Matt Connarton Unleashed 8-10-23

0:41 Hello everybody, Welcome, here we go. It is that time again,

0:45 Matt Connerton Unleashed and we are live from the studios of w m n H

0:51 ninety five point three FM in glorious downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, now also

0:56 on Comcast Channel six on the cable. And of course hello to all of

1:00 our online listeners across nation and around the globe. You can go to my

1:03 website Matt Connerton dot com for all of your live streaming options, social media

1:07 links, contact and folk show archives, etcetera, etcetera. Today is a

1:11 Thursday, August ten, two twenty three, so nice to have you all

1:17 with me. By the way, the opening songs, I played a couple

1:19 of the artists that we've had on the show this week so far as far

1:23 as musical guests. Yesterday we had Charlie on the show, skyping in all

1:26 the way from the UK. I played a track of her as Swindon Bathtub

1:32 from her from her new album Anomaly, and then I also played kids from

1:40 the band Best Not Broken, who were live with us in studio the other

1:42 day. I love that song there. All their stuff is really super catchy,

1:47 really good songwriters, and the production is great. But that one in

1:49 particular stands out to me, so I feared i'd feature a couple of the

1:53 guests that we've had on the show this week. We don't have any musical

1:57 guests today or any guests, but you can call us of course at six

2:00 three two five zero six zero seven six ZHO three two five zero six zero

2:04 seven. You can also text me at six one seven nine one seven four

2:07 four seven six. I'm on social media at Matt Connerton. You can email

2:12 me Matt at Matt Connerton dot com. And of course you can interact endo

2:15 Pine in the Facebook live chat and we will say hello everybody, and there

2:19 in just a moment for the best thing to do, so then we can

2:21 hear and enjoy your dulcet tones is Give us a call at six o three

2:23 two five zero six zoo seven six zero three two five zero six zero seven.

2:29 By the way, we do have a musical guest tomorrow. Tomorrow is

2:30 a busy show. We have lynnwood Strange is the band joining us tomorrow.

2:37 Really really good looking forward to that. And of course also tomorrow it is

2:40 Friday, so we have Eric Pilcher's classic film review and this week the subject

2:46 is Donnie Brasco, Ze Brasco or Brasco every said both ways. But of

2:50 course al Pacino one of my easily one of my top five favorite actors in

2:54 Johnny Depp. I remember seeing that in the theater actually with a friend of

2:58 mine back in the day. But that's going to be the classic film review

3:00 for this week. So six O three two five O six zoo seven.

3:05 If you would like to join us today on the program, uh, and

3:08 I will tell you again right up front, I am. If you're just

3:16 joining us for the first time this week, or maybe the show is new

3:19 to you, I know, with the way things have been reconfigured a little

3:22 bit, we probably have a lot of new listeners and welcome everybody. It's

3:25 always nice to expand the audience, that's for sure. That's the name of

3:30 the game. But just so you know, if you don't know this already,

3:35 I'm probably going to I'm not going to say that today yet again is

3:39 going to be a Trump free zone, necessarily because I do like to defer

3:44 to the audience, the callers and people in the chat room what you'd like

3:47 to talk about when possible, when it's uh, you know, practical to

3:53 do that sometimes if we have a musical guest or something, we can't do

3:55 that. But but I do like to defer to the audience as much as

3:58 I can, and so it's a maximally interactive show. Having said that,

4:02 I've been struggling this week, my friends, I have I have an illness,

4:06 completely self diagnosed. I have a terrible fever that and the only cure

4:14 is more cowbell. No, I'm kidding, that's a It'd be funnier if

4:17 I said it in the voice of Christopher Walkin, but I can't. I

4:20 can't do impressions very well. No, I am suffering from u t FS

4:28 Trump fatigue syndrome. So you know, we really haven't talked about Trump much.

4:33 Of course, the news is inundated with Trump. And by the way,

4:39 this observation should not be taken as any sort of criticism or indictment,

4:46 shall we say, pun fully intended of the media. I understand. I

4:49 mean, you have to cover it. It's a huge story. We've never

4:54 had a former president with multiple indictments and all that comes with it, so

4:59 I understand. And the constant coverage, because there is constant news on the

5:02 matter. So I'm not complaining about that. And I'm not criticizing the media

5:06 for focusing too much on it or anything like that. I think that it

5:11 is appropriate to do that. I just I'm trying not to let it consume

5:15 the show because I don't want it to consume my brain any more than it

5:18 already has. So I'm trying to make this a little bit of an oasis.

5:23 You know. Obviously, if we're sitting here and there's big breaking news

5:26 and you know, Georgia comes through with their indictment or something like that,

5:29 then we will talk about it. But I'm not going out of my way

5:31 for it. So again, I defer to the audience as much as I

5:35 can, but I've I've got some other there are other things going on that

5:39 I think are interesting as well, And so that's kind of just so you

5:45 know where I am on that. I'm not going to go out of my

5:46 way for that, or you know, with apologies to my conservative friends,

5:51 I'm not gonna go out of my way to talk about Hunter Biden either,

5:55 just so you know, fat about enough of that too. I know some

5:58 people think the media doesn't talk about Hunter Biden enough, but that's another story.

6:02 H Shannon is on the line high Shannon, Hello, I'm sorry,

6:05 I'm multitasking at the moment you are. Uh, there's a song Johnny Donny

6:12 Brasco, John I was pronounced Brasco, okay, And I like it when

6:18 they were in the when when Johnny Depp and al Pacino were in the kitchen

6:24 and he says, uh, a punch of salt, and Johnny Depp says,

6:30 did you say a punch or a pinch? Did you hear me say

6:34 a pinch or a punch? So he was making he was making his his

6:40 gravy there the Italian style spaghetti sauce. Is that your favorite moment from the

6:46 film, Shannon, Well, I use a punch of sugar and a pinch

6:50 of salt. But no, no, I knew when he Uh, I

6:59 had read book before anyway, I've not read the book. Yeah, there's

7:04 a little bit more info in the book. I think, oh yeah,

7:08 well, of course, I mean when you make a film based on a

7:10 book, you know you have to have some composite characters and so forth,

7:15 because obviously you can't fit it fit everything into the film. So the book.

7:18 That's why the book is always been That's why the book is always better

7:21 or at least almost always. Yeah, because because Stephen King is right on

7:29 set and making sure they do what the book says. You know, right,

7:33 that is true? The same with them. Well, I don't know

7:36 lately because I don't. John Grisham, yes, is, his books are

7:44 very very very close. Now Robert Ludlam in the in the Born series not

7:49 even close m movie to book. Well, that's an outrage. I'm outrage

7:56 it is. I'm not really outraged. I actually fell. I'm at peace

8:01 with it. I had to process. I was completely enraged for a moment.

8:05 But I've processed at Shannon, I worked through it, and now I'm

8:09 good. All right. When you first mentioned that, I was very upset.

8:13 You should look up when you have three seconds. But I don't think

8:20 the internet works as fast as i'd liked it, too, because when I

8:22 asked someone to check something, I'm waiting and I'm waiting, I'm waiting.

8:26 I say, you can't put this, this, this in the search engine

8:30 and get an answer. I don't know. Maybe they don't call them search

8:33 engines anymore, but no, you can call it a search engine, or

8:37 I call it the Google. And of course now we have chat gpt M.

8:43 That's a a right, Yes, yeah, yes, it is.

8:48 Yeah, and it's your favorite day. You get to hang out with Polly

8:54 C. That's tomorrow. Oh Jesus, today is Thursday, Shannon, mm

9:00 hmm. Today I'm all by myself there myself. But yeah, well I'll

9:07 call tomorrow about a retrospectrum because touchy feely was last week. That's right,

9:13 that was the theme. And to me, uh, third two thirds were

9:20 mushy, not touchy feely. They could kind of mushy, you know,

9:26 romantic mushy. Some of those songs make me blush. Shannon, I'm sure

9:31 they did. And if I make a list for Pauli CD to do a

9:35 show on sexy, dirty or dirty sexy songs, you'll blush a lot.

9:45 No, that's quite likely. Yes, you know the good ones, Bullet

9:50 Boys, Kingdom come, oh, you know those songs, good bands.

9:58 Yeah, Baton Rouget I'm pronouncing it's a French way, Baton Rouge. I

10:07 know, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I don't know. Is there a band

10:11 called that bat Yes, Baton Rouge and She's All Lips and Hips is the

10:18 name of the song. I remember the song lips and Hips, but that

10:22 is uh, the electric Boys unless they covered that. Did they cover that

10:26 that? I don't have a way of checking, but you could because I

10:33 remember the Electric Boys lips and didy Go lips and hips. She knows how

10:37 to use them to make you flip Yep, that's the song. Yeah,

10:41 okay, then they somebody redid it to her, somebody else. I don't.

10:46 I am nowhere near the intelligence and memory span of you policy DJ Steve,

10:56 anybody on that show you know of music and who came out with the

11:00 first and I mean when you guys give dates and it, you know,

11:05 it's as mind blowing to me as me remembering and having in my brain as

11:09 many phone numbers as I have, because I can't. I have a bad

11:13 habit of writing a phone number down and not saying what it belongs to.

11:18 Oh that's not good, no, no, but yeah, so all right,

11:26 Chim, Yeah, So what about Johnny Donny Brasco, Well, Johnny

11:31 Brasco, that's the film review tomorrow, Okay, he should do? Is

11:37 just a suggestion for two movies to do. Scent of a Woman who Ah

11:45 and Trouble with the Curve with Clint Eastwood. I don't know if you saw

11:50 that. I've never seen it. I've always been aware of it, but

11:52 I've never seen it. Lovelin love Clint Eastwood though, Yeah, and he

11:56 does a good job, and he develops age related Maculler degeneration. And that's

12:03 the trouble with the curve the center vision. He can't spot it. You

12:09 know, he has to. I'm sure mister Pilcher knows. I'm sure he

12:15 does. I think he's a clinic Swood fan. May be, mister Pilcher.

12:22 Someday do Cent of a Woman might listen a Colonel Frank Slade needs a

12:28 guide dogs rights And I want to pull did you see that movie? Where's

12:37 movie? Cent of a Woman? Yes, I want to pull an Alpaccino.

12:41 One day when they were at that after he drove the Ferrari, well,

12:46 I'd love to do that part. Yeah, but when when they're waiting

12:52 to cross the street after they leave the Ferrari shop and he's waiting at the

12:58 lights and and Lieutenant Colonel Franks, it is taken too long and just tap

13:03 tap tap tap. I mean I tried to count once. I think I

13:07 counted twelve lanes of traffic that I had to screeched their brakes not to hit

13:13 him. Right, and then he fell down in the trash camp. But

13:16 anyway, fun movie. Yes, it's and it's it's actually I know,

13:22 I know you got other people talking and bitching about me. I'm sure,

13:26 but it gives good insight on people, for people who have in their life,

13:35 people who will develop uh vision problem like the age related macular. You

13:43 know. It just it gives the things not to do and to do.

13:50 You know, you don't say to the waiter, you know, point to

13:54 your glass and and and lip something to him, you know, because the

14:00 I can't see, don't do that. And he said, don't do that.

