Hour 2 of NMN, Death Row + What the Flock?

Super Talk, 997 WTN. Welcome on in to Nashville's morning news for your Thursday, August 13th, hot day to day, sunny, high of... Joan, I may have had a typo here. What's the high today is going to be, 96? 96. 96. Feels like 110. That is not a typo. That is not a wordo. I don't know. Type-O-word-o? No, it's 110 is going to be that whatever. Did anybody get that joke that I just did, Joan? I did not. Okay, good. If those kids could read, they'd be very upset. Anyway, so... Yeah, it's going to be really hot today. It's going to feel like 110. Appreciate you listening to Nashville's morning news. And by the way, we were talking about the state of our schools in the 5 o'clock hour. By the way, Joan, great, great, great, 5 o'clock hour. So if people are just tuning in, you missed a great hour. You can hear all of the 5 o'clock hour and all of Nashville's morning news. Any time of the day or night, just find us on YouTube, Twitter, Twitch, 997.wtn.com. And you can also listen to the radio program anywhere you like. Just download us anywhere you can get your audio. 3748, we're talking about the state of schools. 3748 said, hey, Mandus. Don't forget those of us who teach our hearts out every single day. Yeah, I mean, I hate to paint the broad brush over all teachers. And we didn't. Because it's not that way. No way. We didn't. I love the teachers that we have and we had a lot that actually texted in and giving us their perspective on kids today. So thank you teachers for all that you do. You are. Absolutely part of the heroes of America. It is 610 on Super Talk, 997. By the way, coming up, a Metro Nashville teacher, one of those heroes that I was just talking about, actually quit in grand fashion. We're going to talk about that. Senator Marsha Blackburn was on with Murphy Show yesterday. We've got some of the highlights there. A big flock camera update is also straight ahead, and Karoline Leavitt is leaving the White House. We'll talk about that. Those stories and a whole lot more here on Super Talk, 997, WTN between now and Chris Han coming up after the news at 9. Also, take the Daily Dan poll. Should the execution of Daryl Jim Himes proceed? Now, that is a big topic of conversation these days. He is said to be... put down like the dog that he is in my opinion there is uh where my opinion is uh darrell Jim Himes should be put down there are a lot of conservatives believe it or not that believe that darrell Jim Himes the execution of darrell Jim Himes this morning at 10 should not move forward so we're going to talk about that go take the daily dam poll right now but this is um a bad guy

Daryl Jim Himes is a very bad guy. And yes, not only should he be put down today, but he should have been put down decades ago. Jenkins worked as a maid at a motel in Kingston Springs. Prosecutors say Jenkins was cleaning a room when she was robbed, raped, and stabbed to death. A Cheatham County jury convicted Jim Himes a first-degree felony murder and the following year sentenced him to death. Do you know what... And they talk about the woman that he killed, Catherine Jean Jenkins. Do you know what year it was, Joan, that this murder happened? I think I did the story yesterday. I think it was 1986. The murder happened in 1985. The conviction was in 1986. There we go. So I don't know about you, Joan, but I'll go ahead and date myself. Dude, I was a junior in high school. Yeah. I was a junior in high school when this murder happened. Sam wasn't even born yet. I was negative 11. Sam was negative 11. See, this is a problem. It's a huge, huge problem. And this is why people are so angry. 40 years. And now... This guy, Daryl Jim Himes, is too old and weak and feeble, apparently, and we'll get into what is going on with him physically. But now they're saying that he is too old and feeble to go through lethal. Injection. Now Heinz attorneys are asking a judge to delay that execution. They're raising questions about... Start your day with the morning jolt of Drake Toll. Anywhere in the country. Your home for talking sports. The United States hockey team has four teeth left. What is LeBron James Legacy? Leonel Mess. 906 career goals is stupid. All of it. The Knicks. The Los Angeles Lakers. Aaron Rogers. Georgia football players. The Dolphins. The Mets. As it happened, when it happened. We'll talk all of it. Westwood One Sports Talk, your home for Drake Toll. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Tennessee's execution procedures after the state was unable to execute Tony Carruthers this past May because of medical staff. could not establish IV access. Nine Republican state senators and state representative Jody Amy Coney Barrett have also asked Governor Bill Lee for an independent review before another execution is carried out. Lee says the state's protocol remains appropriate and unchanged. It's one of the most difficult things we do in this start. But I am committed to making sure that it is done in the way that it should be. Take it very seriously and have in every case. So there's a few things here. Remember that Tony Cruthers case, we all do. We talked about it where they couldn't execute him because they couldn't get the IV going because I guess they couldn't find a vein. That was an absolute train wreck. So I do understand why some.

