Lockdowns, Lawlessness, and Liberties: Unpacking Today's America | Episode 67

Welcome to the Straight Talk Podcast with David Clarke, the former Milwaukee County Sheriff. In this episode, Sheriff Clarke discusses the consequences of rising retail theft, as well as the impact of lenient prosecution on law-abiding customers. He shares a personal experience from a recent trip to Best Buy, emphasizing the frustrations customers face as a result of increased security measures in stores. Sheriff Clarke also discusses Texas Governor Greg Abbott's pardon of a former Army sergeant involved in a controversial shooting during the 2020 riots, highlighting the importance of state laws such as "stand your ground." He also discusses state-level resistance to federal regulations, particularly transgender student policies and mask mandates, while celebrating efforts to prioritize public safety over diversity spending. Listen in for an open and thought-provoking discussion about the current state of crime, governance, and personal liberties in America.

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Websites: https://americassheriff.com | https://badgeofhonorcruise.com

Host: Sheriff David Clarke, America's Sheriff

Executive Producer: Judy L. Wilkinson, JL Wilkinson Consulting, LLC 

Producer: Josh Wentz | josh@wentzcreative.com

Copyright 2024  Straight Talk Podcast With America's Sheriff David Clarke     

All Rights Reserved

The Ryan Samuels Show
Modern-day politics discussion and analysis. Conservative Political Commentator Ryan...

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Chapters

• 1:40 The Impact of Retail Theft on Consumers and Businesses
• 6:16 The Case of Daniel Perry: A Controversial Pardon in Texas
• 11:53 State Stances on Transgender Rights and Federal Compliance
• 13:26 [Ad] The Ryan Samuels Show
• 14:13 (Cont.) State Stances on Transgender Rights and Federal Compliance
• 15:40 Shifting Priorities: From Diversity Programs to Public Safety
• 19:20 North Carolina's Bold Move Against Public Mask Wearing
• 28:05 Analyzing the Israeli Conflict and International Reactions
• 41:37 The Federal Workforce Dilemma: Remote Work and Empty Offices

