In this episode, we discuss a range of topics, from concerns about FEMA and its potential negative effects to the impact of federal disaster declarations. We also delve into the intriguing viewpoints of respected individuals in the scientific field regarding the spread of the virus. Here are the three key takeaways from this episode:

1️⃣ FEMA Rethink: Do you worry about overbuilding and underinsuring? We explore the speaker's concerns about relying on FEMA and how it can have unintended consequences.

2️⃣ Ohio Revival: Have you ever wondered if annual events like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame could revitalize cities like Cleveland and central Ohio? Discover the speaker's perspective on Cleveland's potential and why it deserves a chance to shine, even against New York City.

3️⃣ Unconventional Virus Insights: We talk about two respected experts who have unique perspectives on the behavior and statistics surrounding the virus. Their concerns serve as a thought-provoking reminder to question information that seems too good to be true.

Remember, Common Sense Ohio is more than just a podcast - it's a platform where we delve into topics that impact Ohio and beyond. I encourage you to listen, subscribe, and share our show on platforms like Apple, Google, and Spotify.

Together, let's make common sense prevail!

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 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.

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

info@commonsenseohioshow.com

Copyright 2024 Common Sense Ohio

Norm: That's what we back in the old days.

Steve: So every day I bring this up because it's such a even when I walk out and I take the dog for a walk at six in the morning or 530 in the morning, I still still like those days. There's a certain smell in the air in August that grows, uh, me back.

Brett: And you're hearing whistles in your head, right?

Norm: Goat run or whatever.

Steve: Sound grass drills.

Norm: The inside of my helmet was so gross. Oh, my God.

Steve: You get impotego or whatever that is.

Norm: How do you clean a football? Okay, this back in the 70s, nobody.

Steve: Cleaned soap and water would go a long way.

Norm: We got germs and we loved it.

Steve: Yeah, well, look, germs are germs, but when you get a sore on your face and it gets infected, that's bad. So we had guys that get impetigo. Is that what it's called? It's like a skin infection, bacteria infection.

Brett: Yeah, emitigo.

Steve: But, uh, that would happen. And I never had that problem. Um, and I can't say I ever cleaned my helmet. I have no recollection. Maybe I did. Who knows? I guess I'm just a clean guy.

Norm: Nothing. I was so happy to be able to be on the team, and so I didn't clean anything.

Steve: Yeah, lucky is lucky.

Norm: Set my jock strap.

Steve: Well, look, that doesn't make sense any thank you. That doesn't make any sense at all. But we are about to make some common sense here at Commonsense, Ohioshow.com. What is commonsenseoioshow.com? Well, that's a show about common sense in Ohio. We're bringing you the news of Ohio as a jumping off point, maybe a trampoline to jump into other areas around the country, around the world. Because as Ohio goes, so does the world. If you don't believe that, just keep listening. We're going to convince you one show at a time. If you haven't subscribed yet, if you haven't liked yet, guess what it's easy to do. Go to Common Sense Ohio show and you can hit like, subscribe and share whatever you do. Or you can go to wherever you get your podcast at Apple or Google or Spotify or pick your platform. Go and subscribe. So it makes a difference. I got friends who say, oh, yeah, we listen to you, but it's not good enough. You got to listen and subscribe. You don't even have to, uh, just subscribe. If you get inundated, just ignore those until you have the weekend. You can catch up. So, like, uh, subscribe. And most important, share with your neighbor as you're cutting your grass this Saturday or Sunday, getting, uh, ready for football season. Uh, tell your neighbor, hey, look, we got a great show. It's common sense, Ohio. So with that, we're going to jump off. Norm, what you got?

Norm: Well, uh, probably the hottest no pun intended story right now is the Hawaii Ah disaster on Maui. The town of Lahaina, which I've been to a couple of times basically, um, has burned to the ground 55 dead. Biden M declared, uh, a federal disaster relief, um, package, which always triggers in my head, if your house is the only one that burns down, it is a federal disaster for you, right? So, I don't know. Hey, if they're going to declare federal disasters for one place or the other, uh, then I guess Hawai should be, uh, a recipient of the federal largesse also. And this is not to in any way say, uh, it's not an emergency and that we shouldn't be generous. Give to the Red Cross Catholic Charities any kind of, uh, help, uh, that organization that you respect and you have checked out. Uh, in spite of the federal disaster declaration, I'm sure there will be all kinds of unmet needs that, um, FEMA does not supply. But again, I can't get over the idea that when there's a tornado and it takes out or a fire or whatever earthquake and it takes out 100 homes, it's a federal disaster. If it takes out just one home, no federal assistance. I don't get that.

Norm: Right.

Steve: And they would get destroyed by a hurricane. So now if FEMA is going to replace it and come in and fix it and give you all those dollars, well, hell yeah, we're going to come in. Why? Because, uh, you've laid off a huge financial disincentive by basically relying on the rest of us to insure your asset. That's making you 40 50% on your dollar or however much, if you own it, 100%. And, uh, you don't have to worry about having it replaced or destroyed because FEMA is coming in.

Norm: The other dynamic is, um, giving, charitable giving, right? So when you think that the federal government is or your state or local government, if you think that they're going to solve, say, immigrant housing or they're going to solve, ah, indigent health care, or they're going to solve hunger, uh, then if you think the government's got that handled, then people are going to give less.

Steve: Yeah, not my problem.

Norm: To charities.

Steve: Not my problem syndrome.

Norm: They're going to back off their donations to charities. I mean, that's just a natural conclusion that people are going to make, is, uh, you know, Uncle Joe and the Congress, they got this handled, so why should I give money to the Red Cross? Because they're going to take care of these people through know, even though we understand the ins and outs of that. No, that's not the case. Most people are so busy or just won't look into the details. They will not give because they're going to assume it's taken care of.

Steve: Well, and I'd like to see studies on this. I don't know, but I have a hypothesis about it. And it's like, I wonder I would want to know if somebody has ever studied charitable giving before and after the sort of, uh, emergence of the monolithic leviathan like federal government that, quote, fixes everything. Because it's not just that you're not giving intentionally. It's like you don't even think about giving. So it's like, how many generations did it take where we don't even think about giving to charities or giving to charities? It's about virtue signaling instead of really caring.

Norm: So Steve, I think, uh, probably the clearest example of that are the, um, religious affiliated hospitals. I mean, you had Methodists, you had Presbyterians, you had Baptists, you had Catholics, Jews, you had all of these affiliated, um, know, affiliated hospitals. And that has almost all gone away. I mean, it might still be called Methodist, it might still be called St. Joseph's or whatever. But essentially they are health systems. They're for profit.

Brett: Right.

Steve: It has turned into a corporate structure. Right. So health care turned into corporate structure. And you're so right. It's like, it used to be that the churches would take care of everything, like top and bottom of this kind of stuff. I didn't live in this era, I don't think, growing up in the late, uh, 70s, early 80s, or I was born in 70s, but that's when it started to but it's like I envisioned this sort of nostalgic world. Where the local church on the corner would help out the person who needed the help. Because it was all sort of a communal congregation.

Norm: Right.

Steve: And, uh, they didn't have to rely on the federal government to hand out the aid. Uh, it was done locally, and then think about that for a second. Um, you can scale this down to a level that makes a lot of common sense. So if I'm going to decide locally how to spend dollars, um, I'm going to know who's taking advantage of the system. I'm going to know who doesn't deserve it for whatever reason. I don't have to worry about what's happening in Arkansas, because I'm worried about what's happening in Columbus, Ohio. And I can allocate dollars where they're needed and where they're going to be most effective. And who would know that better than the community. It's not going to be some jackass in Washington, DC. Who's worried about votes, who's worried about, um, uh, the perception of being equitable. That all happened at the private charitable level, and I think you're right, mostly through churches.

