JR Morning ~ August 10, 2026 ~ Full Show

They will not back Kamala Harris. There's no accountability. They say the autopsy that they sent out was basically a sham. They couldn't even stand behind it. They didn't even mention the fact that Kamala Harris was a terrible candidate. She's living in a fantasy land thinking that big donors would bet on her again. She should just go away because the American people do not want her agenda. I, you know, I don't, I agree that the DNC, they're not going on. I don't see how they could. I just don't. I don't see how they could. After the last election, the book that came out and just throwing people under the bus left and right. Yeah. You know, I just don't see it. I mean, I don't see it either. To me, it feels like, you know, Gavin Newsom's popping around different places. That makes sense to me. Yeah. You know, you got some other governors that would be in contention, Josh Shapiro, you know, even Wes Moore, possibly somebody out of Maryland, Andy Beshear out of Kentucky. You know, those are kind of the names that are at the top of the list. But they're doing a little more quietly, Gavin Newsom, you know, rolling out a podcast. He's taking Donald Trump hat on, all these things. The profile is high for Gavin Newsom, not so much for Kamala Harris. Nearly four months after Michigan's tax filing deadline, fewer than 95,000 taxpayers. still waiting for their state refunds. The Treasury Department says it has processed more than 5.2 million returns issued over $3.5 billion, but some returns require manual review because of missing information or identity verification concerns. The backlog followed Michigan's transition from its 40-year-old computer system. To new Gen Tax Software, officials acknowledge taxpayers have the right to be frustrated and say a new phone system should improve response times. Those facing hardship can call the state individual income tax customer service contact line. That's 5176-6-4-86, 517-6-36-4-86, or contact-pair taxpayer advocate. Interesting. Did you see the drama around the WNBA this weekend? You know, I'm looking at some of the things and I'm getting bits and pieces. But then when I finally put it all together and saw what was going on, it's like, what are they doing in the WNBA? Well, two, so this came out. Sophie Cunningham plays with Caitlin Clark in Indiana. Sure. I think it's the fever. Yes. Okay. Well, Caitlin Clark, obviously one of the biggest stars in the WNBA. Yes. She came out and, you know, she's been battered and beat around. I mean, she's getting the brunt of a lot of frustration from other players who aren't in the spotlight, right? That's right. That's the game. That's how it's going to be. It's like that in almost every sport. Yes. Well, her, one of her teammates, Sophie Cunningham, has also been thrust into spotlight for different reasons. Sophie Cunningham came out and said that women should only be playing in women's sports, that there shouldn't be any gray area. If you're a transgender woman, you shouldn't be playing in women's sports. Okay, well, that's a hot button issue these days. Yeah. Well, so she has put the spotlight on herself. And as a result, there was a huge foul on her this weekend. It was a flagrant to the player who hit her.

over the face as she was going up for a lamp. Flagrin 2, she got ejected. I was taking her head off, trying to. She went out, it was a flagrant 2, player gets ejected, that player goes on social media and says white privilege and with a little crying face emoji. And then the head coach of the fever came out and was like, look, it's a hard foul, I don't know, what do you want us to do? Right. So you've got people saying, well, you don't have the coach standing up for your player. That's a mess. And then you've got, you know, this, now there's like a race element into this as well. Crazy. I mean, come on. Crazy. And then to put the cherry on top of this. delicious Sunday, whatever, whatever, whatever all of this is. You have two former NBA players that have come out and declared for the WNBA draft next season. One of them is Ennis Cantor. Ennis Cantor Freedom is how he included his, he changed his name. He came over to the United States. He became a U.S. citizen, very patriotic guy, loves America. And he's not into the whole. trans women playing in women's sports things either. And he says, look, I've looked at all of your information. And if you guys want to be so inclusive, I'm declaring for the draft. And if you don't draft me, it's going to be discrimination. And so he's putting that on the WNBA, Royce White, who, by the way, ran for a congressional seat in the state of Minnesota in 2022, but lost. He's running for U.S. Senate in the state of Minnesota now. So this is a little bit of pub, I would imagine, for him as well. And he took the, and his cancer approach, which was, look, I've looked over everything as well. And I don't know how you wouldn't want a player who averages, you know, 12 assists a game, 6-8. 6-8, yeah, right. Yeah, so they're playing that game as well now. So the WNBA very much firmly in the spotlight this weekend. So does that mean? Does the NBA have certain rules? Does that mean that a female from the WNBA could get in the draft for the NBA and get drafted on the NBA? I don't know what the NBA's rules are. Yeah. I mean, I'm just, you know, but listen, I mean, come on, man. But then the league came out and it was like, well, we've got diversity, equity, inclusion, and we believe everybody should be, you know, welcomed here. And so they're like, okay, well, then let's do this thing. The WNBA, man, is getting a lot of pub right now. A lot of pub. A lot of the games are on USA and all these, you know, big networks and, you know.

We got one coming. We got a WNBA team coming. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Let's see if it's still here. Meanwhile, how about the Tigers? Don't look now. They went seven and two in their West Coast swing. They beat the Giants last night. Three to one. They took that series. And now they are two games under 500. They are 58 and 60. They are one game out of the wild card. And they now sit second place in the AL Central. Minnesota lost two over the weekend. Detroit wins two. Three and a half back of the Chicago leading White Sox in the AL Central. I mean, you know, so Scooby and Mize goes. And then we just start, you know, swinging bats. Going crazy? Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. If that's the impetus, God bless them. Bless you, boys. Keep doing your thing. Could the Ford plan in Romeo get new life? Also, Meyer expanding some of their smaller format stores. We'll talk about that and a whole heck of a lot more coming up as we take a look at what Crane Detroit business is covering. It's next on J.R. Morning. Five things. First thing with J.R. Morning on 760 W.J.R. Well, as always, here on a Monday morning, we check in with what Crane's Detroit business is covering, which is brought to you by Mercantile Bank. If you're looking for a new business bank, mercantile can help drive your business forward. Learn more at Merckbank.com. Let's get into it with Amy Barsey, the assistant managing editor at Crane's Detroit Business. Amy, good morning. It's good to have you back. Good morning. Thanks for having me. So one of the things that you guys are tracking is an old four plant that was closed four years ago. And the hope is that we could see some new life in that facility. Where are we standing on that? Yeah, this morning reporter Kurt Nagel has this new story that we just published on this. So, of course, you know, local officials in Romeo, which is in the Combe County, would like to see this plant come back on the tax rolls. But finding an interested party for this former Ford plant is really difficult. So it's 2.2 million square feet, 250 acres of property. It needs HVAC, it needs roof repair, it needs environmental cleanup. Any future prospects for like a data center use in Romeo has not been on the table as there's a moratorium on data center development there. And Michigan site readiness account has been drained. So there's two incentive dollars left for like a big redevelopment. But, you know, this. plant closed four years ago, and there was hope a while ago that this site could make electric vehicles, but that boom passed. And then in 2025, there was hope that shifting political winds could mean gas engines could be made there again, but that shifted again. So we've heard there's been some companies that have walked through the property. Nothing's come to fruition yet and will be following to see what happens next.

You know, these smaller, Amy, these smaller Meyer grocery store concepts. I mean, they're popping up everywhere. I know it's one downtown Detroit. It's one in Royal Oak right there at 13. And Woodward, I understand there's another one slated to open in Livonia. Yeah, August 19th, you'll see one open. It will be 75,000 square feet, just the Meyer grocery opening in Livonia. So this smaller format store is becoming more popular. It seems like Myers is using them more and more as competition is kind of heating up in Michigan's grocery market. The small format stores, they offer just food and pharmacy services. They're about half the space of a big super center. We've seen them across Metro Detroit, and we've talked to some retail experts that say that these small stores can cost less and they can open more quickly, which also allows the store to, or allows Meyer to open in communities and neighborhoods where a super center might not be needed. everyone needs groceries or pharmacy. So Meyer is still using the supercentered concept in Michigan, but some of the retail experts we talk to say that the small format store is really an offensive move for Meyer, or sorry, an offensive move for Meyer to stand up against growing competition with other brands kind of move into the market. Meanwhile, the new Hunter House is going to look incredibly similar to the old one. It definitely will. So this is kind of a saga. Birmingham's famous Hunter House hamburger restaurant had to move a year ago into a new home. And they've kind of been using a food truck for the past year as they've been redeveloping a former... KFC into basically what sounds like will be a near replica of that original restaurant at Maple and Woodward Avenue in Birmingham. So the newly redone Hunter House will be very similar. It'll be about three times the amount of space as the original, but the interior will feel very familiar. It'll be about the same size. It'll see it about 50 people, so slightly bigger, but it will be the key difference for anyone. working there will be the kitchen and back of house space. It'll be much larger so they can be a little bit more efficient. They've been moved to the grill from the original location into the restaurant, and that's related to open this fall. But this is all happening because the original location was... subject of some legal battles between the landlord and Hunter House, the restaurant. So they had to move last year. And even after they moved out of that spot, they were back in court because the restaurant that had moved in to replace it put up some signs and Hunter House wasn't too happy about how similar those signs were to its own branding. So they got that taken care of and sounds like everything's on track for the new location to open this fall.