14:03 But right now I I will let you go. And I'm sorry it's

14:09 not Friday. Hello, Jenny and everybody out there that I don't know that

14:16 know me now. Yes, I have a good one, all right,

14:20 Shannon, thank you for the call. Ye by bye bye. All right.

14:24 Well that was Shannon. That does open up the line for you.

14:26 Six zero three two five zero six zero seven six zero three two five zero

14:31 six o seven. Our friend Melanie law Liberty from the Great State of Vermont

14:35 was just commenting in the chat room how much she enjoys Shannon's calls. But

14:41 we will say hello to everybody in the Facebook live chat. Oh, by

14:43 the way, I cannot find Lips and Hips by the band Baton Rouge.

14:48 I can only find the Electric Boys. I do remember that song. It

14:52 was like a minor hit for them. Would have been late eighties, maybe

14:56 nineteen ninety. Easyg joins us in the Facebook live chat and says, good

15:01 news, my sister is safe along with her husband. Yes they are,

15:03 I believe Eric had said on the island of Maui, which is an inferno,

15:09 It's very frightening and very sad to see the destruction and the devastation.

15:13 They're unbelievable. J Fett also joins us in the chat room from the great

15:16 state of Vermont says, good afternoon everyone. DJ Steve is in the Facebook

15:20 live chat. DJ Steve. Of course I get to see every Friday night

15:24 for Retro Spectrum Radio with Paul Ec. DJ Steve and I have the honor

15:30 and privilege of being two of Paul's co hosts on that show, along with

15:33 Mike from Queen City Cabinetry, who's one of our great sponsors here at WMNH,

15:37 and one of our co hosts on that program. And let's see,

15:43 Oh here's someone we haven't heard from in a while. Ron is on the

15:46 line. Hi, Ron, hey man, how you doing good? How

15:50 are you been a while? Listen? I heard you say a little while

15:54 ago that you'd not put with impressions. Well, I listened to you on

15:58 Friday night. If you are spot on and kneel and every single one of

16:00 them, well, you know, as the night wore on, I was

16:03 kind of getting into the groove. Would you like to would you like to

16:07 request an impression? Ron? I could, I could try to do one

16:10 right now, get ready for tomorrow night? Yeah. Well, I enjoy

16:15 your show immensely, and when Friday comes around, I'm hooked on that too.

16:21 So for all your New Time listeners, if there were any else,

16:25 you don't miss you the one of them, you know you miss it A

16:27 good show. Well, thank you, Ron, I appreciate that, my

16:30 friend. Hey Man, I guess I'm gonna have to let you go because

16:34 so whatever reasons, I can't see me here you on my phone's coming in

16:40 real quiet? Can't you turn up the volume? Oh yeah, no way

16:44 to control that from here, unfortunately, So all right, well there we

16:47 go. All right, Well, that was our friend Ron. Always nice

16:49 to hear from Ron, even if Ron apparently was unable to hear from me.

16:52 I was hoping he was going to request one of my incredible impressions.

16:56 But you know, anyway, six three two five six seven is a studio

17:02 line six three two five six Z seven. But we will finish saying hello

17:06 to everybody in the Facebook live chat. Jenny is in there, of course

17:07 and says sildom peeps. Our friend Miriam Banish joins us in the chat room.

17:12 Miriam says, somehow I keep missing Swindon Bathtub. I've been to Swindon

17:17 a few times, so I'm very curious about the song. If you're just

17:21 joining us out, that's one of the tracks that I opened today's show with

17:22 us Swindon Bathtub from Charlie great musical guests who joined us yesterday on the program.

17:30 And we do have a call. Hi, welcome to Matt Connerton.

17:33 Unleash. Who is this? Yeah, Mack, ask me any question?

17:37 Just to ask me any question? What is the capital of Utah? Yo?

17:47 Good man? So listen, You've got a great show with super duper

17:49 and I love it. I'm gonna keep listening. Go ahead, ask me

17:53 another question. What did you eat for breakfast? Today. Yeah, Matt,

18:00 so listen. I just wanted to let you know that I'm listening.

18:03 I'm a big fan and you're the best. Both shows are the greatest.

18:06 Yeah, well I do. I do appreciate compliments, Paul. So I

18:11 understand Ron couldn't listen. If Ron couldn't hear what I was saying to him,

18:15 and he decided to respond with compliments, that's not a bad deal.

18:19 Actually that's not It's not a bad thing, but he lost the oppersite.

18:22 I'm gonna give you one. You're ready, Can you do an impression for

18:25 me? All right? I'll do all right. Now, keep in mind

18:27 I'm not a dancing bear, but I will do my best for you,

18:30 sir. Go ahead. Yeah no, this is gonna be a tough one,

18:33 I'll admit it, but I have faith. All right, all right,

18:37 I'm right. I want to hear you do an impression of Robert Reid

18:42 and an AA meeting. Okay, here we go. Hi. My name

18:51 is Robert Reid and I'm an alcoholic. You might know me from the Brady

18:55 Bunch. Oh my god, dude, are you kidding you when you say

18:59 that you've never done that one before? I've never done that one before.

19:02 I have to admit that one was a little challenging. I had to really

19:04 kind of I had to really kind of stretch to pull that one off.

19:08 Nah, you're being modest. It was like Mike Brady was in the room.

19:12 I know, right. Oh, I hope Peter's listening. I bet

19:15 he enjoyed that. He's the biggest Brady Bye. I'm a super I'm a

19:18 super duper fan. I'm gonna keep listening by all right, Paul bye bye.

19:22 Yes. I did a number of impressions Friday night on Retrospection Radio.

19:27 I'm not exactly rich little but you know, but hopefully if you were listening,

19:30 you really did believe that I was Robert Reid for a moment there.

19:33 I hope. So six zero three two five zero six z seven six zero

19:37 three two five six seven is the studio line. Let's see Jay Fed is

19:47 requesting more airhorn. Okay, we can accommodate that. Ooh, that's not

19:53 the one I was looking for, though I apologize. I'm sure that's the

20:00 one, uh Jay Fed wanted. John Hopwood joins us in the Facebook live

20:06 chatt and says, if you are going to live in the Pacific rim in

20:07 a place like Hawaii with active volcano or volcanoes, you do have to you

20:14 do have to do with the risk. It's sad though, well apparently too.

20:18 And I think we had talked about this yesterday on the show, just

20:22 briefly. I think it was yesterday. It's an unusual situation. They have

20:30 a because there's a hurricane. And when you think hurricane and wildfires, you

20:34 think, oh, well, you know, that might be a good thing.

20:37 The hurricane might do some damage, but it also will hopefully at least

20:41 dump a lot of water on the wildfires. But apparently what's happened is the

20:45 hurricane got close enough to just send a lot of wind into where the wildfires

20:51 are, and that of course fans the flames. Kind of like the other

20:55 day when I stopped in at that dunkin Donuts and there was a kitchen fire,

20:59 and uh I told that story on social media. I won't say which

21:04 location, but there there was a kitchen fire and the one of the employees

21:08 there turned to the manager and said, hey, we've got a fire over

21:14 here. And the manager literally said to the employee, well, what do

21:18 you expect me to do about it? And then the part I think I

21:22 left out because you know, you want to be somewhat terse when you're doing

21:23 a social media post or people will lose interest. But one of the one

21:27 of the employees actually started to fan the flame, thinking that that would put

21:33 the fire out, and then, of course the other employee said no,

21:36 no, no, don't do that, that won't work. They did put

21:38 it out eventually, Apparently they aren't supplied with fire extinguishers. I don't know.

21:45 It was very strange, but uh, but yeah, the manager literally

21:49 said when the employees are like, oh, we've got a fire, she

21:55 literally said, well, what do you expect me to do about it?

21:59 So I guess I guess that whole quiet quitting thing, you know, where

22:02 people don't really work very hard at their jobs, apparently that's still going.

22:07 That manager clearly had quiet would it be It wouldn't be quietly quit, right,

22:11 because it's quiet quitting, so it'd be quiet quitted. Maybe I don't

22:17 know all these new terms that the young people have. It's very confusing to

22:21 me. But standing there in a dunkin Donuts where there's a kitchen fire and

22:25 the manager seems completely disinterested, that was also confusing to me. I have

22:30 to admit that seems like something to me that you might respond to with some

22:36 urgency, but apparently not in this instance. We have a call. Hi,

22:41 welcome to Matt Connerton unleashed. Who's this? It's John C. Hopwood,

22:47 John curmudgeonly, curmudgeonly, Wow, I feel curmudgingly, But I just

22:56 want to say about the restaurant. Now, if you take a job as

23:00 a restaurant manager, yes, when you're on you know that Pacific rim of

23:07 fire of you know, well paying jobs, open fires, just they're part

23:14 of the reality. It's sad, but you know that's the way it is.

23:18 I think what I was confused by was the lack of urgency and in

23:23 fact clear apathy of the manager on duty as this was happening. It seems

23:30 to me, and this is I wouldn't say necessarily. Look, I've never

23:33 worked in fast food, but I think just as a general rule in life,

23:38 if there is a fire in your presence, you know, unless it's

23:41 a fire that's supposed to be there, like a camp fire, for example.

23:45 But if there is a fire in your presence it is not supposed to

23:48 be there, you probably want to see to putting it out, especially if

23:52 you're in an establishment where you've got employees and customers, and you know that

23:57 kind of thing. You would think that that would be part of a restaurant

24:03 energy's training, since oven fires are a sadly commonplace and they can be devastating.

24:11 But this is you know, you live in the state of New Hampshire,

24:15 live free or die. Even if the regulations are on the books,

24:19 like campaign financing and such, they're not enforced because you know, this is

24:25 a very libertarian state and who wants to you know, be a curmudgeon and

24:30 insist on things like fire extinguishers or life saving equipment. That's true. It

24:37 is much more exciting and adventurous if we don't have any rules or regulations.

