WEBVTT - I Hate Birds & Fish! Screw 'Em! 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:06.120 Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio the George 0:00:06.200 --> 0:00:10.240 Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Katty. 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:21.400 Armstrong and Jettaty and know He Armstrong and Yetty. 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:26.360 What is the situation with the water obviously in the 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:28.640 palisage that ran out last night in the hydrants. 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:31.120 The local folks are trying to figure that out. 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:33.240 I mean, just when you have a system that it's 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.720 not dissimilar to what we've seen in other extraordinarily large 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:39.279 scale fires, whether it be pipe electricity or whether it 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.040 just be the complete overwhelm of the system. 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:44.040 Yeah, I got to believe Gavin Newsom getting on the 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:45.960 phone with some people why the hydrants were an out 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:48.240 of water. I need an answer because that's a bad story. 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:53.840 The hydrants run similar to other situations. He's a pot 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:55.600 So I'll tell you. If there's one place I could 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.240 be right now anywhere in the world, it'd be close 0:00:58.320 --> 0:01:00.800 enough to Barack Obama and Donald Trump, who were sitting 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:03.040 in the second row at the National Cathedral in Washington, 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:06.559 DC waiting for the Jimmy Carter funeral to start. It's 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.960 the role of the ex president's man. The most exclusive 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.760 club in the world and people with a better view 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:16.440 of the way things really work than anybody who lives. 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.720 But Barack Obama's now bending Trump's here. They are in 0:01:20.760 --> 0:01:24.520 a NonStop conversation and both of them laughing now and then, 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:27.200 and Barack Obama's just shaking his head like rolled his 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.600 eyes and laughed, and they're talking about I would freaking 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:32.400 love to know what they're talking about. Do you think 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:34.800 if it's anything of consequence or is it like really 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.600 minor stuff just to make small talk. 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:44.160 I think it is a presidential small talk, That's what 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:46.480 I'm he knowing. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeh, DC and 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:50.440 the White House and the inauguration and the press and 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:51.120 that sort of thing. 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:52.240 I suspect. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:56.400 And famously, if you're into this sort of stuff, former 0:01:56.440 --> 0:02:03.360 presidents often have way more respect for each other then 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:05.960 you might guess based on the way things were when 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.120 they were all fighting each other. And I wonder if 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:12.760 Barack and Trump are in that category. Oh it's guaranteed. 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.400 Yeah, They've both done a job that is impossible and 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.000 ages you like a dog, and so there is a 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.000 bond even if you disagree fairly vehemently. I want to 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.160 say one thing and make it clear because we have, 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.640 you know, made various comments, whether lighthearted, about some of 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:32.120 the things happening at the funeral or Carter's presidency and 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.760 that sort of thing. I believe Jimmy Carter was a 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:41.520 good man who lived a good life. I think he 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.320 was ill suited to the job for which he is 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:50.320 being remembered. He was not a good president, and I 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.400 think respect to him and his family and those who 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.320 loved him upon his passing is absolutely appropriate. I think 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:03.160 worshipfulness is weird and off putting. You know, we can 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.760 certainly give criticism of his administration arrest during the funeral, 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:14.080 that's fine, but there is a difference between having respect 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:21.600 for a human being and suspending your not only you're right, 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:25.200 but your duty as an American to understand where his 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:27.679 presidency went terribly wrong. But again, we could give it 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:28.600 a rest for a minute. 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:31.079 In terms of the presidents that are still alive, they're 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:33.920 all sitting there and I'm watching on TV. Joe Biden 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.600 looks one hundred and twenty years old. He walked in 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:39.120 and sat down with his mouth hanging open, and that 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.640 blank stare that he has. He's the current president with 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:45.640 all those former presidents, and he's the oldest guy in 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:50.640 those first two pews and looks by far the oldest, 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:54.160 and looks the oldest and acts the oldest. Yes, why 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.960 did we Why are you going back clear to Bush 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.520 won all those people? Well, I mean you're going way back. Oh, 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:05.320 Bill Clinton's there, that's ninety two. The guy that one 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.480 is not with us, but I mean Bush too. Yeah, 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:11.320 the oldest guy there is Joe Biden, the current president. 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:15.040 That's an odd thing for America to decide. 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.560 And you know, if we need this, and we probably don't, 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.240 but it's worth contemplating for another ten seconds. The fact 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.800 that the Democratic Party, the Biden administration, and the media 0:04:23.880 --> 0:04:26.279 we're all telling us is recently is you know, the 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:28.480 early part of last year, the middle part of last year, 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:30.839 that he was good to go for another four years. 