! Now on 105.9 FM and streaming worldwide on the WMAL app, O'Connor and company. It is 8 0 7. It's O'Connor and company. This is our fourth hour of our four hour morning extravaganza. If you missed any of it, subscribe to the podcast O'Connor and company on Apple or Spotify or wherever it is you like to get your podcasts coming up in 30 minutes. We've got the one and only Chris Plant. No, excuse me, that's 60 minutes. Chris Plant taking over. Sorry, 30 minutes from now. We'll have a conversation with Chuck Thies about the upcoming Mayors' Race in DC and crime concerns over the summer and curfews and all that jazz. It's Larry O'Connor with Bethany Mandel joining us all morning long. Good morning, Bethany. Time flies when you're having fun, Larry. Amen. It has been fun today and it's going to get even funner. Funner, more fun. Funnest. More fun. Most fun. Tom Sauer, good friend, former Marine infantry, although then he got wise and joined the Naval Academy as a prior, then became a bomb squad officer working with Special Forces, explosive ordnance, all that crazy stuff. Tom, good to talk to you, my friend. Thanks for joining us. Hey, Larry and Bethany. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Listen, a lot to talk to you about. First, I want to dwell on your expertise for a moment, specifically with explosive ordnance disposal. Pretty dangerous job in the Navy, I think, is an understatement. When you look at the Strait of Hormuz, when you look at the challenges there with mining and the various little drone attacks and other nonsense that Iran can throw at these vessels as they're crossing the Strait, is it as impossible as it appears to be to actually open this up and clear it with strict military engagement or is this just something that can be done? It's just we'd prefer not to have to deal with it. I think it's something that can be done. One thing that's really important to point out here, guys, is that not everyone might know this, but as of this morning, not a single mine has been found in the Strait of Hormuz, not one. There have been indications and warnings that there might be maybe a dozen or so, which by the way, I know even though the Strait of Hormuz is a very narrow body of water, that's still a huge water space. So what we did is we got left of splash as to use the parlance and we destroyed all of their mine layers because in order to mine something, even a small body of water like the Strait, you've got to lay down a lot of mines. And so not a single vessel has been struck by a mine and we have been quietly searching and we haven't found one yet. So it seems like in terms of mines that the threat is not nearly as bad or might not even be there, but sometimes also if we're closing a Strait, just the idea, the risk of there being some can slow down or shut down traffic. I'd say that there's actually a larger threat at the moment. Unfortunately, I hate to say it because a lot of my friends are not getting as much work as they would like, but I think there might be more of a threat from drones and missiles, but we're also doing a pretty damn good job of taking care of all of that. It really has more to do with the underwriters who just don't want to assume the risk to ensure a lot of the shipping traffic. That's what it really comes down to, but the thing is, no mines. There have been no mines found as of yet. And just, and again, from your perspective, the mine part is sort of, I'm guessing that's the harder. I mean, none of it's easy, but assuming that there is no direct mine threat in the Straits, that makes it a little easier to focus and coordinate what your defense needs to be. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, that is because the thing is, think of it this way, is one, you have to, in order for mine countermeasures, really mine clearance to really start, first you have to eliminate the mine laying threat, right? It's kind of like you wouldn't want to mop the floor while the toilet is still overflowing. You've got to shut the toilet off. So like that's one major thing to think about, but it's still searching that body of water does take time, and you need to be in a somewhat permissive environment. It's pretty hard to be searching for mines either with mine sweeping ships or with EOD divers or unmanned underwater vehicles while the enemy is still shooting at you. But right now, it seems like it is a semi permissive. We don't know what the environment is like yet, but having those assurances from Iran that they won't be firing upon shipping traffic is very helpful. Now, if that doesn't happen, then we've got to consider, hey, what can we do in terms of a military standpoint, whether that means securing land along the coastline or something along there to actually secure the strait? So I'm seeing reports that there's already been strikes on Karg Island and that the IRGC is saying any red lines crossed by the U.S. will trigger a response that extends beyond the region. What do you read into that? And if you had a magic crystal eight ball, what are you predicting? You know, that's a great question. I suspect that Iran has already used up all their schlitz, so to speak, or nearly all of it. There might be some other regional effects they might try. However, keep in mind that the Israelis have done a pretty good job of defeating any Hezbollah or Hamas capability in the area. You got to keep in mind there have been the Iranians do have a competent cyber warfare capability, so they may attempt something there. But I would say as far as these red lines goes, like they don't really have much very much in terms of conventional capability anymore because we sank their Navy, we destroyed their Air Force. Yes, that the pilots that were shot down on Thursday and Friday, that was from what we call man pad like a man portable air defense, you know, like a service air missile shoulder fired like it's like their version of a stinger. That's what that was. And that's always going to be a threat, but any like robust military capability, they don't really have much of so there might be something sneaky they might try. But I would suggest that I would, you know, submit probably some sort of a cyber attack, perhaps, but I think because they have done those fairly effectively in the past. Yeah, so that might be it. We don't know yet. So with this deadline looming and the president saying that we're now going to go after strategic targets like bridges and power plants and the power grid and that sort of thing. What's what's the Navy involvement here because this very has very much been an Air Force and Navy