1. Ohio and NCAA Football Incident

• Ohio State loss leads to NCAA rule change.

2. Buckeye Institute Lawsuit

• Suing the University of Michigan for non-compliance with FOIA.
• Alleged violations of Supreme Court decisions regarding race in admissions.
• Civil rights violations under section 1983 of the US Code.

3. Stellantis and the Transition to Electric Vehicles

• Jeep’s transition to all-electric vehicles.
• Potential plant relocation to Mexico and UAW compliance.
• Historical value of the Toledo plant and traditionalist concerns over electric Wranglers.

4. Political Responses and Criticisms

• Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s responses on issues.
• Harris’s political challenges and policy proposals.
• Criticism of Harris’s loan proposal for Black men.
• Discussion on the theoretical vs. practical effectiveness of such initiatives.

5. Circleville Pumpkin Show

• Description and historical significance.
• Impact on local detours and community sentiment.
• Personal connection of Norm Murdock to Circleville.

6. Ohio State vs. Oregon Game Controversy

• Critique of coaching decisions and game strategy.
• Specific incidents affecting the game’s outcome.

7. Future President’s Priorities

• Criticism of Harris and Trump's statements on entitlements.
• Discussion on bureaucratic inefficiency and related legal decisions.
• Election security and voter ID controversies.

8. Community Response in Disasters

• Importance of local first responders.
• Call for reduced governmental intervention and divisiveness.
• Focus on unity and equal treatment in federal programs.

9. Infrastructure and Power Demands

• Experiences with costly electricity provider demands.
• Infrastructure preparation for future development.
• Discussion on increased power demands and potential nuclear energy sources.

10. Ohio Foreign Dark Money Ban

• Reinstatement of the ban and its implications for campaign transparency.
• Skepticism on the effectiveness of political ads.

11. Future of Electric Vehicle Production

• Government influence on the EV industry.
• Concerns about technology readiness and driving range of EVs.

12. Data Centers and Power Consumption

• Expansion of data centers in Ohio.
• Discussions on energy consumption and alternative sources like nuclear power.
• Economic and infrastructure implications of data center developments.

13. Voting Regulations and Barriers

• Discussion of voting regulation controversies.
• Specific examples from Texas and North Carolina.
• Skepticism towards government motives.

14. Economic Issues

• Bankruptcy of Walgreens and Tru Value.
• Impact of regulations and cyber retail on traditional businesses.

15. Nobel Peace Prize

• Award to atomic bomb survivors for anti-war advocacy.
• Discussion on the timing and significance of the award.

16. Governmental Accountability and Crime Statistics

• Criticism of FBI crime statistics and perceived bias.
• Historical context and issues of administrative checks and balances.

17. Kamala Harris's Political Strategy

• Analysis of a recent interview and its implications.
• Critique of the lack of detailed policy plans.

18. Government Spending and National Debt

• Criticism of recent federal government spending and continued COVID-era support programs.

Common Sense Moments

00:00 Thomas Edison's first light bulb experiments persistently illuminate.

05:48 Visit Circleville for massive pumpkin attraction.

14:04 Buckeye Institute sues Michigan over FOIA noncompliance.

17:32 Stellantis shifting to EVs, considering UAW layoffs.

21:36 Ohio's data centers spark nuclear power speculation.

30:05 Political ads no longer effectively influence public opinion.

33:40 Struggling to address national debt effectively.

40:07 Obstacles can't chill exercising constitutional rights.

46:18 Hiroshima-Nagasaki survivors advocate against nuclear weapons.

47:55 Do they deserve a peace prize? Complicated.

54:32 $20 billion proposal targeting black male votes.

59:56 Federal state's corruption undermines checks, balances.

Recorded at the 511 Studios, in the Brewery District in downtown Columbus, OH.

info@commonsenseohioshow.com

Copyright 2026 Common Sense Ohio

Stephen Palmer is the Managing Partner for the law firm, Palmer Legal Defense. He has specialized almost exclusively in criminal defense for over 26 years. Steve is also a partner in Criminal Defense Consultants, a firm focused wholly on helping criminal defense attorneys design winning strategies for their clients.

Norm Murdock is an automobile racing driver and owner of a high-performance and restoration car parts company. He earned undergraduate degrees in literature and journalism and graduated with a Juris Doctor from the University of Cincinnati College of Law in 1985. He worked in the IT industry for two years before launching a career in government relations in Columbus, Ohio. Norm has assisted clients in the Transportation, Education, Healthcare, and Public Infrastructure sectors.

Brett Johnson, My Podcast Guy®, is an award-winning podcast consultant and small business owner for nearly 10 years, leaving a long career in radio. He is passionate about helping small businesses tell their story through podcasts, and he believes podcasting is a great opportunity for different voices to speak and be heard.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

Norm Murdock [: 00:00:00

Alright. Here we are. We are live Common Sense Ohio. You like I said, when it's live, it sounds better. Live. October 18, 2024. Coming at you with Common Sense from Ohio. That's commonsenseohioshowdot com for those who are interested in the website, the blogs, and all the other backlog of episodes.

Norm Murdock [: 00:00:17

Otherwise, you can catch us on most social media platforms. We are streaming live here today, but that doesn't mean this is the only way you can catch it. You can catch it recorded. Recorded. Interesting that we have the capacity to record this and play it later. Maybe, just maybe, it's because of the wizard of Menlo Park, Thomas Edison himself, who invented the phonograph, died this day in 1931, October 18, 1931. Thomas hasn't died. Why do why why pick Edison 1? Because we're here, you know, exploiting the wonders of the recording devices.

Norm Murdock [: 00:00:50

Now he was just a phonograph, but, you know

Brett Johnson [: 00:00:52

Well, the light bulb,

Norm Murdock [: 00:00:53

A bunch of stuff. Electricity, light

Brett Johnson [: 00:00:55

bulb, that

Norm Murdock [: 00:00:55

kind of stuff.

Brett Johnson [: 00:00:56

The dog the RCA Victor dog. You know? He helped us with that logo, obviously, down

Norm Murdock [: 00:01:00

the road. But, electric cars.

Brett Johnson [: 00:01:03

Yeah. Edison had one of some of the first electric cars.

Norm Murdock [: 00:01:07

Yep. Which you

Brett Johnson [: 00:01:08

can see in

Norm Murdock [: 00:01:08

this case. Called them a Tesla. Yep. Instead of an Edison.

Brett Johnson [: 00:01:11

So you can, you can go to, Naples, Florida and, Thomas Edison's, Florida home is both a museum and, pretty cool place to hang out.

Brett Johnson [: 00:01:23

Did he get some medicine step up in Michigan. Right?

Brett Johnson [: 00:01:25

I think every, you know Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:01:27

So he invented so much stuff. It's the list is too hard to even go through. But he was born in Ohio. Born in Milan, Ohio in 18/47. His main lab room did most of his, hold on.

Brett Johnson [: 00:01:38

Are you talking in the background? Oh, yeah. You are.

Norm Murdock [: 00:01:39

Hold on. Hold on.

Brett Johnson [: 00:01:40

Pop up ad.

Norm Murdock [: 00:01:41

And the dangers of life. But his his main lab is a machine shop and laboratory was in Menlo Park, New Jersey Mhmm. Where he enlisted. Now what's interesting about him is he enlisted help from others. So he he like, he diversified. So So if he didn't understand it, others helped him. I also didn't know that he was, he had hard of hearing. He was, he was deep as they say.

Norm Murdock [: 00:02:00

Yeah. Or somewhat. I

Brett Johnson [: 00:02:02

heard I heard somewhere, probably some sort of documentary about the light bulb. Mhmm. And he tried thousands of filaments, like, experimented with every known thing that you could use to arc between positive and negative and get it to flare up and, you know, before he had any success. And there is, I think, the University of Chicago or or the Smithsonian, someplace, they have a a light bulb, one of his very first light bulbs, and it is continuously illuminated because they're afraid if they turn it off and turn it back on, it'll blow.

Norm Murdock [: 00:02:46

It'll blow. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:02:47

I think I've heard that. That's in itself amazing.

Norm Murdock [: 00:02:50

In a controversy, there was somebody else working on this too. So he there's a there are like, there was a competition here, and he may he may or may not have been the first, but he is credited with it for for to be sure. So, anyway

Brett Johnson [: 00:02:59

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:02:59

This day in history, 1931, the big guy dies. The wizard dies. So and Ohio, again, makes it big.

Brett Johnson [: 00:03:07

Mhmm. Right. Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:03:08

Anyway, that's this day in history. Now this week, in present times, the Circleville pumpkin show is on. I mean, it it is happening, folks.

Brett Johnson [: 00:03:17

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:03:17

And this is the greatest free show on earth. Now what what makes it the greatest? I don't know. But I know it is free. At least you can walk in for free. After you get there, they will fleece you for every dollar they can get. So they

Brett Johnson [: 00:03:30

they announced the winner of the pumpkin show of the, you know, because they always that's

Norm Murdock [: 00:03:34

Oh, yeah. It's a that that was last night. Right?

Brett Johnson [: 00:03:36

How many pounds this thing is? Did you hear?

Norm Murdock [: 00:03:38

I didn't hear this year.

Brett Johnson [: 00:03:38

£22100. Oh my god. I saw the picture pop up. I'm going, oh, I gotta take a screenshot. North of a ton. £22100. Wow.

Norm Murdock [: 00:03:47

Look. My lovely bride is from Circleville. So pumpkin show is is near and dear to her heart and now mine. And, you know, they always know the folks who are out there growing those pumpkins and starts, and they've got their techniques and, you know, they take it. They do what they do. But,

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:00

Their heirloom seeds must be

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:02

Oh.

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:02

Protected. Exactly. You know, you're not getting one of these, buddy.

Norm Murdock [: 00:04:06

Yeah. Now the dirty little secret is a lot of locals hate it because it shuts down the city. You can't get through Main Street. Yeah. And, you gotta go around. There's detours and the the carnies show up with all their rides and all their stuff and Yep. You know, it's become less neighborly in the last few years and more, I don't

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:23

know. Showboaty?

Norm Murdock [: 00:04:25

Showboaty. Yeah. That's kind

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:26

of the way it goes with you know, there's there's always haters that just, you know, can't go along. Yeah. It's a week. Come on.

Norm Murdock [: 00:04:33

Yeah. It's a week where you your city shuts down, and you can't do anything. So I know, one of, Rachel's uncle is a mechanic down there and he closes the shop, goes on goes on a trip every week that year. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Plenty of plenty of opportunities.