Including, by the way, good Republicans like Jody Amy Coney Barrett and one of my faves, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, have now asked for a review of the Carruthers execution and how it went so wrong. They spent an hour and 15 minutes trying to get that IV in. They actually brought up a great point, these Republicans, nine of them, where they're saying, listen, if this goes a ride this morning. All it does is it hands the opponents of capital punishment an effective argument against it. They are absolutely right. And I'm here to tell you that, of all people, I would never consider Jack Johnson soft on crime, ever. But they do have a valid point. So I would say this. If you are an advocate for executions, you want them. to be done correctly. You want them to be done efficiently. Now, Heinz attorneys are also arguing that he has serious medical conditions that could make carrying out that execution unconstitutional. Now, unless a court steps in or Governor Lee intervenes here, Heinz is scheduled to be executed at 10 Thursday morning. So we'll have to see if the whole thing goes through. But, you know, I've got a couple more thoughts on this. There's actually a new effort to stop this. I don't know if you saw this as of yesterday. Go. This is from Channel 17, Fox 17. Darrell Jim Himes's attorneys say that it's the way they physically restrain him. Right. That is in... their focus right now. So they say, and I guess this is what you were talking about. They said he's had two recent strokes. Yes. And because of that, he shouldn't be restrained on the table in order for him to be injected with the lethal mix. And that, and Joan, that's part of it. I've got the rest of the story coming up. Okay. And there's also a woman in, is it East Tennessee, Sam? Yeah, out in Knoxville. So there's a woman in Knoxville. Christa Pike. Who. is on death row as well. Because, you know, the state has decided, all right, we're going to clear out death row. Yeah. So these executions are going forward. This woman has what I think is a fascinating request. I just wanted to point out for you gloss past it on the heaven. He had two strokes while in prison? Yes. So our tax dollars went to taking him to the hospital and treating him for both of those strokes. Exactly. So here's the thing. And that's exactly, Joan, where I was going. It is not our fault, as in the taxpayer's fault, that this dude has spent 40 years on death row. So now they say that he has had... multiple strokes. He is severely impaired. He cannot walk independently. He does have cognitive issues. The strokes also mean that he cannot move his left arm. He can't move his hand or his leg. And he can't straighten his arm. And it is involuntary clenched. His hand is involuntarily clenched. So someone else trying to do that, trying to either straighten his arm or unclench his hand.

will cause him severe pain. And my question is, who cares? My question is who cares? Did he have any empathy whatsoever for the life of that woman, Ms. Jenkins, that he killed and raped before he killed her? I mean, he was absolutely not caring of anything regarding her welfare. And here's what I don't understand. He wants us to care about his? So bottom line is he and his muscles have degraded. So that's a big part of the story because they're not sure, just like Tony Carruthers, that they're going to be able to obtain an IV because it's been, you know, again, 40 years. How old is he? Can you look that up, Sam? How old is Darrell Jim Himes set to be executed today at 10 a.m.? But we, do you know that we have alternate? ways to kill people, to execute people. So if the IV, if they can't find an IV, well, then they can use the electric chair. Good old sparky. Good old sparky. It's still around. Yep. And I'll throw this out there again. You know, why don't we just use the firing squad? Yeah. It's been done in the past. Now, the woman in East Tennessee, you said, is it Crystal Jim Himes? Krista Pike. Christa Pike. So she is now requested that she wants to die by hanging. Yeah, she's got health issues. And whenever it comes to getting medical treatment, she has to be stuck with a butterfly needle. If you've taken your baby to the doctor, you're familiar with it. My mother-in-law has a medical condition where she can only be stuck with a butterfly needle. You can't really accomplish lethal injection in that manner. And the argument from her attorneys is that it would be extremely torturous and painful. My argument would be, I don't really care. She murdered a girl and carved a... pentagram into her chest. So, you know, and she was convicted in 2002, 2001 for attempted murder of another inmate. And then 2012, she was busted for trying to plot and escape from prison. So she's not necessarily the most morally upstanding inmate that there has been on death row. So again. To me, just do the firing squad. You've got Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah all have the firing squad in some form. I believe that we should as well. So I think what I'm going to do, Joan, is ask Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson and House Speaker Cameron Sexton. Yeah. Why can't we? Because I looked it up. Why can't we pass a law? by, you know, through the state legislature and say, okay, so our method of execution is now going to be the firing squad like we have in five other states as our method of execution. Our incoming Senator Marsha Blackburn, if this is audio only.

