Now, on 105.9 FM and streaming worldwide on the WMAL app, O'Connor & Company. WMAL! 507 on O'Connor & Company. This Thursday morning and a good one to you, the 26th day of February. Thanks for tuning in here to our four-hour extravaganza. And by the way, for those of you who listen here early on, if you ever miss, you know, we tell you all these guests that we have later in the show because they're not hardcore like you. They don't wake up early enough to join us at 5 o'clock. Except Kurt Schlichter, he does. But that's usually because he's about to go to sleep on the West Coast. Anyway, the point is you should subscribe to our podcast. All of our interviews that we have later in the program will be downloaded immediately to your personal device. And it happens usually around 10 or 11 in the morning, so you can catch up on everything you might miss. Do that. Subscribe to our podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Coming up at 7.05, Matt Schlapp, chairman of the CPAC conference. At 7.35, Ron Halbert will join us. He's with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. 8.05 will be KT McFarland. And 8.35, America's Sheriff. That bounces between Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman and Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins. Depending on who's joining us, they're America's Sheriff. This time, it's Mike Chapman of Loudoun County. We can do all of that. later this morning. Right now, it's me and she, Cassie Smedley. Good morning, Cassie. Good morning, Larry. Always good to be with you. Are you still? So Democrats are still recovering from the city. Here's how I know the president's state of the union was effective. First of all, the polls that have been coming out all say that the American people responded very positively to it. In fact, there's a new poll that shows something like over 75 percent of Republicans want the members of Congress to follow the president's leadership. That's a huge, huge data point right now, especially as John Thune is under increasing pressure to invoke the what they call the talking filibuster. You know, used to be that filibusters were filibusters and you had to talk through a filibuster. Now they just sort of phone it in. They do a filibuster by remote. John Thune is under pressure to actually make Democrats actually stand up and do a Mr. Smith goes to Washington moment and read from Green Eggs and if necessary, but go to the lengths of every corner of the planet and go to the mat to make sure that the American people know that they want to keep any sort of provisions from going in to ensure that only citizens are voting in America, right? Make them good on the record, right? So John Thune should be looking at these polls right now as Republicans want him to actually push this. But even more so, I mean, watching the cable news shows last night, they're all still scrambling to recover, Cassie, from that devastating moment where they refuse to stand up. The visual is, you're a comms person. You know how these visuals are used and how they're politically. When he said, stand if you agree that your primary responsibility is the American citizen over an illegal alien. And I don't, I think Fetterman may have stood, but they are still recovering. They're still trying to make excuses for it. It was devastating. An incredibly powerful state of the union that will still have political repercussions, I think, for months and months and months. Oh, I agree. The political ads write themselves. It reminds me of that moment when, was it Savannah Guthrie asked Democrats who were running for president, raise your hand if you're in favor of giving illegals health care. That's right. And it just went everywhere. And I I think it's similar to that moment because it was six years later and we still use that moment. We're still there. Yes. Oh, yeah. As we should, because all those same people are still trying to be president, even though no one wants them. But it was such a good, smart move. It was pretty early on in the speech. And then that they're spinning. They're saying, oh, well, I don't stand just because the president tells me to stand. That's not how this works. You're like, oh, no, you you are bought and paid for by crazies. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it is. I mean, it's so funny because the speech itself, I mean, wow, that that State of the Union speech had an impact. Maybe. No, it was the moments. It was the visuals. It was the it was the that what was communicated to the American people had less to do with the actual words that President Trump was delivering. Although, frankly, I think it was actually a pretty darn good speech. And he was pretty disciplined as well, despite the fact that it went on about 45 minutes longer than it should have. But no, what what made an impact beyond the text of the speech were those moments. And people are still talking about those moments. And again, I think they learned the White House saw the impact. They didn't expect it last year during the joint address when, you know, Democrats hated Trump so much that they couldn't honor a little boy who was dying of cancer. And I think they said, listen, let's double down on this. Let's create moments