Latest / KSEV Mornings with Craig and Wayne / 8-14-26 Craig Collins Show

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8-14-26 Craig Collins Show · KSEV Mornings with Craig and Wayne

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is the Craig Collins Show, ks c V, the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Voice of Texas. I'm gonna go ahead and skip my
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: bumper music for right now because I just want to
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: get right to the calls.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Because tell me why I love the bumper.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: I'll do it next time.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I actually the real reason, Senator Betton Quarter, is that
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: it's not plugged in.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Notice that because my board went dead, your.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Board should still work if the three sixties up on
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the board, which I left up on the board. But
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: now now it should be all right. So we have
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: we have a couple of calls, one that I think
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: hung over. Paul Pablo is on the phone, so we
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: can go one first if you want, Senator Betton Court,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: all right, let's do it, and then we'll get to
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Jimmy X next.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah. You know y'all are talking at the end of
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: the show there about the polls. And then here's something
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: you know. Remember last week I said Sid was a terrorist,
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: Islamic terrorist. People are not going to vote independence, are
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: not going to vote for an Islamic terrorists. All the
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: DSA candidates and I noticed the polls in Paxson and
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: to Rico Tarlo. Rico was up five points what a
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: month or six weeks ago, Now it's dead even.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, Paul, I mean, here's what's happened.
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: Let's see, tall Rico got closed, then tall Rico went ahead,
• 1:22
  Speaker 5: and right now I would say eighty percent of the
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: polls have him up by three to two or one.
• 1:28
  Speaker 5: There was only one poll recently that had tall Rino
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: right down by one. Uh and so so right now
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: on balanced, tall Rico's ahead at least in the polling.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: Well, but it's it's basically it's basically win in the
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: margin era. I mean he was he had outside in
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: margin vera uh what three weeks ago something like that.
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: Well, pol, you know, yes, But here's the problem. What's
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: happening is all this time is baking in the support.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: That's the problem.
• 2:01
  Speaker 5: And if he keeps running those ads unopposed, that every
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: week that goes by after the start of school, people
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: start thinking, okay, I'm making up my mind and make
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: it in my mind, and by Labor Day a lot
• 2:14
  Speaker 5: of them made up their mind. And especially independence, and
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: if we lose independence, that's trouble because Paxton doesn't have
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: the locked in support on the Republicans that much as obvious.
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: No, here, I want to say something to Pablo.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Hold On, I want to say something too, because I
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: think this is really interesting. I think Tallarico's worst enemy
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: is tall Rico. But I think it's Paxton's job to
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: tell Texas how horrible tal Erco is, right and all the.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Crazy stuff that he said.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the biggest the biggest shock right now is that
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: it seems Paxson doesn't have the money to do that.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Because if the Republicans fail because of not being able
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: to spend enough to inform Texans better of the crazy
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: side of tall Rico, this loss will be embarrassing for
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the party as a whole.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: Now, just go ahead.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: Now, what I've seen, or what I've read is the
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: Republicans are basically two to one in money right now?
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: Am I? Am I missing something?
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: You said?
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Do you think the Republicans, no, Plarico is two to one?
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I've even heard three to one.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: No, No, what I'm saying. What I'm saying is the
• 3:21
  Speaker 4: Republicans National Committee. Okay, in other words, where you start
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: putting money on races, right, they still they they they've
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: got more money the Republicans do.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Now, hold on, Yeah, well, no, let me let me
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: say that's Pablo, what you're saying. Because Senator Bettencourt talked
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: about this on The Amigos literally like twenty minutes ago.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: Trump has this money.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: There's people who have money within the Republican Party, but
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: they're not necessarily sharing it with Tallarico or with Paxton
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: right now. For whatever reason, they have the money well
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: to do this.
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  Speaker 4: I think that's part.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Of what I think is happening. Right Well, here's what
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I think. I think, hold on, hold on Popp. What
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I think is happening is a lot of people are
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: assuming Tallarico can't win Texas. I think there's a lot
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: of people in the political machine that just I just
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: think he's too crazy. But I don't think they're paying
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: attention on the ground. And it was similar when I
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: think Trump almost endorsed Cornan. There was a moment early
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: on before that runoff actually happened where a lot of
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: people thought that President Trump was going to.
