Welcome on in to Wednesday, April 1st, right? There will be no April Fool's jokes. Joan, as you may or may not know, Sam, you probably don't know, but many radio careers have been destroyed by very bad attempts at April Fool's jokes on the radio. I don't do that because frankly- You see that as a threat. So you're saying that I should not pull a hoax on you because it could ruin my career. If that's the way that you would interpret that, that's fine. By the way, a little behind the scenes, so this was funny. And then we're gonna get back to business. So knowing Matt Murphy the way that I do, he knows the locker combination to my locker. Well, somebody has to know it besides you because you can't remember it. Well, right, that one day when I forgot it, I gave it to you and I gave it to Chris Hand, two people that I trust. Well, Hand gave it to Murphy. So now Matt is like, I know you're, stop that, Sam. I know that Murphy, he's got a great sense of humor. So I opened my locker and very slowly I opened it. Cause I thought, you know, that I'm gonna have a bunch of little puffy things fall out of my locker or something like that, you know? Some sort of practical joke courtesy of Matt Murphy, nothing. Do you know what I thought he would probably do? Is put a big blow up picture of Brian Nome in my locker, but he didn't even do that, Joan. Wait, do you know his locker combo? I don't think he has a locker. I don't think he has one, so. Hey, consumer confidence. Let's talk about that. Yeah, sure. So this happened yesterday. We just got the latest read on consumer confidence. Lydia, the number please. Stuart, we're coming in at 91.8. The expectation was 88. So this is an upbeat read higher than what we were expected and also higher than last month's read, which was 91.2. It seems that consumers are not as concerned about the economy as maybe what we were expecting, 91.8 more upbeat than the expected 88. So a couple of things. Number one, the market took a pretty good, it didn't take a hit. It went up real quickly for a time. I don't know how the market closed yesterday, but I know like I was looking at the market yesterday. Yeah. And if I remember, the Dow was like over a thousand. Up over a thousand. 1100 points. 1100 points. And so it definitely skyrocketed. And some people are saying it's because of the consumer confidence report. I think other people are saying it's because there is definitely a signal to the end of the war. We talked about that extensively in the first hour of the broadcast. And I think that on the one hand, you see consumer confidence and how well it is doing right now. People have confidence in the president to handle the economy. But then CNN has this big long piece about how they did a poll, of course. And you got people that disapprove of the president's handling of gasoline prices. So you don't, I mean, there's so much contradictory polling that is out there. Here's where I think the American people are at. I think the American people recognize that the economy was looking pretty good. PG for pretty good. When we entered into this war, Joan, you and I talked about that as a matter of fact. And Sam did too, when we went into this war, it's like, why is he gonna mess with this now? I mean, things are going really well from an economic standpoint, but Donald Trump had confidence that he could get this done quickly. We're gonna get in, we're gonna get out. And if my read on this situation is, and we talked about it in the five o'clock hour, but Trump is giving indications that this is gonna be over in a couple of weeks. Marco Rubio is doing the same thing. Well, then the price of gasoline will go back down and inflation will continue to go down as well, if that happens in my opinion. So, but there's just a lot of contradictory polling out there. And it does drive me nuts, but I do have confidence in the economy that it will go down once this thing is over, Joan. Yeah, so there's a bit of a breakout of like, who's saying that they're confident in the economy and who's not. Consumers under 35 and those 55 and over, this is according to US News and World Report, continue to moderate their optimism. Those 55 plus were the most pessimistic. By income, confidence over the past six months continues to dip in six of the eight income groups. Consumers, however, earning at the lower end at 25 to $35,000. And those 125 and over were a little more optimistic between Republicans and Democrats. I mean, you can guess Republicans are the most optimistic, Democrats the least. It goes like that. So there's a little bit of a breakout. So the older and the younger are a little bit less confident. Those in the middle are a little bit more and Republicans more confident than Democrats, of course. So that actually does make a lot of sense. And you always gotta look at inside the numbers and all of that to see if it all makes sense. At the end of the day, I think that it's all gonna come down