24:44 But we do have rules and regulations because of those dastardly beds, at least

24:48 till you know, we can pull ourselves out of this so called dis union,

24:55 as long as we can keep our nooks. Of course, yes,

24:57 you know, we don't want to be like Ukraine get caught with our bridges

25:00 done. In case, Maine or I would think Vermont is a more likely

25:06 candidate tries to, you know, like insist on fishing rights in the Connecticut

25:11 River, which clearly belongs to the Granite Republic. You know, I didn't

25:17 understand that Dave Ridley and the others decided to jettison the named New Hampshire when

25:26 you know, creating this new country. I think it's going to be New

25:30 New Hampshire. Correct, No, it's going to be Granite Republic, according

25:36 to the legislation that is introduced and so overwhelmingly failed about a couple of years

25:44 ago. That's is that really what they want to call it? The Granite

25:47 Republic, not the Granite Republic. Granite Republic. We don't want any of

25:52 those pesky articles. You know that there are a great languages like Russians don't

25:59 have articles. Oh oh yeah, well m mmmmm, well in the Granite

26:07 Republic, there will be kitchen fires everywhere. There should be. It'll be

26:15 if that's a person's choice, there should be. Now. I once rented

26:18 an office in New Hampshire, and the fire extinguishers in my office, you

26:26 know, I'm supposed to be to there. It hadn't been inspected since twenty

26:30 ten, which was like had twenty years before. And when I went to

26:33 visit, you know, eventually you visit other people in the building, right

26:37 and all of their fire extinguishers had been last inspected in twenty ten, so

26:42 you know, but that's part of the greatness of the soon to be a

26:48 born Granite Republic, right, it is exciting. Once we are the Grant

26:55 Republic, we don't have to do this hypocritical double speed. We just get

27:00 rid of the regulations rather than just not enforce them, and in that in

27:06 the river to keep Vermont out, we can put some booi's that can be

27:11 very effective to both keeping the Vermonters from coming over into Granite Republic with their

27:21 ideas like having giving out transitioning Ken Barbie dolls at our public schools, which

27:27 was addressed yesterday on Kyle the Kyle Playton Chronicle, which got mislabeled as Kyle

27:37 Clayton's QC Chronicles. By the way, did you get a copy of the

27:40 show to put up one IPM nation. No, you'll have to send me

27:44 that, And no one sends me that anymore, and hasn't for probably the

27:48 past six months. I don't know why I stopped receiving them, but bust

27:52 my buttons. I did tell you that. I did tell you that before,

27:56 but you've forgotten. But I would like to see that. Yes,

28:00 he had a successful last show. Well, we had an interesting show of

28:04 gonz All started out wearing a paper bag. We started out with an immemorium

28:12 to the director William friedk and from that guy that used to peer on my

28:18 show regularly that you poach does movie reviews for you another gibberish. Yes,

28:26 what's his name, Eric, Eric Pilcher. Yes, And then we talked

28:33 about the big scandal, you know, with the transitioning Kendall which you know

28:41 Gonzo bought, has one for his son, is bringing in next week because

28:44 we're going to be the next week the show is the return of Manchester Famous.

28:48 Oh, very exciting. So the other things we talked about we really

28:52 can't talk about because of the FCC. You know, you have all those

28:57 rules and regulations that we, being New Hampshire public a TV, we can

29:03 just you know pay lip service to them. Wow. Almost like you're already

29:07 in the Granite Republic. That's true. That might be a good name for

29:14 a segment on the w p YP portfolio. By the way, Andy Barker

29:21 has joined us in the Facebook live chat and uh, John, you had

29:23 a somewhat infamous appearance on Andy Barker's podcast that was a few years ago.

29:29 Now, Oh, is that the guy that I melted down because of Trump?

29:34 Yes, but you weren't. You weren't so much upset with Andy.

29:37 It was the other two guys. Oh yeah, yeah. Something about a

29:42 woman, the woman that she'd been raped or something, and I handle the

29:48 rape when I was in the Oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna have flashbacks now,

29:51 So I'm gonna let you go now when I have my flashback in private,

29:56 Okay, but I would like to bring up possoon about what's going on

30:03 at the Robert F. Kennedy headquarters in Manchester. Oh. I saw a

30:07 couple of people today. I was. I was at the post office getting

30:11 the mail downtown here and I did see a couple of people wearing RFK shirts

30:15 and they looked like they were with this campaign. Well, you know RFK

30:19 Junior in the first time he came to New Hampshire, the only time I

30:22 ever saw him, because he never tells anybody when he's coming. Oh,

30:26 even on his Twitter feed, which is not act. Which got to get

30:30 rid of it. This act. I just don't like it. I don't

30:33 like it. I don't like it either. I'm not being serious. I

30:36 am boy, I am too. I don't like it either. It looks

30:38 cheap too when it loads on the browser, it just looks it looks cheap.

30:42 It does you pay forty four billion dollars for the goodwill that is the

30:48 Twitter brand and then you get rid of it? I mean, you know,

30:51 the whole thing about that's a whole nother thing happy, you know,

30:55 come down, Andy Buck is waiting for you to, like, you know,

30:57 have a spectacular man outs on. Like you know, It's like Paul

31:03 Newman said about Marlon Brando. He said, you all expect me to be

31:07 Maryland Brando and the Brando you're you're just awaiting to see him go berserk,

31:11 you know, yeah, yeah, Oh, but what were you saying?

31:14 You were starting to say something. I'm sorry I had de railed you about

31:18 RFK. But the Robert F. Kennedy it turns out that his campaign manager,

31:25 and I haven't confirmed, this is the wife of a congressman named Roorbacker.

31:32 Hold on for a second, Okay, Dana Roorbacker, who was a

31:40 Republican congressman from Orange County, which was very very conservative, always conservative.

31:45 Paul demographically changed the majority Hispanic, and a Democrat got elected and defeated him

31:51 after nine terms. This was a guy, a maga guy that Trump considered

31:56 as Secretary of State. You know, you know, you know they have

32:00 a long list. Yes, So his wife allegedly is the head of the

32:05 New Hampshire campaign and she lives in Kittery, Maine. I mean here,

32:09 rfk Jr. The first only time it came when he's at Saint Ansem College,

32:14 we're all presidential candidates come said that he was here to defend the New

32:19 Hampshire primary because candidates get close to the people. And indeed, like I

32:23 told you, like you know, when I was with Bill Cashing, I

32:28 spent an hour with the Joe Biden and that's not unusual. But as you

32:35 know, and so and you know, I was talking the other day about

32:38 how Cash he was saying the problem with Hillary's campaign twenty sixteen, she's using

32:43 these kids and and no local people that understood. But here Kennedy, he's

32:51 got somebody from California. And it's not like the Hillary using these bright kids

32:58 from like Yale or entire and you know, who are out of touch.

33:01 Right, He's using a maga person. So being on thinks that what he's

33:07 really up there is to be a Trump's running man. Well, well,

33:12 conservatives have embraced him, they love him, but that's because he says,

33:15 you know, he's and he buys an actually he buys a knowl the right

33:20 wing conspiracy theories, I think. And yeah, the stuff I don't agree

33:23 with. The thing I am is the old Democrat, you know that corporate

33:28 corruption and stuff like that, and all the stuff that I try to ignore.

33:35 You know, that's the stuff we do have. Know, we can

33:37 talk about this another time. I've already talked too much. But remember how

33:42 we were talking with Jenny how dealing with Trump and all the legal issues.

33:45 Finally, it's just, you know, it's overwhelming, but it's just downright

33:50 confusing. Trying to deal with Robert Kennedy. It's confusing, and it's like

33:54 a I was talking to Timothy Horrigan was a Democratic state and he was just

34:00 saying all sorts of nasty things about KA Junior on Twitter. So I called

34:07 him out, but then he says to me, you know, I would

34:09 have loved to have supported him. But unlike even Mary Ann Williamson and Joe

34:15 Budden, RFK Junior has not asked me to support him, and in fact,

34:20 he's doing everything he can so that I won't support him exactly, like

34:23 going and talking at Porkfest with the anarcho libertarians, or like foreign enemies to

34:30 me. By the way, by the way, how do you deal with

34:32 this stuff? You know? By the way, I don't know if you

34:35 know, John. Mary Ann Williamson is going to be here on the show

34:37 on the twenty second. Oh no kidding, yep, She's gonna be here

34:42 with us in studio. So that's cool. She's full of crap. I

34:45 used to I saw her so during your New agge. You know, the

34:50 new age stuff is fine, but she doesn't know anything about history or politics.

34:54 But you know that. I don't know, I would say most congressmen

35:00 either. I've watched a couple of interviews with her, long form interviews,

35:04 not recently, but more more so the first time she ran, I thought

35:07 she was kind of impressive. Actually, I don't know, I'm looking forward

35:10 to me. It's a scripted I'm not I'm not saying. I'm not saying.

35:15 I'm talking about the first time. I sorry, and then I just

35:17 tuned out. But you got to remember, I think of her as the

35:21 new Age guru from La right. Well, that is part of that is

35:25 part of I mean, the books that she writes and so forth, that

35:29 is part of the deal with her. But I do think, I do

35:31 think she knows more about history and about policy than you than you give her,

35:36 than you give her credit for her I don't think she does at all,

35:37 but we can disagree about that. We'll see when she's selectedly a hearty

35:43 and a real Yana to her Rush staff. I don't know. I don't

35:51 know, yes, but I'm sure she'll be charming. She can be very

35:53 charming. Yes, I look forward to meeting her. But that's that's cool.

35:58 But I think, you know, it's like, uh, you know,

36:01 it's like you, Peter, you know, im the radio you'd like

36:05 to get, you know, you want to go to Rfk's and the people

36:08 and say, hey, come and talk. These people would love to have

36:10 you. But not only can you not talk to him, you can't talk

36:15 to any of his people from the right wing, MAGA Republicans. They don't

36:19 want a Democrat. You know. I'm I'm fine, I'm fine with with

36:23 not talking to RFK. No, I really am, I really am.

36:29 I don't I need not have anything to do with him. But yeah,

36:34 that's my view of it. Yeah, because see the other the other it's

36:40 it's just a strange, strange, strange strange. Well some of what some

36:45 of what he's putting out there, to me is legitimately dangerous, you know,

36:49 the anti vax anti science stuff. I think that's why I don't believe

36:52 he. To me, that's fascist type of thinking. Ideas aren't dangerous,

36:58 that's the old the shipway. But that's a whole different discussion. Yeah,

37:01 but they're always they're always have to be. There, always have to be

37:05 lines and boundaries don't don't there. I mean if I said to you,

37:07 well, we've talked about it too, We've we've talked about it on the

37:10 show. I got an email once, this not recently, this was a

37:14 number of years ago. I got an email from a holocaust denier who wanted

37:17 to be on the show. And of course I obviously I declined. But

37:22 I mean I wouldn't would would I mean, what you wouldn't say to that?

37:24 Well, you know that's fascist, Matt. You know, ideas aren't

37:29 dangerous. No, I'm not saying that's your personal choice. You have a

37:32 right to do that. Right, I just don't see it that. I

37:37 don't think that talking about the talking about the virus and the and uh yeah,

37:47 but he makes stuff up. I mean if if you see him and

37:50 some of these interviews, because there are people who have him on, he

37:52 just makes stuff up. And uh no, the stuff about when you say

37:59 that, you could have an argument from Seber and it would the FCC.

38:04 I'm just talking about principles and this is we can have that discussion another time,

38:07 because anything we're gonna say is gonna get you banned. You know what

38:10 they mean, well, we should, we should, that's basically my Well

38:15 you're talking about, you know, the old vault pair type of thing.

38:22 But you have a right who you put on and not put on. And

38:25 as you know, we both you know, when I was on your show,

38:30 there are things like I'm vaccinated, and I was saying, Carol vaccinate

38:32 things. But then we talk about stuff. But that's but that's you're people.

38:39 People don't know what you're talking about. John is referring to YouTube.

38:43 YouTube has very strict rules, right, It's it's not I've never never got

38:47 me in any trouble here. As far as the radio show, of course,

38:50 uh It's just what if I if I put that show on YouTube and

38:53 there's a conversation about that, then then YouTube doesn't like it. By the

38:58 way, Andy Barker in the room says, I would like to invite John

39:01 to come back on the show. I'm no longer doing the show with Vinnie

39:06 Anstizo. Oh interesting, you should do that. You should do that,

39:09 John, I'd have to be on value. Hey. But just one last

39:14 thing is and you know, because that what we're just talking about, that

39:16 I think that'd be a whole legit thing for a legitimate discussion. But yeah,

39:21 because we're gonna talk. You know, when we talk before shows,

39:24 we do talk about things, and there are things you aren't going to talk

39:29 about, and there are things you're going to be responsible about. And like

39:31 I've called my friends because you know, we're attracted to Kennedy's critique of both

39:36 the party being on democratic our party and corporate, the corporate hold on government.

