Latest / The Rita Panahi Show / The Rita Panahi Show | 28 October

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The Rita Panahi Show | 28 October · The Rita Panahi Show

0:02
Speaker 1: Starting right now, The Rita Panahy Show.
0:07
Speaker 2: Good evening and welcome to The Rita Panahy Show. I
0:10
Speaker 2: am James Morrow filling in for Rita. Here's what we've
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Speaker 2: got for you this evening. Well, the state of Victoria,
0:16
Speaker 2: they've managed to land themselves not once, not twice, but
0:19
Speaker 2: three times running. Name the worst state in Australia to
0:24
Speaker 2: do business. Turns out crippling taxes and suffocating red tape
0:27
Speaker 2: aren't exactly a recipe for economic success. And fancy giving
0:33
Speaker 2: up your takeaway coffee cup and remembering to bring your
0:36
Speaker 2: own mug, just like you do your own shopping bags? Well,
0:39
Speaker 2: great idea out of New South Wales. Thankfully, they've backtracked.
0:42
Speaker 2: We'll have all the details on that a little later on.
0:46
Speaker 2: And guess what? Bad news for Canada. You've been demoted.
0:49
Speaker 2: You are no longer in line to be the next president.
0:52
Speaker 2: the 51st state of the United States of America, as
0:55
Speaker 2: Donald Trump eyes up a potential new target. Plus, they
1:00
Speaker 2: say in marriage that a little jealousy keeps the spark alive. But, well,
1:05
Speaker 2: Kirsten Bell and her husband, they're taking it to the
1:08
Speaker 2: next level. And I'm not so sure it's such a
1:11
Speaker 2: good idea, but we're going to discuss that a bit
1:13
Speaker 2: later on. Oh, and of course, I have not forgotten
1:16
Speaker 2: about it. I know you'll love it. We're going to
1:18
Speaker 2: have plenty of lefties losing it.
1:22
Speaker 3: The night before the Kirkiversary, and all through the house,
1:25
Speaker 3: not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The
1:29
Speaker 3: flags were hung proudly, the memes all on deck, as
1:32
Speaker 3: we solemnly remembered a shot to the neck.
1:36
Speaker 2: Can always count on a lefty to be so classy
1:39
Speaker 2: and respectful about their dead enemies. Anyway, let's move on
1:44
Speaker 2: to the other news of the day. The prime minister
1:47
Speaker 2: has admitted he was wrong. He was wrong to claim
1:51
Speaker 2: that his local Marrickville golf club received $ 6 million of taxpayers' money.
1:56
Speaker 2: to fix its sewage problems. Now, this is a complicated one,
2:00
Speaker 2: but there was a state grant that now covered the
2:03
Speaker 2: repairs to the sewerage after bureaucrats told Senate estimates that
2:07
Speaker 2: sewerage was never covered by the money that was pledged
2:11
Speaker 2: by federal labor. Albanese had repeatedly raised it as a
2:15
Speaker 2: significant reason, that is, the repairs to the sewerage, for
2:19
Speaker 2: granting the commitment. But turns out, not so fast. Joining
2:23
Speaker 2: me now to discuss this is Verve Communications' Pru McSween
2:26
Speaker 2: and News 24 contributor Louise Roberts. Pru, I'll start with
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Speaker 2: you here this evening. Anthony Albanese very clearly misled Parliament.
2:38
Speaker 2: He went to Parliament. He said this was for the
2:40
Speaker 2: sewerage works. It was for, you know, refurbishing the clubhouse,
2:44
Speaker 2: the bar, some seating areas, things like that. How can
2:48
Speaker 2: he get away with this?
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Speaker 4: He won't. I think he's a dead man walking. I
2:52
Speaker 4: think he's politically finished. And it's been a pattern of behaviour,
2:57
Speaker 4: you know, the lies, the obfuscation, the spinning, the mistruths.
3:03
Speaker 4: And trust is a very powerful major thing to the
3:08
Speaker 4: rest of us. And he's in deficit. The guy cannot
3:12
Speaker 4: be trusted. His brand is absolutely damaged. He cannot recover
3:17
Speaker 4: from this. And he thinks that he can arrogantly just
3:21
Speaker 4: brush it off, that we're all going.
3:22
Speaker 1: To forget it. It ain't going to happen.
3:24
Speaker 4: You know, his Maracle Golf Club is flush with money
3:29
Speaker 4: and he's just raw.
3:31
Speaker 5: Doo-doo now, isn't he?
3:32
Speaker 4: He's, you know, as far as I'm concerned, the guy
3:35
Speaker 4: is tomorrow's PM.
3:37
Speaker 2: Well, we'll see about that. But, you know, we still
3:39
Speaker 2: have a little ways to get to that, Louise. But,
3:42
Speaker 2: you know, the thing that strikes me about this is
3:44
Speaker 2: that on the one hand... Anthony Albanese is out there
3:48
Speaker 2: and he's saying, you know, we need more respect in politics.
3:51
Speaker 2: We need to turn the temperature down. We need to
3:55
Speaker 2: retain faith in our governmental institutions. And yet, what do
4:00
Speaker 2: we have here? We have. misleading everybody about the nature
4:05
Speaker 2: of the works. Don't tell me he didn't know. Don't
4:07
Speaker 2: tell me that infrastructure minister Catherine King didn't know because
4:11
Speaker 2: those briefs were signed off on. You saw how nervous
4:14
Speaker 2: she got under questioning last Sunday when Andrew Clennell had
4:18
Speaker 2: her on his program. There is something very fishy about
4:22
Speaker 2: this $ 6 million grant program. And when you stack this
4:26
Speaker 2: on top of, you know, every other gaslighting example we
4:29
Speaker 2: can think of from this prime minister, He seems worse
4:33
Speaker 2: than just that he lied to Parliament, but he's also
4:35
Speaker 2: being a real hypocrite about the national mood.
4:38
Speaker 6: He is, because transparency and truthfulness are absolutely key to
4:43
Speaker 6: our trust in the Prime Minister, and we expect him
4:45
Speaker 6: to give accurate information, anyone in his department to give
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Speaker 6: accurate information in briefings as well. And the whole issue
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Speaker 6: with this is, can Australians trust him? Can we trust
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Speaker 6: what he actually tells us? Because, you know, we've got
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Speaker 6: the Mellongate, We've got falling off stage during the 2025
5:00
Speaker 6: federal election. That didn't happen, apparently. We all saw what
5:03
Speaker 6: we saw.
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Speaker 2: And that goes to character.
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Speaker 6: It goes to character, and it's a repeated pattern of
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Speaker 6: saying one thing and doing another and trying to gaslight
5:10
Speaker 6: us that we don't understand what's happening here as well. So, yes,
5:14
Speaker 6: the money's gone to a broader redevelopment of his precious
5:16
Speaker 6: golf club, where he's an honouring member, of course, as well.
5:19
Speaker 6: And the whole thing stinks. And I'm not just talking
5:21
Speaker 6: about the sewage he allegedly was going to stop from
5:23
Speaker 6: going to the Cooks River. It's, you know, his own
5:26
Speaker 6: bureaucrats in this way have turned against him, which is
5:28
Speaker 6: quite interesting, I think. They're not willing to paper over
5:31
Speaker 6: and to cover for him on this situation.
5:32
Speaker 2: Well, that's right, because, you know, the big thing that
5:34
Speaker 2: came out of this, Prue, is that in one of
5:36
Speaker 2: these estimates hearings this week, one of the bureaucrats said, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no,
5:41
Speaker 2: the sewerage works, those were already covered, those were covered
5:44
Speaker 2: by New South Wales. This was money six mil to refurbish,
5:49
Speaker 2: you know, the golf clubhouse and the pro shop and
5:52
Speaker 2: the bar at this point. community golf course. Now, it's
5:55
Speaker 2: actually a lovely little place, but $ 6 million for that,
5:58
Speaker 2: that's a lot. My question to you, Pru, though, is
6:00
Speaker 2: as a communications professional, you spent your life in this,
6:04
Speaker 2: the message that he is sending here seems to be,
6:09
Speaker 2: you know, when you look at the history where he,
6:13
Speaker 2: while he's talking about integrity, sending out dirt sheets on
6:15
Speaker 2: people who question him about this, including Helen Haynes, what
6:20
Speaker 2: would you be advising him?