Norm: Yeah.

Steve: The other big, like the Salvation Army, that was all right.

Norm: Sure.

Steve: The charity newsies, those were very, uh.

Norm: Uh, prominent, uh, hunger soup kitchens. Uh, I mean, you could go down the list of human needs, and it was people giving to their churches or giving to the Red Cross, or giving to, uh, whatever entity, maybe the local United, um, Way campaign, whatever. People were giving money that way. And it was they if they had enough, uh, uh, adjusted gross income, it was deductible. A lot of that has now gone away. I mean, they have raised the threshold for when you can deduct charitable donations to the point that a lot of people look at that and they talk to their accountant. They're like, well, does it make any sense financially? Not morally, but financially for me to give? And, uh, more and more, the accountant answer is no.

Steve: I don't even think see, I guess which is tragic. I'll throw this to you because I know you keep active in the Catholic Church and you sort of watch some of this stuff, or at least you've talked about it at times. The Catholic Church was always like the place you'd go for adoptions, uh, back in the day or whatever. But there's this notion that you would hear I can almost hear the scoffers saying, well, church is corrupt, church is corrupt. They don't know where to go, blah.

Brett: Blah, blah, blah, blah. Every organization is, if you look at because we're run by humans. So there's going to be corruption.

Steve: Less corrupt than the federal government.

Brett: Probably less corrupt. Well, and also, come on.

Steve: Yeah.

Brett: And with the nonprofits, you've got an opportunity to kind of see how their pie chart where the money is being spent. We can't see that with the government.

Steve: No.

Brett: So these non profit buckets, they're probably run much more efficiently, humanely, morally, because they're there to help versus, okay, we got to go do this sort of thing. And you're right, we've seen too many, uh, looking at it at the end for FEMA. How was it, the hurricane down New Orleans area? All these trailer waste, all this stupid stuff that just, oh, we got money, let's throw at it. And if we don't spend it, we.

Steve: Lose it kind of it looks good to go send all this. Well, we sent $10 million down and we gave trailers, and the trailers are rotting on there. I don't know these facts, but you can just imagine.

Brett: Well, there was and like you mentioned, Norm, with Catholic Charities, uh, they do stuff that they get no notoriety for. They just do the right stuff. Tons of nonprofits that do that.

Norm: And you know what's?

Steve: Not corrupt about it. There may be some corruption about it, and everybody's got their warts and their flaws, but they're not getting paid millions of dollars to administer the program. So it's like, look how big the governmental departments are that administer this crap and how many people they employ. So they first have to pay their expenses. I mean, they run it like a business, except it's a business that they don't have to earn money, they just get to get it.

Brett: And the nonprofits that get too big for their own britches Red Cross has been hit by this. The higher ups pay way too much and it starts to even out. They make adjustments and fix stuff. The government stuff never gets fixed.

Steve: I always try to when people ask me to give to a charity, I always pick the one where the people running, uh, the charity aren't getting paid.

Norm: Right.

Steve: I pick the ones of volunteers and I get it. That might be sort of naive, because then that charity is probably giving to.

Brett: Others, but they do exist. Why not make that a priority?

Norm: Big time, man.

Steve: Anyway, I don't know how we got tangent.

Norm: The other thing is this will sound like the crabby Midwest guy, whatever, so let me talk about places further north than where I live. So 55 people died tragically in this fire so far. Right. I, um, think the death toll is going to go up. There were people that went out in the ocean to try to escape the fire, and yet the boats leaked diesel and gasoline into the harbor and so the water was on fire. God knows how many people died in the water. So at any rate, uh, a lot of people died out there in Maui. It's tragic. I'm not diminishing this when I say this next thing. The next thing is every winter. I am positive that dozens of people in places like Milwaukee and you, uh, know, your classic, you know, absolute deep freezer cities, people die from cold. Right. There's no federal disaster ever declared for people dying of cold. Uh, and yet that is happening in a geographic specific way while we take care of people down south in their vacation homes whenever a tornado comes by. What about big winter? Right.

Brett: Nothing but wait, it's going to happen. Well, with everything labeled climate change.

Steve: Oh, yeah. Now they're going to make a political.

Brett: Agenda out of it.

Steve: It's better if they die from m heat, right.

Brett: For sure. And I got to do a bit more research, but, uh, the new farm bill has to come out, has to be approved by September, and it's a six year bill. And I got to do a little bit more look at it. But it's all labeled climate, of course.

Steve: Right.

Brett: Everything's going to be labeled climate. So you know what? Eventually you'll be able to get some money because you froze to death.

Steve: This is the antithesis of what we talked about. This is the antithesis of the corner church helping the community. This is like federal government doling out dollars for its political.

Norm: That and for sexy theater, sexy things like tornadoes, floods, uh, hurricanes. That's right.

Steve: Right. Because they look good and they get votes. And reallocated these.

Norm: The great scythe coming through the Midwest every winter that just knocks off old people left and right because of cold. They can't heat their house or they fall down the steps and nobody comes.

Steve: The same thing happens with heat, too. You hear it every year. Uh, like poor people in Chicago. That's right. But we saw sort of the culmination of this insanity when COVID hit because everybody looked at the government like, we're going to fix it, the federal government can fix this. And then all of a sudden, they usurp enormous power and implement their policies again based on political theater. And it turns out it was all a bunch of BS.

Norm: Well, worse than that, again, I love this shift to COVID. This is great. Uh, worse than that is the solutions put into place by force at the point of a bayonet by the federal government are now being shown to have killed more people than would otherwise have been killed by just I mean, they killed more people. I mean, you just take the senior homes and nursing homes in New York State as a micro. I mean, death just swept through those places because, uh, they would not isolate those who had COVID from those who didn't. And so everybody got it. And we know the seniors were the most susceptible. They said that right up front.

Steve: And I, uh, don't know, I would say be weary of anything that is unlike anything you've ever seen or heard of before. So it's like, all right, so we have this pandemic. Is this really like the Dustin Hoffman movie or that we're going to have to be walking around in hazmat suits? Do we really think that this virus is unlike any other virus that we've ever seen before in the history of mankind? And documented?

Norm: They threw the handbook out the window.

Steve: They just tossed it all. They created their own theater for it.

Norm: I mean, for 100 years, we've been researching pandemics scientifically. Not me. Big brain guys, definitely not me. And they came up with a handbook on how you deal with respiratory pandemics. It was all written down. It was all discussed. Uh, mean, they had a playbook at the CDC and at the United Nations, and for some reason, when COVID came along, a respiratory pandemic. Right. They threw it out the window.

Steve: Well, and they did it under the public or with they sort of soften the public up by suggesting that this was different, this is worse. This is like nothing we've ever seen. And I remember asking a very, uh.

Norm: You know what was different. Fauci was getting paid royalties on the vaccine.