39:43 So sure, Lenny says these things. You know, it's like,

39:45 oh, Cia killed my uncle and my father. I mean, this is

39:49 the stuff of politic you know, a politician, an adult talks about it.

39:54 Yeah, and then the stuff about you know, it's a bio weapon,

39:58 they called it. It's like, I mean, you know, Trump

40:02 made his fortune saying anything, every and everything. But Trump is a different

40:07 type of person in the case, and you know talking you know, people

40:10 don't say stuff like that. I mean, politicians might be the most balthesome

40:16 people. But you have to respect him because they do get out there.

40:21 Joe Biden, for all I criticize him, he gets out there and he's

40:24 trying, and he dust up and he puts his ass on the line,

40:30 and you know, he evolved. He does good things, bad things,

40:34 and you know, you love to hate politicians, but you have to respect

40:37 him because they're like it's like an adult. You know, you have to

40:42 behave in a certain way. You go out there and you do things.

40:45 You just don't go and nun your mouth about everything. You know. Right

40:50 well, he can afford to though, I mean rfk, he can afford

40:52 to because isn't it right? Yeah, I mean obviously he knows he's not

40:57 going to it on the head. He knows he's not going to be the

41:00 nominee, so he can. You know, that's the thing. When you

41:02 know, when you know you're not going to actually win anything, you have

41:07 no accountability because it's it's he's being irresponsible and he's telling like democrats like me,

41:14 and so there are democrats that are looking and it's like Tim Morgan said,

41:17 I would have liked to have supported them, but he's doing everything.

41:21 He doesn't want my support and he's not doing and the things he is doing,

41:24 I can't support him, you know, right, it's like, but

41:29 you just hit it because that's what he's a person of privilege and from rich

41:37 la and the entertainment industry La la Land, you know what, at least

41:40 to call La la la Land. Yeah, I still hear it, call

41:45 and uh yeah and uh you did it though, you got it. Yeah,

41:52 So I take it up too much of your time. But it's always

41:53 good talking to you. Yes, you two, that's what discussions are abouts.

41:58 He we're talking and we to a place. Yes, arf K Junior

42:04 is irresponsible and he's not He doesn't act like an adult right right, or

42:08 an adult but with some sort of issue. I don't know. I think

42:14 I think something like I said, something's a little off. But he thinks

42:19 he wants to be the running mate of Trump, which she sees Trump is

42:22 just pure entertained At this point, oh, Trump has been very complimentary of

42:29 RFK, but they all are conservatives love him. They love him. It's

42:36 like, I'll leave you on this. You know a person by their enemies,

42:38 right. You gotta understand his father was my childhood hero. You know,

42:44 I helped the wax head from the La Wax Museum. Yes, and

42:47 I followed his campaign when I was in the third grade. And that's one

42:51 of the big traumas what happened to his father. Yes, one of the

42:54 America of the sixties, you know, brother father MLK. And you're and

43:01 but you know a person by their enemies. Ours Kay's enemies were the Mafia,

43:07 Jimmy Hoffa and Lyndon Johnson. I mean, if you're gonna have the

43:12 enemies, those are pretty good ones. Fab It shows you what kind of

43:16 person he was. And I was talking to my friend Tom, who you

43:20 know, he's been on the show before. He says, yes, Arris

43:22 K would be drinking with these guys, you know, yeah, or having

43:25 a line of cook You know, I'm just that satire or that party.

43:30 But I mean, you don't associate with certain people. I mean, you

43:36 could be friendly with him, like when Joe Biden is talking about well,

43:38 I had the deal with these old race the senators because they controlled the Senate.

43:43 Yeah, it was truth in that, you know. Yeah, yeah,

43:46 some of the criticism he took for that was not fair in my view.

43:51 It's because some of it was justified in the sense that it was a

43:58 moral outrage. But in the reality, Joe Biden could never have become one

44:02 of the most powerful senators without having to deal with those people who controlled the

44:07 Senate. It's like being in a dult. It's like being in a marriage

44:10 or job. You have to or like you, I'm sure if you know,

44:15 when you run your show, like you always saying when I'm nesting up

44:20 or want to take it over to Matt Carnigan uncaught or whatever, set,

44:25 I just have one thing that I want to have my job, Tomara.

44:31 Right, that's right. There are things as an adult you have to do.

44:35 There's things you might want to do or say because we like you know,

44:38 have fun and satires. We find that fun. Yes, yes,

44:44 of course, Okay, Matt, take care, all right, John,

44:46 I appreciate the call. Take care bye bye. Yeah, but oh I

44:50 appreciate talking to you, but all right, bye bye. All right.

44:52 That was our friend John Sea Hopwood and uh, he did indicate that today

44:57 the CEE was for curmudgeon ly, although he was not particularly curmudgeonly today,

45:02 actually quite affable. But I do hope, Andy Barker, I do hope

45:07 that John takes you up on that, and I assume you you are able

45:10 to connect with him online. But I think that would be cool. And

45:14 I'm not sure he completely understood because he made the valume joke. I'm not

45:16 sure he completely understood. So just to reiterate, So, Andy, apparently

45:21 you're no longer doing the show with Vinnie and Stizo, which is those are

45:24 the two gentlemen. Oh? Actually, I think he really understood, So

45:30 just do so like I'm time traveling, Andy, is that you? Hello,

45:35 Hey, how are you doing? I'll do a great How are you

45:37 sir? Good? It's been a long time, Yes, sir? Can

45:42 you hear me? Okay, yes, I can hear you. I'm pretty

45:45 good because I mean, for whatever reason, I can not hear very loudly,

45:49 but we'll get through. Yeah. Yeah, so you're you're you are

45:53 still doing the show, but not with Vinnie and Stizo. Is that what's

45:57 going on? Yeah? So you know it's about six months ago, so

46:04 I kind of decided to kind of part ways. I didn't really like the

46:08 direction of where we were going, and uh, you know, to be

46:13 fair to John, I told you in the past, I did feel bad

46:17 about the way the whole thing transpired. Yeah, and that's why I'd like

46:22 to give him another opportunity to come on. I have a new co host

46:25 now. His name's Lou and we have changed the format of the show.

46:30 Now we're we have it more set up to almost like what you're doing a

46:35 radio show. We have different segments, we keep it in an hour,

46:38 and we're trying to be more family friendly. Oh okay, okay. Now,

46:45 so is it still called Nothing's Off the Table or is it a completely

46:50 new thing? Nope, still Nothing's up the Table. Okay. See,

46:54 if I'm really having a hard time hearing yet, I really have to call

46:59 you back, buddy. If that's okay, Yeah, yeah, it might

47:00 be a bad connection. Yeah, go ahead, and yeah, give us

47:02 a call back. Okay, okay, all right, so that's Andy Barker.

47:07 He's gonna call us back. Yeah. So, for those who don't

47:12 know, Andy does a podcast called Nothing's Off the Table. I've been on

47:15 that. This was jeez, this was a few years ago. Now,

47:19 it's hard to know exactly how long ago, because again, as I always

47:22 like to talk about that, I feel like the pandemic caused this weird time

47:27 distortion that many of us experienced, where it's hard to know exactly, you

47:30 know, like if something happened before the pandemic, it's hard to know exactly

47:34 when before the pandemic. It wasn't anyway, but I've been on there,

47:37 and then John Hopwood went on I think a week or two later, and

47:43 I don't think that episode is still available online. But when John was on

47:49 the show, they got into a political discussion and it didn't didn't go great.

47:58 John got upset and very upset in a very animated fashion, and Jenny

48:06 and I were actually watching it live and we were like, oh oh,

48:08 but it's funny because and I remember we're watching it and I had a feeling

48:16 this wasn't going to necessarily work out and then uh, and I'm just sitting

48:21 there waiting for that that pin to get pulled on that grenade, and sure

48:23 enough it happened. Hey Andy, hello, sir, can you hear me

48:29 better now? Or you hear you better? You you sound better. I

48:31 could hear you before, but you sound more clear this time. How do

48:35 I sound much better? Oh? Good? Good? Awesome? Awesome?

48:40 All right, So so you're so you've still got the show, but you

48:44 have a new co host. Correct? And well, my coach Lou is

48:50 a gentleman that I served within the Navy. He's the combat veteran, he's

48:54 a Purple Heart recipient, and uh, yeah, we just tried to stay

49:00 away from the silliness that was the last the last group, if you will.

49:07 It just it started out great and then nothing personal against those guys at

49:10 all whatsoever. I just didn't like the direction of the show and yeah,

49:15 and decided we need to change things up a bit. Yeah, I think

49:17 they I think they both unfriended me on social media after a while. I

49:23 might have made comments. They were both very sort of I mean, I

49:30 enjoyed talking with them the time that I was on with you guys. I

49:32 had nothing against them either, but some of the some of the stuff they

49:36 were posting during the pandemic, I really was you know how I am about

49:39 that? I was. I was not a fan of of some of what,

49:45 uh what they were putting out there, And uh, I can only

49:47 imagine what they were saying on the show. But uh no, that's that's

49:52 cool. Now, How did I am? I am curious. I don't

49:54 know how much you want to say about it, but how how did they

49:57 react when you told them you wanted to change things up? You know?

50:01 Surprisingly they were they were good with it, and like I, you know,

50:07 I brought it up to them saying, listen, I made sure that

50:09 they knew they had nothing to do with, if you know, any personal

50:13 feelings. It was just a business decision essentially. Yeah. Yeah, because

50:17 you did that with them for a long time, right, Yeah, I

50:22 did that with them for about two or three years maybe, And of course

50:24 I had the show before they came on it, so and I wanted to

50:30 get back closer to the original platform that we had, and John was one

50:37 of the individuals that that was basically the starting point kind of the I don't

50:44 want to say downfall, but just of the getting out of control, if

50:46 you will. Yeah, because because I remember that. I remember Jenny and

50:52 I were watching that live and you know, uh, John's arguing with with

50:59 the other eyes, and I remember you just kind of sat there looking concerned,

51:04 and it was it was obvious from the look on your face that that

51:07 was not what you wanted, that you wanted to have a more constructive conversation

51:15 than what had unfolded. Absolutely, we can disagree all day long, but

51:22 as long as we're cordial with each other, respectful, then it's okay.

51:28 But when it gets out of hand like it did, I was embarrassed.

51:31 I thought I'd just lost control of the entire situation. And like I said,

51:36 that was the beginning of the end, I think. And there were

51:38 a couple other instances that happened that I was like, all right, that's

51:43 it, but we have to change things up, like, like, what

51:46 else happened? Did similar things happen with other guests like that? Do you

51:51 mean? Yeah? Exactly? Really? We we had a gentleman on that

51:57 that uh says he experience a big foot sighting or something to that effect,

52:02 and you know, we give everyone a platform, right, but the way

52:09 they treated him was completely disrespectful, and that was the last draw for me.

52:15 So, oh wow, is what it is? I guess? Yeah?

