Focus with Paul W. Smith ~ March 10, 2026 ~ Full Show

0:00And a very pleasant Tuesday to you, the 10th day of March, not nearly as sunny and beautiful as yesterday. And there's some questionable weather on the way. We will stay on top of that along the way with the team, the team, the team, Mike Parsons, our executive producer, Daniel Mason, who is once again training Abby Pelke. I learned the good news today that Abby Pelke is a fellow Wolverine. Yay! Go Blue! We're surrounded by Michigan State Grads. Just want you to know that, Abby. And we are the proud station of Michigan State. No question about it, happily so. But we did go to University of Michigan. And Rich Luzinski is here, keeping an eye on WJR traffic and weather. First, we appreciate that, while you stream us, podcasts us, come back later, wjr.com.

1:01That always matters. Get the free WJR app. And right now, you can even watch us if you're in a position to do so, with the Facebook and YouTube pages live video streaming right now. Relentless positive radio, well, you're on your way to making each and every day count because you know each day is a gift. We all need to be reminded, myself included, QTR too, quality time remaining, who knows how much we have. And thank you for choosing to be a part of the best and brightest audience in all of radio. You do that when you listen to WJR Happy Birthday, Nolan Finley. Oh, I called and wished Nolan Finley a birthday greeting 10 days ago by mistake. I was going to say, you just wanted to beat the crowd. That's a good way to put it. I should have said that. But my phone, every time I download the latest fix from Apple, my phone goes berserk. I mean berserk.

2:03I lose people, things get lost about people. I keep track of everything in that phone. What did we do before we have those phones? I couldn't drive anywhere without that phone because I use the GPS. Now I hear the GPS is going bad or something. Have you heard anything about that? No. It's old. It's old fashioned. And I don't know. Just as I let my guard down and start trusting the robots, they finally turn on us. Yes. Well, we better get used to it. Meanwhile, the breaking news we just heard was at the shooting at the US Consulate in Toronto, multiple shots. It is a fortified building. Nobody was hurt. The officer being interviewed at the scene said the people in the building probably didn't even know anything was happening, which is a pretty fortified building. But what we need to say out loud here, Dems, Democrats, fund the Department of Homeland Security before there is a tragedy here, like one that almost occurred in New York when

3:06these guys said to teenagers through a bomb at Gracie Mansion that did not explode, thankfully. They were ISIS followers. They were people that we don't want in this country. But we don't want people going to the airport, going through what they're going through right now. And the major media won't say it. The mainstream institutional media, it is solely because TSA and our overall security is funded and run by the Department of Homeland Security, which the Democrats won't fund because they hate the president. They did not like the woman in charge. She was fired. That didn't change anything, apparently. And all they're being asked to do is sign off on a bipartisan extension that they all agreed upon in the past. But they think this is the best way to get back at the president and at Republicans.

4:06And it's all about power and elections coming up. And they don't give a damn about the people they're supposed to be representing, or they wouldn't make you stand in those lines at the airport like you're going to have to, or any of the other things you're going through. So call your Democrat representative and say, just sign the bill that you already agreed to in a bipartisan way. Please. Well, you know, part of my job, unfortunately, I thought about avoiding this all together. Well no, not this one. I'll tell you real quick, you know how they're talking about gas, how high it's going. My goodness, it's almost as high as it was when Joe Biden was president. Have you heard one national media person say that? I have not. And I watch all of the newscasts which make me sick to my stomach because none of the three major ABC CBS NBC ever have said, oh, by the way, it was even higher during the reign

5:15of Joe Biden. He probably didn't know that, but it was over $5 June of 2022. And yes, he was the president then. So it's just astonishing how they talk about these things. Here's the story I almost kept to myself. There's no way you could guess what this story is Mike. I'm on the edge of my seat. We know and we should be happy that Nathan Martin from Michigan won the 2026 Los Angeles marathon. It was just days ago, two days ago, March 8th. You saw the, if you watch the news, you saw the Kenyan runner looking like he was going to win and charging up was this fabulous Michigan, the Michiganian, Nathan Martin to win by 0.01 seconds. Oh, yeah, I did. You saw the, you saw the guy fall, right? Yeah. And the woman doing the play by play was just going nuts.

6:18They were, they, they, they, all of the people were going nuts. In fact, so were the people who follow these races, which I do not. But a lot of people were wondering many fans questioned this Michael Kimani Kamu coming in second. Well, there's unfortunately, as my friend Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. And that story is that with only about two minutes left in the race, the Kenyan runner Kamu was in the lead, but was forced to avoid a spectator who had run onto the course. This caused him to veer right and confused at that moment he's following the lead car pace car. Now people blamed the pace car for going off the route by mistake again. Like it happened at the, the women's half marathon in Atlanta.

7:23But this was not a mistake. This is the exit area where the pace car was supposed to go off the track. But this guy was confused. He had to dodge a guy on the, on the course. He went the wrong way. Oh, no. So he then after a moment realized he was going the wrong path. And he went back on the path. And let's face it, friends, he would have won. Had he not gone off the path and had to run back and on the path because our American, our Michiganian, Michigan, or only beat him by point, oh, one seconds. Well, if somebody is unfortunately the rest of the story, yeah, well, if there's someone to benefit from misfortune like that, I'm glad they were from Michigan. But yeah, that's, that's heartbreaking. That's a way to, that's a way to pull the silver lining out. Who cares about the Kenyan anyway?

8:23In the end, it will only look like a win for the Michigan der in the record book, the history book. No, that is devastating though. But that is the rest of the story. And no one's talking about that either. And I'm sorry, but I observed it. I saw it and I went, wait a minute, wait. I thought they said he went off course for something. Somebody jumped out in front of, something happened. He was off the course then came back on. Well, that certainly caused him more than point, oh, one second. And like I say, I'm an observer. So that's what I observed and I looked into it. And that was the rest of the story as the late great Paul Harvey would say. Remember that, remember it, I did it, I filled in for him and I got to do all that. It was phenomenal. And he is, he's never been replaced by, oh, my goodness gracious. That was an era in radio that just isn't there anymore, I guess.