You try the elector chair. Well, we can't do the electric chair because that, of course, is cruel and unusual punishment, right? So, and then they get too old to execute. Yeah. So it's all a game. We need to quit playing the damn game and just put them down. Once they go through the appeals, here's what we need. If I were governor, this is what I would call for. I would call for expedited trials. So if somebody is suspected of a murder and they go through the trials and the process and all of that, it's got to be expedited. And you can get this done, I would assume. You mean expedited appeals. You need to have, you need to be able to have a system in place where you can get this done certainly quicker than 40 years. And then we need to go back to the firing squad because the activists cannot say, oh, that's cruel and unusual. I don't believe that it is. That's number one. Number two, you're never going to run out of bullets. And number three, there is a story, I think it was in South Carolina. I think it was in South Carolina where they spoke about how they have put now, they have put now down, put two people down via the firing squad. Do you know they actually have people that volunteer to do that? Yes. Remember that, Joan? We did that story. Yeah. Yeah, we did that story. So, I mean, I just, if I were, if I were governor for a day. Yeah. expedited appeals process and firing squad. That's what we need here in the state of Tennessee. And the rest of the conservative states that want to clear out their death row, that is what they need to do. And talk about a way to prevent people from committing a crime in the first place. I mean, well, yeah. If you know that you're... going to get the death penalty for doing something in the state of Tennessee and you'll get it quickly. I think that that helps you to decide not to do whatever it is. Big caliber bullets. Yeah. All right. So the Daily Dan poll, now that I've framed it with you got nine Republicans in the state of Tennessee, good Republicans, not wishy-washy Republicans, but nine good Republicans who are saying, if you're a death penalty advocate. then you don't want this execution today to move forward because we're not actually certain that we're going to be able to find a vein. Maybe what we need to do is pause this guy's execution to make sure that we're doing it right because all we're doing is we're handing the talking points over to the opponents of the death penalty. So now that I've put it in its proper context,

What are people saying on the Daily Dan poll? Should Daryl Jim Himes' execution proceed with 94% of respondents saying yes? All right. It is your Thursday, August 13th, and we've got a lot of updates on flock cameras in Middle Tennessee. So the New York Times and the New York Post have both now noted in long articles that the concern about flock cameras, it doesn't really fall. left or right. It is bipartisan. So there's a lot to talk about with flock cameras. Marsha Blackburn yesterday was on with Matt Murphy and she told him, just like she told me, she does share the concerns about flock cameras. Of course, we're very concerned about anything that would lead to 24-hour-a-day surveillance. Absolutely. And you look at the LPRs and law enforcement says we need those license plate readers. But I'm going to tell you what, Matt, we cannot have anything that leads to... Like what the Chinese have done with the social credit scores, to me that is a very frightening thought. And I was talking with somebody earlier today, and we were talking about this issue. And of course, I think this is something where you're going to see local governments weigh in. I think the state's going to have the opportunity. to weigh in. Using these for surveillance is already a felony offense, but obviously there is something more that is going to have to be done because we do not want anything that would ever, ever. lead to that kind of infringement of an individual's privacy. So Senator Marsha Blackburn, I believe that she will be the next governor. She shares the concerns of a lot of you folks and me that, listen, these flock cameras, I don't think anybody would deny that they are great in fighting crime. But they're terrible for privacy and database building on our lives. And so I got to tell you that the more, I think that what happens is a lot of folks will say, oh, yeah, these are great for fighting crime. But then when you realize, when you do a little bit more digging into what they're capable of, when you look at the fact that basically what they can do is they can not only. go through your entire day and your entire life and figure out where you've been at all times, but they can also predict where you'll go next. And that is a step too far for a lot of folks.