52:21 Yeah, So now, so what is it more like now with your

52:24 new co host lou What's I mean? You kind of told me about the

52:28 format, but are you doing is it serious or there is there still a

52:31 lot of humor or or how how is the show now? Oh yeah,

52:36 we keep humor in it, but we're more structured now. We actually have

52:40 there's basically five different segments in the show. We're keeping it at an hour.

52:45 We'll have guests. First segment is just a little bit of introduction.

52:50 Second segment will be whatever topic we're going to talk about or our guest.

52:54 Our third segment is a segment that we came up with and we call it

53:00 Story of the Week, where both Lou and I will find a story,

53:02 a short story and will share it. And then our second and last segment,

53:07 which is something that I'm very very proud of all and to keep going,

53:09 is we do a segment of Veterans Helping Veterans' If there's veteran organizations out

53:16 there, they are doing some really good things and we want to highlight those

53:20 and maybe give some people a chance to take advantage of if they've never heard

53:24 of those organizations before. That's really cool, that's excellent. And then lastly,

53:32 we just wrapping up to kind of reiterate what we talked about wrapping up,

53:36 and that's about it. You're now you're a veteran yourself at this point,

53:39 right, You finished up with the military. I did. Yeah,

53:43 I retired. Oh my god. We haven't talked in a while. Clearly.

53:46 Yeah. I retired in two years ago, two thousand and twenty one,

53:54 about a month and a half after I retired. And if I've told

53:58 you to stop me, sure, I got COVID. I was hospitalized for

54:04 it. Oh my god. While in the hospital, I had a heart

54:07 attack. Oh my god. I didn't realize. And I went in the

54:14 hospital feel fairly healthy other than COVID. I came out post heart attack and

54:19 a insulin to bend it type two diabetic. Wow. COVID did a did

54:25 a number on me. You're not kidding. Wow, if you if you

54:30 don't mind my my asking, Andy, were you vaccinated? I was not,

54:37 okay, and so my memory is really really cloudy over that whole time

54:44 frame. Yeah, I don't remember if they had the vaccine out yet,

54:49 oh, just out and I got I got hammered with it. Yeah.

54:57 Wow. Well I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sorry you and through that.

55:00 My god. Now, Now, how are how are you now?

55:02 Physically? Actually, I'm I'm clearly I'm not where I was and I probably

55:15 never will be. But you know, I'm doing pretty good now. I'm

55:16 trying to stay stay on the insulin and watch my shugars and and all that.

55:23 My cardiologist has just cleared me to go back to start training Brazil jiu

55:27 jitsu again, so that's that's definitely a plus. Yeah, good, excellent,

55:31 excellent. Wow, I'm excited about that. The only downside is I

55:37 he won't let me compete anymore. And that's okay because I'm I'm creeping up

55:40 there in age. I probably don't need to be competing anyway. Well,

55:47 I'm just glad you're okay. I didn't yeah, I didn't realize you.

55:52 I think I remember now seeing something on social media about about you getting COVID

55:55 and having a rough time with it, but I didn't realize you had on

56:00 into the hospital and had a heart heart attack in the whole deal. I'm

56:02 so sorry you went through that, but I'm glad you're okay. That's uh.

56:07 I'm glad you are better now. Jeez. Well, hopefully nothing like

56:10 that happens again. My god. Well, you've really been through it,

56:15 you know. I appreciate that, and there's no need to be sorry,

56:17 you know, it's just another one of those life events that kind of war

56:23 is your character and tells you a lot about who you are. Yeah,

56:28 yeah, how did those I have to ask this though, I'm super curious,

56:35 So how did how did this? Well, obviously, so you had

56:38 to take a break from the show while this was all going on, right,

56:42 So when you when you went back to doing the podcast with those guys,

56:45 because those guys were not exactly they didn't take COVID seriously at all,

56:51 right, Vinian's and Seso. So, so how was I'm just I'm super

56:57 curious, how was that dynamic on the podcast? You got you got two

57:00 guys who call it a scam emick or whatever, and that was the kind

57:04 of thing that they were putting out that really turned me off. And I

57:07 might have unfriended them or they might have unfriended me, but but uh,

57:10 but that was their attitude about it. So, so what was that dynamic

57:15 like when you went back after having just gone through what you went through because

57:19 of COVID, you know, being introspective and thinking about it just now,

57:28 that was probably the catalyst of the beginning of the end, if you will.

57:34 Yeah, so, and it was much of the same. You know,

57:37 yeah, you got it, okay, But I tell you what,

57:40 man, I've I've been to combat, I've been shot at, I've been

57:44 scared, But I was never more scared than I was laying in that hospital

57:49 bed knowing. You know, because my my background thirty plus years in healthcare,

57:55 I knew exactly what was happening. Yeah, and nothing I could do

58:00 about it. I was so weak and I was the pain was so intense.

58:05 I couldn't even get to the door to call somebody for help because I

58:09 hit the call bell light. And I'm not exaggerating. And people may may

58:14 believe this, they may not whatever, but it is what happened. It

58:16 took ten minutes for them to get to my room. Oh and then when

58:22 I told him what was going on, they didn't believe me. They're like,

58:25 no, you're not having a heart attack. And I say, we'll

58:28 put give me a meat kg. At least, I'm telling you, I've

58:30 got I've got every symptom that they're was and they put an et KG on

58:35 me. They're like, oh my god, you're having a heart attack.

58:37 Like yeah, oh yeah, I mean, I mean, I'm not surprised.

58:42 I'm not surprised it took him ten minutes to get to you because the

58:44 hospitals were so overwhelmed, and that was that was one of the things that

58:50 made me so angry, you know, especially you really at the height of

58:53 the pandemic, so angry with with COVID deniers and people who just refused to

58:58 take it seriously. As you know, look, our medical system is about

59:01 to collapse under the weight of this thing. This is happening, you know

59:06 in cities where there are some cities where they were bringing in refrigeration trucks because

59:09 they were running out of room to stuff the dead bodies. I mean,

59:13 it really, and that happened in the United States of America, not that

59:16 nobody really talks about that part of it anymore, but it happened, so

59:20 so I'm not surprised, Dandy that it took them a while to get to

59:22 you, just because everybody was so overwhelmed. You know, it doesn't surprise

59:27 me at all, I believe it. And the scary part was that I

59:31 was on a COVID floor. So those nurses, they did their job great

59:37 doing what they did, but they didn't have experience in emergency medicine, cardiac

59:43 care, so they didn't even have a doctor that was comfortable running a code

59:51 on me. They had to go to the er and get a doctor to

59:53 come up from the ar. Oh wow. And so that was you know,

1:00:00 being alone, being in that bed. I had family or visitors or

1:00:04 anything. And that was probably the most scared I've ever been. Yeah.

1:00:10 I don't blame you that lack of ability to control the situation. Even in

1:00:16 combat, you trick yourself in your mind to think that you have some semblants

1:00:22 of control because you can return fire. Yeah, but laying in that bed,

1:00:27 there was there was nothing. Wow. How many days were you in

1:00:31 the hospital, total of ten? Ten? Yeah, uh wow, Yeah,

1:00:40 that sounds brutal. I you know. I as as for myself,

1:00:44 I mean, I luckily, I've I've dodged it right along as far as

1:00:47 I know. I mean, you know, I'm fully vaccinated and everything.

1:00:51 I've probably had it. I've probably had it more than once and just had

1:00:53 no idea. I just was asymptomatic. But I do think I had it

1:00:58 early though, because on Christmas night of twenty nineteen, before we even knew

1:01:04 that COVID was in the United States, I ended up in the emergency room

1:01:07 with trouble breathing and they die. They diagnosed me with asthma, and it

1:01:12 was weird because at least it seemed weird at the time because asthma is something

1:01:15 you know, usually you find out when you're a kid, you know that

1:01:19 you have asthma, not you don't usually find out at my age. And

1:01:22 I remember the medical team that was in the er that night. They were

1:01:29 a little bit perplexed, Like I remember one of the doctors. I remember

1:01:31 the doctor saying to me, no one's ever told you before you have asthma,

1:01:36 because you're clearly having an asthma attack, that that's clearly what the problem

1:01:40 is here. And I'm like, this is all new to me, you

1:01:44 know, as I'm sitting there, as I'm sitting there trying to breathe,

1:01:46 you know, I'm like, I don't know. But but anyway, so

1:01:51 now, but we didn't know COVID was here, so but it was.

1:01:53 We know now that it was here at that point. So looking back,

1:01:58 I think I had COVID, and I think the COVID may have permanently damaged

1:02:02 my lungs because I still today I use a maintenance and hailer once a day

1:02:07 and I carry a rescue and hailer just in case. And so I that

1:02:10 that's it's a theory, can't prove it, We'll never know. But and

1:02:14 when I saw my primary care physician, he said, yeah, it's it's

1:02:16 a good possibility, but we'll never know, you know, But I think

1:02:21 you're onto something there. I think a lot of people have had it before

1:02:25 they really knew what it was right. In fact, they wanted to do

1:02:30 a bypass. They wanted to do open heart surgery on me, and they

1:02:37 refused to do with the anesthesiologist and the intern is refused to do it because

1:02:40 they said, my lungs are so damaged from COVID that I probably would not

1:02:45 survive the anesthesia. Oh wow, So what we did? They end up

1:02:51 putting in a stent. And since I've had the stent placed, you know,

1:02:54 things things are better. I just I have to, you know,

1:03:00 spending as much time as I did in the military, institutionalized at this point,

1:03:04 and I have to make it an effort to say, hey, it's

1:03:08 okay not to push, slow down, stop, because my whole adult life

1:03:14 is you just suck it up and you drive on it's a pain or anything.

1:03:16 But now I have to be smarter and realize that doing that could kill

1:03:21 me. Yeah, exactly, Now I can imagine where that's That's not easy.

1:03:25 It was a very humbling experience. Strangely, I'm glad that it happened.

1:03:35 Really, it really it puts a lot of things into the proper context

1:03:40 in your life. Yeah, get you, get you. I don't want

1:03:46 to say on the straight and narrow, but it really makes you re evaluate

1:03:51 either some of the choices you made in the past or some of the choices

1:03:53 that you were thinking of making. And yeah, it's life altering for sure

1:04:00 in many many ways. Yeah, well that that makes sense. Wow.

1:04:06 Well, Andy, I really appreciate the call today. It's great to hear

1:04:11 from you. And where, So where do we find the new version of

1:04:15 Nothing's Off the Table? Where can where can people get it? So we

1:04:19 still have our YouTube channel, Nothing's Off the Table, Okay, So you

1:04:24 can find the past episodes there. You can download it an episode if you

1:04:28 don't want to watch, you can download just the audio version on any of

1:04:31 the major platforms that post podcasting. Spotify lives in all of those. Yeah,

1:04:36 and of course we are still attempting to do it live, but we've

1:04:41 changed the day and the time. We are doing it live on Facebook on

1:04:45 the not Facebook page and OTT and we're doing it Friday evenings at eight pm

1:04:50 Central Standard time. Excellent, excellent, very good. Well I will I

1:04:57 will check it out, my friend. And I do hope, I sincerely,

1:05:00 I hope John takes you up on your offer. I think he should.

