Focus with Paul W Smith ~ March 11, 2026 ~ Full Show

0:00Well, we are so glad that you come to listen and talk. I talk back to the radio all the time or the television too. Welcome into a Wednesday, a wet Wednesday edition of Focus. We're here with you from noon till two. And we're glad you're here with us. If you can't be, you can come back at any time to podcast us at wjr.com because we're also streaming at all times. And I do hope you have the free wjr app and Facebook and YouTube pages live video streaming except I can't get on that right now and I don't know why my computer. Well, I know why it's my computer and it's me. Is that computer maybe not hooked up to the internet? No, it's, yeah, I'm getting everything that I'm supposed to get. I don't, let me look. No, it's up, it's the known network.

1:00It's all here. Nothing's different. I don't know what has happened. These are always the most come founding situations when everything looks exactly the same. Let me just see if it's going to give me any. No, it gives me my topic, Pulse. It gives me all the ads I don't want to receive. I get them all, huh? But when I go to Mike Parsons, StreamYard link, oh, now it's there. All right. Man, oh, man, you know, this is so annoying. You know what it is. It's like anytime there's something broken in the studio, as soon as our engineer comes in, nothing's wrong. Right. And what that happens when you take your card to get, you know, the mechanic, the blinker is not working. The mechanic sits down, hits the blinker and it works and you look like an idiot. It's not as bad as when you come and when they say the refrigerator stop working and then the guy comes and just plugs it back in. That's the worst.

2:01But you know, it's working. Yes, you're here now. So all is right. So it's Mike Parsons, our executive producer. If you ever wanted to see what he looks like, now you can, because it's streaming YouTube pages, Facebook and YouTube pages, live video streaming. You'll also see Abby Pelke, where Danielle Mason usually sits. Professor Mason is still helping Abby Pelke, proud U of M grad, I might add. And Rich Luzinski, our WJR traffic and weather first right here for you. He'll keep a good eye on it. Well, here's one you, it's, you know, these lessons that I try to teach are so they're just getting easier and easier as we go along. For example, you probably don't know because it's not front page news like the reverse was in the last several days. But did you know, because I didn't, that oil prices have plunged by the most they have

3:05in four years. I know they've gone down significantly that. Yeah, they've plunged the most they have in four years. So why is that not a big headline story in all the major news outlets and everywhere else? Why would that be? Hmm, why would that be? Because it doesn't play into the narrative that is currently out there for the mainstream or as we like to say, lame stream media that just doesn't want to find anything good about what Trump does. Look, there's plenty that Trump does. It isn't good, but there's plenty that is good and you got to be fair and see both. Now one of the things that's crazy, if I may say so, may I say so, Mike? I'll allow it. Thank you. The president never should have said, oh, but I can't do an imitation of him. We don't have time anyway, but he never should have said if they touch one ship in the

4:06straits of her moose, then they will hit like they've never been hit ever in their lives. Well, three or four ships have been hit. Right. It's like Obama's red line in Syria. Once you draw that red line, you better be able to back it up. You can't draw red lines that you're not going to live up to or you're in big trouble. So we already have had ships hit. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know. So whatever. I haven't read this yet, but they do try to news the opinion page written by Michael writes of the Mackinac Center for public policy. They don't always make the right decisions, but that's another story. But the headline, Trump Whitmer and the problem of emergency powers to have a picture of governor Whitmer and president Donald Trump side by side, like sharing a problem together. That's that's pretty amazing in itself. Meanwhile, speaking of the president and the governor, governor Whitmer was able to go

5:09to Trump and get him to okay the ice storm aid that FEMA, everybody loves FEMA, FEMA turned down. FEMA turned down the aid and somehow or another governor Whitmer was able to weasel it out of Donald Trump. And I got a sidebar thing story that I'm my desk. I can't find it because it's my desk. But there's a story about the president, Trump is helping block invasive Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes. I don't know if you saw that sidebar story. I saw, I saw his post about it and he's pretty fired up about blocking Asian carp. Did he say anything like just one Asian carp comes into the Great Lakes and they will see hooks and spears like never before. We will hit the Asian carp unlike anything you've ever seen. Okay, so you know, the best way to handle Asian carp is change the name of it and make it a delicacy on menus.

6:09Right, man. We'll, we'll, we'll fish them out of existence like we almost did with seabass. Let's get Joe Vicaria on the phone and get it on the menu. Joe knows what to do with fish. Nobody does fish better than Joe and your country and your country. The Great Lakes need you. Here's a sad story and I just, I remember being with him at the big cigar event that Rod Albert used to throw at the auto show. Tommy Hurns the hit man and he was, he seemed fine, but there's a story in today's Detroit news, the award winning Detroit news that boxing legend Tommy Hurns is now under guardianship and conservatorship. Oh, no, which means somebody at least believes he's kind of lost it. And it shouldn't be a surprise after being hit in the head a number of times he served. This happens to boxers football players and yet we still have the sports, but be that as it may, apparently there's a family fight now over Tommy Hurns and some part of the

7:16family saying they're being kept away from him. Man, oh man, right? And I'm sure I'm sure family add money. Yes, I was going to say I'm sure boils down to somebody either trying to keep or get money. Yeah, sadly, that appears to be exactly what it is. We were on this before anybody else and we were lucky enough to have one of the greatest guys in this area, Dr. Summit Singla from Henry Ford Health on a front page story in today's Detroit news, Michigan hospitals tackle baffling rise and colorectal cancer. We were on that story a long while ago, and how it's also affecting younger and younger people. So I'm happy to see that this story, the cancer clinic at Corwell Health is doing a good job too and recruiting colorectal surgeons, but I got to tell you, we were on top of that

8:16with the great Dr. Summit Singla at Henry Ford Health a long while ago, and you know what we'll get into some of the warning signs because we've mentioned it, but you can't mention them too often. I believe, well, let me do it right now while we're thinking of it. I think sadly, the first note on warning signs is there is no warning sign. I mean, you don't know that you have it, which is why you have to go in and get tested, but colonoscopies. I think I'm doing another one. I'm going to take my microphone. No, I'm not. Well, just host the show from the table. Yeah. What a great idea. And then I have to say things look smaller than they actually appear objects in the mirror objects in the mirror appear small. I got to defend myself. Anyway, symptoms of colon cancer can include a change in bowel habits, such as more frequent to diarrhea or constipation, rectal bleeding or blood in the stool, ongoing discomfort in the belly area, such as cramps, gas or pain, a feeling that the bowel doesn't empty

9:17all the way during a bowel movement. Weakness or tiredness and losing weight without trying, I've got all of that. Okay. So anyway, that's why I'm going back in for my colonoscopy. It'll be, I don't know. They should give you a little something. So I don't know how many I've had. I've had a few like a like a discount card. You get five colonoscopies. You get a card. They punch it. And after the fifth one, you get it free. Right. I'm not holding my breath on that anyway. All right. We're underway. We've got a lot going on. Let me check with Abby. Abby, are you feeling more comfortable? I see the sign is not covering your face now, which is good. Yeah. I'm feeling good. Danielle is getting bored back there. Well, she's used to working her behind off. And now she's kind of taken it easy and in her professorial way, she's just helping you learn the board. And that's a good thing. I told her I could start making some problems for her if she wanted to jump in and put some fires out. But she said no. No. Well, I'm glad that I'm glad you offered.