There are daily stories about how flock cameras have helped to solve crimes, but there are also stories almost as often about how the data is being misused. Now, the latest on flat cameras, by the way, I don't know if you saw this, but Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs is now calling for a nationwide pause in deployment of flock surveillance cameras until constitutional... privacy, and safety concerns are addressed. Now, there's a guy named Garrett Langley, and he has been making the rounds. He is with flock cameras. And he was on Fox News the other day defending these cameras. Last year alone, we helped solve more than a million crimes. And that's from national stories, like really, really compounding. Last year alone, we helped solve more than a million crimes. And that's from national stories like the Brown shooter. to everyday stolen cars. And you look at last month, over 1,000 missing people detected and over 22,000 stolen cars. So it's every day you hear stories of just incredible results. I mean, look, I will be the first to admit that at least to me, there really is not a good answer here. It doesn't really feel like there's a good answer because there is no doubt, as I said, just moments ago that these flock cameras, they are terrific for solving crimes. We have the stories about the number of crimes solved, bad guys captured, missing kids found, wandering old people rescued. But the question, of course, is, is it worth it? I think, didn't we do a Daily Dan poll on this a while ago, Sam, and the audience was actually, I was surprised at how split the audience was. You want to do it again real quick? Let's do a daily Dan poll because numbers are going to shift and numbers are going to change. Do you believe that flock cameras are worth the privacy concerns? That's how we should frame it. Because, yes, I just said, crime solved, bad guys captured, missing kids found, wandering old people rescued. You can't deny that that is part of the dynamic. That's part of the conversation. But is it worth the privacy concerns. And that's a big problem. Because there is no right or wrong answer, at least to me. And it's a huge conversation. You know, they found that there were some, I believe this was in Wisconsin. They found some flock cameras outside of a gun range in Wisconsin. I mean, I've started looking at things. I don't know about you, but I've started looking at things, many things, through the lens or the context of the COVID lockdowns. And here's what I mean by that. What if there was some, you know, some governmental or societal pressure to give up our guns like we saw during COVID? When we were forced basically to give up our freedoms, our kids' education, I could go on and on. But we all know what happened during COVID. We lost our freedoms. There is intense pressure from the government. There is intense pressure from society and media. So let's say that the same thing happened with guns. And you've got flock cameras outside of a gun range. You think the government would not go to flock and find out who went into that gun range so that they could then go to that person's home and grab those guns? Of course they would. And that's what I mean when I say, like almost everything these days I do look at through the prism of COVID.

Look at what Anthony Fauci did. Mike Drop, hosted by former Navy SEAL Mike Ridland. How would you characterize your prowess? I'd say my style is that I just kind of outwork everybody until I get there because I'm not a quitter. It's just you. And that's yourself. Everything else is team-oriented. The motivation, it was a sort of anger at myself for being weak. That ends up being the driving factor. That anger, that pride, that ego, I think it's a muscle. It gets stronger. When you take that voice seriously, you start to change your life. Mike Drop, follow and listen on your favorite platform. Look what the government did. Look what social media did. Look what a lot of these politicians did. So, yeah, I look at it through that prism, and that's why I am so against these flock cameras. Over 40 courts have continued to define ALPR cameras as incredibly constitutional. And I think when you talk to victims, it's loud and clear. Everyone wants the same thing, which is to be safe. Yeah, okay, but those are LPRs, not flock cameras, and they are different. So there's two sides to all of these arguments, of course. This guy from flock says, well, these things are great, few mistakes are made, and they're constitutional, but Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, not quite. Over the weekend, he was on Fox News and he said, listen, we have got to put a big time pause on these flock cameras. I want law enforcement to have all the tools that they need at the same time those tools have to be constitutional and they have to be safe. I'm sure you all saw a story just two days ago where a lady in... Wisconsin was boxed in by police. Officers had their weapons drawn because a flat camera had flagged her car as being involved in a murder. There was another story very similar to that a few weeks ago where a A family was pulled over again. Police get out of their cars because they think it's a very dangerous situation. They thought it was a stolen car. It was not. It was an error with the flock cameras. Those are not isolated incidents. Those may be more dramatic than what we've seen otherwise, but this system is notoriously erroneous. There's a city in California, at 71% of the hits were the wrong license plate. I mean, that's crazy. 71% of the time in California. And, you know, what's fascinating about all this is there have been instances where they're getting it wrong. That's number one. And number two, we have this situation where people are accessing the information and they're using it to basically stalk people in their lives, whether it's an ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend, whatever.