that should bond all of us together beyond, you know, donkey and elephant, blue and red, you know, your team, my team. Let's create these moments where, objectively speaking, any American can say, yes, that's wonderful, and force the Democrats to choose. Do you want to act like a human being or do you let your hatred of Trump override your humanity? And they chose the latter. every time, by the way, when you think, oh, surely this will be the time and that they know. And for those who say the State of the Union has long past served its purpose, we shouldn't do it anymore. Should God forbid the Democrats take back control of Congress? Will they even invite Trump next year? Maybe they won't because they know that he gets them on these moments because he does use it very smartly. And I do think Donald Trump is uniquely good at States of the Union and his team with the stories they bring in, how they bring him in. I know it was the longest speech in history. It didn't feel that long to me because of how effectively he used the time. And also, usually you have a really good State of the Union night and then something happens the next day that kind of tramples on it. And usually it's, frankly, the president trampling on it himself. And they're not. They are riding this moment very effectively. Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat from Florida, was on CNN last night, and he was responding to that moment where, again, President Trump asked a simple question. Stand with me if you believe that your primary responsibility is American citizens versus illegal aliens. Last night on CNN, here's his response as to why Democrats didn't stand. I stand for Americans over non-citizens, and so do all of my colleagues. But just because it's not the Galactic Senate, just because the emperor says rise doesn't mean I get up. There you go. And, you know, as a professional comms person, kudos to the person in Moskowitz's office who said, hey, you know, make a Star Wars reference. But I don't think that flies. Well, the optics, it's too late, Jared. You're already in the visual where you're sitting there. It's too late. If you're explaining, you're losing. And the fact that that's what he's having to go and talk about the day after the State of the Union. There you go. That's where they wanted to be. Literally 24 hours later on a primetime evening show on CNN. But, yeah, no, you go to your voters and said, wait, why did you stand it up? Because, you know, because he was acting like the galactic emperor in the galactic Senate of Star Wars. Really, dude? Really? That's what your thought process was at that moment? I don't think so. But then also, okay, your follow-up is, okay, so no problem. So you're in favor of ICE. You're in favor of deporting criminal, illegal aliens. So you good on all of that then Right And then hold their feet to the fire and all that By the way one other thing I don know if you noticed Kat Kamek She a very distinctive figure We love her. She's great on the program. She's just that great. You know what? My dad would affectionately call her an awesome broad. That's just it. And I think Kat Kamek would embrace that title, by the way. She's the best. She positioned herself right on the border between Republicans and Democrats in the front row. she was wearing red and every time she stood up everyone around her was still sitting down because she was right there in the territory and she explained yesterday on newsmax that that was a very strategic move so we actually have a little something tonight for our friends on the left and you'll have to tune in i think that that's really what people saw last night was that clear divide of people who are willing to stand up for america and those that are going to sit on their hands. And so you saw that clear divide in the room. I was the only Republican sitting on the Democrat side because I believe you need to lead by example. We're willing to stand for America and they just want to sit it out. That is what America needs to think about when they go to vote in these November midterms. America is back, baby. We are so excited. I might go run through the Capitol playing Freebird. And yes, she added on that video montage, the Freebird, She did it on purpose because she wanted all of the cameras to see the stark distinction. And she stands out. Here's this pretty blonde woman from Florida just right there in the center front row as everyone else was sitting down. Free bird indeed. All right. State of the Union, the visuals continue to dominate the conversation. Coming up in a moment, though, an absolutely lunatic story involving the founder of the very popular here in the Beltway, SCOTUS blog. the website that follows the Supreme Court in an oh-so-intellectual and smart legal way. The founder of that blog in deep, deep federal criminal trouble. We'll give it to you in just 60 seconds. But first, 516. This isn't your average podcast. Do you like parties? I do like a huge chug of tequila. A hollerhead whiskey bottle chug. In front of Dana White. That was the first time we ever went to L.A. We somehow got into a bitty party. What's an Elon Musk house party look like? My parties generally have a very high production value. This is Full Send. I do want to do a lot more pranks. A bunch of different pranks. Join the party. Jack Doherty in the house. Feeling good, man. What are we going to talk about with Will Smith? I don't know what you're going to say. Shout out to Theo Vaughn. It's been entertaining, dude. The Full Send Podcast. Grab the boys, grab the peers. Let's do it. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. SCOTUSblog is a website that got a lot of attention probably about 15, 20 years ago and has continued to be very popular. It watches all the Supreme Court decisions. It's got some inside sources. although they never got to the bottom of who leaked the decision overturning Roe v. Wade. That's shocking that SCOTUSblog never got to the bottom of that. I wonder why. Interesting. Anywho, all the smart people respect SCOTUSblog, love SCOTUSblog. In fact, it's recently been acquired by the Dispatch, which, again, speaking of all the smart people, you know, Steve Hayes, Jonah Goldberg, David French over at the Dispatch, people who have never been wrong about politics ever. Anyway, the founder of SCOTUSblog is an appellate lawyer named Tom Goldstein, and he's liberal. In fact, he quit his practice back in 2023, and thank you to Ajit Pai, former FCC chair, for pointing this out. He quit his practice, and he said that the current conservative Supreme Court, quoting him now, Now, in the important civil rights and social cases, this court's conservative supermajority makes it difficult for the little guy to win. So, you know, standing on his principles, hating on the Supreme Court. And, of course, he always represented the little guy. Sure. Tom Goldstein. Also, not at all related to that. Yesterday, a federal jury found him guilty of tax evasion over tens of millions of dollars in poker winnings that he acquired over the years as a high-stakes poker player. It's his side career, his side gig, his hustle. I guess in this case it's true. So he's now going to jail or will have some sort of major fine and suspended sentence, of course, because no one goes to jail. While at the same time he's grandstanding about how he stands up for the little guy, he's playing high stakes million dollars of pot poker on the side. That seems kind of hypocritical, doesn't it? On the side, evading his taxes. And evading his taxes. I have a feeling that his reasons for quitting his law practice may be different than advertised. Maybe his legal buddies were like, this is catching up with you. And I have to say, this sounds so nerdy, but I'm really sad about this, Larry, because SCOTUS blog was a great source. It was you knew if decisions were about to come because SCOTUS blog started typing. It was almost, you know, and it was a simpler time. It was right. Everybody was refreshing SCOTUS blog, waiting for the decision to come down. Right. And keep hitting refresh, keep hitting refresh. I know. And like so many news sources or media entities that are created in Washington, D.C., they have this veneer of, you know, above it all, you know, don't get my hands dirty with that partisanship. But from my eye, because I am a partisan from conservative media perspective, and because I sort of come from the Breitbart world, I can see the way they inject their politics in between the lines in very subtle and sometimes not too subtle ways. And so color me, you know, absolutely shocked that the guy who represented Al Gore in the Bush v. Gore 2000 election decision, who then started this SCOTUS blog just for information and facts, ends up being a radical partisan Democrat who is a total hypocrite and evaded his taxes. It's just, I don't know, there's some poetic justice to it. You're such a cynic, Larry. No, I totally agree. And it's always, you're right. It always ends up that way. And frankly, he probably thought he was always going to be protected because he'd have his buddies and his cronies. By the way, this trial, this is the stuff of like Amazon Prime special, you know, made for TV movies. Because the trial involved Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire. He was involved in this high stakes. He's been involved in high stakes poker games forever, right? That's sort of like there's a whole circuit of these Hollywood stars, these like older millennial or young Gen X stars that get involved in these high stakes poker games. And what happened was Tobey Maguire hired Goldstein to help him recover his gambling debts from a billionaire. He was suing him. He was like he lost all these money. So he decided that he had been cheated. So he hired Goldstein and he knew Goldstein from sitting at the poker tables with him. And so when he tried to sue this billionaire over his gambling debts, that opened up this whole inquiry into where's all this money coming from and why isn't the IRS getting their cut? And the lawyer himself for Tobey Maguire is Goldstein and he ends up actually getting convicted yesterday. Oh, my gosh. I mean, did he help Tobey Maguire get the money back, though? I don't have the end on that. You know, that's poetic justice. He's also accused of lying to IRS agents, hiding his gambling debts from his own accountants and his employees and his mortgage lenders. He omitted a million gambling debt from mortgage