Welcome to a world where a teamster trades punches with an MMA fighter-come-senator on a committee hearing floor. Yes, you heard that right. In this episode, we dive headfirst into the shocking altercation between senators and an MMA fighter turned senator. We dissect the incident, the men involved, and what it implies about the state of decorum in political chambers. It's a fiery debate you won't want to miss.
Politics doesn't stop there, though. Tim Scott's campaign suspension and the sudden endorsement of Nikki Haley by two of his key supporters leaves the political landscape ripe for speculation. We broach the subject of dwindling polls and their potential influence on campaign suspensions. With the political field in constant flux, we discuss the current state of the Democratic party, the potential of Gavin Newsom taking over, and how migration is impacting states like Florida. There's plenty of food for thought here.
Clay & Elsa pause to pay tribute to the five heroes lost to a helicopter crash over the Mediterranean & discuss what happened.
Finally, we shift gears to college sports and question the skyrocketing salaries of collegiate coaches. Is the focus on sports overshadowing the importance of academics? We don't shy away from this contentious debate. As we wind up this thought-provoking episode, we remember our brave veterans and extend our warm Thanksgiving wishes to our listeners. It's an episode packed with insight, analysis, and heartfelt appreciation for our listeners.
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Welcome to a world where a teamster trades punches with an MMA fighter-come-senator on a committee hearing floor. Yes, you heard that right. In this episode, we dive headfirst into the shocking altercation between senators and an MMA fighter turned senator. We dissect the incident, the men involved, and what it implies about the state of decorum in political chambers. It's a fiery debate you won't want to miss.
Politics doesn't stop there, though. Tim Scott's campaign suspension and the sudden endorsement of Nikki Haley by two of his key supporters leaves the political landscape ripe for speculation. We broach the subject of dwindling polls and their potential influence on campaign suspensions. With the political field in constant flux, we discuss the current state of the Democratic party, the potential of Gavin Newsom taking over, and how migration is impacting states like Florida. There's plenty of food for thought here.
Clay & Elsa pause to pay tribute to the five heroes lost to a helicopter crash over the Mediterranean & discuss what happened.
Finally, we shift gears to college sports and question the skyrocketing salaries of collegiate coaches. Is the focus on sports overshadowing the importance of academics? We don't shy away from this contentious debate. As we wind up this thought-provoking episode, we remember our brave veterans and extend our warm Thanksgiving wishes to our listeners. It's an episode packed with insight, analysis, and heartfelt appreciation for our listeners.
DON'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT EMERGENCY, PLUS, SAVE 15%: https://www.twc.health/elsa
#ifounditonamazon https://a.co/ekT4dNO
TRY AUDIBLE PLUS: https://amzn.to/3vb6Rw3
Elsa's Books: https://www.amazon.com/~/e/B01E1VFRFQ
Design Like A Pro: https://canva.7eqqol.net/xg6Nv...
Well, hello everyone, welcome to the show. I am back after an impromptu little break. Last week, I will admit, I Left clay hold in the bag with very short notice, but like the pro he is he just. He just ran with it and put on an awesome show for you guys and I know you can agree with me. Clay, thank you publicly. I thanked you privately, but thank you publicly for for doing that. I appreciate it teammate.
Speaker 2:That's what we do.
Speaker 1:That's what we do.
Speaker 2:I'm I'm sure, if something fell for me and I had to Bail at the last minute, you would. You would do exactly the same. So happy, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, we got. We have such a good vibe like we. We were very in tune with these things and it's very cool. Makes makes both our lives relatively easy when life is typically not.
Speaker 2:No, I mean we've said it before that you know it's. This is like a two email thing. It's like two emails and that we just fired up and do show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so great, it really, and I mean we're, we're so literally said, it's like one email out hey, what do you think of this? Or you know, like what was that? I don't know? It was like a week or so ago. I'm like I got nothing. I got nothing. You know, not that there's not anything going on in the world there's constantly things going on to to talk about but it was almost like it was like the same stuff We've all not just you and I, but us collectively as a society have been talking about non-stop and we're both kind of like Eh, you know, let's give it another day and see what happens, but uh it, you know, I don't know it happens, and I think we all get really saturated With with the sameness of everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but let's, uh, let's, let's run the intro music and get this thing off the off the ground. Let's do it.
Speaker 1:Oh, and now we had our, we had our topics all lined up and then A little curve ball, in a funny, fun way, was thrown at us and as, as we've told you in the past, typically re-record our episode, you know, a day or two in advance of you guys seeing it, and this is no different. So the the funny thing that we're going to be talking about right this minute, that uh came up, um, I don't know, clay, I feel like you know. You know we always talk about uh, uh, having a, our popcorn for the, the show that is our, our government. Well, I'm ready, are you? So we're gonna run the clip, we're gonna eat our popcorn. If you want, pause, pause the show for a second, go get your popcorn and come right back, because when you do Uh, you get to watch this.
Speaker 3:Like he's self-made. Sir, I wish you was in the truck with me when I was building my plumbing company myself and my wife was running the office, because I sure remember working pretty hard in long hours. Pretends like he's self-made. What a clown Fraud always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act and these Senate hearings. You know where to find me any place, any time, cowboy. So this is a time, this is a place you want to run your mouth. We can be too consenting adults. We can finish it here. Okay, that's fine. Perfect, you want it now? I'd love to do right now. We'll stand your butt up. Then you stand your butt up. Oh, hold on. Oh, stop it. Say your solution every problem. Oh, no, sit down, sit down. Okay, you know you're a united state senator. Don't act. Okay, sit down please. All right, can I respond? Hold it If we can't know.