1:05:03 And you know, I'm gonna get with you offline and get his information

1:05:08 because I don't have it, and I would really really like to have them

1:05:11 back, just to kind of maybe make things right, because I really didn't

1:05:15 like the way he was treated. Yeah, and you guys, I'm sure,

1:05:18 I'm sure he'll appreciate that. And you know, and he's a veteran

1:05:21 as well, and uh, you know, I'm sure I'm sure under the

1:05:26 improved circumstances, you guys will have a really good discussion. So we'll we'll

1:05:31 make that happen. And yeah, we'll we'll we'll make sure that you're able

1:05:36 to get in touch with him and uh and we'll let you go. Andy,

1:05:40 But thank you so much, my friend. A great to hear from

1:05:43 you, and uh, let's let's talk again soon and uh, and we'll

1:05:45 talk offline obviously, Okay, thanks Matt, all right, you got it.

1:05:49 Andy, take care all right, bye bye bye bye. Well that

1:05:53 was a cool surprise. So that is Andy Barker from the Nothing's Off the

1:05:57 Table podcast, and boy, I'm sorry to hear about what he went through.

1:06:01 I like I said, I remember seeing something on social media about him

1:06:06 getting COVID and being sick, but I didn't know it was that bad.

1:06:10 Wow. So I'm glad he's all right. Miriam is in the chat room.

1:06:14 She said, you know, she's been dealing with COVID. She says,

1:06:15 COVID sucks. I'm fortunate there are treatments. Yeah, I mean,

1:06:20 fortunately, luckily, we're at a point now where with the packs leavid and

1:06:26 other therapeutics. I heard one I don't know if it was an immunologist or

1:06:31 a virologist or an epidemiologist one of those is saying that at this point,

1:06:39 even with underlying conditions, at this point, no one should be dying,

1:06:45 certainly from COVID with the treatments that are available, and obviously the virus itself

1:06:49 is much weaker than it was with the newer variants are weaker. I mean,

1:06:54 it's still here, you know, we're My theory is that we're stuck

1:06:58 with this for the rest of our laws. COVID will never be gone,

1:07:01 but you know, it'll it'll continue to kind of recede into the background and

1:07:06 be more of a nuisance than a well, a deadly pandemic. And hopefully

1:07:13 we don't have to. You know, pandemics seem to roll around historically about

1:07:16 once a century, so hopefully we don't have to go through that again in

1:07:20 our lifetimes, but you never know. Yeah, Miriam says, uh,

1:07:28 I have it right now. And even with packs Lavid it is being a

1:07:31 much less deadly variant, it's still scary and painful and awful. And Jenny

1:07:38 says, boy, do I hear that sentiment, which I believe is in

1:07:41 response to what Andy was saying about you know how what he went through really

1:07:46 helped him to reevaluate and sort of reprioritize what matters in life and so forth.

1:07:53 And you know, Jenny, of course herself a cancer survivor. Andy

1:07:58 says, thanks for letting me chat, miss you guys. Yeah, I'm

1:08:00 really glad you called us. Andy, Thank you call us anytime, all

1:08:04 right? We should. Oh, and I see somebody I think that's a

1:08:08 new name in the Facebook live chat. Jason. Jason joins us in the

1:08:13 Facebook live chat, and I want to see if there's anybody else in there

1:08:15 I missed, and then we gotta get to him. Oh, Mike from

1:08:19 Queen City Cabinetry is in there. Mike, of course, one of our

1:08:24 great Queen City Cabinetry, one of our great sponsors here at w mnhey five

1:08:28 point three FM, and of course Mike one of our co hosts. On

1:08:31 Retrospectrum Radio on Friday nights. Uh, let's see. John Oppwood said Robert

1:08:39 Reid won an Emmy for playing a cross dresser. Didn't he did? He

1:08:45 as referring to my Robert Reid impression earlier. Okay, let's get to a

1:08:48 break. We're going to be too. Actually, I'm gonna play a song

1:08:53 and then we're gonna be and then we're going to show some love to our

1:08:55 amazing sponsors, and then we'll be back with the balance of our show.

1:08:57 But I haven't played this one in a while. This is uh song called

1:09:00 Reconnection from Eons and Coded. They're from right up the road and conquered New

1:09:03 Hampshire. But I was got a good, good positive response when I play

1:09:06 this track, so let's give this a listen and then we'll be back with

1:09:10 more Matt Connerton Unleashed. Oh, Sue's Spencer from the UK is in the

1:09:15 chat says disease x X is apparently the next pandemic and vaccines are being created

1:09:20 to counteract it already. Oh my goodness, I've had enough of pandemics,

1:09:25 that's for sure. All right, this is eons and coded reconnection and we'll

1:09:30 be back. Don't go away. Welcome back everybody as we cruise into our

1:10:15 final segment today of Matt Connerton Unleashed. And we are live from the studios

1:10:19 of w m n H ninety five point three FM in glorious downtown Manchester,

1:10:26 New Hampshire, also on Comcast now we're on channel six on the cable if

1:10:31 you are in Manchester, and of course hello to all of our online listeners

1:10:34 across the nation and around the globe. You can go to my website Matt

1:10:38 Connerton dot com for all of your live streaming options, social media links,

1:10:41 contact info, show archives, et cetera, et cetera. Today is Thursday

1:10:45 August ten, two thousand twenty three, so nice to have you all with

1:10:49 me. Uh. The studio line is open six zero three two five zero

1:10:54 six zero seven six ZHO three two five zero six zero seven. You can

1:10:57 also text me at six one seven nine one seven four four seven six.

1:11:00 I'm on social media at Matt Connerton. You can email me Matt at Matt

1:11:04 Connerton dot com, and of course you can interact endo Pine in the Facebook

1:11:10 live chat. But the best thing to do so that we can hear and

1:11:12 enjoy your dulcet tones is give us a call at six o three two five

1:11:15 zero six zero seven, and I believe Ron is back on the line.

1:11:18 Hi, Ron, Yes, Hi, Matt. Their caller that you had

1:11:24 Candy. I would have liked to have his own. Was he on a

1:11:28 ship and uh, you know, was the ship and I'm dated with cases

1:11:32 of COVID because you know, we had problems in the military at that time

1:11:39 with submarines and ships and all the above, you know, people working,

1:11:43 uh i'm in, i'm or fine spaces, that kind of thing. Soh

1:11:46 yeah, yeah, I would like to have known how much if he was

1:11:49 on a ship, how much of his the ship, how many people on

1:11:54 the ship were diagnosed with it? Right right? Yeah? I would I

1:11:58 would be curious to know that as well, I don't think. I don't

1:12:00 think he was actively on a ship later in his career, but I could

1:12:04 be wrong. Okay, and kudos, so that moved I don't know,

1:12:12 you know, I mean, since I don't listen to the radio other than

1:12:15 talk radio, I don't listen to musical a whole lot, especially hot rock,

1:12:18 because I just, you know, it's just not one of the things.

1:12:20 Yeah, but I did really good. I couldn't have. I was

1:12:25 asking myself, I wonder how big they are. I mean, did they

1:12:28 just do vocals or the things on vinyl? Because that was really awesome the

1:12:31 band I just played the song I just played. Yeah, Ian's encoded.

1:12:36 Uh, it's actually just one guy, but he plays all the instruments himself.

1:12:41 He's from Conquered And yeah, every time I we got to get him

1:12:45 on the show. I've never had him on the show, but every time

1:12:46 I play that song, I always get a positive response. People really dig

1:12:50 it, which is interesting because it's kind of an unusual song in the sense

1:12:54 that it's not something that you would hear on the radio normally. It's a

1:12:58 little it's a little different. It's unique, but it's so good and yeah,

1:13:01 people really dig that track. He's got other music too on bandcamp dot

1:13:05 com, but that's that song is my personal favorite. It's called uh uh,

1:13:10 it's called Reconnection, and the band is or the artists eons encoded from

1:13:15 Conquered. Yeah, well, you know, they really sounded like a veteran

1:13:19 band. And you say it's a it's a solo guy. But yeah,

1:13:24 you know some bands when they get together, you can you just hear the

1:13:27 the inexperienced kind of sounds poor per se, you know, try to describe.

1:13:30 But sure, they sounded like deeping. He sounded like a couplet veterans

1:13:36 like. So, I don't know, anyway, I really liked the song

1:13:39 because I guess what I'm trying to say. Yeah, yeah, absolutely,

1:13:42 well me too, all right, Buddy tells it. I who was just

1:13:46 curious about that guy Andy Jazz and I just knowing, just knowing that how

1:13:51 much it affected the military. You know what else I'd like to know because

1:13:55 COVID doesn't even mentioned anymore. Globally, we're the still where are the hot

1:14:00 spots? Is still? Or is everything pretty much? I think? I

1:14:04 think I think in China they're still having a pretty rough time with it,

1:14:10 but they've they've done such a poor job of getting people vaccinated. They have

1:14:15 their own vaccine in China. I think it's called sign of vax and apparently

1:14:20 it's not very effective, and they were offered help, you know, with

1:14:24 mRNA vaccines, but they wanted to do their own thing. And I think

1:14:27 this sign of vax vax is uh has a very low efficacy rate, so

1:14:32 they continue to struggle with it. At least last I knew that was the

1:14:35 case. All right, man, you know that was it one time?

1:14:44 All right, Ron, I appreciate the call, thank you, bye bye.

1:14:48 All right, that was our friend, Ron, and that does open

1:14:50 up the line for you. Six zo three two five six seven six zo

1:14:55 three two five six zero seven. Yeah, I know that. And China's

1:14:58 economy has really taken a eating because of it. We've talked about it on

1:15:01 the show. The incredible mishandling by the government there and Xijing ping of COVID.

1:15:08 You know, they do these lockdowns there where they'll pretty much locked down

1:15:13 an entire city and it's very very strict. You know, we kind of

1:15:18 when we use that term here in the United States at the height of the

1:15:23 pandemic, you know, the term lockdown or phrases like shelter in place.

1:15:27 We tended to use them a little bit loosely here no one was really lockdown

1:15:31 per se. But but in China they take it very seriously. But see,

1:15:38 what they should have done was if they were gonna do that and be

1:15:43 super strict about it, they should have had a plan in place too.

1:15:46 They should have accepted help with the vaccines instead of using their own vaccine,

1:15:50 which apparently is garbage. And when they had a massive lockdown, used that

1:15:56 opportunity to get everybody vaccinated. You know, have some have people going around

1:16:00 to everyone's home and getting them vaccinated, but they blew it. It's strange,

1:16:09 how you know China they have you know, they have these long term

1:16:14 plans, these fifty year plans, one hundred a year plans, and you

1:16:17 know, they're really good long term planners, and yet they've consistently mismanaged well

1:16:23 I mean, look, I mean, you know the virus getting out of

1:16:26 China to begin with, They've they've just mismanaged it every step of the way,

1:16:30 and their economy has really suffered because of it. Oh, hello to

1:16:36 Marco Mueller or Muller. I'm never sure how to say the last name another

1:16:41 very talented musician. The band is a factory of art. I think,

1:16:45 I hope I have the right band. Marco from Germany and we had them

1:16:48 on the show. Another great band. Mike from Queen City Cabinetry says I

1:16:53 heard they blamed it on a Godzilla. Uh No, that would be uh

1:16:59 I think that would be the Japanese Godzilla is a Japanese right. I remember

1:17:03 seeing those movies on Channel fifty six when I was a kid, like Godzilla

1:17:09 versus Rodan. I think Rodan was the one that flew around and breathed fire,

1:17:13 and I never understood the appeal of those films. I find them tedious.

