global Affairs Editor for the Australian Broadcasting Company, a spark controversy by claiming that the attack on Sunday had nothing to do with religion. I don't think that man knows what the word religion means. It's a she. She. I don't think she knows what the word religion means. She thinks there was no religious influence in that attack. She's a veteran reporter known throughout the country. Her name is Laura Tingle, I believe, insisted the terrorist actions were not related to their faith. Let's do what she said. And we should be very clear that terrorists, which is what these two men were. We've got nothing to do with religion. And absolutely are radicalized these were. They were targeting Jews. It is anti-Semitic. But we are ascribing all sorts of things, right? Yeah, their actions are not based on their religion. What is it based on then? If it's not based on religion and the hatred of Jews by Muslims... What? They just want to go out and kill people? And here's what's astounding there. You would think that there's all these terrorist attacks from all these different face or all these different beliefs or whatever's motivating it, you know, being mad at health care executives. It just runs the gambit in their mind. But let's just pause for a second and look at global terrorism and where it really comes from. It's a little weighted on the side of Islam, I'm going to say. You think? Yeah. I mean, I don't think I'm out. I don't think I'm sticking my neck out to say. There is a trend, and it is on the Islamic side where that terrorism. Are they radicalized? Yes. Is that the mainstream Islam? I don't think it is. But to say it's not a religious, that it's not based on a religious belief, they believe that the Western world were infidels. And that makes us the enemy. Yes. It is, it is, that is in their faith in that Quran. So. You can't say, and if you, and you remember you showed the list of what? How many terrorist attacks? 43. 43. And they have. And this around the world. Yes. You know, and. One common denominator. Muslim. That's correct. Every one of them. Yes. And so do other types of terrorist attacks occur? Yes. But in the volume and frequency of Islamist, extreme Islamic terrorism, not even close. So for them to just discount, holy, like, this is just violence.

It's just violent. They're just violent people. It doesn't have any to do as religion. It is either they are just trying to conceal the truth or they are just hopelessly ignorant. I don't know which, but neither is a good, it's not a good sign. Well, of course, the folks at Sky News. are having a field day with this comment. Here's a commentator who was on one of the shows, I guess, last night. His name is Jack Houghton. Let's what he said about this reporter. So who on earth does Laura Tingle think she is to jump that process, to spread misinformation throughout Australia at a time of mourning, at a time of uncertainty and fear? Who does she think she is to just make these assumptions and to put this information out there? that this was anything other than what we all know it is. Who does she think she is, Greg? To put out information like that. She's a propagandist. She knows it's a bad look. She's been on the side of the Palestinians, I'm guessing, for so long she doesn't want to be on the wrong side of history. So she wants to dismiss the things that she has helped foment the hatred, all those things that she has probably been a part of or said that these Palestinian protests were all righteous causes. And this makes her look bad. So what does she say? Well, no, this attack has had nothing to do with violence at all. Well, here's the proof. Here's the proof. Police found an Islamic state flag inside their vehicle. A group, as we all know, is hellbent on killing infidels like us. The attackers attended a radical mosque. Okay. The targets were Jews lighting candles celebrating the first night of Hanukkah on the anniversary of Hamas's founding. Yeah, so what would it be, what would, what would inspire the hatred? Yeah. They just, what, someone wrote facetiously, maybe they were mad they missed breakfast. Yeah, maybe that's it. Maybe they missed the most important meal of the day. And I, I'm just beside myself. I'm just going to go ahead be a terrorist. The logic of that. I mean, I mean, I can't believe people. It had nothing to do with. And this is why it's hard for us to discern parody from reality. Yeah. It is. This is why because those comments are so outlandish, it could be akin to parody and it's hard to see the difference anymore. I mean, that's why we got pulled into that fake spokesperson from Providence Police Department because they've said things equally as stupid and is crazy and it's been real. So how do you tell? Yeah. If you told me, if a caller called in and said, that's a parody. Parity, reality. You'd wonder about it. It all interchanges to me. It wouldn't surprise. But we don't believe it is because the whole country is into this. No, that's real, but it is, it is, it could be parody. That's how bad it is. Crazy it gets anymore. All right, more coming up on the Rod and Greg Show and Talk Radio 105.9, KNRS. Here in a minute, we'll be talking with Rachel Sheffield. She is a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation about, you know, all the money that we may have lost or been ripped off by the Somalis, the Somalis there in Minnesota. I mean, Greg, you're talking, $1 billion, $2 billion, maybe as high as $8 billion.