Transcript

1:23

Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Welcome to another episode of the Straight Talk Podcast with yours truly, your host, I am former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke. You know, it's uh, kind of interesting. I had an experience the other day, I just want to quickly share this with you as to the type of country we've turned into, you know, with all this stuff with the retail theft and shoplifting and all the stuff surrounding that. I was in a Best Buy store the other day and I was looking at home security systems. Trying to update mine and You know, I go to this area where they have all this home security systems, and you know, I wanted to kind of like pick some of the stuff up, you know, hold it in my hand, turn it around, look at it, inspect it, so on and so forth, and you can't. Because it's all nailed down. And I get it. This is not to be critical of the, Retail stores who are forced to do this because of theft, but it's also because of the lack of prosecution, the lack of taking this seriously by government, by lax prosecutors, by soft on crime, a soft on crime criminal justice system. It doesn't take shoplifting seriously, even though the total losses, and I've talked about it on this podcast before in the billions of dollars for retailers. So I get it why they have to do this. However, and you know, this is after repeated, uh, almost orders by government for retailers to do a better job of protecting their property. And you heard me on this podcast where I blasted that attitude of The store is having to do more. The stores are doing enough. It's government that isn't doing enough. And some people are turned off by this. They go into a store and now more and more products are behind locked cabinets. You go into a CVS, a Rite Aid, a Walgreens, and you know, toiletries and whatnot behind locked cabinets and you have to shag down an employee to come over and open it up for you. And, you know, all. So, because of the thief, you know, it's kind of like with the TSA at airports. The government fell asleep on 9 11 and because of that we punish every air traveler in the United States. We make it harder for them and more of a nuisance for them to travel. And so, you know, going back to this being in the store, you know, and so what you're forced to do is, well, you got to take a guess. You got to buy it. I did buy an item. Um, You take it home, and it didn't happen on this item that I bought, but people take it home, and then they get it home, they open it up, and then they find out, well, this isn't really what I wanted. So now you got to go through the hassle of putting it, you know, repackaging it, driving back to the store. Some of these stores, especially your electronic stores, have a restocking fee for an item that you're returning. Again, this is not, please don't misunderstand me, I am not hammering on the retail outlets. I'm saying, this is what government having this lax attitude about retail theft has done to the law abiding customer, the consumer. We've made life more difficult for consumers, instead of making life more difficult for the thief, and that's the role of government. The store can't do that. But when these prosecutors, you know, want to look at this stuff as, well, you know, it's just a little retail theft, it's just a little stealing, and they start lowering the rates at which It can turn into a felony. You sent a signal to the would be thief, don't worry about it, we got your back. We got you on this one. To the consumer, too bad. Well, it's a little inconvenience. Well, you'll be okay. But, you know, I just, I wanted to share that because I had the experience that many of you have had. And it's not like this is the first time for me. But, you know, when you're gonna spend a couple thousand dollars on a, you know, outdoor camera system for your home, You want to be able to, to do some due diligence and not just read the box and you can't do it because of the thief. So that leads me into this Texas governor, to Greg Abbott last week pardoned this guy. He was a, a military guy. He was convicted of killing a Black Lives Matter protest in the 2020 riots. This was during the George Floyd riots, and you had this guy who was driving through. He was actually, he was, he was a, uh. Operating a car service, you know, driving people around, like an Uber type thing, Lyft. And he gets caught up in the riots in Texas. This is in Austin, very liberal area. And all of a sudden his car gets surrounded by these marauders. And they're slamming on the car. They're yelling at him. They haven't done anything thus far. He's just trying to get through. They're blocking the Ingress and egress of the streets. One of the people on the outside of the car, the guy that he killed, had a rifle. But, you know, Penny, the guy's name is, is Daniel Penny. Not to be, I'm sorry, Daniel Perry, not to be confused, and I just did, with Daniel Penny, who's the guy in the subway system in New York, who's under indictment in the death of that clown that he, uh, tried to hold on to, you know, who had attacked a woman. But anyway. You know, Daniel Perry feared for his life, and that's reasonable under those circumstances. To get caught up in a riot, and they're banging on your car, ordering you to roll the window down, what do you think is going to happen? So he's shot and killed the guy with the rifle. Goes to court, he gets indicted, goes to court, he's found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Fortunately for Mr. Perry, he lived in the state of Texas. Texas views this stuff a little differently. Then these liberal areas like New York and California do. And right away the parole board got to work in Texas and they reviewed it for a, pardon? The governor's. Pardon? Well, last week, Texas governor, Greg Abbott, he pardoned this former US Army sergeant freeing him from this 25 year sentence in prison. God bless Texas, and God bless Governor Greg Abbott. Now, I was saying, Texas looks at this differently. Texas is a stand your ground state. They have a stand your ground law. Florida has one. I