Did you, by the way, did you hear this story? We had a guy running for the U.S. House of Representatives here in Tennessee. Adam Lee, I think it's Heimerman. Did you hear what he did, Joan? No. He was arrested for shooting some flock cameras. Oh, yes. Which is a great political ad. Yeah. You know what I mean? He's running as an independent in Tim Burchett's district. And so, I mean, the. I don't have his mugshot, but he's got kind of a smirk on. You know what I mean? Like, that's a guy. I guarantee you there's going to be, there's going to be some people that they're going to get in his corner just because he shot up the flock cameras. Oh, there's... All throughout the local Facebook groups and everything that I have seen, and I'm not saying which groups and which areas, but people are going around in trash bagging the cameras as well. Oh, see. Especially out in the rural parts. Do you remember the story about the guy who had the pool, his pool skimmer, and he put it in front of the camera? Yep. Yep. Yep. Guy sent me a text yesterday, and he said that he put Vaseline. on the flock cameras, which I guess Vaseline would blur everything. So, you know, you're not destroying the cameras. I don't know if that would be vandalizing the cameras. That could be tricky. So, but I do. I love that the guy. I shouldn't say that I love what he did because I'm basically encouraging vandalism and I wouldn't want to encourage vandalism. You like what he stands for. I like what he stands for. Not how he went about it. But. You could say with the Vaseline that you're just moisturizing the lens. It's not a thing. Do lenses need moisturizing? I didn't know that. Only the ones in your eyeballs. Okay, very good. Anyway, so, yeah, I don't like how we vandalized the flock cameras is what I have to say on the radio. I would never encourage that kind of behavior on the radio. I just hope he was a good shot. Anyway, so the other question is, are these flock cameras unconstitutional? So I think it was last month I had Hans von Spikovsky on. He, of course, is a well-known conservative commentator. He is a constitutional attorney. He's been watching these court cases and says, yep, it'll more than likely end up at the Supreme Court. There is a case working its way through the courts right now. Two residents of Norfolk, Virginia, which, as you know, big military city, Navy base, et cetera, they sued. Making exactly the claim we're talking about that these flock cameras are violating their privacy rights and the Fourth Amendment right that they have in the city of Norfolk, they lost at the trial court or federal district court level that although the judge gave an interesting opinion in which he said, well, it doesn't violate their rights yet.

And I think, you know, he was kind of hinting at what I've just said that it depends on how pervasive this. Anyway, they appeal. That case is now up before the fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. And I have no doubt that whichever way the appeals court comes out. The losers are going to appeal that to the Supreme Court. And so we might get a very interesting decision on this. So I looked up the tracking. We could have a decision on flock cameras at the Supreme Court level by 2028. So by the way, that city in California, that district in California that had that 71% error rate regarding the flock cameras, that was Roseville, California. An analysis of 1,500 reports showed a shockingly high rate of error when reading license plates. A study of close to 1,500 flock camera reports in Roseville, California, found that the cameras failed to properly detect license plates 71% of the time. Reports Tyler Lecoma for CNET. Where is Roseville? Can you look that up real quick there, Sam? I want to say that I bet you Roseville is somewhere in central California. Let's see if I'm right or wrong. Joan, you're still anti-flock camera, right? I am. All right. However, you know, having said that, I do a story almost every day about how a flock hammer has helped police to catch a bad guy. So it's really hard to dislike them completely. Right. That's what I said when I say. There's no easy or right answer to this. Right. You love, I love them. I am a crime fighting conservative through and through. And I don't like the privacy concerns. Where is Roseville? Northeast of Sacramento. Okay, so I think that's like central California, I guess, whatever. I made a habit of avoiding Sacramento, or as I used to like to say, Sacramento, anyway. So in the Daily Dan poll real quick. Do you believe flock cameras are worth the privacy concern? 61% say no. Most of which said, could there be a hell no button? Phil says, I lived in Roseville. Is Roseville as bad as I, Phil, answer me this question, won't you? Is Roseville as bad as I seem to think it is? Probably, especially if it's a farming community, but whatever. Let's see here. And people, of course, on the supertext line, they are defending flock cameras through and through. And by the way, I know the flock camera is just a brand. I know there's several different kinds of flock cameras from different companies. I also know that as well. So, yep, I know 8014. If you choose safety over freedom, you deserve neither. I know I know. A lot of people are...

Let's see, 2660 says they lost because they're not unconstitutional. We'll have to wait and see what the Supreme Court says. But, you know, if I wanted to play talk radio on this, I could take calls on flock cameras, Joan, every single day. Oh, for sure. If I had a, if I wanted to do bad talk radio, I would just say, flock cameras, let's go to the phones. And I could fill every single segment every single day. However, I try hard not to do sucky talk radio here on Nashville's morning news. I know. I've got to try harder. The U.S. Soccer podcast. These players are battered and exhausted, but you don't hurt like this if you don't care about this team, about this country, about this game. You can feel the intensity, the goals, the energy that, wow, look at us. Here in the U.S., I have got some news for you. There's so much more to come. My name is Megan Klingberg, and we're just getting started. The U.S. Soccer Podcast, presented by Henkel. Follow and listen on. your favorite platform.