Speaker 2:I have the mic. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:This is what he said. You'll have your time. Okay, can I respond? Oh, no, you can. This is a hearing.
Speaker 1:Oh my goodness. So listen, my dual nature is in full effect here. There is the half of me that is Appalled and disgusted that our, our representatives, are behaving like this, and shame on them. And then there's the other side of me that just loves a good fight and was really, really ready for it. Clay, how are you feel? Well, we'll tell you all about who these people are and what was going on there, um, but but uh, well, how are you feeling about?
Speaker 2:watching. I, I, I'm, I'm the same way I, you know, decorum in chambers I, I'm a huge proponent for that. I, I think that that's something that we as a nation, you know we've seen all of these third world countries, you see the clips on youtube and all that other stuff where you've got, you know, mayhem in the. You know they're, they're chambers of whatever form of government they have. That is paramount. I think it's a huge thing.
Speaker 2:On the flip side, like, there are times in life and I think we were moving further and further away from it where Men need to settle things like men, and I think this is one of those cases where the answer, truthfully, is throw hands. Like I, I want us. You know the tough guy you said we're going to talk about who these guys are. One of these guys is the leader of the teamsters, which is a notoriously you know tough guy attitude organization. But then you've got a us Senator who is a former MMA fighter. Like this guy's not a, he's not a poser. Like this is a legitimate, I will hurt you kind of guy and and I'm torn, I'm like you. I don't know if I want him to be prim and proper and or if I want him to. You know, scrap and settle it like men. It's tough right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and you know. And then you add the, the next layer of of comedy, which is Bernie Sanders being the guy the referee of this, you know, near match. It's impossible to believe that this is real life, and yet here it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm with you. And to hear Bernie with this accent, you'll get your time. You know it's like any and he even sounds like he's 115 years old. The guy's a cartoon character as a human being.
Speaker 2:Um but yeah, just the fact that he was presiding, the fact that it's the teamster guy and the MMA guy who's from Oklahoma, by the way, you know, he's not a, you know he's not some soft-sided, he's a, he's, you know, you know midwest, you know kind of guy and and yeah, just this whole thing, you can't write this. You can't write this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can't, it's just, it's a wait.
Speaker 2:SNL Saturday night live in the next 10 days, guaranteed that there's no question about it some sort of skit associated with that.
Speaker 1:There has to be that they would be really dropping the ball on that. Yeah, only blown, yeah, I mean yeah, wow, it was, it was, um, it was something for sure. And and again, you know I can't decide whether to laugh or shake my head, or Shake my head and laugh, which I think that's basically what we're doing. But one last question that we're gonna move on after this. We just had to share that because it was just too wow not to Keep eating your popcorn people.
Speaker 1:I know, get that popcorn, you guys. Geez, I mean always have it ready Every day of your life. Have the popcorn ready, because it's always a show. But uh, last question on it who do you think would have won?
Speaker 2:Oh, without question, mullen the.
Speaker 3:MMI, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I agree, broke that. He'd have broke that team, sir guy, in half.
Speaker 3:Oh.
Speaker 2:You saw him stand up, that he still caught. He's still in great shape and I can promise you that fat ball guy, that guy did not look like that if he stood up. Not a chance.
Speaker 1:No, no way, no way. He probably probably a foot shorter, and you know even if he was a big guy, don't care.
Speaker 2:Yeah, senator Mullen would have busted him up, guaranteed.
Speaker 1:He would have. He would have. I do hope they take it to a ring, because I would watch that fight, that would be awesome, I would pay for that?
Speaker 2:I would pay for that fight, but I will still have to dispute. I just chill out the $50 easily.
Speaker 1:Maybe I mean, maybe this is the new trend. Maybe we could just get them all in there. You know any dispute is going to ring. Fight it out, let the best man or woman win. I'm good with that and you know it's funny and I know I said we'd move on from, but I do. I just do have to comment on something you said. I also believe in the whole. Like if you're going to talk smack, and especially like in Guy World, if you're going to talk smack, if you're going to be a tough guy, you better be ready to throw hands because you know sometimes somebody needs to get knocked out. It's that whole thing. And I forget who's like credited with saying I think it's actually Mike Tyson who's credit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, and it was like you know something to the effect of y'all got ready too comfortable running your mouth on social media around the internet. You know, first you get punched in the mouth for in real life, oh yeah, you know, the nice Christian wants to say no violence. But push that other side, clay. Sometimes, sometimes violence is the answer, sometimes it is, and if y'all don't agree with this, that's perfectly fine. Go ahead and tell us that we're wrong in the comments.
Speaker 1:I don't mind, clay doesn't mind, we could take it, we could take it, we'll take you outside. No kidding, kidding, all right, let's see. Now, let's, let's move on. What are we talking about? We are talking about oh, we want to talk about the campaign trail, the latest updates on that, and if anybody just rolled their eyes, oh no, we're going to talk. Yeah, we are going to talk about, because there's stuff going on. Tim Scott has paused his campaign or suspended his campaign right, that's the proper terminology that they're using. So he suspended his campaign. It seemed kind of abrupt. It sounded like everyone was a little blindsided. Am I? Am I wrong on that?
