Hour 4: Dumb defense

Shop the Sherwin-Williams sale and get 30% off, Duration, Superdeck, and Woodscapes products August 14th through the 24th. Whether you're refreshing your interior or exterior, we've got the colors to bring your vision to life. And with delivery, getting everything to your door is easier than ever. Shop online to have it delivered or visit your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams store. Click the banner to learn more. Retail sales only, some exclusions apply. See Store for Details. Delivery available on qualifying orders. Strong values, strong opinions, the Mike Brumet Show, KTAR News 923, and the KTAR News app. All right, so here's the final hour of the show on this Thursday, and I'm going to read some headlines. We had a conversation. My friend Steve Hooper is really a fascinating guy, and I always talk about his wife as well because the two of them, between the two of them, they have over 50 years experience. with the FBI. Steve started his career in local law enforcement. He was with a Secret Service for a short amount of time. And he has been with the FBI, was with the FBI for over 30 years, including post-9-11 when the FBI transitioned to being an anti-terrorism organization. It was no longer acceptable to investigate terrorist attacks afterward and find out who did them and bring them to justice. They were tasked with... preventing them, joint terrorism task forces. So they've been doing this. He's been doing this forever. He is now, I think, for 14 years, he's been a professor at Embry Riddle School. Embry Riddle here is known for astronauts and pilots in Prescott. They have a campus in Prescott and one in Florida. This campus here also has the C.B. It is the College of Business Security and Intelligence, CBSI. It is the program is a four-year degree in business security and intelligence gathering. And one of their students is running the cybersecurity for the White House. I mean, this is something else. This school is pretty amazing. And it's right here in Arizona. So he brings a lot of expertise when we talk about infrastructure. So the headlines I read to him, and I want you to hear them as well, four ways to harden America's power grid before our global enemy strike is one of the headlines. Iranian hackers attack our water systems. Here are five things our leaders need to do now. I also brought this in, but I don't know that anybody is making the accusation that there are people intentionally poisoning our food, but the question being asked, is it safe to eat lettuce? We know that the cyclospora outbreak all over the country, then it's backed up with now salmonella, that there are even more recalls happening on some of the fresh vegetables that we eat, and then some of the pre-made, pre-prepared products that are made with them. So I asked Steve. about how concerned we should be and what are the concerns and how does the FBI play a role? And he talked about, you know, Department of Homeland Security is the lead on this, but there is a partnership between the two. And he talks about the different infrastructure platforms or infrastructures here in the U.S. There's 16 infrastructures around the country that run our country. And it's actually DHS that oversees the protection of that.

of those infrastructures. What the FBI, the FBI's role, you mentioned JTTF. If there is an attack, then there is a investigation into who it is, then that's where the FBI comes in. So that program we're talking about with the FBI is a program called InfraGuard. There's also the FBI's InfraGuard program, Infrastructure Guardian program, and that's a joint effort between FBI field offices. and the FBI as a whole, and cyber companies throughout the country. And there are thousands of them that have partnered through the InfraGuard program. It's a program that's been around for a long time. Every field office has an InfraGuard program, and they're jointly operational every day with these companies so that if a company sees... curious behavior, concerning behavior in their cyber program, and that could be, you know, the water system, the electrical grid, and so forth. The FBI joins in through the, they're supposed to report it to the FBI and so forth. But again, it's a joint effort. DHS is actually in charge of the infrastructure protection. So the questions, you know, we have questions about how concerned should citizens be? that we know that cybersecurity for individuals, whether it's a, and I would say businesses as well, one of the big concerns is being hacked and then being held for ransom. But what on a national security level? Before today's interview, Paul, what would you, well, on a scale of 1 to 10 before today's interview with Steve, how concerned would you have, if I said, how concerned are you that a cyber attack could get to our water system or get to our electrical grid? I'm pretty concerned. I've been reading a lot of stuff that there's been threats. Yep. And we're just seeing it ramp up. Right. And so I would have been, I would put myself at a six, more than a five, but not like hyper concern. Yeah, I'd see them the same way. But. Isn't it interesting when we talked to Steve about this? He talked about how great the redundancy is and how going to what happened in Minnesota, that they were able to mess with the system. But this is what he said about the real threat. The ability to have a significant impact on our water system is pretty minimal. And you saw that in this situation where... It was diagnosed that there was tampering, and they were told immediately go to a manual operation away from a digital cyber operation. The redundancy is all there, again, in all infrastructure, so that if someone does tamper or someone tries to poison the water system, they really can't do it. Something, and all these references, I hope they fit because I'm so much older than you guys. It's depressing. Have either of you seen the movie War Games? Oh, yeah. Okay, so the War Games. When you go to Embry Riddle, their school, it's business, it's security and intelligence. They have two different sides. On the business security side, a lot of it is this cybersecurity.