10:18That's very nice. But I'm glad she said no. And did you ever think you'd be talking on the radio so quickly? No. Can't say so. I know I did the Sunday show with Mark Hollis a couple of times. And I told him no, so you what? I told Mark, no, don't put me on the air. Oh, well, you did. You forgot to tell me that. So I don't want people to think you said no. And I said, I don't care. You did not. Don't worry. No good. All right. Well, anyway, we are underway. And we've got a lot going on in this clupi wet Wednesday. We'll make it through. But spring is closer than ever. But so are seemingly ridiculous tornadoes. I mean, what the heck is going on? Somebody said El Nino possibility of a super El Nino in Nino. I guess there's a Nino and a Nino. I don't pay too close. Well, it's one's a girl. Yeah. Well, the El Nino must be the girl. Nino always masculine a is feminine. So Nino always boy, well, I did in language skills.

11:20All right. So possibly the possibility of a super El Nino threatens extreme weather. That's all we needed to hear. OK, that's it. We've got lots more going on. And Nolan Finley, who just celebrated his 50th birthday. And I called him saying happy birthday to him. Again, because they did it 10 days early by mistake. And then also it was his 50th anniversary on his birthday at the Detroit news. So we got lots to talk with him about. And very little bit has to do with his birthday or his anniversary. But we'll note it because it's notable news as we continue in focus at 1216. All right, our good friend Nolan Finley editorial page editor of the Detroit news co-author of the civility book guide to building bridges across the political divide by Nolan Finley and his friend Stephen Henderson along with Lynn Gulledner. Yesterday we noted it was the birth, I almost said the 50th birthday, but it's the 50th anniversary

12:25of Nolan Finley at the Detroit news. And it was his birthday, but I didn't ask what number it was. But Nolan, again, happy birthday and happy anniversary. Well, thanks Paul, you can do the math and understand it's got to be a pretty big number. I'd say it's a good number, Nolan, and it's certain numbers are good number. It certainly beats the alternative, doesn't it, my friend? Yeah, it's a good time of life. It was interesting to see in our Detroit news today a picture on the opinion section. I don't have it now. I had it here a minute ago of President Trump and Governor Whitmer side by side, and somebody was writing an op-ed piece pretty much, I think they were criticizing both of them for the same problem. And I bet neither one of them ever expected to be together in any boat. No, and one of the things you've got to give credit to Gretchen Whitmer for is that she understands how to get to Donald Trump.

13:29She understood that when she, back when she was meddling him, and she certainly understands it now that she's trying to charm him, he is a man who is very, very susceptible to flattery. And I said when he was elected in the first time in his early days, that if Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer worked at it, they could co-opt this president simply by flattering him, and praising him and kissing his butt. They chose a different direction, and you went to war with him, but I don't believe that Donald Trump is a man of any firm principles, I think he's easily plagued, easily manipulating him. Well, and a good example is, you know, everyone's screaming, well, FEMA was decimated, FEMA was destroyed, well, FEMA wasn't doing their job. They turned down the governor for FEMA aid during that ice storm, and the president has

14:31now stepped up and said, no, no, I'm going to help you with that. And he also has made some pledges to fight the invasive Asian carp in the Great Lakes. And helping the tornadoes out west that we, in Michigan, we experienced last week. So, I mean, you can work with this president if you understand how he operates and what moves him, she apparently does. Well, it's not a secret, I mean, you pointed it out a long time ago, we've talked about it a long time ago, and we see it every time he has a cabinet meeting or any other meeting because every person who speaks has to first say how great it is and how they couldn't have done anything without president Trump. We understand, we appreciate that. We understand. And that's right, in this administration, wherever, whenever a member is in public and

15:33always starts with, and here's another great thing Donald Trump is doing. Well, I mean, it's not easy for a lot of people to do, but it's effective. And again, give Christian Whitmer credit for working it. You know, our old friend, Ingrid, I have her, why do I act like I can find something on my desk? It's here, trust me, our old friend Ingrid, who's now back with the family with USA Today and the Detroiters. She just wrote a bit about the Save America Act, saying basically, most of America is four IDs for voting because we're used to giving IDs for all kinds of stuff. And yet the Democrats don't get that. And now President Trump says he won't sign any bills until the Save America Act passes. Where do you think about that?

16:33Well, I think that would be a fine idea, no matter what, not to sign any more bills, bills cost money. But the Save Act, I just got finished editing the editorial on that. It's common sense, as you said, most of America is Save favors it. This is a ridiculous stand for the Democrats to take, puts them out of the mainstream or keeps them out of the mainstream. How many times a week do you have to show your ID ball over and over and over again? Right. And I think it's some extraordinary burden to come to the voting booth and have to show your ID. I mean, their argument that, oh, it would limit, keep some people from voting is absurd. And you have to question their motivations, why do they oppose safeguards at the polling

17:34place? And the only conclusion you've come up with is they don't care who votes as long as they vote Democrat. Right. And I got to tell you something. I don't know if you've said it. I'll say it. It's racist for the Democrats to think or act like minorities aren't smart enough to know how to get a photo ID. That's racist in itself. And even the communist running New York, when he wanted people to come help and shovels snow, they had two pieces of ID in order to be able to do that. I think this is just so comical. It's not funny, but it is funny, if you know what I mean. And you know, Democrats always on their stump about protecting democracy. There's no more necessary protection of democracy than the mixture only citizen vote. And then the voting process is both fair and secure. And this is where it's all started.

18:36If people start believing our elections are corrupt, we've lost faith in the government. Well, God bless you. I'm so happy that you've been at the Detroit News for 50 years and a day, starting today, the day after your birthday. So always good to have you around and we're lucky to have you. And I know that there were companies that tried to woo you away from Detroit, but you stayed. And we are so appreciative of that. Thank you, Nolan. Thank you, Paul. Very kind of you. Nolan Finley editorial page editor of the Detroit News co-author of the civility book, A Guide to Building Bridges Across the Political Divide by Nolan, his pal, Stephen Henderson, and Lynn Gollettner. So we continue at 1230 on focus with Paul W Smith at WJR. Making it through the rain.

19:37These are kind of like the spring showers a little early, but everything's been a little early, including the tornado activity. And here's hoping and praying that's not a sign of things to come. Meanwhile, we have war underway, call it whatever you want with Peter Meyer, former Congressman and Army veteran is here to weigh in on the latest in Iran. Peter, it's always a pleasure. How do you think we're doing based on your time as a Congressman and what you've learned and as an Army veteran in what you learned in that position? How are we doing? Well, thank you for having me on, Paul. And I will say one thing that when I was in the military, I also was in the unit of supporting some planning for what, you know, what the Iranian response would be in just this type of scenario. Now granted, so my understanding is there may be about a decade out of date, but this is an area where I've spent a significant amount of time.