9:29All right, it is 12, 14. It's relentless positive radio and we have a lot of it for you today. That is a fact. The president saying the war might be over soon in Iran. Well, we'll get into that too. Coming up next here. It's focused with Paul W. Smith right here on WJR. Good job, but Kevin coming up on that. I mean, Ryan coming up on that given that most Americans don't see what the problem is about showing ID to vote when we have to show ID to do anything and everything else. Even the communist in New York said people wanted to help shovel snow, had two pieces of identification. I still don't know why that is the case. Jonathan Savage is here, which means we're going to have some good, clear information from our great Fox News correspondent and WJR contributor. Jonathan, always a pleasure.

10:30Always put in the pressure on me, aren't you? I call it like I see it and you've never let us down. I'm not sure what the president's thinking when he does things like this, but this isn't the first time. Apparently, in a phone interview with CBS News yesterday afternoon, President Trump said the US war with Iran could almost be over. Yes, he said the war is very complete pretty much and that the US is far ahead of schedule. The Iranian Israelis also say things were ahead of schedule. He made a number of remarks yesterday to President Trump. He did a number of interviews. He told Republican lawmakers that this was a short-term military operation. He went on to say we've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough. That might suggest things are going to go on a little bit longer. And also on true social, he warned that death, fire, and fury will rain upon Iran

11:31if it stops the flow of oil through the strait of horror modes. Again, perhaps suggesting that he's willing to keep going, depending on how the events unfold. We should also remind ourselves that war secretary Pete Higgs has promised that things were only just beginning on Friday in another CBS interview. Although today, Secretary Higgs has said it's the president whose foot is on the throttle. So I think that it's fair to say that President Trump would like things to end pretty quickly. However, it's not entirely clear how close the really are to that happening. Especially now, there's a new supreme leader in Iran who, by all accounts, all the evidence is pointing to him being at least as hard-line as his father. Jonathan, think of this. We have heard that. That he was at least as hard-line as his father. But now look where he is. He lost his wife, his mother, his father. I'm not sure who he lost a lot of people so far.

12:33He's not going to say, oh, well, I think I'll just throw in the towel now. This guy's in it till he's dead. And I don't know why anyone isn't saying it because maybe they're not supposed to say something like that. But don't you agree that if he was a hard-liner before this, now he's untouchable? He also lost a son, Mojtaba, Hamanei. And he was known, as much as he was known, which wasn't very much, for being very closely linked to the Revolutionary Guard, which is the internal security force that suppresses dissent with an iron fist, also close to the spy network, the intelligence agencies of Iran. He knows all about the deep state there. He knows about confronting external and internal threats. It does the new Supreme Leader. And bear in mind that the role of Supreme Leader is actually meant to be a religious one in this theocracy. There's a lot more to him than just as a religious leader. So, yes, he talked about, you know, he's there for life.

13:36This is meant to be a job for life. You're meant to do until you die. He's only the third Supreme Leader Ilran has had since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. At President Trump warns that the 56-year-old won't last long. And Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz calling him an unequivocal target as well. Perhaps then Paul is no surprise that we haven't seen him. He's not made any public appearance or comment or statement. Certainly not sticking his head above the parapet at this point. He was in the shadows before he was the Supreme Leader. He never gave an interview or public speech then. Very few photos or videos. We may not seem him for some time. There are reports actually he would injured. And Secretary Hexas was unable to confirm those reports. So, there's so little that we know about his status or his goals, his identity, his philosophy, other than putting together the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle as you and I have been doing. You know, I think you alluded to this. Maybe it came right out and said it.

14:37Jonathan Savage Fox News correspondent W.J. This guy, and I'm not even going to try to say his name because it's inconsequential to me. And he won't be around long enough for it to matter. But this son of the second Khomeini is said to be at the heart of the thousands of their fellow people, the Iranians that were slaughtered by Iran. He was said to be basically in charge of that. Have you heard that? He certainly would be very high up, very well connected. And he would certainly know all about what was happening based on what we know of him. He didn't have a political title, but everybody who knows about Iran would know that he was very well connected to the security forces. So, yeah, that is why we're hearing people in Iran saying he's going to be worse than his dad. And the celebrations that we saw from people after the death of his father, Ali Khomeini,

15:42we've also seen people shouting out of windows death to Murshtaba. So, you know, they're not celebrating his ascension, the way they celebrate his father's death. Now, on St. TV, they have shown videos of people celebrating his appointment in the streets. Some of these will be organized by the state, and there will be a minority people in Iran who are full-throated behind the Islamic Republic as they have it. But, you know, this is someone who is not likely to change or make things any freer for the people of Iran. I'm still stunned, Jonathan, that we haven't seen more women, noticeably the squad and Democrats in general, stand up for the fact that women for the first time in 47 years in Iran have the potential opportunity to actually be treated like human beings again. You would think that would grab their attention and they'd be all for that,

16:43but I haven't heard a thing from the outstanding Democrat women who are always outstanding talking about other issues. Look, I can't talk to American politics, I'm not best pleased to talk about that, but I can talk about how the role of women is being highlighted right now by the Iranian women's soccer team in Australia playing in an Asian cup tournament. They've just played their final match of that tournament, and their participation has been very much in the spotlight because of how they responded in their first game, refusing to sing the national anthem. They're their national anthem, they refuse to sing the Iranian national anthem, so you know where they stand. And then in other games, they were singing some of them and saluting. The crowd who were there to see them, the Iranian fans who were there to see them were smuggled in the flag of the old Iranian nation rather than the current flag,

17:43and it would appear that the women on the team bus, the coach, were giving SOS hand signals through the window. Now, five of them have been granted asylum in Australia. The rest were offered, some of the decided that they want to go home because they worried about reprisals on their family worried to stay in Australia. There was a horrible sight of one being dragged by her collar onto the team bus, and people were standing protesters on front of the bus trying to stop it from leaving. So, you know, this is all going to put the plight of Iranian women in the spotlight. And yeah, let's see who stands up for them and who caused that out. Very good point. I hadn't seen any of that, and I really appreciate you pointing that out. Like I said at the beginning of our conversation, we're going to get a great report from our Fox News correspondent and WJR contributor extraordinaire, Jonathan Savage. See, my buildup wasn't too big, you delivered. Yeah, I tend to do well under pressure. Let's put it that way.