think, if I remember correctly, there are about 19 or 20 states that have a stand your ground law. I don't live in one of those states in Wisconsin. We have a duty to retreat. And by the way, I'm not retreating from anything. When I'm under that sort of duress, and that sort of threat, I'm not retreating from anything. I'm going into self defense mode. Okay, I guess I'll have to deal with the courts. But you gotta act reasonably, under the circumstances. So, you know, just the kind of thing that happens in the country we live in now, where the victims are the criminals and the criminals are the victims. Too bad that Daniel Penney in New York wasn't in Texas when he did what he did. Who knows what's gonna happen in that case in New York. Probably isn't gonna bode well, but Anyway, just, where you live matters, knowing the laws where you live matters, living in a state that understands they need to create more victim friendly legislation like stand your ground, so that when you get caught up in these situations, you don't end up serving a 25 year prison sentence because you defended your life, you know, and people are saying, and people will in these situations, well, you know, why did he go in the other direction, why did he, look, He doesn't have to, that's why. He has the right. You know, his freedom of movement is obstructed. He has rights too. He didn't, you know, put the pedal to the metal and roar through the crowd, killing people, you know, mowing them over. He's just driving through. And they surrounded his car. You know, those same idiots that, you know, talk about why didn't he do this, why didn't he do that. No. Why did these idiots, These demonstrators, these rioters, because that's what they were, they're not protestors, they're rioters. Why did they surround his car? Why didn't they just let him through? See, that's my attitude, I put it on, you know, the criminal. Well, why didn't they do something different? It's like with shoplifting. Why does the store have to do anything? Why can't I touch and feel the product? We need to start telling the crook to do something else. So anyway, that's a good outcome. Some other state stuff moving around the country here. I find this encouraging. This is a second or third such story. Arkansas governor says state won't comply with new federal rules on treatment of trans students. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders says her state won't comply with a federal regulation that seeks to protect the rights of transgender students in the nation's schools. Sanders signed an executive order saying that Arkansas schools will continue to enforce restrictions on which bathrooms and pronouns transgender students can use, laws that could be invalidated by new regulations on how to enforce Title IX. Transcribed by My message, quotes from Governor Huckabee Sanders, My message to Joe Biden's federal government is we will not comply, Sanders said at a news conference at the state capitol. Florida did the same thing on this transgender stuff. They said we're not complying with federal regulations. Here's what the feds do, because this is, it's a states rights issue. It really is. And what the feds will do is they'll attach any federal funding For whatever they're trying to accomplish, they'll attach federal funding to compliance with the federal regulations. And most states, being cash strapped, they just comply to get the money for road building, for this, they just comply. Why? They need the money. Well, at some point, the states have to start reasserting their rights under the Constitution, under the 10th Amendment, states rights. At some point, they're going to have to. Because the federal government has become more overbearing, more oppressive, more stomping on states rights, states abilities to govern themselves, you know, within reason. Like for instance, the state can't say, hey, we're going to segregated schools, we don't care what the federal government, we're not talking about stuff like that. I like states that say, keep your money, we're not interested. We'll figure out a way how to fund this without your money. So good for, again, another strong governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Good for her. Good for Governor Abbott. Good for Ron DeSantis. Like I said, they too said we're not complying with this nonsense about, uh, transgenders and using whatever bathrooms they wanted. They said we're not doing it good. So staying in, uh, on, on some, you know, state issues here, I talked about, um, you know, how. States need to start asserting their rights. Here's something out of North Carolina. You got two things out of North Carolina. One is the University of North Carolina board slashes diversity program funding in favor of public safety resources. This is kind of a, uh, turning the tables on this nonsense of defunding police, redirecting, Uh, resources away from public safety into these social programs and all this other nonsense. Well here it says, As North Carolina's public university system considers a vote on changing its diversity policy, the system's flagship university board voted Monday to cut funding for diversity programs in next year's budget. The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Board of Trustees approved a change that would divert 2. 