Amy Barzie, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. You can check out all of that and a heck of a lot more over at Cranes, Detroit Business. We'll talk to you next week. Thank you. Have a great one. Yeah, you got it. Yeah, these Meyer Small Concept Stores, man, they're really popping. I mean, they're actually pretty nice. I've been in a couple of them. I've been in a couple of them. I've been in the one downtown right there on Jefferson. I've been in there, very nice. And then the one on 13 in Woodward, very nice as well. I mean, you get what you need, and I mean, you can go in and get your pharmacy, get your groceries, nice flowers, you know. Yeah. But, and it's just. It's small, but it's compact. It's a grocery store. It's a grocery store. It's what it is. But it has the little, you know, it has Meyer at the top of it, you know. Yeah. And, I mean, there's been much more competition in that space over the years, right? I mean, Walmart has expanded dramatically in Michigan over the last, you know, 20, 30 years. Yeah. So now you're getting more of that kind of superstore feel. Target is the same way. Their groceries are, you know, smaller section. Yeah. But the same kind of. feel, right? You can go and pick up a couple groceries, pick up some eggs and bananas. Yeah. But then you can also go and get close or shoes or whatever. Well, and Detroit has two super centers already, one on eight mile and one around Grand River and six miles. So they have two of the Supercent, Meyer super centers. And, you know, these are smaller stores that are like in urban areas, downtown. Yeah. It's a socialism telethon. It's being planned by the Republicans. We'll tell you what that's about. Coming up next here on Jare Morning. You know, I think I said it last week. If I were a Republican political strategist, here's what I would advise my candidate to do, especially if you're Mike Rogers running against Abdul El-Sayed in this state. Okay. Is you just run video of him and Hasan Piker stumping together. Then you flash to some of the horrendous things Hasan Piker has said. And then you flash back to them. stumping together. And then you go to Mike Rogers and he's like, I'm Mike Rogers for Senate. Like shoulder shrug, right? That would be my message. Well, apparently Republicans are thinking something pretty similar. Yeah. Because they're going to use this first ever midterm convention in Dallas next month as a major television and messaging event that they say is going to be designed to. put a spotlight on the progressive wing that is now seeping more and more in to the Democratic Party. This is a story according to Axios. How effective is that going to be, especially when you consider you're going to be, you know, still a couple of months away from these midterm votes rolling in. Jason Crow, the political strategist, joins us to talk about it. Jase, good morning. It's good to have you back. Is this a winning strategy by Republicans at this juncture? Well, it makes sense. I was not enthusiastic about the idea of a midterm convention. To me, I just assume this is something where everyone can fawn over Donald Trump. So this was more for him than it was for the party. But I do think with the rise of socialism within the Democratic Party, this does give us an opportunity to kind of educate people on what socialism is. And that's one of the frustrations is.

You see today, particularly among young people, an embrace of socialism. And I don't think it's because they're actually socialists. I just don't think they understand what a failed system it is. There's nowhere in the world that it has worked. And the examples that we have are oppressive examples like North Korea and Cuba. So I don't think anyone wants to live that way. So I do think it makes some sense to try to educate people. And I've said this on the show before. Republicans are not going to win this election because we're the prettier of the two parties. We're going to win because we're less ugly. And right now, we're pretty ugly. And I think as people learn more about where the Democrat, the modern Democratic Party is headed, I think the less likely they are to vote for these people. Jason, Republicans plan to portray Democrats as controlled by socialists and far left activists. Does that message still resonate with, let's say, swing voters or is affordability still more important? Oh, affordability is absolutely still more important. But, you know, listen, everybody's going to be coming forward with their rhetorical devices on this. You know, people are struggling right now, but that is largely because of the war in Iran and the impact on gas prices and the ripple effects through our economy, not the result of policy. You know, in the Biden era, the struggles that we had, particularly with inflation, were... driven by policies. These were policies designed to do the things that they did. So I think Republicans do still have a better narrative when it comes to the economy. And for all the struggles that we're all feeling and everybody's feeling them, there are some things to point to. I mean, Just last week, the stock market hit new highs on two occasions. For those folks that have their retirement savings in the stock market, you know, they might not be feeling it in their daily lives, but they can look at their portfolio and know that they are, you know, creating wealth. You know, the job market still is relatively healthy. The numbers were pretty low for last month, but you look at where... those jobs came from and there's good signs. There was a huge drop in government jobs and there was a surge in certain private sector jobs. And I think we'd all rather see more private sector jobs than government jobs. But I think people really need to understand is what the democratic policies, particularly those being pushed by progressives and socialists would do. It would make things worse, not better. I mean, we're staring at, you know, a $2 trillion debt, a $40 trillion deficit. And when you hear, you know, people like Hasan Piker talk about or Abdul Abkhyaa talk about Medicare for All, that's a $30 trillion program.

overall. So, you know, the cost of this, it might feel good. Do you think we're going to get free health care? But look where free health care is delivered around the world. And people that are receiving that health care are not satisfied with it. It's not good. If you look at the aggregate on these polls today, Donald Trump's at, what, 38% approval rating? Let's call it below 40%. How difficult is it for the party to run on the successes when... There are more people than not that feel like he's not doing the job that they wanted him to do or they expected him to do while trying to. It just feels like they're juggling a lot of different balls at once and you risk the option of something hitting the ground at some point. Yeah, I mean, I do think with swing voters, he is a drag for Republicans. You know, the challenge that we have actually is him turning out the low propensity voters that usually only turn out for him. And that's going to be a challenge. And we've seen from what's happening in primaries, particularly in Michigan, that Democratic enthusiasm is really, really high right now. But I also think, I mean, I always see that Trump's got the worst numbers ever. And I've been seeing this since he came down the escalator in 2015. Right. He's always in the mid to low 40s. But I think he is baked into the electorate. I don't think Republicans are going to get punished because they're in the same party as the president. And the president supports them and he support and they support him. I think voters accept that. So it's kind of baked in. It doesn't mean it won't be a referendum at some level, but it's got to be a referendum on other things in addition to him. And that's where it goes back to your question, Lloyd. It is about kitchen table issues. And if we can make a more compelling case that our plans make more sense than the alternative, we're going to do okay. You know, I was a critic of the mid-decade redistricting that went around the country this last year. But it actually netted out some Republican seats. And so I think there's a high chance we lose the House. I feel relatively confident we hold the Senate. But if we hold the House, it's going to be because of those redistricting maps, not because we're in a better political position. You know, Jason, when all these lights, you know, and the speeches, everything is over, what do you think is going to determine whether this convention actually move, like, persuadable voters, rather than just exciting people who already support the president? Well, you know, the polls will bear it out, and I think how the media covers it. You know, if people don't watch, then, you know, it didn't matter, right? It didn't even happen. But, you know, does the media cover this? Do the mainstream media outlets that swing voters tend to consume? cover this thing. And so, you know, it gives us an opportunity to create a narrative, but I don't know that we should expect the media to be our friend and helping to push that narrative. So that part's going to be an interesting question. You know, do they treat this like they do a regular presidential convention and deploy all of their reporters to cover and give us primetime coverage? You know, is that kind of stuff going to happen? Are we going to be relegated to the Fox News Channel?

Yeah, so that's going to be an important piece of it. But I think just getting that narrative out there in highlighting and, you know, Chris itemized some of the things. I mean, people like Hasan Piker, the surrogates of this progressive movement. And you've got Zohran Mamdani and the things he's doing with government-run grocery stores, you know, free buses, you know, the list of giveaways that Democrats and Socialists. keep throwing out there, you know, somebody's got to pay for it. Guess what? It's us that's paying for it. And by the way, this government spending also affects inflation. So when you complain about the cost of things, part of that is government and the cost that government imposes on things. Meanwhile, the DNC decided to scrap a plan to hold a midterm convention. due to their resources, according to Politica, which they are certainly struggling financially. That might be a good thing. I don't know that they want to put any more spotlight on some of their candidates. Interesting stuff, as always. Jason Crow, we appreciate you. Thank you. Have a great week. You do the same. Coming up on the other side, Todd Blanche, confirmed as Attorney General. What does that mean going forward, especially as we head towards a consequential November vote? It's coming up on Jeremiah. So it was a 50 to 49 vote this weekend. Todd Blanche will be the new attorney general to Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski, joined with Democrats and voting against the nomination. There were a number of different questions on how they would vote Bill Cassidy of Louisiana who got primaried and lost. how he would vote on this. But he voted in the affirmative. Mitch McConnell was absent. And Bill Cassidy's vote was a decisive vote in that case. So now what happens next? Let's talk about it. Brad Roth, who's a professor of law and political science at Wayne State University Law School and joins us. Brad, it's good to have you. Good morning. So the political posturing, the games, the maneuvering on the chessboard. We saw it all unfold over Friday and Saturday. And finally, Republicans had enough votes to confirm Todd Blanche as the next attorney general. What does that tell you about the process? What does it tell you about the candidate for that position as we saw everything unfold? well it's truly remarkable that the senate has not stood up for itself as an institution but rather senators have seen themselves as the instrument of their party in in this situation we have someone who really has distinguished himself as the president's enforcer rather than someone who represents the ideals of the Justice Department historically. And so we've seen in a whole series of different contexts.