18:46You always do a good job. Be careful out there and thanks Jonathan. Take care Paul. Good to speak to you. Nice to speak with you. 1228 at 760 WJR. There are so many things we need to talk about, but there are so many other things that come up strong. How homeowners can protect themselves from deep fraud. These are the things I carry around every day and discuss with Mike, my executive producer. Americans want voter ID. Why don't the Democrats? That's from Ingrid Jacques, USA today. The great coffee, tea, debate. I drink them both, not as much tea as I should, and experts tout benefits of house burping, which I had to ask Mike about, but apparently I'm already doing that, but I never called it house burping. I just air out the house when it's nice. I need to find a house burping expert. I kind of hope there isn't one. Because all you do is open your windows, open your doors, whatever. I opened my doors yesterday with screens and let the flow go through the house. Right. Well, anyway, I'm sure Andy

19:51Arena is going to wait. Did I call the right show? Where am I? Andy, you're at the right place. Andy is the director of the Detroit Crime Commission, Detroit Crime Commission, former special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit office. And he's on the line right now. Andy, it's always a pleasure, sir. Paul, good afternoon. You are among other things going to talk with this about these two teenagers charged with trying to set off a bomb outside the home of the New York City mayor, Zoran Mamdani. Now, early on, Mamdani Mamdani was saying, this is a white supremacist, but he was talking about the people out front who were there was too many things going on. One was people out front protesting Islam or something. And then these guys who helped them with their cause because they their ISIS believers and they tried to bomb the home of the New York City mayor who really would be kind of friendly with them kind of think, I think,

20:54you know? Yeah, well, you gotta be at least it's gotta be careful with the first comments you make with something like this happens because you know, the fact is usually presented with initially are not true, right? Or there's some nuances to it. So I think that you know, you just gotta kind of wait and see what what really this plays out, but you know, Paul, when we talked about this before, it goes back to, you know, you get disenfranchised kids, young kids sitting in a parents' base for playing video games, looking for a place to be, looking for a place to fit in. And you know, you get these groups like ISIS that were really adopted using social media to recruit, right? And to really get these people rationalizing their brain that, hey, this is a good thing to do. And, you know, so I think really what it highlights is, you know, that these people are out there and that the threat is still very, very real. So something that, you know, hopefully we're keeping an eye on. It's sad that the mayor, Comrad Mamdani, was so quick to say, oh, white supremacists. I mean,

22:01you're absolutely right. He should wait. Maybe he'll learn. Maybe he never will learn. Here's something that I thought was fascinating. And I need Andy Arena's attention on this given his background, currently the director of the Detroit Crime Commission, former special agent in charge of the FBI office here in Detroit. So here it is. I wondered if you noticed this. Within minutes of all this happening, and these two kids being arrested, did you notice that one of them had a lawyer already speaking on his behalf and insisting he'd never been in any kind of trouble before? If that's true, why did he have a lawyer? Well, you know, Paul, I'm going to turn you by trade and all my, all my friends out there that are different attorneys. And I'm sure Mr. Flood will be calling you here in a moment. But you know, I mean, that's that's defense. That's defense 101, right? My, if you know what, my client is a

23:07fool, he's a young child. But how did he get there? How was he there so quickly if this guy had not already hired him as his attorney or somebody had hired him as his attorney? It could be or it could be just these guys work, right? They're out here. They paled on these types of things. But it's just interesting to me is they put that defense out there, right? He's just a kid, he doesn't know any better. You know, that's, that's a defense. It's not a good one. And you don't, you don't see it. I guess it's just me cynical. I guess that a guy could be standing out on the street that quickly, representing one of these kids. I mean, I don't have a lawyer that I would have that would show up and be representing me like that that quickly that most of us don't. Well, you know, it's, it's, most of us don't. And in that, you know, like I said, there's different, there's this possible difference place. And I don't think you'd be a cynical one. I think that that is certainly a very real possibility. You know, actually the other possibilities, these guys are just out there lurking about, right? You know, maybe they're

24:12watching this guy's trolling for business. I don't want to disperse my, my, my brothers and the brothers and sisters in the legal profession, but it does happen. So, you know, I don't think you're being cynical, Paul, but, you know, I just think there's, well, I think it'll all come out in the wash, but I think that, you know, there are certainly two or three different possible explanations. And so don't be hard on yourself. You know, I mean, cynical. All right. So now we also have this morning's news that the several gunshots at the US consulate in Toronto, multiple shots. It was a fortified building, which is amazing. And I'm glad even in, in Canada, they fortify our consulates, but this is, I'm afraid the tip of the iceberg. Yeah. Now, this is the second, you know, since military action started in Iran, this is the second attack on a, on a US embassy or consulate. We had one in, in Norway a couple days ago. So, you know, hopefully, you know, we don't start to get the copycats or people inspired by what's going on or sleep ourselves. But yeah,

25:15we're going to have to keep a real close look at our consulates and embassies. Why, which is one of the reasons I think it's extremely important for Democrats to fund the Department of Homeland Security now more than ever. Forget about, I mean, it's terrible with the TSA guys are going through the guys and gals of TSA not getting paid. Airports are, are feeling it, but overall security of our country. And this is just something they already, in a bipartisan way, all agreed to. They're just doing this because they believe it makes Trump look bad. Well, if anybody would tell the truth, and I don't expect the institutional media to do that, they're the ones that should look bad. But you didn't hear that once in any of the stories on the three major networks yesterday that all of this was happening because the Dems wouldn't just go ahead with something they already agreed to. And they also never said anything like, oh my goodness gracious gas prices are getting closer to where President Joe Biden had them. They, nobody said that. And that's

26:19the truth if you go back to March and June of 2022 when it was over $5 a gallon. We live in a world Andy that is sadly misinformed by the people we have depended on most all of our lives to tell us the truth of what was going on. Well, Paul, you and I have been talking for many years and you've heard me say it a hundred times, right? The national security of this country is not a political football. It'd be kicked around. We tend to not, we still don't, we still don't understand that in Washington. That's a shame. It is a shame. Maybe we need to send Andy to Washington. I'm too old for that, but yeah, thank you. Paul, what did I ever do to you? Come on. All right, I wouldn't, I would not sentence that on you or force that on you at any time or anybody else that I respect. Andy Arena, thanks much. All right, thank you, Paul. Andy arena director of the Detroit Crime Commission, former special agent in charge of the FBI office here in Detroit.

