Latest / ToddCast Podcast with Todd Starnes / Tigers Fans Erupt Over Logistics Nightmare

Transcript

Tigers Fans Erupt Over Logistics Nightmare · ToddCast Podcast with Todd Starnes

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: From the principal Toyota studios, it's Morning in Memphis with
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Todd Starnes.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Oh, yes. Well, the good news, ladies and gentlemen, you
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: have a short work week. So, hello. Welcome to Tuesday
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: here on the Mighty 990. I'm Todd Starnes. Broadcasting from
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: the principal J.O. to Memphis studio, it is going to
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: be another hot one. You just heard Laura Huckabee with
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: the forecast. 76 degrees right now. Very tolerable for you
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: folks out doing the morning walk. Maybe you're heading over
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: to your favorite coffee house this morning for coffee. and
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: iced coffee or an iced tea. Take your time. Enjoy today.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Make sure you crank up the AC. And if you're
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: going to be outside, you got to hydrate. You got
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: to do that. 76 degrees right now at Bradcrest Christian
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: School in Eads. We're going to be checking temperatures across
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: the Mid-South. throughout the morning here on the show. Well,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: we have some very special guests coming along as well.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: There is a great opportunity for you to help our
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Memphis First Responders. And George Brown from Kroger is going
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: to be joining us in just a little while to
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: explain what our KWAM audience, and you guys are the
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: most generous audience in all of talk radio here in
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: the Mid-South. George Brown is going to be here to
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: help us understand what we can do. Also, John Covington,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: the vice president of the Memphis Police Association, is going
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: to be here as well. He has a new column
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: out today. in the Daily Memphian and we're going to
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: be talking about that. But the one thing that everybody
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: is talking about is what happened over the weekend at
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: the Memphis Tigers big season. Well, it's a home opener
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: and it was look, it was a great night, but
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: there were a lot of challenges. And thousands of you
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: have weighed in on the KWAM social media pages over
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: what happened with the concessions and the logistics. And we
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: just want to hear from you today. What was your
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: experience like attending the newly renovated Liberty Bowl? We We
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: can't call it anything other than the Liberty Bowl here
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: on KWAM. So what was your experience like, the good,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: the bad, and the ugly? Because, look, we heard a
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: lot of people say that the renovations were spectacular, beyond spectacular,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: that they went beyond the expectations. And then whether or
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: not you could get a pronto pop or not determined
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: whether you actually enjoyed the rest of the evening. Because
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: it was brutally hot and a lot of folks were
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: really frustrated over the lack of the logistics. In some cases,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: there were people who purchased season tickets. They showed up
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and they realized their row no longer existed. And many
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: people wondering, okay, what exactly did they pay for? Now,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: we have no doubt that today there are going to
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: be a lot of calls made to the University of Memphis,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: to ticketing, to the athletic department. Be nice. Be gentle.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: The folks answering the phones are not responsible for whether
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: or not you got a pronto pup or a seat
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: at the Liberty Bowl. So be patient is what I'm
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: trying to say. And that really is the messaging coming
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: from the University of Memphis. And yesterday, Monday, two days
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: after the event, the university did release a statement. And
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: I thought it was a look. I thought it was
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: a pretty darn good statement. They admitted that they completely
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: botched this thing and they're going to figure it out. Look,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: one of the big challenges, I think, is they got
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: rid of all the volunteers that were doing the concessions.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And a lot of that money went to help and
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: went to fund local organizations for kids. And the university
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: decided to go with a professional company. And the professional
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: company just dropped the ball. I mean, there's really no
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: other way to say it. But we want to hear
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: from you this morning. What was your experience like at
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: the game on Saturday? Our telephone number, 901-260-5926. Again, that's 901-260-5926.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: We have the university statement over on kwamradio.com, and I
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: would encourage you to head over to our website. I'm
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: telling you, I have never seen so many people weighing
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: in on a story. It's really quite remarkable. But Ed Scott,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: who is the athletic director, said, look, we're going to
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: get to the bottom of this. We're going to make
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: sure this does not happen again. And again, the Tigers
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: on the road, Boise State this coming weekend. And we
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: will see that gives them about two weeks to get
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: everything else in working order. And look, you know, it's
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: a brand new stadium. What are you going to do?