And they have hands on. And what they do there that's pretty brilliant is they brought in people like Steve who has hands on on the street experience. And then they bring in the other ones that are the book smart and not that Steve isn't, but they bring them in because of that education piece of it. So when it comes to the cybersecurity part of it, they have people that have done it for a living forever. And so it's comprehensive. When you go in, they have a lab. And on the wall, as big as the wall, they have a digital screen and they show what looks like war games. But instead of it being bombs, it's cyber attacks. And it's back and forth, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across the world. And it's not just aimed at us. It's aimed all over the world. And so that's in real time, the stuff they're looking at. all day long. Yeah, that's the real modern threat. Yeah, it's the modern threat. And it is, as he said, their chances are very minimal, but they couldn't do that in the U.S. with armament. They couldn't do a kinetic attack on the U.S. We were kind of, you know, aside from a terrorist attack like 9-11, there's not going to be a military incursion into the U.S. But that doesn't mean that this isn't the world they're trying in. All they have to do is get through once. Yeah, it's scary. Yeah. So you hear them mess with the U.S., which they do, and like he said, there was tampering, but they switch it over to another platform, to a manual platform, and they can avoid any damage. I felt much better after the interview than going in. I did too. He put my mind at ease for all that stuff. Yeah. It's pretty remarkable. I want you to hear one more thing when he talked about the fear of it being compromised. Can we be compromised? I know that's a natural fear for everyone. What if they poison our food system? What if they poison our water system? Poison the air. A lot of this has been thought through by these infrastructures and now in support post-9-11 and financial support and government support with DHS. it would be pretty difficult to have any sort of adverse impact on any of our infrastructure. You know, speaking of infrastructure, post-9-11, what happened here in Arizona, but it happened across the country was also protecting our water supply, that they had people stationed in strategic places to make sure that if there were terrorists on the ground, that they could not go and affect an attack on the water supply. For those of you that weren't in Arizona yet, and I was, I was here, that driving across back then before the bridge was finished, you could cross into, when you went to Las Vegas, you remember this, you had to drive across the Hoover Dam. Yes. You had to drive the switchbacks all the way down. That was cool. Yeah, and physically drive over the dam and then drive the switchbacks on the way out. Yep, yep. Until they finished that Pat Tillman bridge that now bypasses all of that. Right, you can't even get close to where we used to go. And that project was expedited because of 9-11. Absolutely. So when 9-11 happened, for months after, you were not allowed to bring an 18-wheeler or an RV or hauling a trailer over the dam.