to how quickly gas prices go back down and if inflation, cost of goods and services will go back down as well and how quickly that happens. Because as we talked about in the five o'clock hour, the price of gas, and you have noticed this, Joan, you know, when there is a kerfuffle in the Middle East, when something happens in the Middle East, gas prices almost immediately go up. It takes a minute for them to go back down. And if that's... happens every month, till all of a sudden you go, man, I don't have any money. The reason is now two people go to a restaurant, the bill is 60 bucks for two. Two guys walk into a restaurant. They start screaming. Isn't that hilarious? $60. Ah! Stacking Benjamin's, following listen on your favorite platform. It's frustrating because don't we have the most oil reserves in the world in this country? Yeah. So why is it that overseas has anything to do with the price of our gasoline? Yeah. I don't know. And I think that, as we talked about earlier, if we wanna sort of extract ourselves, get out of the global market, that is something that we would have to change the dynamic of the entire global oil industry. And we would have to become far more self-reliant. You know, we have enough oil. We can continue to do as much as we can to drill for oil in our country. And could we become fully oil independent in the sense that we simply utilize our own oil and we don't have to worry about what is going on in the Middle East and so forth? Because the price of our gas is tied to the global oil market, whether we like it or not. And so it does come down to things like the Strait of Hormuz. And so that does impact our gas lean prices and the cost of oil here in America and around the world. Now, the president, part of what he is saying is that, you know what, here's what's gonna happen. We're gonna wrap up what we're doing in the Middle East and the nations in Europe, they're gonna have to deal with the Strait of Hormuz. They're gonna have to deal with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz. They use it, they need it, we're out. That's what the president's saying. Now, we also know that the president likes to negotiate out in the open. He likes to play hardball. I would be willing to bet that part of what the president wants is for NATO and for some of these European countries to come to the president and say, President Trump, thank you for defanging and neutering Iran. Now we need your help in trying to deal with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. And I guarantee you, the president would wanna be the hero in that sense. And so there's a lot to talk about with the Strait of Hormuz. We've all been talking about it. What did you say, by the way, Joan, because I missed it real quick. What did you say about the president wanting to get out of NATO? What was that story? He told a reporter from the Daily Telegraph or the UK Telegraph newspaper that he is considering leaving NATO and that it has been revealed to be a paper tiger because not one of the NATO countries is there to defend. Do you know what, he's got a great point. He does. Like he's got, I've got a whole thing on this. So I'll probably save it for the actual segment that I'm gonna do on it. But he's right. I mean, what good are they? And we can argue about Article 5 and how Iran didn't necessarily attack us. We attacked Iran and that's why NATO chose not to get involved and we'll talk about that here in a little bit. But he's right because Iran has been threatening everyone. Iran has been threatening NATO nations. Iran has been going after, of course, all of the Middle Eastern countries as well. And President Trump has effectively been told by NATO that you're on your own. I know, I know. They all signed that order, that letter of intent or whatever it was where they said, yeah, we're ready to go. Whatever you need us, we're ready to go. They did nothing. But they did nothing. You know, yesterday, Pete Hegseth talked about this. They had that press conference yesterday at the Pentagon to update everyone on the war. And somebody asked him about NATO and he had this to say. And as far as NATO is concerned, that's a decision that'll be left to the president. But I'll just say a lot has been laid bare. A lot has been shown to the world about what our allies would be willing to do for the United States of America when we undertake an effort of this scope on behalf of the free world. These are missiles that don't even range the United States of America. They range allies and others. And yet when we ask for additional assistance or simple access-basining overflight, we get questions or roadblocks or hesitations. And the president's pointing out, you don't have much of an alliance if you have countries that are not willing to stand with you when you need them. There you go. There you go. So we'll have to see where this whole thing goes. All while we are about 60% of the total defense