Shownotes
Hey folks, Brett and Norm here, jumping into another week with Common Sense Ohio! Shoutout to Harper and Company CPAs Plus for keeping us financially savvy. Honestly, nothing like walking out of a meeting with those guys feeling like you’ve got your business game plan down for the quarter!
Free speech on college campuses. Norm raises the flags on this shift from creating ‘safe zones’ to muzzling people’s opinions. We get it, not every opinion is peachy, but bottling up resentment isn’t the way to go. Let’s keep conversations flowing, even when they’re tough to swallow.
Oh, and let’s not forget Trump’s latest speech. A mix of comedy club vibe with some heartfelt stories thrown in. Seriously, no matter your politics, those stories of young heroes in the gallery tug at your heartstrings and remind you we're all rooting for the same team in the end.
Back on Ohio turf, there's chatter on whether school board candidates should flash their political colors on the ballot. Yeah, it’s already happening on the sly, but do we really need to make everything a political tug-of-war? Just some food for thought.
Wrapping up on a high note, cheers to Ohio throwing a cool $200 million at Career and Technical Education! Let’s get more kids pumped about skilled labor jobs. Welders, machinists, electricians—these gigs are not just vital but bring in the bucks. It’s high time we show them some love.
Common Sense Moments
00:00 Free Speech vs. Campus Censorship
06:36 "Hamas Attack Sparks Campus Protests"
10:15 Concerns Over Campus Free Speech
17:39 Trump's Speech: Comedy Meets Drama
25:40 Moderate Democrats on Wasteful Spending
27:19 Senate's Transgender Sports Vote Debate
34:37 Clinton-Gingrich Budget Lessons
38:37 Ontario-US Trade and Tariff Tensions
42:51 Ford's Cross-Border Tariff Issues
49:07 Capitol Display: Only US Flags
54:17 Partisan Influence in Local Politics
57:36 Judicial Seat Deals in Politics
Recorded at the 511 Studios, in the Brewery District in downtown Columbus, OH.
info@commonsenseohioshow.com
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.
Copyright 2025 Common Sense Ohio
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Transcripts
Welcome to Common Sense Ohio. Commonsenseohioshow.com is a website to go to. Well, you see one person gone. He's, doing his job. Let's just put it that way. So Steve will be back next week. So and I am back. I'm Brett.
Brett Johnson [:This is Norm. Today's show brought to you, by Harper and Company CPAs Plus, specializing in assisting entrepreneurs with their accounting and tax needs, helping you navigate financial complexities and strategically enhancing your business. They emphasize the importance of having a trusted advisor to facilitate financial clarity and support growth, allowing businesses business owners to focus on their enterprise rather than just day to day operations. I was just there this past week working with my guy over there, and, I walked out with some clarity, in regards to what I'm doing. But every I do every time. Just it's just that one little piece. It doesn't have to be earth shaking, but it's that, oh, that's a different way of looking at that, and that changes your whole perspective for the next quarter. So, head over there.
Brett Johnson [:Harper c p a plus dot com and, set up a free complimentary consultation. They'd love to talk to you. So, today in history, today is March 7. We have a few things. It probably won't lend to anything we're gonna talk about today, but I always think it's kinda neat to see what happened on this date. Back in 1965, state troopers used nightsticks and tear gas to attack American civil rights activists as they crossed the bridge at Selma back in in, Montgomery. Wow. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. American boxer Mike Tyson became the youngest heavyweight to acquire the World Boxing Association's championship belt when he defeated James Smith in 12 rounds. Today, the telephone was in, was patented by Alexander Graham Bell. Talk about a a changing thing in our world.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:There are a few things that you can say that. Wright Brothers in the plane, telephone, anything communications and and and moving things and people Yeah. I think are kinda big. And that's that's wild.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. When you think of the telephone, gosh, all of that infrastructure, led to the Internet eventually. Right. I mean, it's incredible.
Brett Johnson [:And he was just trying to find a a better way for the deaf to to really communicate. Yeah. Ultimately, it was just that really wasn't the the big game plan of, like, I'm gonna change the world and how they talk to each other. And wasn't Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:Wasn't there some kind of accident in the laboratory? And his first call was
Brett Johnson [:Something like it. Hey. Come and help me or something like that. I I think. I don't know whether that's myth myth or what. I'm not sure. Yeah. Who knows? The state US senator Daniel Webster spoke about spoke out in favor of the compromise of 1850.
Brett Johnson [:I would advise you to go take a look at Compromise of 1850. That's an interesting if, you know, you know, you learned that in in high school, maybe middle school, go back and take a look at Compromise of 1850 again and really kind of study that up. I I dug a little bit deep on that going, I forgot about the nuances of that. How, you know, we're trying to save the country before the war, civil war, and, okay, this state comes in as slave, this one doesn't, just all the nuances around. That was a
Norm Murdock [:It bought, like, ten years of peace. Yes. It did. And then the civil war hit.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Yeah. And in your world, Janet Guthrie was born today.
Norm Murdock [:Oh, wow.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Now if you don't know who she is, American race car driver, she is, let's see what she became the first woman to compete in the Indy five hundred.
Norm Murdock [:Right. Yeah. Yeah. I got to, actually race on track with her
Brett Johnson [:Oh, really?
Norm Murdock [:At Lime Rock, Connecticut. And, back in, when I was doing some pro racing in showroom stock, she was also racing the same make and model of car. And, you you know, it's just neat that particular race to just be able to say, hey. I was on track with, a luminary like her.
Brett Johnson [:That would be great.
Norm Murdock [:It was cool.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. It was. Cool. Alright. What do we got? I mean, yeah, as we before we came on live, it's like, oh, we got anything to talk about? Oh. Oh my god. Nothing at all. Nothing's happening.
Brett Johnson [:I mean, it's I
Norm Murdock [:mean, so Jeez. We could dive into a bunch of news, but I thought, like, just to open up with since all three of us, Steve included, my my my co panelists here on the show, all three of us believe in free speech. Mhmm.
Brett Johnson [:We're
Norm Murdock [:all real big on that, and we're kinda like, you know, yeah, people will say horrible things, when they do have free speech. You know, they in other countries, you get locked up. You know, if you say something, that upsets other people and they're in power, they get to, you know, they they they don't have a first amendment, but we do. And, one of the things that's kinda bothering me and I it's it's a it's an unfolding thing. It's like we went from one extreme to the other on college campuses. We went from these, safe spaces and, you know, controversy free zones, little bubbles where nobody can say anything that will upset other people. And the, you know, the word snowflake, you know, arose in that context and, you know, because people can't handle other people's opinions. And so because they're upset, we're supposed to lose our first amendment rights, not be able to say things.
Norm Murdock [:So when I was a college student, we had, we had, you know, both sides. I remember the, the people going to, you know, like, into the military. They would have events on campus, that would be pro American, pro military, pro, ROTC program, you know, that kind of thing. And then on the other hand, there would be a socialist, communist, Marxist rallies, and they would, they would chant and sing and, have their signs and have their meetings. And that was both of those are fine with me. Right? You know, like, you know, just deal with it. Just other people have other opinions, and and and some of it may really tick you off. And, and then you have the right to say what you want.