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:33.919 Nothing could be more dishonest or ridiculous. 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.279 Well, last hour, we played the clip Joe Biden did 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:39.240 an interview with USA Today and said he thinks he 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.680 would have won, which is, well, here's David Atzorrod, who 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:44.760 ran Obama's campaign. 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.000 Here's what he has to say about that. Joe Biden 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.120 had a forty approval rating. I don't think there's a 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.480 president who's won reelection with an approval rating that low. 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:58.120 So you look, you know, one has to comfort oneself 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:02.760 in these moments, and you know that's probably what he's doing. 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.279 But I think it's nuts to think that he would 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:06.120 have won that election. 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:13.239 It's nuts to think won He went from painstaking, painstakingly diplomatic. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.560 To he's a nut. It's not pretty quickly he would 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:17.880 have won. Yeah, damn it. 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.160 What is Trump saying to Barack Obama that's making Barack 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:23.799 Obama throw back his head and laughter. I would love 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:27.880 to know what he'll never know. No, I won't, you 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:33.800 will never know. Uh Dovetailing from our conversational last year, 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:37.560 I appreciate Mike the lawyer in Chicago recognizing the Joe 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:42.400 Getty unified theory of civilizations. Talking about Carter's administration, he said, 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:44.360 Carter's policies are a great example of what you talk 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.560 about with the guardrails, Vietnam and Watergate made it easy 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:51.800 to adopt passivity and imagineering. When Carter came in, we 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:54.440 overcorrected and flipped the car in the ditch. That's a 0:05:54.640 --> 0:05:57.320 that's a that's a really good analysis right there. 0:05:58.120 --> 0:05:58.520 Mm hmm. 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:04.120 So coming up an extended discussion of DOGE and what 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:07.520 exactly it might be able to accomplish and what the 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:12.600 roadblocks will be. To paraphrase, I think it was a lick. 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.240 Oh you all live in who is an absolutely brilliant 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:18.560 writer and thinker, Jack, I know you, you're familiar with 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.159 this stuff. He says, it could be a complete waste 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.360 of everyone's time. That's usually how reform commissions go. But 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:28.479 Musk is no slouch, and the idea has drawn the 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.680 cooperation of an array of tech sector and entrepreneurial talent, 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:35.320 including favek Ramaswami, and needs to be taken seriously. 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:37.960 Well, I think I think the biggest thing that's going 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.320 for Musk versus you know, two senators that ninety percent 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.800 of people don't know. Everybody knows who Elon Musk is. 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.040 He can say something and everybody hears it, and if 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.240 he when he runs into these roadblocks, at least he 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:50.920 can say it out loud and say, hey, look, we 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:52.800 got a government where you can't fire anybody. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:53.560 Did everybody know that? 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.800 Because a couple of senators doing this in a hearing 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.480 a year from now and explaining the difficulties, nobody ever 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:04.320 hears that stuff right now, whether they are like surpassingly 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.080 successful and they just did the Doge thing just totally 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:09.679 turns the country around. I don't think that's going to happen, 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:13.040 But I feel like this spouse who's been begging his 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:17.200 or her spouse to go to the doctor, and this 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:19.720 is at least a trip to the doctor where a 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:23.560 diagnosis will be given, where somebody who will not be 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.640 ignored will say a great example. Do you know we've 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.320 got millions of people who don't get fired no matter 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:30.720 how bad a job they do. 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:32.960 Yeah, I mean everybody should know that. 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.800 So I think it's even if it is just a 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:39.360 minimal success, we'll keep our It'll be great. We'll keep 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:41.720 our in the funeral and try to read lips. We'll 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:43.400 have that story and a whole bunch of other stuff 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:43.720 on the way. 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.640 Stay here. 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:54.679 All five living former presidents gathered for the Jimmy Carter funeral. 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.200 More on that if anything happens. I do have some 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:00.480 more comments to make. Their procession is going on. 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:04.680 Indeed, we will bring that to you if it develops. 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.960 Joe Biden recently with his eyes closed for a prolonged 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:08.800 period of time. 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:12.400 He's a spiritual man. He's also one hundred years old. 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:14.520 I think there's a decent chance he falls asleep and 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:15.480 tumbles into the aisle. 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:19.000 Oh boy, boy, that would make the headlines. Anyway, stay 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:21.640 with us, you've all Livin, who's a brilliant guy. One 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:23.160 of a couple of people I want to quote talking 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.679 about the Doge project is this Elon Musk and Vivek 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:31.360 Kramaswami in company's effort to reign in the federal government. 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:33.720 And it's spending And we'll get more into specifics in 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:37.000 a second, but I just saw the headline. For what 0:08:37.040 --> 0:08:40.760 it's worth, Elon Musk has ascended to like the top 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:43.479 five or something like that in world. 