spending across NATO. Well, that's exactly right. And let's be honest. Trump has had a being as bonded about NATO for a long time as he should. Would you not want to save about $845 to $980 billion? Well, and if they're not going to be there to support us when ultimately what we were doing in relation to Iran was not only to help us to protect America, to help our ally in Israel, but also to protect all of those European countries. And they want absolutely nothing to do with it. So I get why the president is saying that. Whether or not we would actually do that remains to be seen. We'll have to see how that story develops. We didn't do traffic, did we, Joan? Is there anything going on in the roadways? Yeah. So there's that big problem in Jolton. Now they've opened up the roadway 24 eastbound past Whites Creek Pike exit 35. They've been able to push a crash involving several vehicles off to the left shoulder. The left shoulder is blocked off. Little slow getting around it though. Just be careful as you're headed in that way. All right. Thank you, Joan. As far as the weather, I'm laughing at this text messages that we got. Cloudy, breezy, very warm with the temperature approaching the record high of 86 degrees and possible storms today as well. 2242. You want to hear it? Once again, you fail to amaze me how stupid you are. It doesn't want to participate the United States because of Donald Trump, not America, Donald Trump. He insults them. Talk about NATO. He insults them. He threatens them. I wouldn't want anything to do with that moral either. Wake up. Get outside of your little bubble there, 99.7, your little Republican mag Nazi bubble. I think 2242 has been drinking this morning. Something. Because listen, that was red word for word. And can I just say that when somebody who is so incredibly insulting to yours truly, when they sound that incapacitated or incoherent, it actually makes me feel better. Because that tells me that he's as incoherent as I am this morning. Anyway, 620 on Super Talk 99.7, WTN. And do I want to do this here? Do I have some time? I don't think I have enough time to do this. There is real quickly. So I'm going to go ahead and do it. Have you heard of Leslie Jones? Joan, have you ever heard of Leslie Jones? She is a comedian. A comedian, yeah. No relation. No, no relation at all. So she was on some podcast somewhere. And this is what she said about marriage. I think marriage is legalized slavery. You do. Yes, I do. Say more, because if I'm thinking about slavery and I'm thinking about marriage, there are two different images that kind of land. Absolutely not. I don't think I don't know how you don't. Man, if especially he expecting you to be a tradwife, he's might as well pull out a whip. Wow. Gosh. These people are so weird. In a chain. Pull out a whip and a chain. Listen. Well, so there are young people watching who might be wanting to get married. What would you say to them? Don't. Don't get married. No. So the podcaster is just she has no idea what to do. I mean, she's just like, OK, no challenge or whatever. I think that Leslie Jones sounds like a woman who can't get a date. Would you date her? I mean. She's got a very man-ish demeanor. She doesn't. She's got a very man-ish sounding voice. Her voice is very low. Oh, you ain't heard nothing yet. So this was her a couple of months ago on the Kelly Clarkson show. And again, this is video, Sam. This is her on the Kelly Clarkson show talking about her dating life. I'm sick of me and telling me, oh, wait, you know, you hard caught that. Yes! I am! I am. Can you handle it? Oh, well, what you bring into the table? I am the table. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she's crazy. I don't understand why you wouldn't want a woman like me. I am successful. I am rich. I can fight. And you're crazy. And you're crazy. But here's the thing. And I can go into this a little bit more in detail. But when you think about the differences between slavery and do I even have to do this, Joan? The differences between slavery and marriage. By the way, she's a stand-up comedian. You know where she was born? Memphis, Tennessee. Oh. One of her big claims to fame was that she was one of the characters in the female version of Ghostbusters. But my question would be this. How is her saying that marriage is akin to slavery or legal slavery? How is that not insulting to black people? Yes. Do you know what I mean? If the Democrats, they always go back to slavery. Do they not? Yeah. And there's some people. Systemic racism. Right. So OK. So you are saying now that marriage, especially in the trad wife form, is akin to legalized slavery. Well, then what you're doing is you're sanitizing slavery, just like the people that were called Donald Trump Hitler. You're sanitizing Hitler and the Nazis. It's the same mentality. It is insanity. I mean, slavery. Whips were used. Human beings were kidnapped from their homes. They were held