Speaker 2:No, I got. I got the same read too. I have a feeling, you know, in proximity to the last debate, you know, maybe his performance wasn't what they expected it to be, or maybe that was kind of a yardstick within the campaign to say, hey look we. You know, if we don't get the reaction out of this that we were hoping to, then we're never going to make up ground and it's time to just kind of call it so that's. My guess is it was a result of his performance. You know, if they didn't see an uptick in popularity, whatever their measuring stick was, I'm sure it has to do with the last debate and he, you know, decided that. You know, now is the time.
Speaker 1:Right, and yeah, I think it's something like his. His numbers were like in the single digits and they just simply weren't budging, wasn't gaining any traction, like you said. And so I did see that two of his like major endorsers have now endorsed Nikki Haley your girl, your girl, Nikki so they gave her the endorsement. It sounds like some more are to follow, but maybe haven't fully committed yet and he has not, and correct me if I'm wrong, he has not endorsed anybody as of yet. I haven't seen it yet.
Speaker 2:I haven't seen it yet. I have not seen anything truthfully from him other than you know, hey, I'm wrong, and you know, hey, I'm calling it kind of thing, but no, no follow up since then.
Speaker 1:So yeah, he got a little flack. I saw that he got a little flack, for I guess it was something like I don't know, half hour before he pulled the pin he did like a last minute donation call, essentially on their you know campaign website or something. And then like 15 minutes later it was like yeah, okay, so I'm done.
Speaker 1:So, that raised a few eyebrows like wow, you didn't know 15 minutes ago that you were calling it, but you're, you know. So I don't know, I don't know I'd have to go back and look at that.
Speaker 2:I didn't hear that that's very interesting and that would raise eyebrows for me too. I mean, that would be certainly be a question and, like we said, the wording of what they're doing with the campaign matters. You know, the suspended versus whatever. I think there's a terminology that matters to pay, and I think that drives what they can and can't do with the campaign funds after they suspend or do whatever.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:So but yeah, very interesting to do a pull, a donation pull, and then you know, pop, smoke and be done within an hour. That's very, very strange.
Speaker 1:And I'll tell you, to be honest with you, I have, you know, from the get go, I have liked him. I didn't love him, I didn't have strong feelings about him, but I liked him well enough and I have a feeling that might be a general consensus of people, like you know, very lukewarm, like he's okay, you know, and you don't win elections with just being okay. I guess he got that message too, so so, yeah, so, tim.
Speaker 2:Scott, the last guy that won, the last guy that won with he's okay was President Carter. Yeah, it's not. Those are not footsteps that you want to follow and I don't know?
Speaker 1:No, definitely not. Oh boy, so I think I did this to you last time too. But any guesses who the next fly to drop is? It's not a very nice way we actually we haven't.
Speaker 2:I don't think we talked that directly, but I mean, okay, you've got Vice President Pence, who bailed two, you know, two weeks ago. And then now you've got Tim Scott, so you've got the. You know, the four real front runners are still there, and I don't even really consider Chris Christie a front runner, but you know he's he said he's in it till the end. Okay, fine, so you've got him. You know you've got Vivek, you've got DeSantis and Nikki Haley. Yeah, realistically, you know Chris Christie is the next one to go.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I agree, if he hangs on it's purely out of stubborn spite, but in popularity, you know if you're going in, I guess it would be us sending order or maybe descending order, how we got it. You know he's that he's the bottom of the barrel right now, so he would be the next one that I think to bail or to be pushed out. But I don't see. I don't see any of the other three leaving anytime soon.
Speaker 1:So yeah, it would be a huge shocker if we're one of those top three did. I think you know? Vivek is, of course, very ambitious and very determined, and Nikki Haley's got a lot of traction. She's got a lot of traction and and I and that that traction keeps growing, I think. I think her popularity is is continuing to grow, so she'd have to make like a major misstep. Yeah, I think you know, and she's pretty polished. I don't know if she will make a major misstep, but we shall see. We shall see now. Now, as far as the Democrats, what we got going on with these bunch of coconuts.
Speaker 2:I Think what you're seeing is more and more From the mainstream of the party right, worried about the president.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I think it's not. It's not the Moderates, it's not the, the fence riders, it's not the, the middle of the road Democrats right now, you're you're starting to see, and it's not even a lack of popularity because it's coming across different. It's not a you know he's not necessarily doing a good job, or it's not even a. There's becoming a little bit more criticism of by nomics, but, but most of it is truthfully one. He's not gonna make it through another four years and two. He's in such decline right now that voting for him is you know, or even Assuming he's gonna be capable of running in a year through the election is is not weighing well with people. The expectation is that he is gonna bail, whether I, whether forced to, or or whatever. So you know he is. He is losing more support on a daily basis, which reinforces the who's next in line discussion, and I still think of late it's Gavin Newsom which is so frightening. It's not even fun.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, it really is. It's a, it's a terrifying thought. I Find him to be probably one of the most slimy looking human beings that I have seen in Sometime and, and you know, there's a large pool to choose from for slightly political individuals, and but he, he, I think takes the cake for me, you know. And and just as yet another proof of his awfulness, this whole latest thing with San Francisco cleaning up the streets of San Francisco, I saw that yeah, the Asia Pacific Something or other economic blah blah blah summit.