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.800 Rankings in some sort of video game. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.680 he How does he have time? He says he's the 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.319 best video game player in the world. When he was younger, 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:55.480 he was he was the world champion, and he doesn't 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.120 have as much time to do it now, but he is. 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.080 He says he's the best in the world at most 0:08:59.080 --> 0:08:59.760 of those games. 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:00.920 Wow. 0:09:01.559 --> 0:09:03.840 Even if we were to extract his brain from a 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:08.080 skull and you know, learn everything we could, science isn't 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.280 at a point where we would learn much. But his 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.679 brain does not work the way the rest of us are. 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:15.120 The rest of them are definitely definitely not no. 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:16.640 Indeed, so you've all. 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:21.120 Levin writes that surely there is a need for some 0:09:21.200 --> 0:09:24.679 creative thinking about combating efficiency in government. Everybody knows that 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.520 maybe DOGE could have some potential, but to generate more 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:29.840 than memes and slogans, it needs to quickly nail down 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.440 several key particulars about its goals, its structures. 0:09:32.440 --> 0:09:33.720 It's approached because they're kind of. 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.480 Vague for all to talk about doge It's basic ambition. 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:39.280 It's still pretty murky. As he points out. 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:43.280 Quite correctly, I think it's champions seem to have in 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:48.200 mind dramatically reducing federal spending, sharply curtailing the federal workforce, 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:53.120 and fundamentally reforming federal regulatory policy. And he points out, 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:56.439 and I agree completely, only the last of these is 0:09:56.600 --> 0:10:01.440 really worth Doge's time and attention. It pains me to 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:06.280 skip over the sharply curtailing the federal workforce thing, and 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:09.720 we can get to I that's hard. But you've all 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:12.680 points out the notion that a committed billionaire tech executive 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.200 with no political experience is going to massively reduce federal 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.640 spending by focusing on waste is just the kind of 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:21.640 bain banal delusion that causes Washingtonians to roll their eyes 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:25.520 at the whole idea of Doge because. 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:29.120 I saw Nashville have you writing about how Elon a 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:32.480 super smart guy. Nobody's doubting that. But he was not 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.200 into politics his whole life. He's just like started paying 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.520 attention to this recently. So he's having, like in his 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:40.800 head and with other people, a lot of the arguments 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:43.600 that people who are into politics, you know, have when 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:46.840 they're much much younger and realize, okay, these are the 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.280 points that everybody makes. Because he's having some of the 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:54.920 same tired arguments on his Twitter feed that yeah, we 0:10:55.120 --> 0:10:57.960 know that part like those of us who pay attention 0:10:58.000 --> 0:10:59.080 to this, you're new to this. 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.560 And in the same way I often say, evidence does 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:10.600 not necessarily equal proof. Good things do not necessarily equal 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.880 a solution. For instance, if they were to get rid 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.200 of all of the waste and fraud and abuse in 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:20.200 discretionary spending, that would be a great thing. It's not 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:23.520 going to come near solving our budgetary problems. 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.280 Doesn't that matter a lot? Morally though, or just morally 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:28.480 etally directionally. 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.320 I mean, it just pains me so much that we 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:36.440 have so many agencies employees that aren't needed, all right, 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.240 And that's what I'm trying to make clear. Do it 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:43.480 as fast and as viciously as you can, bloody some noses. 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:46.480 Do everything you can to get rid of that stuff 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:48.320 I was talking about, and to make it more efficient. 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.920 I'm just saying, remember that discretionary spending is absolutely dwarfed 0:11:52.960 --> 0:11:57.240 by our entitlement programs and will and uh, and the 0:11:57.320 --> 0:11:59.319 one is on the wane as a shriff GDP, the 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:02.360 other one's on the rise. So the relationship is getting 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:07.240 even more skewed. And Trump said entitlement reform is not 0:12:07.360 --> 0:12:09.640 on his agenda. I had one of the most depressing 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:13.280 but enlightening thoughts I've ever had. And again political hacks 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:16.000 would laugh at me for this, just really having it 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:20.000 come into my head perfectly clearly. If I'm a Republican, 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:25.040 you know, a consultant, like really really in the know 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.400 with my pulse on the voters and all, I would 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:33.560 tell my candidate, dude, you're railing against or or perhaps 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:37.640 ma'am because women can hold office now these days. To Jack, 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:44.760 I would say, my friend you're one hundred percent right 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.080 about how we need entitlement reform, about how we're spending 0:12:48.080 --> 0:12:51.800 our children's and grandchildren's money, how it's the greatest deft 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.920 in the history of mankind, from one generation stealing from another. 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.560 All of this is true, and it is repugnant. I 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:03.640 hate it to my soul. But if you hang your 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:07.160 hat on that, you will lose and you will accomplish nothing. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:11.760 If you shut up about that, we can roll back 0:13:11.840 --> 0:13:14.560 the perversion of our kids in the woke schools. We 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.240 can cut the federal workforce and make it more efficient. 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:20.480 We can form great trade relationships. We can punch China 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.800 in the nose and make sure they don't take over 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.040 the globe. We can accomplish all sorts of stuff. But 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:27.160 if you keep talking about entitlements, you're not. 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:28.160 Gonna do any of it. 0:13:29.000 --> 0:13:30.640 I would love it if we could get all those 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.080 former presidents sitting in the first two pews there in 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.880 a national cathedral. I would love to have this conversation 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.240 with them. Honestly, wouldn't it be awesome to have them 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.360 in a room. I would ask them the question, how 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.560 do you see this playing out? You all know the 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.600 structural problems we have and where we're headed. How do 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:49.640 you see this playing out? Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:54.120 Barack Obama? What do you think is going to happen? 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.240 I mean they have to have an answer in their head. 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:58.640 Oh I think they do. Yeah, getting back to my screen, 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:00.960 what do you think most of them would say? 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.640 There is no way to pass any meaningful reform until 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:08.000 it is an emergency. We've tried and there is no 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:10.199 taste for it among the voters. It's way too easy 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:12.040 to scare them off. So we just have to wait 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:12.520 to leave them here. 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:12.839 Yes see. 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.960 And I know I've said this before, but my concern is, 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.199 and I got this from you, all ofvin who you're 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:20.960 reading from, and this was the scariest thing I've ever 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.440 heard about this stuff. It's not going to be an emergency. 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.960 I've always pictured it being some sort of cataclysmic Oh 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:29.000 my god, the alarms are going off. We have to 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:32.280 do something. Everybody understands it. We cut this, we raise taxes, 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:32.760 we fix it. 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:34.720 He says. That's not the way it's going to play out. 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:39.120 We're just going to become a less dynamic, slower moving, 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:45.920 bogged down, less fans, less powerful, high tax harder to 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.920 get a business started country and yeah we'll be France. 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:52.240 Yeah we'll just be France. And it will happen kind 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:56.200 of gradually, and older people who remember what it used 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.600 to be like will die, and everybody will just think 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:01.440 this is what life is like. That to me is 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:04.800 the scariest outcome of all. One, I think it's probably 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:06.680 the way it will happen. And two I don't know 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:08.480 how you ever turn that around. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:13.000 Right right again, my foe Republican consultant's screen. I want 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.480 you to understand. I loathe that, I despise it. But 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:17.560 if there's one thing that being a conservative is, it's 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.200 being a realist. And I've got to I just got 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:21.040 to come to terms with that. 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:21.480 Anyway. 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.760 Levin points out that the federal government actually has about 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.480 as many employees as it did a half century ago. 0:15:28.000 --> 0:15:31.880 It's the government's reach and scope and an enormous amount 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:36.240 of contractors that have grown, and so the key is 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:38.400 not so much the number of the workforce, but the 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:41.320 scope of what the government does and how it does 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.880 it through regulations and executive branch, contractors and stuff like that, 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:49.520 which I think is a good clarification. Can they actually 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:55.960 close can they delete a federal agency. There are serious 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:58.840 legal hurdles and you would have to have the cooperation 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:00.920 of Congress. Can't get in to this in a meaningful way. 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:02.920 We're up against a heartbreak. But maybe we can reset 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:05.320 that down the road, because I mean, how many of 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.080 us want the Department of Education gone? A majority of 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.520 parents to Polder just came out. It's a very small majority. 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:13.600 Hotel I was in was across the street from the 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:15.360 Department of Education in Washington, d C. 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:15.840 Last week. 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.360 That's an enormous building with a lot of employees. And 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.760 to think we could do away with that and have 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.040 more local control and how I have that money stay 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:23.480 at home? 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:26.760 Oh, I don't think it'll happen. 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:31.239 Well, yeah, and just not have the the woke bureaucrats 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:35.200 of d C playing the tune that local schools are 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:36.240 supposed to dance to. 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:39.440 I hate that idea. 0:16:39.560 --> 0:16:43.040 We will check in on the horrifying fires that continue 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:46.960 in LA today. Oh my god, big portions of cities 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:49.320 that are completely gone. 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:53.880 Everybody calls everything historic these days. This is an historic 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.360 catastrophe for Los Angeles in the state of California. 