27:19And an all-round straight shooting great guy. And he's been with us for years and we appreciate that. And we appreciate all of the local FBI agents. We never had trouble with local FBI agents. It was at the leadership in Washington that got jammed up. Anyway, it's 1244 at WJR. Well, even Fox is using footage from November 11th in Portland, Oregon, where they're talking about the stormtroopers also known as ICE. And I think it should be changed to the national organization so they could be called nice, but be that as it may, using pepper spray on quote unquote, peaceful protesters. They got out of hand. They thought they could be bullies like some of their leaders. So, but that's November. That's not happening anymore. Anyway, the Michigan Defense Expo MDX, Michigan's premiered defense and advanced manufacturing event is

28:20entering a new chapter this year. It will co-locate with exponential at Huntington Place downtown Detroit. And together, the co-located events will be known as MDXX exponential 2026. If you're confused, imagine how confused I am. But the good news is because Mike Parsons knows that this is important to our area. We have take time. We have suffered. You understand. But we now have retired Lieutenant Colonel Misty Martin, who is the event chair for the Michigan Defense Expo. And here to tell us what this is all about. Lieutenant, to Martin, thank you for your service and thank you for joining Paul W Smith and focus. Thank you for having me. It's our pleasure. Can you explain in terms that even I can understand what this is all about? I would be happy to. So, the Michigan Defense Expo, this is our 17th year, but as you so

29:20eloquently stated, we are co-hosting in Detroit this year with exponential. Accidential is a yearly gathering of global leaders and end users in the uncrewed system and the robotics industry. But because Detroit shows where, you know, autonomy can be put to work, where we know what manufacturing is. They chose Detroit to host this year's exponential show and asked those of us from MDEC to be that co-host with them. So, we're really excited. Our role as the host for it is, it's functional, not just symbolic. And we want to show them that as autonomy moves into its execution phase from prototypes or just from great ideas to actual production, that here in Michigan is the place that really understands that piece and that manufacturing and defense and logistics. So, we're excited to co-host with exponential and show that shift from

30:23experimentation in the defense world to actual industrialization. And what we'll do is we will have those right army organizations, space force organizations and Air Force here that are responsible for the ground combat systems, briefing and explaining what opportunities are coming to industry. I must tell you, Lieutenant Colonel Misty Martin, event chair for the Michigan Defense Expo. In reading up on our little conversation here, this is economic development, this is defense readiness, this is advanced manufacturing at scale, and what really caught my attention is that we're looking at robotics and uncrewed systems across air, land and maritime domains in a rotating global platform. And that means, I mean, just what I just read, means fewer American men and women,

31:26young men and women being put in harm's way when we can come up with robotics and uncrewed systems across air, land and maritime domains. That's a big deal and I embrace it. It is. It's a great, you know, it's a great thing. Anytime that we can keep our, you know, men and women serving safe is a win for everybody. And you're right, the state's defense sector are expertise in our ground vehicle technology here in Michigan, and it's automotive heritage. Leverage is, it's just exponential. Well, it's exponential, right? So it's great. The grounds is as they say here in Michigan. Yeah. Here in ground systems, our aerospace in Michigan, we have over 900 aerospace related companies. We have more military vehicles produced in Michigan than any other state. And then like you mentioned, maritime, we just started the Michigan maritime manufacturing initiative in 2024. So I mean, there's not anything we don't do when it comes to defense here. Let me, is there anything else we need to know about the event? Like is everybody

32:31invited or is this a closed kind of gathering? Tell me that. Yeah. So you can go online and you do have to register. It's May 12th through the 14th. And like I said, if you want to hear from the global leaders and then those key organizations that are responsible for the ground combat systems and and some logistic support systems here, that is, you know, the people I think that will benefit the most from it, but everybody is welcome. What online, where do they go? Exponential.org. Or say something else. MDS register. Yes. I'm sorry. Do you have it? Well, I don't know. I have to couple of them. You give it. If you don't have it, I have MD. Okay. It's MDX-NDIA.com. All right. That's one of the one of the ones I have. That's good. Yes. MDX-NDIA.com.

33:31All right. And it's it is May 12th through the 14th. And you have to register to go. All right, we have very little time, but in 30 seconds or less. Tell me about you, Lieutenant Colonel Misty Martin, as they would say in the old days, what's a girl like you doing in a position like this? Well, it was it was my honor to serve. Like you said, I served for 21 years and it was there was nothing besides being the mom of my two sons that brought me more joy. So I truly enjoyed it. And this is my way of cheering MDX is my way to continue to give back to those still serving. God bless you and and and 21 years. I didn't know that long. God bless you for your incredible service and you continue to serve all of us. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Misty Martin, the event chair for the Michigan Defense Expo. Go to MDX-NDIA.com for more information. Thank you, ma'am, very much. God bless you. Thank you. Good for having me on. I appreciate it. It's our

34:32pleasure. We continue on WJR. There we see it again. Hegseth saying this will be the most intense bombing that we've done so far. It's been pretty intense. U.S. striking Iranian mind-laying vessels breaking news. Well, that's what we have. If there's anything that happens that we should grab it and have it on air live, Mike Persons will make that decision. He can monitor it a little better than I can here. I can't turn the sound up in here. But we've got the team, the team, the team here. Mike Persons are executive producer Daniel Mason in training mode. Abby Pelke, a fellow Wolverine. Now, if you're watching us because we do this now on our Facebook and YouTube pages live video that's streaming now, sadly, Abby is below the focus side. It's very mysterious. It's like just her eyes are showing. There she is. Oh, there's the face reveal.