Speaker 1:It was very professional of me to turn it that way, but that's what you got. I have it on here, but we're good. Oh, it's the. I'll do it right. It is the Asia Pacific Political Action Committee Summit. I mean what? So many, so many words? Enough already. But yeah, you know, managed to clean up the streets of homeless and you know just, absolute filth and disgustingness and the tents and everything that comes along with that, in short order, just in time for for this Summit to happen, which, of course, begs two questions. One, if you could do it, why, why didn't you do it sooner? Where the heck did you put all these people? Where are all these homeless people?
Speaker 2:It's a little. Yeah, I mean if. If you weren't gonna do it For the citizens and the taxpayers of San Francisco on their behalf, mm-hmm, but you'll do it on the behalf of visitors so that they understand and they think that San Francisco and California, united States, is this beautiful, amazing place.
Speaker 2:Like your priorities are jacked, man, because it's not about your constituents at that point, it's about your image. And then, yes, where, where did you displace all these previously you know homeless or displaced people and you know where did they go? You know, did they? Did they just move them to a another place? Did they arrest them? Did that? What do they do? You know, and truthfully, in great California fashion, they're probably in a four-star hotel somewhere.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're, you're absolutely right. That's more than likely where they are. You know, I was on the state's dime.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh yes, of course. Yeah, I before you said that I was thinking geez, did they go by way of you know what they like to do with with the migrants, as they call them, and Put them on planes in the middle of the night and disperse them throughout the rest of the country? But I think your, your Notion there is is probably more likely. It's madness, I you know, and what gets me every time, every single time, is that the people that vote these people in like are you kidding me? This is what you voted in, this is what you said seems like a good idea, and Weren't they? Wasn't there something to get rid of him at one point?
Speaker 2:Yeah, not long ago they were trying to, yeah, impeach him or whatever that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know it's trying to think is it impeach? I think so.
Speaker 2:I mean essentially, that's what it was. Yeah, yeah, we're trying to get him out of office and any beat it, you know. Okay, fine, yeah, you know, I was in Florida just this past weekend and was talking to some people down there. I was at a big veteran event and and talking to some local Floridians and they were talking about the, the migration Right which they always you know they've always dealt with snowbird northerners, as they call them. You know they come down for the winter and they're down there for four or five months through the cold weather and then they move, they go back, whether it's Chicago ends Midwesterners or that New York, connecticut, massachusetts, those folks, but either way they were short term and then they would go home, and now they're seeing a significant uptick in those that are not leaving anymore.
Speaker 2:And, and what's irritating the Floridians as much as they like the money coming in, is the fact that they're, these people are moving, and I've heard this from people in Texas too. You know you're getting all these people moving in and then they're trying to make Florida look like New York, new Hampshire, chicago, and it's like no, that's. You know, if you're trying to escape that, then fine, escape it and come down here and live Florida style, but don't bring your crap with you. You know, and you're getting the same thing coming out of LA and you're you know it's hitting Arizona, new Mexico and Texas. They're making the big transplant out of LA or out of California in general, and they're getting the same thing. And it's you know, if you're leaving there for a reason, then leave that there, like, don't bring that shit along with you. It's, you're not, it's not doing any good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's not do the. You know, let's not be the definition of insanity, you know, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Speaker 2:I mean it's yeah, it's.
Speaker 1:you know I've with reason, of course, as we all know. I find myself saying every single time, every single day, that I can't believe that this is real life. I can't believe that people are this stupid, you know, and I know that's a harsh word to call a mass of people, but I mean it is sheer stupidity, like there are so many things going wrong with our country in this world right now, and yet you keep voting the same people in. You keep, you know, condoning the same types of behaviors and made up language and everything that goes on and again expect different results. It's like where the hell are people's brains at? And I'm only talking about a section of people. Yeah Boy, oh boy. They're a noisy section, aren't they?
Speaker 2:Yes, and so this occurred to me today. You know what Gavin Newsom doesn't have that has been rife with or been running through a lot of our senior level politicians and you know famous people like cancer. His name has never been mentioned with the Epstein Island, oh, so he's clean away from that and that whole thing. If he ends up being a candidate and this is Clay conspiracy theory, and I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but he doesn't have that hanging over him and then that all of a sudden becomes less and it starts to go away, right, and then the Epstein client list becomes less of a thing. People stop talking about it. It's all that kind of stuff. So keep that in the back of your mind too as a you know, kind of a little flavor packet.
Speaker 1:I will, I will. So I love to be able to say Clay called it, Clay called it. See, I love saying that, and we've gotten to say that a few times on a few different topics.
Speaker 1:So so I'm manifesting that to happen. Yeah, he is. You know he is an interesting guy. Again, I find him absolutely repugnant, I can't put it in any other way, I'm just going to call it what it is he and you know, and that's the interesting thing about another interesting thing about today's politics that the things that back in the day, back in the Clinton era, that were so scandalous and shocking and, would you know, eliminate people from, I mean, I'm forgetting the politicians there's been several who had like affairs and just their campaigns died because that was like a you can't represent.
Speaker 1:And now here's a guy who you know he was married to. What's her name? Kimberly Guilfoyle, married for a few years and comes to light that he was cheating on her. He has very public stuff. I mean, I'm not saying anything that hasn't already been. You know a topic before.