endeavor to this point, right? Yeah, I think you're on the Navy side of things you're probably be seeing strikes coming from our carrier strike groups in the region. You're probably going to see a lot of that but you are probably mostly I imagine this will mostly be an Air Force effort right because I mean you we already saw how you know B 52s are, you know, are bombing. We're have been conducting bombing runs on Iran unimpeded that kind of says something in terms of any sort of high level air defense that they that we've got air superiority air superiority there now granted yes I know that they might get lucky and at a low level shoot down, you know one of our planes which is a huge risk and also it's worth pointing out that this isn't that this isn't that is an Air Force like keep in mind that in 45 days of desert storm right some of us are old enough to remember desert storm and 4045 days we lost 63 American aircraft to enemy fire 63 that was a lot that planes and helicopters so far to enemy action they've shot down to I think right. Yeah, incredibly. That's remarkable. It really is a lot of folks don't realize that so we're actually doing and also keep in mind Iran has a much more had had past tense a much more robust air defense capability than your aces had in 1991. Tom real fast because I know you've got a lot of friends who are either like you retired military who saw quite a bit of action over the course of the last couple of decades or you still got a lot of friends who are still in. What's the morale like right now with the military this year after this year they did. Overall it's pretty good. I'll be honest. I'm extremely jealous right now. I was kind of wondering, you know, making a phone call somebody you want to take. If somebody wants to, you know, admit a 45 year old former Navy a D guy who's not quite as fast or as strong as he once was 15 years ago. I think Natalie would disagree with that. But I keep hearing this. So Bethany, I don't know if you've got friends who were retired military but I keep here the envy because you guys trained for Iran. I mean, everybody in the military at some point over the last two decades, three decades, you've gone through exercises with Iran in your sights and now it's happening 100%. Yeah, no, this is exactly it. This is what we've all been waiting for. So my brother is still an active duty Navy O.D. officer. You know, Larry, and he is he's currently in the Western Pacific doing my countermeasures issues there. But all eyes are on, you know, on fifth fleet, as we call it, which is the Middle East. And right now there are, you know, there are some plans that like, Hey, look, I don't really want us to have some ground invasion of Iran, but there might be something involving taking some sort of small piece chunk of territory, which is I think is about the stretch for what most American veterans a lot of active duty guys feel comfortable with, not that they couldn't do it, but we just don't have the force posture there. You know, we've got one brigade combat team from the 82nd Airborne in the theater, and we've got two Marine expeditionary units. So we got like, you know, 10,000 troops. That's, you know, that's not something you used to invade Iran. You know, that's not an invasion or occupation force. That's that's not at all missions here and there. Is it is it too much mission? Yeah. Is it to muse now? I thought I thought that they had moved to third. Is there obviously a third the boxers on its way. So they're, they're coming from San Diego. And I think I put a post on X about it saying like, wow, there's about 2,500 Marines who are sweating their butts off on a ship. But you know, on on its way to the Middle East, who would be really pissed off if they don't get to kill somebody this year. If it gets settled before they get there. All right, Tom Sauer. Listen, Tom has just recently moved to the DC area for some career opportunities and look forward to hearing Tom more often on the program. Always good to talk to you, my friend. Thanks. Thank you, brother. Thank you, Bethany. 817. Hey there, I'm Paula Pan. I help people make the smartest money decisions possible. Joe, you know what's been great about being a saver? For money to make. And that money over the past couple of years has made a pretty good yield. Pre pandemic money was making zero. Now it's actually making something, but that's starting to go down, down, down. I love how we can play the fact that inflation has been really high as a positive. But if you're a saver, you know what that means? Cha-ching. So over lining, Joe. So over lining. Offer to anything. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Bill Mollusion of Fox News is reporting that the new secretary of state, excuse me, new secretary of Homeland Security, Mark Wayne Mullen, is very frustrated with the sanctuary city policies. He was interviewed by Brett Baer yesterday. Excuse me. So Bill Mollusion is reporting what happened on Brett Baer's show. So we could just attribute it directly to Brett Baer. What do you think, Bethany? Should we give it to Brett? That's it. All right. Brett Baer interviewed Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen yesterday. They specifically talked about the sanctuary policies that are making things less safe for Americans and making it that much harder for ICE and Border Patrol and other immigration officials to be able to handle the influx of illegal immigrant criminals that came in during the Biden administration and get them deported. And he has a, well, an interesting idea about how to deal with those cities that refuse to participate and cooperate. Here's cut 20. I believe sanctuary cities is not lawful. I don't think they're able to do that. And so we're going to take a hard look at this. This one area we may take a hard look at is some of these cities have international airports. If they're sanctuary cities, should they really be processing customs into their city? I mean, seriously, if they're a sanctuary city and they're receiving international flights and we're asking them to partner with us at the airport, but once they walk out of the airport, they're not going to enforce immigration policy. Maybe we need to have a really hard look at that because we need to focus on cities that want to work with us. So you're saying that big cities that are sanctuary cities that have a big airport, they might lose their customs? Well, I'm saying we're going to have to start prioritizing things at some point right now. Remember, the Democrats are wanting to defund Custom and Border Patrol. Well, who processes