6:22
Speaker 4: Well, 101 in crisis communications is to own your mistakes
6:26
Speaker 4: and apologise and be on the front foot with that.
6:29
Speaker 4: He cannot say he's made a mistake. He cannot say
6:32
Speaker 4: he's sorry. He cannot apologise. And this is his problem,
6:36
Speaker 4: that when you say his brand is in deficit, that
6:40
Speaker 4: is why, because It comes to character. He has no
6:43
Speaker 4: character that anybody would aspire to or expect from their
6:48
Speaker 4: political leader. And, you know, combine that with the incompetence
6:52
Speaker 4: that we see from this government, and this is the problem,
6:54
Speaker 4: that it's one thing to be people we cannot trust,
6:58
Speaker 4: but they are absolutely inept at managing the economy, as
7:02
Speaker 4: we see again today with the inflation figures, that, you know,
7:05
Speaker 4: why would anybody accept that this is a government that
7:08
Speaker 4: deserves to be there?
7:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's exactly right. I'm glad you brought up
7:12
Speaker 2: the economy because we do have to talk about that
7:14
Speaker 2: too here. We've had headline inflation earlier today in the
7:18
Speaker 2: year to September jumping to 4.3%. That is up from 4%,
7:24
Speaker 2: a huge rise there. Now, the problem for that, well,
7:28
Speaker 2: we all know What that is, it means not just
7:31
Speaker 2: higher prices for everything we pay, but it's putting pressure
7:33
Speaker 2: on the Reserve Bank to hit us with yet another
7:36
Speaker 2: interest rate rise at the next meeting. And we now
7:40
Speaker 2: have also Treasurer Jim Chalmers saying, well, we're not even
7:43
Speaker 2: sure that we're going to wind up with net savings
7:47
Speaker 2: in the coming mid-year economic numbers. Louise Roberts, this is... Really,
7:55
Speaker 2: you know, we can talk about character and the golf
7:57
Speaker 2: course and lying to parliament and Albanese being this sort
8:02
Speaker 2: of fellow who acts like just a sort of every
8:05
Speaker 2: man nice guy when in the back rooms he's knifing
8:07
Speaker 2: all of his factional opponents and anybody who's followed him
8:10
Speaker 2: closely knows the sort of character he truly is. But
8:14
Speaker 2: this is deadly, I would think, for the government. Your thoughts?
8:21
Speaker 6: This figure today has sent shockwaves through Australia's business community
8:25
Speaker 6: or just in absolute horror as to how this federal
8:29
Speaker 6: government has run the economy into the ground. They're more
8:31
Speaker 6: interested in the window dressing, as you say, of Merrickville
8:34
Speaker 6: Golf Club and various other issues and going on stupid
8:37
Speaker 6: podcasts and making fools of themselves. His number one job
8:40
Speaker 6: is to make sure we stay afloat and we prosper
8:42
Speaker 6: as a country, him and the Treasurer. And neither of
8:45
Speaker 6: them seem capable of doing it. A lot of people
8:47
Speaker 6: say that's because they've never had real jobs. He's been
8:49
Speaker 6: a party... personally, his whole life.
8:51
Speaker 2: A hack? You could say hack here.
8:52
Speaker 7: Yes, a hearty hack, yes, his whole life.
8:54
Speaker 6: And Dr Chalmers hasn't run a business either. But still,
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Speaker 6: we're looking to them to actually keep our businesses and
9:01
Speaker 6: our lifestyle afloat. And on businesses, we know how much
9:04
Speaker 6: they despise small business. I mean, every week there's another
9:08
Speaker 6: story about them smashing people. The tax on aspiration, everything
9:12
Speaker 6: they've rolled out since they got re-elected last year, is
9:15
Speaker 6: about making it difficult for people to get ahead in
9:17
Speaker 6: this country, which just begs I'm so confused about this.
9:21
Speaker 6: I don't know why they keep doing it.
9:22
Speaker 2: Louise, it's very simple. This is straight out of the
9:25
Speaker 2: Soviet playbook. It is smash the kulaks. Smash the small landholders.
9:31
Speaker 1: Socialism 101, yeah.
9:32
Speaker 2: Smash the small businesses. Because why, Prue? Because these are
9:36
Speaker 2: independent people who can shift for themselves without the government. But, Prue,
9:41
Speaker 2: as a business owner yourself, You know, everything I'm hearing
9:45
Speaker 2: from people in the business community is just sheer terror
9:49
Speaker 2: because people are, not only do they feel less wealthy
9:52
Speaker 2: because their houses are now worth potentially 20% less than
9:57
Speaker 2: they were, so the wealth effect has gone there, but
9:59
Speaker 2: more of their... money is now going to pay those
10:01
Speaker 2: homes off. It's going to have effects on the rental market.
10:05
Speaker 2: I am really worried now that we are heading to
10:07
Speaker 2: a five alarm fire where just everything seizes up.
10:12
Speaker 7: Well, that's right.
10:12
Speaker 4: I mean, my clients are really talking about a recession
10:16
Speaker 4: because they're feeling it. You know, the customers have dropped off.
10:19
Speaker 2: Well, Prue, I would just say, I think we have
10:21
Speaker 2: been in a real recession, a per capita recession for
10:24
Speaker 2: a long time. I agree.
10:25
Speaker 7: I agree.
10:26
Speaker 2: No, but you're right.
10:26
Speaker 4: I agree with you 100%. You know, they are really
10:29
Speaker 4: feeling it. They're finding that, you know, their creditors, you know,
10:34
Speaker 4: they're desperate for money because they're having to pay their staff,
10:38
Speaker 4: they're having to pay the super on the day they
10:40
Speaker 4: pay their staff. You know, they're just not... Their cash
10:43
Speaker 4: flow is in crisis. Their customer base has fallen off.
10:47
Speaker 4: And they're wondering how the hell they're going to survive.
10:49
Speaker 4: And this is the problem. And you look at Chalmers,
10:51
Speaker 4: who's now finally sort of asking business for some ideas
10:56
Speaker 4: on how he can save some money. For God's sake,
10:59
Speaker 4: the guy hasn't got a clue. And the fact that
11:02
Speaker 4: he actually admitted that, that he had to go and
11:05
Speaker 4: finally caucus with stakeholders, was astounding to me that he
11:09
Speaker 4: actually admitted it. But we all know, and we've seen it,
11:12
Speaker 4: that the man is incompetent out of his debt, and
11:16
Speaker 4: the repercussions on business are frightening.
11:19
Speaker 2: And, you know, I will tell you this much for free.
11:21
Speaker 2: I think that there's a lot of people right now
11:23
Speaker 2: who are concerned about their jobs, but the number one
11:25
Speaker 2: person concerned about his job right now... is Treasurer Jim Chalmers. Hey,
11:29
Speaker 2: let's talk about Victoria too, and I guess we have
11:32
Speaker 2: to give them some sort of booby prize for this.
11:34
Speaker 2: Victoria has been crowned the worst place to do business
11:38
Speaker 2: in Australia by the Business Council of Australia's Regulation Rumble 2026.
11:43
Speaker 2: Their report ranks Victoria dead last among all states and territories. Louise,
11:50
Speaker 2: you are a Victorian by birth and being raised. It's
11:56
Speaker 2: a rather... inauspicious, shall we say, honour. How do you
12:02
Speaker 2: feel about that? And do you think there's some chance
12:04
Speaker 2: that if Jess Wilson comes into power with the coalition in,
12:10
Speaker 2: what is it, three or four weeks' time, that maybe
12:12
Speaker 2: this could start to turn around?