Speaker 1:And now we're in an era of, you know, of moral decay where it's like, yeah, whatever, who cares? You know, and that's the general attitude that we just don't care about these things, it doesn't really matter, it's not a blemish on his character or anything like that, like it once was. And I find things like that very interesting and very telling about society at large right now where the heads, collective heads are at. And you know, and speaking of her, she actually you know there's a couple of things, there's a couple of different things. So there were. You know there are people like Federman which just still makes me laugh that he's the one that said this kind of called him out and said you know, if you're running, man up and say that you're running, you know you're running like a shadow campaign and you know there's some things that kind of go along with that that maybe prove that a little bit that he's doing like these media blitzes, just putting himself very front and center.
Speaker 2:He went to China.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, went to China. That's very, you know, another eyebrow razor put together. I think he put together like a political action committee, like he's doing all of these things that are very I'm running for president-like and but he's not coming out and saying it. So, yeah, that's kind of shady. And but his ex-wife, kimberly Guilfoyle, she's quoted as saying that he always wanted to be president. So, you know, you have people from his camp, so to speak, that are like, yeah, come on, this is a given, so For sure, yeah, so do we think it's a given? I think it's a given.
Speaker 2:I think so. If it's not 2024, it's definitely 2028.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely no question about it.
Speaker 2:He is, he is in line, he's in that ascendancy, that's, that's where he's headed and this, you know, this is. It will be one or the other, for sure, no question.
Speaker 1:So here's a question I have, clay, and I don't know if you can answer it or if any of our listeners can answer it. My question is, as I watch all of this as as a horrified spectator, what I wonder is are they the Democratic Party? Are they in turmoil and chaos right now as far as what to do about Biden? Because you know nobody wants Kamala Harris and you know, so let's, let's float Gavin Newsom out there, like, is this turmoil and chaos behavior or is this calculated planning going on? So that's kind of my my real question is it chaos or is it calculated? What do you think?
Speaker 2:So I think it is good planners. And then you know obviously from being in the military this is how we kind of operate. You have a, you have as many branches and sequels, which are you know kind of branches off of the main plan or sequels are kind of like you know, as you move on they'll have as many as they think are necessary and they'll work in through you know multiple outcomes to make sure that they've got all of their bases covered. So I'm sure the initial plan and I'll stick with this till the day I die was that the initial plan. Plan A was Biden's health sustains itself and he makes it through eight years. Plan B was he doesn't make it through eight years and at the end, near the end of his first term, he hands off to Kamala Harris, which gives her a free 12 to 18 months plus eight more years behind that. That was plan B. Now plan C became immediate when they realized how horrible she really is and that, no matter what, even if she gets 12 to 18 months in the White House because he can't physically do it, she's certainly not getting elected as the president of the United States. So right, that's plan C.
Speaker 2:But then you get into the branches of well, who is it then? If it's not Kamala, then is it Michelle Obama? Is it Gavin Newsom? They've got their stable right and I think, yes, there's a little bit of chaos, but I think this is all sequenced out, I think it is planned, but it's, all you know, event driven, kind of like well, if this doesn't work, then this right. They've got a matrix. They probably do actually have like a decision matrix, like we use the military, like if and then. So if the president can't do four years and Kamala Harris sucks, then we'll put you know, we'll start floating ideas. You know, if we float Michelle Obama and she is interested, then we'll run her. You know what I mean. Like they'll have all those conditions laid out. So I think it is a controlled decision-making process. It seems chaotic from the outside, but I think the only fly in the ointment, whatever you want to call it, is I don't think President Biden wants to quit.
Speaker 2:And I think that's screwing everything up for them. I think he refuses to acknowledge the fact that he's incapable. I think that he refuses to let go of the reins and unless he dies, they're stuck with him. Right, I just I really I think they are, Because he's not going to give it up willingly, which I don't think anybody planned for. I think they thought he would go quietly into the night and just be done Sure, sure.
Speaker 1:And the older and more adult he gets, the more agitated and angry he gets, and he's throwing up.
Speaker 2:Get off of my lawn.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he is like the, he is the poster, poster, man, person for, for Get Off my Lawn, that is him 100%, with his you know, kind of crazy outbursts and and we you know when you have new stories getting leaked that his own staff is, you know, too too frightened to go into a room alone with him. You know, besides all the sniffing and all of that, but the the fact that he has a proclivity for for you know, berating and yelling and swearing at them so they go in by twos and threes to kind of buffer each other. So you know, and stories like that are coming out. You know, who do you think's leaking these stories? Come on.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, no, it's the closed staff for sure. I mean, just today there was a they 400 members of the administration, unnamed they won't sign their name to it, but they sent him a letter that said they disagree with the way that he's handling the Israel Hamas thing, like just flat, you know. And inside the administration, this isn't you know, these are close to the close to the source kind of people, right so? But again, this isn't the chief of staff of the White House coming out and saying this isn't the whoever you know, his cabinet or anybody like that. This is 400 unnamed people you know in the administration saying that he's screwing this up. So yeah, it's. There's a lot of turmoil in the White House right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And what you know, I mean I feel two ways about that, that, you know. My instinctive response is what a bunch of cowards. What a bunch of cowards. Put your name on it, own it, you know, toughen up. And then the flip side of that, of course, is wow, what kind of power is being yielded over there that these people 400 people are too scared of the consequences of putting their name to that? I mean, that speaks volumes as to what kind of stronghold they have over. It's scary really when you think of it. Like that should not be the case in any way, shape or form. But yeah, here it is. So I hope more people with more influence, you know, really put some question to that, because that's, that's an eye-opener in itself, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2:But I mean we, you know we hit all this, the 400,. You know they brought up the Israel Hamas thing, which is, you know, we're touching on that for our next topic. You know, unfortunately we, the United States, have seen our first casualties, known casualties in relation to the conflict Israel Hamas conflict. For those of you that don't know, a special operations helicopter, a special operations Black Hawk helicopter, crashed during a refueling operation in the Eastern Mediterranean over the weekend and we lost five, you know, that's five members of the amazing Task Force 160 night stalkers special operation aviation regiment, the night stalkers, who are the best pilots, helicopter pilots in the world bar none. I've flown with those guys a handful of times and the professionalism and competency and the capabilities of those guys is unmatched in the aviation world anywhere. I don't care. I the utmost respect for those folks, just one of the best organizations in the military. But they were doing a refueling operation which is, you know, dangerous in and of itself, and crashed into the Eastern Mediterranean.