Right, right. So I had a cousin that used to live in Vegas. She's passed away now, but I would go and visit my cousin. So in October of 2001, right after 9-11. I was in a car. I wasn't in a big truck. So I was allowed to cross. But as we went and you know where that road narrows from the, from in Kingman or it narrows going over the dam. It's that 20 miles approaching the dam. They had a choke point. Yep. I had an RV set up there. Did you ever drive across it past the choke point? Yes, I did. So it was a DPS trooper and it was a National Guard soldier. And they checked every vehicle that at least stopped them before they allowed you to proceed. And if you were a big truck or a big trailer, they made you turn around and go back through California. Yeah. And a part of this, Mike, and I know you'll remember, this is the bombing of the FBI building back east because of the fertilizer. And a lot of that. In Oklahoma. In Oklahoma. Correct. The Murrow building. And... A lot of that, the fertilizer, the big investigation led to portions of Kingman, which is right on the way to Vegas. And that played a role into the 9-11 decision as well over Hoover Dam. Because if they're going to, obviously, if they were going to attack U.S. infrastructure, if they could get, they could detonate something big enough at Hoover Dam. Imagine what that would have done. Yep. Yeah, the fertilizer explosion was a big day. And the concern over that was a huge deal back in those days. Absolutely. So it was a great conversation with Hooper. And he's always such a good guest. And he's a great friend and a wealth of information. The full interview is at KTAR.com or on the KTR YouTube channel. I hope you go and check it out. Coming up, we get caught up on today's headlines. It's a segment we call Did You Hear This? We'll do it in just a moment. Strong values, strong opinions, the Mike Broomhead show, KTAR News 923, and the KTAR News app. Well, the good news is that when Patricia's out not feeling well, we've got Paul to catch us up on the big headlines. Did you hear this? Did you hear this? Brumhead reacts to today's hottest news stories. All righty, Mike, with recent monsoons kicking up dust, here's a reminder that that can lead to increased valley fever. Valley fever is endemic here in Maricopa County. You can really get it at any time during the year. So we want people to be thinking about valley fever year round. That's Nick Stobb, a Maricopa County doctor who told KTAR if you have flu-like symptoms to get checked out by a doctor. Mike, have you or anybody you know ever had Valley Fever? Not that I know of. I have not, but I don't think I know anybody that has. I heard it's brutal. It's no joke. I heard it's no joke. I've never had it myself, and now you've jinxed me by making me to answer that question. I think I'll be out part of next week, by the way. And Powerball numbers were drawn last night with the jackpot up to one billion, the largest grand prize ever.

The lump sum payout of that huge jackpot is $433 million. That could buy more than $118 million grande cups of Starbucks coffee or nearly 394,000 new iPhones. Or you could invest in 36 million packs of Pokemon cards. Of course, you'd have to pay taxes first. And a reminder, your odds of winning the big jackpot are just one in more than $292 million. Rina Roy, ABC News, New York. We still have not heard from a winner. What would you blow all that money on, Mike? Oh, my gosh. I would... Let me see. What would I spend that money on? I don't know. To be honest with you, I have no idea. To have that kind of money, I'd buy an airplane. I'd do that for sure. You'd sleep better at night. That's what I'm hearing. You know, but here's the thing that gets me about this. They just talked about the billion dollar jackpot. And the lump sum pay out is $400 million. And then you've got to pay taxes. Doesn't add up, does it? No, it doesn't make any sense. You're getting double tax. Right. How was it a billion dollar pot if you win 400 million? Yeah, yeah. I'll tell you, if I would. Go ahead. No, if I won that kind of money, you know what I would do? I would rent everything. I would invest the money, and I would rent a beautiful house in some cooler temperature. You wouldn't see me in Phoenix after the 4th of July until maybe middle October. And then I'd make my second home here in Phoenix. And if I wanted a boat, I'll rent a boat. If I want a G5 out of Scottsdale, I'm renting it. All right, you are listening. I had a joke, I can't tell. We were listening to Did you hear this every day at this time to catch you up on headlines? Alrighty, KTR broke the news earlier today. Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk in 2024 is expected to plead guilty in the federal case against him. That according to the New York Times this morning, a guilty plea would allow Mangione to seek dismissal of his state murder case, which is set to go to trial next month. Do you think this case will go down as one of the biggest ever? Yeah, yeah, it's going to be another one because of the politics of it. It was the CEO of a health care firm, the public display of it because it was all caught on video and then the tracking him through video elements, the people that are supporting him because he killed somebody in health care. Yes, I think this is going to go down in history as a big one. I remember the Jody Arias case and how big that was here in Arizona. And I think this one could be even bigger. and a little trivia for you. Jody Arias committed her crime in killing her boyfriend, Travis Alexander, on my birthday. Really? Yeah. Oh, wow. How did she get his body up the stairs? That's what I want to know. Didn't she kill him in the shower? Well, yeah, and she carried his body all around. We kept saying, did she? Yeah. How does she? It must have, I think it was the ninjas that helped her. Do you remember that excuse? Yeah.