20:39And where we are right now in terms of what we've been able to inflict and what has been inflicted upon us and our allies is, you know, what we've inflicted has been significantly more successful than I would have expected, you know, if we had this conversation trying to forecast out, you know, two weeks back. And then where, you know, what Iran has been able to do in terms of the tax, you know, it's certainly been more widespread than I would have expected. I'm surprised that they have launched ballistic missiles that countries that were allied with them and that had opened and supportive relations. That to me has been a bit bewildering, but, you know, the fact that oil is still, you know, hovering, you know, at $90 a barrel give or take, still 40 percent below the price that it had been, you know, in the immediate aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, you know, the fact that this has not ground the world economy to a start yet and yet the Iranian military has been decimated, you know, I would strongly agree with the

21:42President's comments that this has been overwhelmingly successful from a military standpoint. And the biggest question is going to become, you know, what happens on the political and diplomatic front, you know, does the regime capitulate? Do, you know, it does this fall into the decapitate and delegate strategy like Venezuela? And that is what is very difficult to predict at the moment. Well, because we can't control what the institutional media will do, and we know they want to get rid of Trump and show him in the poorest light they possibly can. Otherwise, they would have put on the front page today everywhere, and all of three networks would have been talking about it, and none of them have, that oil prices plunged by more than 11 percent Tuesday, yesterday, the steepest percentage drop of any session since 2022. And that's amazing because they just, when it was reverse of that, they couldn't, it went up 50 cents this week. It's never gone up 50 cents. Well, because it was never that low before, where it had room to go up 50 cents.

22:42And by the way, it was still under what gas prices were when Joe Biden was president in 2022. So it's sad and it's astonishing that the average American person, if they just let the institutional media guide them, they're going to be misguided, sadly. The only thing that's not agree more, go ahead, sir. Well, no, listen, if you want to agree with me, you can say it again. I love that. It's perfect. What did you say? I'm sorry, Peter. What did you say? No, I was going to say, you're absolutely right. And one of the things that to me has been surprising is that whatever Donald Trump does, you know, whatever policies he's implementing, their approval is just going to be about the same as his approval. The approval rate for the war in Iran is the same as Donald Trump's approval rate writ large. The approval rate for the war in the, I shouldn't even say war, the incredible operation to arrest, you know, Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela has the same approval rating in the US as Donald Trump has. Now, if you ask the Venezuelans, that operation is pulling 40 points higher in Venezuela, 73%, 74% of Venezuelans agree

23:49in support and now think the country said in the right direction. And in the US, it's 40 points lower for the folks who are not even impacted by it. Unbelievable. When that's based on the way the whole thing is being played, it's based on night after night after night of the supposedly late night entertainment shows that are not entertaining anymore, who their whole monologue is to attack the president and give out, by the way, incorrect, faulty information, shame on Jimmy Kemmel and the others. But meanwhile, I am worried when the president says if they hit ships in the streets of her moves, the straight of her moves, then there's going to be hellfire like they've never seen before. Well, they've hit a few ships and he's going to find himself in the Obama situation where you draw a red line and then you don't do anything when they cross the red line. He's got to do something now and now he's moved that threat to if they mine the area. But I mean,

24:50they were already hitting ships. And we're already bombing just about everything we can bomb. I mean, we've, you know, launched a tremendous amount of munitions on Iran, you know, their military capability has been severely weakened, which doesn't mean that they don't pose a threat, doesn't mean that they can't send she drones, doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other, you know, things that the Iranians can do to escalate and continue to inflict damage on the US and on our allies. But I guess I'm not super worried about Donald Trump drawn red lines because, you know, while there's plenty of areas where I wish he was more ideologically consistent and or, you know, follow through on things that he said or was more clear, when you're dealing with a negotiation, when you're dealing with a scenario that you have to be able to rapidly adapt to the scenario that you were facing to changes that are occurring on the ground, to other, you know, external factors and variables that are weighing in. It is really helpful to not have to, you know, feel beholden to things that you said before and to be able to discard that when the moment

25:53rises in order to strike the best deal at the best moment, you know, for their national interests. Peter Mayer with us. Not super concerned. Okay, that's good. That makes me feel better. Peter Mayer, former Congressman Army veteran here, do you think that Iran miscalculated, because I mean, there are hundreds of years behind us in many ways, did they miscalculate and did they think by striking there what used to be friendly neighbors, it's going to anger the neighbors and that eventually that anger will be aimed at the United States for quote-unquote causing this in the first place. I think that was certainly their intent and it may have been, you know, this is maybe a slightly generational reference, but a little bit of a Leroy Jenkins strategy, you know, you just become the wild card, you throw everything at the kitchen, you know, they throw the kitchen sink at the problem, you know, hope that if you don't see a way of controlling it, you might as well just make it more chaotic because you benefit from the chaos and maybe something will rebound to your benefit. I do not think that's been the case so far. Yes, there's some frustrations in the Gulf

26:57over, you know, what this is inflicted to the economy of the region, but the Iranians have certainly done no favors to their relations with the Qataris, with the Almani's, with the Azerbaijan, it's just insane their approach. And if anything, it's helping to reorient, solidify opinions in the Middle East and to also validate a lot of the fears and a lot of the threat that the U.S. was alleging Iran posed, they have full clock confirmed that through the recklessness of their actions and attacks on not just uninvolved countries, but also civilian infrastructure throughout the region in a very, just astonishing way. Well, put, Peter, it's one of the reasons we call upon you. You've got strong and I think pretty good opinions on all of these things based on your experience as a former congressman and army veteran and a guy who supported some of the planning of the Iranian response many years ago. Peter Meyer, we thank you for your expertise and for

27:59joining us again. Thank you, sir. Always a pleasure. Thank you both. Our pleasure, indeed. Paul W Smith in focus at WJR at 1243. Well, you know, there's a lot going on in our world in sports, which is a wonderful thing to take our minds off everything else going on in the world. Not that we shouldn't pay attention. We should and we do, but there's nothing wrong with thinking about other things and looking forward to seasons ahead of us in sports. Nick Lundberg, a proud MSU grad is a WJR digital sports reporter. And he's here to fill us in on a few things going on here as the lion's restructured Jared Goff's contract and make a few moves in free agency. And in fact, we'll be hosting a big 10 tournament pre show this coming Friday night at seven before the MSU game. So first of all, nice to always nice to have you here, Nicky,