3 million of diversity spending from state funding, state funds to go toward public safety and policing at a special meeting to address the university's budget. The board vote would only impact UNC Chapel Hill's diversity funding, which could result in the loss of its diversity office. Good. They should shut that damn thing down. The vote to shift more funding to public safety comes as continued pro Palestinian protests, not protests. on UNC's campus has resulted in several arrests in recent weeks. That's why I said this is not protest. This is, these are acts of lawlessness. and disorder. They're not protests. The budget committee's vice chair said law enforcement has already been forced to react to protests but they need more funding to keep the university safer from a larger threat. Now these people are starting to get it. Now they're talking my language. Quote, it's important to consider the needs of all 30, 000 students, not just a hundred or so that may want to disrupt university operations. It takes away resources for others. It makes sense where we could take money that I believe is being productively used, not being productively used, sorry, and put it to something that's more productive, and that is providing public safety. This has always been the case, but too many of these government officials, since George Flaxman goes back to Mike Brown in Ferguson, have gotten in bed with the devil, with Black Lives Matter, with Antifa, with Antifa. With these other socialist movements, they've gotten into bed with the devil, and they started defunding police. They started tying the hands of law enforcement. They started seeing law enforcement as the bad guys in all this, with these malicious prosecutions of police officers. It's caused police to stand down and not be as assertive as they want to be. As they need to be to suppress crime and violence and disorder. They got to hesitate now So this is a good sign, but you know, we're nowhere near of completely turning this thing around, but i'm starting to see some signs of daylight People are starting to get it when it comes to these Idiots out there who are nothing more than perpetrators of chaos and disorder. So good for the university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Speaking of North Carolina, moving to this story, the North Carolina State Legislature has advanced a bill to ban most public mask wearing, including for health reasons. Now, this is CBS News, so you gotta, you know, they're not trying to curb this for public health reasons. I'll get into some of it as I read through the story. Republican lawmakers in North Carolina are pushing forward with their plan to repeal a pandemic related Era law that allowed the wearing of masks in public for health reasons a move spurred in part by Demonstrations against the war in Gaza that have included mask protesters Camped out on college campuses see that mask being used It's to conceal their identity to get involved in nefarious activity and behavior. It's nothing to do with health reasons It's a tool of the riot makers to avoid identity. The legislation cleared the Senate on a party line vote despite several attempts by State Senate Democrats to change the bill. The bill would raise penalties for someone who wears a mask while committing a crime. See, that's the goal of this bill. It's not to ban someone from wearing a mask for public health reasons. But see, that's how the Democrats always like to muddy the water. Alright, they try to turn this around, it's like they call abortion reproductive, women's reproductive health care. No it's not, it's murdering babies. So it says here the bill would raise the penalties, uh, opponents of the bill say it risks the health, here come the Democrats. Opponents of the bill say it risks the health of those masking for safety reasons. First of all, let me stop there. I am so sick of hearing about masks, and I'm not talking about this bill. It's high time that every state, state by state, enact laws prohibiting the covering of your face in public, in a public place, not a private, in a public place, while in the act of committing a crime, and that includes rioting. And for these Democrats, I mean, we're what, year four, after the pandemic? And then when the, the, the word got out that these masks don't work, damn things, don't stop the spread of anything. These cheap two bit masks that people buy in the damn, uh, uh, grocery store or whatever they do. The studies they're out now, they can no longer suppress it. They don't work to stop anything. If you were immune, immunocompromised, wearing that silly paper mask isn't going to protect you from anything. So they're, they're, they're throwing that out there. You know, just looking for to muddy the waters here. And if you're immunocompromised and you want to wear the mask, I'm okay with it, but you got no business hanging around a demonstration. If you're concerned about your being immunocompromised, none. And in addition to that, the damn things don't work. They don't stop the spread of anything. Now, for those that, because I know this comes up, and it has come, you know, well, the N95 masks work. It depends. The N95 masks. This is by studies. I've read the studies. Those have to be individually fitted. You can't walk into the Home Depot or Lowe's or Menards and go to the, the, you know, construction or the paint area and get an N95 mask. Those are not individually fitted. They may be okay if you're, you know, spray painting and working around dust, sawing. Does N95, that's what they're designed for. Not to stop the spread of disease. So they have to be individually fitted, and you know what else they say about those masks? You can't wear them day after day after day the same one. You know how expensive that gets to get an N95 mask? If you changed it every day, you're wearing it all day, and you're breathing all your germs and stuff in it. You know how expensive that would get? So these people are, they're going against the rules on mask wearing anyway. You can't wear these things Over the same one over and over and over again. So, you know these democrats coming up with this nonsense No, this is what the republicans in the state and they control the state legislature in uh, north carolina what they're attacking here Are people who are using that nefariously wearing a mask to conceal their identity because they're involved in Lawless acts. Okay. That's what this is about and they want to put an end to it And I remember going back to the mask mandates Because I don't care if people want to wear a mask. And there's one lady in this, this, this article here who says she's been subjected to ridicule because she wears a mask. And you know what I said? Good. Turnabout is fair play. Because those same mask Nazis gave us the stink eye when we didn't want to wear the mask. And we walked around without a mask in areas where masks were mandated. Well, we