• 4:28
  Speaker 5: Come out actually right after the run off, because right
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: because Cornan did better than expectation, he got forty two
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: of the voue Paxton only got forty one, and for
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: a while there was a question of, well, who's going
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: to endorse you? And then you know, over time the
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: drift became obvious. That but this was back to the
• 4:46
  Speaker 5: problem that Ben and I talked about with Eric, that
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: corner's approval ratio and the republic Party bottom down on three.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and with that shot, hold on because I didn't
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: get I didn't get to make my point yet one
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: more second. What I was trying to say is I
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: think that the the almost endorsement of Cornin showed that
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: there are some people beyond Texas that misunderstand what's going
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: on in Texas. They misunderstand the desires that Republican voters
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: in this state have. So it took a while for
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: that message to land on the President's desk and other
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: places that Cornyn was a terrible decision. He is a
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: decision that was not backed by a majority of Texans,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: certainly not Magga Texans.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: I think that same thing is happening again.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: I think the communication system is failing to get to
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the place that needs to get to that says tall
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Ico is a legitimate shot to win this state.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: Craig, just the sum up and we get Paul, then
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: we need to get to Jimmy ask as we do.
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: The bottom line here is by now, everybody knows that
• 5:47
  Speaker 5: tall Ico has a clear shot to win this race.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Everybody here knows that.
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: Well, no, and DC they know now, okay, because the
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: polls have just been constant, whether it's outside the margin
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: there or not. It's up by one, up by two,
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: up by three, pick a number. And and the fact
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: that the polls are this close and Texas means no
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: matter what, there's a shot here.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Now. I mean in an.
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: Alternate world, you know, it would be quite as fact,
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: you know, quite an unbelievable turn where that the Republicans
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: pick up Michigan but lose Texas and it's an even swap. Okay,
• 6:22
  Speaker 5: But you know, but we've got now eighty one days
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: to game time. And the problem is is that by
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: about sixty days to game time, people really start making
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: up their minds. The independents are not leaning Republican. And
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: that's that's where the rubber meets the row.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: But Senator Bencourt, I think what and even Ben's clip
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: was kind of showing with and Paxton said it to
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Dana lash Too in the Dana interview that he did
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: that he doesn't have the money to do the amount
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: of advertising he needs to do. If everyone including DC,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: understands the risk the Tellerico poses. Why isn't that money coming?
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: So where's that body not going?
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: And Ben and I picked up the same thing because
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: when I was watching the Maria interview when Paxton he
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: kind of slipped and he said, I've got my you know,
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: I'm building or chest for October. Sure, and then he went, oh,
• 7:11
  Speaker 5: I've got a bill back into September.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: And I went, oh, no, okay.
• 7:15
  Speaker 5: He was like, oh, exactly okay, and then.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: That was it. Paul, all right, we got to run
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: and go to Jimmy. No, no, no, no, save it, Paul,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: you've been on Colin.
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: Next time we'll do overtime. We got to go to
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  Speaker 5: the other guy. All right, all right, see you, Pablo.
• 7:36
  Speaker 5: All right, Jimmy X, you're up. Jimmy, what's going on?
• 7:42
  Speaker 7: Well, I guess I'm now the other guy.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Oh, his phone's going in and out. Jimmy, I don't
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: know if your connections. Gon, go ahead, keep going me.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: You had a laugh line and we lost you, we
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: dropped you.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Come back.
• 7:53
  Speaker 7: Oh, I said, I guess I'm now the other guy.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, let's go other guy.
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: Yes, Well, somebody has to be the other guy. And Jimmy,
• 8:05
  Speaker 5: we talked about your earlier on the Amigos. We said,
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: if anybody's smart, they would bring pizza, they would bring something.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: You know, we'll take anything.
• 8:17
  Speaker 7: Come on, well, I guess I owe you guys another
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: pizza night. But and I really want to make a
• 8:22
  Speaker 7: political point here, but you guys have had a long
• 8:25
  Speaker 7: time advertiser on KSDV AHAs Roofing, Devin Rolling te Hata Sure.
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: And we had an issue with our roof about three
• 8:36
  Speaker 7: weeks ago, and I called them because they advertised on
• 8:40
  Speaker 7: KStV and everything that they said they do. They came
• 8:46
  Speaker 7: out and I was in and out at under five
• 8:48
  Speaker 7: hundred dollars and my problems fixed. And they they are funny, fantastic.
• 8:54
  Speaker 7: So if you need Roofy, call Chaos Roofy.
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're good out there.
• 8:59
  Speaker 7: It is.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: That's my And by the way, I do what you
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: remind me.
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: I want to give a shout out the hydro quest
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: because basically, you know, we picked up a property and
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: we thought the irrigation system was working, and then of
• 9:13
  Speaker 5: course it did, and then the master valve stopped and
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: so all the computers are telling you, yes, you watered,
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: and you know, blah blah, and and it was obvious
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: that we had trouble. And they came out in the
• 9:25
  Speaker 5: middle of the drought uh and uh and bailed out
• 9:28
  Speaker 5: the taxman. So I promised them a shout out. So
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: thank you for reminding me. Jimmy, you know the with
• 9:35
  Speaker 5: you know what what that tells me? And Jimmy, you
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: got everybody that's working, Craig. Everybody's working for a living,
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: you know, whether it's you know, the roofing contractor the taxman,
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: the you know, the the professor Craig. And the problem
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: is is that in this type of fraud, people are
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: actually turning off listening to multiple sources. They're coming down
• 10:01
  Speaker 5: to the media just listening to only trusted sources. And
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: I'm meeting people this week that walk up to me
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: and say, hey, you're Paul Bettencourt, right, Hey, I love
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: what you're doing. But you know, I've turned everything off.