All right, Florida man, let's hear what you have to say about this. Uh-oh. An eight-year-old boy from Pennsylvania reeling in a truly unexpected catch while fishing with his dad at a lake just outside Philadelphia. Michael Coffey wasn't sure what his son Seamus had caught, but Seamus knew. I was like, oh, it's like a blue girl. I don't know what this is. And he said, it's a piranha. The little boy asked by a reporter. How'd you know it was a piranha? Because I watch YouTube. Because I watch YouTube. The piranha is a scavenger freshwater fish typically found in South American lakes and rivers. Likely, someone dumped the exotic fish into the lake where it was found. Sherry Preston, ABC News. I saw your reaction when LaDonna did this in the 8am expansion this morning. Who thought it would be a good idea to dump a predatory fish in a lake? You deal with that in Florida. The same morons that thought it was a good idea to let pythons go in the Everglades. Now, something that both Roller and I have in common is a love for the Everglades. Absolutely. If you've never been, anybody that ever goes on vacation to Florida, I don't care if you go East Coast or West Coast, the beaches are off. Awesome. Take a day and do a day trip into the Everglades. It is one of the most spooky, dark, beautiful, gorgeous, breathtaking ecosystems on the planet. Yeah, when we were little kids, we used to go to alligator alley. Yes. As the sun would go down and you could hear the alligators. And they're mating calls. Yeah. And I always as a little kid, the water was always dark brown. They call it the black water. Yeah, the black water. And 75 miles of nothing. It used to be. Do you know what we're talking about with alligator? Oh, yeah. Have you ever been across it? Yeah. Was it? just two lanes when you went across it, or was it a highway? I think it was a highway by then. Okay. When we were young, it was, they would tell you at one end, no services for like 79 miles, and it was a two-lane road, and there would be collisions all the time, and they'd have to shut it down. They eventually widened it, but it was deadly because it was in the middle of, it was. It was in the middle of nowhere. It was in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Yep.

So my buddy's dad was a member of a hunting camp, partners in a hunting camp. You'll get this. On the west side, mile marker nine, because it went up in numbers from west to east. And mile marker number nine for Alligator Alley, my buddy's dad had a hunting camp. And we would go out there in the summers and spend the weekend out at the hunting camp. It was so much, I love the Everglades. Hey, you know, just to follow up on your Python story, you know, they have the big roundup. They bring in people. The guy that won rounded up 95 huge pythons. No, thank you. Can you imagine that? The other invasive species, I know we're late, but the other invasive species on the West Coast is iguana. Yes. So when I worked, there's an island called Sanibel and Captiva Islands. I worked on the islands for a long time. The island is overrun with these animals. And because they're cold-blooded, it happens all the time that when the weather gets cold there, they literally fall out of the trees in a catatonic state. And they land on people's cars. They land on people. They're infested now when it didn't used to be that way. Yeah. Last time I was there was a couple years ago and I was down in Key Largo, drove all the way down to Key West. and the roosters and the iguanos were running everywhere. Yeah, everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. All right. Enough of that memory lane stuff for me and roller. Coming up in a moment, we talk economy. Stick around. Shop the Sherwin-Williams sale and get 30% off, Duration, Superdeck, and Woodscapes products August 14th through the 24th. Whether you're refreshing your interior or exterior, we've got the colors to bring your vision to life. And with delivery, getting everything to your door is easier than ever. Shop online to have it delivered or visit your neighborhood Sherwin-Williams store. Click the banner to learn more. Retail sales only, some exclusions apply. See Store for Details. Delivery available on qualifying orders. The Mike Broomhead Show, KTAR News, 923, and the KTAR News app. Okay, appreciate you spending some time as we wrap things up talking about the U.S. economy. Let me take a look at a couple of things. The Consumer Price Index came in yesterday and was better news than expected. We saw inflation tick down in the month of July, which was expected that that would not happen. Now, again, 3.4% still much higher than the 2% goal that we have. So nobody is, you know, calling for a parade just yet, but any news two months in a row, not bad news to see we're seeing things going in the right direction. Then out comes the producer price index, the PPI. Those numbers also better than expected.