12:14
Speaker 6: Well, I hope so, because, you know, what an honour,
12:18
Speaker 6: as you say, more than a decade in in government,
12:21
Speaker 6: three years running, worst place to do business. And yes,
12:23
Speaker 6: I grew up in Victoria. It used to be Australia's
12:25
Speaker 6: economic powerhouse. There's plenty of entrepreneurs. You really felt living
12:29
Speaker 6: in Melbourne and in Victoria, you could achieve anything. You
12:31
Speaker 6: could launch a business, you'd be supported and you could
12:34
Speaker 6: go global. That was certainly in the 90s and the noughties,
12:36
Speaker 6: that was the case. Now you're taxed. If you have
12:39
Speaker 6: the audacious ambition to be successful, they'll smash you. Bureaucracy
12:44
Speaker 6: and tax. I mean, in that story, I think there
12:45
Speaker 6: was the example of the The guy who was trying
12:48
Speaker 6: to open a cafe had to apply for, what, 34
12:50
Speaker 6: separate licences. He's not building a nuclear reactor. He's just
12:54
Speaker 6: trying to serve coffee and toasties.
12:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.
12:57
Speaker 6: So anyone trying to make a business and all those...
12:59
Speaker 6: You know, Melbourne's often been famous for these sort of
13:02
Speaker 6: generational businesses, so the cafes that have gone down through
13:05
Speaker 6: generations or greengrocers and stuff. And so many of them,
13:07
Speaker 6: you drive around areas like Coburg or Brunswick, they're all
13:10
Speaker 6: closing down because they can't sustain them. And it's that
13:13
Speaker 6: fabric and heritage of Melbourne... is being destroyed by this
13:16
Speaker 6: government because they don't like small business.
13:18
Speaker 2: They don't. And we know also, Prue, of course, that,
13:21
Speaker 2: you know, they love public servants. And Victoria is a
13:24
Speaker 2: public service-driven state. And I would imagine that there's been
13:28
Speaker 2: a fair bit of exfiltration of enterprising Victorians to other
13:32
Speaker 2: jurisdictions like New South Wales and Queensland. What is your...
13:36
Speaker 2: If I could ask you to put on your sort
13:38
Speaker 2: of Madame Blavatsky turban and get the crystal ball out here...
13:42
Speaker 2: You know, do you think that there's a possible change
13:44
Speaker 2: in the actual culture of Victoria as Victoria away from
13:49
Speaker 2: you know, the public service state to one that returns
13:52
Speaker 2: to being that sort of enterprise state.
13:54
Speaker 1: It's going to take a long time.
13:55
Speaker 4: When you were talking about Jess Wilson, the problem is
13:58
Speaker 4: I just hope people understand you can't turn this Titanic
14:01
Speaker 4: around quickly. And they're going to have to suck it
14:04
Speaker 4: in and accept that a lot of the things that
14:06
Speaker 4: they weren't used to but were forced on them and
14:11
Speaker 4: have become familiar are going to have to change. And
14:14
Speaker 4: You've got this entrenched militant unionism, which is something that's
14:19
Speaker 4: going to be very hard to break because you can
14:20
Speaker 4: see what's going to happen. There will be strikes galore.
14:24
Speaker 4: And Jess has got to deal with that. Plus, of course,
14:26
Speaker 4: all the red tape that, you know, it's going to
14:29
Speaker 4: take months, if not several years to get this back
14:33
Speaker 4: in track. And of course, so many people have abandoned Victoria,
14:37
Speaker 4: whether it's business, but also consumers who have just said,
14:40
Speaker 4: I don't want to live here anymore.
14:42
Speaker 2: It's soulless.
14:43
Speaker 4: It's a desperate, hostile and very dangerous place to live
14:47
Speaker 4: in now.
14:48
Speaker 2: I tell you, that's what I saw the last time
14:49
Speaker 2: I was in Melbourne. I love Melbourne. I love Victorians.
14:52
Speaker 2: No slur on the Victorians. I hope you guys get
14:54
Speaker 2: it together because it's a great state to visit and
14:56
Speaker 2: you deserve a lot better. But before we go, we
14:59
Speaker 2: do have to talk about one victory for common sense,
15:01
Speaker 2: and I'll say it's right here in my state of
15:03
Speaker 2: New South Wales. Last week, we talked about the insane
15:08
Speaker 2: idea of banning the disposable coffee cups at the cafe
15:11
Speaker 2: here in New South Wales. Well, finally, after a lot
15:14
Speaker 2: of outrage from small businesses, business, and I would have
15:16
Speaker 2: to say also a lot of that pushed by the
15:18
Speaker 2: Daily Telegraph, New South Wales has backflipped and said, the
15:22
Speaker 2: Cups can say, Louise, common sense, finally. But why? But
15:27
Speaker 2: why does it take a newspaper campaign to get it back?
15:31
Speaker 6: Oh, I've got a long history, as you have, in
15:33
Speaker 6: campaigning in newspapers, and it's a very effective weapon because
15:37
Speaker 6: it mobilises the ordinary person, the ordinary Daily Telegraph reader,
15:40
Speaker 6: who says, this is an outrage. Why are you politicising
15:43
Speaker 6: my cup of coffee in the morning? If I want
15:45
Speaker 6: a disposable cup, just give me one. It's about supporting
15:48
Speaker 6: a business. And you don't want... people not going to
15:50
Speaker 6: a cafe because they've got this ridiculous rule about what
15:53
Speaker 6: cups they can drink their macchiato or their cappuccino in.
15:56
Speaker 6: I mean, it is a total overreach and, yes, a
15:59
Speaker 6: victory of a common sense.
16:00
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, Prue, imagine walking around all day with
16:02
Speaker 2: a cup for, you know, when you want a coffee. Here,
16:04
Speaker 2: fill her up. But what is, very quickly, what is
16:06
Speaker 2: the mentality behind these bureaucrats, these lanyard people, who go
16:11
Speaker 2: into bureaucracies and go walk around and go, oh... Look
16:14
Speaker 2: at that! We need to do something about that. They're
16:18
Speaker 2: enjoying a macchiato out of a little paper cup.
16:21
Speaker 4: It's virtue signalling policy. You know, they sit around these boffins,
16:25
Speaker 4: around the tea cooler or whatever, the water cooler, and think,
16:28
Speaker 4: what else can we do? They don't care about business
16:32
Speaker 4: and jobs. The only job and the only reason Chris
16:35
Speaker 4: Minster changed this was to save his own job. He's
16:39
Speaker 4: got One Nation breathing down his neck at the next
16:42
Speaker 4: election and he is so worried and that's the problem.
16:45
Speaker 2: Well, that's all the time we've got. Pretty McSween, Louise Roberts,
16:49
Speaker 2: great as always to have a chat. Well, here's a
16:54
Speaker 2: surprise for you folks. It turns out that taxpayers could
16:58
Speaker 2: be paying a hefty price for Labor's so-called mid-scale solar plan.
17:04
Speaker 2: While Energy and Climate Minister Chris Bowen claims the uptake
17:07
Speaker 2: of so-called mid-scale solar would only add an extra $ 1.
17:12
Speaker 2: One or two dollars to household bills per year. We
17:15
Speaker 2: know better, don't we? Because it turns out that analysis
17:17
Speaker 2: has shown that figure closer to be an extra 20
17:21
Speaker 2: to 40 bucks a year by 2031. Joining me now
17:24
Speaker 2: to discuss this is esteemed geologist, a geologist, author and
17:29
Speaker 2: executive director at Hancock Energy, Professor Ian Plymer. Ian, you know,
17:35
Speaker 2: I'm just absolutely shocked that something that the government said
17:39
Speaker 2: was going to cost a little bit turns out to
17:41
Speaker 2: be 10 or 20 times more expensive.
17:44
Speaker 1: Well, I'm not.
17:45
Speaker 8: I mean, when you have mediocre people, you have mediocre
17:49
Speaker 8: people who've got no life experience, who are controlling policy,
17:55
Speaker 8: which is uncosted and not scientifically backed.
17:59
Speaker 5: And I wonder why the costs get out of hand.
18:01
Speaker 5: These people, you can't even put them in charge of
18:05
Speaker 5: making a sandwich. They would stuff that up. So we
18:08
Speaker 5: unfortunately are led by ideologues who have gone from their
18:13
Speaker 5: political positions in universities or in lawyers' offices and become
18:17
Speaker 5: politicians or bureaucrats. They've never built anything. They've never farmed anything.