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: I can't stand it. I'm just not watching anymore. Jimmy,
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: are you getting the same you know view out there?
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: I actually am, but I am also fearful of everything
• 10:26
  Speaker 7: you're talking about right now. But the oldest principle of war,
• 10:34
  Speaker 7: Senator bet in Court Rester Gray is divide and conquer,
• 10:39
  Speaker 7: and that is what has happened in the state of Texas.
• 10:42
  Speaker 7: We have been divided and they are now prepared to
• 10:44
  Speaker 7: conquer us. And the way to counter that is attack, attack, attack,
• 10:51
  Speaker 7: And and by the way, all this money sit on
• 10:54
  Speaker 7: the sideline for.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah no. And and I had.
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: Lunch with a major political figure today and I encouraged him,
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: you've got a DSA opponent, go take it right away
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: and ask for debate and just say, there's a big
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: difference between you know, somebody who is a real DSA,
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: you know, candidate, like somebody following on Leoni Hildago, like
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: Letitia Plummer. I mean, she's a real DSA. She's Democrat
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: Socialist of America. First, okay, she's not a modern democrat
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: like like Eric and Ell. And so you know, people
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: got to start talking about it. But you have to
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: do that at every level. You have to compare and contrasts,
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: and you have to do it now because if you
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: wait till October and some people say, well, I've got
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: to save all my money for early voting, it's over
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: by then. People won't have the band with to listen
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: to you to make the comparing content pressed stick. You
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: gotta go now, yeah.
• 12:03
  Speaker 7: And don't worry about all these false poles. Okay. We
• 12:08
  Speaker 7: had another example this week in the state of Wisconsin
• 12:11
  Speaker 7: where this crazy dsa woman by points yes and she lost. Okay,
• 12:20
  Speaker 7: So now there could have been a little ballot stuffing
• 12:23
  Speaker 7: because they did have late night you know ballots that
• 12:26
  Speaker 7: something appeared out of nowhere. But the point is is
• 12:30
  Speaker 7: that the polls are overrated. Use social media, knew the
• 12:35
  Speaker 7: use the new ways to get your message out. But
• 12:38
  Speaker 7: we also have to spend some money. Okay, you need
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: to be driving up and down I forty five and
• 12:44
  Speaker 7: Eyed ten, and there needs to be billboards from Ken
• 12:47
  Speaker 7: Baxton that say James Talarico said there are six genders,
• 12:52
  Speaker 7: what about you? Okay, James tall Rico said, God is
• 12:57
  Speaker 7: non binary, what about you? And we need to have
• 13:01
  Speaker 7: TV ads, in radio ads. We need a full fledged
• 13:05
  Speaker 7: attack media plan. And whatever happened to that thirty million
• 13:11
  Speaker 7: that Governor Abbot was supposed to give to Harris County
• 13:15
  Speaker 7: flipping red? Where that money is.
• 13:16
  Speaker 5: Twenty five and uh right, no, I'm just and there
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: and there's there. They've got a team coming in uh
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: to talk to people Monday night about it, so we'll
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: see when they're going to engage.
• 13:31
  Speaker 7: But again, El Senator, it's almost labor Day. No would
• 13:35
  Speaker 7: have been having these discussions weeks.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Ago, Jimmy.
• 13:38
  Speaker 5: The difference is this, Okay, look right now, this is
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: a worst down draft in twenty eighteen.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: But one thing never happened. Beto never led in a poll. Ever.
• 13:52
  Speaker 5: Now, at the very end, they were getting some polls
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: that looked like Beto was going to over top Cruise
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: and I actually, you know.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Was MC in an event where I had to literally do.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: Four separate introductions for okay because the first three Ted
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: was listening to the pollsters bad news about what was
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: happening in Harris County. And literally by the third one,
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: I found a baby in the audience and we're kissing
• 14:19
  Speaker 5: our baby, you know, so so, but the.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Bad news is here already.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: And look, and I watched the commercials because if call
• 14:29
  Speaker 5: Rico said, oh, I was a co author of property
• 14:32
  Speaker 5: tax relief or anything except that he helped bring people together,
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: it's very hard to argue that. I've asked at the
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: House members did he do it? And he said, well,
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: he was in every one of our meetings on the floor.
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: But you know, so I'm waiting because when he went
• 14:47
  Speaker 5: over his skis, you remember, Craig, we we had this
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: and I put it up and I got a quarter
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: million views where he said that that the election was
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: rigged and he was already going to lose. And my
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: comment was of the people vote with Democrat county clerks,
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: so who is suppressing whom?