Yeah, it's staggering. And I've even seen a report now that it just keeps getting deeper. It might exceed $8 billion. It may go even higher. So it's unprecedented, at least the level of this fraud that's happened. And it's hard to imagine with that amount of money flying around that we don't have government officials that beyond the whistleblowers being ignored, beyond enabling it. There has to be people that are more culpable in terms of how you can possibly funnel $8 billion, steal. It's not fraud. It's absolute theft of the public treasury. And it's numbers that we have a hard time comprehending. Well, it's not that they got away with it, which they did, Greg, but there were people who were saying, we got a problem here, and government officials ignored them. and told them go away you're a racist and if you get up to that number that that dollar amount you're laughing you're playing with house money if you were even caught and you ever saw a day behind bars who cares you they can't even they'll never find all that money yeah well joining us on our newsmaker line to talk more about that is rachel sheffield a research fellow at the heritage foundation rachel how are you and welcome to the rod and gregg show Yeah, doing well. Thanks for having me on the show. Oh, boy. Talk about a broken welfare system, Rachel. How on earth did they get away with this? Yeah, absolutely. Well... You know, one piece of this story that I think is important to understand is that the fact that our welfare system really helped facilitate this the way that it's designed. So the way that most, you know, welfare spending goes is that you have federal dollars passed on to states for them to then allow out. There's no, the vast majority of the money comes from the federal government. So states are really not. You know, there's not a lot of financial accountability on the part of states. You can see how this gets to be a problem when there's not a lot of financials get in the game. The other thing is that you have, you know, states are get more money, the more people they have on the rolls. So the incentives are all wrong. And, you know, when the mindset, when kind of the. of the welfare system is inputs, you know, that's kind of how the measure of success is, hey, the more people on the rolls, the better. It's a completely, you know, completely. misguided way to do things and helps facilitate the fraud that we saw in Minnesota. So, Rachel, I'm just saying it's hard for the mind to comprehend $8 billion. And there's some, some stories are saying it might be even up to $9 billion. Now there's just so much, the fraud is so rampant. Where do you think that money is? I mean, that's, that is a lot of money to, to steal. Where is it?

Yeah, that's a great question. Well, we know that it went to luxury vacations, cars, and funding terrorist groups, which is absolutely mind-blowing. Where the rest of it is, your guess is as good as mine. Did they fill campaign coffers with that money? Could have. Could have. Rachel, what about the oversight? You've talked about that. The federal government gives states money to do these various welfare programs. Who should be more responsible for the oversight? Shouldn't, in my opinion, it'd be the states? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, really the way that we should have our welfare system set up is so much more of it. It really should be a state, you know, state. state-run, state-funded, but we could begin by at least requiring states to pay more for these programs. There's a lot of good reasons for doing that. For one thing, you know, you have states then making sure that, hey, people on the program are the ones that should be on the program. There's more incentive to help people get off the program to move forward in their lives. And that's the goal. That's really the point of welfare. We want to help people improve their lives. not just have, get hair out. And so that's one start to say, hey, state, let's require more financial skin in the game. You know, there's a poll that 79% of Minnesotans do not believe that the state has done enough to protect vulnerable people that are eligible for these benefits as well as the taxpayer who's been defrauded. That's a capped an obvious moment. But let's talk about the governor, Governor Walls, the former vice presidential nominee or candidate on the Democrat ticket. How much of this is going to splash on Governor Walls? I understand he's going to be the subject of an inquiry in Congress, but is this going to end his political career? What happens with Governor Walls do you think in Minnesota? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, you know, I can't really predict where things will go with him. But, you know, certainly we saw, you know, just political leadership at, you know, various levels, not, you know, well, we thought not we saw the opposite of leadership. And so, yeah, with poll numbers like that, yeah, you know, it'll be up to the voters to decide what they think. Let me ask you this, Rachel. Greg has talked about this. We have both talked about this on the show over the past several months. How about a crackdown or a stronger focus on NGOs and what they do with the money that is given to them? Do you see that coming? Yeah.