Norm Murdock [:Right? So at any rate, what happened on college campuses, if you guys remember, after the, terrible, slaughter of of, gosh. It's shame on me for not remembering the exact number of victims, but I think it was something like 1,500 or or what number was it in in Israel that were killed on October? Yeah. I
Brett Johnson [:can't believe it's a ton. It was a ton. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:And it
Brett Johnson [:it was Too many to way too many. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:And and what it was comparable to, I heard last night, would be if if if you took the same percentage of US citizens, it was the equivalent of 40,000 Americans being slain that day. So it's a big for a small country like Israel, it was a huge number. And, of course, it was completely barbaric. Right? I mean, you know, people paragliding in, Hamas, you know, paragliding in soldiers to kill young people at a concert. I mean, it it I mean, it's just unbelievable what happened that day. And so what happened on use on on, on American campuses is there arose, almost in consequence of that attack and and The US, you know, revulsion out of it, under president Biden, rightly so, is that the repro Hamas demonstrations on college campuses, and a lot of it was by non students of those campuses, but a lot of it was by students and even by professors on those campuses. So, you know, this is a fine thing, you to to split. It's it's a very it's like walking a a a a a fence post, you know, walking a fence.
Norm Murdock [:You've got people have the right to the first amendment in this country. Right? So even though they say horrible things like, you know, go back to the gas chambers, from the river to the sea, eliminate all the Jews, and and just horrible stuff. Right? That's all protected by the first amendment. But what is not protected, okay, are direct threats to people's safety. Like, I'm going to murder you, that kind of, of speech. Or I'm going to, burn down your dormitory, you know, where, several Jewish students may live. Those those are direct threats. Those are illegal no matter if it has to do with race or just, you know, you got in a fight at a bar and you tell a guy you're gonna kill him.
Norm Murdock [:Right? You you can't you can't threaten people. That's not protected speech. But that's, you know, there's there's a fine distinction there between one and the other. At any rate, we all condemned on this show and and I'm sure many others. We we condemned the hate speech, but yet we're protecting the hate speech. Okay. So that's a difficult concept for people to understand. But, you know, years and years ago, Jewish lawyers at the ACLU, for example, protected the right of skinheads and neo Nazis to march through Jewish neighborhoods, like Skokie in Illinois.
Norm Murdock [:Right? So here they are, you know, condemning you know, they they hate Jews, and and yet Jewish lawyers are protecting their right to speech. So wrap that around your head and try to understand that the idea is when people can say things out loud, even disgusting things, horrible things, that when it's spoken out in the open, it's a disinfectant in a way. Because we get to see who they are, what they think, what they say, and then we get to argue about it and put them down in terms of social media or in terms of our own speech. So long way around the barn. And sorry, Brett. But No. You're good.
Brett Johnson [:No. But it's it sets it sets the Sets the tone. It makes it makes
Norm Murdock [:it So what I'm upset about right now is or I should say concerned, is that now with president Trump in power, I like all the verbiage that he and his administration are saying about protecting Jewish students on campus, which is absolutely, you know, the case. But what they're also saying, in particular, an adviser whose other work I admire, Stephen Miller, who's one of the close advisers to the president, has been saying things like, we will not permit, you know, speech, condemning Israel or condemning, Jewish people, on college campuses. And what I would say so that's the complete swing. Now we're swinging the completely opposite way. So we we went from saying we didn't want, you know, anti Israel stuff, you know, we we wanted we wanted, we didn't want that, but we're gonna protect it. And now with the new administration, I'm concerned that they're gonna try to shut down free speech on college campuses. And I don't like these speech codes on college campuses anyway. I'm like, just let the first amendment roll.
Norm Murdock [:If if there's violence, the campus police arrest people and charge them. If there's direct threats to people's safety, like, you know, I'm gonna hit you. I'm gonna murder you. I'm gonna burn down your dorm. Arrest them for that, for threatening. But, you know, if somebody wants to say horrible things about Jewish people or or Irish people or white people or black people, Listen, they have the right to hate. They have the right to say that stuff. And we wanna protect their right to say that stuff, not because we agree with it.
Norm Murdock [:We vehemently disagree. But if they don't have the right to say that, then they're gonna go underground. They're gonna form, you know, Ku Klux Klan or they're gonna form, Hamas cells in The US. They're gonna do it all underground. And I we don't want that. We we you know? So
Brett Johnson [:No. And I it's I'm concerned about it. I I am too. I think we need to take a look at the consequences. So let's let's play this out. Doing a Steve thing here. But so let's say you stop all of the the rhetoric. You're not allowed to say it.
Brett Johnson [:You can't stop them from acting out though. I think it turns into, okay, if we can't talk about it and we can't protest, we're gonna make a big bang out of this.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. We're going to I'm gonna throw a Molotov cocktail.
Brett Johnson [:And that's gonna be the way we speak about it.
Norm Murdock [:That's right.
Brett Johnson [:And and to your point too, it's gonna go underground, or they're gonna they're gonna find you can't stop them from thinking it and wanting to say this stuff. It just it just isn't going to happen just because you say, we're not allowed to do that here. Guess what? It turns into other action.
Norm Murdock [:That's right.
Brett Johnson [:Because they're frustrated as well too about who they're talking about. And they're gonna lash out. Yeah. So why not just let them lash out with their tongues versus guns or bombs? Right. Yeah. Yes. Things can get out of hand. Of course, the heat of the moment.
Brett Johnson [:That's why you have security there. That's why you have the university police or city police. Yeah. State probably state, I should say, really, when it comes to university. And They'll be protected, but it's like you don't stop the the tongues because it's gonna turn into something else.
Norm Murdock [:So even even back in the dark ages when I was when I was in college. Right? You know? In the previous century. You Previous century. You know, it's I'm okay with the idea that you gotta get a permit. So when when the crazy Ku Klux Klan wants to do a demonstration on the state house grounds, they have to get a permit to do that. Or if the or, you know, or if Black Lives Matter wants to, they have to get a permit if they're gonna be on public property.
Brett Johnson [:Or right to life or Or right choice.
Norm Murdock [:That's right. Or the NRA or the anti gun, people. Yeah. You know, whatever. Right? Yeah. So I'm in favor I mean, I think that's okay because you're not limiting their speech. You're just saying, you know, basically, we need to have security there. So we need to know what day you're planning your event, and then we will try to protect you, and try to keep the opposing sides from hurting each other.
Norm Murdock [:And, you know, so that's legit to have a permit system. But, but to squelch free speech, mister Miller, I I love your public I love your policies for the Trump administration in general, but you're you're you're wrong on this. If it's going to lead to, some kind of speech code on college campuses that goes to the completely opposite direction of of you know, we can't do that. Yeah. This is America. They have the right to say their filthy stuff, and we have the right to respond to it in kind.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. And and, you know, if nothing else, you maybe think you're doing the right thing, but if you think you're playing to your base, stop doing that too. Yeah. Because I actually, you're not.
Norm Murdock [:You're not. You're not.
Brett Johnson [:I mean, I think I think the base is more intelligent than that. And once they kind of play this out and hear hear people like us talking about, it's like, woah. Wait a minute.
Norm Murdock [:Well, after all, the base, mister Miller, Steven, who, you know, I would love to talk to you. I wish you were on our show. But the base, after all, has many complaints about having our speech repressed. Like, for example, when we post on Facebook or or on, YouTube or whatever, you know, there was that whole FBI thing where they were squelching people on the right or people that wanted to talk about COVID or whatever it was under the Biden administration. And we didn't like our speech being repressed. So, yeah, like Brett says, I don't think you're reading the room. I don't think the base is in favor of restricting speech. In fact, in president Trump's State of the Union, he he had rhetoric in there about we are the free speech, providers and and and protectors.