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:46

I'm assuming that this 22100 pound pumpkin I don't I how do they grow it in regards to it? And then Well,

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:53

there you go.

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:54

Can lift it up onto the truck?

Norm Murdock [: 00:04:56

They they get they put harnesses on it, get it back or something.

Brett Johnson [: 00:04:59

Oh my gosh.

Norm Murdock [: 00:05:00

And set it up that way.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:01

So,

Norm Murdock [: 00:05:01

that It's the wonders of chemistry. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:03

The winner in California only weighed 1200 at Moss Landing.

Norm Murdock [: 00:05:07

Well, because it's not the greatest. That's right. The greatest free show on rye.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:11

I mean, Ohio blew that guy away.

Norm Murdock [: 00:05:13

And dare you call it, like you did last week, a festival. Because it is not a festival. It's a free show.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:19

And they will correct it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:20

Well, in the midst of a drought this year. And well, yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:05:22

They don't care. They got water.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:24

They somebody had For

Norm Murdock [: 00:05:25

those who have driven through a circle bell, they have lots of water because it gets their water tower is shaped and painted like a pumpkin.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:32

Like a pumpkin. Okay.

Norm Murdock [: 00:05:33

As you might guess.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:34

It's a neat little town, actually.

Norm Murdock [: 00:05:36

Now Circleville used to be around town. It was literally around. They had the the city streets were were sort of, rounded, and they got rid of that. It wasn't functional, I guess. So they got rid of that at some point.

Brett Johnson [: 00:05:46

So so we bring back roundabouts.

Norm Murdock [: 00:05:48

So now we bring around. Yeah. But, there you are. Court and Main, the biggest pumpkin on the planet Nice. Sits there yet today. Now if you haven't been there yet, if you're in Central Ohio, or even if you wanna drive in, I understand it's a long drive, like, if you're in New Jersey where, the the Menlo Park wizard used to live. Or Yeah. If you're in Chicago and you wanna get out of that crazy city, come down to Circleville, man.

Norm Murdock [: 00:06:09

Check it out. Mhmm. It's going all weekend. So, actually, until Saturday night, they'll shut it down. Yeah. And it's gone overnight. I mean, that you you know, Saturday night, it's shut down. By Sunday morning, the street sweepers are out.

Brett Johnson [: 00:06:20

Wow. That is cool. Nice. Good deal.

Norm Murdock [: 00:06:23

So anyway, alright. We got news with Norm, where Norm gives us he's got his notes like the paper chase over there, and he's, I can already see it. It says CS on top. Now this is notebook paper this time. His steno pad

Brett Johnson [: 00:06:36

is on the table, though, ready for reference. Well, to me, the hottest thing that that I've been contemplating ever since Ohio State played Oregon is how in the heck can a coach not kick the ball, right, when you're in field goal range even though it's a long field goal with 6 seconds to go? I'm I'm just

Norm Murdock [: 00:06:57

Well, they were they were what? They were on the 31 yard line at that time?

Brett Johnson [: 00:07:01

It would have been around a 52 yard kick.

Norm Murdock [: 00:07:03

The guy is afoot for that, but he didn't have 6 seconds. No. No. No. By the time there were 6 seconds, they were out of field goal range.

Brett Johnson [: 00:07:11

Well, they were like like I said, it would have been about a 52 yard kick.

Norm Murdock [: 00:07:15

No. No. No. But that was after no. It was being beyond that. I think they were well out of field goal range. Like, when so the the real question is the the play that got them down in the field goal range, Yeah. They had, like, 20 some seconds left.

Norm Murdock [: 00:07:25

Yeah. Alright? Right. So this is the controversy. The NCAA has actually changed the rules now. So this is this is sort of an interesting debate.

Brett Johnson [: 00:07:31

Yeah. It is.

Norm Murdock [: 00:07:32

So it presumably, on purpose, the Oregon coach sends out 12 men. And they did that because they knew it would be a penalty, and they knew the clock would run. And, that's what exactly what happened. So it ran the clock from, like, 22 seconds down to 6 seconds.

Brett Johnson [: 00:07:45

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:07:45

Ohio State, had a play in there where they got a somewhat controversial call on a offensive interference push off. I mean, look. Is it a penalty? It probably was a penalty. And I always tell people that are complaining about this kind of crap. You can't blame the rest, man. You gotta you gotta win the game.

Brett Johnson [: 00:08:01

Oh, no. I blame the coach.

Norm Murdock [: 00:08:02

But the well, you can't blame the coach. That was a little bit of a ticky tack foul to change the outcome of the game at any rate at any rate. Coaching, they were the Ohio State was just flat out outcoached.

Brett Johnson [: 00:08:17

They were.

Norm Murdock [: 00:08:17

You know? Absolutely. And look. I I'm not saying I would have known that rule, but I don't get paid 1,000,000 of dollars to know that rule. Right. And the Ohio State coaches are big time coaches who do get paid 1,000,000 of dollars to know that rule. Sure. And as soon as they saw that, they should have said, time out. Hello? And they had plenty of time

Brett Johnson [: 00:08:34

Right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:08:34

To do then they could have run a play. If it's incomplete, great. If it's not incomplete, you still you know, you can run a play in 6 seconds. You'd snap the ball down it, and you kick your field goal and you win the game. Yeah. Or at least give yourself a reasonable chance to win the game.

Brett Johnson [: 00:08:46

Right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:08:46

And, so I'm with you, man. I mean, I think this was a coaching blunder of the highest order.

Brett Johnson [: 00:08:50

Absolutely.

Norm Murdock [: 00:08:51

And we just got out coached. Now look, there there are the people out there, the haters complaining that Oregon was, you know, they they cheating is not the

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:00

right word. What am I looking for? They got cute with it.

Norm Murdock [: 00:09:02

You know, they kicked the onside kick and hit the guy and got the ball. Well, look, that's a big game they won.

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:06

Number 3 beat number 2.

Norm Murdock [: 00:09:07

Number 3 beat number 2. Now it was advertised. It was a great game. I think all a great game. I saw things I've never seen in a football game before. So It

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:12

was fascinating.

Norm Murdock [: 00:09:16

A fun game to watch. I was at a buddy's house. Yeah. You know, it felt good, you know, to be with friends in a party that was in the garage, in the living room, in the basement. Everybody watching the game. There was smoked meat, and it was it was awesome, until we lost.

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:28

Well, I'm I'm just thinking, you know, why would you tell your quarterback with 6 seconds to go to run the ball? And

Norm Murdock [: 00:09:34

Well, he didn't tell his quarterback to run the ball. The quarterback just did, I think.

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:37

He did. But, you know, the thing is, once you put that ball into play with 6 seconds to go, he could fumble it. You could throw it

Norm Murdock [: 00:09:44

in there.

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:45

We'll have to look

Norm Murdock [: 00:09:45

this up.

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:46

He shoulda kicked the damn field goal.

Norm Murdock [: 00:09:48

The first thing that shoulda happened so look. Going back to the shoulda, woulda, could'ves, the big play that gets him down

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:53

What he woulda kicked?

Norm Murdock [: 00:09:54

Get gets him down into range. Right? That was a I forget what play it was. It was a big pass play.

Brett Johnson [: 00:09:58

Yeah. Clock

Norm Murdock [: 00:09:58

is stopped. They line up. They throw the pass play that gets in the offensive interference. The real question is hand that to your running back, pick up 3 or 4 yards, kick the field goal.

Brett Johnson [: 00:10:08

Well, and you're running back, pick the

Norm Murdock [: 00:10:10

field goal.

Brett Johnson [: 00:10:10

Whether it's a quarterback or the running back, they have to have an internal clock that says No.

Norm Murdock [: 00:10:14

No. No. I'm talking before that. So the big play gets them down. This is before the 12 second thing or before the 12 minute on the field thing. Yeah. They get down there. I think they're on the 31 yard line, maybe maybe somewhere around that part.

Norm Murdock [: 00:10:26

Yeah. They, you run the ball, pick up 3 or 4 yards, or maybe pick up nothing, but just secure the football. You've got 30 25 seconds left to do what you need to do, and then you kick your field goal. Now I can't necessarily fall them for that out that little out pattern pass that got on the offensive interference Because they were completing that.

Brett Johnson [: 00:10:44

I'm confining my comments, to that final play.

Norm Murdock [: 00:10:49

You have to look it up. I think they were out of field goal range. I don't think they could have made

Brett Johnson [: 00:10:52

field goal. That's the claim because the kid missed a, an extra point. Right? Which was much much closer range. And and so

Norm Murdock [: 00:11:01

But he also kicked a 42 yard

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:03

line or

Norm Murdock [: 00:11:04

something like that. So Look. I think he had the foot to do it, but they I think they were look. I I'm with you. It's like that's a harder call. You only got 6 seconds left.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:11

What do

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:12

you do? Right. And the quarterback did not slide with, like, 4 you know, at 4 seconds. He didn't he didn't have a clock going in his head. 1, 2, 3. You know, if

Norm Murdock [: 00:11:23

he flies in slow motion, his knee is down, and maybe they're calling time look. You lost the damn game, and it sucks. You got out coached. That's that. Right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:30

And you didn't kick when you were within field goal range.

Norm Murdock [: 00:11:32

So did

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:33

you The long kick, I I grant that.

Norm Murdock [: 00:11:35

Well, I mean, the kick that should have happened to play look. You could have almost kicked it without running that play that got the kept pass interference. Exactly right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:42

You could have done it then.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:42

Could have

Norm Murdock [: 00:11:43

win the game right there.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:43

Right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:44

And give and give them the ball back with 15 or 20 seconds to go.

Norm Murdock [: 00:11:48

Yeah. Well, anyway, look, what it could have should have. Now the the the bad news is

Brett Johnson [: 00:11:51

It's frustrating.

Norm Murdock [: 00:11:52

But here's what's interesting. The pollsters I know we're gonna talk about some pollsters later later on other matters, but the pollsters, the people, ranking the teams Yeah. Didn't punish them. You know? We're 4th. You know? And look.

Brett Johnson [: 00:12:03

I was surprised. Like, wow. They only dropped a couple of slots. That's it. I mean, because it was a well played game up there.

Norm Murdock [: 00:12:09

2 and number 3. And it

Brett Johnson [: 00:12:10

was a A one point game.

Norm Murdock [: 00:12:11

And and the NC, double a changed the rule Yeah. That essentially determine the outcome of the game. Yeah. You know, that essentially turn determine the outcome of the game. Yeah. Because they don't burn those 12 seconds off or 10 seconds off. There's even more than that. It's like 14 seconds.