against their will. They were not paid for their work. Marriage. Abuse is illegal. Duh. Being held against your will is illegal. Duh. Physical and mental abuse is illegal. So with these comments and a few other notable appearances that have been reposted, she seems crazy and illogical. Well, it's not just the disrespect to black history in that sense of using the word slavery, but also the fact that the black nuclear family was the bedrock of American society in the early 50s as we got to the civil rights movement. The traditional value set in place by the black nuclear family is what we built upon in the 70s and 80s in this nation to get to where we are today. And you're disrespecting all of that, all who came before you. You were spitting in their face. Well, and nuclear families generally speaking, black, white, red, green, or yellow as well. And I love how she blasts the Tradwife, Joan. Do you know how many women would love to be Tradwives? Oh, yes. Yes, it is. Husband goes to work. Very popular now. Husband goes to work, takes care of the family, mom stays home, and raises the kids. And you know what's so amazing is that the people who are against Tradwives, they're so vitriolic about it. And being a Tradwife is a, I mean, by and large, I mean, it's a choice that women make. And it's a choice that families make. And they sacrifice to have a Tradwife in the home, or Tradhusband, whatever. I mean, husbands stay home too. But I mean, the opportunity to have one parent stay home, that is an opportunity. And it's a sacrifice that people make. So when you attack people who have a Tradparent in the house, and I'm just air quoting that. But when you have a Tradparent in the house, and you're attacking them, well, those are families that have made the sacrifice. So as far as this woman goes, yeah, I really, Leslie Jones, I can't imagine why she can't get a date or be able to get a second date. Probably harder to find somebody louder than her. Yeah. Imagine having a conversation on the couch. It's like, I just lost three zones of hearing in my right ear. Appreciate you being here. So Joan, real quick, I heard your report, and you were talking about how the Rutherford County librarian is now apparently going to be exploring her legal options after she got crap-canned for basically- Insubordination. Insubordination. That's what this was. So I want to kind of get, oh, by the way, in the previous segment, we're talking about Tradwives. A bunch of people actually apparently don't know what Tradwives are. Traditional wives. That's all it is. Well, specific to that term, it was a social media trend started on TikTok, where women who had had careers for the longest were like, oh, my gosh, I get to be a stay-at-home mom with my kids now that I'm married. Yeah. Yeah, it's a whole revelation. Yeah, a traditional wife. So just in case people are asking, what is a Tradwife? All right, now, Rutherford County Library. I don't understand why this is so hard for anybody on the left to understand. The library board told you to do something, and you refused to do it. Therefore, you're fired. It's not that hard. So channel two, I've got this report from channel two, and I'm just going to kind of stop and start this. But when you listen to, and I know that we talked a little bit about this yesterday, Joan, but when you listen to how angry people are in this meeting talking about the future of this librarian, and the thing that I don't understand, and maybe the people up in the rafters who are roundly, soundly booing as they're talking about firing the librarian, they do understand that if they want to pedal trans-porn to their kids, they can do it. Nobody's banning any books. They're just moving these books from the children's section to the adult section. But you know, listen to these people. They're crazy. Chaos and commotion. The decision followed a tense and at times heated meeting with board members openly clashing over policy and how library material should be classified. Why did you go to the side of what we were going to discuss tonight in terms of living with us when that's not your job? Basically what the woman is saying is, who are you to decide what should be sent over to the adult section and not? Because they're trying to say that it's the librarian that should have the say in where these books go. But you know what? If this is the Rutherford Library Board, and they're the ones that are, frankly, listening to the state of Tennessee, because remember, it was the state of Tennessee that told the library boards to take a look at your books and figure out if the books that are in the children's section are appropriate for the children's section. You're there to leave this board, not to tell us. At the center of it all, whether 190 books belonged in the children's section or should be moved to adult shelves, the board recently ruled the books had to be moved, but the library director refused. Supporters