Norm Murdock [:So live those words. That that's what I would say. Like, you know, don't forget what your president just said in the State of the Union speech or the joint session speech. You know? Anyway, enough about that. Yeah. But, it's it's concerning. Yeah. You know? And we don't want that to happen Yep.
Brett Johnson [:Yep. In America. What else you got?
Norm Murdock [:Well, I think the State of the Union or it wasn't a formal State of the Union, but they called it a joint a a speech, a joint session of Congress where the senate and the house are are together in the same room. And representatives from the Supreme Court in the in the military were there as well. To me, I thought it was an excellent speech. I I would have if if I was advising him, I would have taken some of the small ad hoc thing, you know, like, calling, saying poke Pocahontas, right, from from from the bully pulpit pulpit. You know, I wouldn't have done that. Yeah. There there were some there were some excesses like that that that, frankly, I don't think make president Trump look great when he does those things.
Brett Johnson [:No. No.
Norm Murdock [:But it was the longest speech of its kind, is what they they're they're saying he he blew Bill Clinton away, in time wise. And I remember that speech by president Clinton. He went on he went on a long time. But Trump's speech was, I have to say parts of it were very entertaining. I heard it compared to a comedy stand up where, you know, people are being thrown out of the room like like you're at a comedy club. Half the people are clapping and the other half are seriously pissed off, kinda like a comedy club. And so the serious parts of the thing, though the the thing that I don't get and David Axelrod, who's a democrat, adviser, even he he agrees with me on this, that when it came to those tender moments, like when the sister, the two sisters and the mother of of the girl that was raped and killed, and and the, police officer's widow is there, and the little 13 year old cancer survivor kid who got a secret service badge, and the guy who's gonna go to West Point. And all of these, you know, all of these tender moments that are just these are just human beings, and I don't put a Republican or Democrat badge on them.
Norm Murdock [:They're they're fellow citizens. They've either had wonderful things happen or horrible things happen. And the and president Obama kinda started this. He would pick people out of the gallery and and point out their stories. And why wouldn't you what I don't get and what Axelrod is, you know, what what he doesn't get is why wouldn't the Democrats who otherwise are not gonna clap on policy, which I get. You know, you don't have to clap for Trump's, he's shutting the border and you just and you think the border ought to be open. Okay. That's a policy disagreement.
Norm Murdock [:You don't have to clap for that. But when but when children are standing up or cancer survivors or a little boy wants to be a policeman or whatever, and why would you not stand up Yeah. And respectfully clap for the, you know, the survivors of a family that's gone through a murder or a rape. You know? You're you're not clapping for the immigration policy. What you're clapping for is the human being that's up in that gallery.
Brett Johnson [:Exactly. The guts it took to be in front of international TV coverage.
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:I mean, that's a that's like Right. Basically singing in the choir at church. Exactly. It it takes guts, and they're nervous, and they yeah. It it's a you know, clap for the human versus the policy because if nothing else, to give them support that they, hey. Thanks for showing up. We know this is a this is a huge leap for you to be here. Right.
Brett Johnson [:In your sit the situation that's been described Right. Thanks for showing up. Thank you. Appreciate it. You know? And so what's a once in a lifetime opportunity?
Norm Murdock [:And what that does, right, is even though that room, you've got half the people sitting on their hands or holding up their, you know, ping pong paddles with statements on it. Right. And you've got the other half clapping. And when when there are these moments where we ought to come together to acknowledge a hero up in the gallery or a survivor. Right? That kinda brings the country together on a human level. And that's what Axelrod and I are talking. I think Brett just said what he thought. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:And, you know, it what it shows is is that at the end of the day, we're we're fellow citizens and we love our, you know, our brother man and and brother woman. And what we're saying is, yeah, I respect you. I'm I I I hope all the best for you going forward in your life. And, you know, I I guess I don't see that as partisan. And by sitting on their hands, they don't make themselves they don't rise to the moment on on those kinds of things. They they went in to with a strategy that they were gonna show absolutely no emotion. They weren't going to do anything except if Trump's for it, I'm against it. And because Trump is is trying to showcase, if you will, tender moments with fellow citizens, that's not a Trump thing.
Norm Murdock [:Even though he's the guy that introduced those people, some of those people are probably Democrats. It but that wasn't but that's not the point of the story. The point of the story is, you know, we wanna support our law enforcement. Here's a 13 year old little kid that wants to be a police officer. He happens to be African American, and, you know, he he's a cancer survivor. And can't you stand up and say, what a wonderful story and and and applaud him. It it so that bothered me at the State of the Union. It's like, why does there have to be this almost, you know, shrill kind of attitude by by half of the people there.
Norm Murdock [:I and, you know, and and you heard me earlier also say that there are things that Trump said that I disagree with. He he should not have he should not have done these, baiting things that he did with the other side, you know, where he points his finger and and all that. That that that Yeah. He should be a bigger guy than that. I want him to do better than that. I wanted Obama to do better than that. But both of those Obama kinda did the same thing. He he would single out the Supreme Court.
Norm Murdock [:I remember when he pointed to the the Supreme Court, and and Alito shook his head and said, no. You're wrong about that. And and there those kinda interactions level have no business at a State of the Union speech, in my opinion.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I I agree. It's interesting. The hot mic takes that you heard coming from that, you know, at the very beginning with Johnson and and, Vance are up top and they're, yeah, you probably caught the hot mic too about, you know, Vance kinda want, well, how do you do this sort of thing? And then and and he asked, Johnson, how did you do this through Biden? And the air is, yeah, it was kinda tough because all it was was just him standing there with another just postulate. I mean, it's like, well, that's exactly what Trump's doing.
Norm Murdock [:Exactly.
Brett Johnson [:I mean, this is what this is. Personally, I didn't even watch it because I don't wanna sit through an hour and a half of BS. You know?
Norm Murdock [:You had other things to do.
Brett Johnson [:Other things to do knowing that I can get analysis the next day. Yeah. And I know and I I, you know, I would just love I r or d or I, I don't care. Would you go up there and quit exaggerating the numbers? Have your facts correct. I I I would love to be a home run that, you know, if if the stuff you're talking about is good, bad, yes. But why do you have to exaggerate the numbers? Just be factual and know that, yeah, what you're talking about is a problem, but just have your facts straight. I would love that. I would I just the honesty of it would blow me away
Norm Murdock [:Well
Brett Johnson [:because the factual numbers are still important. You know? I think We're talking billions to millions. Yeah. Just because you're gonna I I don't that's just me. I mean, I again
Norm Murdock [:Well, I I think that
Brett Johnson [:Just have it correct or near near correct. You could be off a few hundred dollars. Well, he had on Or numbers.
Norm Murdock [:He had an enormously long list of Doge discoveries.
Brett Johnson [:That's the thing. He that's why it was probably long too because he has done a lot in his time in. So that's I was not surprised it was a long long speech, of course.
Norm Murdock [:And he gave he gave examples of just absurd spending
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:That, you know, frankly, I'm sure there's gotta be a lot of middle of the road Oh. Moderate Democrats that are like, they're not in favor of wasteful spending. No. You know? But they're being, you know, they're being handcuffed in a way that like like, one of the other things, Brett, that happened this past week was the senate vote on the Riley Gaines bill. And it so all it was is that the house had passed this bill that basically said would have made a law out of Trump's, you know, executive order that you can't have men playing against women in, you know, violent sports. Now now Janet Guthrie I just said Janet Guthrie and I raced in a race together. Right? So there's men and women operating cars. Now she can operate a car as well as any man.