loan applications while looking for a new home in Washington D with his wife in 2021 And his lawyer said he was just thinking about his wife when he left off the gate. He was hiding it from his wife. I was about to say, she didn't know. He was just thinking about not having to deal with that when he got home. Oh, my gosh. You're right. This needs to be put into at least, you know, a miniseries. SCOTUS blog, baby. It's 524. Now on 105.9 FM and streaming worldwide on the WMAL app, O'Connor and Company. It's 536. It's O'Connor and Company, Larry and Cassie Smedley in this morning. Also at 705, Matt Schlapp from CPAC will join us. 735, Ron Halber with the Jewish Community Relations Council. At 805, KT McFarland. And then at 835, Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman. And, Cassie, there's been a lot of discussion about what's going on with the embargoes over in Cuba. For those who don't know, we've basically had a longstanding embargo with Cuba going back, you know, to Castro's revolution. It was lifted for a little bit, but not fully officially under the Obama administration when they were trying to normalize relations there with the Castro administration. When Trump came back in, he locked it back down. Biden kept that because, well, Cuba was, in fact, guilty of a whole lot of human rights violations. And it's an authoritarian government. They haven't had a free election. And so that is maintained. But under Secretary of State, Marco Rubio and President Trump, they sort of amped it up a little bit. And there's a real problem in Cuba. They're not able to get imports in. And we're told by people who are always defending that regime that the people are starving and it's Trump's fault, which I'm confused by. Why are people starving in Cuba? But why isn't it a Marxist utopia? Collectivism should be fine. The warmth of collectivism, right? It's the warm glow of collectivism. Exactly. They have great natural resources in that country. They should be able to be fine, but apparently no. Anyway, then comes this story. And there have been suggestions that after the operation in Venezuela, that there are plans to sort of put more pressure on the Cuban government and hope for that Marxist authoritarian regime to finally topple. And actually, that would be a great thing for the Cuban people. Certainly Cuban Americans here have been hoping for that for decades. Now we've got this story. The Cuban Interior Ministry announced yesterday that a Cuban Coast Guard vessel fired on a U.S.-registered speedboat. And remember, Cuba is just 90 miles off the coast of Miami, And there's a lot of Caribbean boat traffic that happens around that area. And, oh, by the way, there's a lot of smuggling that goes on between Cuba and Florida and other countries in the region. That's just a fact, including human smuggling. According to the Cuban interior, oh, by the way, I didn't finish that sentence. the action by the Cuban Coast Guard firing on that vessel killed four men aboard and wounded another six other passengers. So it's a big boat, first of all. Sure. This is wild. It is. According to the Cuban Interior Ministry statement, the speedboat passengers, I'm reading from Breitbart News, the speedboat passengers began shooting at the Cuban Coast Guard vessel when it approached them, wounding its commander. That's what the Cubans say. The fatalities occurred when the Cuban ship then returned fire. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about this yesterday. And, of course, Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, refugees, is sort of plugged in on what's going on over there in his ancestral home. This is all he said. I have every reason to want our own information. We don't generally make decisions in the United States on the basis of what the Cuban authorities are saying. There you go. So that's basically, I don't believe them. And also, now there's more to this story, though, that is interesting. There are some reports that suggest that the people who were on board that vessel, this American Register vessel, many of them were either current Cuban nationals or former Cuban nationals, which suggests that there may have been some sort of operation. This isn't a Bay of Pigs thing, but it's curious, isn't it? it doesn't seem like guys just out for a joy ride on a random Wednesday afternoon when you read about it speaking of things it seems like an old Miami Vice episode actually yeah but there's more to come here as you say I thought Secretary Rubio's comments were um thought thought well thought out he wasn't being flippant at all yeah we're just we're not we're not gonna I'm not gonna say anything based on information given to us by the cuban ministry of information um they also the way they claim it they say they thwarted gunmen trying to infiltrate cuba from the united states like we were sending a a speed boat full of 10 people to come and overthrow the the nation i mean that looks exactly how we did it in venezuela right oh wait a little bit different So Cuba, you get the speedboat. You get the guys who had a couple beers on board. No, I don't know what's at play here. But I just based on this and based on the there has been some international, you know, I don't