Speaker 2:Now you know everybody's gonna ask why were they there? And you know those folks with that capability and I said this from the beginning you and I started talking about well, what do we do, what do we send what's off the coast, what's there? And I said that we would always have a special operations capability nearby. You know, and that's what these folks amount to, and they, they're there to fly. You know, armies, all special operators, army, navy, whether it's a SEALS or whoever. I mean that's who they move around. I would tell you they're probably there for hostage rescue kind of operations, at least at the moment, but also in support of things going on in Syria that you know have been ongoing for years now really. But this is being directly related to the forces in the theater, specifically in the Eastern Med, in support of, or potentially in support of, the Israel Hamas conflict.
Speaker 2:So this is and this is not a cavalier statement, so please do not take it this way. This is the price of doing business and it's the ultimate price. It is sad that this happened, but for everybody who sit on the fringes of stuff like this, whether it's this, whether it's Ukraine, whatever conflict it is, and all the saber rattling from those at home that say we should do, we should be involved, we should, you know the US has to do whatever. This is what happens. No BSing around, no bullshitting around.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, these five men are gone, and they're gone forever. Right, they're at Valhalla right now, because we have stuck our nose in the middle of this, at the demands of, really, the constituency of the United States, of the citizenry and this is the price of doing business. We haven't even done anything, that is of note. We have done nothing but get in position to provide support, and we have now lost five warriors that we can't get back, that we can't replace, and that's the damn shame of all of it. So, you know, I'm a little bit on my soapbox and I apologize, elsa, but-.
Speaker 1:No, no, no no.
Speaker 2:Have at it, please do Irritates the shit out of me, because there are so many people who've never had this touch their lives before, who are so adamant about what we should do as a nation. And let me tell you something those five families and not just those five families, those five families are suffering horribly, but there's an entire organization in the United States Army right now that is suffering at the loss of those five individuals, and it's because somebody decided that this is what we needed to do, not realizing that, whether we started shooting or not, people are at risk every single day. When we do stuff like this, and these kinds of things happen. And this is the price you pay, this is the price to be paid. And again, it's not cavalier, it's reality.
Speaker 2:Those five gentlemen are gone and they're not coming back, and it's a damn shame that it has to happen for something that, truthfully, we're not directly involved in. So for everybody and again I'll get off my soapbox but before you start saber rattling about where we should stick our nose and how many of our warriors we should commit to stuff like this, you think about those five families before you start committing the lives of individuals to stuff like this, because you're not committing the army. You're committing people, real frigging people who sacrifice and die for really no damn good reason at times, and this is one of them. Okay, I'm off my soapbox. I think.
Speaker 1:No, you know what, clay, that was such a necessary soapbox moment because you're so right, you're so profoundly right that that's exactly what happens. People forget that these are human beings. These are fathers, sons, brothers, husbands, these are somebody's loved ones who are doing a job that, let's face it, the rest of us are too chicken shit to do, it simply cannot do for whatever reason, won't do. So, you know, to commit their lives to something that you're sitting there being your couch critic, your couch warrior about and directing the lives of other people of what should be done, you should probably sit back and just shut the hell up. So I'm glad that you said what you said and I do have the names of these five heroes and I'd like to take a minute and just give them some recognition. We're gonna put their picture back up. I'm gonna put my glasses on, because otherwise I can't see.
Speaker 1:So the five service members who died were Chief Warrant Officer three, stephen R Dwyer he was 38, of Clarksville, tennessee. Chief Warrant Officer two, shane M Barnes he was 34, of Sacramento, california. Staff Sergeant Tanner W Grown, 26 of Gorham, new Hampshire. Sergeant Andrew P Southered, 27 of Apache Junction, arizona. And Sergeant Cade M Wolfe, 24 of Mancato, minnesota, and I'm sorry if I pronounced anything wrong there. Please forgive me. I know you're gonna correct me in the notes, but we would be so remiss if we didn't say their names and Clay, I'm so glad that you took that moment to really drive that point home, because it's important and it matters and they mattered.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it hits close to home for me every time. Every time I see stuff like this. As much time as I spent deployed the worst parts of it were standing by helicopters in the middle of the night, standing at the back of a ramp of a cargo plane in the middle of the night and long, slow salutes to send off warriors like that as they leave theater and head back to the United States for their family to grieve and to bury them and all of those things. And those are the ones that I don't care who you are and I've lost friends, all of us have that fought through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but they're real people and there's a bunch of people hurting today over the loss of those five warriors and you can't understate it. You just can't.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, so true, and we're ironically in the shadow of Veterans Day and it just it drives for anyone who has loved, who haven't like you, who have served for someone like me and others who have loved ones, who've served in combat especially. It's just a whole different. Everything has a different meaning. Everything is deeper, the colors are brighter, all of the things, the appreciation is deeper.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean listen, I will never tell an American citizen that they shouldn't voice their opinion about our military, how our military should be run, because we all work.