Norm Murdock [:Right? That's a different thing.
Brett Johnson [:That levels the playing field. Right? That levels the playing field. It does. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:Sure. Just just like female astronauts. You know, just like females operating helicopters or flying jets or or doing whatever. Right? Those are machines, and they and and right? They're not using their muscles in general.
Brett Johnson [:There's some endurance piece to it.
Norm Murdock [:There's an
Brett Johnson [:endurance. Talked about. But I don't know. I think a lot of women have a lot more endurance than I do.
Norm Murdock [:They give they give birth. I think it's an individual assessment. You bet it is. Yeah. Some men don't have the endurance. Yeah. Some women don't. Exactly.
Norm Murdock [:And whether more men or more women typically do is not the issue. It should be an individual assessment.
Brett Johnson [:Right.
Norm Murdock [:So at any rate, the in the senate and this is what I don't get. And and, again, Carville and Axelrod agree with me on this. You know, the two big Democrat consultants is why would why would two a person, even Fetterman, who's who's gotten very common sense lately, John Fetterman, a senator from Pennsylvania. Why why would every single democrat US senator vote against a bill that would restrict men from competing in volleyball or track or swimming or whatever, yep, in high school or in college. Right? It's it's one thing, you know, if it's like grade school, you know, like like fifth grade maybe is the is the cutoff before the girls start really developing more so than the boys, and they get bigger and stronger for a few years there in their tweens. But, you know, it's kinda fun to see little boys and little girls, say, third grade, you know, second grade. They're out there playing soccer, and it's cute, and it's fine. And and nobody's getting hurt.
Norm Murdock [:But, man, you know, when they're 22 years old and they're in college, I don't think so. Right? Yeah. And and we we one of the people in the gallery at the at the State of the Union was a young lady who has permanent brain injury from getting spiked by a volleyball by a trans man, a a a man that's claiming he's a woman and he's playing college, and he spiked the ball, hit her in the head at some, you know you know, speed of sound or something. Right? Knock her out.
Brett Johnson [:Well, those hits can go close to a hundred miles an hour. They they can. Even though you say, well, the volleyball was kinda soft, like, yeah, but not on the brain. Yep. When you get that brain the the the brain hit Right. And the brain starts absorbing shock and moving around in there, that's where you have problems. Right.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. And, you know, title nine was passed, you know, fifty years ago. You know? To make sports equitable for female athletes. So there's a there's a famous story about Yale University where the men's rowing team, right, had its own building, heated, all that. They go out on the river. They'd row, you know, and all. The the the female rowing team at Yale, you know, before title nine, right, had no building. Their boats were stored outside.
Norm Murdock [:Right? They they got a strip down to a swimsuit just like the boys. They got no heated area to do that. Okay? And so there was a complete discrepancy between what was being provided to the men versus the boys. And and title
Brett Johnson [:nine the women. Excuse me. Yeah. That's okay now. Thank you.
Norm Murdock [:Thank you. The the the women at Yale. And so title nine was passed in order to correct the inequities. Right? And and and and so this week, we have every Democrat senator voting against a bill that would have kept men out of women's locker rooms and off the teams. And so it was a pro title nine bill, and they voted against it. And I think the only reason they voted against it is because it was introduced on on behalf of president Trump. And this is where the Trump derangement syndrome, as they call it, it it blows my mind. Right? So I am not, I am not for everything Trump is for.
Norm Murdock [:I I he's not my leader. I don't walk in lockstep with him. But when he has good ideas, like, this is to protect women in sports, like, you gotta get over your distaste for president Trump and and protect women. I mean, I I I don't Brad, I don't care.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I don't either. I don't care. And I guess I haven't heard the opposing views of it, finding those little details. Here's why I don't. Beyond
Norm Murdock [:would like to know that.
Brett Johnson [:Beyond be too. Because if there's something in it that doesn't make sense, that's a different argument. I would like to know. Discussion, I really should say, not an argument.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. I agree
Brett Johnson [:with that. Just saying Right. It's well, Trump pushed it through, so it has to be crap. That doesn't necessarily follow. It doesn't. No. It it it it now there again, if there are pieces to it that's like, yeah. But this can go really sideways fast, that's that that's where the discussion comes in and change it or have discussions.
Brett Johnson [:Right. Perfectly legit.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Well, anyway Yeah. You know, I thought the speech was interesting. Yeah. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:You know, and and, it got a 76 approval rating even in New York Times, you know, CNN, MSNBC, when their poll showed that between 6976% of their viewers and readers, approved of the speech. So, you know, he he he's, he's into some kind of vein that's very popular right now with the American people. And I just hope good things come out of that, and I hope that there are things that the Democrats and the Republicans can find in common, like, you know, balancing the budget. Yeah. You know, some good stuff. Right? That that I think we can all agree on.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I wonder and this is maybe me personally, that, you know, hearing all of the layoffs or the downsizing and, you know, we're having the exit interviews for people that are losing their job that they're saying they've dedicated their life to doing this and that sort of thing. I really feel for these people. As they've lost a job. I mean, obviously, February's numbers are out of whack with layoffs because of that. Yeah. But but it's still a job. You're allowed to be fired.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. And and and maybe the nuances of why you were or not will be settled that, you you know, again, you didn't have, any you didn't go through any analysis of your job, and you shouldn't have been fired. Okay. All this stuff will will pan out. It'll pan out.
Norm Murdock [:But there's a lot of lawsuits. Yeah. Sure. Over a hundred lawsuits.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Because I I I it hit me, it must have been a week and a half ago, I guess. There was a story they were talking to a couple of people that lost their federal job. The next story was that a thousand people Starbucks was reducing their their their, workforce by a thousand people. Yeah. And I got to thinking, are we gonna interview any of those people that got fired from Starbucks? Legit. Same scenario Right. In regards to they're losing their job, they have a mortgage to pay, they have bills to pay, but they lost their job too.
Brett Johnson [:Are we going out to talk to the people that lost their job with Starbucks?
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:No. The others So I think we may be that maybe the media's making that too much of a thing, talking to these folks. And I get it. I I feel for these people losing their job. I really, really do. I do too. It sucks. It sucks.
Norm Murdock [:I mean, if they're good if they're good workers
Brett Johnson [:Exactly.
Norm Murdock [:I I understand that. Totally. But what people what the media should also remember is back when, Bill Clinton, and Newt Gingrich, combined. The last time we had a balanced budget was when a Democrat president, Bill Clinton, a Republican speaker of the house, Newt Gingrich, got together, worked out a budget, and mister Clinton fired 350,000 federal employees, okay, in order to balance the budget at that time. And people forget that. Right? And it's not that different what's going on now. It's we are $36,000,000,000,000 in debt, and most of the people are enemies, China, Arab countries, and The Middle East that don't like us. People like that are the ones holding our mortgage.
Brett Johnson [:Holding the note.
Norm Murdock [:And and it's like, dude, we have got to pay down our debt. Yeah. We have to balance a budget. And if that means fewer fighter planes, if that means a a a smaller staff at Yosemite National Park, if it means, PBS gets less money and NPR listen. We you know, at Brett's household, in my household, when we make less money, we're not going to Kroger's or Giant Eagle as much. Right? You know, we're cutting back. We're gonna eat hamburger instead of steak. It's it's not that different.