want to say pressure. But people are saying, hey, things are there's a problem in Cuba right now. And and of course. There's pressure on the American government to sort of lay off, you know, having, you know, actually enforcing the embargo. We've had an embargo forever. But if there's an embargo there and nobody enforces it, then what's the point of the embargo, right? It's just sort of a token. But Trump and Rubio were like, oh, if we've got an embargo, let's just actually exercise that embargo. And we're going to keep ships from going in and out of the country. And now there's pressure on the American government to lighten up because it's hurting the Cuban people. It's like we're not hurting the Cuban people. It's the Cuban government that's hurting the Cuban people. And I just I feel like this is starting to escalate, especially. Obviously, it is escalating because the Cuban Coast Guard fired on an American vessel. By the way, I haven't seen any condemnation for the military that is guarding the border of this nation, Cuba, for using their, you know, using force to protect their border from outside invaders. You know, I thought that was inhumane. How dare a nation defend their borders like that? I'll be listening for those key Democrats. That's just Ilhan Omar, I'm sure, is writing her statement. AOC writing her statement right now. But that's an interesting point, too. And our beloved Pope, I'm sure, will have something to say about it, too. Cuba used to be a Catholic nation, I'm sure, before the Marxists came in and destroyed everything. I love my Pope, but sometimes he can be a little over the edge on border protection issues. So I'm sure that this is an outrage. We'll keep watching that, but I wanted to give you that update. This happened late yesterday afternoon into the early evening, not getting a whole lot of coverage. But watch that space. Things happening. Oh, we've got more from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. I'm sorry. Let's do this. Cut three here. A little bit more. So this morning, we were made aware by Cuban authorities of an incident off the coast of Cuba. We immediately began to look into it. As it stands now, the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, others are involved. The majority of the information we still possess is what Cuban authorities are providing both the public and the U.S. government. We have our embassy on the ground in Havana working this as we speak, asking for access to the people that were on those vessels, that they were American citizens or permanent residents. According to the Cuban regime, the boat was registered in Florida. We're tracking that down. We will know shortly and we will know quickly many more facts about this incident than we know right now The majority of the facts we will verify that independently As we gather more information then we be prepared to respond accordingly There you go. It's 544. Hi, I'm Joe Salci. I host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast. Every week we talk personal finance trends. I think it's tough finding like a stock certificate from 1987 in Grandpa's drawer. Wait until you need the face ID to unlock Cash App. It's so sad what money does to people. It happens. That's why you don't tell anybody what you got. That guy had the brilliant idea. I don't want my relatives to know how much money I have. So every time I go to Thanksgiving, I ask them if I can borrow more. Stealth wealth. Stacking Benjamins. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Speaking of the Pope, Pope Leo, the American Pope, the Catholic Pope. Is the Pope Catholic? It's an age-old question. And there's a bear. Never mind. Pope Leo is reiterated. He seems to be, you know, every pope has their priorities. And this pope, his priority appears to be because he mentioned this, I think, in his first homily, means to be raised concerns over the insidious nature of artificial intelligence. and they put out another statement. Now, this is for the 60th World Day of Social Communications. Who knew? Who knew indeed? Who knew there was a World Day of Social Communications? A day for everything. He said that technology must serve the human person, not replace it. He talks about the anthropological challenge of technology and we need to instill more responsibility, cooperation, and education in ensuring that we have to use our brains, not artificial intelligence, to actually get tasks done. This has always been the concern, right? How much do you rely on technology to do things? And with artificial intelligence, it's more than just technology. It's literally something that thinks for you, or you could use it to think in your place, and then suddenly your ideas are no longer your ideas. It's this thing's ideas. And that is a concern and a great problem. He also, by the way, said specifically to priests that they are forbidden to use artificial intelligence to write their homilies, their sermons, for service, which obviously well within his rights. He's in charge of the priests. He's sort of the CEO of the priests. I had this vision of priests actually using chat GPT or grok to write their 10-minute homily on today's reading from Revelation. You know, I take his point. I respect the