Norm Murdock [: 00:12:23

I remember looking at it, like, what are you doing? Why is the clock

Brett Johnson [: 00:12:26

Well, it's kind of interesting that the, you know, the the Ducks coach just came out and said, yeah. We used it on purpose. Yeah. I I I was just kinda surprised he did. I not that he should lie about it necessarily, but it just

Norm Murdock [: 00:12:36

It's sort of shady.

Brett Johnson [: 00:12:37

Yeah. That makes

Norm Murdock [: 00:12:38

you feel sort of dirty.

Brett Johnson [: 00:12:39

Other than maybe it's that, yep. Gotcha. Gotcha. You know, kinda snub nosing it, but I don't know.

Norm Murdock [: 00:12:44

Using the rules to win a game, you can't fault that. Yeah. No. You know, you can't fault it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:12:51

Yeah. You can't. No. I mean, there is a very thinking intellectual coach right there.

Norm Murdock [: 00:12:56

He came out to win that game, and he did. Yeah. Now it it I I suspect, and I predict if we're gonna make predictions, that we will be playing that team again in the playoffs.

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:05

That's

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:07

yeah. If the ranking stay the same yeah. So

Norm Murdock [: 00:13:10

Ryan Day has got he's starting to stack up a plethora of big game losses.

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:16

Yeah. Yeah. I would say

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:18

One play away. One play away kinda thing. Yeah. Yep.

Norm Murdock [: 00:13:21

Tressel didn't lose those games. Irving didn't really lose those games. So Woody, like you said I

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:26

mean, Woody lost a few, but it Yeah. And he

Norm Murdock [: 00:13:28

lost a few.

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:28

And he

Norm Murdock [: 00:13:28

punched a Clemson player. I mean, no big deal. But

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:31

Right. So alright. Well Oh, well.

Norm Murdock [: 00:13:33

Ohio makes it sort of big causing the NCAA to change the rules.

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:37

Yeah. Right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:13:38

Right. That's true. So at least at least there's that. Good point.

Brett Johnson [: 00:13:42

Yes. Yeah. Good point. Yes. So always be an asterisk after that game. Uh-huh. So speaking of Ohio, there's some interesting stuff and, speaking of, the Buckeyes versus Michigan, you know, which is which which game is is is always the big epic epic game and,

Norm Murdock [: 00:14:02

probably in November.

Brett Johnson [: 00:14:04

And and even though Michigan's not having a very good year, it it were Ohio State to somehow succumb to Michigan. I think mister Day is gone. So let me just predict that. Yeah. So in anyway, our friends at the Buckeye Institute who who who we've had on the show are currently suing the University of Michigan over information, over documents, over not complying with FOIA in regards to their medical school and law school admissions policies. And the flow of information, the letters going back and forth between the accrediting organizations for the law school and the medical school and the and Michigan. And, the reason they want that is they believe that they're not complying. Like, a lot of these universities across the country are secretly not complying with the Harvard decision, which the Supreme Court said you cannot use race as a basis for selecting, students, into your universities and colleges.

Brett Johnson [: 00:15:14

And the word is, pretty openly, they're doing it anyway. Like, they're they're they're basically just running rough shot over the Supreme Court decision, and the Buckeye Institute is all about trying to inveigle itself into the public records Act, and and they started with, you know, our number one foe in football, Michigan, to find out what they're doing vis a vis, their admissions policies and what kind of secret communications are going back and forth, to obviate the Supreme Court decision. So that is a very interesting development.

Brett Johnson [: 00:15:57

Yes. I was gonna say, so what are the consequences if the university does just what you said?

Brett Johnson [: 00:16:02

I would turn to Steve and say, what what do you think? It's a it's a it's a, civil rights violation, so treble damages?

Norm Murdock [: 00:16:09

I mean, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I this will shake out one way or another. But, if look. Civil rights violations under section 1983 of US code, basically, the the big remedy there is attorney's fees. So you and the reason they did that is so you could get attorneys interested in those cases. Because believe it or not, it's hard work to go sue somebody, and it's a lot of hard work. And the people who have been, who have suffered constitutional violations, often don't have the money to pay for a redress, which is hiring a lawyer.

Norm Murdock [: 00:16:36

So if you I don't do that kind of work. I don't get into federal court on 193, but I I I know lawyers who do, and it's expensive. Yeah. And, it's costly. So, like, the Buckeye Institute or these other sort of, I don't know, special interest groups who do this, they're counting on that kind of award. And now it doesn't mean that typically, what lawyers will do, they'll keep track of their hours and their time. And And if it's reasonable, they'll get reimbursed for that if they win. But, typically, they settle.

Norm Murdock [: 00:17:02

And, typically, they settle with an amount that, accounts for the attorney's fee award. But as far as damage I mean, look, they're looking for people they want the documents.

Brett Johnson [: 00:17:11

They want the documents.

Norm Murdock [: 00:17:12

So they're looking for something called specific performance. And then then you get into a situation where if if the other side, if the government is stalling, maybe they get some fees and costs tacked on for what it took to go procure the documents. But

Brett Johnson [: 00:17:28

We'll see what they find.

Norm Murdock [: 00:17:29

We'll see what they find. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:17:30

Interesting.

Brett Johnson [: 00:17:32

Little bit of news up in Toledo, and and our friend here, Brett, drives a Jeep, and, that company is in a lot of trouble, the Stellantis company. They're managed well, they're owned out of, the Netherlands. And the the history of how Chrysler, you know, got rescued by Lee Iacocca and and the management team there. And then after he left, it it was bought by Mercedes Benz, and then they got rid of it. And then Obama did a deal with Fiat where Fiat bought, Chrysler, and then Stellantis Corporation out of Netherlands owns it now. And they're basically after the UAW contract last year, they're basically and and their pledge to go all EV, They're getting rid of their their corporate trajectory is no more internal combustion engine cars. All EVs, they're sticking with that. And they're talking about laying off half of the UAW that works for them.

Brett Johnson [: 00:18:38

And they're talking about if the UAW doesn't play ball with them, that they may move that plant to Mexico. You know, that that's a Willie's Overland plant in up in Toledo that then became, you know, a Jeep plant during, and after World War 2. It's a it's a historic site, and people have been building Jeeps or Willys Bantams or whatever you wanna call them. What whatever it was during this, you know, during the 100 years or whatever it's been, they started building stagecoaches there and, you know

Norm Murdock [: 00:19:10

Is that right?

Brett Johnson [: 00:19:11

Oh, yeah. Willie Willie Soberland Okay. You know, built built, you know, wagons that that went out west and and then they started making automobiles. And, the reason that the Jeep was made was because it sort of took the place of the horse on western ranches, where you would you would take your Jeep out to patrol your fence line instead of a horse, and you could take more equipment with you and etcetera. Don't have to feed it oats or give it water, you know, that kind of thing. But at any rate, Ohio, like, we're, we had Boerne in here, and I think you said Ohio is the country's largest. If you add up parts made here and cars made here, it's the largest car producing or automotive related, state in the country. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:01

And, man, if we lose Jeep

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:03

Well, that's gonna be a huge backlash if that get you know, you've got, you know and then and you get these traditional Jeep owners that, you know, love the 419 tattoo in the back. You know, that that was made Yep. Here in Ohio. So it's there. Plus, it was weird. I was driving behind, a Wrangler yesterday. It's one of the new, electric jeeps. Mhmm.

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:24

And it's just that it seemed so odd to drive behind a you know a a vehicle that is made for durability. Just to go out and you you know do do the trails and it's electric. Yeah. It's like Yeah. It wasn't oxymoron. It didn't

Norm Murdock [: 00:20:39

feel right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:39

It didn't feel now I can I I have no problem if the company wants to go all electric, but there are certain models of Jeep you don't do electric? Well, let's do the Patriot. You can do all the other stuff, the Wagoneer or whatever, but not not the JTs.

Norm Murdock [: 00:20:51

You're not going you're not going off road in electric car. You're just not gonna do

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:54

it anyway. A survival

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:56

mode No. Track at all.

Brett Johnson [: 00:20:58

Imagine you're in Western North Carolina right now with no power.

Norm Murdock [: 00:21:01

Right. Now your car is dead.

Brett Johnson [: 00:21:03

What do you do with an EV? Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:21:05

Yeah. I mean, look. And and the only reason we're the only reason they're making EVs is because the government has given them money to make EVs. It's not like people want them.

Brett Johnson [: 00:21:13

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:21:13

And, you know, if if you are one of the people that wants them, great. I'll I'll more power to you. And and if there's more of you out there and there's more of you out there and there's more of you out there, eventually they'll make them because they're profitable to make them.

Brett Johnson [: 00:21:23

Yeah. The market forces want to turn them.

Norm Murdock [: 00:21:25

This is the thumb on the scale problem. The government puts its thumb on that scale and they make EVs when it's not the technology is not quite there. They're gonna run out of juice and now you're sitting in North Carolina with no way to get around. You got your bicycle out. Right. Yeah. Not even your electric bike.

Brett Johnson [: 00:21:36

Another another kind of, Ohio story that's that's pinging off of this Amazon purchase of 3 Mile Island is they're talking about the incredible electric, consumption of data centers. And in Columbus, the general, you know, Central Ohio area is is becoming a data center, you know, capital. And, right from the beginning of, like, the Intel project and Google and Amazon and all these, people, coming into New Albany and Licking County, there's been this undercurrent, no pun intended, of people saying, you're we're gonna get an atomic a nuclear power plant. That's that's what's gonna happen. And I and and a lot of people are like, AEP? Gonna you know, like, nobody's licensed 1 forever. Well, they're gonna they're gonna, you know, they're gonna reboot 3 Mile Island. And, Google has what they call modular, nuclear plants, which I don't, you know, I don't know what that means, modular, but it must be like a certain design that they can replicate with with, you know, smaller, like, job site nuclear plants. Mhmm.

Brett Johnson [: 00:22:52

And To run the data center itself.

Brett Johnson [: 00:22:54

To run the data center itself. So

Norm Murdock [: 00:22:56

In case something goes down. I mean, it it it's like perpetual power.

Brett Johnson [: 00:22:59

Yes. Right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:23:00

Right. And, you know, when you

Brett Johnson [: 00:23:02

look at solar and wind, those, infrastructures are in direct contact with the environment. Like, if you look at the path of Helene or Milton through some of these solar farms, they're devastated because they're out in the open. They're in a field.

Norm Murdock [: 00:23:17

Damn. There's a Whereas a

Brett Johnson [: 00:23:19

nuclear plant, right,

Brett Johnson [: 00:23:20

it's all

Norm Murdock [: 00:23:20

It's contained. It it can be protected.