Speaker 2:The military works for the citizenry. Truthfully, I just my point to all of this is that it's not just a big green machine or a big blue machine or whatever you have in your mind, and it's not a movie. You should always voice your opinion, you should always vote whether or not the United States should commit forces for the good of humanity, which is what we do. But you also have to remember there's a price to be paid and there are real people who are gonna pay that price. That's my point. And sometimes real people have to pay those prices, for the price it's the price of freedom, it's the price for humanity that has to be paid to keep things going the direction that humanity needs them to go. But they are real people. So you should never just take that lightly that we should just commit continuously, over and over again, to every little brush fire around the world. That happens.
Speaker 2:The US doesn't need to stick their nose into everything, because you're sticking real people in the middle of those messes and unfortunately this is the price of doing business. It just is no matter what.
Speaker 1:Well said, somebody's gotta get hurt. It's just gut wrenching. We are going to switch over into with something I feel seems kind of surreal. Like this is you know, we go from something like that talking about, you know, heroes that have made the ultimate sacrifice, and it really drives the absurdity of something like this home. Clay, I'm gonna let you go ahead and run with this one. You go ahead and explain, because this is not even my lane, but it just blows my mind. So go ahead and give them the little background on this.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the short version and I wanna make sure that I get this right too is that Texas A&M football just fired their coach, jim Boe Fisher, who has been a coach in a number of places a college collegiate coach in a number of places. So he just got fired and he's getting paid out $76 million.
Speaker 2:Say it again for the people in the past, it's a fired coach, not even to coach, to not coach, he's getting paid $76 million. Now the absurdity in all of this, elsa, is, you know he's a collegiate football coach. Okay, okay, he's a collegiate football coach. So that means and this has been proven in multiple states the coach at, like the coach in Alabama that coaches Alabama football, is the highest paid state employee in the state of Alabama. Okay, by a long shot, but he's a state employee because it's state school. So the discussion really is you know, ncaa, you know, is collegiate. Their focus is supposed to be on education, so why are they paying guys like this $76 million? And what in the world is education benefiting or not benefiting from? Based on athletics?
Speaker 2:And the reality is that, unfortunately, or unfortunately, college football and if everybody remembers back to COVID, they were trying so hard to keep college football going during COVID the reason they were doing that was because college football and men's college basketball are the only two collegiate sports that make money. The rest of them exist off of the money made from football and men's basketball. So without those sports, without football and basketball and basketball is a far second place behind football, even with the NCAA tournament you know, 64, march Madness, all that stuff still far behind football. But without those two sports the rest of NCAA athletics don't exist. They cannot be funded as they stand today. So the catch 22 damned if you do, damned if you don't is.
Speaker 2:Do you continue to make college football as big as you can make it and pay guys like Jimbo Fisher $76 million to benefit the rest of the athletic programs and therefore the colleges that they're associated with? Or do you just cut it, you know, to a manageable level and say, listen, we're not gonna pay people like this anymore, you know it's just not gonna happen. We're just gonna focus on academics. Because the reality is is that the universities benefit off of their sports. They do. And you can't say you know, well, if we had and I've seen this and I've seen this from people that I know that say, well, could you imagine what we could do in academics with the $76 million they're gonna pay Jimbo Fisher? Well, I don't disagree, you could do a lot with $76 million, but without college football you wouldn't have the $76 million regardless.
Speaker 3:Because it generates.
Speaker 2:Ncaa sports is a $16 billion business. $16 billion, so crazy. Okay, so you wouldn't have the $76 million to pay Jimbo Fisher if you didn't have college sports in the first place. And if you didn't have college sports in the first place, you wouldn't have $76 million to spend on academics. So you know, you can say what you want about the evils or the misappropriation or the bad priorities about collegiate sports versus focusing on academics, depending on the college, but it's a business and they do benefit. Each other Is $76 million and have seen a amount of money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, To not coach, to not coach Like it's even bad enough to coach to get paid to coach that kind of money, but to get paid that kind of money to not coach is so mind boggling that I simply can't wrap my brain around the rationale. And you brought up really great points. You know things that I didn't know. So I had no idea that it was such a money making business. I had no idea. It certainly makes sense now, in light of thinking back to COVID.
Speaker 1:You know how hard that was still getting pushed, or playing in empty stadiums, you know, with no people or no spectators, I mean, and it was like, why did they? Why why? Well, there's the why. You know there's money to be made and money to be lost here and I mean, how do you even remedy this? So I guess some of the questions I would have I'm thinking is this money to pay these people? Is this coming from? Like tuition's, because now, because it's like a big deal to go to this school. I mean, where does all the money come from? It might be a stupid question, forgive me. No, it's a good question.