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: But a lot of this stuff could have been easily preventable.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: The parking situation, the long lines getting into Boise. The stadium.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: And look, that's a good problem to have. I mean,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: you would rather have people waiting in long lines than
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: the way it's been in the past where folks just
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: walk up and you've got a nearly empty stadium there.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Nobody wants to see that. But anyway, Scott said, I
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: want to read this to you. He said, we heard
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: your concerns about parking, stadium entry, concession lines, and other
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: aspects of the game day experience. And we take that
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: feedback seriously. He said that, and he used the word
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: they fell short. And look, that's a fair assessment here.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: He says, we recognize that our first home game fell
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: short of that standard in several important areas. We heard
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: your concerns about parking, stadium entry, concession lines, and other
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: aspects of the game day experience, and we take that
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: feedback seriously. Now, for whatever it's worth, As soon as,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: and I monitor a lot of our social media pages,
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: and as soon as I noticed an influx of people,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: we were getting messages from people. And I immediately reached
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: out to the university and said, hey, guys. We're getting
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: these messages. There's something going on. Can we convey something
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: to the public here? Because that's, you know, we want
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: to be good partners. The problem is Memphis Tigers, they
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: don't want to be partners with anybody. And to, as
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: a matter of fact, as of, well, now, we have
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: yet to hear from the university. We have yet to
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: hear any sort of a, and again, we were trying
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: to be somewhat helpful to them by conveying that information
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: to some pretty upset folks. on Saturday afternoon. 901-260-5926 is
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. We want to hear about
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: your experiences. And again, good, bad, or whatever. Well, you
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: can't be indifferent. You've got to have an opinion about things.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: But what a spectacular game. Coach Huff and the team
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: delivering once again. And I'm telling you, that game day experience,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: aside from all the problems, pretty remarkable. I mean, this
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: was beyond something you would see in even the Southeastern Conference.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: So on that aspect, well done, University of Memphis. Well,
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: it was a violent, violent weekend in the Mid-South, and
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: Last night, there was yet another shooting, and there's video.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: And this certainly, it looks like some sort of a
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: gang kind of a thing. But somebody opened fire. Five
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: people opened fire outside of a home inside. This happened
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: in the wee hours of the morning. Inside, two teenage
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: boys sleeping in their bedroom, and both of the boys
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: were shot and as a result of these, I mean,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: it looked like a war zone out there. And there were, gosh,
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: almost seven or eight shootings in the Mid-South over the
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Labor Day holiday. And just a reminder here, ladies and gentlemen,
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: that there are a good many people here in the
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Mid-South who say, we don't need more cops on the streets.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: We just need more community centers and social activities for
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: the children. That's ultimately what we need. So, Just keep
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: that in mind as we go through the morning. Unbelievable.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: By the way, we also have some video on our website,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: on the social media page, kwamradio.com, and you can access
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: all of our socials there. There was so much fighting
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: on Beale Street, and one of them involved a bunch
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: of women, and they were bare-bosomed brawlers. They were fighting.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: These big gals were fighting without any shirts on, There
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: were weaves all over the place. And it looked like,
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: if I had to describe it all, it sort of
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: looked like the wild, wild west. And you know how
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: there would be like tumbleweeds, like tumbling down the main street?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: That's what the weaves look like. I've never seen anything
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: like this. You got to go check out the video.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: These women fighting without any shirts on. on Beale Street.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: Here's what gets me. Don't we have a police substation
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: somewhere on Beale Street? Where were the police? What was
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: going on there? All right, so go check it out.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: We've got a lot of the crime news posted over
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: on our website, of course, yesterday afternoon. Broad daylight. You
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: had a shooting right there at the Courthouse Square. We
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: got a note from one of our KWAM listeners who said, oh, look,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: this is the second shooting in the past several days
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: at the Courthouse Square. A park, which, by the way,
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: has basically been turned into a homeless encampment now. But
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: at least one person critically injured in that shooting, and
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: a suspect has been detained. All right, we're going to
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: take a break. When we come back, we're going to
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: get to your calls. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I'm Todd Starnes in the principal Toyota Memphis studio. And
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: it is 79 degrees, 22 minutes past the hour. Hello, everybody.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to The Morning Show. I'm Todd Stearns. Great
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: to have you with us today. By the way, kwamradio.com
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: is our website. That's kwamradio.com. We have all sorts of