point. I do think if I'm getting up to go to Mass, I want to hear a homily that is divinely inspired and from a priest who's been to seminary and has really thought through this. But, Larry, I've got to tell you, I think some priests could use AI, at least as an editor. Just to tighten it up a bit. Tighten it up a bit. I've long been an advocate for priests employing an editor. I'm happy to volunteer my services. Oh, so just so you know, we're Catholic. And so our priest homilies are relatively, first of all, they're only 10 to 15 minutes, which is nice. See, Protestants don't know that. I go to church with Meredith, who's a Baptist. Buckle up, 45 minutes minimum, 45 minutes minimum. And they're talking about, you know, three lines from 1 Corinthians. It's like, how much more can we say about this? A lot, apparently. No one goes to a Catholic church in anticipation of the fiery and inspirational 10-minute homily. Okay, that's not what it's meant to be. That's not why. We have a different approach to worship than many Protestants do. But you're right. They could use a little assistance now and again, whether it's artificial intelligence or just, yes, maybe someone to just tighten it up a bit. I mean, some priests are gifted. But I have to say, when I worked for Congressman Sean Duffy, another good Catholic, that was always our rule for speaking engagements. Homily length, homily length. And people say, oh, could we talk for 20 minutes? No. No one wants to hear you for 20 minutes. I mean, you could talk for 20 minutes, but it's ill-advised. Yeah. Sure. I need that advice sometimes, too. So it does. I mean, and listen, we joke about the pope, but I also take what he says to heart, like any pope. And this did make me reflect. I do use so artificial intelligence is hard to avoid now when you're doing your tasks. You don't even have to go proactively to Grok or ChatGPT or whatever you're using because most search engines now have some kind of AI built into it. Most phones are utilizing AI, right? Whether it's Gemini or whether it's, you know, I forget what. Oh, a copilot or whatever. So here's my question for you. Do you use AI and to what extent do you use AI for your daily work? Yes. Maybe not. So I use it as an editor. I put in my first draft of things. I say, is this concise? Can you help me find another source on this? Yeah. And I will say it was interesting. Did you happen to see, you know, Melania Trump had as one of her guests a little girl who is a part of this program that's using AI for good and how to use it as a tool? And she did an interview yesterday. This girl's brilliant. She's like a national history bee champion or something. And she talked about how we have to or can embrace it for good to help. It said, oh, it helps me establish a curriculum as I'm studying for the history bee. And so I do think there is something about, as you say, you cannot avoid it. So how do you use it responsibly so that we don't just yield our minds to it? I think there's something of emphasizing it from that way. But I appreciate that the Pope is not putting his head in the sand on technology. Yeah, I agree. He has drone concepts over the Vatican. It is something that should be addressed. And so I use it for research. I use AI for editing, like you have said. Like if I write a draft of a column, I put it into chat GPT and say, first, copy edit this because I am terrible with grammar and things like that. But also I ask, you know, are there redundancies? Are there repetition? And then finally, I use it for formatting things. If I create a whole list or I do a daily newsletter on my sub stack, Larry VIP, where I share all the show prep and all the stories that I'm looking at. And I ask ChatGPT to format it so it's readable and puts it in a nice format. That's how I use it, but not actually to, you know, there are people, you could say, write me a 700 word column in the voice of Kurt Schlichter. And it will write a 700 word column about a topic. And it sounds like Kurt Schlichter wrote it. And it freaks me out. So the rule that I always use when I use ChatGPT is when I'm about to say do this thing for me, is it a task that I would have normally hired someone to do, a human being to do? You know? And as soon as you're using it to replace a human being and a human being's creativity and talent, that's when you really need to pause for a second and say, okay, what are we doing here? What are we doing here? And in some cases, it still works. It's going to make sense for certain industries. But for others, it doesn't. And this is a moral question that we all have to sort of focus on. It's 554. Hi, I'm Joe Salci. I host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast. Every week we talk personal finance trends. I think it's tough finding like a stock certificate from 1987 in grandpa's drawer. Wait until you need the face ID to unlock cash app. It's so sad what money does to people. It happens. That's why you don't tell anybody what you got. That guy had the brilliant idea. I don't want my relatives to know how much money I have. So every time I go to Thanksgiving, I ask them if I can borrow more. Stealth wealth. Stacking Benjamins. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.