Steve: Yeah. The flow of money always dictates this. But I asked a very close friend, I asked two people I respect immensely, and they used to be respected in the scientific field immensely. And, uh, I asked them about things like how the virus spreads, like, can you have asymptomatic spread and what's the deal? And both had sort of similar responses. It's like, well, the first guy was more of a math guy, and he's like, look, the math doesn't add up on this. It doesn't even come close to adding up on this. It doesn't make any sense. The numbers you're hearing, statistics you're hearing don't make any sense. And then the other guy was more of a BioMed guy, and he's just like, look, unless it's behaving unlike any other virus that we've ever seen in the history of mankind, this can't be true. And they weren't saying it publicly. A lot of people were and getting smashed for it. But it's like, uh, yeah, look, it's like, as my dad used to say, if it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true. So if you're buying a car and all of a sudden it's half the price of all the other cars, there's something wrong. It's too good to be true.

Norm: As your dad, I'm sure, said a million times, like, any wise man follow the money. And I just want to hammer this nail one more time, uh, today. So most people do not know. And it came as a shock to me because I was one of those people that didn't know that medical inventions that arise from tax dollar funded research at the CDC and NIH like Fauci. So Fauci, he offshored this COVID research to the Wuhan COVID laboratory in China against federal regulations or policy imposed by the White House. He did it anyway, right? That has now come out. He also developed any number of different vaccines right on the job, using you, your tax dollars and my tax dollars. Fauci was then allowed, and we currently still allow, federal employees who come up with vaccines to get paid royalties on that. And when Jordan and the other, uh, people on the committee had Fauci before him, before them in committee, they were blocked by federal regulation. Somehow this regulation got passed that withholds the amount of those royalties getting paid to US. Taxpayer employees like Fauci. So we don't know how much money he was paid by Smith, uh, Klein Glaxo, or whoever the heck, all these companies that had all these various medicines, uh, that were developed during his, what, 30 year tenure. Look, he's getting paid privately for things that he's imposing on us publicly, and there's no conflict there.

Steve: This is the problem with fascism, when the government intervenes and gets in bed with private industry, uh, for, quote, our own good, because they know the best on what to pick, and we're not.

Norm: Allowed to know how much they're making, right?

Steve: So it's like, this is corruption. This is how corruption begins. And I'm not Jesting. Fauci started off as a bad guy, but also, you start dangling millions of dollars in front of people, what are they going to do? Like, well, we could choose this treatment, which may work, or we could choose this treatment, which may work. I'm going to take the one that pays me millions of dollars, right?

Norm: That's untraceable.

Steve: And I happen to have the authority to enforce it. So it's the only one you can.

Norm: Get it endured to his specific benefit? Yeah. Uh, of course. He's already the federal government's most highly compensated employee.

Steve: It's gross.

Norm: He's still on the payroll, by the way.

Steve: It's gross. He had to be indicted.

Norm: He still has federal martial protection today, long after he resigned. It's unbelievable. Uh, you guys want to get into some Ohio news? I mean, these are pretty quick. So this crazy thing at Cedar Point, I don't know the name of the roller coaster, but that thing stopped 200ft up in the air. You imagine those people had to get out I saw the video. They had to get out of their little roller coasters and walk down a staircase 200ft tall, with just, like, a rickety banister between them and death. Look, I don't know what else they could have done.

Brett: That's all you can do.

Norm: I mean, Cedar Point didn't send a firemen.

Steve: So they weren't upside down?

Norm: No, they weren't upside down that's nightmarish. Hell, right there, if you think about it.

Steve: Now, what people I can't imagine.

Norm: I can't imagine because they would slip out of the belts. I mean, come on.

Steve: You'd have to get, uh, uh, the cherry pickers or something.

Brett: You'd have to figure out blood rush into your head. I'm thinking medical piece of UBS.

Norm: No question.

Brett: They got to get to you.

Norm: It would be like crucifixion, frankly, it's.

Steve: Worth saying you wonder about this stuff and whether they're safe, but you sort of take for granted that Cedar Point, Kings Island, um, Six Flags, Disney, you think they're going to be safe. And if that's not safe, you're thinking, well, what? Uh know, it's funny because Cedar Point, believe it or not, is like a destination place for roller coasters around the world.

Norm: Around the world. Yeah.

Steve: I mean, I have been there only, like, a handful of times in my life here, even though living in Ohio. And the last time I was there with my kids, I got to talking in line with a group, and they had flown in from all over the country. They're roller coaster fanatics, and they said, we plan this trip every year. This is the greatest thing, and blah, blah, blah. I'm like, wow, all right, well, have fun. But now you're flying in, you're not sure they're going to work. I got caught at Disney one time. I was on, um I think it was the Harry Potter ride. I don't know if it's Disney or that wouldn't have been Disney. It was the other one down there.

Brett: Universal.

Steve: Universal. It must have been Universal. I was on a ride, and we got caught and stuck, and I wasn't upside down, but I was, like, tilted way back, and we sat there and it got really claustrophobic really fast.

Norm: I, uh, would have hated that.

Steve: Um, I didn't like it at all.

Norm: No.

Brett: Uh, we're huge Kings Island fans. We will go once or twice a year, every year. And I guess maybe subconsciously, I'm not going on the rides that spin. I'm one that I love. Fast, straight, okay. I don't do backwards. I don't do spins. I just can't handle it. My head doesn't, uh I get a headache for it.

Steve: It does not go away. It started about ten years ago.

Brett: Yeah, I can't do it. But it's straight and fast like the beast.

Steve: It's a blast, right?

Brett: Oh, my God, it's a blast. It's a blast, but it's straight. Wooden roller coaster, but nothing fancy. But just good.

Steve: Just good. I'm with you.

Norm: Yeah. Uh, I don't know if you caught this, but, uh ohio's. Jack Nicholas, Ohio State University. Uh, the Ohio State University, uh, graduate who won 72, I think maybe 73. I don't know the count exactly. Majors?

Steve: No, he won 18 majors.

Norm: 18 majors, 170 or 72 tournaments maybe, but 18 majors.

Steve: So Tiger has won more tournaments.

Norm: Yes, this was, uh, tournaments that he 72 tournaments.

Steve: I think a couple of people have won more tournaments. Nobody more majors.

Norm: And I think the majors maybe the record Jack holds is he won every one of the majors at least three times.

Steve: Jack holds the most majors. And I don't know about the breakdown, but 18 majors is the record.

Norm: Yeah.

Norm: Well, Jack, back in 1994, sold the rights to his name and his likeness, uh, to a company that he was partners in, um, Golden Bear.

Steve: It was that golden bear Venture.

Norm: Now. It's called Jack Nicholas Companies.

Steve: Okay.

Norm: Um, but they probably just rebranded. But anyway, back in 94, he sold for $145,000,000 his name and likeness, uh, to this company. Now, Jack's 83 years old now.

Steve: Pretty good return on that.

Norm: Yeah, pretty good.

Steve: That's probably double that now.

Norm: That's a lot of money, right?

Steve: I mean, that's probably 42,000,145.

Norm: And you would figure today maybe that's a half a billion m. I mean.

Steve: That'S a lot of jeff 300 million.

Norm: No pun intended. Anyway, apparently, uh, not apparently so he is sued in two courts in New York and in Palm Beach, Florida. Uh, so there's two cases. Uh, his ex partner elevated it to the federal courts and the federal courts said no. Uh, listen, there's one court, one jurisdiction should be handling this and they bowed out. Uh, so that decision just came on August the first. And apparently the decision that's going to be made either in Florida or in New York, or both, is whether or not this sale of his name and likeness was exclusive or they're having, they're having that litigated. And so far, uh, his ex partner is prevailing in the case.

Brett: What does it mean, though, exclusive and non exclusive?