So now we're watching Wall Street. It's up 8 tenths of a percent on the NASDAQ. It's up six tenths of a percent on the S&P. And it's up just slightly on the Dowd this morning, which is good news. We're watching oil futures also down 2 percent for Brent crude oil futures. And it's down over like 2.3 percent on the West Texas intermediate. So today's a good day. Now going and watching things day to day sometimes can be dangerous. I think we all understand that. But good news in the economy. But it's only good news if you're feeling it because perception is reality. Perception is reality. And I think that more than anything else is where people are. They're going to the gas pumps. They're seeing that they're paying a lot more money for fuel. I recognize that I'm in a different place than most people in life. And I think that trying to come to grips with being older now and the changes that you have in your life when you get older is that I live alone. I don't have to answer to anybody. So when things happen with me, it's more of an inconvenience than a true problem. So at a young person that's still single or maybe engage like Paul here, that your issues are building and mine are maintaining. That's a difference. I am looking to finish strong. So when these things happen to me, it isn't preventing me from building something. And I think for young people that are starting out in their careers or hitting their stride in their careers, for them to be thinking, I should be further ahead. That's not a bad feeling to have for people sometimes when it's within your control. It's when it's not within your control. You know, now it's like, okay, if I want to save for a, let's say there's a young couple that says we want to save to buy a house. So they each take. A second part-time job, ride, share, do whatever. And that money goes directly toward their goal of a down payment on a house. That is working hard to achieve something. Now, what happens when the same couple is in a predicament where they're doing exactly the same thing out of necessity? And that's where a lot of people find themselves. So good news, long-term, good. Let's start heading in the right direction. But it is more than just inflation dropping. It's also an increase in the job market. It is realizing that the economy is growing. So at the same time, PPI numbers are good for businesses that are saying, okay, if we believe that the Fed is going to hold interest rates where they are, which most are believing this is what's going to happen now. that we are not, and maybe even by the end of the year we're going to see another rate decrease if inflation continues in the right direction. I don't know the answer to that, but if businesses feel that way, they feel more comfortable borrowing money or financing growth, hiring people. If we start seeing, and we've watched this happen in the past, is...

that when businesses begin to, the construction industry is going gangbusters here in Arizona and other parts of the country. And if those construction businesses realize hanging on to employees is critical, especially qualified really good employees. So you can pay them as much as you can pay them, but we can give up bonuses. We've got to benefit programs. We have schools available. We're going to make this a better atmosphere for you. And when you are someone, even if it's not a bad thing, if you work for a company in the industry. So I went from being a residential electrician, wiring houses and condos and apartment buildings. I graduated from that to being a commercial electrician where I built buildings, commercial buildings. And then I went from being a commercial electrician to doing industrial work. And having the ability to say, okay, I'm working for a company that does this. And I like doing this. But I want to learn to do that, to be able to laterally move or to move over to learn something new, whatever industry you're in. Those are valuable things for employees. When those opportunities aren't there, you can feel stuck. When you're just worried about keeping the job you have as opposed to growing the career, it's different. And watching the economy in Arizona be as good as it is, as much as it slowed down, and it has slowed down, having our economy be as good as it is is an important part of who we are. And I would say that... Arizona has positioned itself because nothing lasts forever with the immense growth we were seeing, with the job creation that happened post-COVID, when businesses began to recover from COVID and hiring people back, we saw the great resignation people were doing, that they were leaving their position, they were deciding that they were no longer going to stay where they were. That opportunity isn't there any longer. How do we get that back? outside of construction and some other industries, how do we make this so that your wages are growing? Yes, we want inflation to continue to fall, but how do we see the next leap in wages? How do we see the next jump because you're in demand? I think that's part of what we should be looking for. I think it goes a long way into what we should be looking for. We close out every show by doing our story Roundup. And I love this part of the show. It's kind of a compilation of stories that I pulled that I thought were a little bit nutty sometimes. We'll get to our Story Roundup coming here in just a few moments. He's your Huckleberry. He's Mike Broomhead. And this is another story roundup. Yes, it is. Let's end the workday strong. You guys are going to love this. So first of all, do you, either any of you, feel free. Do you guys have friends you've had your entire life? Childhood friends. Yes.