Norm Murdock [:And and, yes, I I I feel for them. You know, when when president Biden canceled the XL Pipeline, all of those welders and pipe pipe fitters and union people that were gonna build it, they all lost their jobs. Yeah. Right? Yeah. It is. You know, shit happens.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. That's the most expensive part of running a business, government, is people.
Norm Murdock [:Is people.
Brett Johnson [:It just is. And and and, again, Norm and I are on the same page. We don't want to look like little heartless. Right. I totally get it, but we've grown too big, I think. And I think again, I'm not necessarily in love with how we're going in and just bludgeoning. I I but at at the same time, maybe that's the best way to do it. I I don't know.
Brett Johnson [:I'm not there. I don't know what Elon's thinking or what Doge is thinking on how to do this. I I don't know. I've never done that sort of thing before. He hasn't either, quite frankly. Yeah. So he may be just running blind as well too. Was the scalpel is the scalpel route better? Maybe not.
Brett Johnson [:I don't know. I you know, his history will tell us if it was good or bad.
Norm Murdock [:I I don't know. I think offering people a package, to, resign is fine. It's it's pretty heartfelt. I mean That's fine.
Brett Johnson [:They get paid through it. Six or seven I it's six or seven months of of pay. That's plenty of time to find a job other than if you were considering your job to be with the government for the rest of your life. Totally get it.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. But we don't get we don't get that. We don't get that.
Brett Johnson [:Exactly. There's no guarantees of anything anywhere. And and that's where I think the the problem lies as well too. Too. So flipped into Ohio?
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. Just one other thing because it kinda well, it touches on Ohio is the tariffs thing.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:And I think this is interesting. Right? So, he rolls a president and his administration roll out this real hard ass statement, right, that they were going to impose tariffs. And they said that January was gonna start in February. He did a thirty day delay. It looks like he's pretty much done another thirty day delay because most of the major things negotiated under the, what they call the Canadian Mexican NAFTA, you know, bill. I think it's the Centimeters
Brett Johnson [:USA. USA. Yes. Something like that.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. Something like that. If you read the list of stuff, I'm like, what's left? Right? So Yeah. So, you know, there's not not gonna be tariffs on that stuff. And so I think the Canadians and the Mexicans are gonna back off their, you know, retaliatory, tariffs. We'll see. Maybe they won't. I I don't know.
Norm Murdock [:There was, this this fellow from Ontario where Canada has this huge power plant off the Niagara River, and, they were saying there's gonna be a 25% increase in electrical, charges to US customers, which is basically like all of Buffalo, all of Rochester, most of New York. Right? So, hopefully, that won't happen. Yeah. I think I think he weaponized the talk about tariffs in order to gain concessions on drug interdiction. And what was viewed as unfair, like, for American dairy farmers, you know, who wanna supply cheese and milk to Canadian customers, they have a huge tariff on that, and and and yet we allow them to bring their stuff here. So we're looking for reciprocity. And and, hopefully, you know, even though the stock market has taken a a pretty, you know, like, a 2% hit, you know, so if you owned a a million, you know, you lost 20,000 on average in the stock market the last, you know, two or three weeks. It's been pretty bloody for, people with their four zero one k's and stuff like that.
Norm Murdock [:Hopefully, it'll bounce back and these tariffs, will go to truly against our fiscal enemies like China. You know, I'd like to see US made shoes at Walmart or even from The Philippines or from Mexico or or from, you know, Singapore. But I I I we can't keep funding the communist Chinese who are aiming missiles at us and building, the bigger navy than us and have artificial islands threatening Australia, New Zealand. We can't keep financing them down at Walmart by buying their stuff. Yeah. So
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Yeah. I I guess, what I've what I'm concerned about and I'm not an importer exporter or anything like that with what I do with, you know, podcast consulting with my business. But, we either gotta stick to putting the tariff in place or not. This thirty day push the thirty day push really messes with business in regards to planning how you're gonna do your business. I I'm hearing that rumblings going, okay. I was making plans. Okay.
Brett Johnson [:Now thirty days.
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:Or, as we talked about
Norm Murdock [:before It is bad. It is hard
Brett Johnson [:to do business. It
Norm Murdock [:is bad.
Brett Johnson [:And Trump should know that, and I get it.
Norm Murdock [:And I am an independent Right.
Brett Johnson [:You know
Norm Murdock [:you know I import from Europe and some of the, countries that are targeted. The, you might have not caught this if you didn't watch his speech.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:He he commented about the tariffs, and he said he said something about what you are talking about, Brett. He said, stick with me. He said, it's gonna be rough for a little while.
Brett Johnson [:Oh, and and certainly will be. Yeah. Yeah. Certainly will be.
Norm Murdock [:And so he acknowledged, in the speech that there is going to be a short term down short term downturn
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:In economic activity in order to come out the other side, hopefully.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:So so this is not this story is not over by a law.
Brett Johnson [:And I I guess I you know, and if my wishes were, you know, true here or that, you know, that I could have his ear and and this is a soft spot for me with farmers. I mean, I I wish he would carve out the situation that the tariffs wouldn't touch the farmers.
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:I I really, really do because
Norm Murdock [:And it is one of the biggest threats.
Brett Johnson [:They they have not recouped from the last time
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:Because soybeans and this affects Ohio. I mean, can this be a nice transition to Ohio? I mean, Ohio is one of the largest exporters for soybeans.
Norm Murdock [:Well, that's why I brought this up. Because Ohio's big like, we had Bernie Marino on our show when he was running for senate. I didn't know this, but Bernie brought up that Ohio is the largest automobile parts manufacturing state in the country. And what happens with tariffs? I don't know. You know, like, because I'm a car guy, I I know some of this kind of, like, you know, trivia. Yeah. But, like, for example, one of the crazy things that happens with tariffs so so Canada builds in Windsor what they call the Windsor v eight. So it's in Windsor, Ontario.
Norm Murdock [:Right? That's the name of the city. So they build the motors there. But the components for that motor, right, many of them come from The United States. So Ford Motor Company is shipping parts from Ohio, okay, to Windsor, Canada. The the Ford workers at the Windsor plant, right, same company, right, but they have to under this, they would have had to pay a 25% tariff on, say, a camshaft or LFTRs or something going from Ohio up to Windsor, Then it gets put in the motor, assembled in the motor, and Brett knows where I'm going. Oh, no. And then the motor comes back to Dearborn where they stick it in a pickup truck. So then there's another 25% on the same damn camshaft that already got 25% going up to Canada.
Norm Murdock [:So it's getting double tariff coming back. And then when the truck is built and it gets sent back to Canada, it's gonna get tariff the third time as a complete vehicle.
Brett Johnson [:That's 75%, folks.
Norm Murdock [:So that's insane.
Brett Johnson [:That's insane.
Norm Murdock [:It's insane.
Brett Johnson [:It it is truly insane. So
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. So so he backed off that because automobiles and automobile parts were part of that NAFTA Yeah. Canada, Mexico thing.
Brett Johnson [:Well and, you know, and and going back to the the farmer piece of it too. So it's not just the exports. They, from the percentage I read from the Ohio, represented from Ohio agricultural community that the potash that you use for fertilizer, 85 to 90% of that comes from Canada.