warped below our, you know, at the lower part of our, our face instead of covering your whole damn nose and mouth, and they can't breathe. And we got the stink eye from them. That mask mandate. What a joke. It's the same with the vaccine that's not a vaccine. Mandating that for heaven's sakes. Forcing people. People were losing their jobs because they were not in compliance with that crap. People were being kicked off of airplanes. Because they didn't want to wear the mask. So anyway, the, you know, Democrats come involved in their nefarious nonsense with this stuff when it comes up at all, the immunocompromise, you know, it's, it's all, it's about the children. Well, what about the children? You know, when it comes to schools, when it comes to abortion, what about women's rights? What about rape and incest? Which like less than, I think it's one, I've talked about it on this podcast. Maybe one 10th of 1 percent of abortions are due to rape and incest. And that's what they're going to glom on to? How about the other 99. 9 percent that don't involve rape or incest? Let's talk about those. Did okay to murder them. No, you want to jump to the rape and incest because you want to, you know, go, go to the, you know, you know, the one that's, nobody should be in favor of stopping a woman from, uh, that abortion because of rape or incest. No, I'm not an absolutist. So that's good to see, too. Good for North Carolina. And like I said, I hope more states get on board and finally put that mask mandate. It's not, actually, they're not ending the mandate, but they're getting rid of these people who are wearing these things at these, these riots and demonstrations. Yeah, it's okay to call it a demonstration, it's not a protest. Demonstrations don't give them First Amendment protection, but this is good to see. I'm, I'm, I'm very, very encouraged. by that move by the North Carolina legislature. Let's move into the Israeli Let's move into the Israeli war in Gaza. Israel continues to march on, defying Joe Biden, defying the UN, moving into RAFA. Biden said that would be a red line for him and that's like Obama's red line on Syria using chemical weapons, remember that? Anytime that a Democrat politician issues a red line, that means they don't really mean it. So, Israel is moving into Rafah, you know, with precision and doing everything they can as difficult as it is to conduct urban warfare, where you have residents and civilians and all. It's very difficult, but you know what? It's war and there are going to be civilian casualties, but they don't target. You've heard me talk about this, my position on this. I was begging Netanyahu on social media to tell Biden to stick it. And get the job done. You know what? This war would probably be over if Biden and Blinken and the UN and everybody else had they stayed out of the way. This mission would probably already be done and over with. And all they did, Blinken, Biden, the UN, all they did was prolong this thing with their interference into the foreign policy of the state of Israel. So Biden's still at it because he's trying to thread a needle here, folks. Although he's He's kicked the Jewish population in the state of Israel under, he's kicked them under the bus, he's kicked them to the curb. But he's still trying to thread a needle here. Because he's worried about his Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan and in the state of Minnesota. They have the largest population, Arab, Muslim. So on one side of his mouth, you know, he criticizes Israel and talking, you know, Oh, they can't do this. Oh, they're hungry. Famish, the famine, or whatever, the women and children, but then he'll go around on the news shows and start talking about well You know Israel has the right to defend themselves and we support that and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah He's living on the edge trying to do a tightrope act here without falling on to either side But it's collapsing all around him So as you probably heard recently he stopped sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel You know, as it launches its major, major invasion of Rafa. How can they do that to an ally? How come he won't do that to Ukraine? With Ukraine, oh, we gotta get them everything they need. Oh, we gotta get them everything they want. Blank checks. And not just money, but also artillery, munitions. Unlimited to Ukraine. But to Israel? Ah, we're holding back. And he comes up with these, these, these flimsy excuses for this stuff. It was recently interviewed by CNN. It's in the article here, President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday, he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza. No they haven't. They have not been targeted on civilians. He's lying. Quote from Biden, civilians, how do I know when Biden's lying? His lips are moving. Quote from Biden, Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers. Biden told CNN's Aaron Burnett, in an exclusive interview, Biden again, I made it clear if they're going to Rafah, they have gone into, they haven't gone into Rafah yet. Oh, yes they have. If they go, I'm not supplying weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with cities, to deal with that problem. I can't believe that he would do this to the state of Israel. And here's Blinken. Lincoln says Israel could do more to minimize civilian casualties. And the last, uh, two podcasts ago, I think, it might have been, uh, yeah, two podcasts ago, I detailed the new reports coming out. And there's another one, by the way, the UN has revised their death toll on Palestinians in Gaza and the figures that were, were being paraded around earlier, including by the Biden administration, they've been cut like in half and it's probably less than that, but the UN finally acknowledged that those were inflated totals. Of course they were inflated. It was Hamas propaganda and it was being spewed by the Biden administration and by the UN itself. So, Those inflated numbers. So now the truth gets out. But you know what? What's that saying about the truth? A lie can make it all the way