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Here?
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: And a great question and an incredible post.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah right, and never response, of course, all right from
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: any Democrat, right because they knew they'd blown it, right.
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: So so but you've got to get up and start
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: fighting it. Now.
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: You have to do it, Yes, you.
• 15:20
  Speaker 5: Have to, whether you do a little bit of it,
• 15:22
  Speaker 5: but you just got to say there's real issues, okay,
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: and and and bring them out.
• 15:29
  Speaker 7: Communist James James tall Rico is a marsh attack. Attack
• 15:38
  Speaker 7: attack one, but spend the money, go after the yep, yep.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, thank you, Jimmy.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: I know we got one more call, and I know
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: we got to take a break in a few minutes because
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: Senator Bettencourt has other places he has to be, and
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: then also my veteran is coming up at six point thirty.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: But I think we got one more call that we'll
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: try to get to once we get it screened and
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: then get that call in the air and then we'll
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: thanks center.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: No but I mean no, but Craig, I'm glad. You know.
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: Look, it's everybody comes to the same conclusion based upon
• 16:06
  Speaker 5: the evidence, which is, hey, look, you know tell Rico
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: has been up now for three months and uh.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: I think that's Chris and Spring probably good. Sure, come on,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: we'll talk all right, Chris, what.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: Do you want to say?
• 16:19
  Speaker 7: Hey, guys, how you doing today?
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Good?
• 16:21
  Speaker 7: Okay, So let me be clear. The authority to audit
• 16:26
  Speaker 7: Harris County elections is that from the executive or is
• 16:28
  Speaker 7: that a statute from the legislator.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: That's a statute from the legislature. And they they've got
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: fantastic right they have to go through another audit.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: That's fantastic.
• 16:39
  Speaker 7: So let's let's let me give you another idea and
• 16:41
  Speaker 7: everybody else listening, Harris County Commissioner's Court, this is year
• 16:45
  Speaker 7: five of one hundred billion dollar deficit. Can we encumber
• 16:51
  Speaker 7: these people through a statue or through the executive brand
• 16:55
  Speaker 7: If you cannot pass the budget start plus with all
• 16:57
  Speaker 7: the toll money and the property taxes, state comes in
• 17:01
  Speaker 7: and takes it over for a year.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: You know, Chris is an interesting can we tolerate this?
• 17:05
  Speaker 7: Mister Becourt, Why do we tolerate this? Cisco Malkaf.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: First off, Uncle Paul does not tolerate this.
• 17:13
  Speaker 5: And and no, and Chris Alexander Mieler says, you know,
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: Uncle Paul's made a literally a legislative you know, career
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: out of passing bills to shut you know, shut Harris
• 17:26
  Speaker 5: County down and take away their corrupt eas And we've
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: also you know, defunded and stop defunding Place Center Hot.
• 17:32
  Speaker 7: I appreciate that.
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: And so now what we're what's your come up with
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: is this, We tried to pass a bill to take
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: money out of the toll road fund. Because you're you're,
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: you're right on target. And this very important point. It's
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: not just the property taxes that Commissioner's Court controls, it's
• 17:52
  Speaker 5: the one point nine billion dollars of cash in the.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: Toll road account.
• 17:57
  Speaker 7: Oh my god.
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: And we're trying to and actually Mono diayah and I
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: carried that bill, We got it out of the Senate.
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: He could not get it into out on the floor
• 18:08
  Speaker 5: of the House because too much Democrat opposition over there.
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: But but believe me, we're trying to that is exact
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: one to one, because it's it's the flood Control District,
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: it's the hospital district, it's the county, it's the toll
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: road and all that giant pie is what Rodney Ellis
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: likes to spend several hundred million dollars on pet projects
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: from the toll Road fund.
• 18:33
  Speaker 7: And at what point, mister Bencourt, do these Darwin zones
• 18:37
  Speaker 7: and their fiscal mouth seasons start affecting the Texas credit
• 18:40
  Speaker 7: rating and their bond rating. Well, when does that become
• 18:43
  Speaker 7: an issue for all of us?
• 18:45
  Speaker 5: Well, the city just got their bond rating up under
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: John Whitmyer's leadership to double a plus, but they're.
• 18:51
  Speaker 7: Still in the hold of the still they're still cannot
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: balance the budget. They just cannot do it.
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: And and it does because what's and and here's what
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: it's gonna happen, Chris. On Monday, they're gonna have a
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: big discussion about whether or not to do maximum smash
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: tax increase and go to the voters for a and
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: go Chris, okay, oh, he got borright, and go for
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: the to the voters for approval. And if they make
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: that mistake, then that's the opening that people running against
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: the Commissioner's need to try to get those races competitive.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Sure, no, absolutely, well, thank you Senator Bettencourt for staying late,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: for hanging out for a question.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: I know, and I will leave you to your you
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: know right.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Well, so we have to take a break. I do
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: not have a break set up, and my computer is
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: not set up. So Lucas is still sitting in the
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: other room and he'll have to get that set up
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: for us, which he's usually allowed to.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: You, I'm really glad Lucas is still here. I am.