of the director argue libraries should protect access and leave decisions to professional staff. And now she is refusing to comply with the board's most recent order because it violates patrons' first amendment rights. She is so dedicated to the Constitution and the freedom to read that she's willing to lose her job over it. See, that's what I don't get. It's like nobody is telling these kids or these parents that they can't read these books. But what they don't want is little kids who are in the kids' section. You go into the kids' section of a library zone, and they've got little dinosaurs on the wall, and they've got, it's a very little kid-like. Little train sets. Little train sets, little blocks, that kind of thing. I mean, these days you have, like, trans reading day in libraries, unfortunately, this kind of BS is happening now, but they don't want these kids to accidentally happen along these books as they're looking through the books. And so I suppose that woman there, when she's talking about violating kids' rights to receive information or the freedom of expression, but you know what, when the Tennessee Secretary of State telling the, because this is what happened, the Tennessee Secretary of State told the library systems across the state to review what was in the children's section. And they found a bunch of pro-trans and sexualized content. And so the Weatherford County Library Board ordered them to move it to the adult section. So the board orders the librarian to simply take the books and put them over into the adult section, and the librarian refused. Okay, then you're gone. That is insubordination, because you're, do you know what, Joan? You and I have both been in positions where the company that we work for tells us to do something and we don't like it. But we do it because we want to keep our jobs, right? So I mean, this is welcome. And we're not talking about the inability to access these books. No, they're in the adult section. You want to walk your kid over to the adult section, you weirdo, go ahead and do it. That's exactly right. Or you can buy them. On Amazon. They're not banned from sale. They're not gone. That's not a book ban. These are out of their minds. And here's the stupid thing, is that you can buy whatever you want on Amazon. And if you want to, knock yourselves out and all these little teenagers that are screaming in the rafters, oh, they're banning books. No, they're not banning books. Get educated on it. Next roll with Vernon Davis, the transformative journeys of athletes, artists, and entrepreneurs. Ladies and gentlemen, lights out, Sean Merriman. I want to be the biggest and the best one I do. And so whatever it takes, I'll get it done. And business and everything else. All I do is know how to fight and earn what I want. My man, Malik asks, what actor, comedian would you want to collaborate with? Me, Jamie Foxley, Kevin Hart in a movie. We said it on Vernon Davis podcast then. So we'll circle back and be like, yep, it's gonna clear. Next roll with Vernon Davis. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Exactly what is happening. Well, and for example, by the way, one of the books that she wouldn't move is called Answers in the Pages by David Levithan. And it's a bold, timely novel about speaking up and coming out as parents lobby to ban a beloved book from the school curriculum by the New York, so like it's a coming out story about it. How is that beloved? Yeah. Do you know what's so funny? I spent a lot of time in the, have I ever told you, Joan and Sam, but when I was a kid, it's almost embarrassing. But when I was a junior and a senior in high school, do you know where I worked? In the library, at the school. So I actually know the Dewey Decimal System, believe it or not, I don't know if they still use it. But you've got these, as Sam says, these beloved books. Who loves these books? And if you love it so much, go buy it. I mean, that is the bottom line. I've got a little bit more on this straight ahead and more on this story out of Rutherford County and the library system there. I'll other say the issue is about what is appropriate for younger readers. The law was made to protect the most vulnerable, which is children, follow the law, protect the children, hold the line. In the end, the board sided with the removal of library director, Luanne James. Though she stood by her words tonight when given a chance to speak. I said by my intuition, I would not change my mind. So that is her saying- What did she say? It was hard to say. Hard to say. She says that I will not change my mind. That's okay. You don't have to change your mind, girlfriend. Yeah. She wants to keep books like Desert Queen, which is a picture book biography, spun in vibrant verse, traces the journey of beloved Rasha Tani, a drag performer who defied tradition and dazzled the world. Oh sure, Rasha Tani. Yeah. So here's a parent who spoke to channel four, who was in