around the world before the truth even can get its pants on. Nobody's gonna hear about the truth. When I saw those stories about how the UN revises their totals, that wasn't put out by CNN and the New York Times. And the Washington Post, and MSNBC, there was some second tier new agency reporting on the UN's findings. That's a big deal. Genocide. So Blinken says Israel can do more to minimize civilian casualties. They're doing everything that they can, reasonably can, in war. So there's some more stories coming out, and this is all propaganda. It's, I, I, I advised you of this some time ago. Don't believe anything coming out of Hamas. Some, uh, Muslim or Arab news source, the UN. Don't believe it. It's propaganda. None of it is ever supported with any evidence. It's just blurted out. So now there's reports coming out how, you know, some, you know, Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in a shadowy detention center. Apparently they found some whistleblowers that says, Oh, the Palestinian detainees because of the war? Not civilians. They're involved in the fighting. So they're being detained at a camp designed to hold them by Israel. And of course, you know, listen to this from the story. A putrid stench filled the air and the room hummed with the men's murmurs. They were totally weren't allowed to move. They should sit upright, they're not allowed to talk, not allowed to peek under their blindfold. You know, this is that, that, that example of a lie making it halfway around the world before the truth even gets its pants on in a race for the truth to keep up with the lies. So of course, you know, this is, you know, good stuff for the Jew haters, for the anti Semites who are trying to portray Israel as the bad guy. You know, kind of funny when we were talking before about how the, The good guys have been turned into the bad guys, and the bad guys have been turned into the goodbyes, good guys. So then there's this, which doesn't get the same kind of play. A video of Israeli hostages was released by Hamas military wing Al Qassam Brigades on Saturday. In the video, these two hostages spoke about not being able to celebrate Passover with their loved ones because they're in Hamas captivity. This is the second video of Israeli hostages Hamas has shared this week. NBC News, here we go, has not been able to independently verify when or where the video was filmed. It's not clear if these hostages are still alive. See, NBC News points out we're not able to independently verify. Well, they don't say that with the propaganda coming out of Hamas. They don't point out that, you know, when they put out these death tolls and, you know, the civilians and all, they don't put out, we're not able to, uh, verify this, they put it out as if it's gospel. But I thought as I read this, where's the UN, where are the, the Human Rights Council, where are they? Stand up and be counted, because I don't hear from you. Oh, when you want to portray something that Israel has done. You're front and center. Again, videotaping hostages. First of all, the taking of hostages is a violation of the Geneva Convention. Why am I not hearing from the War Crimes Council? When are they going to start the war crimes investigation against Hamas? So I went back as I did the first time I talked about taking hostages, which, which Hamas did to use as leverage later on to bargain. Again, violation of the Geneva Convention. And I'm, I'm, I'm still the only one that pointed that out. I dare you, I challenge you to find another news source. After those hostages were taken, that cited, hey, this is a violation of the Geneva Convention. I stand alone. So I went back to the Geneva Convention again, when I saw this, when I heard that this videotape of Israeli hostages were put out. You can't do it. You cannot take detainees. You can't even do this with prisoners of war. And these two hostages, they're not prisoners of war. You can't videotape them. And you know what Hamas does, they make forced statements, usually condemning the act of the country that they're from. That's usually how this thing goes. So anyway, it says here that you cannot, this is the third Geneva Convention, that either prisoners of wars or other people who need to be protected cannot be prosecuted. Displayed for public curiosity, and that's what these videos by Hamas was meant to do. Put some Israeli hostages on videotape for public curiosity. Then again, I don't hear anybody talking about war crimes by Hamas. No, it's all Israel, right? Israel needs to do more. Israel is targeting civilians. Women and children, right? And finally, there's this, you know, I've talked extensively on this podcast about these vacant federal buildings All these federal workers working from home Remote working and how it's costing billions of dollars just for the maintenance of these buildings the upkeep of empty buildings You got to heat them. You got to keep the water running you can't just turn everything off and now it's budget time and Budget requests are coming in and these agencies federal agencies are asking For, for additional money to maintain these buildings and they're empty? So then I find this story, they can't get these federal workers back to work, back into the offices. They can't do it. When I say they can't, they've been ordered to, they don't care. They're just dismissing it. Where's Reagan when you need him? Remember how he handled the air traffic controllers who were on strike, an illegal strike? He said, you got 48 hours to get back to work or you're fired. Some of them came back, some of them didn't, and they were fired. There's no negotiating. It was an illegal strike. So you got the tail wagging the dog here. The workers are telling management, we're not coming back in. We don't care what you ordered. The president ordered them back. First of all, Joe, here again, another example of Joe Biden walking a tightrope. You know why? First of all, looking into some research on this, there are 2. 