Well, yeah, I think that's an important piece of the puzzle because, yeah, a lot of times, you know, you'd have money that's being, right? Like I said, it gets sold out, you know, these NGOs. And yeah, I think what would be wise is if instead of just passing money to these, you know, nonprofits, and again, for them to distribute and say, hey, that's success. What we should do is more of a pay-for-outcomes approach to say, hey, Yeah, we will fund you if you are able to show us, you know, good, you know, measurable outcomes. Did you, did you increase, you know, reduce poverty or get more people into the workforce? Then we'll give you the money once we, once those outcomes are achieved. And that would be one way to increase accountability for nonprofits and for. Yeah, and for others who receive government grants. You know, Minnesota's a blue state. So that, you know, more welfare services and more resources is just, it goes hand in glove. Has this proven that too much welfare is a, is a negative thing? You can't account for it. You can't keep pace with it. And it can grow exponentially. And no one would actually notice. There's a lot of, I think, lessons to be learned from what's happening in Minnesota. Or any of these lessening, at lessons sticking, do you think? I sure hope so because, you know, I've heard a lot of different angles on this story. And I hope that welfare, the need for welfare reform is one of those. And you're right. The U.S. welfare system is so massive. It's such a native of programs. It's over 90 programs run out of, you know, more than a dozen federal agencies. We spend well over $1 trillion a year on these programs. It's hard to know where all of the money is going for some of the programs, but I think really the bigger issue is that we're not actually helping people. have you know improve their lives what we're doing is we just keep putting more and more money into the system without actually improving sufficiency and that is the real tragedy of the of the welfare system in america you know minnesota is taking the spotlight but there have been reports of fraud what in ohio in maine is it maine indiana i mean it is not just one state that's having an issue with this is that right Yeah, there are other stories about fraud. We've heard recently about kind of more, you know, fraud in the food stamps program. The Trump administration has been looking into that and more so. One of the things, though, is that I just don't think we have a full understanding of just how much. of fraud because we don't really measure it. The government doesn't measure it terribly well. So we're kind of, you know, in the dark about that. But yeah, it's certainly taking place in every state to some degree. Now, of course not, you know.

let's pray not to the level going on in Minnesota, but certainly it is to some degree in every state most likely. Hopefully we will get a focus on this. Don't know how long it will take, but it will take a while. Rachel, thank you. Happy holidays to you, and thanks for joining us tonight. Likewise, thank you so much, and happy holidays. Rachel Sheffield, she is a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation talking about welfare. The welfare system is broken. I think most Americans have realized that for a long, long time. They really have. Yeah, since a great society, it's only grown, and you're not seeing people escape poverty. You're seeing an underclass that keeps growing. That's multi-generational poverty, people living in poverty, and the numbers just grow. And it used to be in America that if you were... You were the working class or you were poor. You worked very hard to see your children have a better life than the one you've had. And you saw that trajectory. Since LBJ's great society, you've just seen a welfare state where you have a permanent underclass. And that underclass is growing. And when you see the scams that can be perpetrated on a state like we're seeing in Minnesota, I agree with you and I agree with Rachel. That's not the silver bullet that just flew by our eyes. That's just what we have found. I'm sure it's in every state. And when Johnson moved in that direction of the great society, I think it was New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who is a Democrat, right, and warned against this and saying, uh-oh, folks, you better be careful. He warned us, but no one wanted to pay attention. It's an interesting thing, whether you're a rich trust fund baby or you are a welfare recipient. Free money destroys. Yes. It destroys everything because you need earned success. And earned success oftentimes and most times comes from being able to earn a living. Make your way. Be able to put food on the table, close on your back, a roof over your head. That's kind of the charge. Once money becomes free, you lose those things. You lose that need or that will to succeed. And that... I think that erodes people's self-confidence and their ability to achieve. Yeah. All right. Final segment of the Rodin' Greg show coming your way right here on Utah's Talk Radio, 1059, KNRS. We have a follow-up tonight, Greg, on the nurse in Chico, California, who just berated a target employee for wearing a red Charlie Kirk t-shirt. Yeah, that story is just absolutely terrible. She is deranged and her husband is and their daughter. Yeah, well, the medical center, which has been caught in the crosshairs of that internet meltdown, has apparently been bombarded with over 6,000 profanity-laced phone calls. Well, let me just tell you, I think that you'd think that the person, the woman that filmed herself acting this way and thinking that somehow this was acceptable and she was proud of it. I don't know that this recoil from the public and what's happening. I bet you she thinks that it's an affirmation. Yeah. She's right. Look at these deranged people calling. I was right. Look at it. It's just bringing the crazies out. I don't, I'll bet you anything. She hasn't learned one thing from this. I bet you she's doubled and tripled down since this incident.