Brett Johnson [: 00:23:22

Twenty feet of concrete or whatever.

Norm Murdock [: 00:23:24

It can be protected.

Brett Johnson [: 00:23:25

It's not gonna work.

Norm Murdock [: 00:23:25

There's there's one of those solar farms down in, is it Kingston, Ohio? Up north of Chillicothe there. And, it's ugly.

Brett Johnson [: 00:23:33

Yeah. Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:23:34

It's horrible. Yeah. It's farmland. It's gone. Yeah. It's and it's just this this miles and miles of these freaking solar panels.

Brett Johnson [: 00:23:40

Under some corporate welfare going on that too. So I got the same story, Norm, about this this stuff. And here in Columbus, Microsoft is gonna get, they're gonna do the same thing with, this, but they're getting a 100% property tax abatement on a $420,000,000 data center or investment over 15 years. They're gonna it's gonna create 30 jobs. Yeah. 30 jobs. That's it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:24:04

That's great. That's it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:24:05

It's that's it. Now, coupled with and I I if I remember correctly hearing this, that we're we're attractive to these data centers because electric is cheaper in Ohio. Right. It's not they're gonna when right now, they're they I think nationwide of the averages they suck up about 3% of electricity. It's gonna be up to 9. Yeah. Now, I just heard this week. Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:24:27

I didn't realize More expensive.

Brett Johnson [: 00:24:29

And that People use To that point, Michigan now in certain areas of Michigan, electric they have surge charges. Okay. Between 3 to 3 and 6 in the afternoon, your electricity is more expensive. Mhmm. Because they know when you're coming home to charge your car.

Norm Murdock [: 00:24:45

Yeah. Look. You guys gotta pay for

Brett Johnson [: 00:24:48

it. Some and and it's not to me, it's not worth it in the long run. All this abatement crap. Well And for 30 jobs For 30 jobs. For $50,000 working. Again, I don't Look.

Norm Murdock [: 00:24:58

If the market would bear 30 more jobs, then it would, but it doesn't.

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:01

But that's not hurrah moments.

Norm Murdock [: 00:25:04

No. There's no nothing to

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:05

show up. No. And then there's money? Well, you know, the positive side is we we really put a lot of people to work in those 12 to 18 months building this stuff. It's like, I get a band aid.

Norm Murdock [: 00:25:14

Yeah. That's not a job.

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:15

That's not a job.

Norm Murdock [: 00:25:16

Well It's a contract.

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:17

I could tell you. Exactly. Out in Lincoln County, if you look at the people doing the work, most of them are from out of state. Yeah. They're my kids.

Norm Murdock [: 00:25:24

They're they're guys from Texas.

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:25

They brought them in. And they and they're up here and they're and they're renting a house. Yep. Look. It's

Norm Murdock [: 00:25:30

great. It's great. When the shop's done, they

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:31

go The

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:32

money's They're gone. The money isn't staying here.

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:34

No. It's not. No. It's not. And we're gonna be

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:38

we're gonna

Norm Murdock [: 00:25:39

be hurting for this. Well, the other problem

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:40

the other

Norm Murdock [: 00:25:40

problem with these EVs that that you sort of hinted on is that now they've they're gonna raise the price for electricity at peak hours, but you're starting to see problems paying for roads and paying for highways because you can't you can't tax the gas.

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:52

Yeah. So what are

Norm Murdock [: 00:25:52

they gonna do? I mean, now now they're these people with EVs are gonna get start getting taxed in ways that they don't like. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:25:59

Because I I I was at a deal what

Norm Murdock [: 00:26:01

Or that's gonna raise the bar for everybody. Yeah. Because when

Brett Johnson [: 00:26:03

I bought the Jeep, there was a the guy was talking about the other extra tax there's an extra amount you have to pay if you buy an EV.

Norm Murdock [: 00:26:10

Mhmm.

Brett Johnson [: 00:26:10

On your registration. And some guy he said some guy just walked away from the deal. So I'm not paying that extra $300 on my evenings like,

Brett Johnson [: 00:26:17

dude That's in lieu of you paying road tax.

Brett Johnson [: 00:26:20

Well, yeah. Point of that. Exactly. It's like, we think you're gonna get it you're right on the roads for free?

Brett Johnson [: 00:26:26

The rest of the zoning at

Brett Johnson [: 00:26:27

the park. Exactly.

Norm Murdock [: 00:26:28

And I am I am down I am working on a house in Circleville right now. I always have some sort of house going on, and I wanted we had to turn the power off. So we had to eliminate the electric in order to do the renovations. We got our permits and everything. And the AEP guy comes out, and they almost were trying to dictate to me the what I needed to do to upgrade my power, because I'm upgrading it to 200 amp service. Now he said, no. I we want you to put 400 amps on the garage, which is detached. Run 200 into the house and run 200 in the garage.

Norm Murdock [: 00:27:00

And I'm like, alright. That sounds like a great idea. And then I went and researched, like, 400 amp equipment. It's like $10,000 to do what they're talking about. And and and I talked to my buddy who's in the he was a lineman and now he trains lineman. He's he's in the industry, and he's like, oh, he starts laughing. You don't have to do any of that. They're just trying to make everybody do that to charge their EVs.

Norm Murdock [: 00:27:19

It's like they've got a, they've So

Brett Johnson [: 00:27:21

I've got one of those when I built my, barndominium, You know, between between my house

Norm Murdock [: 00:27:28

and my barn You could barndominium. Oh, yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:27:30

It's And

Norm Murdock [: 00:27:31

I'll do that for my house build.

Brett Johnson [: 00:27:32

I got a big green box sitting there on a pad and it's for future development. And they were very clear about that. They were like, well, you know, if we build homes down here on your land someday down the road, the infrastructure is already here.

Norm Murdock [: 00:27:46

I I I can't fault that No. Necessarily. No. But So I

Brett Johnson [: 00:27:51

I invested in it. I had to pay for it, like you said.

Norm Murdock [: 00:27:54

That I can't fault. You you didn't have to. You could have said no.

Brett Johnson [: 00:27:57

No. Well, no. But I said yes. And then that led to me having to pay for it.

Norm Murdock [: 00:28:01

Oh, right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:28:01

Right. Right. They tricked they've been trying to trick

Norm Murdock [: 00:28:03

me into putting 4 hundred equipment there. I'm just like, yeah. Yeah. It sounds like a great idea. I'll put 2 in the garage, and I didn't I thought it was like, alright. I'll just get a 200 or 400 amp box and and disconnect. I'm like, wait a minute.

Brett Johnson [: 00:28:14

It's about a 4 foot by 4 foot big green thing.

Norm Murdock [: 00:28:17

Well, that's not what I was gonna mine was gonna be on the side of the garage. You know, it's a meter box. It's a meter base. But for 400 amps, it just gets expensive.

Brett Johnson [: 00:28:26

Yeah. This was to tie other

Norm Murdock [: 00:28:27

Yeah. I got you. You're a

Brett Johnson [: 00:28:28

future development. That's right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:28:30

Right. Right. Right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:28:31

Well, the the last thing I have for Ohio that that that's on my list, you guys have stuff, is, Ohio for a while, the courts had suspended this ban on foreign dark money in elections. And, you know, the legislature said, no. We don't want dark money. We don't want Soros money or whatever. We don't want it we we want transparency of where the money is coming from. And the judge, after saying that, you know, he studied it and and ruled, this week that, to reinstate the ban on foreign, money.

Norm Murdock [: 00:29:08

So no foreign dark money. And by dark money, you mean, like, not obvious what the source is

Brett Johnson [: 00:29:13

coming in. From Ukraine or wherever. Yeah. But Soros can still

Norm Murdock [: 00:29:17

contribute can't campaign in Ohio

Brett Johnson [: 00:29:19

Well, then

Norm Murdock [: 00:29:19

on on behalf of one of the Democratic or, national presidential candidates?

Brett Johnson [: 00:29:24

You've seen an agenda I haven't seen. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:29:26

I mean I mean, there's still ways to contribute to, you know, nonprofits or or PACs or whatever you call it. And then, you know, and then they funnel the money. They they run an ad where they don't name a candidate or they say, write letters to senator so and so. But so it doesn't it's not really a campaign commercial, but it really is a campaign

Norm Murdock [: 00:29:50

commercial. I I wonder. What do you guys think of this? Because I have been watching for most of my adult life, political ads every big election season, and they get on there. And they're they're always, like, really negative or really positive. Right? They're never, like, what somebody's really doing.

Brett Johnson [: 00:30:04

Exactly.

Norm Murdock [: 00:30:05

They never move the ball for me in any way, shape, or form. So if I'm hearing somebody talking about how horrible Marino is or how horrible Sherrod Brown is or how great one or the other is, I'm just like, you don't buy it. And maybe maybe I did maybe I disagree with that in Canada on one way or another, but it's like that ad is not gonna swing. But I wonder how much it works. And I and I also believe in this day and age, the value of those ads has diminished. I I don't think people pay attention as much as they do. I think I think we have tuned out to all the noise. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:30:34

I agree. Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:30:35

And now look. It doesn't mean people are are basing their voting decisions on anything better, but I just don't think those are moving the ball.

Brett Johnson [: 00:30:42

It it never has for me. And I'm seeing a little bit different this year too. Let me do the cycle, but maybe I'm paying more attention that when you see the ad, you see where they're sourcing it. Mhmm. And it's like, okay. Still, you're taking out of that what you want from that source. But it's never moved the needle for me. I in fact, I probably watch less TV

Norm Murdock [: 00:31:03

Because which

Brett Johnson [: 00:31:03

I don't watch that much TV anyway. That's part of it. It still sinks into your what way if you're watching YouTube, you're gonna see ads pop up. You know? I haven't. And I I haven't seen

Norm Murdock [: 00:31:13

him as much lately, but on YouTube, it seemed like every time I tried to open because I I tried to pinch pay attention to new stories for the show. Yeah. And, every time I open a new story, it was some Harris ad. Mhmm. She, like, she must have spent 1,000,000 on this

Brett Johnson [: 00:31:27

She has a $1,000,000,000 to go in the next 2 weeks.

Brett Johnson [: 00:31:32

She

Brett Johnson [: 00:31:32

has $1,000,000,000 Wow. According to her filings with the FEC to spend in the next 2 weeks. So it is gonna be wall to wall solid. I mean, it's gonna be unbelievable.

Norm Murdock [: 00:31:44

Well, look. I wanted to bring this up when you were talking about, the Ohio State Buckeyes game because it's sports. Okay. How about the tribe, man? The club or the Indian or the Guardians?