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: great news and information for you there. Also, I want
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: to say congratulations to Bartlett. A new place to play
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: golf opened up yesterday. Quail Ridge Golf Course, they have closed, what,
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: two years ago and reopened. The grand reopening happened yesterday.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: And a lot of folks came out. By the way,
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Memphis Tigers coach Penny Hardaway said, Among those that played
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: a round of golf, 18-hole golf course and all sorts
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: of great things, including a new pro shop and a
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: new restaurant there at the Quail Ridge Golf Course. It
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: was originally shut down in 2024 and then purchased by
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: the city. So anyway, you guys get out there and
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: enjoy the brand-new golf course there in Bartlett. 901-260-5926 is
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. I want to play this
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: audio from the head coach over at Southern Miss, Blake Anderson.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: who generated national headlines, went a little viral because he
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: wore a T-shirt during the Eagle Walk, and it said
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: very simply, Christ is King. Take a listen.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: I did. I mean, somebody said something about this morning.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: I've had a bunch of people comment, and I'm pleased
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: that it was noticed. I mean, the whole point of
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: wearing it was for Christ to be glorified and to
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: be noticed. Man, I'm super grateful for for my bosses, uh,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: that allowed me to, you know, to be really just
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: use my platform to share my faith. Not a, not
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: probably an easy decision for an AD and a president. Uh, but, um,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: you know, that's, those are my views. Those are not,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: I'm not, that's just me trying to use my platform.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I'm so thankful and saved by grace and opportunity. I'm
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: in the position I'm in because, um, because of God
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: and just being blessed. So, um, You never know what
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: kind of response you're going to get. It's been 99%
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: positive and a few negative, which is what I expected. But, yeah,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: I wasn't completely aware of just where it would go.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: But in my opinion, if one person makes one person think,
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: then it's worth it.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Well, well done, Coach. And we certainly salute you here
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: at the Mighty 990. And, of course, rave reviews coming
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: in about our head coach, Charles Huff and Coach Huff
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: just doing a remarkable job with the Memphis Tigers. 901-260-5926
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. Daily Memphian promoting something
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: called Black Restaurant Week. It has a new name now.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: It's called Black Dining Week. And one of the people
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: in charge telling the newspaper that he wanted to set
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: up to continue the week-long celebration of black-owned restaurants. He says,
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: I know it's a great thing for the city. It's
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: a great thing for black restaurants, the black restaurant business.
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: It was always a good time for people to come
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: out and taste the wonderful cuisine that that our black
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: restaurants offer to this great city. That's a direct quote,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: by the way. There is no word from the newspaper
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: on whether or not there will be a, I don't know,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: an Asian restaurant week or Hispanic restaurant week or, God forbid,
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: a white restaurant week. I don't know. I'm just old
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: school here, folks. I prefer to judge restaurants by the
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: tastiness of their food and not the color of the
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: people who own the restaurant. That is... That's just me. But,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: you know, it's the 21st century now where race is
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: really about everything, I suppose. Anyway, therefore, go forth and
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: eat accordingly. 901-260-5926, our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. A crazy
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: story that we're going to be following on the national
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: show today. A California judge ruling that teachers were right
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: to punish a seven-year-old girl who wrote the words any
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: life over a Black Lives Matter drawing. Take a listen.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: I knew it was wrong fundamentally. I knew something was wrong,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: like my rights, my daughter's rights were taken away and
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: I just had to reach out and started reaching out
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: and asking people. I didn't know what the name of
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: it was. I didn't even know what compelled speech was
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: until I started talking to attorneys.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: Let's keep that picture up on the screen.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Take a look at it.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: It says Black Lives Matter and Any Life written on
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: the bottom. And then there's some cute little drawings there.
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: I mean, basically, they're equating this with the Klan, it seems. Alexander,
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: this little girl forced to give a public apology and
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: then prevented from drawing. Since when are our schools allowed
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: to force speech upon kids?
• 16:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely not. Every student in this country.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: at a.
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: Public school has a right to free speech. Now, those
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: rights are even stronger when a school tries to compel speech.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: That is, when a school tries to make you say something,
• 16:46
  Speaker 5: as opposed to just telling you that you can't say something.
• 16:49
  Speaker 5: That's exactly what happened here. But it's actually even worse
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: than that, Todd, because not only was she made to
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: apologize for a totally innocuous drawing, one that I don't
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: know how you could look at that and see anything
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: but racial tolerance and respect for other races in that picture.