Steve: Let's turn to can Jack still go do stuff in his name? Probably he's thinking his sons and grandkids. Uh, okay. Or, uh, did they buy an entity? Did they buy a name? Did they buy both? And if you're spending 142,000,000, you're going to be saying, well, look, I bought it all, I bought it all.

Norm: I'm sure this is contract, uh, exegesis. Right. Uh, they're going to analyze trademark terms.

Steve: And there's going to be a lot of nuances. This is where you want the eggheads and the law firms sharpening their pencils and doing the research and then you got litigators. This is about as boring as it gets when you go watch trials like these.

Brett: I can imagine. So somebody got in Jack's head that he could be making some more money.

Steve: Um, I suspect it has to do. Like, I know he still designs golf courses and he still does other stuff and he's probably getting paid for that. And his former partner is saying, you owe me. You can't do this. So there's probably some of that. And then you would wonder, like, if Jack started his own business, doing his own stuff. Um, and he wants to let his kids take over that. And they can't, because they've got to.

Norm: Call it something else, like the Golden Bear.

Steve: The Golden Bear. Whatever. This is like when Paul McCartney wanted his music back for the Beatles. Michael Jackson.

Norm: It's like Taylor Swift.

Steve: And a lot of people did this. This is relevant because a lot of these, uh, old sort of artists sold out recently to Spotify, where they sold their entire collection. Springsteen did this. I think Neil Young did this.

Brett: Ding did as well, I think. What stuff? He wrote it later.

Norm: And they got paid. I mean, it was real money.

Norm: Right?

Steve: You're looking at it like, I never have to worry again, and neither will my kids. And if you can't, like, if Jack can't protect 142,000,000 and I know he had a banker. He had, like, some financial hard times at one point. I, uh, can't remember what that was all about. Uh, but I remember him. I remember seeing an interview with Jack where he was talking about this. And he's like, well, I got in some other businesses and we were going to restaurants. And I know he had this and that, but I'm going to get back to basics.

Norm: Golf.

Steve: Golf is what I do. And we're going to golf. I know that he had ventured out and got stung a little bit financially. I don't know the details of it, though.

Brett: Yeah, that would be one venture I would say never go into as a restaurant. Have you ever heard a restaurant making it?

Steve: A lot of guys do. Like the Eddie George grill. I wonder how that's doing now. I don't know. You just don't what is Nicholas And restaurant? And I'm not saying he was in restaurants. It was something like that. But retail didn't know. You know, it was appliances. He had the Golden Bear Appliance Center.

Norm: That's right.

Brett: Was that oh, my god, appliances.

Steve: And I remember him sort of commenting on that afterwards.

Norm: And there you go. He couldn't use his name.

Steve: He's like, right, this is back. It might have been before then he sold. He might have sold because he lost a lot on those deals. But, uh, I remember the Golden Bear appliance. What do I know about appliances? Like, nothing. They're just using your name, and that's not a business. And look, I've fallen into this trap where I've tried to venture into businesses outside my area, thinking I can do it right. It's like there are guys who are just business people, uh, and that's what they do. That's their niche, and they know how to run businesses. And then if you think this is always my, these are the hard knock lessons you learn in life. It's like everybody sort of operates like, oh, I could be a CEO. I mean, they make too m much. I could do that, or I could do that. Don't be so there's. Give, uh, people credit for when it's due, no question.

Steve: Well, you wonder, I think just that.

Norm: Concept is so weird.

Steve: It's so crazy, right, to set up an informant structure to tell on the Catholic Church yeah. About stuff that you don't. I mean, uh, this is the problem, because the Catholic Church ideology is against the wisdom, the quote, wisdom that they have right like abortion or my assistant marriage or things like that are sort.

Norm: Of against the grain, dude, my assistant pastor at my little church is from Africa.

Steve: Look, the Catholic religion has been around for a long or the Catholic denomination has been around for a long, long time.

Norm: Yet Jesus was very brown, I'm sure.

Brett: Right.

Steve: I mean, it's like, hello, you go down to Mexico and it's uh, mean.

Norm: Yeah. And really they can't recruit enough Americans to serve uh, as priests. So the, I mean, in a way, we have become the Third World. And the Third World is now proselytizing and evangelizing what used to be the First World, right? We are bringing in South American and Mexican, uh, and African, uh, people, uh, priests, uh, to America because we can't get enough Caucasian, uh, if you will. We can't get enough American citizens to become Catholic priests. It's unbelievable. But, uh, it just goes to show it militates against this concept that there's some kind of white supremacy within the Catholic Church is so weird and bizarre that I don't even know I got to ask.

Steve: I got to ask. We were talking about the different, like what it used to be charitable or what it used to be as far as running charitable organizations and what it is now. And now the federal government is taking over that. And there's a competition at hand. Uh, if the government's going to take it, they want all of they I don't think this is exactly what some evil guy in government is thinking, but it's tracking along those lines know? Uh, what use is the Catholic Church if we're doing all the charity anyway? We don't need them for anything.

Norm: So in Communist China, if you want to be a Catholic priest, right? And it's very restricted. The CCP has to approve. So the Catholic Church sends a list of the people they want to be priests. And the CCP either like Hitler did, right, with uh, the Protestant churches. They then approve that person as a member of the party. And uh, whether or not they can uh, be a priest.

Steve: The front line for this is the schools. So the procreate schools. This is the front line for this debate. Because what's going to happen is, I think, at risk is the curriculum at private, uh, Catholic, uh, school or any religious school, any parochial school, private educational, uh, curriculum that is contrary to what the federal government once taught. M or say you've got a Catholic charity and they are uh, sued for not uh, permitting same sex marriages or hiring a certain ideology or whatever. I think it always was staggering to me. I went to all the education, not all. A lot of the private schools around Ohio have a Christian, um, um, uh I don't know what the right word, I'm using a Christian backdrop.

Norm: Foundation.

Steve: Foundation.

Brett: Foundation.

Steve: Yeah. Foundation. So Worcester was a Presbyterian school, but it know where's the God in that when you go to the college, it's gone. And not only that, it's chastised, but because of the religion, we have these schools, and now, uh, they want to guide the curriculum against it. It's such a self defeating prophecy that I think that's where the front line is. I'd love to hear Rob muse on it.

Norm: Yeah, interestingly enough, uh, the Ohio legislature just, uh, introduced, uh, and I think maybe passed I got to update myself on this, but, um, I believe passed a law. I think, uh, DeWine signed it again, subject to correction, uh, a law that will allow it's permissive it doesn't mandate, but will allow religious, um, chaplains to be affiliated with a school district. Not to substitute for psychologists in the case of, um, a child dies or a shooting or whatever it is, but just that they're available, uh, for, uh, help, grief counseling.

Steve: Are they allowed to teach creationism in a public school?

Norm: They're not allowed to teach it. This is strictly counseling.

Steve: No, I understand, but just generally speaking, going beyond what you're talking about.

Norm: Oh, I see.

Steve: Can we teach creationism in the public schools as a theory?

Norm: Right.

Steve: And I've had enormous dragged down fights with people about this who are just totally unreasonable about it because they're okay.

Norm: With teaching Greek and Roman religion. That's fine.

Steve: Well, they'll teach the big bang. They'll teach?

Norm: Uh, I mean classical Greek.

Steve: They'll even teach the Muslim religion. But I'm like, look, don't teach it as the way, right? But teach it as, uh, a science. How is that inconsistent with teaching other about Zeus?

Norm: About Zeus.

Steve: That's right.

Norm: Right. Or Poseidon or anything that would open the door.