Brett Johnson [: 00:31:53

I can't say I can't. It's

Norm Murdock [: 00:31:54

not the Indians.

Brett Johnson [: 00:31:55

They won they won last night.

Norm Murdock [: 00:31:56

They won last night. So they they they were down 2 up in up in, New York and, came back to Cleveland, pulled off an extra inning victory. So

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:06

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:32:06

You know, they're on

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:08

Home run with 1 guy on. Right?

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:09

Yeah. Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:32:10

Yeah. I think a walk off. Right? Yeah. So it go try it, man. I didn't expect that. I I I I didn't I didn't watch the game. I read the headlines, and I Yeah. Because I was like, they're gonna lose.

Norm Murdock [: 00:32:20

I saw it. Yeah. It's like, I just can't watch it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:23

They have the Brown's disease. They're gonna lose.

Norm Murdock [: 00:32:25

And I you know, then, you know, last week, up in Detroit, when they beat the Tigers, and and they did it in similar fashion, you know, big grand slam home run or something. So, you know, Ohio Sports making it big.

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:37

And then Yeah. From the reds hiring bringing out a retirement, a new manager.

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:41

Oh, did they? Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:42

Yeah. Right. From, well, he was what what he was he was a manager from the the Guardians. Right?

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:48

I think you're right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:32:49

Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:50

Cleveland.

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:50

I can't think of his name. I don't think that bad on me. I just thought of it.

Norm Murdock [: 00:32:53

So Well, no. He's been

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:53

retired for, like, 3 years.

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:55

Yeah. Something like that. So but he's got a great record. He's got

Brett Johnson [: 00:32:58

a great record.

Norm Murdock [: 00:32:59

Here's what we need here. So look. Everybody listen. If if you think you got the chops at channel to to come here and join channel 5 11 and be a part of Common Sense Ohio and you're a sports guy Just a sports guy. Sports guy.

Brett Johnson [: 00:33:10

You could tell how lame we are with sports.

Norm Murdock [: 00:33:12

It's like, I don't have the time to follow it all. I watched, you know, I watch the Buckeyes. I watch this. But somebody wants to give us a Alright.

Brett Johnson [: 00:33:16

There's there's one sport I know a lot about, and I won my race last week.

Brett Johnson [: 00:33:21

Oh, did you? Oh, there you go.

Brett Johnson [: 00:33:22

But I I was gonna bring in a checkered flag, but that's obnoxious.

Brett Johnson [: 00:33:27

Yes. It's like wearing the concert t shirt the next day. Is that what no. I'm not saying you are. I'm just

Norm Murdock [: 00:33:31

saying It is a crime effect. But anyway So

Brett Johnson [: 00:33:35

I road race, but I love this drag racing t shirt, so I wore this.

Brett Johnson [: 00:33:38

Sure. Sure.

Norm Murdock [: 00:33:40

You

Brett Johnson [: 00:33:40

know, business as usual on the national front, this is to me, this is just terrible. And and and whether Kamala or or Donald gets elected, I just don't see how we have the the the the strength of character as a country to to address our our debt problem. So the house, which is just barely GOP controlled, I mean, I wouldn't call it really controlled, like, 10 vote margin. The house passed a one controlled, like, 10 vote margin. The house passed a 1 and a half trillion debt bomb budget, this past week. And, you know, it's gonna go to the senate, and I'm sure Joe's gonna sign it. And it's one of these continuing, you know, resolution, solutions. But we're just we're just, you know, we're a country that can't tell anybody no, and we're a country that can't.

Brett Johnson [: 00:34:35

Once a program's created and people get dependent on it, either mentally or actually dependent, either way, we can't seem to bring back these programs. They're still doing PPP, for god's sakes, for COVID. They're still giving out money for that. In fact, in North Carolina and Florida where the hurricanes hit, they're accelerating payments to those to PPP filers to to give them this forgivable debt money. And, I I mean, COVID's been over with for a while in terms of whatever emergency, you know, you wanna claim, even though there's COVID mutants that we're still all getting. But it's ridiculous that that that they're spending like this. We're like

Brett Johnson [: 00:35:21

So what you saw when you could still submit to get PPP, is that what you're saying?

Brett Johnson [: 00:35:24

I People Really? People who have been waiting for decisions are getting them accelerated now.

Brett Johnson [: 00:35:30

Okay. But still If

Brett Johnson [: 00:35:31

they're in the hurry I

Brett Johnson [: 00:35:32

think that was done too.

Norm Murdock [: 00:35:33

I think this was done too. Are they PPP decisions or ERC decisions.

Brett Johnson [: 00:35:36

They're they're

Norm Murdock [: 00:35:37

pre employee retention credit.

Brett Johnson [: 00:35:38

They're both. They're both.

Norm Murdock [: 00:35:40

I mean, look. Wow.

Brett Johnson [: 00:35:40

They're both. But still

Brett Johnson [: 00:35:41

yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:35:42

There there are still people waiting on the ERC money that that, like, half the people got, and then they just stopped processing claims so the other half haven't got it. So this is the problem once you start the faucet. It's like, where do you shut it off, and how is it fair to anybody who didn't get it? And, you know, you you can't so look. You can't stop once you start. So somebody, sometime, somewhere is gonna have to put their foot down

Brett Johnson [: 00:36:05

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:36:06

When whoever becomes president, whoever is in like, at some point, they're gonna have to put their foot down and say, enough. Enough's enough.

Brett Johnson [: 00:36:12

You don't have it. Or we're the the Weimar Republic. Are are the the dollar bill will be worth more as, wallpaper Yeah. Than as currency.

Brett Johnson [: 00:36:21

And I I don't think I see it from either party. No. I don't I don't think so. I I don't think it it Because Trump Trump will turn it the way he wants to, which fine.

Norm Murdock [: 00:36:30

Well, Trump has already said he's not touching the quote. And they call him entitlements now. Yeah. It's like Yeah. Dude. Norm, we read this book, Amity Shae's book, The Great Society with Johnson and everything. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:36:40

Stop it.

Norm Murdock [: 00:36:41

I she's got another book out too. I I saw her talking about. But it's like, look. This isn't these weren't entitlements. Like, they were just it was some Johnson ego new deal extension

Brett Johnson [: 00:36:52

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:36:52

That didn't wasn't even necessary at the time. No. It was just stupid.

Brett Johnson [: 00:36:55

Stupid. And, you know, again, DC marches on with its idiocy. The FBI, you know, surreptitiously updating its crime stats.

Norm Murdock [: 00:37:07

Oh, that that was one of my outrageous.

Brett Johnson [: 00:37:08

Yeah. Okay. We'll we'll save that that because that is outrageous. But, you know, this is just more more swamp behavior. Federal judge in Georgia overturned 7 election reforms 2 weeks before the elections. And one of them was a Georgia law that required a backup hand count to the election.

Norm Murdock [: 00:37:29

Well, let's talk about this. Let's shift gears and talk about this is our injustice for all segment. We might as well just shift gears. Because, you know, so we've got the news with Norm. Now we got injustice for all. We try to talk about some of these legal cases and stuff going on or police blotter stuff. And, you know, Ohio had a recent decision too. And I saw Texas had a decision.

Norm Murdock [: 00:37:44

Georgia's got decisions. And it just so happens that they tend to swing. You know, it's like

Brett Johnson [: 00:37:48

Isn't that funny?

Norm Murdock [: 00:37:50

So how look. My my take on all this stuff is very simple. Why would anybody care about making a more secure election? About about passing rules to make the election more secure?

Brett Johnson [: 00:38:03

Right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:38:04

So I I

Brett Johnson [: 00:38:05

How is that controversial?

Norm Murdock [: 00:38:06

How is it controversial at all?

Brett Johnson [: 00:38:08

Unless you won. Unless you won. Unless it's unless it's trampling on civil rights.

Norm Murdock [: 00:38:12

Unless it's trampling on civil rights.

Brett Johnson [: 00:38:14

Which is what they're saying.

Norm Murdock [: 00:38:15

Yeah. But it's it's but it's always a trope. It's always a straw man type of argument. Right. Look. What's the like the like the voter ID? I just find it reprehensible to think that some minority or some poor person doesn't have access to identification. They do, and then we're giving away for free. And then the the one in Ohio had to do with who is permitted, I I guess, Franklin Rose had a promulgated rule that said, you can't have third parties dropping stuff in remote ballot dropping ballots in remote ballot boxes.

Norm Murdock [: 00:38:44

And, of course, there's a challenge to that. And this went up in the federal courts first, and the federal courts, basically said, no, you have to as long as the the rule is now this, family and designated people are able to do it, and you can always drop off your ballot at the election place.

Brett Johnson [: 00:39:02

Right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:39:02

And you can always mail it in.

Brett Johnson [: 00:39:04

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:39:04

So we're talking about, like, remote ballot boxes. So when you start to winnow it down, like, the headlines say unfair whatever. Yeah. But when you start to winnow it down, it's, like, how bad is that really? Like like, say, my my wife has broken her leg, and she can't drop off her ballot. I can. Yes. I just can't go to the middle of nowhere and drop it off in a remote ballot drop. I have to go to the board of elections and or mail it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:39:26

Yeah. Quite frankly, we have well, you know, I didn't think about this. We have remote drop boxes in every city. It's called a post office box.

Norm Murdock [: 00:39:33

It is called a post office box. Right?

Brett Johnson [: 00:39:35

And put the stamps on it, and you can. Yes.

Norm Murdock [: 00:39:37

And where was the litigation I saw about, there was some was it Wisconsin? Was it Michigan? I can't remember where they wanted to take the cameras off. The, there there are, remote cameras on these boxes. Right. And and, somebody that the democrats was petitioning to to remove those. It's like, you know, why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Brett Johnson [: 00:39:58

Why would you not want surveillance of of what it what has to be the most protected box in the world And look where we're putting our ballots.

Norm Murdock [: 00:40:07

It's not chilling anybody's so look, there now this is this is an interesting constitutional theory. So and it it go back to, like, freedom of speech, go back to, your right to exercise or a right to have a lawyer, those kind of things. So the Supreme Court has it's not just that the government, can't violate your rights. So it's that they can't create an obstacle that sort of chills your exercise of those rights. So if if if you know that you're gonna get in trouble, for saying things in the public street, in a public forum that would otherwise be free speech, it's going to chill free it's gonna chill the freedom of speech. So it's not that it violates your right immediately. It's that it prevents you or discourages you from exercising it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:40:51

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:40:51

Those are equal constitutional violations. So a good example would be with respect to your right to counsel and your right to have a lawyer. The prosecutor can't stand up in a courtroom later and say, what does this guy do first? Goes and hires a lawyer. First thing he does is hire a lawyer. He must be guilty.