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:03.000 Biggest fire in LA's hitty already most devastating and climbing 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.119 up the ranks for the entire state of California. 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:06.800 I got a lot more on the way. I hope 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:10.359 you can stay here, Armstrong and Getty. 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:15.640 We did have a sheriff's deputy drive past us and 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:19.160 we got this warning to be careful, and we thought, okay, 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:21.560 maybe he's talking about the smoke because the air quality 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.680 is so poor. That's why we're all wearing respirators and masks. 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:27.640 He said, no, be careful because there are looters out here. 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:30.480 He said, we've already arrested someone. And I asked, well, 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.680 how many? And we're and try to get some more information. 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.119 He says, it couldn't give you that information. But the 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.560 fact that they this morning have already arrested people, it 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:41.440 just goes to show that people are taking advantage of 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:43.760 an already devastating situation. 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:47.760 You know, as a libertarian, I have to be against 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:54.080 government vigilante style justice. But if you accidentally hit that 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:55.800 guy in the back of the year with a baton, 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.560 I'm looking the other way. Is there anything worse than 0:17:59.560 --> 0:18:04.679 a looter? Anything? You are the worst human being on earth. 0:18:04.720 --> 0:18:07.879 You certainly are in the running. After people have had 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:10.280 their homes burnt down lost everything they have, and you 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.480 go in and try to steal from them, you soob. 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:18.800 Can we institute something like martial law the very least. 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:20.840 You got to make the penalty so high. 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.760 It's just not worth going and digging through somebody's house 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:25.680 to try to find a an engagement ring. 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:28.840 You got my vote. Anyway. 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:30.480 Some other thing about the fire, and we're keeping our 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:32.800 eye on the Jimmy Carter funeral. We got some comments 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:34.160 on that coming up in a little bit. It's going 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:36.120 on right now. But on the fire, this is getting 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:37.919 a fair amount of attention, and there's a lot of 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:42.000 already in the midst of the tragedy with neighborhoods burnt 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.199 completely to the ground. It looks like the moon in 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:46.760 some of these places where it used to be multimillion 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.440 dollar homes or just regular homes. It's not like it's 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:53.240 more or less tragic depending on the expenditure of the home. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.479 And so Trump is doing a lot of true thing 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:04.920 about out fire management by Gavin Newsom, and Gavin Newsom's 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.120 trying to deflect it into other things in the Mayor. 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:09.720 Of la and blah blah blah, all that sort of stuff. 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:10.840 But this seems to be true. 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:15.159 When the Forest Service identifies high risk forests needing prescribed 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:19.000 burns or any area that you got to deal with. 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:21.919 And if you don't travel around LA, there's a lot 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:23.560 of trees around LA, especially when you get up to 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:27.080 the Pasadena Altadena area. I've hiked up there many times, 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:29.960 did nothing but forests behind you. When the Forest Service 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.720 identifies a high risk forest that needs to burn to 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.920 be safe, it takes an average of four point seven 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:41.000 years to get it through the environmental reviews. If it's 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.880 a complex situation like their houses close by or infrastructure, 0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:48.040 it takes about seven years, which, as it points out, 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:50.840 is many many fire cycles. I mean going through many 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.040 fire seasons before you get through the environmental review to 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:56.680 make sure the titmouse isn't gonna lose its habitat or 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:58.960 something like that before you can do anything about the fire, 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.840 which point the situation I would guess is very different. 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:05.920 Probably it needs to be done even more. But yeah, 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.760 that's a similar thing happened with And if you don't 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:12.600 live in California, you may not have heard the story 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:17.440 the historic pier in Santa Cruz that got washed away 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:19.159 a couple of weeks ago and I've been out on 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:23.200 there many times, very very old. But there were projects 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:28.199 planned to shore that thing up, aging wooden structure, but 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:32.000 it ran into environmental struggles because of some sort of 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.120 bird or fish or something, and they just couldn't do it. 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:36.800 And and there you go. 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:39.760 What you have to understand, though, and what people need 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.960 to understand, both Californians and outside the state, is that 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:45.120 the environmental laws. 0:20:44.720 --> 0:20:46.840 And fish, that's the main thing. I hate birds, I 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:47.679 hate fish. 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:51.239 Well, see here's here's where I slap you with the 0:20:51.280 --> 0:20:55.320 firm hand of reality. It's not about the birds and fish, 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:58.480 at least in part like half the reason for these 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:01.800 laws is for trial aturnneys to get attorneys to be rich. 0:21:02.640 --> 0:21:08.480