35:36There we go. She has a face. And she proudly is a U of M grad. And that might be a little bit of a U of M swag that she's got on her jacket. And I have that under my sweater, clandestine-like. Are you having fun? Abby, are you enjoying yourself or we never want to do this again? No, I'm having a good time, Paul. Okay, good. Would you tell us if you weren't? Yes, she would. I think she's a strong woman and she would say, you know, it's not exactly what I hoped it would be. But you keep up the good work. You're learning at the hands of a great, great, very talented. We call it Queen of the Switches, actually. That's Daniel, thrown all the right switches. Rich Luzinski keeping track. Two of our WJR traffic and weather first doing a nice job with that. Whether you're streaming us or if you come back and podcast us at wjr.com, get the free WJR app as well. And we're sandwiched beautifully for our show. After

36:41you get your daily dose of Deets, I'll talk with Kevin Deets, then us. And then JR afternoon with Ryan or Monty coming up. And you know, he's got a great program coming up. Yeah, I did. I say it was Nolan Finley's birthday. Yes. Yes. But it's bears repeating. It's Nolan Finley's birthday. Happy birthday, Nolan. I'm a bourbon if you see him. If you see him, he would like a nice bourbon. The news of the day has been the attack on the US consulate in Toronto, multiple shots. It's a very secure building. Nobody hurt thank goodness. They might not have even known what was going on. The other news of the day is that we're seeing that they're stepping up the bombing of Iran. The other news of the day is the Democrats still won't fund the Department of Homeland Security, which is why when you go to the airport and no one's telling you this from the institutional media, but that's the reason TSA is so backed up. There's poor guys aren't getting paid. These men

37:42and women, some of them aren't showing up because they have to work other jobs. They have bills to pay. And they should be being paid. And it is the Democrats who are keeping them from being paid. In fact, the Democrats are vowing to shut down the Senate now all together. You know, as I just wish the news media would report the stories as they really are. Like, for example, when the gas prices go up, they're almost as high as they were in 2022 when Joe Biden was president. But no one will say that this president brought the gas prices down. And the other day, oh, some 50 cents a week. It's never happened before because they were never that low before. So they had a lot higher to go. All of that aside, do we have a weather issue? Metro Detroit weather, severe storms possible tonight into Wednesday. What do you know about that, Mike? Yeah. What can you do to prevent that? Move south. I don't know. But yeah, obviously it's it's been very warm to

38:47the last couple of days. And later on the week, it's supposed to cool down quickly. And so we may be seeing flooding rains. We might be seeing some hail. And high winds and they say it's possible that a tornado could break out. Yeah, yeah, it's given us a heads up here. It's yeah. And it seems like storm season is starting earlier and earlier. We're barely out of February right now. Everybody sensitive about this storm season. Obviously, after we went through what we went through this past weekend, in fact, state representative Jennifer Warts with the district representing Union City is going to join us as our first guest this half hour. And she'll tell us how they're all doing. And maybe too, how we might be able to help taking our minds off that for a second. So the Lions land free agent center, Cade Mays. Is he? You're my sports guy. Is he good? He's ranked like kind of right there in the middle. It's an upgrade over the kind of center by committee and moving people from other positions that we had last year.

39:50It's we're not quite back to rag now levels, but that's a big levels. Yeah, it's an upgrade over last season. And hopefully they can coach him up and and bring him into Lions culture. And he'll have a successful season. But I'm glad they're addressing the offensive line. So we saw that Kelsey is staying. He's going to play another year. Yeah, like a one-year contract. Yeah. And maybe he's staying because the chiefs signed Kenneth Walker III, the former MSU great who won the Super Bowl MVP was Seattle this year. He was fabulous. Yeah. He was fabulous. I can't believe the Seahawks couldn't hang on to him. Yeah. And you know, there's this there's this kind of consensus in the NFL right now that people don't want to pay big money for running backs because a lot of teams like the Lions had with with Gibbs and Montgomery have kind of a two-headed rushing attack. And of course, careers for running backs in the NFL aren't very long. So

40:54it sounded like it sounded like Seattle didn't want to shell out that money. They have a Charbonneau who was who was injured for the Super Bowl. And look, the the the the chiefs had a down year. And now they're going to get better. And Patrick Mahomes finally has a running back. And he probably needs that because this safety blanket, Travis Kelsey isn't as reliable as he used to be. So the chiefs are are looking to retool and get back to where they were. My old teacher in high school at Monroe Catholic Central High School, which is now St. Mary's Catholic Central there in Monroe, Tom Romer, my old teacher, who I hope we'll see at the same Patrick State Party. I don't know. He called me and I haven't called him back. And I don't know if it was about this. But what a story. The Ohio State president Ted Carter resigning over an inappropriate relationship with staff. There's like a pandemic of men not being able to control themselves. Yeah. And as a lack of self control or as an arrogance thinking that they're so powerful

41:56that that they're never going to face consequences. But it seems like it seems like there's a lot of powerful men willing to throw it away. I mean, look at Sharon Moore, you know, for an inappropriate relationship, quote unquote. And now Sharon Moore's ex assistant wants, quote, accountability from you of them says her lawyer, meaning a lawyer went to her and said, I'm just guessing. This is not a fact. I'm just guessing. You know, when you sue somebody, you go with the people with the deepest pockets. That's what they call it, the deepest pockets. Right. And you of them has deep pockets, deeper pockets than than Sharon Moore. So she wants accountability from you of them. I'm not sure even what that means. Yeah, I don't know either. I mean up from what I know up up until the night Sharon Moore was fired. And he broke into a department from what I understand. This was consensual. I know that there was a power imbalance,

42:57obviously, because Sharon Moore was her. But from what I gave her a big raise from like, unless there's something we don't know, it sounded like it was consensual at the time. Yeah. Hey, did we find out why jet blue requested all of their flights to be known? It's still a big mystery. Why would they have to request that from the FAA? Why would they just say we're going to ground all our flights if they had a problem? Yeah, it sounds like a decision they can make on their own. So there's something behind that that I still don't know. Maybe we'll get to the bottom of it. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah, I mean tomorrow, maybe we'll reach out to our air travel guy because we've got the TSA mess. We've got what happened with jet blue today. Sounds like it'd be a good day to talk to him tomorrow. Yeah, good day to talk. And then finally, um, this is for now a couple of days old, but the president saying he will quote not sign other bills until the Save America Act is passed. I mean, it's not a surprise. He's been kind of