Norm Murdock [:Woah. Did not know that.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Wow. So, again, it's that relationship we have with them that, Trump, be careful.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Just just be you know? Yeah. Let's again, not to overuse the scalpel bludgeon analogy, but it's like, maybe just take a day to think about and carve out. And I get it. Somebody's like, well, why don't you help us? Why don't you help us? We need we need to eat, folks. So we You know, we we need to really do some special attention to farmers, and they don't want handouts. Though, I've got another story that I'm kinda concerned about. But, they don't want handouts. They just want a fair shake.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. They want a fair shake, and and farming is one of, if not the hardest industry to walk into to do because you have all the factors against you.
Norm Murdock [:Well,
Brett Johnson [:I should say I should say the family farm. You know, the the outside of the industry stuff. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:Family farm's a different thing.
Brett Johnson [:Generational farming and stuff. Yeah. It's a different thing. You have the elements against you. You have econ world economics against you or for you. Depends on the pricing and such
Norm Murdock [:like that.
Brett Johnson [:It's just and and then Well,
Norm Murdock [:Farm Aid was a real thing with Yeah. You know, with with Willie Nelson and and, you know, like
Brett Johnson [:And and that should that that should touch Ohioans, and Ohioans should look at that
Norm Murdock [:Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:With a a deep heart. Yeah. Because that's what runs this state Right. Is that.
Norm Murdock [:Far more of Ohio is rural than urban. Exactly. And, you know, all you have to do is, like, you know, drive from Columbus to, say, Washington Courthouse on Route 62 Yeah. And you won't see anything. A couple gas stations, a few pizza places. It's basically rural Ohio.
Brett Johnson [:Thirty minutes any direction out of out of Central Ohio, Columbus as as an example Yeah. You're gonna hit Farmland.
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:So, yeah, it's important. It's important. Yeah. It's very important.
Norm Murdock [:Very good. Very good. Very good point. So Yeah. The other story that Brett brought to the table months ago, we need to update. So the Department of Treasury has said that even though they didn't change the law, they are not going to enforce that CTA thing.
Brett Johnson [:Thank god.
Norm Murdock [:So this keeps going back and forth. I think it's dead now.
Brett Johnson [:I I think because weeds.
Norm Murdock [:Because the small business people cannot
Brett Johnson [:I think the only piece they're enforcing if is if you have foreign entity
Norm Murdock [:That's it.
Brett Johnson [:Tied to you, which again
Norm Murdock [:Fine. That's legit. Fine.
Brett Johnson [:That should have been the that should have been the lead of the story Right. And the lead of this whole CTA thing.
Norm Murdock [:So So what people don't know so when Brett and I and Steve had to fill out those forms for our our stupid little LLC, right, that runs this podcast, right, the people you send that form to, it it's called the, Bureau
Brett Johnson [:of, Financial Crime. Yeah. Financial FinCEN.
Norm Murdock [:And so you're like you're like you're sending a form to a police agency that's looking for criminals.
Brett Johnson [:That already has that information anyway. Well, they could If they just talk if they just talk to different agencies, they would have it. Bottom line.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. Well, for criminal information, right, they can go get a warrant, you know, and find out, you know, like, where I was born, how old I am.
Brett Johnson [:There was no information there in regards to blood type or, you know That's unbelievable. All the information that you put in, if you've gone through it, which apparently the, it's it's like 50% of LLCs haven't done this, whether they're, you know, living out of the know what
Norm Murdock [:that is.
Brett Johnson [:They don't even know it. But none of the information granted, we went through it. None of the information is not available anywhere on Yeah. In certain agencies, your LLC, your driver's license.
Norm Murdock [:The IRS gets your tax return. It's got your Social Security number on it. It's got your address on it for God's sakes.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. You know? It's but the foreign entity piece makes sense. Yeah. Yes. That should be known what part of your, business has foreign entity piece to it, what percentage. Totally understand that for the money laundering piece. I get it. Get because that that information is not hard to get not not that easy to get.
Norm Murdock [:And the national security piece.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. You
Norm Murdock [:know? You know, like, if there is a a foreign bad actor that owns part of the business Yeah. You know, I I think the, you know, FBI would like to know that. Yes. So that's good. And if you lie on the form that you create a crime by lying, then the FBI can get you on that. Right. I get all that. Yep.
Norm Murdock [:So Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. Good. In Ohio news, I thought this was interesting. The aforementioned Bernie Moreno has has, introduced a bill that's kinda interesting. It's a patriotic thing. He is he was not born in in The United States.
Norm Murdock [:He was born in Colombia, so he came here as an immigrant. And he swore allegiance as part of becoming a citizen. You swear allegiance to The United States, your new country. Right? And he was bothered by after the Hamas attacks on Israel that around the Capitol Building, for example, congressman Tlaib, was a specific example that he cited, put up the, Hamas flag for god's sakes in the Capitol Building outside her office. So she's flying the flag of a terrorist organization as her way to support the Palestinians. And so he introduced this bill that says inside the Capitol Building and on the grounds of the Capitol itself, the only flag that can be displayed would be like, US approved flags, like the flag, and, like, remembering the POWs that you see at the post office, those flags, and other approved flags by the US government, that that you may, you know, like, you know, for a particular month or a particular holiday or something where the president or congress approves a flag to be raised. So Bernie is trying to outlaw, other countries' flags, you know. So you can't put the Irish flag up.
Norm Murdock [:You can't put the Italian flag up. And you for god's sakes, you can't put the Hamas or ISIS flags up, for god's sakes, you know, in in in the halls of congress. Not not not your own front yard. You can do whatever you want, first amendment. He's talking about on federal property. So I thought that was interesting.
Brett Johnson [:It it isn't. It it'll
Norm Murdock [:It's not gonna pass.
Brett Johnson [:I was gonna say probably not, but it's but it but it makes a statement.
Norm Murdock [:It makes a statement.
Brett Johnson [:It does. And it's been
Norm Murdock [:tried before.
Brett Johnson [:It's it's concerning and but at the same time, yeah. I don't
Norm Murdock [:know. Yeah. It won't pass. Yeah. It won't pass because basically, if it ever went to court, I think the Supreme Court would say, hey, congressman x y z or Talib or whoever, they get to control their speech. And if they wanna hang, you know, a disgusting if they wanna hang a Nazi flag or the Ku Klux Klan flag, they're complete idiots if they do that, or the Hamas flag or the ISIS flag. You know, go ahead, I guess. But, you know, you're just making an ass of yourself doing that.
Norm Murdock [:Ultimately. But let them let them make an ass of themselves, Bernie. Damn. You know, I so I'm yeah. I'm for your your bill. It's not gonna pass.
Brett Johnson [:No.
Norm Murdock [:And it wouldn't be upheld, in my opinion, by the Supreme Court.
Brett Johnson [:Right. Yeah. I don't know if the other in sort of story I saw that and we brought this up. We talked about this a while back, and it it was bubbling before that, Ohio senate bill looks to add party labels to local and state school board races. Interesting. I I yeah. I'm Interesting. You know, reading reading both sides of it, you know, in regards to, you know, covered by the Ohio Capital Journal, our friends in the Ohio Capital Journal.
Brett Johnson [:Yep. I I I I think it has some merits. The the the introduced the, person introducing the this bill says, you know, it's happening already. We just wanna put a spotlight on what party you do belong to. Yeah. Okay. I guess I can see that, but is there a point we stop politicizing what we do?