• 19:43
  Speaker 3: I'm glad to He's usually allowed to leave by now.
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: But he's he's got like orange haair. Have you noticed
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: he's got like orange chair. We always we just like
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: the guy with orange haair. Nice there you go, yeah,
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: Like with the sun behind him on the screen, he
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: looks like it's orange haair.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: So once Lucas has that break all set up and
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: ready to go, what he does he's giving me the
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: thumbs up. We'll go ahead and take a break. We'll
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: come back and we'll have a veteran voice on for
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the remainder of the show. We do that commercial free.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: But thank you again. Does Senator Bettencourt for hanging out live.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: You know, I went everyone to Live Long and prosper.
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Did I say that? I've ever said that. I think
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: spot got that for me. I don't know.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I think you did. Absolutely, Thank you, sir.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I loved that the President makes the stop too quick
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: break A lot coming up. This is the Craig Collins
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Show KSV, The Voice of Taxing. This is the Craig
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Collins Show KSV, The Voice of Taxes. I have my
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: military veteran guest in studio, Martin Melconian.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Am I saying that right? Or did I say it wrong?
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Lean lean up into that and hit the red buttons
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: that Mike goes on for Mike four.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: And then say it again. Say yes or no?
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: You were spot on?
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: All right?
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: Cool Melconian? You are You were a member of the
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: navy for how many years?
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: Eight total?
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: Eight total years? You were stationed on at least one ship?
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: Yes? The US is Preble.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Oh wow? How long were you on the ship?
• 20:54
  Speaker 6: About? We did a.
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: Nine month where'd you go?
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: Uh?
• 20:59
  Speaker 6: We we stopped in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong. We were
• 21:05
  Speaker 6: in the These are port calls, but our main mission
• 21:09
  Speaker 6: was borring as straight of hormose.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: You were in the straight of hormose.
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, that feels like an opportunity to talk to you
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: just a little bit about politics. Okay, we'll get to
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: that in a second, though, because I actually want to
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: ask this, and I think it's really interesting for people
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: to understand it when the different branches of the military
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: tell people the biggest benefit of like, yo, you should
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: be a marine for this reason, you should be Army
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: for this reason. The thing I hear most from Navy
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: is they'll get to travel the most. And I don't
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: know if you think that that's true or not. And
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: if you think that is a benefit of serving in
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: the Navy.
• 21:40
  Speaker 6: It depends on what job you take. Honestly, I would
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: probably say eighty percent of the time you're a Navy
• 21:47
  Speaker 6: person is on a boat and depending on the mission
• 21:51
  Speaker 6: that carrier or strike group is on, depending on where
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: you go.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: Okay, but you did get to travel Japan all over
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: the place. Okay, Yeah, that was pretty cool. That's awesome.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: So the Strait of Hormos you mentioned it, do you
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: have any opinion as to what's been going on there
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: and what the US should be doing, if anything Differently.
• 22:08
  Speaker 6: Honestly, the I was I was in Straight of Hormouse
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: in two thousand and seven. Uh, it was height of
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: probably one of part of the height of the Iraq War. Honestly,
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: the Straight of Hormous. It's all about money and oil,
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: sure and everything. Nothing really went on in the Strait
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: when we were there. Yeah we did. We did do
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: missions of like pirrating and stuff like that.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: Other than that, it was business as usual.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Do you think the US could just take it though,
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Like if we wanted to take it, could we just
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: take it?
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: No?
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: Why not?
• 22:40
  Speaker 6: Because everything falls under a religion. Everything is a religion
• 22:46
  Speaker 6: war religious war. This is my personal opinion. And uh,
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: you know, yeah, there are some conflicts going on with
• 22:53
  Speaker 6: Saudi Arabia and Yemen and stuff like that. But at
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: the end of the day, when you know, it's uh,
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: you know, part of my job was intelligent. So I
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: had to read the Quran and wow, there's a there's
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: a part in there that says pretty much, if our
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: religion is ever threatened to extinction, pretty much, Yeah, that's
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: when everybody gets together and fights back. Right, So if
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: that time ever comes, then.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: You think that if the United States ever tried to
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: take the straight up from us. It would be a
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: religious threat to the entire area and they would all
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: band together to fight.
• 23:28
  Speaker 6: Yeah, that's when World War three weekok.
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: Off, gotcha? Okay?