29:04but also congratulations on hosting that pre game show Friday. And I think you're going to be joined by Mr. Valentine, Justin Valentine from our WJR with department. Yes, we've been having a lot of fun with that. And like kind of like you said earlier, sports is definitely a good way to kind of get your mind off of all the, you know, serious things going on. And that's kind of why I really do this. And I love what I do. So it's always glad. I'm always glad to talk to you, Paul. Well, you do a great job. And you're a recent graduate of MSU and folks that might be watching on Facebook and YouTube pages because of the live video streaming can see he's got his Michigan state Spartan hoodie on because he is such a good Spartan sky. I just want you to know I have a Michigan shirt on under under my sweater out of respect. Winnieman, I don't know if I can see that out of respect for our listeners because they know I went to Michigan, but we are the voice of Michigan state. And we appreciate and love that. We've been the voice of both. So talk to me about

30:07what had to happen here to restructure Jared Goff's contract. So there's a lot of moving pieces with the NFL free agency, especially in Detroit right now. Obviously they've moved on from a number of different players that, you know, we've known to kind of, you know, learn about Alex Anzaloni, David Montgomery, a lot of bait mostly based on their contract situation. And now you get to Jared Goff who's one of the highest paid players on the team. And there's still a lot of pieces that they need to fill. And there's a lot of money that still needs to kind of be, you know, circle back and do other players to make sure that the team is, you know, makes the playoffs next year pretty much. So they basically cleared $32 million for this season in cap space so they can go find more free agents that will fit, you know, their playoff aspirations in the roster. That doesn't, that doesn't mean Jared Goff necessarily lost that amount in pay. No, a lot of it was converted into a signing bonus and it stretched out over, you know, the next couple of years or so. So he will still get his money at some point. It's just the way

31:11it's kind of used so that the team can kind of move, you know, their money that they have for this year and use it in other places and not just with Goff's contract for this specific season. As it said, I guess here in the newspaper with Goff, the Lions converted 40 million of his base salary into a signing bonus as you just explained, Nick, and added an extra void year, whatever that means in 2030. And the restructure lowers Goff's cap hit from 69.6 million to 37.6 million in 2026, but increases his cap hit in future years. It is, it is a bit complicated, isn't it? And, and a lot of this is guaranteed money, which didn't use to exist very much in football, but now it's in every, it seems like it's in every contract. It's a difficult time for those of us on the outside because we liked David Montgomery and, you know, we liked following these people. So fill us in on some of the new signs that have been done,

32:13for example, to replace David. And, and other things that are going on in the league of note, and I'm sure you're, you're very concerned about the chief signing the Super Bowl MVP and former MSU start Kenneth Walker III. That is definitely a great signing for them. And, but for the Lions perspective, you bring in Isaiah Pacheco, who's make, who's going to make a lot less than David Montgomery made last year. And, you know, Montgomery, I feel like is, you know, the better player, but kind of for what the role he had with the team last year, bringing in a cheaper option, who still, you know, did well with the chiefs. Obviously, one, two Super Bowls was a big part of their offense for a while. You know, he can really step in and kind of fill Montgomery shoes very well. And a lot of these moves, like they didn't, they chose not to resign Alex Anzaloni and Amique Robertson. And these guys are fan favorites and, you know, culture locker room guys, another one, Taylor Decker. They decided to release him. But like I said, a lot of this is just about making sure they have enough money to pay the guys that they believe in. And, obviously,

33:14some of these guys are getting older. Last year, obviously, showed that for a lot of those names, I said, they didn't have their best seasons. And like I said, they're getting older. And, for what they wanted, I just don't think, I agree with Brad Holmes on a lot of what he's been doing is that these guys just aren't worth what they're getting paid right now. For what the team, you know, wants to do in the playoffs and how they want to pay their other guys, because you also have guys like Jamira Gibbs and Sam Laporta, who still need to be paid. So there's a lot, there's still a lot of moving pieces. It's early in free agency. But I think even though they've been gone rid of a lot of familiar names that it's for the best and for the better for the team. So do you agree with these, these caps? I mean, do baseball doesn't have a cap does it? I mean, they can pay people as much as they want to pay them. Or am I wrong about that? You're right for right now, but that's the whole argument going into next year is that they're not sure if they want to implement a salary floor or a salary cap because there's the owners and players have been going back and forth. And that we might not even have a season next year, but that's for a different, a different topic. That's the last thing we need to go

34:17through again. We don't need that. But you do wonder because you start to hear about what people are being paid. And I gave the the story of L. K. Lyme turning down in 1970, $100,000 a year, because he said he didn't plague well enough to get that. 1971, they talked him into taking $100,000 a year, the first six figure player for the for the Tigers at least. And then I mentioned that this many years later in our lifetime still, the Tigers just hired a guy who they're going to pay $105,000 a day, 365,000 day 365 days a year for three years. So the world has changed. Yeah, I wonder how I wonder how 400 million would sound to L. K. Lyme right now. Oh, spinning right now. No doubt such a fine gentleman. Indeed. All right, a couple of questions. Don't mean to send give you a curve ball, but you're very good. I've watched you along the way,

35:18Nick Lundberg. You did the great work when you were at Michigan State for their their newspaper and for other newspapers and the radio and all of that. And I'm so proud of you. Couldn't be more proud of you. I've known you for a long time. Thank you. And I'm just wondering. I wrote to somebody the other day. I don't like this Jeremy Fears junior because he seems to be such a dirty player. Now look, there could be a hundred dirty players, but his is so you know for I mean not following it that closely. When he does that little back kick in the groin. I mean, it's it couldn't be any more obvious. So the other guys are being dirty doing it in different ways, but that's what he does. But it it hurts my heart to see a man who I love tremendously. And that would be Tom Izzo. I always have I always will. But it hurts me in my heart to see how Tom seems to have to defend fears. Any thoughts on that? I think that's exactly what he does and bias aside for me personally. I I Tom Izzo has called out Jeremy Fears in the past. There were a couple games,

36:23you know, in January where this was kind of the topic of, you know, conversation. These kind of leg kicks and these these dirty little these dirty plays. And he called that out earlier in the season. And he obviously had that, you know, that scene at Michigan on Sunday. And Tom Izzo kind of, you know, was reluctant to comment on that. And I think that at the end of the day, Fears needs to realize that he needs to cut that stuff out. And there's not to say that, you know, other players on, you know, for other big 10 teams commit, you know, like you said, dirty plays, but that they do it more in the basketball way, rather than fears was kind of just obvious way. Yeah, exactly. So I think that at the end of the day, Fears really needs to cut that out. But Tom Izzo has called him out this past year in the past couple months. And I think it's still defending his players. Important because Fears is obviously a huge part of the team. And he's still I've talked to Fears before. He's he seems like a good person. And you know, it doesn't seem like there's anything

37:23malicious about him. But it just it really doesn't look good, you know, when you see these clips of him throwing his leg out. And it's something that really really needs to be addressed. We you have a clock in front of you. So you can see our out is a 5750. But can you tell me what we can look forward to with your big 10 tournament pre show coming up this Friday night at seven before the MSU game. We will have Lansing State Journal reporter Graham couch to preview the Michigan State game at 9 p.m. And me and Justin Valentine will bring other sports as well. But we will also recap the first Michigan game that which will be played. I believe at 11 in the morning. So a lot of good content coming this Friday night. How do you think all this is going to shake out? We're going to see Michigan and Michigan State doing well from what I can see. I hope they both make a run. And I really think both of them are have are capable of making it to the final four. Are you enjoying your your duties here at WJR Nick? I couldn't be more happier Paul. Well, I'm going to tell you I can't speak on behalf of management. But I can tell you we couldn't be more happier with you.