Brett Johnson [: 00:41:06

Or outrageous permit fees to speak.

Norm Murdock [: 00:41:09

Yeah. So you kinda Like, you

Brett Johnson [: 00:41:10

know, if the Klan or the Catholic church or or the Jewish, you know, ADL, You know, if if if a group wants to have a speech on the, campus of of the state capitol, right, and they say, well, you have to pay a $100,000 fee.

Norm Murdock [: 00:41:28

Right. Well, that that chills the exercise. Right. So you can't chill the exercise or discourage the exercise of a constitution right, nor can you punish somebody for exercising their constitutional rights, such as, like, the right to counsel argument. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. So I'm well, I'm I'm only bringing this up to say, I am very in tune with this.

Norm Murdock [: 00:41:44

Right? Because I raise these arguments all the time in my practice, all the time. I don't see that here. I don't see requiring somebody to have an identification card that they already probably have

Brett Johnson [: 00:41:54

Right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:41:55

To go vote.

Brett Johnson [: 00:41:56

Right. And I just don't see it.

Norm Murdock [: 00:41:57

Or or saying you can't deliver a to a remote ballot box when you can deliver it over here. It's or or put in the mail like you said.

Brett Johnson [: 00:42:03

Or or you're already there at the box. You just get out of your car and go into the office, the the the Board of Elections office where I mean, where the drop box is and give it to them. Yeah. But I don't You literally get out of the car and do it versus dropping in the box. None of this. Already. None of

Brett Johnson [: 00:42:18

this is like the old Jim Crow laws.

Norm Murdock [: 00:42:19

No. It's not. It's not even close.

Brett Johnson [: 00:42:21

Where, you know, you have to come in and prove that you're literate. Right. You know, read read this paragraph.

Norm Murdock [: 00:42:26

That would be a chill. Exactly. Whatever. That would that would discourage people from exercising the right people. We're not doing that.

Brett Johnson [: 00:42:32

We're not no.

Norm Murdock [: 00:42:33

And then in Texas, like, now there's states to start there's states out there that have banned, and Texas is one of them. It's trying to ban vote harvesting or ballot harvesting where people are knocking on doors, grabbing ballots, and talking people into voting, and then delivering a form.

Brett Johnson [: 00:42:44

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:42:44

You know, I I it's like, why are you in favor of that? Yeah. Like, why really are you in favor of that? Right. And, you know, the the and if the if you're just saying, well, look, we're doing this for the downtrodden. Well, it's interesting. You're not doing it for the downtrodden in areas where they're gonna vote republican.

Brett Johnson [: 00:42:59

Right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:42:59

Right? So

Brett Johnson [: 00:43:00

Exactly.

Norm Murdock [: 00:43:01

You know, it's, and you're so it's like there's always some ulterior motive. It's lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies. It's it's a little slight of hand. Look over here. So look, at some point, could it go too far? Yes. That's what I'm saying. I'm in tune with this. I raise these constitutional constitutional issues all the time.

Norm Murdock [: 00:43:15

I am skeptical of everything the government does. I fought the government my entire career, at least in the criminal defense realm. And this one doesn't bother me.

Brett Johnson [: 00:43:23

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and and, you know, staying with the the voting, I heard that they are, North Carolinans are voting. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They they kinda fix things up that they now can vote. If they opted to vote early, the the systems are in play. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:43:37

Which is which is great. You know, you don't want that kind of

Norm Murdock [: 00:43:40

That's right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:43:40

Affect to it and that's that's pretty amazing that things are cleaned up that quickly that they can. Yeah. That that's that's good. Getting there.

Norm Murdock [: 00:43:47

You know?

Brett Johnson [: 00:43:47

They have the ability to go vote. So that's a good thing too.

Brett Johnson [: 00:43:50

Yeah. Couple couple international and and and one national business thing. I I just think we have to acknowledge the epic nature of Walgreens and True Value both going bankrupt and possibly completely out of business.

Norm Murdock [: 00:44:08

Mhmm. I mean,

Brett Johnson [: 00:44:08

those are old time American companies.

Brett Johnson [: 00:44:11

Heard True Value piece of it. But

Brett Johnson [: 00:44:13

Thousands and thousands of employees and and just it's kind of a sign that the economy really is still sick. It's very sick.

Norm Murdock [: 00:44:20

Well, it's not only sick. It's slanted. You know, it's like the the the and this is not this has been going on for a long time where, you know, the big box places

Brett Johnson [: 00:44:29

Yeah. The brick and mortar.

Brett Johnson [: 00:44:30

Have the

Norm Murdock [: 00:44:30

capacity Mhmm. To to survive with less profit margin so they can reduce their prices. They can

Brett Johnson [: 00:44:37

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:44:37

They can pay the extra freight that the government is putting on things. Yeah. So when the government when the government starts to regulate, it always translates into more overhead for businesses. Mhmm. And the bigger stores can handle that overhead and still survive. Yeah. The smaller stores cannot. So, you know, this is this is

Brett Johnson [: 00:44:58

The cyber stores in particular.

Brett Johnson [: 00:44:59

And

Norm Murdock [: 00:44:59

the cyber stores. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:45:00

I mean, you know, Amazon, I think, has a pharmacy now. Right?

Brett Johnson [: 00:45:04

Right. Yeah. Right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:45:05

Online and a lot of telemed is going on and a lot of so look, I mean, I get it. And you can't these these places can't survive and it's too bad. I mean

Brett Johnson [: 00:45:14

Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:45:14

Because there are people who who still physically go to a pharmacist to get their prescription. Like, there's old timey people, you know. Well, I guess I'm one of them. No. I You know? We do. Yeah. You know, I go past the window and I'm not currently on a

Norm Murdock [: 00:45:29

So Walgreens is under CVS? Do we what's the what's the health on CVS going on?

Brett Johnson [: 00:45:35

I don't know.

Brett Johnson [: 00:45:36

I don't know. I know

Brett Johnson [: 00:45:37

that Kroger is trying to merge with every grocery store that's left and has that big case out in Colorado where they where they're gonna buy, whatever the hell, Albertsons or whatever

Brett Johnson [: 00:45:46

it is. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:45:48

And the I I thought this is was interesting, guys. And this doesn't fit our category. But the Nobel Peace Prize this year went to the survivors of the atomic bombs in Japan. And I thought that was a very It's an interesting interesting pick.

Norm Murdock [: 00:46:03

Like, why this year?

Brett Johnson [: 00:46:05

Donut, man. Well, probably very few of them left alive, you know. Okay. I mean, that generation, you know, if you were Under

Brett Johnson [: 00:46:12

under what under what category?

Brett Johnson [: 00:46:14

A peace prize.

Brett Johnson [: 00:46:15

The peace oh, the peace prize itself. Okay. Because I know they're different. Peace prize.

Brett Johnson [: 00:46:18

So apparently, it's a group of anti war. The specific group that they honored is is made up of survivors, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that are speaking out against the use of nuclear weapons, of course. And that is their motivation. They they speak, and they hold ceremonies and things. And, you know, of course, there's a counterargument to be made that Harry Truman and, Curtis LeMay and, Paul Tibbets, who was piloting

Norm Murdock [: 00:46:50

Ohio makes it big again.

Brett Johnson [: 00:46:51

Yeah. Like well, they ended the war Yeah. Doing that.

Norm Murdock [: 00:46:56

It's it's an the it's the people tend to oversimplify this. Yes. And and both sides tend to oversimplify. This is a very complicated problem.

Brett Johnson [: 00:47:03

Complicated problem, and it's an ugly, bit of warfare. And, you know, my call I've said this, so this is not revealing anything. I I had always wished the military and president Truman had dropped those weapons on purely military targets Right. You know, instead of on a city. I just I I almost can't get over that.

Norm Murdock [: 00:47:26

Yeah. But wait wait, like, it wouldn't I don't know how much different it would have been, you know, because the military targets at that point were the cities. I mean, they were in the cities, I think. I don't know that for sure.

Brett Johnson [: 00:47:34

Very good argument. I mean, that's just what

Norm Murdock [: 00:47:37

I And

Brett Johnson [: 00:47:37

were they able to pinpoint like we can today?

Brett Johnson [: 00:47:39

A very good argument.

Brett Johnson [: 00:47:40

But no. But I but I agree with you. It's like that it was We

Norm Murdock [: 00:47:43

were wielding a power that not had never been even conceived. Yeah. And, you know Yeah. Look. Yeah. It it it worked. Stopped the war.

Brett Johnson [: 00:47:53

It stopped the war.

Norm Murdock [: 00:47:54

Almost in its tracks.

Brett Johnson [: 00:47:55

So do those guys get the peace prize? Because they stopped the war. Right? You know, so, like, it's it's it's it's It's a complicated question. Very complicated. It is. But I thought that would be an interesting thing to, you know, to contemplate for our viewers and listeners to think about because, you know, there like you say, Steve, there's there's multiple sides to to the use of that weapon. I mean, certainly Japan military militaristic Japan at that point was doing, germ warfare experiments on prisoners. They they they had stuff going on that doctor Mengele, you know Well, and it's somewhat in Germany was doing.

Norm Murdock [: 00:48:35

It's it's and it's somewhat relevant today with with the, war going on with Israel and Hamas Right. And soon to probably be Iran. Right. And, you know, it's like, where where do you stop? That's right. Where do you stop when people are

Brett Johnson [: 00:48:50

bit when when when you

Norm Murdock [: 00:48:51

have an enemy that says, we are gonna fight to the very last man and the very last island and the very last outpost, and we're and every and our citizens are gonna take up arms against you

Brett Johnson [: 00:49:02

if you invade our cities. Yeah. It's, like, we're like, what do you do? How do you

Norm Murdock [: 00:49:03

how do you handle that as an when when you're Yeah. Children wearing suicide vests. Like, how do you

Brett Johnson [: 00:49:07

handle that? How do you

Norm Murdock [: 00:49:10

handle that? And and it almost at some point, it denigrates to fighting fire with fire. I'm not a military philosopher. Yeah. But, you know, I can see how it gets there, and I can see how, as as torturous of a of a moral debate there is. Like, you just have to do it. You just at some point, you just have to do it. Truman just says, look. Do it.

Norm Murdock [: 00:49:31

End the war. Let's bring our boys home. End this war.