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Senator Bettencourt does a show he just left with two
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: other hosts. Ben Strusand is the name of one of
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: those hosts. Ben has often said on their show that
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: he thinks the blockade is the most effective strategy to
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: eventually win whatever the fight is against Iran, differently than
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: I think some sort of actual fight which you just
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: sort of said you don't think is the right decision.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Is the blockade the right approach to it?
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: Or no? In my opinion, no, it's not.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Okay, what do you think you'd do if you were
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: asked to go or just leave?
• 24:02
  Speaker 6: Leave business as usual? Honestly? Like so me, my ethnicity
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: on our Armenia and my parents when the Armenia genocide
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: happened in nineteen fifteen, my grandparents fled to Iran. That's
• 24:18
  Speaker 6: where my parents were born. Wow, so my parents fled
• 24:21
  Speaker 6: during the revolution and ultimately there's a time where the
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: Shah took over right and changed it more into a
• 24:30
  Speaker 6: Western I civilization. Sure, that's what my parents grew up under,
• 24:35
  Speaker 6: but it ultimately Iran has always been an Islamic nation.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Sure, so you know it's really interesting because I'll be honest, Martin,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I did not book you for this reason. I booked
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: you because you're a veteran, and we do something Veteran
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: voices every single Friday at six thirty, where all I
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: do is talk about you know, your experience in the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: military and whatever else you want to talk about.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: I know you're a.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Local business owner, but it's hard for me to stop
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: discussing this topic with you now, Okay, now that you're here,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: because I do think you have unique insight. Iran is
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: a place currently that's fairly awful to the people that
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: live there. You would agree with that, right. The current
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: regime in power mass kills civilians, they do things like.
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: Protest, definitely. So the best comparison I could give to you,
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: I've never been to Iran. I tried to go back
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: in when my father passed away. He owns property over there,
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: or owned property, I should say, I tried to go.
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: They blocked me because they knew I was military. So
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: the guy that was working my visa s I can't go.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: But the best comparison I could give to you is
• 25:42
  Speaker 6: pretty much people that protest against the government in our
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: country right now. The difference is when people protest over there,
• 25:51
  Speaker 6: they get killed.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, correct, And so one of the things, and I
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: know that a lot of people don't believe it's actually
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: what the fight's about.
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: The fight's more about oil.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: But one of the things that present and Trump has
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: said out loud that he's fighting is for humanitarian freedom,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: for people to be freed from the regime that's in control.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: He's killed a couple leaders, there's new leaders in charge.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: And I think one of the beliefs, at least in
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the United States, and I've heard Jade Vance talk about this,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: is that Iran would inevitably rise up against the leadership
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: against the dictators there if they thought they had enough
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: support from the United States. And that's where I start
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: to believe that in action involving US military that might
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: inevitably be boots on the ground, although I don't think
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: it would truly be boots on the ground, and say,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: you know, deep in Iran, but somewhere near the Strait
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: of Hormuzer or carg Island, for example, doing something like
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: that might motivate the people to inevitably try to overthrow
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: the government.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: But it's a pipe dream. It never really happens.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: Any of the places that we open happens because Iran
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: is not the only place where the United States has
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: been cheering for revolution and one doesn't occur. But do
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: you think there's any avenue to ever get No. No,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: And it's just because of the power that exists from
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the people in charge.
• 27:03
  Speaker 6: The power, the religious backgrounds. It's never going to be westernized.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, explain to me what you mean, because I'm
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: not sure that I totally understand that when you say
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the religious background, you think there's aspects of Iran that
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: would always be run the way they're run.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: Because the religious belief is to do it a certain way.
• 27:19
  Speaker 6: It's not only Iran. Look at Iraq, look at Yemen,
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: look at all the other countries. I mean, Dubai went
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: westernized to a certain extent, they did, but the country
• 27:32
  Speaker 6: it was founded under their beliefs, of their Islamic beliefs.
• 27:37
  Speaker 6: So there's a small percentage of people right now that
• 27:41
  Speaker 6: protest against the government, but it's a very small percentage.
• 27:45
  Speaker 6: I don't think it's ever going to get overturned. I
• 27:47
  Speaker 6: mean I was watching a podcast with Patrick David, Yeah,
• 27:54
  Speaker 6: and he was pretty much calling the shaw Son his
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: calling his bluff. Yeah, you're not gonna overturn, You're not
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: going to go in there. He called it from the
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: day one, this whole thing start, and sure enough he said,
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: you're gonna end up folding. And that's what he did today.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: The one other thing I guess I would talk about
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and then I promise we'll actually move on to other stuff.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: And the whole reason you're booked and everything was not this.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: But I do believe that Iran was working toward a
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: nuclear weapon. I believe that narrative.
• 28:22
  Speaker 6: They've been saying that for a long time though, right,
• 28:24
  Speaker 6: I mean, I really hope that.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: But I would say that just before you respond, they
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: had uranium that was enriched up to sixty percent, which
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: is one one more process away from being nuclear weapon capable.