favor of this woman. And hold on, here's what she had to say. Oh, why doesn't this work? We need more leaders like Miss James in our community that are willing to stand up and do the right thing. If you're telling me you don't want your kids reading these books, good for you. I support your decision, 100%. Do not give those books to your children. But don't tell me what books my children can or can't read. But then nobody's- Nobody's saying that. Yeah, Joe, nobody is saying that. You're spot on with that sound bite. And again, I don't know why these people are so stupid. If you want to go and you want to do, you want to do. Why is this so obvious to the three of us? I'm a lung kid. I worked in radio for 40 years. I can barely add. But I know that if they want to, if they want to get that book for their kid, they can waltz on over to the adult section or buy it on Amazon. By the way, I'm hearing from some members of the state legislature. And he says, in the law, we made it perfectly clear that each local board makes the decision based off their community standards. This is Rutherford County saying, we don't like these books being exposed to our children. So there you go. Somebody on the super text line 9867 said, if there was a book about traditional wives in the kids section, they'd lose their minds. Oh, can you imagine? Yeah. The trad wife and her kids. I wonder, I would wonder, is the dangerous book for boys, is that still in the kids section? The what? It's a famous book, kind of intertwined with Boy Scout stuff. The dangerous book for boys, it's got all the little tips and tricks to maybe survive in the wilderness, skin and tanner, Abad-hide, that kind of stuff. But it's gonna make references to getting down and physically dirty with something. And the great thing about this book is that it teaches you how to cut your own bow for a bow and arrow from a piece of wood, all that kind of stuff. I would wonder, do they take that out and go, no, little Johnny, we don't want you to read this. We want you to hear about the Desert Queen and the fact that it was really a man wearing makeup and a dress. Mario says, why were, and I was actually thinking about this earlier, Mario, why were adult magazines kept behind the counters in stores because they're not appropriate for children? And that is true. I remember, I think they're still. Aren't those magazines still behind the glass? They're not really as prevalent, but I remember what you, I mean, even when I was a kid, late 90s, early 2000s, those kind of magazines were right there behind the Walgreens counter, and oh, oh, what's that? Oh yeah. Not appropriate for me, that's what it was. No, no, it wasn't. And I don't even know if they still sell those magazines in the stores. I have not been into a liquor store. Well, last time I was in a liquor store, which is where as a kid, I would go into the liquor store because they also had candy bars, and they would have all of those magazines behind the counter, and I knew that those were inappropriate. And I don't know where these magazines are these days if kids are able to get these magazines. What do they even sell those magazines? Do they even do those magazines anymore? I mean, I still think that they- Is Playboy still under, Joan, do they still make Playboy? I don't think so. I don't know, and I don't care. I think it's only online now. Anyway, whatever. I think it's all digital, but jeans. Most magazines couldn't continue because of the cost of making the magazine versus people being online. 86.53, they don't have to sell them anymore. Everybody has the internet now, which is exactly the point regarding the librarian. Yep. You know what I mean? It's not the government's job to provide you sexually explicit material to read for your child. And you know what? If they, I'd say it a 95th time, go to the adult section if that's what you wanna do. Do you know what I think part of this is? I think part of this is that these parents are so lazy that they actually don't wanna go all the way to the adult section to try to find these books. They just want it to be easily findable in the kids section. Well, they don't wanna be caught doing that, right? Well, and they also are pro this trans stuff, all these people on the left. And so part of that is, okay, well, then, they want kids to be exposed to this because they want to expose this material and they want the whole trans community thing to continue to grow. That's why these adults, sick as they are, want to promote this kind of stuff. Anyway, we gotta go. 651, super talk 997, WTN 4430 says they do sell these kinds of explicit materials in grocery stores. Okay, I've never seen them in a grocery store. Have you seen them? I haven't. I don't look for them. No. Yeah, you know, maybe next time I'm in a grocery store. I've asked about where they are multiple times, but no, he never looks for them. It's not for lack of trying. Hey there, I'm Paula Pan.