18:23
Speaker 5: They've never made anything. And they're trying to control policy
18:26
Speaker 5: changes with energy which they don't understand, it's no wonder
18:30
Speaker 5: our costs go right through the roof. It's no wonder
18:33
Speaker 5: we're destroying large acreages of farmland. And it's no wonder
18:37
Speaker 5: that the poor taxpayer has to bear the cost every
18:40
Speaker 5: time these drongos start to do something.
18:43
Speaker 1: It's about time we got rid of them. Get rid
18:45
Speaker 1: of it. Go back to what we.
18:46
Speaker 5: Had, which was cheap, reliable electricity that was not dependent
18:50
Speaker 5: on the weather.
18:51
Speaker 2: Indeed. But, Professor, I have to take you up and
18:54
Speaker 2: cavil with one thing you said. You said that you
18:55
Speaker 2: couldn't trust them to make a sandwich. I think I
18:58
Speaker 2: could trust them to make one particular sort of sandwich.
19:01
Speaker 2: And that's what they keep doing in this department here,
19:03
Speaker 2: because Bowdoin's climate change department has also told CEDMS estimates
19:07
Speaker 2: on Monday that their whole battery scheme had blown through
19:11
Speaker 2: something like more than half of its eight point one
19:13
Speaker 2: billion dollar budget in its first quarter. 450 days. Now,
19:17
Speaker 2: it was originally going to cost just a lazy $ 2. 3 billion.
19:21
Speaker 2: But there's two things here that strike me. Number one,
19:24
Speaker 2: that they didn't get the numbers right in the first place.
19:27
Speaker 2: But number two, this attitude from this government that they
19:30
Speaker 2: can treat us as an endless ATM for their utopian schemes.
19:37
Speaker 1: Well, it's worse than that.
19:39
Speaker 5: I think they try to tell us that batteries make electricity.
19:44
Speaker 1: They don't.
19:45
Speaker 5: Batteries store electricity and they store a very small amount
19:49
Speaker 5: and we can only use it for a very short
19:51
Speaker 5: period of time. We cannot run an industrial society on
19:55
Speaker 5: batteries which are fed by sea breezes and sunbeams.
19:59
Speaker 1: So right from the start, they've got everything wrong. The
20:02
Speaker 1: whole concept.
20:04
Speaker 5: Behind having wind, having solar, having batteries is that human
20:10
Speaker 5: emissions of.
20:10
Speaker 1: Plant food drive global warming.
20:13
Speaker 5: Now, if we didn't have these emissions of plant food,
20:15
Speaker 5: if we didn't have carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we
20:18
Speaker 5: couldn't grow food. We couldn't actually plough, seed, harvest, transport
20:23
Speaker 5: the food. So right from the beginning, they've got everything wrong.
20:27
Speaker 1: They are ideologues.
20:29
Speaker 5: They don't have any knowledge of any science or any engineering.
20:33
Speaker 1: They've never done anything. And they wonder why things go wrong. Well,
20:36
Speaker 1: I can tell them why they go wrong. It's really simple.
20:39
Speaker 5: So I think these people should just go away, leave
20:42
Speaker 5: us alone, cut back all the regulations, get rid of
20:46
Speaker 5: the people making these dopey decisions. and start trying to
20:49
Speaker 5: make this country grow. We are going backwards because of
20:52
Speaker 5: our energy policy, and that's been happening for quite some
20:55
Speaker 5: period of time.
20:56
Speaker 2: And we are going backwards, and we know we're going backwards.
20:59
Speaker 2: We've spoken earlier on this program about all the economic
21:02
Speaker 2: figures out of this government and their mismanagement there. But,
21:05
Speaker 2: you know, this is the other part of it. Well,
21:06
Speaker 2: they don't understand the physics, as you quite rightly point out,
21:09
Speaker 2: about batteries not producing electricity and everything else. But also
21:13
Speaker 2: they don't understand any of the economics because it turns
21:15
Speaker 2: out that almost a quarter of the wind, solar and
21:17
Speaker 2: battery projects supported by the Albanese government's flagship green energy
21:22
Speaker 2: policy to dump money into these things that are not
21:26
Speaker 2: market competitive have actually been withdrawn from the market. And so...
21:32
Speaker 2: It just seems like, once again, we have yet another
21:34
Speaker 2: disaster here, pouring money into these sinkholes to get absolutely nothing.
21:41
Speaker 1: Well, they're pouring our money there. It's not government money.
21:43
Speaker 1: Of course. They absolutely don't care. They don't care whether
21:48
Speaker 1: it costs a lot of money.
21:49
Speaker 8: They don't care whether their Snowy 2 scheme is going
21:52
Speaker 8: to go on forever.
21:53
Speaker 1: The best thing you can do with the Snowy 2.
21:56
Speaker 5: Scheme is to abandon it, Use it for a nuclear
21:59
Speaker 5: waste repository and use it for nuclear power generation. Put
22:03
Speaker 5: the reactors underground in that isolated area. You're close to
22:07
Speaker 5: poles and wires. They're not even thinking out of the box.
22:10
Speaker 5: These people are trapped in their ideology. They cannot move.
22:15
Speaker 5: They know they have a permanent ATM and that is we,
22:18
Speaker 5: the poor, suffering tax flow.
22:20
Speaker 1: I will start to believe them when I get my $ 275.
22:22
Speaker 5: Here in Broken Hill, I can support one of the
22:26
Speaker 5: pubs with that $ 275.
22:27
Speaker 1: They would appreciate it.
22:29
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, look, I'm sure that would last an afternoon
22:32
Speaker 2: or two perhaps, but I don't know that that ATM
22:35
Speaker 2: is going to not run out of money soon, looking
22:37
Speaker 2: at all the figures. But I want to go over
22:39
Speaker 2: to WA here finally, where the Cook Labor government on
22:42
Speaker 2: Tuesday has announced a 75% renewable energy generation rate. target
22:47
Speaker 2: for the Southwest Interconnected System by 2031, insisting that they
22:51
Speaker 2: need to do this to keep energy prices from doubling.
22:55
Speaker 2: Ian Plymer, make it make sense.
22:59
Speaker 1: Well, there's a lot of coal down there at Poly. Yeah.
23:02
Speaker 8: That used to generate electricity for the power network down
23:06
Speaker 8: in the southwest of Western Australia. They also have gas
23:09
Speaker 8: lines coming from the north down into Western Australia. Perfect
23:13
Speaker 8: place to put nuclear reactors because it's isolated.
23:16
Speaker 5: There are many deep mines where you could put the
23:19
Speaker 5: spent fuel. So, again, following ideology, we, the poor taxpayer,
23:23
Speaker 5: has to pay. The bleeding obvious gets ignored and we
23:27
Speaker 5: keep going backwards economically. We keep losing any of our
23:31
Speaker 5: sovereignty and we are like a shag.
23:33
Speaker 1: On a rock now economically and with our sovereign risk.
23:37
Speaker 2: Professor Ian Plymer, always such a cheery chat we always have,
23:40
Speaker 2: but thank you so much. It is seriously great to
23:43
Speaker 2: chat and break down all of the madness. Thanks so much.
23:47
Speaker 1: Good night.
23:47
Speaker 2: Still to come, Canada, you've been demoted as the next
23:51
Speaker 2: state to join the USA as Donald Trump eyes somebody
23:54
Speaker 2: else to be 51. John Heinricher joins me next. And
24:04
Speaker 2: now it's time for lefties losing it. And while we
24:08
Speaker 2: wait to find out who won the election in Israel,
24:11
Speaker 2: some lefties are casting their vote against it. Now, have
24:15
Speaker 2: you ever heard of this fellow called Macklemore? He's new
24:18
Speaker 2: to me, but apparently he's not a big fan of
24:21
Speaker 2: the Jewish state. Instead, he's a big Free Palestine guy.
24:25
Speaker 9: And yet those words, those two words, right? Those two
24:35
Speaker 9: words are so threatening to some people. They would rather
24:42
Speaker 9: silence those two words than confront what they actually mean.
24:50
Speaker 9: Because freedom, because freedom that requires another person's oppression is
24:58
Speaker 9: not freedom at all.