38:24And I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what Ann Thomas would say to keep up the good work, Nikki. Thank you. Nick Lundberg WJR digital sports reporter MSU proud MSU grad. We're happy to have him on the team now officially. His first I don't say real job, but his first real job out of college. And he's doing a great job. I hope you appreciate that too. And Nick will be hosting the big 10 tournament pre show with Justin Valentine from our WJR web department coming up this Friday night. It's seven right here on WJR. Well, I don't know what it's doing in your neck of the woods, but it's raining like crazy here. And we used to say it was raining like cats and dogs. And I don't even remember why we used to say that, Mike Persons. Do you remember why we used to say it's raining cats and dogs? If I remember in one of those fun fact emails that I don't know back in the day, there's

39:25be like people's roofs would cave in when they were made a straw and cats and dogs would fall in. But I don't know what the cats and dogs were doing on the roof in the first place where the cats and dogs doing on the roof. I don't know. I don't know about that. It sounds dangerous. It does. I gave an explanation once, but I certainly can't remember. I know and I can't remember the explanation either. Mike Parsons are executive producer Danielle Mason running all the controls. And in this case, teaching Abby Pelkey, recent University of Michigan grad, how to run all the controls and Rich Luzinski with our WJR traffic and weather first doing a nice job. We're all in this together. Relentless positive radio for you while you're on your way to making each and every day count because you know, each day is a gift. What we don't know is how much QTR we have quality time remaining. So make the most of each day just changing it from I have to do this or I have to do that to I get to do this or I get to do that has made a difference. And being grateful adding gratefulness to your

40:28life and understanding how many things we all have to be grateful for rather than focusing on the negatives. It changes our lives in a very big way to focus to accentuate the positive. We heard that somewhere before, didn't we? We've got great thanks for you choosing to be a part of the best and brightest audience in all of radio, which happens when you listen to WJR, whether you're getting your daily dose of Deets all talk with Kevin Deets before us or right after us, JR afternoon with Ryan Armani into Mitch Album and Sports Wrap and all the other great programming 24 hours a day starting your morning off with JR mornings. That's for sure. That's a great way to get to going. Meanwhile, we've got a lot going on. We've got some nice guests coming up. We are streaming live Facebook, YouTube pages live video streaming. I do hope that you'll get the free WJR app and you can follow us along. You can stream us. You can also do the podcast if you can't be here noon to

41:33two like we are Monday through Friday. All right, let me look at some of the ideas that Mike has passed along. Well, we know at least three ships have come under attack. It's probably more than that now. Very nerve wracking to think we're going to escort the ships through the straight-of-hormouse because they're sitting ducks there rather literally. What happened with the consumer price index? Did they come out with anything that I know they were about two or supposed to? It's a good question. I thought that would have been bigger news. It must have been good news if the news media is not covering it. We'll see. You know, there was a story here that indicated to me. Well, I can't find it. February inflation was unchanged. So it sounds like it was just no good news, no great news, just news and no bad news. Germany, Japan to unblock oil reserves as G7 stands ready to act. We're like 23 or 32 countries who are throwing in basically to support President Trump and his

42:37efforts. Everybody knows that Iran has got to be decimated and destroyed. Think how much how much better the world would be if we didn't have Iran and all of their sponsored terrorism. Anyway, 400 million barrels a day. The IEAA is releasing. All right. And the prices of oil went down. It plunged by the most it has in four years, but that's not a front page story. It's only front page when it goes up. Never when it goes down for President Trump and when it went up, it was still just hovering in the area of when Joe Biden was president. I'm just pointed out, you know, let's see what else. We know that our governor has been working out with our president. I don't mean they've been going to the gym. They've spot each other on the bench press. It's not exactly what I meant when I said working out. But you know, he's doing what FEMA said they wouldn't do giving us help for the ice storm.

43:39He's taking a crack at the the Asian carp. That should give him plenty to talk about. Yeah. Well, China. These carp from China. Well, you know, no, no one was right when he says that, you know, governor Whitmer knows how to work with President Trump. It's not the first time they've collaborated. Of course, they got the funding for Selfridge. And hopefully it's a model for other bipartisan working agreements. Yeah. And when you remember when she got the Selfridge thing and she went over and she shook his hand, she might have even hugged him. I don't know. I'm a hugger. So I always think people are hugging her should. She got crap from from Democrats. And I say that anyone who gave her grief for getting along with the president and getting a Selfridge, they should be out. We should print their name and make sure nobody votes for them because they clearly care more about the power of their party than the good things for the great to state of Michigan. I mean, give me a break. Yeah. And the thing is, it's not like governor Whitmer

44:45has never been critical of President Trump, but she knows how to go about it. She, she criticizes the action. She doesn't criticize the people. So she's able to speak her mind while still being in the president's good graces and and and get things done together. There's one thing that I suspect she I suspect she regrets. And that is when she, you know, yeah, thing over her face when they were right when they were taking photographs. If she thought she was hiding, it didn't work. She was close as clear. We'll never suspect the thing. She, she, okay, she got more attention for putting that folder in front of her face. Then if she would have just, it's like that couple, you know, the couple that was fooling around and shouldn't have been all at the cold play concert. Yeah, the cold thing. When the camera came on them, if they would have just stood there and acted normal, it wouldn't have been a story. The value of playing it cool. Yeah, just, okay, just a cool, don't react smile wave. It would have been nothing. Right. And as it turns out,

45:51at least two jobs were lost if not more. And I suspect some of them, somebody would argue, their lives were ruined, which they should not have been. It's unfortunate if they were doing things they weren't supposed to do. You know, I used to say that when I would do something, I had a daily television show, both in Toledo and in New York. I don't know if New York was not daily. I think it was once a week. But whatever it was, I used to say before we went on the air, if you're here with somebody you shouldn't be, you're in trouble because we show the audience. The other thing I used to, how many people would get up and leave? No, I don't honestly don't remember anyone ever getting up and leaving. But I always said this line too. You know, you can use the same lines. It's a different audience each time. I used to say, you people ask me how they can look as good as possible when the cameras on them. And I say before the camera start, I say lick your lips. You should always lick your lips. And then I would always go, sir, your own lips. I used the same joke every time. And I got a laugh just like I got from you, Mike.