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: But not only was she made to apologize for that,
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: she's actually been punished on top of it. You know,
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: Chelsea's daughter— and we're not going to say the daughter's name
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: on TV, because Really, the whole problem in this case
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: is that she got so much unwanted attention. We're not
• 17:17
  Speaker 5: going to give her any more. But Chelsea's daughter was
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: forced to apologize, and then after that, she was deprived
• 17:23
  Speaker 5: of her ability to do art. You know, she suffers
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: from severe ADHD. Art is her main outlet. Taking that
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: away is a severe deprivation of something that really has
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: a therapeutic effect.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: Chelsea, I'd like to end these segments with what I
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: think is the most important question beyond the crux of
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: what happened and the crux of the lawsuit.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: How is your daughter doing?
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: Oh, she's doing great. She doesn't know what's going on.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: We don't want to tell her. We just went out
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: and bought her a whole bunch of art supplies, and
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: we set her up, and her art's come along leaps
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: and bounds. So she's doing great. It's more me, I guess,
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: and my husband that are still upset about this and
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: still just don't know what to do about it.
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: That's crazy. Crazy. Oh, by the way, caller number three,
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: you get a free copy of my brand new book,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: The Golden Age, How Trump Saved America, 901-260-5926. We'll be
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: right back. It is 68 degrees here in the Principal
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Toyota Memphis studios. Outside, well, it's a little bit warmer.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, I want to say good
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: morning to all the students at First Assembly Christian School.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: 76 degrees over on Walnut Drive this morning. it is
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: going to be a hot one. Laura Huckabee standing by
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: with your full forecast coming up in just a few moments. Well,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: we told you about an incredible opportunity for you to
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: lend a helping hand to our first responders. This is
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: all in memory of the anniversary, the 25th anniversary of
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: the September 11th terrorist attacks on America. It's called stock
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: the station, and our good friends at Kroger are lending
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: a helping hand. We're going to go right to our
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line and say hello to George Brown,
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: who's going to tell us all about it. George, an
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: honor to have you with us this morning. Hope you're
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: doing well.
• 19:34
  Speaker 6: Good morning, Todd. Thank you so much. Doing very well.
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: Thanks for having us on.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Folks, George is head of communication and public affairs at Kroger.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: And George, I want you to tell our listeners how
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: they can help you guys out coming up on the
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: Stock the Station event.
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: Well, Todd, we are always a supporter of our communities,
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: and we're a big supporter of our first responders. And
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: we were kind of talking. We said, you know, with
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: the anniversary of the 25th terror attack on 9-11 was
• 20:04
  Speaker 6: coming up, And we want to find a way to
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: sort of honor that and also honor our first responders.
• 20:12
  Speaker 6: So today, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Kroger
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: at Poplar and Highland, so that's 3444 Poplar Avenue, you
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: can come by from 3 to 6 and drop off items.
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: We're going to have the fire department there, the sheriff's
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: department there, the police department is going to be there.
• 20:31
  Speaker 6: And we're just asking people to kind of help them
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: a little bit by dropping off items like Hand sanitizer,
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: bottled water, Gatorade, mixed packages of chips, really kind of
• 20:42
  Speaker 6: anything that they could use at a firehouse, a police station,
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: kind of keep them going when they're on the scene
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: of an emergency and that sort of thing. We sort
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: of felt it was a great way to have a
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: positive interaction between first responders and the public.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: And George, somebody might be listening and they're saying, I
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: want to be able to help out. I don't have
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: those items. It's okay. You can just go into Kroger
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: and buy some and then bring them out and donate afterwards.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: Is that the gist of it here?