25:02
Speaker 2: That seemed very entertaining. Anyway, it's just amazing to me
25:05
Speaker 2: that at a music festival of all places, this guy
25:07
Speaker 2: is saying that fighting back against Hamas, who, if you
25:11
Speaker 2: know your recent history, are not the biggest music festival fans,
25:15
Speaker 2: somehow that that equates to oppression. Talk about turkeys for
25:19
Speaker 2: voting for Christmas. Meanwhile, while we're at it, why not
25:22
Speaker 2: hand out some more visas to mostly peaceful Gazans?
25:26
Speaker 10: I also just want to take a minute, if I can,
25:29
Speaker 10: I know there's incredible causes that a lot of the
25:33
Speaker 10: funds raised tonight are going towards. I just wanted to
25:36
Speaker 10: offer just two minutes to an issue you might be
25:40
Speaker 10: aware of. 55 students in Gaza who are awaiting for
25:45
Speaker 10: their visas to be approved for scholarship places that they
25:50
Speaker 10: have earned and scholarship places that are waiting for them
25:53
Speaker 10: here in Ireland and the government has not approved their
25:56
Speaker 10: visa applications.
25:58
Speaker 2: And Mark Ruffalo was there to talk about equality.
26:02
Speaker 9: Hey, hey, hey.
26:03
Speaker 3: How you doing?
26:09
Speaker 9: Keep fighting for a free Palestine.
26:10
Speaker 1: Humanity all over the world.
26:11
Speaker 7: And equality amongst the people.
26:12
Speaker 2: There'll be no peace until there's equality.
26:15
Speaker 5: Lots of love.
26:16
Speaker 7: Have a great show.
26:17
Speaker 1: Keep fighting the good fight.
26:18
Speaker 3: God bless all of you.
26:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of love there. Hey, when people talk about equality,
26:25
Speaker 2: is Gaza really where your mind goes? I don't know. Meanwhile,
26:29
Speaker 2: let's check in with where the American left is. And
26:32
Speaker 2: if you had Hassan Piker endorsing AOC on your bingo card, well, winner, winner,
26:38
Speaker 2: chicken dinner.
26:39
Speaker 1: Is there someone who you think can take the Hassan
26:42
Speaker 1: Piker view of America cogently into 2018?
26:46
Speaker 11: I think AOC is obviously the one that is capable
26:49
Speaker 11: of uniting the Democratic Party and and bringing the leftmost
26:54
Speaker 11: position to the mainstream. Having said that, there are I mean,
26:59
Speaker 11: it's entirely up to her if she's invested in running
27:03
Speaker 11: for the presidency or not. There are certainly other candidates,
27:08
Speaker 11: other potential candidates. You know, I really like Sean Fain.
27:11
Speaker 11: He's the head of the UAW, one of the largest
27:15
Speaker 11: unions in North America.
27:17
Speaker 2: Seems ridiculous, but remember, the Americans deserve 9-11 crowd. Well,
27:21
Speaker 2: they're the future of the left. Finally, how about this one?
27:24
Speaker 2: A woman gleefully reading a poem about Charlie Kirk's death.
27:29
Speaker 1: Classy.
27:31
Speaker 7: If you could announce your name and speak loudly, thank
27:33
Speaker 7: you so much.
27:34
Speaker 3: I go by Pamper Baby. Yeah, okay, so I took
27:38
Speaker 3: a plan B, and I'm an immigrant this morning, like,
27:40
Speaker 3: feeling kind of guilty, so I wanted to read a
27:42
Speaker 3: poem that I actually wrote. It was like, I don't know,
27:45
Speaker 3: felt a little.
27:46
Speaker 1: Do you have a question, though?
27:47
Speaker 3: No, I just wanted to share. I felt like, you know,
27:50
Speaker 3: freedom of speech. I wanted to share a poem I
27:52
Speaker 3: wrote for everybody.' Twas the night before the Kirkiversary, and
27:56
Speaker 3: all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not
27:59
Speaker 3: even a mouse. The flags were hung proudly, the memes
28:03
Speaker 3: all on deck, as we solemnly remembered. A shot to
28:06
Speaker 3: the neck. The podcast fell silent. The hot takes grew wary.
28:11
Speaker 3: For tomorrow, dear friends, is the great Kirkiversary. So I'll
28:15
Speaker 3: see everyone at the Squirt for Kirk. We're hosting that
28:17
Speaker 3: also on October 10th. I'll see y'all there. It's a BYOE.
28:21
Speaker 3: You know, vaccines included.
28:23
Speaker 12: It's free.
28:24
Speaker 10: See y'all there.
28:26
Speaker 5: That's all.
28:28
Speaker 7: Are you happy with yourself now?
28:29
Speaker 1: I mean, I think that was.
28:31
Speaker 2: Just, uh.
28:32
Speaker 3: Baby, I'm thrilled.
28:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean.
28:34
Speaker 3: You're brave for being out here, you know, no protection,
28:36
Speaker 3: no nothing, no, like, neck brace, or.
28:39
Speaker 7: I'll pray for you.
28:41
Speaker 2: Classy, as I said, graciously handled, but remember, these people vote. Well,
28:48
Speaker 2: you know, oil, black gold, Texas tea has been in
28:52
Speaker 2: the news an awful lot lately, and President Donald Trump
28:55
Speaker 2: has gone all in on the subject during his most
28:58
Speaker 2: recent rally in Texas, where he also called out James Talafrico,
29:04
Speaker 2: and floated the possibility of making Venezuela, sorry to disappoint you, Canada,
29:09
Speaker 2: the 51st U.S. state. Have a listen to this.
29:14
Speaker 13: I want to thank Venezuela, where our relationship has become.
29:18
Speaker 2: Very, very good.
29:19
Speaker 7: A great one.
29:19
Speaker 13: It will become a prosperous country. And who knows, maybe
29:24
Speaker 13: someday soon it will become a prosperous 51st state.
29:28
Speaker 1: That's possible.
29:29
Speaker 7: Let's make it.
29:31
Speaker 13: Let's make it the 51st state. And instead of a president,
29:35
Speaker 13: we'll have an election for a governor.
29:37
Speaker 1: How about that?
29:39
Speaker 2: Or an L president. Well, joining me now from Minnesota
29:43
Speaker 2: is the president of the Center for the Experiment and
29:46
Speaker 2: co-founder of the wonderful, popular Powerline blog, my good friend
29:50
Speaker 2: John Heidraker. John, is Canada, are your friends up north
29:55
Speaker 2: over the border in Canada all sad and disappointed? They're saying, no, Mr. President,
30:01
Speaker 2: we wanted to be the 51st state, and now he's
30:03
Speaker 2: going to give it to Venezuela?
30:04
Speaker 9: Yeah.
30:06
Speaker 7: Well, unfortunately, James, no, the idea of becoming a state
30:09
Speaker 7: is not popular in Canada. It's one of the drivers
30:13
Speaker 7: of Canadian politics right now. I don't think Venezuela has
30:17
Speaker 7: much of a chance of being the 51st state either.
30:20
Speaker 7: But the great thing is that Venezuelan oil is being
30:24
Speaker 7: pumped again. You know, it was pretty much all offline
30:27
Speaker 7: due to the incompetence of the socialist government there. And
30:31
Speaker 7: Venezuela may have more oil than anyone. So getting that
30:34
Speaker 7: oil flowing again is going to be a boon to
30:37
Speaker 7: consumers all over the world.
30:39
Speaker 2: But, you know, the oil that was getting pumped was
30:42
Speaker 2: going to China. That's not going to be happening anymore.
30:44
Speaker 2: But does this oil that he has been talking about,
30:48
Speaker 2: it's a little bit late to hit the market to
30:50
Speaker 2: start bringing gas prices or petrol prices, as we call
30:53
Speaker 2: them here in Australia, down because I know cost of
30:55
Speaker 2: living has still been a big deal in the midterms.
30:59
Speaker 7: Yeah, James, it's perhaps the number one issue, and you're right.
31:03
Speaker 7: I mean, there are a lot of good things happening.
31:05
Speaker 7: The Strait of Hormuz is open again and so forth,
31:07
Speaker 7: but those things have not happened in time to bring
31:11
Speaker 7: prices down at the pump.
31:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I noted, too, that the president also had
31:17
Speaker 2: Secretary of State Marco Rubio there at the rally. Shall
31:21
Speaker 2: we have a little look at this, a little bit
31:22
Speaker 2: of this? Where's Marco? Come here. Come here, Marco! Marco,
31:32
Speaker 2: come up.
31:33
Speaker 4: Thank you.
31:37
Speaker 5: It's an honor to work for the greatest country in
31:39
Speaker 5: the world, for the greatest president in the history of
31:41
Speaker 5: the United States of America.
31:42
Speaker 1: We love you, Texas.
31:43
Speaker 2: Thank you. John, it was fascinating to see, you know,
31:47
Speaker 2: this sort of. on-again, off-again thing between J.D. Vance and
31:50
Speaker 2: Marco Rubio, almost competing for attention from the president. But
31:55
Speaker 2: I thought this was quite a good sign for those
31:58
Speaker 2: in the Rubio camp, of whom I put my cards
32:01
Speaker 2: on the table and say I very much am one
32:03
Speaker 2: in terms of, you know, hoping for Rubio to go
32:05
Speaker 2: on and have a bright career after secretary of state.
32:10
Speaker 7: Well, James, as you know, I'm a big fan of Marco's.
32:13
Speaker 7: I think we don't know whether Marco is going to
32:16
Speaker 7: enter the race in 2028. And one thing that's really
32:19
Speaker 7: important that we don't know, James, is what will President
32:22
Speaker 7: Trump's standing with the public be in another year or
32:26
Speaker 7: year and a half? He's not very popular. And Marco
32:29
Speaker 7: Rubio might decide that 2028 is not the time to
32:33
Speaker 7: run for president as Donald Trump's successor. He might want
32:37
Speaker 7: to let J.D. Vance have that honor. And then maybe
32:40
Speaker 7: take a shot at 2032.
32:42
Speaker 2: And, you know, John, if my presidential history is correct,
32:45
Speaker 2: it's very, very rare for a vice president to come
32:48
Speaker 2: out of a presidency and then wind up ascending to
32:52
Speaker 2: the White House himself right afterwards. I think was it
32:55
Speaker 2: George H.W. Bush that did that the last time in
32:58
Speaker 2: 1988 after Ronald Reagan?
33:02
Speaker 7: I think the history, James, is that they almost always
33:04
Speaker 7: get the nomination, but they almost never win.
33:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, that's right. Hey, I talked about Tallarico
33:11
Speaker 2: or Talafrico and Trump on this at the, and his
33:15
Speaker 2: obsession with transgender policies. Tallarico has, have a look at
33:19
Speaker 2: this here, some Donald Trump on this.
33:22
Speaker 13: No politician in history has been more obsessed with turning
33:25
Speaker 13: your young boys and girls transgender. I mean, he wants
33:29
Speaker 13: to He said that recently, I saw a thing where
33:32
Speaker 13: he said, what do you like the best? He said, essentially,
33:36
Speaker 13: transgender children.
33:38
Speaker 1: That was a straight.
33:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I was actually far more shocked when
33:42
Speaker 2: somebody asked Tallarico who his favorite drag queen was. And
33:46
Speaker 2: he right away had an answer to that question. This
33:50
Speaker 2: is not a bad thing for, I think, Trump to
33:51
Speaker 2: be highlighting in a place like Texas, even despite all
33:55
Speaker 2: of the sort of the purple state stuff that's been
33:57
Speaker 2: going on. with the Dallas-Austin corridor.
34:01
Speaker 7: James, I find it very hard to believe that Texas
34:04
Speaker 7: is going to elect this guy, a far leftist and
34:07
Speaker 7: a very weird character to the U.S.
34:09
Speaker 2: Senate.
34:10
Speaker 7: And you said exactly what I was thinking when I
34:12
Speaker 7: saw that clip. I mean, Trump is not making this up.
34:15
Speaker 7: The idea that a candidate for the Senate as a
34:18
Speaker 7: favorite drag queen is really kind of astonishing.
34:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I mean, John, let's just sort of talk
34:23
Speaker 2: more broadly, though. You know, you and I both find
34:26
Speaker 2: it hard to believe that Tallarico could be elected in Texas,
34:31
Speaker 2: even though Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate, let's just say
34:33
Speaker 2: there's a few flies on him. Again, we've got in Michigan,
34:37
Speaker 2: it's very hard to believe that El Sayed gets up
34:39
Speaker 2: in Michigan. Because there are quite a few flies on him.
34:42
Speaker 2: How are you seeing more broadly the overall race? Because
34:47
Speaker 2: it seems like so many of the polls now are
34:48
Speaker 2: so inaccurate and we really have no idea what is
34:52
Speaker 2: going on.
34:55
Speaker 7: James, I don't think the narrative has really changed in
34:57
Speaker 7: the last month or two. In all the key races,
35:00
Speaker 7: the polls are very, very close. In most, if not
35:04
Speaker 7: almost all instances, it's the Democrat who in the poll
35:07
Speaker 7: averages has got a slight lead, but always within the
35:10
Speaker 7: margin of error. So maybe we'll see a break in
35:14
Speaker 7: the last couple of days. But as you know, votes
35:16
Speaker 7: are being cast right now. A lot of the votes
35:19
Speaker 7: have already gone into the ballot box. I think it's
35:22
Speaker 7: going to come down to the wire. And at this point,
35:24
Speaker 7: I think we just don't know how it's going to
35:26
Speaker 7: turn out.
35:26
Speaker 2: You know, I saw a fascinating thing this morning, John,
35:28
Speaker 2: and it was one of the big sites, I think
35:31
Speaker 2: it was Kalshi, where you can bet on elections. And
35:34
Speaker 2: they gave us some fascinating news about Michigan. And they
35:37
Speaker 2: said that in Michigan, or the Michigan Senate race, overall,
35:42
Speaker 2: Americans were betting, I think, about 65 to 35 percent
35:46
Speaker 2: on El-Sayed to win. But if you actually looked at
35:49
Speaker 2: Michigan residents, people who live in Michigan and are betting
35:52
Speaker 2: from there, from that state, they're only saying 49 percent
35:56
Speaker 2: predicting him to win. So it feels to me like
35:59
Speaker 2: if you ask people who are closer to the race
36:02
Speaker 2: on some of these polls. They're telling a different story
36:04
Speaker 2: than what some of the national generic polls are saying about, oh,
36:07
Speaker 2: Trump's unpopular, so therefore that automatically equals a blue wave.
36:13
Speaker 7: Well, the Democrats all across the country are running against
36:16
Speaker 7: Donald Trump. They don't run on their own records. They
36:18
Speaker 7: don't run on their own programs, how they try to
36:21
Speaker 7: make things better. They're all running against Donald Trump. I
36:25
Speaker 7: find it hard to work that that's going to work
36:28
Speaker 7: I find it hard to believe that that's going to
36:30
Speaker 7: work for some of these candidates, whether it's Tallarico, El Sayed,
36:33
Speaker 7: or various others around the country. I don't think they've
36:37
Speaker 7: got enough merit on their own to get across the
36:40
Speaker 7: finish line.
36:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. And I mean, you know, you're running against Trump, though,
36:44
Speaker 2: and you're running against a lot of successes, whether or
36:47
Speaker 2: not you like Trump or not. And I noted this
36:49
Speaker 2: piece you had on your Powerline blog earlier. about declining
36:52
Speaker 2: crime rates. Crime is always an issue in every election here,
36:56
Speaker 2: where you live, whatever. And you note that the Bureau
36:59
Speaker 2: of Justice Statistics has already reported homicides down by 17
37:03
Speaker 2: percent in 2025 and preliminary estimates of other violent and
37:07
Speaker 2: nonviolent crimes also dropping. Tell us about this. Should Trump
37:12
Speaker 2: be getting credit for this? And how much of this
37:14
Speaker 2: has to do with the deportation of so many criminal illegals?
37:20
Speaker 7: Well, since Trump started his second term, we've had the
37:22
Speaker 7: biggest reduction in crime in American history. A murder, as
37:26
Speaker 7: you say, is down 17%, but violent crime other than murder,
37:30
Speaker 7: which includes rape, for example, is down... 25%. Aggravated assault
37:35
Speaker 7: is down 31%. Property crimes are also way down. Auto
37:40
Speaker 7: theft has declined by 30%. The list goes on and on.