44:01saying this, I think a couple of days now. So we'll find out about that as well. We're underway. It's focused with Paul W Smith, relentless positive radio with the team, the team, the team, and you are a very important part of this gathering. We thank you for choosing to be a part of the best and brightest audience in all of radio coming up state representative Jennifer Warts representing Union City. We'll find out how they're doing and maybe what we can do to help them. Stay with us and focus on WJR. Thank you, Jamie, for that. And the whole morning crew, I've been looking at this whole raw milk thing and I don't get it. I really don't. So I'm glad that to J. R mornings will be tackling that tomorrow. I don't know. Is raw milk important to you, Michael? I don't understand what the big deal is here. No, I can't drink milk anymore, but back when I did, I don't think I would like to drink it raw. No, I think pasteurization is there

45:04to make things safer, I thought. So I don't. I'm not going to add her into the argument, but I will be listening tomorrow for the J. R mornings on that whole raw milk thing. Crazy. All right. I'm to what we're doing here from the front page of the Detroit news today, the great Detroit news and above the fold tornado galvanizes Union City and the neighbors community of Sherwood AIDS cleanup after living through similar storm in 2024. A date line Union City in a story written by Carol Thompson. Donna Clark was armed with a zippered bag full of gift cards and $50 bills on Monday. As she made her way along Tuttle Park Drive, an area hit hardest by the EF3 tornado with 160 mile per hour winds that swept through southwest Michigan on Friday. As she walked past the brush littered with home insulation pieces of broken plywood and torn siding, Clark stopped passerby to ask two questions. First, were you impacted by

46:08the storm? Second, what do you need? That's kind of what we're talking about right now. And we thank State Representative, the Republican from the 35th district representing Union City. Representative Jennifer Warts, just how the recovery effort is going. Representative Warts, welcome to focus with Paul W Smith. It is a pleasure and an honor to welcome you to the show. Well, thank you so much and thank you for having me and for yeah, bringing awareness to the needs in my community. Well, you'll notice you've already noticed and I've noticed in all my years because I'm probably significantly older than you that this kind of tragic situation brings out the best in our neighbors and our Michigan family. We have the most generous people in all of the world within the sound of my voice here. So I'm

47:08going to guess that the cleanup and the recovery efforts are intensifying in Branch County and that mostly you have good positive news for us. Yes, very much so. I mean to your point, I was in Union City Saturday and Sunday and to see how quickly our crisis response team within the county mobilized through our Sheriff's Department and our emergency management responder and coordinated with the immediate kind of crisis there and locating victims to the school there in Union City and the plan that they had in place for disaster relief when it hit and by three o'clock on Saturday they had to put a sign up that they weren't taking any more donations because they had just been so overwhelmed with the support and the outpouring of care and people that want to give back and if you've listened at all to

48:17some of the press conferences that to minor our emergency response coordinator is given, you know, we have been so very thankful but at the same time we also would ask that people would be respectful. Sunday afternoon was the first time that the people most severely impacted were even able to return to their own properties and see the devastation and see the loss and so just we're asking for some time there for them to be able to process and work with their insurance agencies and then in the next few days, yeah, cleanup will begin and there's the real specific ways and organizations that people can get involved if they want to do so to help with that. That's my that's my next question but a quick mention that we're with state representative, the Republican from the 35th district representing Union City Representative Jennifer Warts and as

49:20you pointed out, you were there right away and the residents say that strangers and volunteers quickly arrived with chain saws, heavy machinery, supplies to help remove the fallen trees to clear the debris, utility crews, plumbers, telecommunications workers from nearby cities and townships have also been working to restore services and two points back to what you were saying, we did say Monday as soon as we were on the air that people were being asked not to come to the area that don't belong there and a lot of people were kind of coming because they were they were curious. I'm sure there were people that were coming to help but a lot of people just wanted to see and and that's not something that you need so the question then and you started to give us an answer and I want to give you all the time you need for that answer. What can we do to help? Yeah, great question. Well, I would say right now, first and foremost, our community is going to

50:26need financial support. It was estimated on Sunday and this is a low-ball number that we're going to need $50,000 in dumpsters for cleanup as we begin removing the debris and rubble there. Just off total road. Also, just physical help with cleanup and there's a couple different organizations organizing that in ways that you can give American Red Cross. You can give to financially our local branch county victim service unit. You can call them at 517-278-3091 and then Samaritan's Purse. If you go to sp volunteer.org, they've already started to organize help with the Southwest, Southwest, Michigan, tornado response themes and they are another

51:28organization that does this day and day out around the country and we are so blessed that they are coming and going to help and volunteer in our own community. So let me because it's hard, some people listening while they're driving and it's always going to be difficult to get while you're driving but when you get where you're going, you can look up the local chapter of the American Red Cross. The victim service is number that the representative just shared with us 517-278-3091-517-278-3091 and I think it was Billy Graham that started Samaritan's Purse and I think if I have the right organization, now his son has taken over. So we know that these are trustworthy organizations and I hate to say it but unfortunately at a time like this when I opened up our conversation with this brings out the best in people. Unfortunately, some of the bad

52:34people out there also rise or sink to the occasion. So you got to be careful. The American Red Cross a victim service is 517-278-3091-517-278-3091 or Samaritan's Purse and Billy Graham's son and the Graham family. They've been doing that for a long time and as far as I know, completely trustworthy. Anything else representative warts we need to know? Yeah, I would just say as well. There's also with AI and technology today a lot of fault pictures filtering around out there. You might have saw one yesterday that somebody posted with a boat in a tree. We have not seen a boat in a tree anywhere or a vehicle in a tree. There's a lot of twisted up boats and destroyed vehicles but it was in reference to a statement the governor brought up on Monday and I would just like to say communicating with our vocal boots on the ground. Most of the people in that area