became public. I bet she's not embarrassed at all. No, no. Well, if you saw the disgusting picture of her husband and her daughter, pointing at his neck. They found a car with some stickers on it supporting Charlie Kirk and her husband is faking like holding a gun and pointing it as neck and his daughter flipping him off. That whole family is nuts. Yeah, it's disturbing. And I don't think that she's... regretting what she did. Oh, not in the least fit. She's a heroine. She's a hero in her own mind. One of our favorite lawmakers, California representative Eric Swalwell. Oh, yeah, that guy. Wants to be the next governor of California. How's that going? Well, I don't know as of yet, but apparently he neglects his job in the house to mingle with celebs. He's been doing that. He misses more votes than anybody in Washington. Really? Yeah. He's got the biggest mouth and wall? One of the biggest mouths. Not the biggest, but one of the biggest mouths. And he's missing the most votes? Yeah. He missed 95 votes. Geez. Not including truancy from committee hearings. I'll never judge anyone that's truant. Are there any rules up on the hill about lawmakers missing votes? There's not, but there's a record of it. Is there? Yeah, and one thing I will say, though, is that if you're in leadership, there's a lot of negotiations that you get towards the end of the session where there's floor time, but members of leadership are off of the floor negotiating with the Senate or the governor. So there's some, if you're a member of leadership in the House or Senate, there are probably more votes you miss at the end. And that's when things are starting to speed up and a lot of bills are getting passed. Sometimes the stats look like. Why aren't they on the job? We're trying to multitask. There's some negotiations going on while the floor sessions are going on. But they keep record of them. Utah continues to grow. We're now at 3.551,000 people. So 3.5 million people. 3.5 million? As of July 1st. Yeah. We're growing. But it slowed down. It was at 1.5 or down to 1.3? I believe we are. So things are going down a little bit. This is a stat that it will surprise me, but. Fourth, I think fourth budget year in a row where they are seeing declining student enrollment. Ah, really? Fourth year. Fourth year in a row. Yeah. Yeah, we keep on pumping more money into education. Yeah, 16 years of public service for me in the state legislature. I never encountered one single year where the entering, the graduating seniors, there were more. kindergartners entering our public schools and there were seniors graduating and that number was increasing every single year I served for 16 straight years with my last year being the 2018 so we did the 1819 budget yeah and so the population was growing you saw more kids and that's good for a state emerging workforce so you have this strong workforce coming through so you you can see your economy grow that's a great thing four years of declining enrollment as those budgets go up

You know, it's, it's that the declining enrollments, really a stat that is hard to believe Utah's experiencing now. Hollywood got rocked by this announcement yesterday. The Oscars are moving. Ooh. They will leave ABC and go to YouTube. Wow, that's something. Well, I think there's like nine people that watch the Oscars at this point. Nobody recognizes any of the movies. Oh, they're all artsy kind of show. I mean, you used to be aware of the movies that were nominated, but those days are long gone. Nobody recognizes any of it. So who watches it? And there has to be diversity. In the awards and in the nominees. But, yeah, Hollywood announced the Academy of Motion Pictures announced yesterday that they are going to YouTube. I think it's in 2029. The move marks the end of ABC's 50-year run of the Academy Awards. But they're going to YouTube. Said something about where we're at it. So 1976, Rocky wins Best Picture of the year. Obviously. Yeah. It deserved it. Good movie. There's many movies that got a picture of the year that I would have seen that previous year and would agree, or at least was nominated. Not anymore. Don't know who they are. All right. That does it for us tonight. Head up, shoulders back. May God bless you and your family and this great country of ours. Enjoy your Thursday. We'll be back tomorrow at 4.