Steve: Even a crack for Christianity is getting absolutely slaughtered. That's the front line for this stuff. I think education is going to be the front line for the fight for religion.

Norm: So I'm heartened a little bit by that particular move by the legislature because I don't see any reason to keep rabbis or imams or Catholic priests or Protestant pastors from providing counseling, uh, for students who say, you know what? I want to talk to a priest, I want to talk to a rabbi. I want to talk to somebody where I can talk know what happens in the afterlife. Because little Johnny died over here and he was a good friend of mine. I'm glad that that option is open.

Brett: Well, I think it's also respectful for cultures, because, again, it's a fact. Our schools are multicultural, for sure. We cannot go backwards. And, uh, I'm not advocating going backwards, having a non cultural based high school elementaries and such like that. And each culture approaches death and these bad situations differently. They do. Somalians are a different culture than we are, or Hindu. Hindu. I just, uh, found the other day that Somalian I think it's the Somalian culture. I may be wrong, but it's some culture of that nature that, um, uh, to call them by their miss, uh, or Mr. In. Their last name is actually invoking a cast on them.

Norm: Interesting.

Brett: Where they would rather be called Grandpa or Grandma.

Steve: Interesting.

Brett: So it's back to that, which makes sense. Their name was a cast, your name was certain, and you were always going to be a plumber in that vernacular. It's like, if we don't recognize that, then we need to bring in different cultures to help out. And if it comes down to a religious leader in the Catholic or how's it any different? Exactly.

Steve: How's it any different? Except it's got the cross behind it.

Norm: Right.

Steve: And that has become yes. Really? That's become the evil.

Norm: That's right.

Brett: If it's got the cross on it, then no, you can't we'll let the other bull it's the same thing. Yeah, exactly.

Norm: Um, I think we would, uh, be doing a little bit of a disservice to our, uh, podcast audience if we didn't bring up the ultra touchy post mortem on issue one. So issue one went down in flames. I'll give it a rough 60 40 loss. So it was a resounding no, 77 57, something like that.

Steve: What did anybody expect on this? I mean, as you just drove around.

Norm: Central, steve, you called it. In fact, Steve called it last week. Steve said, I don't think it's going to pass.

Steve: Not even close. And it wasn't even close. Anything was going to be close. And you know how I think that? I always drive around Ohio and I look at all the signs, and there was not one sign saying vote yes for it. I'm sure there was one, but it's like somebody put together a very resounding campaign against it and it was successful. Couple that with the fact that the election is on a day that nobody really wants to go vote anyway unless you have an agenda to vote against it. And I think I don't mean the word agenda in a bad way, but no one issue.

Norm: One issue. Vote. Uh, it was a proxy vote on.

Steve: Shame. On who? I don't know. Look, uh, we've talked about this. This is an interesting issue. It didn't have to hinge on abortion one way or another. Yet it did. And here we are.

Brett: Well, in the postmortem from Huffman talking about, well, we didn't have enough time. Well, that was your own call, right?

Steve: Why not do it right now?

Brett: The big name leaders didn't lift their own weight. Well, again, that's a timing thing. So, uh, he's kind of postmortem himself. It's like, well, that's kind of obvious. Yeah, we didn't have enough time to talk this thing out to really figure out. Plus, I'm hearing that there could be some middle ground if we get both sides looking at it, that yes, when it comes up again, it may not be as extreme. 60 40, maybe a 55 45 and other nuances uh, that make sense that.

Steve: Both parties agree upon I agree with you 100%. To me, this is not a political, uh, vote. This is like, should we make it easy or should we make it hard to amend the Constitution? And what is the Constitution? To me, that's what this is. What is the Constitution to a state?

Norm: Well, you are super rare though, Steve, god bless you for that. But you are an intellectual. And this was not voted that way.

Steve: No, of course not.

Norm: This was a proxy.

Steve: This was a vote that mimics the thing they were trying to eliminate.

Norm: That's exactly.

Steve: This was like a statutory, this was.

Norm: A plebiscite on abortion. And frankly, it is now the 7th. So abortion restriction amendments and abortion permissive amendments, uh, have all gone the pro abortion way, of course, since Dobbs. So there have been seven nationally. Ohio was the 7th one, uh, the 7th state to vote on abortion rights. I believe this was a proxy vote on that. And of course, tens for, uh, the passage of the abortion rights constitutional, um, amendment in. So there have been seven proposed nationally.

Steve: All I'm not so sure that passes in November, though. Well, November is a different story.

Norm: So let me tell, let me tell you how many people turned out. So we all know about the midterm vote, the one where JD. Vance got elected, right? More people turned out for this one issue thing on Tuesday. Of course, over 3 million people, we.

Steve: Made it about abortion. So you're going to get all the pro abortion people out voting and the people against abortion aren't going to link those two things together. I don't care what anybody said. It's like as soon as the one side said it's about abortion, they were basically inviting everybody to go vote against them. And those in favor or those on the other side really don't care. I don't say they don't care, but they're not as fanatic about it.

Norm: I would say you're right.

Steve: There was a ton, like you pointed out, Norm, in a text or an email or something. There was a ton of out of state money. Uh, there was a huge ad campaign against it.

Brett: I think on both sides. It averaged about 15% of the money being spent was from Ohio. Both sides of that.

Steve: That's crazy.

Brett: Now, again, Norm brought up in an email, text flurry that we had. I think a bit more dark was coming on the no.

Steve: Yeah, probably.

Brett: Uh, but that percentage still reflects what.

Steve: Was really going on. And then you wonder, so in November you wonder, it's like everybody is out voting anyway, so you don't have to bring people out for a specific thing. Everybody is out voting anyway, or at least more people will be out voting.

Norm: It's still an off year.

Steve: It's still an off year. But now all of a sudden, you take the sting and people are going to be saying, well, now I need to really get out there and vote. But no, uh, I think it was a bridge too far for the anti abortion folks to try to start amending Constitutions and changing laws. I mean, this was a baby steps problem. I really, really believe that. It's such an overreach to say we're just going to start outlawing abortions everywhere. Look, you got the Dobbs decision now. You can make it a local problem. Take your time, sort it out, figure out where the ball drops, and then start advocating at a grassroots instead of going for the bridge too know. It's like market garden on know.

Norm: Yeah. So currently in Ohio, um, because, uh, there was a, uh, lawsuit, um, and, uh, a stay on Ohio's six week heartbeat bill is in place. So, uh, abortions in Ohio are available up to 22 weeks, which essentially is halfway through a pregnancy. So that's where we are right now. Ohio's abortion is legal. It was legal before this vote, it's legal after this vote up to 22 weeks. Uh, unless and until the six week ban is, um, at, the injunction is, uh, released.

Steve: I don't think an antiabortion amendment is appropriate for a constitution. I don't think a pro abortion amendment is appropriate for a constitution. These are legislative issues, folks. These are issues that the General Assembly needs to get on the floor of the state house and debate. And when Dobbs sent this back to the states, I think that was the vision that I hoped would happen. It's like, let the local legislatures handle it. That's where this should happen. Not another constitutional amendment, just in a different venue. It shouldn't be that way because then you take away people's input on it. You, uh, make it difficult to modify or change the law when science changes, or when facts change, or when populace change. It's like this is a legislative debate. You don't put these kind of things in a constitution. You don't do it. I don't care what side you're on.

Brett: And that's a good point. Then it's more malleable. Yes, when things do change, because they.