53:41they get an alert on their phones. There have been now some reports that have come out that a few did not and so we are going to be looking into that and confirming that. Unfortunately, this storm shifted really fast and it's easy to play Monday morning quarterback and place blame on someone but to use this as a political talking point right now is quite offensive to me and to this community that's grieving three people who died. Really, it's a miracle that no more than three people died. Fox News has done some great reporting and interviews on the ground of survivors testimonies and how they anticipated. Most of their neighbors to be dead and most of them walked away and so I would just encourage people let's celebrate that. Let's not start pointing fingers and placing blame right now. There will be a time in a place to see how could we have handled

54:45this differently but right now this community and these people are grieving and I just would ask that you would respect that. God bless you that was just we should record that and use that often. That's the perfect way to look at this and God bless the people in the Union City area who are taking the high road and understanding this isn't the time to be pointing fingers or turning something political. There'll be plenty of time for that. This is the time to help each other and somebody who what's sick mind would use AI to make things look worse than they are in an already horrible situation by putting a boat in a tree. What is wrong with these people? I don't know but it's quite disgusting and really disparaging and as I said people are grieving enough we don't need to add insult to injury here. So please and I thank so

55:45many of you who have come alongside you know that's the few of the majority. There was a beautiful prayer service on the night in Union City, spontaneously organized in less than 24 hours. A high school student that gave a phenomenal prayer and asked everyone to just bow and pray and be thankful and meant the hard and come together and what that should be the example we're following and that was from a 17 year old junior in high school. Wow that's powerful. Thank you representative and aren't you lucky there having this person represent you in Union City the 35th district, the Republican State Representative Jennifer Warts. Thank you representative Warts. What a pleasure and privilege having you on. Thank you Paul and I just want to tell you my parents love listening to your show. Have a blast day. You know we got plenty of parents and grandparents and I love them all but we need some of their kids to listen to

56:49Jennifer. Yeah well I'm now I'm now going to be well most I'm actually walking into session now otherwise I would but I will try my off day so I know it's hard. Thank you. I know it's hard noon to two. God bless you. Thank you so much for your work and thanks. Be sure to thank mom and dad for me will you? I will do that. Thank you. Thank you State Representative the Republican from the 35th district representing well Union City Representative Jennifer Warts and I'm sure her parents are very proud of her good work as well. Henning toward 132 pull W here in focus on WJR. I just bit of rejoiner music I think we have. I'm not complaining I'm not criticizing I'm just saying it's odd could you turn that up just a little bit Abby? Is that as loud as it goes?

57:51It sounds like it's like done by all machines doesn't it? Maybe that's maybe that's what it has. All right we turn to Jay Young founder and CEO King operating corporation author of the upside of oil and gas investing contributing writer at Forbes and Kiplinger and he's here to tell us what he thinks oil prices are doing or going or when this will end or anything else Jay Young you want to tell us how it's Paul. Hey Paul how are you doing today? I'm doing well how are we doing? Man I tell you what it's been a ride we've been on a ride with these oil prices then what's going on down here I mean it was sixty seven dollars a barrel you know come two Fridays ago and all of a sudden it just it just it went up a lot obviously it's 119 and now it's down to in the 80s the high 80s but it's in the high it's in the 80s and you know what's going on is just you know a lot

58:52of uncertainty about what's going to happen with with oil prices and when when President Trump comes out and says hey I'll tell you what if you guys continue bombing tankers in the straight of her moves what's going to happen is I'm going to hit you 20 times harder people listen well let me let me catch up we haven't had any bomb jet have we? No but there's been some you know there's been a lot of threats yeah a lot of yeah yeah yeah and and they're they're threatening and I ran and saying hey yeah that's what we're going to do and they're afraid that this you know I told his son is going to come in and he's going to go hey well it's I want to make a name for myself let's let's do something crazy but well he's got to go because I mean he lost a father a wife a mother a son I mean he he's got nothing to lose now exactly exactly and Trump said that and I thought it was brilliant what he said was was hey any any problem with this and I'm going to

59:55hit you 20 times harder than you've ever been hit and you probably said you can't take it lightly when he said when he talks you know it's funny to me you don't know this Jay Young founder and CEO of King operating corporation author of the upside of oil and gas investing the the funny part for me is how the mainstream media the the institutional media has never said these words she oils at $80 a barrel right at about where it was when the president Joe Biden was in office or that she when Joe Biden was in office in June of 2022 gas was over $5 a gallon they've never said anything like that because they never made a big deal out of our president lowering gas prices but man are they making a big deal out of the gas prices going up and so far they're only going up as high as they were when Biden was in office doesn't anyone see hypocrisy here yeah no no they don't I mean it's they people want to believe what they can and they want to grab what where they can

1:00:58and right now it's it's all about Trump and the seven the seven people that have given up their their lives for our freedom and to to do away with the Iranian regime and and for us to live safely safer I couldn't imagine what anybody else in office would have done for not done with with all the information having in front of you and president Trump is not mind acting he does not mind acting and doing exactly what's in the best interest of of our country you know so I think that's that is very you know I think it's one of the best things that we could we could do have have our president in there and do what we we're doing right now and and we're we're going to have you know independence and we're going to have more freedom and and you know obviously not we're not going to be afraid of nuclear war nuclear weapons yeah yeah I'm just thankful I'm just going to tell people because I wouldn't have known this either the about king operating corporation

1:01:58founded in 1996 king operating corporation is an experienced independent oil and gas operating company with over 200 combined years of industry experience developing and producing oil and gas fields across several basins you are committed to creating value for your investors by offering opportunities for tax advantages monthly distributions and a potential multiple on invested capital are people actively still investing in oil and gas oh 100% they they want those tax write-offs they want the monthly income what and they want to read my book and the reason is because they want they don't want a bad deal people get involved in bad deals they want to know somebody that knows what they're doing obviously there's no guarantees but they want a free they want a fair shot you know I mean I know that some people that you can invest with here in town in Dallas you can invest in some of these people here in town you'll never make money I don't care if you hit a barrel or a thousand barrels a day it's not you're not going to make any money