Speaker 2:No, it's a really good question and, to be honest with you, it depends, I think and I'm far from an expert on this, but you know it's a state school. Texas A&M is a state school, so there is money that comes, you know, from the state to an extent, but it's also money brought in by the university. You know what I mean. It's a business, right, it does. I mean you can almost think of it like the NFL, right, you know, the Cowboys sell out. They make so much money they can afford to pay players and coaches whatever they can because of the money coming in. This is very similar, but you also have the backing of the state, right, you have the backing of, you know, the state of Texas in this case. But now think of private university. Right, now, you've got donors, alumni association, behind a lot of this. There's also some federal funding, although I don't know how that bleeds over into academic or from academics into athletics. But Okay, it's a good question to ask when does that money come from?
Speaker 1:Right, and it does kind of color my opinion as to how I feel about it, you know. So, first and foremost, of course, I find the numbers absurd. They're just silly, you know. And yes, of course that money could be used in so many more better ways. But the flip side of that is, if they're bringing in the money, you know, to fund these things, I mean, I don't know, I'm thinking. I may not really like it, I may not love it by any means, but it kind of does seem fair. You brought the money in, you did the thing, and I guess it's up to you what you do with it, even if it's absurd, I don't know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I just you know, go ahead. It is. And again you know, the draw is being a good football program Right. The more you, the better you are, the more you sell, the better players you recruit, the better your TV percentages, the better your all that stuff and the more you're merchandising. All of that matters. And he, like any other professional coach, evidently is not doing his job very well. And they got rid of him. They fired him. Well, good for him for making sure that his contract was structured, that he still makes money even if he gets fired.
Speaker 2:Right so shame on Texas A&M, probably, and the board and the athletic department and whoever signed off on the contract. Shame on them for agreeing to this crap in the first place. So bad business decision. But that's really what it boils down to is he sucks at his job and he got fired.
Speaker 1:So I would like to suck at my job in exactly that way. If we only right, clay, if we only had this big corporate agreement where we could suck at our job so badly and get paid to stop it. If you don't want to pay us to stop making our show, make it worth making an offer. We'll entertain those offers, but you know, yeah, but again.
Speaker 2:So the income and to take it a little one step further with academics, or I mean with athletics is not only does football and basketball fund essentially the rest of NCAA sports, but that translates to scholarship opportunities for athletes. Okay, and you can argue the whole. You know how many. How much should they get paid? How many opportunities should be out there? You know the title nine male versus female equality. How many scholarships, both male, you know, for one for the other.
Speaker 2:But without those big football programs, without the big basketball programs, that whole structure starts to fall apart.
Speaker 2:All so now you not only start to lose athletic programs, and let me tell you something during COVID, dirty little secret, the scholarship opportunities for all of the other sports got curtailed, wow. And at almost all schools they lost scholarships because they couldn't. They didn't have the money to pay them, sure, but that's why they were fighting so hard to keep basketball and football going, for the TV rights, for the Jersey sales, for all those things. So when you cut back on those, you start to lose scholarship opportunities for other athletes in other sports. So now you really are losing educational opportunities for people who wouldn't have had them in the past. So this is a very windy kind of road with a whole bunch of offshoots into different places, and I'm not all four spending $76 million to pay a guy not to coach. I, you know I think that's nuts, but there's a lot of good that comes out of NCAA athletics to benefit sports other than football and basketball, and that's you know kind of where you gotta be Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean you lay it out a pretty fair argument on both sides of it really. You know there's the emotional gut punch reaction of are you kidding me? That kind of money for somebody not to do their job Wow, that's absurd in this day and age. And when you're talking about, you're just talking about people who risk their lives and lose their lives for love of country, and you know where's their. You know family's multi-million dollar payouts. You know for that not that that would make it better by any means, but you know. So you have that whole emotional response to it.
Speaker 1:And then there's that flip side of it. You know business is business and this is a business, and you know they're in the business to make money and to and there are people, like you said, benefiting from it. So, clay and I would love to know your thoughts on that, where it is. I mean on all the things we talked about today. Give us your thoughts on all of them, and we I had a great time talking all these topics. I love this. I missed our back and forth last week, so I'm glad to be back at it.
Speaker 2:It's always better. It's better together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely Clay anything on to tell them before we say good night.
Speaker 2:Two things. You and I talked about this before we started recording. So because of the holiday and Elsa and I both have, you know, personal lives with lots of stuff going on, so we're gonna take a break next week. We're not gonna, we're just gonna take a break. We're not gonna be recording next week, but we'll be back right after Thanksgiving. So there's that. But also let thanks for letting me stand on my soap box. I did go do a veteran thing this past weekend and spent some time with some paratroopers and a lot of friends and I went and jumped out of a perfectly good airplane for the 83rd time in my life and I love it. But you know, it just reminds me of everything that I did for 25 years and God bless all the veterans out there, you know, for everything that everybody's done. But finally, as always, check out the book. It's out there, keep moving, keep shooting.
Speaker 1:I love it, awesome, awesome, and thank you again for your service. You are so appreciated, and all of our viewers who have and or are serving we thank you as well, and we wish everyone a peaceful, happy Thanksgiving. Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, we love you and we're glad to be part of your lives, and we will see you the week after next.
Speaker 3:Take care 引 life you.