Steve: Always do, and Congress can take testimony, the General Assembly, they can bring in witnesses, they can bring in material, they can bring in facts, and they can challenge those. But that doesn't happen for an amendment. It doesn't work that way. When you pass laws, you can have hearings.

Brett: It's pretty much chipped in stone that's it ten Commandment kind of feel to it. It's done.

Steve: If you read the US. Constitution when it has tried to do stuff like this, it almost like liquor is a great example. It's like you don't pass a law and turn it into an amendment that should be a law. It's like you can't govern human behavior with an amendment to a constitution on something that macro. You can't do it. Or micro, I guess.

Norm: It's amazing, isn't it truly amazing that prohibition came in and three quarters of the states were on board with that. That is mind blowing. It is, actually, uh, it really is. The thing is about and then three.

Steve: Quarters change their mind.

Norm: Incredible.

Brett: Ah.

Norm: And I think that was in reaction to the criminalization, right?

Steve: Well, sure.

Norm: They were seeing alcohol, black market for alcohol. And they're looking at, uh, our city people are drinking anyway. And they're dying from bathtub gin because it's shit. It's not inspected.

Steve: Well, you can't govern human behavior. Right. You can't do it. You can't change behavior by passing a law. It doesn't work.

Norm: No, not like that.

Steve: Not that kind of behavior.

Norm: No. And then you've got all the rum runners, the Kennedy family, et cetera.

Brett: So when you guys grown up, who were your favorite superheroes or a superhero? Wow, I'll bring this back to Ohio.

Norm: Mine was probably Superman. Honestly.

Steve: I was a Superman guy. Superman and Batman.

Brett: Superman two Month Festival going to be starting up in Cleveland in September. No way.

Steve: Two months.

Brett: Two months.

Steve: What do they do for two months.

Norm: Is there a connection? Like, did the creator of Superman come from Cleveland?

Brett: He was from Cleveland. They were from Cleveland. Okay. Interesting. So, yeah, Angie and I, what are we waiting for? Madeline come back from somewhere in the Cleveland, uh, airport. And they have a section, the baggage claim area for Superman. You can look at the history of Superman, where the street is, and the two guys that created Superman are from Cleveland.

Steve: It's such an interesting story, isn't it? The Superman concept? Like, a guy comes from another world completely.

Norm: Yes.

Steve: Uh, where he doesn't have any special powers, to Kansas. And then he comes to the United States, where, because of our atmosphere, for lack of better way to put it, he has special because of our sun is yellow. He has special powers. So, like, at home, he was just a normal guy. Here. He's a superman. That can do then, you know, you would think that everybody from the other world then is a good person and they are here to do good, but they're not. Like, this is a special guy who not only has got superpowers here, but he can do good. His vision is good for humanity. I'd have to give us a lot of thought how it slices across our.

Norm: Pre war. Yeah, pre war.

Steve: Sort of, uh, right in the middle of the Depression.

Brett: Right?

Norm: Yeah.

Brett: Um, people were looking for those icons.

Steve: They were no question you had things like, um, eugenics going on, um, or not. Um, Margaret, uh, Sanger and Company.

Norm: Yeah.

Steve: Uh, I think you had sort of this notion that I don't know what that is. I got to think about culturally, how this slices across, because you almost feel like it's a slap to the Christian faith a little bit. Or is it like, we can create this as a human? Can we create a human all powerful person? Or what is it I might be making too much of? It might just be entertainment, but there's something there. There's something interesting there I'd like to think about.

Norm: There is something there. Right? Yeah. Well, and we still have Jesus came to Earth, too.

Steve: That's right. That's what I'm getting. So can you replace that with a Superman and fix everything? Right.

Brett: I mean, we still have billions, um, of dollars spent and made on superhero movies.

Steve: They're the ones that worked for the last decade when others haven't. Right. I mean, the box office smashes. Of course, they're ruining those now, too.

Norm: You know, the one thing I love about Superman is that cone of Silence or whatever that temple is that he goes to the fortress of solitude, the ice cave. Like, dude, I love that.

Steve: It's called my garage.

Norm: Or your RV.

Steve: Right? My RV.

Norm: I mean, when you get in that thing, it's your temple of silence.

Steve: It is. It's a place to go reflect and do things. Again, that's church. It's like, I have to give this more thought. I'm making it up as I go, or ideas are popping in my head as I talk, but there's something there. There's something there.

Norm: Well, Star Wars, uh, also has a lot of, uh, Christian iconography, but, uh.

Steve: Lord of the Rings but Lord of the Rings was intentionally, uh, to mimic Christianity in a good way. I sort of feel like these others are the opposite. It's like replacing it with something that's equally secular. Secular. Yeah. I think there's something there, and I can't quite figure it out, but I'll think it through. I'm not the smartest guy to think about this.

Brett: Uh, well, there's something there. I mean, it's probably been analyzed, and you take it from what other people have analyzed and take it to the.

Norm: Next step and think about it.

Steve: Right. So you wonder it's like, why was he so popular? I mean, it was huge.

Brett: He was huge.

Norm: Still is. Oh, yeah. And all the spin offs. Right. Young Superman, before he really figured out.

Brett: Well, then he incorporated him with a TV series, black and white TV series, which was great, well written, well done. The best they could do with special effects at that point in time. But it still was good stuff.

Norm: And then wasn't there a series, like, in the 80s? Clark and Lois.

Steve: Yeah, Lois and Clark. Lois and Clark.

Brett: Count the spin offs on that incredible. That's how big ah. Like, a Sherlock Holmes. How many spin offs on Sherlock Holmes?

Norm: Jim? There been Jim Crochet song you don't put on Superman's cage.

Steve: And then I think in the middle of the they developed the Bizarro guy who is like the opposite of Superman. The same power, but like it's a very interesting concept.

Norm: Well, good for Cleveland.

Brett: I know, it's great. I think they will get a lot of people who go to this well.

Norm: And Cleveland really needs all the help it can get. Well, sure, exactly.

Brett: And why not celebrate something that is very.

Norm: You know, I'm concerned about the Cleveland disation, really, of most of Ohio's big know, toledo, Columbus, Cincinnati. So anything that can help those know, a little renaissance. Oh, man, a lot of cool stuff happens.

Steve: A lot of cool stuff. Common Sense, Ohio show.

Norm: But we have we're starting to burn out. Like, Cleveland has burned out its inner city and it's starting to become a thing here in central Ohio. We talked a little bit about how intel and the growth is going out. And they're talking about a second outer belt now. And you're thinking, oh my god, the inner cities of these, uh, big towns are being neglected and forgotten and overlooked. And it's good that things maybe come back.

Brett: It would be good. Well, and that's this sort of thing, it just needs these little pockets of right. You know, that can become an annual.

Norm: Event like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Brett: Right. Bring something that's truly Cleveland, because Rock and Roll Hall of Fame looked like it was going to do something.

Norm: Uh, they have the ceremony in New York, La. And it's like, come on, guys.

Brett: And it is a great museum and you just pumped about it. But at the same time, they need.

Norm: To do that ceremony in Cleveland.

Brett: Yes, they do.

Norm: They really do. And I don't think the rockers are the I don't think they're the people that are holding out. I think Aerosmith would go to Cleveland and receive their adulation as much as New York City. Now, is New York City going to offer more stuff?

Brett: Yes.

Norm: But they'll still come to Cleveland.

Brett: I think so, too. Make it something big.