Brett Johnson [: 00:49:33

How can I face the mothers of American soldiers that I did not use a weapon to end the war as early as possible? How could I look them in the eye knowing their sons died because I delayed using this

Norm Murdock [: 00:49:48

this weapon? Add another dimension to the three-dimensional, now four-dimensional chess board that was that was at play then.

Brett Johnson [: 00:49:55

It's like

Norm Murdock [: 00:49:55

you had this Soviet Union out there, and you needed to tell Stalin. Look. We got it. Yeah. Yeah. We got the goods here.

Brett Johnson [: 00:50:01

It was a lot of Kind of just

Brett Johnson [: 00:50:04

of posturing.

Brett Johnson [: 00:50:04

Oh, yeah. For sure.

Norm Murdock [: 00:50:05

Oh, yeah. We we established ourselves as the superpower of the world and and and ended the war Yeah. And brought our boys home almost in, like, overnight. So alright. So look. We've got,

Brett Johnson [: 00:50:17

You wanna do that outrage? That fits into the justice.

Norm Murdock [: 00:50:20

Yeah. We'll do the we can get to the outrage, but I do wanna talk. Before we get to the wonderfully outrageous, let's talk a little bit about, did anybody watch Kamala Harris' first interview with Bret Baier?

Brett Johnson [: 00:50:31

Incredible.

Norm Murdock [: 00:50:32

It was,

Brett Johnson [: 00:50:33

Incredible. What some of her answers were unbelievably deceptive and and evasive.

Norm Murdock [: 00:50:40

It was an interesting I I wondered we were talking about this.

Brett Johnson [: 00:50:43

I'm gonna obey the law.

Norm Murdock [: 00:50:45

I I was I was curious why she would sign up for this. And, you know, I actually it made me skeptical of the whole thing. Like, why why on earth do that? If you're if you're unsure, why I mean, so it does reflect that they're a little bit concerned, I think, that she's behind.

Brett Johnson [: 00:50:57

Oh, yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:50:58

On the other hand, they must have thought that there was an advantage to be had. And I you know, there were some answers that she gave, like, if you're in favor of Kamala Harris, she did a decent job. She fought back. She wasn't gonna get pushed around by Brett Baer. But I agree with you. She didn't answer any of the questions. She didn't answer the hard questions, and she evaded them. And she even got a little bit angry at times.

Norm Murdock [: 00:51:16

I think they were trying to find I think they were trying to to show her as, like, somebody who could scrap and fight and do these things.

Brett Johnson [: 00:51:23

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:51:23

So but I guess my my ultimate assessment of this is it was a draw.

Brett Johnson [: 00:51:27

I think if you if

Norm Murdock [: 00:51:27

you like Kamala Harris, you still do. If you don't like Kamala Harris, you still don't. Yeah. I I don't think I don't think it moved it either way.

Brett Johnson [: 00:51:33

What I want from any candidate is, you know, particularization of their policies. And she gives nothing.

Norm Murdock [: 00:51:40

She wasn't gonna do that. Just damn it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:51:41

You know, and it's it's funny you say that because, of course, you know, when you turn 50, you get everything from AARP. So it's all their latest newspaper, whatever the hell it's called.

Brett Johnson [: 00:51:50

Right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:51:50

You know, so it's it's talking about the issue specific to older adults, and they ask both candidates. And I'm reading the answers from both. From Harris and Trump, neither one of them are specific. No. I'm thinking, you know, he of course, his is ramble, ramble, ramble. Hers says nothing nothing at all. You know, hers is succinct, but says nothing. His is rambling around everything.

Brett Johnson [: 00:52:09

It's like That's

Norm Murdock [: 00:52:09

right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:52:09

And and I read the whole thing going, neither one of you told me anything on any of the questions. The problem with Kamala though. Driving me crazy about to to even say

Norm Murdock [: 00:52:17

what what's what's going on

Brett Johnson [: 00:52:19

with that.

Norm Murdock [: 00:52:19

Look. This is a very typical political response. And even JD JD did better, I think, than a lot of people on this. But even he sort of backed off a little bit on the January 6th stuff and some other stuff. But irrespective of that, the problem Kamala has that I don't think she'll ever she'll ever outrun is that she's been in office here for three and a half years.

Brett Johnson [: 00:52:39

That's right.

Brett Johnson [: 00:52:39

In answer to one of Brett's questions, she said, well, an administration has to take responsibility for what it's done. And she was referring to Trump's administration.

Norm Murdock [: 00:52:51

But not hers, right? But not hers.

Brett Johnson [: 00:52:53

Okay. Yeah.

Brett Johnson [: 00:52:53

And it's like, wow. That would be my commercial if I was Trump. I like, it's

Norm Murdock [: 00:52:58

not that big. Sure. Like, if you're JD and you you sort of get pressed a and he's done he's done a good job of this because there was there was a time when he was pressed on the fact that he didn't support Trump.

Brett Johnson [: 00:53:08

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:53:08

And he said, look, at that time, I didn't. Now I've seen what he was seen what his presidency looked like. Now I do support him.

Brett Johnson [: 00:53:14

Well, Kamala called Joe a racist. Right. And he picked her as VP.

Norm Murdock [: 00:53:17

And it but, again, it's all sort of semantical political games. Yeah. But, you know, when when Kamala says, what what bothers me is that it seems so painfully obvious to me that as soon as Biden took power, took the White House

Brett Johnson [: 00:53:32

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:53:32

The border was opened. Yes. And it was a floodgate.

Brett Johnson [: 00:53:35

Absolutely.

Norm Murdock [: 00:53:36

And they deny that.

Brett Johnson [: 00:53:37

And Brett said, Kamala, do you regret giving up the stay in Mexico policy that president

Norm Murdock [: 00:53:43

Trump like, well, that was the other side for not passing the law. Oh my god.

Brett Johnson [: 00:53:47

Yeah. Yeah. She completely avoided it.

Norm Murdock [: 00:53:49

A lie. Yeah. That's what bothers me. So she like, why not just say, you know what? Looking back on this, we thought we were doing good. We weren't. We're gonna fix that in the next 4 years. Just say it.

Brett Johnson [: 00:54:00

So And and and to that that answer right there, does that hurt you? No.

Norm Murdock [: 00:54:03

No. It it it

Brett Johnson [: 00:54:05

I would rather hear somebody say, we made a mistake. Maybe it was a bad judgment call or a bad call on that. We gotta fix it though.

Brett Johnson [: 00:54:10

Well, is it I don't

Brett Johnson [: 00:54:12

I don't see a problem. But she's

Norm Murdock [: 00:54:13

trying to please too many masters.

Brett Johnson [: 00:54:14

My my my out my outrage, to slide into this because this all sort of fits together is when Kamala does come up with a specific policy like, taxing unrealized capital gains. Right? That blew up in her face.

Norm Murdock [: 00:54:30

Yes. Right?

Brett Johnson [: 00:54:30

And and we're

Norm Murdock [: 00:54:31

Price fixing groceries.

Brett Johnson [: 00:54:32

Price fix right. Her latest is a $20,000,000,000 handout. She's trying to buy the votes of black men. So she came up with this idea of giving $20,000 to 1,000,000 black men. Not black women, not white men, not white women, just black men who she has a problem with in the polls. So she had came up with this economic proposal to hand $20,000 to 1,000,000 black men to start up entrepreneurial businesses. Well, that is so that's that's who her pollsters are saying she's weak with right now, and she needs those votes. So she comes up with a handout.

Brett Johnson [: 00:55:16

She she's playing Santa Claus, and and there couldn't be anything more discriminatory than deciding to give entrepreneurial forgivable loans on the basis of your skin skin color and your gender. Like, that flies in the face of everything America stands for. And I think black men know this and see that. And she's not gonna buy their votes doing this. And what she's revealing is her fear that she's losing this election. And she's throwing this out there to try to capture that segment of the voting.

Norm Murdock [: 00:55:52

Yeah. If I were a black woman, I'd

Brett Johnson [: 00:55:54

I'd be pissed.

Norm Murdock [: 00:55:55

Well, and and Come on. And I'm

Brett Johnson [: 00:55:56

pissed as a white guy

Norm Murdock [: 00:55:57

And when you dig into it, it's it's not just black men, but that's what that's what she's targeting. So it's it just it is a it is blatant pandering.

Brett Johnson [: 00:56:05

It's unreal.

Norm Murdock [: 00:56:06

It's just it's bribery. 20 billion. It's it's electoral bribery. Well,

Brett Johnson [: 00:56:09

it is.

Brett Johnson [: 00:56:10

And, you know, on the outside side, it's like, oh, that sounds good. It's like the stipulation. Even the $25,000 first home buyer kind of stuff. All the stipulations behind that. That is like you have to be the only no. None of any of your other family members can have owned a home.

Norm Murdock [: 00:56:23

Right. So who's this? Who's gonna get that money? The illegal immigrants.

Brett Johnson [: 00:56:26

Again, I understand I understand why the thought process beyond. I it's honorable. That was But but but it's the the devil's in the details.

Norm Murdock [: 00:56:35

It's honorable, but it's never it always sounds good and it never works. So it's like you said, it's they're all these kind of things are only judged by what they sound like and never what they can actually do. So so,

Brett Johnson [: 00:56:43

Brett, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna push back on the honorable. So, like, a a philosopher economist like Thomas Sowell would say, what you're doing when you give that $25,000, you're taking it from somebody else.

Norm Murdock [: 00:56:56

Yeah. But he's not calling it honorable for that reason. He he's saying, look.

Brett Johnson [: 00:56:58

I know what you mean though. Yes.

Norm Murdock [: 00:57:00

It sounds good is what you're saying.

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:01

Yeah. It sounds like it's Honorable is probably not a

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:03

great Santa Santa Claus sounds good. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. But but Santa had elves making the gifts.

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:08

And and I I I Out of nothing. Yeah. And I I guess it's honorable that they're recognizing there's a problem there. But at the same time, you give somebody $25,000. It does. Guess what? It the price of whatever that person's buying just up to by about Sure. 20,000.

Norm Murdock [: 00:57:20

It does. It does.

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:22

And your and your and your tax debt and your grandchildren and your children, like, it goes up.

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:27

Oh, exactly. Exactly. It's not free.

Norm Murdock [: 00:57:30

It's almost like we've never done this before, like, back in prior to 2008

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:34

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 00:57:35

Where we subsidized mortgages.

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:36

The subprime.

Norm Murdock [: 00:57:37

Right. It's like The

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:38

the subprime crisis.

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:39

Look at history.