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: So they had progressed in what they had before to
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: what they had right before we started fighting them.
• 28:44
  Speaker 6: Yes, I don't know the exact statistic of it, sure,
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: but yeah, they've always had the nuclear weapon. They probably
• 28:50
  Speaker 6: still do. We don't know the truth. Even people in
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: the military, even the high commanders. They probably you know,
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: they probably don't know what's actually going on. Sure, but
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: we will never know. Only a small percentage of these people.
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: And I really hope that people will be left alone.
• 29:09
  Speaker 6: They I really hope they have a voice.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: But the civilians, the civilians, I hope they do too.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: And I don't think this administrator, the regime that's in
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: charge right now, wants the people to have a voice.
• 29:20
  Speaker 6: No, no, they don't, that's what But at the end
• 29:24
  Speaker 6: of the day, that's their religion and that's the power
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: that they go by.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: Fair Enough, that was an interesting first ten minutes of
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: this chat. I'll be honest, profoundly different than what I expected.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Martin Melconian is here and you are a Navy guy
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: that served multiple years that actually wound up working in
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: the straight of our moves. Can you tell me a
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: little bit about your military experience when you reflect on
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: it now looking back on it, do you think it
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: made you the business leader you are? Do you think
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: it had other impacts in your life?
• 29:53
  Speaker 6: Definitely? I think so. I grew up under you know,
• 29:56
  Speaker 6: my parents were both entrepreneurs, and I think I grew
• 30:01
  Speaker 6: up under understanding that a little bit. And then when
• 30:04
  Speaker 6: I joined the military and then the job I had
• 30:07
  Speaker 6: and just thinking outside the box, that's what it taught
• 30:09
  Speaker 6: me to think outside the box. Yeah, just how any
• 30:13
  Speaker 6: other job would would so. And then during my experience,
• 30:19
  Speaker 6: I mean, I did a deployment and boots on ground
• 30:22
  Speaker 6: in Cambuca, which housed the highest threat of detainees. That's
• 30:26
  Speaker 6: where Isis was formed in front of our eyes.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 30:29
  Speaker 6: Coincidentally, I was every single day. I guarded Muhammada al
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: bag Daddy every single day for a year, spoke to
• 30:38
  Speaker 6: him every single day and not knowing that they're creating
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: ices right in front of us. That's where Isis was formed.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: That's an incredible thing. What did you think of bag
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: Daddy getting killed?
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: Like?
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: How did that? How did you process that as someone
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: that knew him for as long as you did?
• 30:54
  Speaker 6: Honestly, it was in my personal opinion, when we left
• 30:58
  Speaker 6: and the whole Isis thing started started and took off,
• 31:01
  Speaker 6: and you know, finally we killed them. Yeah, I was happy.
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: But up until then, even up until today, we failed
• 31:09
  Speaker 6: that mission in my opinion. How so, because they created
• 31:13
  Speaker 6: this power force of Isis without us knowing.
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that why do you think we didn't know?
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Why couldn't we observe that You said you were there
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: and it was under your eyes and you were talking
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: to bag Daddy on a regular basis. Not that it's
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: your job to sniff all this out individually, But why
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: don't you think the US military was more aware of
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: the risk of.
• 31:33
  Speaker 6: This because it was in the There was a lot
• 31:37
  Speaker 6: of a lot of detainment. When we got there, a
• 31:40
  Speaker 6: lot of the detainees were brought in from I forgot
• 31:44
  Speaker 6: that other detention facility that they made a movie about
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: that there. They transferred all of them over there, and
• 31:51
  Speaker 6: then now you have Army, Navy, Air Force over there
• 31:55
  Speaker 6: trying to figure it. Then things out, and then it
• 31:58
  Speaker 6: was in the process of out of nowhere, we got
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: orders to shut down the base. So now we're transitioning
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: them out to handing them over to the Iraqi government,
• 32:08
  Speaker 6: which still during the time, we were still training them,
• 32:11
  Speaker 6: and they weren't the best people to train with, I imagine.
• 32:16
  Speaker 6: So I think there's a lot of moving parts going
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: on again in my opinion, and this felt, you know.
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: How would you have succeeded? You said we failed the mission.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: What do you think we could have done to succeed?
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: Not shut down the base, gotcha, gotcha? Not shut down
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: the first base. Then transfers everybody.
• 32:33
  Speaker 6: Over, no, not even campus going, yeah, keep going, because
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: it was out of nowhere. We got orders in two
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: thousand and nine shut down the base. Now we're pushing
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: them off to let the Iraqi government deal with them.