uh... more even than you can counter or remember it in one time it seems uh... the the current attorney general now uh... is someone who's seen his task uh... as doing the bidding of the president uh... not simply in the policy terms but in terms of the president's personal interest getting the the the president's enemies And, of course, notoriously seeing to it that there would be a deal regarding the IRS that would shield the president and his family from any inquiry into their tax matters, something that's just truly unprecedented. The Justice Department is part of the executive branch as Todd Blanche emphasized. So where does the expectation of... DOJ independence actually come from, the Constitution, federal law? That's simply just tradition. Well, it is just tradition, and that's one of the peculiarities of our system that we haven't really had much occasion to think about over the years, is that there's some sense of social convention within our institution that plays a crucial role in guarding fundamental rule of law values. and so it's true that there's nothing in the constitution that distinguishes the justice department from any other part of the federal government uh... it has simply been long understood that the rule of law cannot be sustained where the prosecutorial uh... of the institution is simply an instrument of those who are are holding power in the executive branch The most significant historical moment for all of this was during the Nixon administration, as one might recall, the so-called Saturday Night Massacre of October 1973 when President Nixon wanted to remove the special prosecutor inquiring into Watergate and ended up being defied by the Attorney General, Elliot Richardson, who resigned, and then the Deputy Attorney General, William Ruckel's House, ordered to file a special prosecutor and he refused and was fired uh... and finally the president did prevail on the next in line solicitor general to were to to fire the special prosecutor the response to this up on a bipartisan basis was overwhelming uh... and in those days it was a republican voters sending telegrams to the republican uh... congressman uh... telling them to uh... start impeachment proceedings against the president so you had a political ethos in the country about the independence of the justice department and its ability to enforce the law against any lawbreaker, irrespective of their position in the administration. Brad Roth, we appreciate your insight. Thank you. We'll talk again very soon. Thank you. Yeah, you got it. You know, the credential leads him.

to that position. There's no doubt about it. I mean, law school grad, he was a high-profile lawyer. He was a prosecutor in the U.S. District of New York. I mean, one of the high-profile cases. The question is, should you be disqualified from that position? If you represented the guy who was appointed you to that position. Yeah. 7 o'clock hour coming up is J.R. Morning. All right, 7 o'clock here on J.R. Morning. I'm still seeing some light shows outside, man. Are you still? So I still see some lightning happening. Yeah, we had some lightning on the way in this morning. I'll tell you, I love it. I think it's so cool. I think it's fascinating. I just, I love it. And we could see some weather, some severe weather today, possible thunderstorms. Chance of rain tomorrow as well. We might see another chance of thunderstorms later in the week Thursday. So we're overdue, quite frankly. No, I mean... It's been dry, dry, dry. We've had hay outside of our home for a little... It feels that way. I was like, hey. Nobody's got green grass these days. It's all... Dad, it needs water. If you had a horse, man, you wouldn't have any grass. That's exactly... Exactly right. Exactly right. Oh, man, just days after Michigan's historic primary election, Democrats quickly shifting their focus to November. California governor Gavin Newsom in town. Join Michigan House Democratic leader Rajee Puri and State House nominee Sarah Pounds and Alex Hawkins for a canvassing lunch yesterday in Oakland County. And the event followed a major Democratic gathering on Friday, kind of a unity gathering at Detroit's Renaissance High School. where candidates, including gubernatorial nominee, Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of State nominee Garland Gilchrist appeared together before a packed audience with Election Day now just a few months away. Democrats hoping this high-profile appearance will energize voters, build party unity, and strengthen voter outreach across Metro Detroit. I'm sure Gavin Newsom was probably thinking. something else yeah he's like oh great i get to go to michigan yeah and and get my name out there yeah my face out there that works yeah yeah i think that's a win win for him that's that's really what this is about it's under the guise of helping state lawmakers get elected right or Jocelyn Benson or garland gilgris that's fine but that is a purely selfish trip for gavinussum in my mind uh meanwhile you've got a former dnc fundraiser On with Laura Trump on Fox News this weekend, major donors unlikely to support Kamala Harris in another presidential run. Lindy Lee contended that political donors view their contributions as a business proposition, and they will not continue backing candidates or organizations they believe mishandled their money, certainly with a billion dollars in pocket during her campaign. There was some mishandling of those funds. But she says there's been no accountability and that she is living in a fantasy land that big donors would bet on her again. Yeah. I don't think. I don't see it either. I don't see that happen. I don't see it either. I'm not actually even sure that she's going to run. She says that she's considering it. I'm not so sure that she's going to run.

I think that would throw a monkey wrench into already, you know, a tough situation for the Democrats anyway. So I just, I don't see how that's going to play. A former Detroit firefighter is facing multiple charges in connection with a series of arsons and robberies on the city's west side. Prosecutors say 52-year-old Eric Anderson. set fires at five locations between July 10th and August 4th. He's also accused of stealing appliances in two puppies from a home before setting it on fire, later stealing firefighters' personal belongings from a firehouse while the crews were responding to another blaze. Anderson designed from the department in 2023. He was arrested on Friday. He's ordered held on a half a million dollar bond with the GPS tether. His probable cause conference scheduled for August 18th. Here's a former Detroit firefighter. He's setting things on fire. And then he sets the fire. The crew goes out to fight the fire. He goes to the firehouse and steals their belongings. I don't know. I don't know. What happened? Don't know what happened. That's crazy. Is that? Yes. It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. I don't know. And this guy was a firefighter. He was a great firefighter. Up until he wasn't. Until he wasn't. Up until he wasn't. Arsonous and thieves. Yes. Federal prosecutors also seeking permission to sell the $1.5 million Novi Mansion belonging to former Detroit Riverfront Conservancy CFO William Smith. Smith serving 19 years in prison right now after admitting he stole 44. $3 million from the nonprofit and used the money to finance a lavish lifestyle. Prosecutors say selling the 3,700 square foot home would prevent additional taxes, maintenance, costs, and penalties while helping recover restitution for the Conservancy. However, Smith's former wife claims an ownership interest while Old National Bank says it holds a $710,000 mortgage. Any net proceeds would be held by the government while those competing claims are resolved. Not really a surprise there. No. They're trying to get every dime back they can. I mean, they're not going to get that much back, but if they can get a little, they're going to get it. Yeah. Meanwhile, the tiger has beat the Giants yesterday, three to one. Nice West Coast strip for them. Nice West Coast strip. Seven and two on that trip. They won all those series, which was good news for them. They are now two games under 500. Second place in the AL Central, just three and a half back of Chicago. And they are one game out of a wild card. spot wow i mean i mean look looks lose my's you lose scoble yeah if you're able if you're able to do all that while losing your two best pitchers i mean jackson job looked pretty good he he did so that's nice sometimes a little bit of that a little bit of that spotlight can do you good yeah absolutely whether or not that's sustainable we'll see we'll see

But they're in a good spot. And they've done a lot of really, they played a lot of really good baseball to put themselves in the position that they are after a really horrendous start to the year. Absolutely. Also, Tupac Shakur, 1996 is when he was killed in Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. Well, they're going to have a trial of a guy they said orchestrated it. His name is D. D. Davis. Mm-hmm. and he may have just handed prosecutors the key to his own murder trial. Some exclusive jailhouse audio obtained by the New York Post reveals the 63-year-old admitted to writing his tell-all memoir, directing, undermining his current defense claim that the book was just fabricated. by a ghostwriter so he could just sell more books. In the book, he describes himself as the shot caller who handed his nephew the gun used to fatally shoot, Tupac in Las Vegas back in 1996. In the seven-minute call to his mistress, Davis complained about media coverage and expressed confidence that he will win the case. Prosecutors now plan to use the recording against him when his murder trial begins. Jury selection starts today in Las Vegas. Whoopsie. All eyes on Kee-Feed. Didn't you know that they record things when you're in jail, brother? Tubac reference. 712, time for W.JR's business. B brought you by shelving.com. We rack your world. Here's Jeff Sloan, the founder and CEO of Startup Nation, to spotlight the entrepreneurial tech and startup community on WJR. Good morning. How's the economy really doing? Well, one interesting indicator is that 72% of shoppers today have turned to buy now, pay later options to make purchases, also known as BNPL. And that is a 20% hike year over year, according to a study just released from partner-centric. Okay, so what does it signal? Well, choosing the BNPL option when making a purchase can fairly be considered a last resort option. Given the typically higher interest rates one pays when using that option and facing more draconian penalties you incur when you miss a payment or even are late for a payment. So when the consumer turns to BNPL, it signals that they've run out of other better options and are using it as a last resort. And beyond using BMPL more, consumers are using it for even smaller purchases, including to buy groceries. Of those who are relying more on this payment method, 24% say it's because they have to do to cost of living struggles. And here's the worst news. 24% have missed a payment in the past year. Indeed, 10% have missed five payments or more. And if those who do not always make their payments on time, 28% say it negatively affected their credit score. Who's using the option most? Well, first, it was Gen Zers, who were the biggest utilizers in 2025. This year, though, millennials are now the biggest users of BNPL. 76% versus 69% of Gen X and 68% of Gen Z, while 55% of boomers use the option today. So want to know how consumers are really doing these days? The percentage of consumers turning to BNPL option provides some pretty clear insight.