Norm Murdock [:Well, that was the idea originally, to not put labels in the voting booth. Now both parties mail out cards in the mail identifying who the party has endorsed for school board and judges. Yeah. So it's happening outside of the booth. The question is on the ballot itself, should it disclose if they are affiliated with a member of a particular party?
Brett Johnson [:Because what I'm in the next step I'm kinda concerned with is of, okay, if we allow this, we say that, yes, you can put red and you can put blue, r and d and I. There's an independent route as well too for
Norm Murdock [:Or non affiliate.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. That is is there money flowing then to that candidate to be elected? Sometimes. I'm bothered by that because I'm I think I've I've always looked at it as if you're gonna run for school board Yeah. It needs to be on your dime. Yeah. See Because of the to me.
Norm Murdock [:So, Brett, I can answer that. No. No. So the Ohio Ethics Commission tracks, political donations. And, yes, there have been enormous amounts of money given, to the campaigns of certain judges, and certain, you know, races for school board where it has become politicized. So so think of, like, a big school board. They have big contracts with, like, food service maybe or or with, you know, little stuff like who plows the the,
Brett Johnson [:you know Even even contracts with busing. Busing? It is outsourced now.
Norm Murdock [:Exactly. Well, which things are. With some school district.
Brett Johnson [:But but but but but but you're talking big school. Yeah. There there are contracts that are out there.
Norm Murdock [:Just like a could see you could see a company, x y z, school bus company or x y z food service company or security company or, who who's plowing the snow in the driveway or who's paving the lot. You could see some people backing certain candidates so that when their contracts come up, they have a friend on the school board. You could see that happening, and it does happen, and it is real on both sides. You know? What I have found personally in my dealings going down to court, you know, whether, I'm going down to observe, going down to testify, or going down as a party to a judicial proceeding. I have not found that the partisanship, of a judge to say whether they're, Republican or Democrat in general has not seemed to color, the outcome of the case. Now Steve, who's not here, would have a much better handle on this because he he goes to court every day. Right? And and he's a professional practitioner. I will say that there are some judges who definitely have an agenda.
Norm Murdock [:I've heard about those judges. And I've just, in my own personal life, been lucky enough when my case gets assigned not to get one of these judges that has an axe to grind.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:But they do exist. And to say that they don't, that's not true.
Brett Johnson [:Oh, for sure. Yeah. Oh, and and then that's more of a personal thing than it is a
Norm Murdock [:But it's something the voters need to know.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. You know, an axe to an
Norm Murdock [:axe to a judge
Brett Johnson [:or they they wanna have the right track record to get reelected because that's what they stood
Norm Murdock [:on So
Brett Johnson [:is outside of blue and red.
Norm Murdock [:You see and and the thing that doesn't call out who the axe grinders are is whether they're a Republican or Democrat. Yeah. Because there are incredibly fair, very strict, very by the book judges who are Democrats, who are excellent judges.
Brett Johnson [:Mhmm.
Norm Murdock [:And to think that you just decide not to vote for that person or to vote for that person because there's a d or an r after their name, you have not done enough research.
Brett Johnson [:Well and and, you know, that's a really good point. So when you start to see the, before an election, print or I should say, the media tries to do interviews. You know? Yeah. Ask a few questions
Norm Murdock [:about women voters.
Brett Johnson [:Women voters. Thank you.
Norm Murdock [:That's does polls.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. And and it makes you wonder, those that don't respond Questionnaires. Oh, questionnaires. Thank you. Yeah. It makes you wonder, those that don't answer the questions, number one, they're lazy Yeah. Or don't take the opportunity to actually
Norm Murdock [:look at hiding.
Brett Johnson [:Or they're hiding. Or are they just saying, I got blue money. I got red money.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. You
Brett Johnson [:don't have to get to these damn
Norm Murdock [:questions.
Brett Johnson [:Exactly.
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:That's a problem. That is And then again, I don't know. I'm getting into the these judges and representatives heads. I don't know. But guess what? If you leave a blank and the other person's kinda speaking fairly commonsensical, I'm gonna blow if whether it's I don't care. I'm voting for the the idea of what this person's going to do behind the bench or in office, whatever the case might be.
Norm Murdock [:A little a little story about how the sausage gets made in some counties. So, I used to live in Hamilton County, and the Democrats and the Republicans would get together and have, you know, a couple of, liquid lunches, I think, as party leaders, and they would decide which judges are gonna run unopposed. So in rather than spending a bunch of money, right, running a Democrat judge against a Republican judge, what they would do and, hey, voters. You probably hate this. But this is a reality. What they would do is they would sit down and say, well, judge, we want judge Smith to be one of the municipal court judges, and we won't oppose, judge Jones if you don't run anybody against judge Smith. So you give us judge Smith, we'll give you judge Jones, and they won't run against each other, or there will be no candidate against, you know, from our party against your party's candidate for judge. They did that for decades.
Norm Murdock [:Right? And they did it also in order to promote, minorities and women into the judgeships. Mhmm. So the Republicans would say, we want this female judge. You know? The Republicans want to get a female judge on the bench. And and so if you leave her alone and don't run a candidate against you against her, we won't run a candidate against your African American, judge. And so then, you know, these minority, judges were able to rise up and become judges and and were not caught up in a in a costly campaign. But that cheats the voters in a way Yeah. Right Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:Of choices. But this is how the sausage used to be made. They're tending not to do this anymore. And and so I think what's going on, Brett, is because the two parties are are at such loggerheads where they don't resolve this ahead of time behind the backs of the voters. Now it's an all out war, and they wanna have d and r. They want those labels on the ballot because now everything's partisan.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Oh, I I
Norm Murdock [:We can't agree on jack shit.
Brett Johnson [:Exactly. And that's what concerns me. It's like, we did
Norm Murdock [:It's a great story that you brought up.
Brett Johnson [:I just don't yeah. It's that I I how far down do does the dog catcher now have to be in r and d?
Norm Murdock [:Honestly.
Brett Johnson [:I mean, where does this crap stop? I get it. Honestly, and and it's can we just allow it to stop? Say, you don't have to. I I don't know. It it's got some nuances that bother me. And and again, it's I I feel when I talk about these things, am I old school? You're an old you're you're a you know, you're so old. You're you're just living your fifty years ahead of time. This is what it's always been for you. You gotta you gotta go with the new wave.
Brett Johnson [:It's like, that new I I don't know.
Norm Murdock [:See, you're like you and I have that same impulse where we wanna believe in our hearts that people coming to the fore to run for judge or school board, that they're gonna be reasonable, rational people. And and you think, you know, those are somewhat tough jobs in a way.
Brett Johnson [:Oh my god.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. Because people are whining and submitting, you know, legislation. They're they're they're on their bended knee begging you to judge this or judge that or pass this program Mhmm. Or or get rid of the school, you know, curriculum or whatever. Yeah. And so those judge those, kinds of offices, you're hoping that the people come with clean hands and open minds. And, unfortunately, our society now and maybe it's social media. We are we are so we're such in the business of attacking people at a personal level and destroying them at a personal level that everything's partisan.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:And it it yeah. In the in the good old smoke filled rooms when the Democrats and the Republicans would kinda figure this all out, and then the voters basically had a choice of one person. Well, maybe that wasn't right. Okay? But at least the two parties were talking and trying to resolve something. Right? They took the decision away from the voters. Well, now the voters have a decision, but now it's highly partisan. Right. And I don't think either one is really like, they both both systems are are kinda crummy.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:They are. They they're right. Because every system is is wrought with potential rottenness. You know? It it just it it it can happen. Exactly. I don't know.