7 million federal employees That's staggering. I bet 98% of those 2.7 million vote Democrat. Now, why is that important? Most of them don't live in the federal district, DC you know, they would usually, the Democrats will win the presidential contest like 98 to two and DC in the federal district itself, more of'em live in Northern Virginia and Maryland. Biden's gotta win those states. So he's got to be delicate here. So he does the, you know, the, the going through the motions. Uh, you got to come back to work. So it sounds like he's getting tough on this, but in essence, they're defying it. And he's not doing anything about it. So it says here in this story, it's just a weak president. A year after the pandemic, Biden can't get federal workers back to the office. President Biden officially ended. The national COVID public health emergency one year ago, but federal agencies have struggled mightily to get employees back to their offices. I don't know why they're struggling. You put the order out, darn it, and if they don't report to the office, they're fired. Here's one way we can call the federal judiciary. It's too large anyway. We have too many federal employees. Here's one way to get the numbers down. It says here, and some are still trying to figure out how to monitor those working from home. The White House has set a goal of 50 50, which means employees with office jobs are expected to spend at least 5 days out of every 10 work period in the office. Agency chiefs say they're striving to meet the goal, though anecdotal reports suggest attendance is sparse. How are they striving? I was a manager! I was a supervisor. I was a sheriff for heaven's sakes. 1, 100 employees. Command and control structure. You give orders and people gotta carry them out. I can't imagine ordering, you know, deputies or jail workers or whoever to do something and they just don't do it. They'd be gone. Now there's a process, you know, collective bargaining rights they have and all this due process, but You gotta, you gotta get rid of them. You have to. So I don't understand a supervisor who says, well we're trying mightily, but it's not working. So anyway, in a hearing before Congress to defend budget requests, quote, what's taking so long? Representative James Comer, Kentucky Republican and Chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee challenged a senior official from the White House Office of Management and Budget. Is this a weak president? I mean, if the president says for them to come back to work and they don't come back to work. I mean, why are. The civil servants disobeying the orders of the President. Exactly! The President ordered them back. So it goes on to say, listen to this. You'll get a kick out of this. It says, Republicans suggested that government workers perform better in offices, but they're willing to be convinced by data that shows otherwise. They're also non pulsed by the idea that taxpayers are funding empty office space. Who cares about the taxpayer? Taxpayers never mattered in this bureaucracy. We're just expected to pay our taxes and shut up. The Public Buildings Reform Board calculated, listen to this folks, that the Agricultural Department had office space for nearly 7, 500 employees at the southern tip of the District of Columbia, but averaged just 456 workers last year. The Department of Veterans Affairs had space for more than 2, 400 employees, but averaged just 172. The energy department, which the board said had space for more than 4, 800 workers, averaged just eight employees on site daily. Nobody knows this stuff is going on. I say no, the public doesn't know this stuff is going on. You know, we elect these, these representatives to Congress and we expect them to do it for us. Nobody could keep up with the size of this bureaucracy and what's going on, but they're painted and we elect them to do it. And so they're, they're, some of them are doing it, you know, they're being questioned here and challenged. But nothing ever changes. How many times, if I had a hundred dollars, for every time I said, nothing ever changes, I'd have a nice chunk of change. Nothing changes in Washington, D. C. We're still, and I said, in my initial topic on this, on this podcast, I said, we'll be sitting here two, three years from now, and these buildings will still be empty. These people have made it clear they're not coming back to work. And fire them. So back to the story here, it says Senator Joni Ernst, Iowa Republican, questioned earlier this month why the department was pushing for spending on energy efficient upgrades to federal buildings when it was wasting so much energy keeping its buildings open and empty. You see what I mean? These federal bureaucracies have the gall, the gall, to ask for more money to maintain and make these buildings energy efficient and there's nobody in them. A building that has room for 4, 800 employees. And eight show up a day? Representative Bob Good, Virginia Republican, was miffed by the scene outside a labor department office in Boston earlier this year when union employees showed up in person to protest having to return to work in person. Quote from Representative Bob Good, I don't know why they didn't just protest remotely. So anyway, this um, labor secretary, Julie Hsu, She accused Mr. Good of trying to ridicule the hard work of federal employees. Oh, give me a break. Give me a break. The hard work of federal employees. First of all, we don't need half of them. And a good percentage of the other half, I said a good percentage. They're only giving half effort anyway. These people aren't working to exhaustion. They're not working efficiently. Or the, the cost to fund these federal agencies wouldn't be going up every year. If they were so efficient. So see this stuff goes on, it's back and forth, it's back and forth. And like I said, nothing changes. Nothing changes. My God, do we need Trump back in the white house? Because I know Trump's going to fix this. Trump's going to order these employees back to work. He's going to do a Reagan. I know he is. He'll see this as one way to pare down the federal bureaucracy. He'll order them back under the threat of being fired. We got to get Trump back in the white house. Thanks for joining me.