into just how badly many consumers are struggling these days to make ends meet. I'm Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, the source for everything you need to start and grow your own business. And that's today's business beat on the great voice of the Great Lakes, WJR. Feels like we're walking in a bit of a political mindfield, doesn't it? Oh, yeah. You know, Caitlin Bus wrote an interesting piece in the Detroit News. Republicans attacking Abdul El-Sayed could backfire on them. Maybe. Again, I told you what I would do. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You play the Hasan Piker video. You play some of the things he said. You play them running around together, stumping. And then it's Mike Rogers for Senate. Period. End of story. Yeah. That is, you can run that message for a long, long time. And again, it's this, it's, I think it's geographical. I think a lot of it is going to depend on where you live. No, that message probably wouldn't resonate in New York. in California, even in places like Wisconsin, where they've got a pretty substantial test for a Democratic socialist tomorrow. Tomorrow, yeah. But how could this backfire on Republicans? Let's talk about it. Caitlin Bus, the assistant editorial page editor with the Detroit News joins us. Caitlin, good morning. It's good to have you. How do you see this backfire or could backfire for Republicans? Yeah, so I think a lot of what you're talking about, a lot of that messaging certainly came out. I think we're seeing more of like the raw video of Abdul El-Sayed, you know, in life throughout the past 10 years. And that will be probably the most effective stuff, you know, kind of conjecturing about what his true motives are. I think... I think that's what might backfire. And so in that, you have not taking on really what his real ideas are, the real message that he is pushing out there, which is these huge government ideas that are wildly popular with some Americans. I think you also run the risk, and I didn't quite talk about this in the column, but perhaps defeating him here in the fall. I mean, that seems more likely than not, but continuing his movement and, you know, everything he wants to. accomplished, I think, on the national stage. You know, using El-Sayed's full name alongside of, you know, images of September 11th and pictures of Osama bin Laden, and, you know, that sends a very special, you know, specific message. Is that legitimate political contrast or is an appeal to fear and religious kind of prejudice? Well, it's certainly legitimate. I mean, we've seen fear work in a number of ways. And so, you know, it's fair game, right? And there's not no truth behind the sort of caricature that Republicans and others are making of him. I mean, there is some truth to it. I think it's just when we ascribe his motives, that his motives are to, you know. destroy America, kill other Americans. He himself hasn't said that, you know, so I'm not going to ascribe that to him. And I think just long term, that is a short term way to get people over the sentence on him. I don't think it'll work in the long term.

Well, even yesterday on Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, one of the things that she was talking about is, you know, are you going to raise taxes on people? Because if you're going to carry out a lot of the messaging or the policy ideas that he's bringing to the table, it's going to take money. And it certainly would raise taxes for not just millionaires or billionaires or trillionaires in the case of Elon Musk's. It would tax everyday Americans. And his perspective is, yes, we would raise taxes, but at the same time, more services would be available to you. To me, those are very conflicting messages because people don't necessarily want to see their taxes raised, but they do want more services. Yeah, you're totally right. And I was happy to see that the media is going in that, you know, they were going in that direction. There's a lot of distraction around it, but they are asking him about these policies. What does that mean for the average American family? And I think that is the scariest stuff that he has to offer, to be perfectly honest. Those are the policies that would decimate Michigan's economy further than it's already been and the national economy. I mean, small business owners, you know, average Americans in the Metro Detroit area are looking at huge increases in taxes, having to shut down their businesses, lay off, you know, the payroll tax hike, the death taxes. That is truly scary and that is truly scary for where our country is going. I agree there's a lot of concern about, you know. the role of Muslim Americans in the past, you know, there's room for conversation around that. But I think what is truly scary for American families looking forward of all faith and genders is what he's proposing the government does. Is there a danger? I'm wondering, is there a danger that a campaign that's dominated by words like, you know, communists and Islamists and Sharia law could annihilate an independent suburban and... moderate voters Rogers needs. Yeah, I mean, this is a hard, this is going to be a defining race, I think. I think you have two very different visions of the future of this country and not just economically, but culturally and all of these things. So Rogers has, unfortunately, Abdul has crystallized his message and there's room to attack it, but he is pushing it really hard and it has three prongs, you know, and people know it. Mike Rogers has to come up with a similar. vision, and I believe in the policies he advocates for, but he needs to just relay those very clearly. This is what America needs to hold on to going forward. This is what Republicans have already done for you and we're the only ones that have, you know, tried to put money back in your pocket. Caitlin Bus, interesting piece. We appreciate your time as always. Thank you. We'll talk soon. All right. Thanks. Yeah, you got it. That to me would be a disaster, what you just meant. Yeah. I think that would be.

Absolutely the wrong path to take. And, yeah. Look. Let, and I believe personally, especially things that I've seen, I mean, you've got the Democratic Jewish coalitions in this area that have said, hey, you've got to do some work to bring us back on board. Absolutely. Yes. I think if you make this a religious campaign, you make this, you tie things that don't have ties. I think that would be really problematic, and I would think that would not be a winning message. I just think you don't really win the race if I'm Mike Rogers by making voters. you know, be fearful. No. You know, of, Abdul. I think you've got to say, let's make them fearful of the ideas. Yes. But, you know, here are the Republican policies that offer you a better future. Correct. You know. I don't think, look, you don't, you don't denigrate people of a certain faith. Yeah. That's not what we do. That's not what we should do. That would be the message. If you're, if you, if you are a practicing Muslim, that's okay. You're in America. You can do that here. You can do that. Yeah. I think that would be a disastrous mistake if Republicans started going down that path. But you want to talk about the dangers of his ideas? You want to talk about the dangers who he associates with? Totally different ballgame. Those are all fair game. Yeah. And I think that would build a stronger coalition if you're Mike Rogers. More coming up next on J.R. Morning. All right. Here's something I was thinking about over the weekend. Okay. And it's not really necessarily a new thought, but I am interested to update it a little bit. You know, you did a story today. I want to hear a little more about it. You did a story today about there has been a delay in getting some people their tax refunds. For Michigan. State tax refunds. So what's that about? Well, it's fewer than 95,000 taxpayers. But, I mean, listen, if you're waiting for some money, I mean, it means a lot. The Treasury Department says it's processed about $5.2 million returns. They issue $3.5 billion. But some returns require... manual review because of missing information or identity verification concerns. Now, and this backlog followed Michigan's transition to transition from a 40-year-old computer system to the new GENTAC software, and officials acknowledge taxpayers have the right to be frustrated and say a new phone system should improve the response times. And, you know, if you're facing a hardship, there is a number you can call 5176-36-44-86 to get more information. Okay, so you're transitioning over to a new system. Sure. Okay. Fine. Some people got there. Some people didn't. Some people made mistakes and have to be manually checked. It's going to take a little time. Sure. But we just saw locally some of these millages fail. Uh-huh. In Oakland County. School millage and some of these public safety millages also failed. The debates over the roads, for example. The governor talked about fixing the damn roads. Yes. It seems like every road is being fixed all at once. Well, and again, it's fine for now until it's not. And not all the roads are getting fixed. No. And again, nobody expected every single square inch of road in the state of Michigan to be fixed under Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Nobody thought that. Yeah. But you fix a lot of the big stuff. That's all you can do, right? Yeah. But I think we've fallen a little bit short of that.

Then you look at where we are in our reading literacy. You look at where we have fallen as an education system as a whole. You know, we have fallen off. We're on this decline. It's not okay. No, it is not. Then you look at what's happening at the federal level. You've got, I mean, complete mayhem. Nobody can get on the same page as anybody. There's divisions in their own party. You got people complaining about a president. You got people complaining about the lawmakers. I mean, it is an absolute mess. Front to back. And I guess I just wonder, do you still have faith in our government? Do you still feel like it is a competent working machine? Because I think a lot of people have just thrown their hands up and have said, enough, nobody's doing anything in the best interest of me. I got gas $450 a gallon. Yeah. You know, it's just a disaster. Now, I mean, if you look at your 401K, it's doing pretty good. Right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I've been pretty happy with all of that stuff. Yeah. But not everybody's got that. And not everybody is able to put that nest egg away and save because people are dealing with other things. So most people, you know, usually people still have some hope. Are you saying that maybe people just don't even even have hope anymore? I do. I do. Okay. Because I don't believe anything is permanent. Nothing is permanent. So for people that are all out of up and arms about Donald Trump, he's going to be gone in two years. And then whatever you, if you think our world order has been thrown into a tizzy, or you think some of the laws that have put into place have been detrimental, all of them, you just go away. I mean, it just changes. Yeah. It's okay. Like you may not be happy now, but it's fine. Everything will be fine. Yeah. Right. And so I do believe the system works. I have not lost all faith. Or is there times when I'm really frustrated? Of course. And that's okay. Of course. Yeah. But to throw your hands up and say, oh, this doesn't work, I don't believe that. I don't believe it. And I don't believe changing our current system. I mean, really upending it the way that some people are proposing, Abdul El-Sayed, for example. The DSA people are. I just don't think that that's going to work. And I think in the long term, it's going to be incredibly detrimental. That's me. That's my opinion. But I haven't lost faith. Have you lost faith? No, I haven't lost faith. I'm with you that, you know, things change and, you know, the ones who you maybe have lost faith with won't be here long. It changes and you'll have new people in. So no, I haven't lost faith. I get frustrated. Sure.