Norm: Right. And who would argue New York City is a place to visit now, right? New York City is not what it used to be. People are leaving, so give Cleveland a chance. Right. Um, I agree. Didn't the Guardians just win last night or something?

Brett: I have no idea.

Norm: I think they beat the Toronto Guardians.

Brett: It says two emblem.

Norm: The formerly known two icons on a bridge.

Brett: That's what the guardians are.

Norm: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Another one. So, uh, hey, a little federal news here. Uh, it's a little troubling. So we no longer have the largest navy. We now have the number two navy. And it's starting to, uh, kind of show up in very uncomfortable ways. Not, uh, to mention, like, the Malucan Straits. And places where we can't really patrol, uh, like we used to.

Steve: How in the hell do we let this I sorry to interrupt you. How in the F do we let this happen?

Brett: I was kind of thinking the same thing.

Steve: What in the F is going on in the world? We don't have the most powerful navy on the Effing planet. And if we don't have it, who's got it? China.

Norm: China. So there was a flotilla off the Aleutian Islands, uh, Alaska, for people that don't know what Aleutian is, it's a chain of islands. It's US. Territory archipelago. Uh, and there was an eleven ship combined, russian, Chinese, communist, uh, Chinese, uh, flotilla, um, off of the Aleutians in international waters, but very close. And the US. Navy announced, I don't know, out of weakness, I don't know. But they said it was not a national security concern, uh, quote, unquote, coming out of the Pentagon.

Steve: So who is it? Chamberlain. Neville. Well, I'm just thinking Neville Chamberlain.

Brett: We can read their minds that we know it's not.

Steve: Look, if they're saying it's not, then it is.

Norm: Well, I'm just thinking this is an.

Steve: Arm flexing right in the mirror in front of the United States of America.

Norm: Uh, no question.

Brett: Exactly.

Norm: The Pearl Harbor fleet. Yamamoto and the guys were in international waters, too, when they attacked Pearl Harbor. Right. The boats can be in one place, the missiles and the airplanes can be right on territory.

Steve: Them saying we can do this, that's, uh, not going to stop us.

Norm: Nana NAN and we're together, I mean, they were natural enemies forever, China and Russia. And we have, look, we have created.

Steve: The consortium of evil.

Norm: We have created a consortium, no question about. We have pushed Russia into the arms of China for any number of reasons and vice versa.

Steve: Um, uh, this is so sickening to me.

Norm: Yeah.

Steve: And look, for those who say that America is not great or it's never been great, or we're horrible, we're premised upon awful, miserable things.

Norm: Right?

Steve: Yeah. Go live under China for a little while and you can identify a handful of things out of the United States, maybe even two handfuls or three that have not been great. But most of the stuff know, it's like most of the stuff that everybody agrees with is, don't be a racist asshole, treat people with respect, follow the golden rule, do these things in the right way and honor your parents. Do all these sort of things that make sense to us.

Norm: Um, america has sacrificed greatly for the world. 36,000 workers who built the Panama Canal died of malaria building the Panama Canal. Who controls the Panama Canal now? The country of Panama has sold the operational rights to China.

Steve: Uh, awesome. And we built it.

Norm: And we built it. Uh, we gave it to Panama under Jimmy Carter for $1 and they got it. Okay, fine. Panama can now operate the Panama Canal, but we didn't write in a clause that says you can't sell it to.

Brett: The right back to the Jack Nicholas conversation. We think it's a great deal at.

Steve: The point in time signaling nonsense.

Brett: Exactly.

Steve: Look, we have to take responsibility. The United States of America has to take responsibility to be the force of good in the world. And you could say, well, that's your version of good and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, you're damn right it is, because it's good and it's right.

Norm: Do you know what?

Steve: We know what the other side wants to do.

Norm: What the other target was instead of Pearl Harbor was the Panama Canal during the war with Japan.

Steve: I didn't know that.

Norm: Yes. They had on submarines, if you can believe this. This is how, technically, we think we're now the uber technical, uh, society. Back in World War II, the Japanese had airplanes that were tethered to submarines. So these submarines would go across the Pacific Ocean underwater with airplanes on deck. They would then, uh, unwrap the airplane. That's right. And they were going to do a combined just like they did at Pearl Harbor a combined sneak attack with submarines because submarines were at Pearl Harbor as well as airplanes and destroy the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is a long way from China. Right. Just like it is from Japan. And the idea that the Communist Chinese Party can shut down the Panama Canal or control it in time of war.

Steve: That'S bad news, man.

Norm: Uh uh. You're talking about the US. Fleet having to go around the and.

Steve: I think, you know, what people don't understand is there is evil in the world. It's sort of like Superman and Bizarro, right. You got good and evil. There is evil in the world. And you know evil because it's not good. And that begs the question, do some thinking about it. You'll come to the right answer. You know evil when it's not good. And at the end of the day, somebody's going to fill the vacuum. Somebody's going to do it. And if we back off our power because we're horrible people and we keep shooting ourselves in the foot saying we're awful, miserable people because we had slavery at one point and we're these horrible Catholics or whatever the hell we're talking about it's like, well, China will be happy to take that place. They'll be happy to do it. And guess what we're left with? We're left with Chinese philosophy on things. And that's not good because I almost.

Brett: Get the feeling that when people say things about, well, America did this, that and the other, uh, they're expecting a perfect country.

Norm: Correct.

Steve: Yes.

Brett: It's impossible.

Norm: It's impossible.

Brett: We cannot be perfect, but we can try.

Steve: It gets worse, though, because then they say, well, give me power and I'll fix it.

Brett: Yes.

Steve: And then give me all the power and I'll fix it. That's sort of the unspoken, implicit conclusion uh, to that. And you're right. People say we're imperfect. This is what I call my, uh.

Norm: Hey, it was right in the preamble. People need to get over that in order to form a more perfect a more perfect union. Not a perfect union, a more perfect a more perfect which means we know there are faults, and we're trying to make it better.

Steve: Christianity explains this, because we all accept that human nature is imperfect. It is imperfect by its very definition. So anything built with humans is going to be imperfect. You can only make it more perfect. You can only strive for perfection and then ultimately walk in the shoes of Christ, if that's what you believe I happen to. And then that's our goal in know, ultimately to get there.

Norm: Even as a teenager, Jesus sassed his mother.

Steve: Yeah.

Norm: And I've brought this up to priests, and I've said, hey, wait a minute. You say Jesus never committed a sin?

Steve: Yeah, but he was right, Norm.

Norm: He told us what he said. Woman basically, mind your place. And I'm like, Wait a minute, Jesus. You're, like, 13, and you're sassing your mother? What happened to the Fourth Commandment?

Steve: But aren't we, uh it's sort of implicit that the things that we build are going to be imperfect. And that's what makes our country so interesting to me and fascinating to me, because our founders knew this, and they created a country that did not give humans complete control over everything. It divided the power just enough to prevent the authoritative crap that China's involved in, that Russia's been involved in, that Hitler was involved in. It's like we created a diversity of power that let us strive as humans with our warts and our imperfections toward that common goal, to try to get perfect.

Norm: That's right.

Steve: And now people think that, well, just give me power, and I'll make you perfect.

Norm: Right?

Steve: Yeah. Good luck.

Norm: Yeah. Um, I know Steve's got a run. He's got an important engagement here, this, uh, you know, feeding his family. Uh, so I just want to throw this in. I've been waiting for a crack to appear in the edifice of the Democratic Party over the Biden impeachment inquiry because it is now documented that $20 million just came out yesterday. Uh, the bank record showing $20 million going from these various, um, uh, entities, foreign entities.