46:57Yeah, that's good. Well, it's good because you told the audience before the taping, right? So it would be a secret. Yeah. Anyway, I'll never forget when we went up to see Rush Limbaugh at his television show when I was working in Philadelphia. We took a bus to Philadelphia, from Philadelphia to New York for the Rush Limbaugh television show. He was so good to me. He was so nice to me. We knew each other on the phone. But we had never yet, at that point, this is years ago, had never yet met in person. He came out before his show. And he walked out into the middle of the stage and faced the audience and says, where's my friend Paul W? Where's my friend Paul W Smith? He knew what he was doing. And do you know what that did for me with my radio audience in Philadelphia? The term is getting over. He got you over. He got me over. He made me a superstar to my own audience. And I'll never forget that. And was forever thankful we traded cigars the whole deal. And a friendship was born. And I

48:00miss him every day. And I know I'm on it noon and I wouldn't be if he were here. But that's okay. I'd rather he be here. And I also miss Paul Harvey, who it was also a pleasure and a privilege filling in for, well, for both of those guys. Anyway, I'm filling in for me right now. And I'm happy to be here, along with the team, the team, the team, Mike Parsons, Abby Pelke, in four and with Daniel Mason and Rich Luzinski. And we're especially glad you're here too, because we do this relentless positive radio for you. Stay with us. David Sheppardson covers transportation, autos and aviation for Thomas Reuters. He was with our great Detroit news in the past. And we're happy to welcome him back to focus with Paul W. Smith. David, I keep forgetting to ask this. Didn't we just used to refer to Reuters as Reuters? It is still Reuters. Yes. So 20 years ago Reuters got bought by Thompson in Canada. So our

49:04parent comies Thompson, Thompson Reuters, but you just call us Reuters. Either our emails say Thompson Reuters. It's annoying and people don't understand it. Well, it's especially annoying, because I've been calling it Thomas Reuters. So it's never been Thomas Reuters. And I wondered just who the heck is Thomas Reuters. But anyway, so we Thompson Reuters, but I think I'm going to go with you, David. Let's just call it Reuters. That's the iconic name Reuters. Love it. Exactly. All right. Meanwhile, are the TSA lines? I read somewhere they were they were not getting longer or that maybe even getting shorter, but I don't know. What's the very latest? It's a mixed bag, right? So much like the remember back to last fall, we had the 43 day shutdown. We saw air traffic controllers calling out sick like today, TSA officers at different airports, right? So we know over the weekend New Orleans and Houston hobby and terrible lines all the way to the garage. We're talking three, four hours. And we're still seeing some

50:07sporadic places where there are higher absences. The TSA today set about 300 of the 50,000 officers have quit since this shutdown began at this Friday is the first day in this shutdown. They're going to get a zero pay paycheck. So they're going to look at that stuff. And I do have concerns that this weekend, if you've got TSA folks who got to buy childcare, whatever could call it sick over the weekend. Because look, it's it's hard. I mean, these folks are making roughly $20 an hour, $42,000 a year before over time. So they're not getting paid super well. And a lot of them are living paycheck to paycheck. And like many people, it's hard to go without your pay. Of course, it is. None of us would want to do that. Nor would we or should we be expected to do this. And because the primary institutional media are filled with Democrats and backers of what the Democrats are doing, they won't say what it is. This DHS shutdown is because the Democrats

51:08won't open up the money that they should get and that they voted on in a bipartisan way in the past. But they've looked at this as a way to get the president in trouble because they haven't been able to figure it out by coming up with better ideas on their own. So they keep thinking, okay, we're going to cause the TSA to people are leaving. People won't come to work Friday. They get their first no paycheck whatsoever in the lines. And people are going to be mad at the president. So that's what we're doing. But folks, don't be mad at the president. Be mad at the Democrats for not going along with a bipartisan solution. They had agreed to in the past. I'm sorry, you're not hearing that from the lame stream media, but you're not. Meanwhile, since I have you here, can I ask you a question that I just found to be fascinating and you you probably have an answer. And by the way, yep, spring break is coming. And yep, believe me, the DHS officials are

52:08very worried that there could be more TSA employees who are going to leave. They need to they need to pay their bills. Nobody is saying to them, oh, you don't have to make your car payment. Oh, you don't have to make your apartment to rent. Oh, you don't have to pay for your mortgage. Because well, what the heck? The Democrats won't give you your money. We understand. No, these guys have to these men and women have to find other jobs. It's bad enough. They had to have two jobs in the first place. But anyway, I got that off my chest. Here's the question. And I asked my producer about this, Mike Parsons, neither one of his had an answer. I thought it was unusual. When I read and you're going to help me understand this, this being David Shepard's in covering transportation, autos and aviation for Reuters, why would jet blue ask the FAA to shut them down? I don't why couldn't jet blue just say we have a problem. We're going to have to shut down. Do they

53:11avoid some liability or what was the point of them? I thought they asked the FAA to ground them. It did. Yeah, they did. And this has happened. This doesn't happen that often. I'd say about twice a year, United had something happen about six months ago, you know, Southwest. They're all almost always the same thing. Some sort of IT problem. And I don't, you know, and you're right, as far as I know, there's no regulatory requirement. But I do think it's a good backstop to prevent any plane from going out. Now, you're right. I mean, they're the ones that control the planes. They have the dispatchers, the gate agents, the piles. And so on, you would think you could just send an email to everybody saying, hey, no flights. And so, you know, maybe this is just a way of of ensuring that nobody leaves. You know, a lot of times it's about, you know, maybe it could be a waiting balance issue like the pilot, something's wrong with the computer system that we can't,

54:12you have assurance that the plane is good to go. Or, you know, so usually it's some weird technical issue because a lot of times the airlines will choose kind of late at night to do a reboot. So it does happen most times, like the United one happens overnight, where there are not many flights. It doesn't affect too many people. This one with JetBlue, I think happened around midnight, maybe it was about 2 a.m. roughly. So it didn't, it didn't, it didn't affect too much. But you're right, it does freak people out. And again, it speaks to Americans. People are obsessed with aviation, obsessed with what happens on airplanes, right? Things that happen on an airplane would never make news anywhere else. But, you know, people love to fly. They love to read about it when things go wrong. And like my parents and other people, they love to freak out before they go on a plane, right? So I do think a lot of coverage is about people worrying about their flight or or their spring break trip or whatever, which there's a lot of play. I mean, it's difficult for some of us to leave the flying to the pilots. You know, we get out of the plane. We don't turn left

55:15to go into the cockpit. We turn right to go to a seat. And we're completely without any power at all. That's tougher. You know, it's like, I don't even like, although I do let Kim drive more than I've ever let anyone else drive. I really feel I need that control. But be that as it may. So that's a good explanation. And I understand the ground stop was lifted about 40 minutes after it was imposed, a brief system outage that had been resolved. It occurs to me, jet blue. I mean, I've been around a long time. So it seems hard to believe. It seems like jet blue just started. But they're over 25 years old now. And yeah, I might have been in New York. No, it was a little while longer than I was in New York, but they headquartered in New York City. The flagship terminal was at JFK. How are they doing overall? How is jet blue? Is it is it considered a successful airline? Well, no, I mean, they're struggling. They are definitely struggling. You know, there's been a lot of merger talks, right? There was a whole, you know, potential bridge was spirit, right?