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: That is the gist of it. I will say we would,
• 21:12
  Speaker 6: of course, love for you to buy those items at Kroger,
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: but If you want to bring those items from another store,
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: that is fine. This is all about coming together as
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: a community to support those first responders. You know, I've
• 21:24
  Speaker 6: been friends with a lot of police officers and folks,
• 21:27
  Speaker 6: especially by my past career, and a lot of times
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: they need a little help. You know, a lot of
• 21:31
  Speaker 6: people don't realize that the firefighters provide their own food
• 21:35
  Speaker 6: at fire stations. So that's kind of where this started
• 21:37
  Speaker 6: coming from. Even things like paper towels, trash bags, mixed nuts,
• 21:43
  Speaker 6: you know, those sort of things would help. But I
• 21:45
  Speaker 6: feel like this is a great opportunity. I love when
• 21:47
  Speaker 6: we do food drives. Typically, the food goes to the
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: food bank. So this one's a little different. But I
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: really encourage people that are listening, especially those with kids, grandkids,
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: to bring them by during that three- to six-time period
• 21:59
  Speaker 6: and let them help pick out the items, let them
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: help give it to the first responders. I really want
• 22:05
  Speaker 6: to create that feeling of connection between our younger folks
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: and the police department, the sheriff's department, the fire department.
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: so that they know that those are folks that they
• 22:13
  Speaker 6: can trust. Those are people that are going to help
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: them in the future. And we've had a lot of division,
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: as you know, recently with a lot of these things.
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: But this is a time to come together and say, hey,
• 22:23
  Speaker 6: thank you for supporting us. We're going to give back
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: to you.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I love this idea. George Brown joining us on
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line today. This is the Memphis
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: First Responder Supply Drive happening today, 3 to 6 o'clock
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: over at the Kroger Center. at Poplar in Highland. And, George,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: you're right. I mean, even, you know, even a lot
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: of young people today don't understand what happened on 9-11
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: and really the ultimate sacrifice that so many first responders
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: made on that day.
• 22:57
  Speaker 6: Oh, 100 percent. You know, as we've gotten closer to
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: the anniversary, you know, you start kind of thinking about
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: it more. I started looking, you know, on X and
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: on different social media channels, watching the video from that day.
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: And just thinking, I mean, I have a friend down
• 23:10
  Speaker 6: who is a retired FDNY fire department employee, excuse me, firefighter.
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: I'm trying to think. And he actually joined the fire
• 23:22
  Speaker 6: department after 9-11 because he was one of those people
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: who was running down the street covered in soot. And
• 23:30
  Speaker 6: he just felt a calling to that. And he spent
• 23:33
  Speaker 6: many years with the fire department and has recently retired
• 23:36
  Speaker 6: and is now a fire inspector. But I just think
• 23:38
  Speaker 6: about the folks that day that rush into things, whether
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: it's something in New York City or something in Memphis.
• 23:44
  Speaker 6: Everyone else is running away. They are running to it.
• 23:47
  Speaker 6: And this is just a way for Kroger to say,
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: you know, we support– We support you. We thank you.
• 23:53
  Speaker 6: We donate. By the way, Kroger donates a lot of
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: items to these people, so it's not like we're just
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: asking other people to do it. But this is a
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: way for the community to feel involved and actually be
• 24:04
  Speaker 6: part of it.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, no, no. Go ahead. Go ahead, George.
• 24:07
  Speaker 6: I'm going to say we're in five other states that
• 24:10
  Speaker 6: I oversee. And in some of those places, what we're
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: doing is instead of doing a drive like this, we're
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: actually having stores bring items to those different places. fire stations,
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: police departments. So it's really a well-rounded, if you will,
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: give back.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: I just think this is a brilliant thing that you
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: guys are doing and so important. And again, folks, this
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: is an opportunity for you today. Pick up your kids
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: from school, head on over to Kroger, get some of
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: these items, and we'll share these again in just a moment.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: And if nothing else, your kids are also going to
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: be able to meet some great first responder heroes as well, George.
• 24:49
  Speaker 6: That is for sure. And again, this McGruff, I believe,
• 24:52
  Speaker 6: is going to be out there. Oh. But again, this
• 24:56
  Speaker 6: is really a way. We did a version of this
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: last year, but this is a way for, again, everyone
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: in the community to come out in a non-emergency time, right?
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: A time where we're all kind of calm and things
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: aren't going crazy. A time for people to come up
• 25:09
  Speaker 6: and talk to that police officer, that firefighter, that sheriff's deputy.
• 25:14
  Speaker 6: Kind of ask them what they do. Talk to them.