Steve: One being 8 million from China.

Norm: That's right. That, uh, went into Biden coffers, some of which those accounts are, uh, co owned or co signer with Joe, uh, and money then went to grandchildren, uh, even beyond Hunter. So yesterday, Harold Ford Jr. Former congressman.

Steve: Um, related to Ford.

Norm: No, no, he's a Democratic, uh, congressman.

Steve: I know, but I didn't know if there's any relation to the no, no, sir.

Norm: No. He's African American. Um, uh, and, uh, his family operated, uh, probably still do funeral homes down south.

Steve: Anyway, he is death is a hell of an industry.

Norm: Harold ford is one of the most, uh he's one of the most gentle, practical, even handed Democrats. Uh, uh, he's old school Democrat. He's like a bull weevil Democrat, right? He's of that school that is very careful about weighing the consequences of use of power. So a little bit like, uh, you know, he's that type of Democrat. Um, he said that since money has now been demonstrated to have gone from foreign, uh, interests to the Bidens, that it is time for Congress to open up an inquiry. An inquiry. He didn't say, let's impeach. Biden. He's not there yet. But he said, we are now at the point where it ought to be looked into.

Norm: Here, let me get him on the.

Steve: Phone, and I'll get him on the.

Norm: Phone, all right, at our meeting.

Steve: So if that were the case, anybody on the other side of this would have been saying, throw Donald Trump in jail. In prison for the rest of his life. These are corrupt, holy people. This is the worst of the worst. He's a colluder with China, our arch.

Norm: Enemy, and an unregistered agent.

Steve: And an unregistered agent. And you know what? They'd be right.

Norm: That's right.

Steve: They'd be right.

Norm: They'd be right.

Steve: But it's treated differently now. And this is what offends me so much, and this notion, frankly, that because Hunter Biden took the money and it didn't go directly to Joe, and he was just trading on his dad's name, and his dad didn't necessarily know, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Anybody's ever been in a courtroom on a money laundering charge, they know exactly how well that defense is going to work. It's like, you can't say 30 shell companies. You can't say, well, come on, I'm going to acquiesce to my country's arch enemy, giving $8 million to my son and grandchildren, uh, and say, well, that's okay, because I'm not really doing anything anyway. Even the appearance of that stinks so much. And it's criminal, right? If the way Hunter was doing it, because he wasn't a registered, um, he didn't register to do business with foreign agents. So anyway, I think this one is an easy one to me. This is an easy one to me, and it exposes the bias of the media. And I also think the opposite is probably true. There'd be a whole lot of people on the right, if this were the Trump thing, saying, well, it's no big deal. Don't worry about know, trump never really got the money. He didn't fewer, I think, fewer, but there'll be some.

Norm: But Mitch and Paul Ryan, they threw Trump overboard at that first, uh, that first two years of his administration. Paul Ryan, speaker of the House. Republicans control the house. They did not move on his wall. They did not move on immigration. They did not move on health care. Remember, Trump was going to, he was going to revoke Obamacare, and Paul Ryan didn't do it.

Steve: What's his name from Arizona? McClain.

Norm: Yeah, but Paul Ryan was speaker of the House. That's all you know, uh, John McCain.

Steve: Was a McCain was the final vote on that. Yeah.

Norm: And that was in the Senate. So the Senate didn't pass, but neither did the know the whole thing.

Steve: Trump had a hotel. Didn't he have an interest in a hotel in like there was a whole somebody was alleging that, and it was like the worst possible violation you could ever imagine. He did not I'm not saying it's true.

Norm: Prior to him, prior to him becoming president, they explored yes. Expanding possibility of that's. Right.

Steve: So they explored the possibility of that. And the people, his enemies made that a capital offense.

Norm: That's right.

Steve: In this scenario, we have $8 million documented changing hands. Forget about the other, uh, 22 or the other, um, um twelve, but, uh, $8 million from China into Hunter Biden's hands in joint accounts with his dad, Joe Biden. I don't care who you are. That needs to be looked at. Yeah, it needs to be looked at.

Norm: Because bribery is specifically listed in the Constitution as, ah, an impeachable offense.

Steve: And look, you can say I didn't do anything with the money, or I didn't give them any quid pro quo for it. And maybe he didn't. But then in that one situation where he fired the prosecutor who was looking at burisma, it's like all right, now I think it's incumbent upon Biden to prove that it's not related, because that's.

Norm: After he got paid.

Steve: That stinks.

Norm: That happened after he got Burisma money.

Steve: And he brags about it on the world television. He's bragging about, oh, I got a.

Norm: Council of Foreign Relations right on camera. And then the lady in Moscow that gave him, uh, 3 million, uh, the mayor's wife in Moscow, who was curiously not on Biden's persona non grata list. Right. She got left off. Uh, she went and had a personal lunch with him after her donation, like, the next week, after she gave the money.

Steve: And Hunter, he's a hell of a finger painter.

Norm: That looks pretty transactional.

Steve: So now we've got people buying Hunter Biden's paintings, and they're getting government positions. I mean, look, this thing stinks. It stinks. Biden's been a freaking liar since remember he ran back in what was that, in the 80s or 90? When did he run before? And he got exposed about lying about his, uh, law degree and his college education. It's like he's a freaking liar. Great. He's been exposed. So don't look, I don't care.

Norm: I was with Trump. Remember that? I was with Mandela, and my grandpappy.

Steve: Always told me he's a freaking liar. And look, I'm okay with it. If you want to vote for Biden instead of Trump, fine. You're wrong. But fine. Pick the lesser of evils, but don't defend this shit. This is, like, undefensible.

Norm: Yeah, it really is.

Steve: Indefinite. You can't act like this, uh, is the old Clint Eastwood. Don't piss down my neck and tell me it's raining. Well, biden took $20 million. His family took $20 million from our enemies.

Norm: Well, and Harold Ford, I mean, you could not have a more a reasonable, down the middle guy that calls balls and strikes. So he's very pro climate change theory. He's pro, uh, affirmative action. He has classical Democratic points that he is still adheres to. But on this, he sees the conflict. Right?

Steve: It's horrible.

Norm: And this is the first crack in that edifice that I've seen, by the way. Joe Manchin is talking about leaving the Democratic Party. That came out, and, hey, that's West Virginia. That's next door.

Steve: Well, it's like, um I don't know. Listen to the news coverage on this Biden thing. Well, the Republicans tried again, but didn't link any money up to Joe Biden and didn't do yet. They have right there.

Norm: Well, it's bribery. It doesn't say in the Constitution, bribery. And then you do something for the bribe. It just says bribery.

Steve: And Trump just wanted to trump explored, built. This is what I'm glad you guys remember those facts, because Trump was exploring building a hotel, and that was considered the grossest conflict of interest you could.

Norm: Ever have real estate before he was president. Hey. Russia real estate mogul, builder, investor, looking to expand empire around the world.

Steve: This is cash trading hands, folks. It's bad. All right, well, with that, we got to wrap it up. Okay, um, so this has been another riveting dose of common sense coming at you right from Commonsense, Ohioshow.com, where you can check us out at Commonsense, Ohioshow.com. We have blogs. We have easy ability to click subscribe to, uh, get every single episode. And as I said, share it with your friends, with your neighbors, with your family, even if they hate you at things everybody says, don't talk politics now. Talk about our show, damn it, because it makes sense. All right, well, with that, we are coming at you right from the middle each and every week in common sense, Ohio, at least until now.