56:17And, you know, I think, you know, the problem is the big three keep getting bigger and bigger. Right? You know, American Delta in United. And it's hard. It's hard. You're smaller. We'll get spirits. Spirit was just in bankruptcy again. And jet blue was your race. The only new successful airline last 25 years, but they've still got to figure out they have a new partnership united. Right? You can earn miles on both, but it's still unclear. Could they merge with somebody? You know, what's in their future? But they're definitely having some financial issues for sure. They unlike the other airlines, they have not been making profits, you know, for quite a number of quarters. I mean, eight or nine quarters of this coin. So it, but it, it seemingly, I mean, I don't know, but it doesn't seem like it would be who've one of those big three to buy them. They would, they wouldn't need to really, I guess. Well, you got gates. There's very strong in South Florida. They're very strong in New York and Boston. Like, so they have some attractive assets. So, you know, you could see a united potential interest in buying them, you know, economies of scale. What have you? Hmm, interesting. Well, I got to tell you,

57:21um, we deal with the folks from Delta a lot. In fact, we refer to them as the official airline of the Paul W. Smith show and family. I even told the secretary of transportation, Sean Deffy, that when he was on that too long ago, I really, I think that at Bastion's doing a great job at the top, a great job. And then we work with Nick Demarco and Hussein and all these people that we work with are all good people. Um, so we hope and we are happy to see that you refer to them as one of the top three. And I'd have to agree with you. They seem to do a great job and certainly a great to airline for the trade. You know, they're adding flights, expanding, they're right now. Those are the two guys really on top American. Very large, but it's having a share of struggles as well. So you broke off a little bit. You're saying united in Delta? Are you both very profitable adding flights? American is having some struggles. They're,

58:22they're also large, but definitely Delta and United are right now sort of leading the industry in terms of profitability expansion. Nice to have a guy back who used to be with us if they do trade news. Now with the famous iconic Reuters, David Shepardson, who covers transportation, autos and aviation for Reuters. Thanks for being with us, David. We'll talk again and look forward to it. Thanks for the video. We continue in focus as we approach 130. Glad you're with us. Monday, if you're Friday noon to two and if you can't be here, you can always go back and podcast us at wjr.com. Be sure to have the free WJR app. And now too, we have the Facebook and YouTube pages live video streaming. Well, you're on your way to making each and every day count, each day is a gift. And I do thank you for choosing to be an important part of the best and brightest audience in all of radio as we try to deliver to you relentless positive radio. It's

59:25not always easy, but we do our best. One of the guys who helps us do our best is Todd flood. Todd is a managing partner, founder of flood law, PLLC. And host of the award winning behind the bench with Todd flood show on WJR here to fill us in on a story that you might have been following probably more closely than me. Dale Warner, the husband of D Warner found guilty of her murder. Todd, you're here to report on that and anything else that tickles your fancy. Nice to have you here. Thanks for having me, Paul W. I was right here in you. Tell me about this. Yeah, tell me about this to come see farmer. So he strangled and murdered his wife and put his wife in a fertilizer tank. And the body, no one could find a body. We were hired. flood law was hired to do what is called the declaration of death case. And you know, basically to show that she was not just missing,

1:00:30not on some, you know, island having cocktails, she was actually dead. We won. Subsequent to that, the prosecutor filed murder charges against Dale Warner within prison for the last three years. And during that time he was in prison, I will say my hats off to law enforcement, the prosecutors they found the body. They found the body in the barn in this fertilizer tank. And ultimately, I mean, that was just hard, you know, going through search warrants and search warrants. And, you know, while you're trying to prosecute a no body case, it got a lot better when they actually found the body and she was in her pajamas and duct tape and strangled. It was just a horrific, horrific death. Let me interrupt you because I'll forget to ask the question. Yeah, sure. Um, that's pretty good legal work to find someone guilty of murder when there's

1:01:31no body. Isn't that the point? I mean, isn't that true? It's very difficult when there's no body. Very difficult, very difficult, but they, they ultimately did find the body. But he'd already been spending time in prison for murder. No, no, it wasn't for murder. No, no, he was in jail not being released on bond. While he was waiting trial, he was in jail because there was, he couldn't reach the bond. There was, you know, one of the few cases, you don't get a bond on murder being one of them treason than others, but murder. So he was a waiting trial. During the time he was a waiting trial, while he was sitting in jail, they found the body. Then they go to the jury and it was a, you know, it was an interesting case. Um, but ultimately the treated the right thing, the prosecution. If anyone wants to master class on direct examination, cross examination, and watching a Michigan State Trooper, uh, my hats off the sergeant detective juror from MSP

1:02:35because he was the guy that spent 40 hours a week on this case every week, maybe 60, 70 hours a week on this case for the last three years. He did a really amazing job and my hats off to the law enforcement and to Jackie Weiss and David Crete, they did great. And I, and I will give my hats off to the defense attorney, Mary Shardier. She, you know, did a fine job herself, but ultimately at the end of the day, the jury saw through all of it and convicted Dale and he is going to have probably a minimum sentence of 25 years, probably more than that. His guidelines are, as we calculate him, are about 25 years. And he'll probably come out of prison in a box, realistically, I think he's in his late 50s. When, when they finally, unbelievable work to find D Warner, the way they did, was that enough? Did they get some DNA off of her body to tie in her husband so they know for sure it was Dale Warner who did it? Well, it was on his barn. There were surveillance videos and the jurors

1:03:40that saw the surveillance videos saw him taking the welding equipment from one barn to another to weld the tank shut. And there was a fingerprint on the tank of his. So, and there was, you know, a loader in the case where he moved the tank. So there was a lot of good evidence and that only direct evidence, the circumstantial evidence, to show that he murdered her. It was, I mean, proof beyond a reasonable doubt. I would say it was proof beyond a shadow of a doubt, but at the end of the day, they had to meet the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And it was pretty clear. I mean, it was very convincing. If you listen to the 14, 15 witnesses of how he treated his wife, how he abused his wife, how the, you know, containerist, this is, you know, the motive, even though they don't have the proof motive, the motive was that D was going to divorce him. And on that day, he murdered her and this was all about money, really about money because he was running a business

1:04:41in the farm and, you know, he even though you don't have to prove money or motive, this was realistically the case and how it came to fruition. Yeah, sad, sad case, but law enforcement did their job. It's a hard job. I told all of them, you know, take a much needed vacation. And, you know, I know the family well. And this is therapeutic, cathartic to the extent that they can get some closure, finally, right? They can, they can move to the next chapter of morning and grieving and get some peace for their mom and their sister. And as I read this, what a story regarding D Warner's brother, Greg Hardy, who was immediately suspicious of Dale and led a five-year campaign for his conviction. He's, as he put it, I fought every day for five years. It was very difficult to get validation. It took nearly to the very end. Greg was a champion for his sister. He really