And, you know, in the meantime, until it does change, you know, I might be dealing with some pain, you know, and I don't like dealing with that, but, you know, weeping doesn't last forever, you know, that's what the Lord says. The weeping doesn't last forever, you know, that's... Sunshine in the morning, man. Yeah. No, 800859-0-957, 8008-590-0-0-WJ. Have you completely lost faith? Because I just haven't. It's not generally my nature. And, I mean, you can be frustrated in the moment. You can be unhappy in the moment. But I think to say that there is a system that is all a mess and it can't be fixed, that's just not something I agree with. Meanwhile, maybe a little bit of frustration, but a lot less for Brian this weekend. With the grandkids. Brian is back. The grandkids were in town from overseas. And how did that go? Oh, it's great. It was terrific. Okay, now how did it really go? They wore him out. As you get older, you realize why young people have children and people don't. It's exhausting. Yeah. Love them to death, but it's exhausting. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yep. Yeah. That sounds about right. It's a ton of fun. I mean. Took them. We drove around. We did a lot of, you know, went to the park. Took them. Got to take them to the comic bookstore one day. Oh, see, that's Brian's Super Bowl right there. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And how did that go? It was very fun because, guys, let's go to the comic book store. Boom, we're in the car and we get there and Grandpa roams around, does what he does. And then. I'm looking for the guys. What do you guys want to get? You found something you want to get. Oh, I really like this grandpa. It's like, I've got Funco pops. Like, we get that. Oh, it's real expensive, Grandpa. And I went, what is it? It's like $30. Like, well. This is on Grandpa, so you could just get what you want. We don't, you know, they're in, we see them every year, so I don't care what I spend. Let's get that. I said, don't worry about money. It's all on Grandpa. Well, the minute I said that, there was a Ghostbuster Slimer way up on the top shelf, and it was full size, mounted to the wall, and the arms come out. It looks like slimers coming through your wall. A minute I said, everything's on Grandpa, guys. Let's get that, Grandpa. It's $150. Uh-huh. Open up that can of worms. Did you get slimer? No, we, Grandpa pulled a distraction move. Because we're good at that. Yes, yes. Grape goes, what is that over there? I'm having a heart attack, fellas.

Well, plus Bryant fell in the comic book store. And remember, my out was easy. They also wanted to get some giant water guns to take with them. It's like, guys, remember, you got to go back to the Netherlands. Everything you get, you got to carry with you on the plane. And they were going to see. my stepson's in-laws after I say, that's a lot to carry. Yeah. Oh, yeah, you're right, Grandpa. That's a lot to carry. It is a lot to carry. That distraction move, buddy. I'm telling you. It's for real? That's for real. It is. I can get it, yeah. And they're getting older now. The oldest is 12. It's not as easy to distract. No. No, it's not. The eight-year-old is pretty easy. But, I mean, it's great to have them here. It's so much fun. That's awesome. It's great, man. Even my wife was like, you're like a different person when they're here. It's like, yeah, because I have so much fun with them. It's great. We took them to a farm market. I'll tell you this quick story if I can. Farm market, my grandparents used to take me to. My stepson said, where did you find out about this? Like, my grandparents brought me here. Now it's cool because I'm taking my grandkids here. And the eight-year-old said, Grandpa, Maybe one day I could bring my grandkids here. Wow. Grandpa nearly cried in the car. I was going to say. That's touching right there, man. And his heart grew two sizes. Absolutely. Absolutely. That's very cool. It was fun. Very cool. Coming up on the other side, reactions are pouring in. Do you trust the government still? Do you have faith in the system? We'll get to that coming up on the other side. Also, Evan Brown joins us. It is back to school for much of the country, not so much here in the state of Michigan. But what, I'd love to get a parent on the phone in Florida as their kids go back to school. I'd love something to look forward to. That's coming up next. Meanwhile, you know, one of the easiest way to transform your homes is with Fresh Cone of Payton. Yes, you can go on buy new couches and chairs. Love seats and dining room sets, but that gets expensive. And if you choose quality paint, you can get that same feeling. It's why I love Benjamin Netanyahu Moore from my local Refco Light Paint Store, because they say paint is never just paint. It's craftsmanship, it's innovation. It's the passion that they bring to those relationships that you build. And it's the kind of quality that'll help turn your house into a home and be a welcoming place for your friends and family for years to come. And here's the best part. When you are ready to start planning that next painting project, you go to Repco Light Paint Stores, you talk to their team, they will help you find the perfect Benjamin Netanyahu Moore color, they'll get you the perfect finish that you're looking for, for the space that you are looking to paint, and they will get you all your questions answered so that you get the right results the first time and you don't have to repaint it with another paint. So whether you're updating your one room.

tackling the entire home. You got to trust Benjamin Netanyahu Moore and the experts at Rebco Light Paints. Visit one of their four Metro Detroit locations or learn more at rebcolyte.com. That's repcolyte.com. R-E-P-C-O-L-I-T-E.com. All right. So to the question of do you, do you still believe in this government? How skeptical are you? Because I do. I believe. I'm not off the bandwagon. I think there are times of frustration. I think there are times of confusion. And then and then I, but for the most part, look, things run. Things happen. Things get done. And, you know, we've seen, unfortunately, less bipartisanship. We've seen, you know, some of the more traditional. relationships that are formed across the aisle, those don't necessarily exist anymore. But haven't we seen this in the past? Maybe not to this extent. But haven't we seen this in the past? And I'm so in that question kind of you would ask maybe several administrations ago like, hey, you know, you still believe in the government because things didn't always happen so smoothly. No, no, but at least there was efforts to work across the aisle. Whereas I don't know that that is necessarily the case on big issues anymore. Uh-huh, yeah. And then it still happens. Of course it does. Yeah. You know, you don't hear about the bills that get passed, you know, unanimously. No. That's not sexy. That's not sexy. That's not fun. Right? Like it's the big issues, the big topic issues that get talked about because that's where the debate lies. That's where the debate and everybody goes into their silos. From a 5-8-6 number, as long as we have a party system, I have no trust in the government. Reason is because with a party system, government only goal is to gain power and lie and cheat and steal to benefit their party, not the people. What Republican policies give us a better life? Tax cuts to pay people without spending cuts, ballooning the deficit further. Long-term plan, I don't see anything policy-wise from Republicans from a former Republican voter, now independent. Republicans only play to fear and short-term electability. This one, Brian.

completely appalled by the price of that Ghostbusters piece of memorabilia. If you don't spend it, if you don't spend it with the grandkids, they'll spend it without you. So, yeah, it was pretty nice to see the grandkids in town. And look, I just think, I think there's incredible skepticism of the government. Incredible skepticism. And I think that's healthy. More so now than in the past? Probably. I mean, yes, probably in this day and age. And whether that skepticism is properly founded in reality or not, I think more of it exists. Certainly with social media and the echo chambers and your algorithm and all those things. Absolutely. That definitely plays a part. Meanwhile, much of the country going back to school today ahead of Labor Day, many schools here in Michigan going after Labor Day. Let's talk about it with Evan Brown, our Fox News reporter and WJR contributor. Evan, good morning. It's back to school for a lot of these kids, huh? It is. Here in Florida, I'm in the Miami-Dade Fort Lauderdale area, and our school begins today. And Miami-Dade proper will begin later this week. Much of the school districts, many of the school districts, say, or most maybe even in the country, begin in August. I believe Detroit begins in two weeks, right? That's right. Yeah. Yeah, so it always comes into a shock to my family in New York. I grew up in New York. I've been in Florida for 20 years, and every August I have the same conversation with my brothers. Yeah, school's starting. It's starting so early. Why don't you wait till Labor Day like us? It's like we had this conversation last year. All right. Yeah, because they're in New York and they think the world revolves around them. Sure. You know how that works. But anyhow, no, most, you know, the pop culture phenomenon of school starting after Labor Day is actually not something that happens around the entire country. Are schools fully staffed, Evan? I mean, our teachers and support staff shortage is still kind of creating problems for a lot of districts. So I think that's going to, the answer to that is ultimately your mileage may vary. Okay. There are some districts in some states where they still profess to have a teacher shortage. The question is really what are they doing about it and whether or not that's really a big deal. In a state, for instance, like ours in Florida, we have a very robust ability to send your kids to other schools other than the public schools. to do so on the tax, you know, with your taxpayer money that you would pay for the school. Some people like to call it a voucher system or something like that. But it has allowed parents to choose better schools for their kids based on anything, including, you know, teacher-student ratios. And so it's kind of become a self-solving problem in some ways. But there are other states where this continues to be an issue where either there aren't enough teachers and therefore...