Norm Murdock [:It's regrettable that it's come to this.
Brett Johnson [:I know. Exactly. And we're coming up on now. We probably better hit our what, Don. Unless you have one or
Norm Murdock [:I just have one justice thing.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Norm Murdock [:Oh, an amazing case. So I when I first moved to Columbus, I lived in the Sunset View apartment buildings out on the West Side, okay, near what was an old GM plant. Now it's a casino. And there was a murder out there. I'm not sure it was in the same apartments that I lived in, but it was thirty two years ago that this guy, Bruce Daniels, is charged with killing a a I think she was 20 years old, a young lady named Amy Hooper, on March 1992. So we're coming up on the thirty second or thirty third anniversary of of that murder, and it was in Lincoln Village in Franklin County. They found a connection to this guy, Bruce Daniels, through DNA. And I I I don't know if it was, you know, 32 and me or whatever they call that thing or, you know, I don't know how.
Norm Murdock [:But somehow the Franklin County Detectives connected his DNA to DNA. You know, 1992, we didn't have DNA testing. Yeah. So Yeah. They they still had, in the cold case files, the samples of his DNA, the murderer's DNA or the suspected murder. He's not convicted yet. But they they had the samples. They ran the samples.
Norm Murdock [:They matched up to this guy living in Washington state. So they extradited him to Franklin County. We got him on Wednesday. When I say we, the police, charged him. And, it's an amazing story.
Brett Johnson [:Wow.
Norm Murdock [:And so
Brett Johnson [:How old is this guy now? Probably in his seventies, sixties?
Norm Murdock [:30 two years ago. I think he's in his fifties.
Brett Johnson [:Fifties. Okay. Depending on when he Yeah. Allegedly committed the crime, but he's like, wow.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. Wow. So, anyway,
Brett Johnson [:You get to that point, you probably
Norm Murdock [:I saw a picture of him. He looks like the Unabomber. Oh god. So Okay. Jeez. Yeah. Like Great
Brett Johnson [:to have him back. But anyway but but no. That that that's just amazing at these thirty, forty year old cases. Yeah. Just is somebody working them all the time? You know what I mean?
Norm Murdock [:I think maybe the police are using a AI and stuff. A buddy? Like, they've got these DNA samples, and I think AI is going out there and trying to find,
Brett Johnson [:you know Just because they have enough on their plate right now for current. Of course. It's just interesting It is. How I have to talk to Steve we'll have to talk to Steve about how they handle these I don't wanna call them cold cases, but maybe it is a cold case.
Norm Murdock [:Cold case.
Brett Johnson [:You know, the how does it pop up on
Norm Murdock [:the set? The same question, Brett. And I think when they you know, unless this guy pleads guilty. Right? If they try this guy, how that DNA got connected to him Mhmm. We're gonna find him. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:I'd love to just for the sake of knowing.
Norm Murdock [:I mean I would like to know myself. You know? Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Exactly. I'm sure it's gonna turn into a true crime podcast somewhere along the line.
Norm Murdock [:So you wanna wrap it up? Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Let's do let's do, wonderfully outrageous and the outrageously wonderful.
Norm Murdock [:Well, I'll I'll do that. I'll start out with, the worst thing that I think happened this past week, and that was, two people on, I don't know what channel they're on, but I I saw their comments. I saw it on TV, and I think, Rachel Maddow is on CNN, I think, and Nicole Wallace, I think, is as well, maybe MSNBC. But these two people said they just went over the top. I mean, they hate Trump so much, and they're allowed to hate Trump. I don't care. They can hate Trump all they want. But what they said about that thirteen year old boy that wants to be a police officer, right, is they had to do a January 6 tie in for some crazy reason.
Norm Murdock [:They said, we hope he doesn't die of committing suicide. Like, some of the police who committed suicide, following January 6. And I just like, this is a 13 year old little boy you're talking. What what the hell are you doing that for? So I thought that was over the top. That's my bad thing. Yeah. My wonderful thing is this morning, I did not have to pay my bill at First Watch for breakfast. I got this thing called the golden knife.
Norm Murdock [:And when you get the golden knife, you get to keep the knife. It's a butter knife or whatever. You know, just a regular knife. You get to keep the golden knife, and you don't have to pay your tab. How about that?
Brett Johnson [:I did not know they did that. That's very cool, though. That's cool. That really is. That they're tracking how often you've been there and how much you spent basically.
Norm Murdock [:Going there for two years.
Brett Johnson [:Oh my gosh.
Norm Murdock [:But I I did tip anyway.
Brett Johnson [:That good. Good. Good.
Norm Murdock [:Yeah. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:The outrageous, you know, sometimes I probably need to rename my mind just, it's it not not outrageous, but just this is just nuts. So an Ohio senator has I I forget the guy's name. I didn't write it down. Has introduced a bill that would deduct gym membership and personal training fees from taxes as an encouragement because because it's such an onerous piece that that stops us from going to the gym.
Norm Murdock [:Right. $10.10 bucks
Brett Johnson [:to work out in.
Norm Murdock [:What's that one place?
Brett Johnson [:It's a My god.
Norm Murdock [:I don't know whatever. Yeah. It's $10.
Brett Johnson [:There's a monkey and there's a, you know Alright. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Again, that's not gonna go anywhere. But just Yeah. You gotta be kidding me.
Norm Murdock [:You gotta be kidding me.
Brett Johnson [:And then, wonderful, Ohio's career technical education, CTE programs are expanding rapidly to meet the growing demand for skilled workers in the state's booming manufacturer center sector. A $200,000,000 state investment is fueling the growth aiming to prepare students for in demand jobs across various industries that include the skilled labor, welders, machinists, robotic engineers, carpenters, and electricians. Yes.
Norm Murdock [:Yes. Yes. Yes. Mike Rowe Yes. We are we are listening to you Yes. Across the country.
Brett Johnson [:I love that. That that's that's that's
Norm Murdock [:that's a great deal. Blue collar jobs. Come on. Yes. You know, we we can't keep subsidizing everybody to go get a a four year degree because it doesn't fit everybody.
Brett Johnson [:Well, and let and let's let's stop stigmatizing those that are going into it. Folks, we've talked about this odd on odd infinitum. Absolutely. You can make a boatload of money
Norm Murdock [:Right.
Brett Johnson [:Being skilled again, not forcing it. You you don't have the skill, don't do it. But if, man, if you feel like being a welder and that excites you or a machinist or robotic engineer Carpenter. Dang. Go do it, man. Right. And because you're gonna make money, and you're needed. You're needed.
Brett Johnson [:You are needed.
Norm Murdock [:You're needed. I need my kitchen remodeled. I cannot find anybody. There it's in such demand. Yeah. You just you can't get anybody to come and do Yeah. Home repairs hardly.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Exactly. Very difficult. Yeah. Well, that's gonna do it. Thanks again to Harper and Company CPAs Plus for being a sponsor. You can catch everything we do, blogs, podcasts, former podcasts, that sort of thing on our website, commonsenseohioshow.com. And remember, to listen to our other, podcasts that Steve is on, lawyer talk, lawyer talk podcast dot com as well too.
Brett Johnson [:Tons of great stuff there. And, yeah. Until next week.