1:02:59because the way the structure is and our deal is different I'm like said you've been business it's 1996 I have a four-generation oil and gas guy gripping the business I love the business and our our job in my my drive every day is to let's do something for our shareholders and our people that you know fill out our website I'll send you a free copy of my book called the upside of oil and gas investing the second edition is going to come out in the next few months I've changed up some things but the big thing is oil prices may come down when the war is over but they're not going to come down that much and the reason why is because we're not drilling for oil and gas in the United States like we were before we're not drilling like we were before number one number two wells wells decline in production I thought we were I thought we were drilling more than ever we well we're not in the last three years we've shut that down recounts down a lot it's down a lot we're producing about as much oil as we ever have

1:04:04well it's kind of starting to come down now but we were producing as much as we ever have all right can you know right here at Forbes and Kiplinger you just heard about his book and his new one coming out the upside of oil and gas investing there there'll be a part two to that and you can get it if you go to the website what's the website king operating dot com k-i-n-g king operating dot com king operating dot com king k-i-n-g king operating dot com j young founder and CEO of king operating corporation thanks for sharing your opinion and your expertise absolutely anytime coming back anytime let's talk next week or the next week for an update always an update in the oil and gas space okay thank you I believe that my friend one day I'll tell you about my investment in an oil well a long time ago it's not pretty but you we'll talk again you take care thank you so much it is 143 at w-j-r

1:05:14as we continue in focus that you would expect us to talk about some of the great events that draw national attention to our area there are so many of them now I'm not even going to listen because for fear I'll miss one but one that I won't miss and one that I know is so special is the rocket classic and what a pleasure it is to welcome j-r sundays with mark hollis the actual mark hollis who also happens to be the rocket classic tournament director with a very special announcement today first of all mark welcome to focus always a pleasure well thanks Paul W it's always great to be with you whether it's on your show focused or j-r sunday and look forward to this conversation it was my pleasure to be on your show j-r sundays not too long ago sundays 8 to 10 and produced by the one and only Dave Rieger who apparently has two great jobs as it turns out we have the announcement of a couple of things

1:06:19first of all the continuation of a great event returning to the detroit golf club for I think it's got to be about its eighth consecutive year july 30th through august 2nd bringing the pga tours top players back to detroit but also the announcement of when tickets will go on sale I love you doing your show because you are so well informed and you have all the information and that's out there and thank you but yes we are planning to put tickets on sale right after the masters which is an ideal time giving folks really turn their attention to professional golf and the pga tour and a lot of the announcement comes from listening and I think anytime that you're running in the event of this magnitude the first thing you need to do is listen to those the patrons the hospitality participants and we did and we're lowering ticket prices really going from one of the highest among the pga tour to one of the most affordable tickets on the pga tour

1:07:20as well as 31 dollars and 30 cents on Thursday with part of this advanced ticket purchase plan that will run through mid June and even on Thursday Friday Saturday and Sunday you're going to have a great opportunity to come out to the beautiful detroit golf club enjoy it at a price and it's not where we're going to stop is just on pricing we've really looked at the whole experience for patrons coming out from the time they leave their home to the time they return and how can we make the whole experience more enjoyable so there'll be subsequent announcements coming out about a variety of ways to hear about things that are happening on the course but it started with we want a lot of folks out here dance at the vision back in 2018 to do this event for the city of Detroit for the people of Detroit and this is a step in that direction to make sure that we're fulfilling the vision that Dan had for bringing a tour event to Detroit for the first time ever and started back in 2019. Well it's incredible and it was not lost on on me when you talked about

1:08:25new lower prices you don't hear that anywhere anymore so God bless you and you can go to rocketclassic.com starting Tuesday April 7th to start purchasing your tickets rocketclassic.com and it wasn't lost on me that that $31.30 is a nod to our 313 area code. I'll have to tip my hat to Nick Barley and he was we were talking about the strategy he goes let's take one down to to the 313 number and he has that creative mind like like I and I think some of the best ideas come from collaborating more information always available at rocketclassic.com rocketclassic.com tickets go on sale Tuesday April 7th as you're hearing here first and and it's you've got presented by who's the presenter now for rocket classic it's alumni fire which is ironically part of the MSU federal credit union family and you know I can never get too far away from even though there was

1:09:27was a really nice win by Michigan basketball I can't get too far from the green and white you know that well listen you were a great athletic director there for years and you did a great job so good for you rocket classic presented by alumni fire and frankly I wanted you to say because I wasn't sure I pronounced it and the only other thing I'd mention is the members of DGC are incredible we're a guest out here this tournament is a guest and their hospitality and the redesign of this course your jaw is going to drop when you step foot on the Detroit golf club this year because the design the work that Tyler Ray did on this and in conjunction with Sam it's just beautiful out here and it's it's going to step up the level of play significantly over prior years so I've got to thank them I got to thank you and and all the great people at WJR appreciate all that you do for the rocket classic and all of us in the city of Detroit it's only gotten better Mark Hollis in now it's eighth year and we salute rocket classic Dan Gilbert your entire team Greg

1:10:34Ball who handles some information that got to to our producer Mike Parsons and you the man we enjoyed on J.R. Sundays with Mark Hollis Sundays from eight to ten produced by the one and only ten rigour that goes back to his bowling days and and also by the way rocket classic tournament director all around good guy Mark Hollis thank you Mark thanks Paul W I appreciate you so much well we appreciate you my friend and we appreciate the guy coming up next and we all appreciate the guy he's going to be lauding up next out at startup nation for Mitch albums book party among other things author of the number one best seller the stranger in the lifeboat I have his book in my hand Mitch album a novel good morning America book club the novel is twice what if you got to do everything in your life again and of course J.R. afternoon is featuring this and more

1:11:41with Ryan or money Ryan it's always a pleasure to say hello to you even when you're on the road you know it I enjoy talking to you we need we need we need full segments you and I I think to to chat about all the great things yes let's suggest that we do a Saturday and Sunday show as well because nothing beats working seven days a week I know I used to do that I'm busy so okay Mike Mike Mike is already throwing his hat out of the ring much wiser than I was at his age that's for sure what do you got cooking there's so much to talk about big show today we're going to be talking to congressman John James of course running for governor as in the state of mission he'll be talking about the paramount a lot of time and Tim Walberg good old Tim Walberg good old writer money coming up next regards pulled out of you Smith