• 25:17
  Speaker 6: thank them for what they do. I know a lot
• 25:19
  Speaker 6: of people will bring items by fire stations and police substations,
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: and they love that. They appreciate that. But again, this
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: is a chance for people to kind of drop off
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: those items for them. But again, I really love it
• 25:31
  Speaker 6: when I see any type of food drive When I
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: see a kid bring the item up and put it
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: in the bin or hand it to somebody and they
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: see that connection of giving back, I think that's really
• 25:41
  Speaker 6: important to teach, especially young. So that's one reason I
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: want to do this in the afternoon from 3 to
• 25:45
  Speaker 6: 6 so that people could come by after school.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah. George, we actually have John Covington in studio with us.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: He's coming up to talk about it. He's he's stirring
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: stuff up in the city. You know how John is.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: But John is also vice president of the Memphis Police Association. John,
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: this has got to make you guys feel good that
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Kroger is doing something like this.
• 26:07
  Speaker 7: The biggest smile on my face listening to this.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: This is so awesome.
• 26:10
  Speaker 7: And I love the idea behind it. And I so
• 26:14
  Speaker 7: fully support it. And thank you so much. It's about
• 26:17
  Speaker 7: creating those connections and honoring. So this is a fantastic thing.
• 26:21
  Speaker 7: And thank you, sir.
• 26:23
  Speaker 6: Oh, you are welcome, John. We appreciate everything you do
• 26:27
  Speaker 6: and the officers on the street. And again, this is
• 26:30
  Speaker 6: just a way, sort of a give back. It's a
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: way to say thank you, to see people face to
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: face in a time where you can snap a picture.
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: You know, you can have just a really positive interaction
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: with somebody. We're going to be in the parking lot,
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: and we're going to be kind of– if you're looking
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: at the store, if you've been over there, we're going
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: to be over towards the left, a little bit towards
• 26:49
  Speaker 6: Poplar Avenue area of the Kroger parking lot. But I
• 26:53
  Speaker 6: love having it out there. Last year we had a
• 26:56
  Speaker 6: gentleman from the police department out there. He had the
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: breast cancer awareness vehicle with him, and he talked to
• 27:02
  Speaker 6: a lot of people as an officer. And he just
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: had the best time interacting with these folks and saying
• 27:09
  Speaker 6: thank you for the donations and them saying thank you
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: to them. Again, it's just a way for Kroger to
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: give back to the community. I will be up here.
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: I would love to meet all of you if you've
• 27:18
  Speaker 6: heard us on the radio today. Appreciate it. Todd, thank
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: you so much for giving us time and letting us
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: use your signal to promote this. So thank you.
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, we're super excited about this. And I got
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: to give a shout out to Mike Kroger over in Germantown, Farmington.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: Let me tell you something. I don't know what they
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: put in that banana pudding, but it is very addictive, George.
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: So God bless the deli folks.
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: They are.
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: That is a wonderful store. And but again, we appreciate it.
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: And thank you so much for helping to get this. Oh, yeah.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: All right, everybody, that's George Brown, head of comms and
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: public affairs for the Kroger Company. This guy's a big wig,
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: and we appreciate him coming on KWAM this morning. Stock
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: the station. Here's the deal. We want there to be
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: traffic jams. I want Commander Chuck on the air this afternoon.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: talking about the traffic jams at Poplar and the Highland
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: as we get out there and we help out the firefighters.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Hand sanitizer wipes, energy bars, bottled water, crackers, chips, mixed nuts.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: These are some things that we have. for that that
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: we have that they need for these first responders. So
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: let's get out there and do our part. All right. Covington,
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: you're going to hang tight because we're going to talk
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: about your column coming up.
• 28:34
  Speaker 6: Yes, sir.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: All right. John Covington has a column that is causing mayhem.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: In the city this morning. We're going to talk about that. Also,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: caller number two, you will pick up a free signed
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: copy of my brand new book. This is like a
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: $ 30 value. And I think, well, once you sign it, Covington,
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: I think the price goes down a little bit. Yes,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: it does.
• 28:59
  Speaker 7: I think you're right.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Whoops. But anyway, it's worth $ 28. All you have to
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: do is call our number two. You're going to get
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: a free copy of The Golden Age, How Trump Saved America,
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: President Trump himself endorsing the book, as well as Speaker
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: Mike Johnson. All you have to do is pick up
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: the phone and give us a call, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: We'll be right back. All right.
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: It is 77 degrees at Dunstall's in Laurelwood.