Yes. I have a friend that I was very, very young in Ohio when I moved away. We were best friends. I still keep in touch with him and his mom. We don't see each other. We keep in touch. But the friends I grew up with, I still keep in touch with the friends I grew up with the coolest stories. There are two girls. They grew up. Both of them were adopted. They grew up in the Netherlands about 100 miles apart. And they became very good friends because they were adopted, right? turns out their sisters. Oh my goodness. Oh, wow. DNA evidence. Wow. They found out they're actually sisters. Yeah. That's a very cool story. Now, of all the things that are going on in the country, if you could solve one important issue in the United States, what issue would you solve right now? I think homelessness. Homelessness. Okay. What about you, Roller? Well, you know, we always hear about affordability, but I, you know, I would think that we can take greater measures to make things more affordable. Kids getting into houses, you know, student loans. I've got a couple of kids that have student loans. That's what I would make more affordable. All right. Well, I'm sorry to tell you guys that you're way off because what we're going to fix is we're going to make daylight savings time, finally make it permanent. Forget about that one need, right? Yeah, that moves to the top of the list. I have a feeling the reaction from the two of you was going to be completely different on this next story. Okay? How many of you recognize the name John Hinkley Jr. raise your hand. I do. So let me tell you what happened. Back in 1981, there was a guy named, he's still alive. John Hinkley Jr. was a delusional young man, and he believed that if he shot President Reagan, that somehow shooting her would get him the attention of the actress Jody Foster. and that they would spend their lives together. So he shot Ronald Reagan. James Brady was injured in that. Secret Service agents was injured. And it was back then when you could get close enough to the president when something like this happened. He was walking from a building to the limousine. Reagan was shot, obviously not killed, but he was injured in this. It was where Reagan famously was at the hospital. And when Mrs. Reagan walked in, he said to his wife, sorry, Nancy, I forgot to duck. Yeah. Another great line, as they're rolling him in to operate on him, he looked up at the surgeons and says, I hope you're not Democrats. Yeah, I remember that. But John Hinckley Jr. now is talking about his time. He said, I really. He's, I really didn't see her movies. I do wish her well. But he talked about being delusional. So now I guess he's gotten the help he needed. But he's speaking now on radio shows and podcasts about being delusional. Yeah.

about 125 I've been in a car. The new land speed record happened at the Bonneville Salt Flats. I don't know if you guys saw this story. It is a hydromax, a hydrogen-powered vehicle. that reached the speed of 400 miles an hour on the ground. When I saw that video, it took me back to ABC Wide World of Sports on Saturday afternoons when you'd watch for the speed record on the Salt River Flats. Yeah. Jim McKay. Yes. Blinking, you miss it. Yep. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Yeah. All right, we are out of time. Tomorrow morning on the show at 9 o'clock, Sheriff Jerry Sheridan joins us. We're going to talk flock cameras and get an update. But I want to hear from Maricopa County's chief law enforcement officer about flock cameras, the policies of the county. Do they believe in the technology? And what do they do to make sure no one misused it? We'll talk to the sheriff tomorrow morning. Have a great day. God bless.