37:44
Speaker 7: And I think there are several reasons for this, but
37:47
Speaker 7: at the top of the list has got to be
37:49
Speaker 7: the fact that many hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens
37:53
Speaker 7: are are no longer here and are no longer committing
37:57
Speaker 7: those crimes.
37:58
Speaker 2: It's just unbelievable, isn't it? I mean, this is what
38:00
Speaker 2: the Democrats, well, they'd want to turn this around. They've
38:03
Speaker 2: already said they would turn it around if they come
38:04
Speaker 2: back into power. But, hey, we talked about Marco Rubio before,
38:07
Speaker 2: and I thought maybe we should just spend a little
38:09
Speaker 2: time on the VP, J.D. Vance. And he ripped into
38:13
Speaker 2: Democrat Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed, who I spoke about, while
38:17
Speaker 2: he was in Michigan. Let's have a listen to what
38:18
Speaker 2: he had to say.
38:20
Speaker 7: I think Mike Rogers is a great guy. I think
38:21
Speaker 7: Abdul El-Sayed is a little bit of a psychopath. Abdul El-Sayed,
38:25
Speaker 7: who may be more than any Democrat running.
38:28
Speaker 1: In the nation, has engaged in.
38:30
Speaker 2: The kind of explicitly anti-white racial hatred that has become
38:34
Speaker 2: common on.
38:34
Speaker 7: The Democratic Party. I'd say that person should.
38:37
Speaker 1: Not be elected. I think what Republicans stand.
38:39
Speaker 7: For is whether you're black or white, we're for everybody.
38:42
Speaker 11: And Abdul El-Sayed is, again, more than anybody, a guy
38:46
Speaker 11: who seems to love to traffic.
38:48
Speaker 2: In racial hatred. Yeah, I mean, I think El-Sayed does
38:51
Speaker 2: traffic in an awful lot of what we might call
38:54
Speaker 2: tropes about a lot of different people. It's interesting that
38:59
Speaker 2: Vance is in Michigan there. They're bringing out everything to
39:02
Speaker 2: stop El-Sayed, aren't they?
39:05
Speaker 7: Well, they really are. These Senate races are very important.
39:08
Speaker 7: If the Democrats take the Senate, Trump will not get
39:10
Speaker 7: a single appointment confirmed in the last year. two years
39:14
Speaker 7: of his term. And El-Sayed is really out there. You know,
39:16
Speaker 7: he has campaigned repeatedly with Assan Piker, the podcaster who
39:21
Speaker 7: is on video repeatedly saying, I hate America. That's a
39:25
Speaker 7: very weird platform for a Senate candidate to run on.
39:30
Speaker 9: Yeah.
39:30
Speaker 2: And I mean, Piker himself has recently said in the
39:33
Speaker 2: last 24 hours that, you know, he expects that the
39:35
Speaker 2: Democrat socialist candidates and progressive candidates are going to wind
39:40
Speaker 2: up forming a real block in the Democrat Party. I'm
39:44
Speaker 2: just wondering, I've said this has been happening for a while,
39:47
Speaker 2: but is really the energy on the Democrats now with
39:50
Speaker 2: this lunatic fringe wing that is taking over the party,
39:54
Speaker 2: is this their Tea Party moment?
39:57
Speaker 7: James, it absolutely is. We saw this in the primaries.
40:00
Speaker 7: The socialists were winning all across the country where they
40:03
Speaker 7: were running in the Democratic primaries. We're seeing it now
40:06
Speaker 7: in the general election. I mean, the energy in the
40:08
Speaker 7: Democratic Party is all on the extreme left. We see
40:13
Speaker 7: that here in Minnesota, as we do in many other states.
40:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.
40:18
Speaker 2: Well, we're going to have to leave it there. Just
40:20
Speaker 2: a quick prediction, because it's the last time we speak
40:23
Speaker 2: before the polls close. House, Senate, how do they land?
40:27
Speaker 7: I think the Democrats take the House narrowly by four
40:30
Speaker 7: or five seats. I'm hoping and I'm predicting that the
40:34
Speaker 7: Republicans hang on to the Senate 51-49 or 52-48.
40:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's be 51-49. That's my bet. But,
40:42
Speaker 2: you know, that's not financial advice, folks. So make your
40:44
Speaker 2: own decisions. John Heidraker, thank you so much for your time,
40:47
Speaker 2: as always.
40:48
Speaker 7: Great to be with you, James.
40:49
Speaker 2: Still to come is flirting with strangers the key to
40:52
Speaker 2: a happy marriage. I'll discuss that and more with Megan
40:55
Speaker 2: Watts next.
40:57
Speaker 1: Thank you.
41:02
Speaker 2: Well, you know, there's no secret to the institution of marriage.
41:05
Speaker 2: It works differently for everyone. However, there are some things that,
41:10
Speaker 2: typically speaking, most married couples can agree are no-goes, such
41:15
Speaker 2: as flirting with other people while married, for example. Well,
41:20
Speaker 2: not so for actress Kristen Bell. During her press tour
41:24
Speaker 2: for the hit series Nobody Wants This on Netflix, She
41:29
Speaker 2: sat down for an interview on her husband's podcast called
41:32
Speaker 2: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard and revealed that her husband
41:36
Speaker 2: flirting with others keeps their marriage alive. This is what
41:39
Speaker 2: she had to say.
41:40
Speaker 12: We'll be at dinner and like he'll say to the waiter, waitress,
41:44
Speaker 12: he'll go, wow, you have incredible eyelashes, gorgeous eyes.
41:47
Speaker 2: Great, great job.
41:49
Speaker 12: And then that's flirting with her. But that's flirting with
41:53
Speaker 12: me because he just made someone else feel good because
41:57
Speaker 12: he's going to have zero interaction with it.
41:59
Speaker 2: Let's say it is a girl.
42:01
Speaker 12: He's going to have zero interaction with this girl for
42:03
Speaker 12: the rest of his life. The chances of him ever
42:05
Speaker 12: having another conversation with her are so microscopic.
42:09
Speaker 2: Joining me now to discuss this and a whole lot
42:11
Speaker 2: more is News 24 lifestyle reporter Megan Wells. Megan, thank
42:15
Speaker 2: you so much for joining me here on the program.
42:17
Speaker 2: Great to have you. I thought this was actually a
42:19
Speaker 2: really fascinating idea here. Not just this idea of opening
42:22
Speaker 2: up about maybe something that would be controversial in a marriage,
42:26
Speaker 2: but maybe this idea that, you know, being sparky but
42:29
Speaker 2: keeping it between the two of you actually could add
42:33
Speaker 2: some heat to a relationship.
42:35
Speaker 14: Listen, I feel completely unqualified giving out marriage advice, but
42:39
Speaker 14: one thing I will say is a lot of people
42:40
Speaker 14: online do find this a bit of a bizarre relationship dynamic.
42:44
Speaker 14: You can just see by the faces of her co-stars
42:47
Speaker 14: during that interview. They were also a little bit uncomfortable.
42:50
Speaker 14: I don't know if I would love my partner flirting
42:54
Speaker 14: with a waitress at the table. I don't know if
42:56
Speaker 14: I'd be blushing over it, but one thing I will
42:58
Speaker 14: say is they boast a 20-decade relationship. They have two kids.
43:02
Speaker 14: They've weathered some incredibly... challenging storms in the public face.
43:07
Speaker 14: I mean, if it works for them, it works for them.
43:09
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, look, I mean, I think maybe if they
43:11
Speaker 2: could get two decades and a couple of kids in
43:13
Speaker 2: the environment of Hollywood under their belt, maybe people shouldn't
43:17
Speaker 2: be so puritanical about just something that gives them a
43:20
Speaker 2: bit of a jolly. But, hey, let's move on, too,
43:21
Speaker 2: because we've got other stuff to talk about. Ali G,
43:24
Speaker 2: remember him? He is back. Actor Sacha Baron Cohen has
43:28
Speaker 2: reprised his role as the infamous character in the sequel.