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: So I hope they've got the. AC going and that
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: chocolate's good about. We love our friends at Denstel's, and
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: we love telling the rest of the nation about the
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: great food and the great things that are happening here
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: in the Mid-South. Hey, I want to go real quick
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: to the phone line, say hello to Greg, listening to
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: us this morning in East Memphis. Greg, hope your day
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: is getting off to a good start. Yeah, I can't complain.
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: It's cooler.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: Well, that's a good thing. It's going to get hotter, though,
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: so I don't want to burst the bubble here, Greg.
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: But I will tell you this. Congratulations, because you just
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: picked up a copy of The Golden Age, How Trump
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: Saved America.
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: Excellent. This is great.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: Greg, congrats.
• 30:23
  Speaker 6: I get a lot of your books, and they're all fantastic.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: Well, thank you. I really appreciate that, Greg. And we're
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: going to get you hooked up here with Helen, and
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: she'll tell you how you can get that book. We're
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: just excited for you to read it. I think you're
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: going to enjoy it. There's a lot of laughter there.
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: So congratulations, Greg, in East Memphis. Meanwhile, John Covington is
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: in studio. And, John, hope you're doing well. Again, what
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: a great thing Kroger is doing for first responders.
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: I love that so much, and it means the world
• 30:54
  Speaker 7: to officers. Hey, and if you get by Denstall's, don't
• 30:57
  Speaker 7: buy all the chocolate-covered grapes. Save some for me.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: You know, Becky Denschel's been trying to get me. I
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: just can't. I can't do the grapes. I can't do it.
• 31:07
  Speaker 7: They're fantastic. We're going to have to agree to disagree,
• 31:10
  Speaker 7: my friend.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: But I'm telling you, I didn't realize what they did
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: for Elvis week with the little chocolate-covered banana rounds. Holy smokes. Whoa.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: I got to.
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: It's like. It's like. Is it like fentanyl? I don't know.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: It's really good, though. It's addictive. All right. You've got
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: a you've got a column out here in The Daily Memphian,
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: and it is really causing a lot of controversy talking
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: about this redistricting. And you point out that the Democrats
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: have framed this as being as being racist. Well, that's right.
• 31:43
  Speaker 7: Justin Pearson and obviously and then Otis Stanford come out.
• 31:47
  Speaker 7: They're using very bad. hyperbolic language, you know, Jim Crow, racism,
• 31:53
  Speaker 7: all these things, all this emotion, which so often that
• 31:56
  Speaker 7: you see that, in my opinion, the left brings emotion
• 32:00
  Speaker 7: to an argument, the right brings the facts. And when
• 32:03
  Speaker 7: you look at the facts, you can call it racism
• 32:06
  Speaker 7: all you want. And in fact, the title of the
• 32:08
  Speaker 7: piece is Calling Partisanship Racism Doesn't Make It So. And
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: if you look at the facts and the redistricting was done.
• 32:16
  Speaker 7: And you may not, you might shy away from hard-nosed,
• 32:20
  Speaker 7: bare-knuckle politics, but that's what it is. They wanted another
• 32:23
  Speaker 7: Republican seat. And quite frankly, race had nothing to do
• 32:25
  Speaker 7: with it.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: No, as a matter of fact, race did have everything
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: to do with the, you know, with the Supreme Court
• 32:32
  Speaker 2: stepped in. And they said, you cannot build these districts
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: based on skin color alone. You can't do that. That's right.
• 32:38
  Speaker 7: And once that change was made, The Republicans were from
• 32:41
  Speaker 7: Marsha Blackburn to people in the state legislature were very
• 32:45
  Speaker 7: clear this was an opportunity to create another Republican seat.
• 32:49
  Speaker 7: And they were they were going to go for it.
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: So the Supreme Court had made that change. And it
• 32:55
  Speaker 7: was based on if you look at every fact, it
• 32:58
  Speaker 7: was all based on political maneuvering. And this is not
• 33:02
  Speaker 7: the first time it's happened. Democrats have done it across
• 33:04
  Speaker 7: the nation as well when they've had the opportunity. Now,
• 33:07
  Speaker 7: maybe there's a debate to be had about whether gerrymandering,
• 33:10
  Speaker 7: these things are ultimately for the good. But that's not
• 33:13
  Speaker 7: the debate the left wants to have. They want to
• 33:15
  Speaker 7: call this just racism and inflame everybody when it's just
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: not the facts.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: It's not diluting the black vote. It's diluting the Democrat vote.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: That's right. That's the whole point here.