1:17:17 Let's see, Eon Venom four is in the Facebook live chat now.

1:17:21 I just played a song from the band Eons and Coded, and now Eon

1:17:27 Venom four is in the Facebook live chat. A coincidence, I think not.

1:17:35 Jenny shared something in the chat two very very cool. This article that

1:17:42 she wrote that just got published. So this just happened while we were on

1:17:45 the air. This went up. Oh here we go. This is up

1:17:55 at RSDA dot org. It's called Everyone Deserves Access to the Best. So

1:18:04 Jenny wrote this for that for that site. Again, this just went up.

1:18:09 She's got a lot of articles published. Uh, I think she has

1:18:13 other things there, and of course she's she has articles that go up on

1:18:15 the Mighty the mighty dot com all the time. So she's she's done very

1:18:20 well with that. Very proud of her and her ongoing you know, this

1:18:24 is just another component of her ongoing activism for for healthcare. But yeah,

1:18:30 check that out. So that is up right now at rs DS dot org.

1:18:40 Let's see. Yon Venom four will be performing for karaoke at Center City

1:18:46 Park, downtown Greensboro, North Carolina. By the way, now we won't

1:18:53 go back to that, Oh, Yan Venom four says, uh, yesterday

1:18:59 hashtag Matt was Cholly on Skype. She is so talent. We said,

1:19:02 yes, yes, let me give these studio line one more time and then

1:19:06 we'll get into something. It's been a busy show, which is good.

1:19:11 That's that's what we like. But six O three two five six six three

1:19:15 two five six Z seven is a studio line. Oh, I should mention

1:19:17 two Tonight is Trivia Night at the Hop. Nut are amazing sponsor at one

1:19:23 thousand ELM Street. I would strongly suggest, however, that you call ahead

1:19:28 to reserve a spot if you are going to be participating in the trivia,

1:19:31 because those spots do fill up quickly. Something that has been in the news

1:19:41 that is only gets a little bit of attention because you know, so much

1:19:47 of the oxygen is uh in terms of the media is taken up by Trump

1:19:53 and his multiple indictments and all of that. And I've been kind of avoiding

1:19:56 talking about that because if you're just joining us, I mentioned earlier in the

1:19:59 show, and I've been mentioning in all week, I seem to speaking of

1:20:01 sickness, I have a fever, and the fever I believe is caused by

1:20:08 TFS Trump fatigue syndrome, and uh, I'm just tired of it all.

1:20:15 So I've been avoiding that a bit. And again it's not in any way

1:20:20 intended as a criticism of the media. Obviously, it's a major story,

1:20:25 so you know they're going to focus on it quite a bit, but I'm

1:20:28 I'm kind of burned out on it. No what I wanted to talk about

1:20:33 just a little bit, And this is something where I would love to get

1:20:36 feedback from the listeners, either on the studio line or in the chat room,

1:20:41 or of course you can also text me at six one seven nine one

1:20:44 seven four four seven six, email me Matt at Matt Connerton. Jay Fed

1:20:48 says, you spent a lot of time not talking about it. I know

1:20:53 it's hard to avoid, but anyway, no, something that is has kind

1:20:58 of been a bit of a background story, shall we say, But it's

1:21:03 this has been discussed more online than in mainstream media. I think this particular

1:21:12 subject. A lot of podcasts are talking about this. For example, New

1:21:16 York Post has a story up the shoplifting epidemic taking over America with a one

1:21:23 hundred billion dollar annual price tag. There are a lot of stories about shoplifting,

1:21:30 big increases going on in shoplifting. And I have some insight on this

1:21:36 partly because you know, I used to be a store manager at a retail

1:21:40 chain, a major retail chain, and so you know, we call it

1:21:44 loss prevention in retail. That was a big That was always a big subject,

1:21:47 especially you know, working in a store that's old DVDs and CDs,

1:21:51 and you know, people would come in and steal from us. And actually

1:21:57 the company that I worked for too, we all so not only did we

1:22:00 have to contend with people coming in and stealing product, not just you know,

1:22:05 people who would come in and stuff a DVD down their pants, but

1:22:10 also what they call professional shoplifters, people who come in with what they call

1:22:14 a booster bag. And what a booster bag is, and anyone who's ever

1:22:18 worked in retail will know this. A booster bag is a bag that you

1:22:21 line with duct tape, so when you shove stuff into the bag, it

1:22:27 doesn't set off, it doesn't set off the alarm when you leave the store,

1:22:30 the sensors don't pick it up. I forget what that system is called.

1:22:35 So we would have to contend with that. But also the company that

1:22:39 I worked for, we would buy used product from customers. We would buy

1:22:44 use CDs and DVDs, so we would also have to deal with customers bringing

1:22:48 in stolen merchandise to sell to us that we would then resell as used,

1:22:55 and that caused all kinds of problems. You know, obvious, I'm sure

1:23:00 the vast majority of the people who brought in items to sell to us that

1:23:05 they didn't want anymore, We're perfectly honest, but clearly some of them were

1:23:11 not, and some of them were really obvious about what they were up to.

1:23:15 So anyway, so I know a little bit about this, but there

1:23:20 seems to be an epidemic of shoplifting across the country, and in some places,

1:23:25 like they've had this problem in San Francisco where stores have closed or they've

1:23:29 had to put everything behind glass, or you know, even things like I

1:23:31 don't know, toothpaste, you know, different things that you wouldn't normally expect

1:23:36 to be certainly not high ticket items, but the shoplifting has got to be

1:23:40 so out of control. And different retailers too, have different rules of engagement.

1:23:45 You know, can you confront the shoplifter? Should you confront the shoplifter?

1:23:48 Are we actually paying you enough to even take the risk of confronting the

1:23:53 shoplifter because what if they become violent? You know, there's it's a much

1:23:59 more aren't complex issue than I think people probably realize. But also with inflation,

1:24:05 everything costs more, so that increases shoplifting. I'm sure that's part of

1:24:11 it. But what also has been really interesting to me about this it's not

1:24:15 just the shoplifting problem itself, which seems to be gripping the country at this

1:24:23 point, but also the way people have been reacting to it. And this

1:24:27 is the part where I really would like to get some feedback from listeners on

1:24:30 this, because you know, you have you have what I refer to them

1:24:36 simply as the online left, which are you know, liberal left leaning podcasters

1:24:44 who some of them, some of them actually are very sympathetic to the shoplifters

1:24:54 because what they argue is and again not all of them, some of them,

1:24:57 there's there's a schism. There's a schism going on here. I like

1:25:03 the word schism, big fan of a good schism with the online left,

1:25:09 because you have some of them who have actually kind of justified all the shoplifting

1:25:14 and said, look, these are people who clearly they're poor, they're desperate,

1:25:21 they need basic things like toothpaste and toilet paper, and they don't have

1:25:27 a choice. So that's why they're shoplifting. They don't have a choice,

1:25:31 or maybe for some it's even some sort of a statement against capitalism. And

1:25:36 then you have the more moderate online left, you know, like the Young

1:25:40 Turks, for example, Jank Huger and Ani Kasparian, who are saying,

1:25:45 uh, no, stealing is not okay. I mean, obviously if you're

1:25:49 desperate and you have no choice, you know, like that song Hunger Strike

1:25:55 and remember that hunger strike. I don't mind stealing bread. You know,

1:26:00 if you have to steal bread to feed yourself or your family, then you're

1:26:03 gonna have to steal that bread. I mean, obviously, you know,

1:26:05 none of this is absolute, but but you know, the more moderate online

1:26:12 left is saying, actually, no, this is not okay, and you

1:26:15 can't just justify all this thievery. You know, yes, there are people

1:26:20 who are in dire circumstances. But I think the people who are justifying it,

1:26:27 part of what they don't realize is and I've I've realized that they don't

1:26:32 get this just from some of the conversations that I've watched and listened to online

1:26:36 about this. Some people don't understand that there are other reasons people shoplift.

1:26:44 It's not just out of desperation, you know, because the people who will

1:26:47 justify it, they always say, well, obviously they're desperate, they don't

1:26:50 want to be stealing, they're just desperate. Yes, that is the case,

1:26:55 and probably for most of them. But there are also people who shoplift

1:26:58 for the thrill of it. That is a thing. And there are also

1:27:03 people who might shoplift because it's a game. You know, there's there you

1:27:09 know, they they and there a group of friends. You know, Oh,

1:27:12 I dare you to go steal that? Okay, I'll go steal it.

1:27:14 That goes on. But also there is and and the people who are

1:27:17 justifying it seemed to be completely oblivious to this part. And again, if

1:27:21 you haven't worked in retail, maybe you don't know. But there there are

1:27:25 professional shoplifters. Like I said with the booster bags, there are people who

1:27:29 steal things professionally with the sole intent of them because that's a pretty good profit

1:27:33 margin. Right, you stole it, you got it for free, and

1:27:36 then you resell it, sell it online, sell it on Amazon or eBay

1:27:41 or whatever at a profit. Right, not bad. There are professional shoplifting

1:27:47 rings, groups of people who actually will go what they'll one thing that they'll

1:27:56 do. And this is something that the company that I used to work for

1:27:58 I had to deal with. Is they would go in this group of people,

1:28:02 they go into a store and a couple of them say, say there's

1:28:08 a group of five people. They all and they don't all necessarily walk in

1:28:11 at once because that would be too obvious. So they might walk in one

1:28:15 at a time, but space it out a little bit, so it's not

1:28:16 obvious, you don't know that they're all together, but a couple of them

1:28:19 might have booster bags to shove things into, and a couple others might be

1:28:25 acting as decoys. So you might have somebody approaching you asking you questions about,

1:28:33 hey, where can I find data DA. Meanwhile, one of their

1:28:36 partners, partners in crime specifically, is stuff and a booster bag full of

1:28:42 merchandise while you're distracted helping this other customer. And we live in a time

1:28:46 now where because nobody has enough help, there's I'm sure many instances where people

1:28:55 are by themselves, or these stores are so understaffed they can't watch everybody,

1:29:00 and they certainly, if, if only, if you've got a big store

1:29:05 and there's only one person on duty or two people on duty because they can't

1:29:10 hire anybody else, then a group of professional shoplifters going in there, they're

1:29:15 gonna have their way with that place, because the fewer people who are working

1:29:19 there, the easier it is to overwhelm them. I don't mean overwhelmed them

1:29:21 violently, I just mean overwhelmed them as as in, you know, one

1:29:27 person distracts them while the other fills their booster back so that's something I don't

1:29:30 think people understand, you know, obviously, I mean, I'm a very

1:29:33 empathetic person and I'm certainly I have great sympathy for anyone who's in need,

1:29:38 who's who is stealing, not that I'm justifying it. I would never justify

1:29:41 it, but you also kind of have to do what you have to do.

1:29:45 So somebody who's stealing something because they have no other option, well that's

1:29:53 it's not okay. But I'm not gonna make any judgment about it either.