class sizes are very large. Or there's not enough space. And so kids are still ending up in large classes because they just don't have enough space to accommodate smaller classes for all the kids they need to serve. Meanwhile, there was an ABC Ipsos poll that said parents are expected to spend $900 per kid to get ready to go back to school this year. A lot of people are saying more things are expensive. 30% of people are saying the prices are about the same from last year. So it's the economic impact of Back to School too. Well, there is that because you do need to buy certain things for your kids. And there's also, I think, a number of schools that now ask their parents to buy things for the classroom because for some reason they can't afford, well, back in the day we used to say chalk and erasers. I don't think they use chalkboards anymore. I have not bought chalk for the kids going back to school. Marker boards. Yeah, right. But, yeah, look, everyone is going to need to, you know, you probably, this is usually when parents buy new clothes for their kids, right, right before school begins. So that's something. School supplies, I remember, you know, one of the things I needed in high school, I had to get a graphing calculator, one of those Texas instruments. Oh, yeah. And my parents were like, why the heck am I spending money on this? And it was kind of an expensive venture back then. Yep. Nowadays. you have an app on the phone that does the same thing. So, you know, that's a cost saver right there. Of course, you have to get the kid the phone. But. Yeah, I mean, there is an expense in going back to school and certain things do need replacing after a while that, you know, that kiddie lunch kit, you know, box that you got your kid when they were in elementary school. They've kind of outgrown it once they've gotten to seventh or eighth grade. They don't want that little kitty lunch box. You have to get them something a bit more age appropriate, right? otherwise they're going to get, you know, beaten up or something on the... I always kept my super friends lunchbox. I'm sorry, I kept it. The idea is, of course, is to keep it, not to get rid of it, just get them something else to use because later on in life, that super friend's lunchbox is going to be worth something. You better believe it. Exactly right. Evan Brown, we appreciate you, as always. Thank you. Take care, guys. Yeah, you got it. You know, another big thing I would think this year, too, in school districts are these cell phones and what they're going to be doing with them. Well, yeah. Are they going in pouches? How much screen time? Can you bring them? Can you not? Everybody's doing different things. By the way, we were picking some stuff up for the kids the other day, and I did see those Texas instrument.

Calculators. Calculators, yeah. I was like, I didn't even know there were some making these. I didn't either. I had to buy them, too, when I was in high school. And they were expensive and things. Asked me how many times I used it. How many, what? Once? We got to take a break. Coming up on the other side, 8 o'clock hour. Jonathan Savage joins us. We'll also hear a new piece of Jamie's podcast. How dare you ask me that question. It's coming up on J.R. Morning. A little bit of rain here to start the 8 o'clock hour downtown. A little bit of lightning earlier today. I just saw some a few minutes ago. Did you? You're still seeing it. All right. See, I got my back to the window. I can't see anything out there. No, I'm, you know, watching you, man. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. But we could see some storms pop up today, maybe tomorrow, a little bit of rain tomorrow, maybe a chance for storms later in the week as well. And a little bit of this. precipitation will do us good. I've seen a lot of, as you put it, hay around town. Keep the horses away. The grass is a lovely shade of tan throughout much of Metro. We just haven't had any rain. No, we haven't. It has been quite sparse. Bone dry. Yeah. So it'll be nice to get that grass a little bit of relief. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom in town? He was here to stump for. people who are running for elections. It wasn't about him. Yeah, okay, sure. Okay? It wasn't about him. Sure. He joined Michigan House Democratic leader Ranjeev Puri and State House nominees Sarah Pounds and Alex Hawkins for canvassing lunch yesterday in Oakland County. And then that event followed a major Democratic gathering Friday. It was that unity breakfast that happened at Detroit's Renaissance High School candidates, including gubernatorial nominee. Jocelyn Benson, Secretary of State nominee, Garland Gilchrist and others, Abdul El-Sayed, everybody. They appeared together before a packed audience. Election Day is just a few months away, people. Democrats are hoping that high-profile appearances will energize the volunteers and build the party unity and strengthen voter outreach across Metro Detroit. Yeah, that's what Gavin wants. Sure, sure, sure, sure. That's what he wanted. Sure, he wants to make sure Democrats have control the legislature. That's it. Yeah, not. Nothing to happen about him possibly running for president. Right, not raising his profile in issue. No, no, no, no, nothing like that. I agree. I don't, I don't see that being the case either. Meanwhile, you've got a former DNC fundraiser who told Laura Trump on my view with Laura Trump that major donors won't support vice. President Kamala Harris, former Vice President Kamala Harris, in another presidential run, saying that many of these political donors view their contributions as business propositions, and they will not continue backing candidates that they say mismanage their money. She says that Kamala Harris is living in a fantasy land that big donors would bet on her again. She should just go away because the American people do not want her agenda. $2.5 billion was spent between the Harris campaign and pro-Harris PACs in that presidential and their very truncated presidential run. And they just, they feel like that's not it. But to your point is.

You write this book. You throw everybody under the boss. It's their fault, their fault. Not my fault, but it's their fault. And then you expect to. Will you vote for me again, please? Yeah. Can I have more money, please? I just don't, I don't see how that works. A federal prosecutor seeking permission to sell. The $1.5 million Novi Mansion belonging to former Detroit Riverfront Conservancy CFO, William Smith. As you know, is in jail. He's serving a 19-year prison sentence after admitting he stole 44.3 million. from the nonprofit and use that money to finance a lavish lifestyle. Prosecutors say selling the 3,700 square foot home would prevent additional taxes, maintenance costs, and penalties while helping recover restitution for the Conservancy. However, Smith's former wife claims she has an ownership interest and old National Bank says it holds a $710,000 mortgage. Any net proceeds would be held by the government while those competing claims are resolved. They're nickel and diamond trying to get it as much back as they can. And I understand. But I don't ever think they'll get anywhere near the 44 million that was taken. But they got to do what they got to do and try to get something back. Yeah. Meanwhile, Donald Trump telling Axios that the United States is only semi-negotiating with Iran. Oh, just a little bit. Just a little. Okay. Like being a little pregnant. Just semi. Yeah, right. Okay, dude. Just semi-negotiating. Iran setting new demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz that would include compensation for war damages. So the president says the United States is only semi-negotiating. The Houthis in Yemen attacked a government-held Port City late last night. It was the second time in 24 hours. Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting U.S. Gaza peace plan. And he said that they will stay in Gaza until Hamas genuinely disarms. I think he's skeptical. We talked about that as well. And Donald Trump said that that was a historic agreement, a historic plan that was set out and put into place. And Hamas saying that they would disarm. We'll talk about it more. Jonathan Savage is joining us on the other side. Well, and I know Benjamin Netanyahu has broken away from... the president on this plan because, you know, he's going to be up for re-election. And the people, they don't want the Israeli troops to pull out of Gaza and they don't want that. So he's going against that because he's trying, excuse me, trying to stay in and stay on top of everything and still become the, you know, be the prime minister. So a lot of that going on as well. A Detroit activist who has spent decades working to make the city safer. is now receiving help from the community he has served. Friends and supporters gathered over the weekend at the Shrine of the Black Madonna for a fundraiser benefiting Minister Malik Shabazz, who is facing mounting medical expenses following several health challenges, including a massive heart attack back in 2023. Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison said the city owes Shabazz a debt of gratitude for his longtime partnership with police and community commitment to public safety. Shabazz who has served Detroit.