• 33:25
  Speaker 7: And, you know, back in 2020, they did it. They've
• 33:30
  Speaker 7: done it before in Nashville, which was majority white city, Democratic.
• 33:34
  Speaker 7: They broke it up, did the same thing. And it was, again,
• 33:36
  Speaker 7: it was a concentration of Democrats. That's what it was
• 33:39
  Speaker 7: all about, not skin color, but they wanted more Republican representation.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: So here I do have one concern about the whole
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: redistricting thing, and it's that Memphis might end up getting
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: the short stick because when you look at the Republicans,
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: they don't live here. They live in Williamson County and
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: other deep red parts of the district going all the
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: way to Middle Tennessee. And that could be said, the
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: same could be said of the 5th Congressional District where
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Charlie Hatcher is running as well.
• 34:08
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 34:08
  Speaker 7: And again, that's a legitimate debate. And there's legitimate things
• 34:13
  Speaker 7: to talk about redistricting. But when you come in and
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: start screaming Jim Crow, racism, then you don't have a debate.
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: What you're robbed of is an actual philosophical debate. That
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: would be to the good just to have those discussions.
• 34:26
  Speaker 7: But that gets taken off the table.
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: I mean, do you know Otis Sanford? Have you had
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: a chance to meet him and talk to him?
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: I've met him on a couple of occasions.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: What's the deal there? Is he really does he really
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: believe this or is he just, you know, is he
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: out there just spewing this to get clicks?
• 34:41
  Speaker 7: It's hard to say, you know, and my reaction was
• 34:44
  Speaker 7: an art, a piece that he wrote that came on
• 34:47
  Speaker 7: really strong. And then I broadened it as I was
• 34:49
  Speaker 7: writing it to Justin Pearson. You know, it's coming from
• 34:52
  Speaker 7: just more than one place. I don't know what the
• 34:55
  Speaker 7: motivation is, but if you go back and there's a
• 34:57
  Speaker 7: link to his piece, he makes the argument for being
• 35:00
  Speaker 7: a political decision and at the very end draws the
• 35:03
  Speaker 7: wrong conclusion. He makes my argument as well. So I
• 35:07
  Speaker 7: don't know what the motivation is, but, you know, we
• 35:10
  Speaker 7: need to move away from this kind of politics because
• 35:12
  Speaker 7: it achieves nothing except. divides people and creates a bunch
• 35:15
  Speaker 7: of emotion.
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: No, that's it. I mean, that's it. And they know
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: that's the third rail. And that's why they're playing. And
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: that's what angers me about people like Otis Sanford and
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: Justin Pearson. They know what they're doing. Oh, absolutely.
• 35:29
  Speaker 7: And again, I like logic. I like facts. I like discussion.
• 35:34
  Speaker 7: I like positive change.
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: And when you bring.
• 35:37
  Speaker 7: Emotion into it, facts go out the window and then
• 35:39
  Speaker 7: you're getting shouted down. In fact, I'm getting texts and
• 35:43
  Speaker 7: comments and it's all attacking me as being some kind
• 35:46
  Speaker 7: of a racist when all i'm saying is if you
• 35:48
  Speaker 7: look at the facts calling uh this redistricting anything but
• 35:53
  Speaker 7: political gamesmanship is just.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: Wrong john covington joining us from the memphis police association
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: has a terrific piece up on the the daily memphian
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: and again going back to the this racing cracks me
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: up they had opportunities every single election cycle black democrats
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: challenged steve cohen From the very first time he ran
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: to the last time he ran. And yet the Democrats
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: always went with the white guy and they not the
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: black candidate. So, again, if this is really about race,
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: you know, what does that tell you? Exactly.
• 36:26
  Speaker 7: And then if you go back and look at the history, 1990, 2000,
• 36:30
  Speaker 7: every time after a census, back when Democrats had more
• 36:33
  Speaker 7: control in the state. They were doing the exact same stuff.
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: All right.
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: John, coming to that music means we've got to scoot
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: out of here. Folks, go and read his great column
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: over at the Daily Memphian. It's the only thing worth reading,
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: to be honest with you. Thank you, sir.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: Folks, 11 o'clock, the Todd Stern Show right here on
• 36:52
  Speaker 2: the 9990. Coming up next, Armstrong and Getty. Stay cool, everybody.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Crank that AC.