1:05:43was and you know, he was frustrated. He was tired. He, but he fought through everything. I think he went through a lot of a lot of issues trying to get justice for D and posted billboards paid out of his pocket and did a campaign to get this. And you know, when they hired me to get the declaration of death, to declare someone dead that they're not missing, he was an integral part of that piece of the puzzle along with along with his family. Where were the billboards? What did the billboards say? Justice for D. Justice for D Warner. Keep it alive. Right. Right. Doing this thing. Doing this thing. So, you know, my hats off the law enforcement and I pray for the family that they can get some peace. Now, we're going to file the wrongful death lawsuit against Dale to recoup whatever assets there are left to give to the kids. We forget just how complicated these things are because

1:06:46unfortunately, we're mostly exposed to them on television. I guess that's not unfortunate. I wouldn't want anyone to go through this in real life like they just did. But on television, they always get it done in the, from the time the television show begins at that. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Todd flood management partner flood law PLLC, the founder of flood law and host behind the bench with Todd flood right here on WJR. We always appreciate your expertise and your kind help. Todd, thank you. I appreciate you and everything you do Paul W. Thank you. We continue in focus on WJR at 142. Well, it was great catching up with David Shepardson of Reuters and I'm so glad that he mentioned as one of the top airlines. I think it is the top our official sponsor of the Paul W. Smith show and family. We fly Delta whenever we possibly can. And I think Ed Bastion doing a

1:07:51fabulous job at the top. And we locally work with Nick DeMarco and Hussein Berry. And we are fortunate to have Delta here is such a big hub in Detroit. It's just, it's just a great airline. And we're lucky to have it here. And I hope that the Democrats will come to the table and pass the funding of DHS and stop the long lines at TSA and give these hardworking men and women a paycheck, which they will miss in its entirety this Friday, which is just wrong. And it's all for political purposes and theater trying to make you mad at the president. And because the mainstream media isn't going to tell you the truth that this is because the Democrats won't go ahead with a bipartisan plan that was already approved a long time ago that they all went along with. And now they don't because they can't come up with any great ideas on their own. So the best idea is to

1:08:53try to make the president look bad. They don't need to help them do that. He can look bad on his own. But they should tell the truth when there's good news out there like the news that they ignored when oil prices plunged by the most they have in four years. You just know the other day when it went the other way they were all over that front page news. So my job is to merely observe and to point it out. Anything else that we need to talk about before we turn over the reigns as they used to say, though we have no reigns because that would mean we're being led by horses. Anything? Now you took me by surprise. Well, I mean, that's the old expression turning over the reigns of power. Right. But that's the only thing it can mean, right? That's what it means. Yeah, I think it's more metaphorical, but yes. Well, everything is metaphorical. Yes. WJR, the station with horsepower. That's a good one. Yeah. The blowtorch, 760,

1:09:5950,000 watts of power. Yeah. Coming to you from the golden tower of the Fisher building, no matter where we're broadcasting. From and we're broadcasting on the road again tomorrow. Hey, what time is it? Oh, we got a few minutes here. Anything else on your mind? Otherwise, I'm going to go. I mean, Ryan, yeah, what you know, let's get to Ryan because I know he's had a he's had a very eventful morning. Yeah, I've told Ryan Ryan. I've told you time and time again. If you hit mute on your on your barnyard, I mean stream yard. If you hit mute, you won't hear me bouncing back like that. There we are. There he is. Here I am. Well, we aren't getting a bounce back, but be that as it may. If I told you once, I told you a hundred times, don't play with matches in the studio over there at Fox 2 DVD. Would like to. You know, it's interesting because we were doing our show this morning at Fox 2 and the fire alarm went off. Yeah. And we have heard

1:11:04the fire alarm go off before, but within seconds, they shut it off and you get the all clear. You know, it's a false alarm. Well, we were just continuing on with the show. And then all of a sudden, we got the message. We're going to evacuate. South field fire comes. And we were right in the middle of the show. So we felt like that was pretty odd. I think the one thing about it that is and thankfully, everybody was safe. We got the all clear. Everything was fine. But the one thing about that that is unsettling is you never know anymore. No, you just have no idea. So when they said, let's evacuate, we're going to evacuate. You just, you kind of sit there and you say, are we in the middle of something that you really see on the news? Sometimes you just, you have no idea. Sure. Was the unsettling part, but everything was fine within minutes. I think we were off the air for about 20 minutes, which was kind of wild. Well, that was my question.

1:12:08What, what, what, what, what, what, what happened when you guys all walked out of the studio? They immediately cut to live now, which is the Fox version of an all digital newscast. I see. So that is just a switch, a simple switch, where if something, you know, happened or our stream is 24 seven on Fox local. So they just took that live now stream with our old management, not our current management with our old management, long gone. We would have the fire alarm go off and they would say, Oh, don't worry about it. It's okay. Just stay on the air because we knew that they were going to sacrifice us if they had to to just make sure we stay down the air. So we were never certain that there wasn't really a fire, but we never left. Uh, new management would not do that. They're much more humane. And I mean that sincerely, Steve Finitari and all the guys. Anyway, I really need to know, did fire marshal bill show up? Fire marshal bill. I don't know if I

1:13:12know fire marshal bill. Oh, it was a great. Now Mike thought you would know. Yeah, as Jim Kerry in living color. I never, I never watched in living color. Okay. Well, that's your name Ryan. Your assignment tonight is to go find fire marshal bill, the character Jim Kerry play. Now, of course, if if he was there, you wouldn't have recognized him because Jim Kerry's had so much face work done. He doesn't look like himself anymore. Now you're talking to me here as our beautiful engineer Ray Templin is showing me a picture of fire man bill. Fire marshal bill. But Jim Kerry, we saw this a couple of days ago, this speech at one of the award shows. Actually, they, they were unsure if it was actually Jim Kerry or if he had a double because he looked so different. He looks so different. Why would he do that? I don't know. He's got more money than he needs. He

1:14:14already said it is more money than he needs. That doesn't mean he should go spend it on completely changing the way he looks. But you know, people do what they do. I can't figure it out, but nonetheless, Paul, if you've noticed today, I am at home doing the show. And so if something happens here, I'm going to get in on my bike and come down to your neck of the woods and hop on your stream yard. You can come on mine anytime, except I actually do a comics. I pay for myself, by the way, comics, but I am very impressed. You're telling me that Ray Templin actually is at your home running the show. Ray, come on in here and say hello. Come on, Ray. Come on, Ray. Don't be shy. We've got 30 seconds left. Hello. I'm very easy. I don't see him. Oh, there he is. Okay, Ray. All right. All right. Okay. So Ray can come to your house to do the show. Can he come to my house to fix my computer? No. Okay. That's fine. I know where I rank in this whole thing.

1:15:17Stand by for news. And J.R. afternoon with the one and only Ryan or money. This is a rare treat for you. You'll get to see Ryan's house. If you tune in to the Facebook and YouTube pages with the live video streaming, you look very good. You look cleaned up. I'm ready. I'm refreshed. Ready. We're on the road tomorrow. Join us from noon till two regards, Paul W. Smith.