For 43 years, thank the community for its support and donations can be made to Peace in the Streets, Incorporated on Livanoi in Detroit. Malik Shabazz has been out in the street and, you know, you talk about... These community violence intervention groups, I mean, he was doing it way before they really got organized and started doing it more as an organized force because Malik Shabazz was always out in the communities, talking to young people and talking to folks and trying to disarm them and disengaged them from violence before it happened. And he's huge with that. He continued to do it. And when the community violence intervention groups got together, he was part of that as well. organize it, but then he got ill, and he's been dealing with some health challenges. Meanwhile, the Tigers come back from their West Coast swing, seven and two, two games under 500, second place in the AL Central, three and a half back from Chicago, and just one game out of the wild card. Bats were like, just that. Just that. Yeah, they won yesterday. Three to one took extras, but they got it done. And look, I don't know, man. This has been a really, really nice run of baseball. It really has. And, I mean, even you look back post-all-Star break. They came back with a couple of wins against the Angels. They won that series. They won the series against the Cubs. They split the series with the Royals. They lost the series with the Orioles and then have been on an absolute tear. And lost the seven game win streak or seven and two record on the West Coast. And lost their two best pitchers. And lost their two best pitchers. And now you've got Cleveland on tap. So what you don't want to do. is give up any ground in the division. Absolutely not. Because Detroit, 58 and 60, Minnesota, 58 and 61, Cleveland, 58 and 61. Are we playing them in Cleveland or here? We are playing them here tomorrow, 640 first pitch. Okay, okay. So the guardians, I don't know, man. The guardians always seem to have our numbers sometimes. So we owe them anyway. We owe the guardian. Uh, yeah. I just, you know. I don't know why it's like that, but yeah, we owe the guardians. Right. Meanwhile, on the Lions front, camp is well underway, and Teddy Bridgewater stepped away from the team yesterday. They're backup quarterback. And they made a move to sign another backup quarterback. Veteran Josh Dobbs gets added to the roster. 31. He knows offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. He spent a couple of weeks on Detroit's practice squad in 2022 when he left the Titans. Dobbs was traded to Arizona during the 2023 preseason, started eight games for them, went one in seven in that span, a 63% completion percentage.

Eight touchdowns, five interceptions under Petzing. Again, if there are, of the teams in the NFL, if you're starting quarterback goes down, you're probably not going to win a lot of games. Yeah. I mean, that's just the reality. Yeah. So if, if Jared Goff gets hurt during the season. Lord forbid it. I mean, right. Seasons probably. effectively over if he misses extended periods of time. And that's not any different than any other team in the NFL. So Josh Jobs comes aboard, Teddy Bridgewater out for the Lions. Coming up on the other side, the latest on the Iran War, the Strait of Hormuz. Are we negotiating a little, a lot? Just a little. Let's talk about it. Chair morning. So the president says the United States is only semi-negotiating with Iran. JD Vance says progress has been made in their negotiations with Iran. Iran setting new demands for reopening the Strait of Ormoos, including compensation for war damages. A lot of information flying around. Let's try to clear it up. Jonathan Savage, our Fox News reporter and WJR contributor. Good morning. It's good to have you back. Where do we stand today? What is the negotiating status? In this case? Yeah, there was some diplomatic movement over the weekend, but not necessarily of the type that I think the Trump administration was hoping for, many in the Middle East was hoping for. There's been no agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. What we had last week that appeared to be moving towards that was Iran and Oman discussing new shipping lanes and a traffic management system that would allow vessels to pass safely through the strait. And they appear to be close. to agreeing that. However, Iran is now saying an agreement with Oman would not itself reopen the strait. They say reopening depends on the United States meeting a series of conditions and demands. Much of that was in the memorandum of understanding that President Trump previously said was dead. Iran's trying to get that back on the table and they're throwing in compensation for war damage for good measure. And the president says that the United States is only semi-negotiating and can wait while economic pressure builds on Iran. Is that patient strategically effective, Jonathan, or could it allow this conflict to get broader and spread? It does depend on how long you want to wait and you think that you're willing to wait if you're President Trump. Yeah, he says we're low-keying it. He's talking about Iran's inflation, the lack of money, their sluggish economy. He believes economic pressure is working. And unlike in previous interviews, he didn't issue another threat of military action. We also heard from Vice President JD Vance, he spoke to Fox News. He said, this thing is not over. We're really in the middle of the game. here. So there's some sort of strategic patience, as you're saying, but Iran also is displaying strategic patients of its own because they are not giving everything up in negotiations with the United States. They believe, at least some of them in the Iranian regime, believe that they can hold out. According to reports, there are others in the Iranian regime who are concerned about the economic impact and would like to negotiate.

It does seem to me like Iran willing to hold out at least until November, right? When the political pressures start to really tighten here for the president and the Republicans, what would be the scenario in which Iran could be the focus of something broader, something bigger militarily wise? If Republicans are somehow able to win in November, how would that change the board here? That's an excellent question. Looking into our crystal balls, I think that if the Republicans did win big in November, it would be seen by some as an endorsement of President Trump's strategy and that of his advisors. And I think for the Iranians, it would remove one of their potential bargaining tactics. It would remove their ability to wait for pressure to come on President Trump from inside the United States. That's one of the things they would like to see. They want the US to get fed up of this. They want you guys to be fed up of the amount you're paying at the gas station. They want the Americans to be fed up of having such a large deployment of military personnel out there. So that is one thing which the Iranians are probably thinking of it. It's a big if. To be clear, it's a big if. If the Supreme Leader, I mean, Iran's Supreme Leader, nobody's seen this guy since the war began, and there's been some newly released footage that can't be verified. How much uncertainty is there about who we're actually making decisions? Who's making decisions in Tehran? Yeah, that's the other aspect of it. There are people who are negotiating and then there are possibly others who are making the decisions. There appears to be divisions for certain within Iran. According to reports, you've got President Massoud Peseshkian, who is on the side of people who are very worried about the economic situation. They want diplomacy to bring some relief to the country in that regard. And then there's the hardliners who are more associated with the paramilitary RGC, the security establishment. They don't want to make concessions to Washington because they believe that if they, for example, reopen the Strait of Ramos without getting tangible concessions, then they won't have anything for future negotiations to hang off. How much are the markets reacting to what we're seeing still? It felt like they were becoming a little more disciplined into some of the messaging that we were hearing. But at the same time, I mean, when the president holds off on military action, the market spike, when we're seeing, you know, the resumption of some of these actions, they sink. So what are you seeing on that from? We're definitely seeing things leveling out a lot more than they were before. We're not quite seeing the dramatic ups and downs. I think the markets are displaying a certain amount of optimism because the price of oil is nowhere near as high as it was at its worst, but it certainly nowhere near as low as it was before the conflict began. We're looking at about $80 a barrel.

for West Texas crude and a little bit more for Brent crude. So, yeah, the markets are steady at the moment, but they're certainly vigilant. And just curious, we have just 30 seconds left here on the international stage. Has there been any change in position from members of NATO or the EU on this? No, there hasn't been. And we're hearing very little from members of NATO or the EU. Countries like France and the United Kingdom have made it clear that they're willing to commit forces to a mission to ensure free shipping in the Strait of Form moves, but only once the threat from Iran has been lifted. There's certainly no appetite for any of these countries to get involved in direct military operations against Iran. They've seen how long this conflict has been going on for without an obvious... into it and I think some of them maybe the United Kingdom and Germany for example feel vindicated in their assessment of the situation at the start yeah Jonathan Savage always appreciate the insight thank you we'll talk soon thank you yeah you got it coming up on the other side Jamie James joins the show I will get a taste of the new episode of her podcast it's coming up here on WJR All right, 835 here on a Monday. It's usually where we catch up with Jamie Edmonds and no different today. Jamie's back on the show. Good morning, Jamie. Good morning, guys. How are you? We are well. How are you? Yeah. I'm good. I'm feeling great heading into surgery this week. So keep praying. What day is that? Where we are. Wednesday. Wednesday is my surgery. Yep, we will be praying. Yeah, we're praying. And we got a new episode of the podcast out. You've got surgery coming up. What else is going on? Jesus, Pete. Well, this episode I'm really excited about because it's with my dear friend Jacqueline Thompson. And she has been one of my supporters. So I thought that there would be some benefit for people listening to all the things she did for me in case you're caregiving or supporting someone going through cancer. So we talked a little bit about that, but she's also a childhood cancer survivor. And we talked about her journey. And here's a little bit of that. You know, I think about this a lot. Like, at least it's me and it's not my child going through it. And there are parents out there that go through this all the time with their child. And so. Kudos to your parents because they tried to do everything in their power when it came to getting you the best medical team, but making you feel comfortable because this little four and five year old lost her hair. Yes, lost my hair. Doesn't know what's going on. At that time, also the protocol was, you know, six years of chemotherapy and six years. Six years. How often are you going? At least a couple times a week. I spent weeks and months at the hospital on the fifth floor at Beaumont. um and missed a lot of school i missed my whole childhood really and um

it's it's just something that was unfortunate but it's mold me into who I am today really the way that I love life I appreciate life I pack a lot into every single day as you know but it shaped me for my attitude the you know the way that I try to help others in the same situation give back through philanthropy not just through the you know Beaumont and Corwell and pediatric cancer but other charity organizations throughout the state. And it's going to shape you too. It already is through this amazing journey. I'm so proud that you're doing this, that you're taking your platform and forum to help others. And it will always shape you. And trust me, nothing really is going to get you down anymore. You told me this. It's going to just change your outlook on life. And I think it already has. I mean, I'm doing the podcast and doing certain things. But like I am like, look at that beautiful sunset. You know, I stop and appreciate it. more every day more every day it's been a journey but i i swear i'm grateful despite the like tears right now but thanks um for being on this pod and talking to me through this because it's just it's something it is something but look at you like this happened a long time i'm not going to give the your age or how long ago it was you know you're welcome but it's still shaping you still get teared up about it it is it's a very you know Actually, up until the last, I would say eight years, I never talked about it because maybe it's a little PTSD. My family and I've been giving back to Vermont since I was a patient and through books and through donations, but also things for these young patients and their families. And that's fine. But it was only really recently that I was able to talk about it. When we first met, you weren't really talking about it. No, I really wasn't. And obviously my family and my husband, everybody knows and things like that, how it shapes me and shaped me. But it really is up until recently when I really wanted to put forth my story about what it was like. the blessings I have for my family, my faith, my community, my classmates, my, the nurses, the physicians, you know, they grow to be a family. It's a, it's a unit. And, and I'm proud of that story now because I am who I am. And this is why I live the way I do. Yeah. And I have a zest for life. I really do. You know that. You do. You pack it in. I do. I love it. I love life. I do. It was a great conversation with my dear friend. Just like thinking about her as a young child going through it, her parents going through it. So, you know, for those people going through that with their kids, I mean, we're all praying for you too. And she has, she does, you know, listening to her, she sounds like she has a zest for life right now. And she really sounds like that.