43:31
Speaker 2: Ali G, who is it? But in a recent interview
43:35
Speaker 2: with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor has revealed that he
43:37
Speaker 2: wanted to reboot the movie after all these years saying,
43:42
Speaker 2: I'm terrified of where our society is headed and the
43:45
Speaker 2: way I can comment on that is through my comedy.
43:49
Speaker 2: I wanted to show the extremism on both sides of
43:52
Speaker 2: the political spectrum and the danger of virtuous violence. Megan,
43:58
Speaker 2: what do you reckon about this? He's making a pretty
44:00
Speaker 2: strong point here. He's always done these sort of very
44:03
Speaker 2: stereotypical characters. But is this more about having a laugh
44:08
Speaker 2: at ourselves or sending a warning?
44:10
Speaker 14: Listen, James, I think the entertainment and the comedy sphere
44:13
Speaker 14: is very constrained by this fear of being cancelled, definitely
44:18
Speaker 14: in 2026. One thing I will say is the character
44:21
Speaker 14: of Ali G, brought to life by Cohen, he's a
44:24
Speaker 14: very tongue-in-cheek character. He touches on some really serious topics
44:27
Speaker 14: like biases and racial differences and culture. So it can
44:32
Speaker 14: be risky territory, but kudos to him for being brave
44:35
Speaker 14: and taking one.
44:37
Speaker 1: Sure.
44:37
Speaker 2: And, you know, as somebody who covers this stuff and
44:39
Speaker 2: has been following this stuff more closely than I would
44:42
Speaker 2: admit I have, would you say that we are, you know,
44:45
Speaker 2: we had that whole woke period five years ago, 10
44:47
Speaker 2: years ago when everybody was terrified and everybody was getting canceled.
44:51
Speaker 2: Have things gotten, you know, a little more loose on
44:55
Speaker 2: that front or is it still dangerous out there?
44:58
Speaker 14: I think the jury is still out. I think people
45:01
Speaker 14: are slowly, you know, like Cohen, he's testing the waters
45:03
Speaker 14: to see what the audience will think. But I think
45:07
Speaker 14: gradually we may be returning to more confident storytelling where
45:11
Speaker 14: we're not scared about what people will say about us.
45:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Okay, well, I mean, like, I think we've
45:15
Speaker 2: got to hope for that. I mean, this whole thing
45:17
Speaker 2: where they're saying, hey, woke one was crazy, but I'm
45:18
Speaker 2: just afraid of woke 2.0 coming down the pike. Speaking
45:22
Speaker 2: of numbers, not 1.0 or 2.0, 007. 007, because the
45:28
Speaker 2: race is on to become the next 007, the next Bond.
45:32
Speaker 2: According to both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, a handful
45:34
Speaker 2: of actors have made it through to the final screen
45:37
Speaker 2: test phase in London, but apparently Aussie-born Jacob Elordi has
45:42
Speaker 2: been knocked out. Yes, James.
45:45
Speaker 14: Australians across the country are devastated that Elordi has not
45:49
Speaker 14: made the final cut for the Bond auditions. So the
45:52
Speaker 14: Hollywood Reporter did confirm that he will not be doing
45:55
Speaker 14: the final test, even though he was one of the
45:58
Speaker 14: candidates that everyone was speaking about that would make a
46:01
Speaker 14: perfect Bond.
46:02
Speaker 2: So who are they talking about as frontrunners?
46:05
Speaker 14: Yeah, so we've got three big names that are currently
46:08
Speaker 14: being circulated at the moment. The first is a guy
46:11
Speaker 14: called Jack Loudon. He's a Scot, and he was in
46:16
Speaker 14: White Horses, and he is an MI5 agent, and a
46:18
Speaker 14: lot of people are saying that this is a great
46:21
Speaker 14: precursor to the Bond character.
46:23
Speaker 2: Because Sean Connery, of course, was Scottish.
46:25
Speaker 14: Yeah, yeah, there we go. Second in line, we've got
46:28
Speaker 14: Callum Turner. Now, Callum Turner, he's done more comedic roles.
46:32
Speaker 14: He's done a film called Eternity. He's done a film
46:35
Speaker 14: called One Night Only. A lot of people know him, though,
46:38
Speaker 14: as the husband of pop star Dua Lipa. So a
46:42
Speaker 14: lot of Gen Zs are holding their fingers that it's
46:45
Speaker 14: Callum Turner. But last but not least is Josh O'Connor. Now,
46:49
Speaker 14: he's an interesting one. He's done challenges opposite Zendaya. But
46:54
Speaker 14: most notably, he starred across former James Bond, Daniel Craig,
47:00
Speaker 14: in the Knives Out series. And so people are thinking
47:02
Speaker 14: maybe he got some good tips for the role.
47:05
Speaker 2: Has he got a leg up? It's interesting, does the
47:07
Speaker 2: Bond franchise, because we're talking about, you know, changes in
47:10
Speaker 2: the culture, does the Bond franchise still carry on today,
47:12
Speaker 2: do you reckon? Let's see. Because you mentioned Gen Z's being,
47:15
Speaker 2: you know, pulling from one of these guys.
47:17
Speaker 14: You're talking to the wrong person because I'm the biggest
47:20
Speaker 14: fan of James Bond and I think it has a
47:22
Speaker 14: legacy that could span generations, so I don't think it's
47:26
Speaker 14: going anywhere personally, but we'll see. Maybe their pick of
47:30
Speaker 14: the next James Bond will really solidify whether it's one
47:33
Speaker 14: that will carry out with the Gen Z.
47:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope it's a good non-woke Bond and there's
47:37
Speaker 2: a lot of martinis and fights and things like that,
47:40
Speaker 2: but hey, let's go on to this other topic here. Now,
47:43
Speaker 2: I'm sad to say I didn't make the cut on
47:44
Speaker 2: this either, but... People's Magazine's Sexiest Man of the Year
47:48
Speaker 2: has been announced, and the Pitt and ER star Noah
47:51
Speaker 2: Wiley has been hailed as the winner, though he was
47:55
Speaker 2: apparently being pranked when he won the award. Tell us
48:01
Speaker 2: a bit about this. Does he, in your eyes, because
48:04
Speaker 2: I'm probably not qualified to judge, does he make the cut?
48:08
Speaker 14: Listen, Noah Weil has had an incredible year. Not only
48:11
Speaker 14: has he been voted sexiest man alive, which is quite
48:14
Speaker 14: a nice accolade to add to your belt, but he's
48:17
Speaker 14: also got an Emmy. He's got a Critics' Choice Award
48:20
Speaker 14: this year. He's an incredible family man. He has three
48:23
Speaker 14: beautiful kids, a wife of 12 years, and he's a
48:25
Speaker 14: huge philanthropist. He has the Noah Weil Foundation, which supports
48:30
Speaker 14: communities that are underprivileged. I think he's absolutely deserving of
48:36
Speaker 14: it and he's definitely got my vote.
48:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, there you go. And finally, Megan and Harry,
48:39
Speaker 2: they've got another bit of controversy around them with this
48:43
Speaker 2: interview with GQ. Just tell us quickly what's happened here.
48:46
Speaker 14: Yeah, so basically he's appeared with GQ magazine and he
48:51
Speaker 14: said how excited he is to be on British soil
48:53
Speaker 14: again and how, of course, he wants to reconcile with
48:56
Speaker 14: his relatives. However, a lot of people online are very
49:01
Speaker 14: much concerned criticizing this because he's done a very quick
49:05
Speaker 14: 180 from his past comments, particularly that of the country
49:09
Speaker 14: and the royal family. He said that in the past
49:12
Speaker 14: that he didn't feel very safe bringing his kids to
49:14
Speaker 14: the country without his taxpayer-funded protection. And, of course, he
49:19
Speaker 14: said a lot of things about his relatives that wouldn't
49:21
Speaker 14: necessarily fly.
49:23
Speaker 2: He needs to stay away from the press and get
49:25
Speaker 2: into therapy. That's all I can say about that. Megan Watts,
49:28
Speaker 2: thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. Now,
49:31
Speaker 2: stick around. That's all the time I've got tonight. Thanks
49:33
Speaker 2: for hanging out with me. Up next is Late Edition.
49:35
Speaker 2: Good night.