those individuals and they walk off the plane? So I'm going to have to be forced to make hard decisions. Who's willing to work with us and partner with us? Once again, I'm not going outside the policies that Congress passed for me and we're not trying to push those. But we're saying you've got to partner with them. I'm finding it difficult to disagree with that logic, Bethany Mandel. Where am I, Miss and I? If local politicians refuse to cooperate with basic immigration and Border Patrol and customs laws and even refuse to allow for the federal law enforcement agencies to operate and cooperate with their law enforcement, why should they continue to get the benefit of the Border Patrol and customs officers at the airports to facilitate more people coming into the country? Mess around and find out, I think, is what that policy is called. MAMO. MAMO. MAMO. MAMO. MAMO. MAMO. With the radio audience, yeah. But yes, I don't want to get dinged by the FCC, but this is a consequence of their decisions and their actions and they should face their voters with them. They've wanted to have their cake and eat it too for a long time. They've wanted to showboat and be anti-Trump and all of those things. Okay, so if you don't want federal law enforcement doing their jobs, then they'll leave and wish you the best of luck. I mean, honestly, it's like they think they're at a Chinese restaurant and they can pick a little from column A and a little from column B to build their special combo platter. They get to pick and choose when ICE and CBP can operate and where they're allowed to operate. So, oh yeah, you're doing a great job in the airports. Make sure you screen everybody there. But if you try to do your job on our streets or if you want us to cooperate with you in the jailhouse when we're handing over a criminal that has a detainer, you can go and pound sand. That's not how the real world works. And it seems to me that the federal government needs to start, I don't know, playing hardball with these local jurisdictions. I mean, that seems to be the sort of operating theory behind everything. Yesterday we heard Marco Rubio say this about NATO. And if European countries don't want to let us use their bases, well then why are we members of NATO? What are we doing here? They're facing the consequences of their decisions and this is for many of them the first time they have to do so. And this is what cooperation between the states and the federal government is supposed to look like, by the way. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. But I think that the Trump administration does need to start using leverage. And by the way, I say that frankly I don't wish this to happen because this will directly affect every airport in our area. Maybe not Reagan Airport because I think that still falls under federal jurisdiction. But this is going to affect ULIS and it will certainly affect BWI because they are smack dab in the middle of two states that adopt these policies. So perhaps it will do some work in convincing these blue staters that this is not the leadership that is good for us. Agreed. 823. 8.9 FM and streaming worldwide on the WMAL app. O'Connor and company. The WMAL. President Trump has woken up this morning with a new truth social post. A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don't want that to happen but it probably will. However, now that we have complete and total regime change where different smarter and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen. Who knows? We'll find out tonight one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the world. 47 years of extortion, corruption and death will finally end. God bless the great people of Iran. I don't know what to make of any of that other than it's a great promo for a primetime special this evening. It's Larry O'Connor with Bethany Mandel. It's great to be a Michigan Wolverine, Bethany. Have you heard that? I'm really happy for you. This is retribution for me telling Hugh Hewitt that I gray rocked you this morning at 5 AM. Correct, because Hugh Hewitt is an Ohio State alum and an Ohio State fan and they lost in the first round in Michigan won the National Championship because Michigan, well, they're just the best. Joining us right now, he's also the best. Chuck Thies, DC political analyst. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I'm very happy for you. I did it once. How many other times has he done it? It's just this is the time he got caught. It's a big story. No one's covering it. You won't find it in the pages of the Washington Post. You won't find it anywhere, but a real quick clip that Mark Seagraves did on NBC. It's a big story, and I hope, I hope the investigators do not wilt in the face of Mendelssohn. Well, thanks for drawing our attention to it, and we'll cover it some more. That's just arrogance right there. That's the arrogance of incumbency where you think you can get away with anything. Chuck Fees, always good to talk with you. Thanks for joining us. Have a great day. It's 845. Stop asking Taylor Swift soon to be sister-in-law about the wedding. Stop effing asking. Callie Lee Kelsey, the wife of Jason Kelsey on her podcast, has vented a little frustration here because apparently the pending neptials whose time and place have not been announced between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey, have been in the process of getting her to be a guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest guest crisis if she gets pregnant but she needs to get married first and that needs to happen ASAP. It's only been three years. Well actually that's not true the engagement that the courtship was about two and a half years they've only been engaged for about six months. No too long. Let it go. Nope. Do not date anyone longer than a year and do not have an engagement longer than six months to get it done. The point is the marriage not the wedding. That's Bethany's advice. Mine might be a little different especially if you're my daughter. 8.53. Hey there I'm Paula Pan. I help people make the smartest money decisions possible. Joe you know what's been great about being a saver? More money to make. And that money over the past couple of years has made a pretty good yield. Pre-pandemic money was making zero. Now it's actually making something but that's starting to go down down down. I love how we can play the fact that inflation has been really high as a positive but if you're a saver you know what that means? Cha-ching. So over lining Joe. So over lining. Afford anything. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.