Yeah, it's infectious. And she loves life because she's been through a lot. And then, you know, at the end of this podcast, the two of us talk about how we want to give away a wig to someone. And she is generous. So was her husband. And they call it the Strand and Fight Award. And we're going to do this giveaway through Gildes Club of Metro Detroit. And so we're both very excited about that too. That's another example of her giving back. I, you know, I never really thought because I, you know, again, I'm learning all of this through you. And so I never thought about when you make it through to the other side and you finish your chemo and you finish surgeries if necessary and you get through and then years pass. And like there is a bit of PTSD there that people might have a hard time getting over. I never really thought about that when you get to the other side of it. Yeah. And, you know, my therapist says people can take it one of two ways. They can go insular and like go inward and not really talk about it. And others would talk about it and talk about their zest for life. And so neither way is better than the other. It's a personal decision. But, you know, I never thought I'd be here. And so I never thought I'd react this way. But here we are. Here we are. And we've got another major hurdle here. That's right. We've got surgery coming up. But it's just another thing we do. It's another thing you do. It's another opportunity for your support system to step up for you. And we love you. And we're praying for you and we're excited for you. It's all going to be all gravy, Jamie. You're already healed. I told you that from the beginning. Well, I really hope so. Surgery's Wednesday morning and we'll see what recovery is like, but I hope that this is sort of the end of the road, the light at the end of the tunnel for me. I hope they don't find, you know, active cancer in there because that means something different for me. So here's to Hopen and the things that are making me happy right now are spreading this message and Gildas Club Detroit.org slash wig. If anyone needs a wig, we're giving one away. And going on Instagram and watching you act like a little kid. at the concert in Vegas. Pretty good. Anyone who will listen about the Backstreet Boys, I am bringing up videos showing pictures on my phone. They immediately regret what they've done. I can't stop talking about it. I loved it. I could tell. And my surgeons say they're going to play Backstreet Boys on Wednesday for me. There we go. Yes. Very good. Yes. If you have any frustrations or you want to, if there is anything else, you know, you want to come on and say, vent anything, well, we're here for you. You know that. Oh, thank you. Thank you both. If you want to do it publicly, you could certainly come on the show and yell Lloyd and I. That's also an option for you too. Always. All right. We love you. We'll talk soon. See you, Jamie Jane. Love you guys. Bye. All right. That's Jamie Edmonds. We'll take a break. We're drinking coffee next on chair morning. We suffer from, and many of you out there, you probably drink coffee or some kind of caffeine. Now, I get my caffeine.

From a couple of places. Not coffee usually. I get my caffeine from a red bull. Yeah. A five-hour energy or Coke. Or sometimes both. Oh, yeah. Or sometimes because. But. I don't know. I may be a coffee drinker now. Well, I just might turn into one. Something has happened in this studio with Lloyd. Because Balam coffee and wine is here. They're in Ferndale. And Dakota Hamlin is the lead barista and joins us this morning. It's wonderful to see you. Oh, thank you so much for having me. All right. So let's talk a little bit about what you guys are doing in Ferndale. Tell us a little bit about the coffee side of things and then you've got a... another exciting aspect of the business. Yeah, so we're a Latin American-inspired cafe and wine bar. We have a lot of signature drinks that we have incorporated from a lot of Mexican treats and candies that we've incorporated into like certain signature sauces and syrups into our coffee. We also feature a series of South American wines starting at 11 a.m. out in the front, and we also may or may not have a little speakeasy somewhere in the building as well with signature cocktails as well as a separate wine list. So, I mean, you got the coffee shop during the day. You got the wine, forward gathering place at night. How do you make that transition without kind of losing the cafe's identity? Well, the fun thing is, is we always post, like, on our social media is like a little catchphrase that you can give to us to come to the baristas and then you get a certain little coin to put somewhere into a wall that the bartenders come in let you into the speakeasy portion. Gotcha. That's very cool. That is. That's very cool. Tell us about what you brought today because you brought a number of different drinks. You brought some pastries and some good stuff too. Yeah. So I brought a series of lattes and coffees and machas. The signature one is probably Arturo latte. That one's probably our most popular beverage. People love it iced with a lovely cinnamon citrus cold foam on top, as well as our toasted tortilla cold brew. That one's probably our most unique drink that we offer. It's actually a cold brew that we steep in corn tortillas. It tastes like a corn tortilla. It's absolutely crazy. Yeah, it's wonderful. It's delicious. We also have our macha. It's a strawberries and cream macha. We serve it layered to kind of look like the Mexican flag, although this time it's kind of a little bit more blended together, but you know, got to get the full effect if you want to come in. Yeah. We also brought a series of pastries that we get delivered from either Southwest or Sheila's out in Pontiac. A lot of great traditional treats there, as well as our empanadas that we get from empanata, my love, out in Oxford. Now, tell us about this one right here, the one that looks green here. Yeah, so that's the strawberries and cream macho. So we make an in-house strawberry reduction that we put on the bottom of it and then we put the milk on top with the macha on top of that so that it kind of looks like from the red, the white to green, like the Mexican flag.

Wow, it's delicious. You had this? Yes, sir. I think that's good. I think that took me to the other side. It's not real earthy. No, no. The strawberry kind of really dulls down a lot of the bitterness that comes with macha as well as we also just carry really nice macha as well. Fair enough. What's your background? My background? I've been in cafes for the last six years now, all locally owned. And, you know, just was here since open with Balaam and have loved it ever since. And we've just been slowly working it up to where we are now? And Balaam is located where now? It's at 207 East 9 Mile, 2 steps away from Mescal, Takaria, and tequila bar, as well as right across the street from the Ferndale Library at 9 Mile in Woodward. Farnedale's just a special place, man. It's popping. You know, it is, you know. Yeah. That's always. Walk us through, like, the... the development process on one of these drinks. Like, how do you take it from a Mexican candy, for example? Or where do you get the idea to go toasted tortilla into coffee? Well, we kind of had just, it's more or less like an adaptation of an old fashion that we started with a cocktail. And then since we created the cold brew for that, we kind of were just like, why not just serve it on its own? And so we kind of tested it out when we first opened and people just love it. And also incorporating it with some of the signature sauces and syrups like the churro syrup people love it with, the flan syrup. It just really goes well together as just a drink on its own. What's your hours? What's the hours? So weekdays were open from 7 to 10. Speakee might be open for an extra hour just for people who are back there to enjoy an extra drink or two before we got to kick you out. Okay. And then the weekends were open from 7 to 11 and then Sundays were open from 9 to 9. Okay. Very cool. You guys are doing some really, really cool stuff. Different stuff, man. Really good. And you want to, you know, just a different twist on your caffeinated beverage. It'd be a good place to stop in. It's Blom, coffee, and wine, and Dakota Hamlin's the lead barista. We appreciate you guys coming in. Thanks for coming in. Thank you for giving us the taste tester. Well, thank you so much for having me. Yeah, that's very cool. I think I'm switching over to coffee. But I got to go to Balam now. It took you one cup of coffee and now you're in? I'm telling you, man. It was special. It's pretty good. It is. It's pretty good. Well, and it's a good time to start because it's National Coffee Month. True. Well, I knew it was something. Yeah. Well, also, it's something that the Tigers are in second place in the AL Central, too. Are you kidding me? Those guys, man, they lose their two best pitchers and they're just smoking right now. Jackson Job steps up. He looks pretty good. They go seven for two in their West Coast trip. And now you got a couple of back-to-back series against division rivals. And look, you got to win. These are the games. You really got to win. We got Cleveland coming up. You got Cleveland coming up. They are in second place. One game out of the wild card, which is also unbelievable. And this is, you know, going into the season, this is where a lot of people thought they would be.

But they dug themselves such a hole. Now they're trying to play catch up. And they've successfully done that for the most part. Just two games under 500. Absolutely unbelievable. All right. That's going to do for us for us today. Kevin Deets and All Talk coming to your way next here on WJR. Have yourself a wonderful Monday. We'll see you tomorrow.