1:29:57 But I don't think people realize the people who would actually go and justify that,

1:30:02 that there are professionals out there who do this specifically or or or they

1:30:08 do the smash and grab where again, we've seen this with groups of people

1:30:12 who go into a store all at the same time, and they create chaos,

1:30:16 and meanwhile somebody's you know, literally smashing a display case or something and

1:30:21 pulling out expensive items and running out with it. So this is really a

1:30:28 problem. But I've been I've been surprised at how many people online are are

1:30:36 justifying this behavior and rationalizing it. It's it's been a bit stunning to me.

1:30:43 But again, I have a specific point of view partly you know,

1:30:45 who knows. Maybe if maybe if I hadn't worked in retail and hadn't dealt

1:30:48 with this this kind of thing, maybe I would have Maybe I wouldn't have

1:30:55 the perspective that I do. But this is from the New York Posts.

1:30:58 A shoplifting epidemic taking over America with a one hundred billion dollars annual price tag.

1:31:03 It says here the stories are everywhere. Walmart store closures in Portland and

1:31:09 Chicago. Assume Portland, Oregon, not Portland, Maine. An epidemic of

1:31:15 drug store thefts in New York. In Baltimore, a Landmark grocery store shuts

1:31:24 its stores after nearly twenty five years in a community desperate for fresh food.

1:31:28 While in San Francisco, reports of big box chains abandoning it's downtown have become

1:31:33 nearly daily occurrences. Yeah, in San Francisco, I think it's been the

1:31:38 worst of anywhere. They also have an out of control homeless problem in San

1:31:43 Francisco, So that might be in San Francisco, it might legitimately be just

1:31:47 desperate people and not But then again, see that's the thing though, in

1:31:53 that chaos as opportunity. If you are a professional shoplifter or part of a

1:31:59 professional shoplift ring. You might go to San Francisco because in all this mass

1:32:04 of people who are genuinely desperate doing all this thieving, why not get in

1:32:10 on some of that? Right, So it says here the cause rampant,

1:32:15 often organized and seemingly consequence less shoplifting. Indeed, the US is deep and

1:32:24 what many are calling an epidemic of thefts that cost retailers nearly one hundred billion

1:32:30 dollars in twenty twenty one. Now, let's talk about the cost of this

1:32:35 for a moment. Okay, that's so, that's the number there they put

1:32:39 on it here in twenty twenty, one hundred billion dollars. Again, there

1:32:42 are those, and you'll particularly find this in the far left segment of the

1:32:45 online left, who would say, well, who cares? Who cares about

1:32:50 these companies losing money? You know, and I understand that if you know,

1:32:58 if you hear, look, if you're a story about somebody shoplifting from

1:33:00 Walmart, you're probably not going to feel You're probably not going to be nearly

1:33:05 as bothered by that, for example, as if you hear a story of

1:33:09 somebody shoplifting from a local mom and pop store that's just scraping by as they

1:33:13 are, right, So I sort of understand the lack of sympathy to a

1:33:16 degree. But again, what I think people might not realize is that cost

1:33:21 gets passed on. If you are if things are constantly being stolen. Yeah,

1:33:30 you can say, oh, I don't have any sympathy for this major

1:33:32 retail chain because I don't like capitalism or whatever your reason is. But that

1:33:39 does inflate the prices, right. That actually contributes to inflation. Not as

1:33:43 much as other factors, I'm sure, but the more thievery that goes on,

1:33:49 the more things are going to cost, and that affects everybody, it

1:33:55 says here, and this epidemic is impacting both the bottom lines and operation little

1:34:00 strategies of massive companies ranging from Macy's to Alta. From twenty fourteen to twenty

1:34:08 fifteen, I lived on Los Angeles' skid row as a homeless drug addict.

1:34:13 Again, this is from the article This isn't Me My daily heroin and crack

1:34:16 cocaine Habit cost hundreds of dollars, which I primarily supported through professional shoplifting also

1:34:23 known as boosting. Hence that's why they call it a booster bag that bag

1:34:26 I was talking about earlier. The trade was lucrative and the threat of arrest

1:34:30 was fairly minimal. Across the political spectrums, analysts and academics endlessly debate the

1:34:38 causes of the scourge, but for me, the roots could not be clearer.

1:34:44 Working just a few hours a day working quote unquote, I would quote

1:34:47 unquote earn up to three hundred fifty dollars in untaxed cash, which allowed me

1:34:54 to maintain my drug habit for over a year. Items that are typically boosted

1:34:57 and then sold to stolen merchandise deal also known as fences, are mostly health

1:35:02 and beauty products, over the counter medications, and even food. Once a

1:35:09 working relationship is set up with a fence, they'll typically provide grocery lists of

1:35:13 the items they're seeking, and boosters like I once was or usually paid between

1:35:17 ten to twenty percent of their retail value back Then, fences either resold the

1:35:23 stolen goods to local corner stores or set up tables at unofficial flea markets to

1:35:28 offload their items. In recent years, however, fences have also turned to

1:35:31 Amazon, eBay, and even Facebook, where they sell their stolen bounty with

1:35:35 ease. This, in combination with lax enforcement policies in major cities like San

1:35:41 Francisco and New York City, has created an economic boom for thievery ten years

1:35:47 ago. During my criminal career, there was always the threat of arrest,

1:35:53 even after passing a Prop. Forty seven. The passing of Prop. Forty

1:35:57 seven and twenty fourteen, which made shoplifting items valued at more than nine hundred

1:36:00 and fifty dollars a misdemeanor in California. Prop forty seven ensured that I couldn't

1:36:05 get sentenced to prison, but I often endured short stints in jail. There

1:36:11 I would go through violent withdrawals from heroin, but still I continued to steal

1:36:15 once I was released a few days later. But following the twenty twenty push

1:36:17 to defund the police and subsequent loss of officers, professional shoplifters now operate in

1:36:24 public and with clear impunity. Every day, videos emerge of robbers blithely lifting

1:36:30 duffel bags I'm sorry, blithely filling duffel bags as store employees watch helplessly out

1:36:36 of fear of violence or legal retribution, rather than try to prevent pilfering,

1:36:44 which was once considered part of their jobs. Workers have become impotent enablers of

1:36:48 a new criminal class that functions seemingly without conscience or consequence. And by the

1:36:55 way, again, if you're an employee at one of these stores, you

1:37:02 know, first of all, you're at the mercy of whatever the company's employee.

1:37:06 Company's policies are. When I worked for the company that I used to

1:37:11 work with where we had to deal with this, uh quite a bit,

1:37:15 we were told not to follow the shoplift. You know, if we caught

1:37:21 somebody, we weren't supposed to follow them. We weren't supposed to try to

1:37:24 grab the bag away from them if they had a booster bag, none of

1:37:28 that. If someone violated that rule and did try to grab product back from

1:37:36 a shoplifter physically, there was never any real consequence. In other words,

1:37:43 nobody got in trouble for doing that, right, No one ever got yelled

1:37:46 at just you know, I would kind of know from personal experience. It

1:37:50 was more just, hey, you're not supposed to do that. You're not

1:37:55 supposed to follow them. You're you know, you're not supposed to try to

1:37:58 get in their way. It's not worth it. Don't put yourself at risk.

1:38:01 It's not worth it, you know, for you to risk physical harm,

1:38:05 what if they have a weapon, this or that. So the company

1:38:10 policy was we weren't supposed to we were not supposed to try to physically intervene,

1:38:14 but some of us would anyway, and we never got in trouble for

1:38:16 it. It was just more like, hey, just reminding you, please

1:38:20 don't do that. We don't want because we don't want you to get hurt.

1:38:24 So the policy means, well, they didn't want us getting hurt.

1:38:30 I would still do it, though, I mean I would. I would

1:38:30 follow somebody. I wouldn't necessarily because I wouldn't get physical with somebody, but

1:38:34 I would follow somebody all the way to their car and U and I would

1:38:40 tell them, you know, hey, just so you know, when we

1:38:45 get to your vehicle, I'm going to take a picture of your license plate

1:38:48 for the police. You know, I would be I would be pretty obnoxious

1:38:55 because even if I wasn't going to get the product back from them, at

1:38:58 least I would try to be obnoxious enough so that hopefully they wouldn't come back

1:39:00 to my store. But yeah, it's not cool. So I just you

1:39:09 know, for people who are defending this behavior. I don't think you should,

1:39:13 and I don't think you know, we talk a lot about criminal justice

1:39:16 reform. We have talked a lot about criminal justice reform on the show,

1:39:20 and I think a lot of criminal justice reform is important, and I think

1:39:24 some of what's been done has been very important and helpful. But there is

1:39:28 also you know, we also have to have some balance, and we shouldn't

1:39:33 get to a point with it where, well, where we're just letting people

1:39:39 steal without consequence. But again, too, you know, it's hard to

1:39:45 motivate your employees, even if it's not your even if it's not your company's

1:39:49 policy to not intervene. Even if you're okay with your employees physically intervening,

1:39:56 are you paying them enough so that they're going to be willing to put themselves

1:40:00 in harm's way? And by the way, there were instances too when I

1:40:02 worked for that company where I never saw it happen, and it never happened

1:40:05 to me, but there were instances where somebody might try to physically get involved

1:40:10 to try to get the product back, or even prevent somebody from leaving until

1:40:13 the police got there. Where you know where somebody might get you know where

1:40:18 the shoplifter might retaliate by shoving or trying to start a fight or something to

1:40:24 get away, so that can happen, although usually they just try to get

1:40:30 away and they try to get away with the product. But but I would

1:40:34 just I would vehemently disagree with anyone who would justify this, and I see

1:40:38 a lot of that happening online these days. A lot of people are like,

1:40:41 well, you know, that's the cost of doing business, and we

1:40:45 should not be the police should not be wasting their time on this. All

1:40:49 right, we gotta go. We are out of time, but Ron is

1:40:51 on the line, so we'll just we'll have to go quick Ron, very

1:40:55 quickly, because we gotta go very quickly. Yes, I wonder if you

1:40:59 could end the show a low budget by the cakes. Uh No, because

1:41:03 I don't have it pulled up and it'll take me too long to find it.

1:41:06 But I'll play it tomorrow though, it'd be cool. All right,

1:41:12 run bye bye, All right, now I've got yeah, I've got something

1:41:14 else lined up to play. All right, we gotta go. I am

1:41:16 gonna play this. This is my favorite track from Charlie. She was one

1:41:19 of our while she was our musical guest yesterday. This is I dmy This

1:41:25 has been stuck in my head all day. If you miss any part of

1:41:27 today's show it we'll be up in just a little bit at WMH radio dot

1:41:30 org and on my website Matt Connerton dot com. Oh j fed says in

1:41:35 the chat room, you're lucky they didn't pull a slice of pineapple out and

1:41:39 hurt you. I am lucky. Uh. And don't forget Trivia night tonight

1:41:44 at the Hopknot. And if you are listening live on Thursday immediately after this

1:41:47 show is through the Stage Store hosted by Rob d On. And don't forget

1:41:53 be back bright and early tomorrow morning seven am for the Morning Show with Peter

1:41:56 White, and we gotta go. I'm out of time. I'll talk to

1:41:59 y'all a little bit later. By everybody,