Norm Murdock [: 00:57:39

Well, let's look. Let's let's hit the wonderfully outrageous. We I know Norman Trump had a bit of talk to you about the FBI, and I think we both find that outrageous.

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:46

It's also wonderful they got busted.

Norm Murdock [: 00:57:48

It's wonderful they got busted. Right? So it's like they they go in, and this came up in the JD Vance debate, I think. They And

Brett Johnson [: 00:57:54

then the Trump debate.

Norm Murdock [: 00:57:55

And then the Trump debate. They were they were talking about the FBI crime stats, and the Dems were were touting that the final crime was down.

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:02

David Muir fact checked Trump and said, well, actually, the FBI says crime

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:06

is down.

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:06

And Trump in

Norm Murdock [: 00:58:07

his uneloquent way tried to refute that. And, he said He

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:10

said they cherry picked the

Norm Murdock [: 00:58:11

data. Cherry picked the data, which is right. Which

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:13

is right. They

Norm Murdock [: 00:58:14

did. They didn't report certain violent crime. And, and then later on, they sort of sneak in a little update, but it's not published.

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:22

Right.

Norm Murdock [: 00:58:22

So if you go look now, it's not that crime is down 2 a half percent. It's up, like, 4.7 percent violent crime. So that's outrageous. Yeah. And so here's but we should explain why that's outrageous. It's not just because they're lying. It's because it's the freaking FBI. We're paying for them.

Norm Murdock [: 00:58:36

It's the government information. It's like, if we're gonna pay for a federal law enforcement agency, then we want the truth.

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:43

It has to be nonpartisan.

Norm Murdock [: 00:58:45

Yeah. We want the truth.

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:46

With just facts.

Norm Murdock [: 00:58:48

So this shows an obvious bias towards the Democratic party, and it stinks. Yeah. It stinks. And I would say the same thing if they were going the other way.

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:57

Yeah. I

Norm Murdock [: 00:58:57

would say the same thing.

Brett Johnson [: 00:58:58

It's like the jobs reports. They come out with rosy job reports every month, and then they revise them downward.

Norm Murdock [: 00:59:04

And then they revise them. Right? Yeah. And it's like We

Brett Johnson [: 00:59:05

did the same thing on job

Norm Murdock [: 00:59:06

reports. You're exactly right. This stinks. This is BS. Yeah. And, it's this kind of stuff, we're talking about political ads earlier. This kind of stuff, actually does, I think, help that party because, you know, I think people do look at the FBI as, like, a valid source Right. For violent crime.

Brett Johnson [: 00:59:24

They want to.

Norm Murdock [: 00:59:24

It's not a political ad paid for. I endorse this ad. You know, this is the FBI. This is this is like an institution that we should be able to rely on. This shows that we have institutions that are either captured or on their way.

Brett Johnson [: 00:59:36

When I was a little kid, there was a show called the FBI Ephraim Zimbalist Junior. Right? And these these were the cowboys with the white hats. These were the guys the

Norm Murdock [: 00:59:46

good guys.

Brett Johnson [: 00:59:46

These were the good guys. They were out there busting up the Klan. They were busting up, you know, human traffic. Uncorruptible. Uncorruptible. You could not bribe an FBI agent.

Norm Murdock [: 00:59:56

The idea was the federal look, it was failed to have an issue from the beginning. The idea is we have the federal government who is gonna be not uncorruptible by local influence, and maybe that's true, but they're corruptible by national influence. Exactly right. That so it's like they're still human folks. Yeah. They're still imperfect, and they're still subject to corruption. And the problem with the administrative state, the deep state like this is, the checks and balances aren't there.

Brett Johnson [: 01:00:18

And it's it is said that J Edgar Hoover took to underscore your point, had dossiers like on the Kennedy brothers, and he throttled them with, you know, the the the the allegation is that he had stuff on John and Bobby, and he's like, you know, you're gonna keep me on as director of the FBI.

Norm Murdock [: 01:00:36

Or this is gonna now. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So you're given, like

Brett Johnson [: 01:00:40

It becomes a kingdom.

Norm Murdock [: 01:00:42

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. That's just the bottom line. Yeah. So Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 01:00:47

Anyway, go go go read Lord Acton quotes. It's actually pretty interesting. So Yeah. Anyway, does that be outrage for everybody?

Brett Johnson [: 01:00:54

Well, that's my wonderful thing that they got us nuts.

Brett Johnson [: 01:00:57

Yeah. Yeah. Outright. Well, and we probably will go over this in the in the near future, the Secret Service in the in the in the in the findings of what is wrong with that is amazing. That that's just for the protection for both parties is outrageous. Absolutely. Secret service I don't even understand why the secret service is not run by by the the army. You know, I mean, it these guys don't

Norm Murdock [: 01:01:19

know what they're doing. They privatized it. They You could have somebody to fire.

Brett Johnson [: 01:01:23

It was. Yeah. It was in the Treasury Department like the FBI used to be. And and, now it's, it's in Department of Homeland

Brett Johnson [: 01:01:31

Security.

Norm Murdock [: 01:01:31

It's Homeland Security.

Brett Johnson [: 01:01:32

It was just a nightmare.

Brett Johnson [: 01:01:33

It sounds like they don't know what they well, the report is showing they don't know what

Norm Murdock [: 01:01:36

their confidence. They don't

Brett Johnson [: 01:01:37

know what

Norm Murdock [: 01:01:37

their Nobody fires

Brett Johnson [: 01:01:38

anybody. Who's ahead? Mayorkas.

Brett Johnson [: 01:01:40

Yeah. And see, but this is

Norm Murdock [: 01:01:41

the problem. It's like they're not gonna get fired. And, because there's no accountability. If you if you screwed up like that in the private sector, you would be gone. Yeah. I would be fired. If I represented somebody and dropped the ball like that, I should be fired. I should be disbarred.

Brett Johnson [: 01:01:55

They they said in Pennsylvania, they had 4, maybe 5 ways of communicating with each other. Text, cell phone, walkie talkie. It's like, you guys gotta be kidding me.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:04

Right. Where's the like, where's the protocols?

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:06

Where's the God, this is kidding.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:07

Degraded to lunacy.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:08

So you got 5 things hanging on your body and trying to figure out what you're gonna listen to and talk on. Yeah. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:15

It is outrageous.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:16

And we need to be better protection for our big name politic well, them all. We can't we can't afford to have some lunatic kill No.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:25

Any of these people.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:26

Any of these people.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:27

Right.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:27

Any of them.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:29

Yeah. Yeah. Alright. What's wonderful? Your FBI exposure is wonderful. For me.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:33

For me.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:33

That's it.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:34

Doritos and, ruffles are gonna be putting more in their bag now.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:38

Oh. Oh.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:38

No shrinkflation or temporarily. So you buy a bag of raffles, a Doritos gonna have more in it.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:43

You get a

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:43

little bit more.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:44

So I think that's great.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:45

Yep. And mine

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:46

mine Oh, go on. Go on. Food.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:48

Mine is the Circleville Puckin' show. Yep. The greatest show on the planet.

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:54

And why

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:54

is it wonderful?

Brett Johnson [: 01:02:54

It's getting paid, I think.

Norm Murdock [: 01:02:55

Here's here's why it's wonderful. Here's why it's wonderful. Not just because my wife is from Circleville and my in laws are from Circleville.

Brett Johnson [: 01:03:01

And that would be enough. I now own property in

Norm Murdock [: 01:03:03

Circleville. Sure. And and it's and I also will confess that I get a little perturbed that I have to drive around the city in order to get where where I need to go. But it's wonderful because it shows that there is still local, interaction in our country, in the small towns. Yeah. And that folks is where we win this war.

Brett Johnson [: 01:03:20

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 01:03:21

That's where we win the war for America. Yeah. And I'm not saying on behalf of anybody other than for America. Mhmm. Because when you go there and you see, families with baby carriages pushing stroller or baby strollers pushing them through, interacting with each other. When you see old friends meet up on the corner of Court and Main

Brett Johnson [: 01:03:40

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 01:03:40

Where the big pumpkin is

Brett Johnson [: 01:03:42

Yeah.

Norm Murdock [: 01:03:42

Where you see

Brett Johnson [: 01:03:43

It is all about community.

Norm Murdock [: 01:03:45

Yeah. It's community.

Brett Johnson [: 01:03:46

The people solving problems in North Carolina where where the devastation is. Yes. FEMA has its role. But in the immediate aftermath, it's those veterans, firemen, policemen.

Norm Murdock [: 01:03:59

Seeing neighbors. I saw a YouTube video like YouTube video. They're like, oh, they come back and they look through their house. And she almost said it in passing. We're gonna make sure our tool shed is is clean, then we're gonna go help the neighbors over there. And it's like, it just that folks. That's their

Brett Johnson [: 01:04:13

impulse is to help other people.

Norm Murdock [: 01:04:15

Yes. And that, I think, is unique. I don't wanna say uniquely American, but that is American.

Brett Johnson [: 01:04:20

It is American.

Norm Murdock [: 01:04:21

We need more of that.

Brett Johnson [: 01:04:22

We need more.

Norm Murdock [: 01:04:22

And and that means we need less of the federal government, putting the yoke on us.

Brett Johnson [: 01:04:27

And we need less divisiveness. I don't want anybody playing race games or gender games anymore. We're all people. Treat us all the same. If if there is a federal program, do not taint it with race or gender. Let everybody participate equally. There'll be less envy, less resentment, and we'll come together as a community.

Norm Murdock [: 01:04:51

Right. Now you've talked about, like, the worst of the worst of human emotion. Resentment, envy, pride. I mean, you're right. And these things trigger those responses.

Brett Johnson [: 01:04:59

They trigger those responses.

Norm Murdock [: 01:05:00

Alright. Well, we've, gone over by 7 or 8 minutes perhaps, but this is Common Sense Ohio. You can check us out at Common Sense Ohio Show. We appreciate your support. We are getting comments. We are getting questions. Leave it in the comments if you've got something you want us to cover. If you disagree with Norm as we often do, let him know.

Norm Murdock [: 01:05:17

He's great.

Brett Johnson [: 01:05:18

I disagree with Norm.

Norm Murdock [: 01:05:19

He's he's great at you you will never get the last word online with Norm, I promise, because I've tried. No. But in all seriousness, if you disagree with something we said or you want us to cover some or even if you do just if you do agree, I love hearing it because, we're trying to provide this show to you folks, for a reason, because we think common sense is, it should not be passe. It should be in the front. It should be what's governing all our decisions, and, that's why we are coming at you right from the middle here in Ohio, commonsenseohioshow.com.