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: And a lot of them obviously didn't stay under they
• 32:52
  Speaker 6: didn't stay getting jailed.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: Well, So that that feels reminiscent of the Afghanistan conflicts too,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: because it's Obama in charge in two thousand and nine,
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Biden in charge. When we just randomly leave Afghanistan and
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: they say that there's a very different version of exiting
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: a conflict that might leave us in a better position
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: to influence what happens next. And it's not just pull
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: the plug and get out. And every time you see
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: someone want to have a political win, and I'm not
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: trying to make you talk about politics per se.
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: And I think there's two presidents that are examples of this.
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: The political win overcomes what is probably the military advice
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: being given to this leader to not do it the
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: way they're thinking. But they want to be able to
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: go on television and say that's over. Now we're out
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: we're done. Is that something that you feel within the
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: military is true or no?
• 33:36
  Speaker 6: No, not necessarily. There's a reason to everything. Sure, so
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: whatever they do, there was reasoning is behind it. That
• 33:44
  Speaker 6: Afghanistan thing was a little was different. I wasn't there,
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: but there had to be some sort of reason for them.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: You don't think it can just be a political win.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: You don't think that the politicians at the top just
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: want because here, I'll ask you this, and this is
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: a different way to do it. I don't know if
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: you heard the story about the one guy who survived
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: the suicide bomber in Afghanistan who then is lying in
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: a hospital bed. He had lost limbs, and his claim
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: is that Joe Biden, then President Biden, came into the
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: hospital room and treated him like crap. He essentially said
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: to him, all right, you're making a little bit of
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: a scene. You're publicly out there criticizing me and demonstrating
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: that you're a wounded veteran that was fighting there and whatever.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: And according to the veteran, I'm paraphrasing what he said,
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: but essentially Biden said, what do you want in order
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: to get you to shut up and stop talking about
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: the negative thing that happened to you and giving me
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: bad press.
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: What do you want?
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: And when I saw that story, and granted you could
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: probably say that the guy's not telling the truth, I
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: tend to trust a lot of veterans and imagine you
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: do two. Actually, the thing I think about is how
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: politics can be at the forefront of some of these
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: politicians' minds, even as they're in charge of things like
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: our military and the men and women who fight and
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: protect this country, that they can make an awful decision
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: for an awful reason and then sort of check their
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: humanity at the door.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: And it sounded like in.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: That story there was a pretty good example of someone
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: potentially doing.
• 35:06
  Speaker 6: That possibly, And I mean again, I always believe there's
• 35:10
  Speaker 6: there's the left side of the story, the right side of.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: The story in the middle.
• 35:14
  Speaker 6: I mean, it could have been the you know, my
• 35:16
  Speaker 6: fellow veteran getting mad because his legs are blown up
• 35:19
  Speaker 6: and going off on him, and then it was a
• 35:22
  Speaker 6: reaction or something. It could have been. He was he's
• 35:25
  Speaker 6: more of a conservative than a Democrat.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: Sure, I get it.
• 35:29
  Speaker 6: There's even like I served under Bush and Obama, there
• 35:34
  Speaker 6: was a lot of conservative fellow veterans that I know
• 35:38
  Speaker 6: that did not like what Bush did.
• 35:40
  Speaker 3: I don't think a lot of people like it.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 35:42
  Speaker 6: No when when all this comes to light years after,
• 35:47
  Speaker 6: but even during that time, I have my opinions on it.
• 35:51
  Speaker 6: But again those are just my opinions. Every veteran willingly
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: signed up. There wasn't a draft. No one told us
• 35:59
  Speaker 6: you have to go into service. Know that when you
• 36:02
  Speaker 6: go into service, you're told what to do.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: I want to make sure that I understand what you're saying,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: and that the listeners understand what you're saying. You're saying that
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: even if you look back and feel a leader used
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: you in a way you wouldn't have wanted to be used,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: essentially ordered this, you know, group to go do this
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: fight in this way, and a conflict in Iraq and
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: everywhere else is a pretty good example of this. That
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: you don't regret it because you assign on the dotted line.
• 36:26
  Speaker 6: Correct.
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: Wow, that's amazing.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you it this way, and this is
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: not about specific stuff, but this is really just veterans
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: and the way that they I think behave even after
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: they serve our country.
• 36:38
  Speaker 3: There is something that's so.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: Admirable about the ability to say that you're you know,
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: asked to do something, you're willing to do it. You
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: go out and you do it, and then you come
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: home and you just got to keep living your life
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: like you just you switch that fuse, or at least
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: the assumption, I think by a lot of civilians is
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: that you're just being asked to switch that fuse off
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: for the rest of your life. And it's it seems
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: to be one of the hardest things for most vets
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: to do to go from the world you're in, especially
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: if you do get deployed to a conflict, to then
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: be a civilian again for the rest of the time
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: you're here in this country.
• 37:11
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's it is hard, but it's not like it
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: happens in a day. So you have to put in
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: your packet to discharge, and then in the process of discharging,
• 37:21
  Speaker 6: they set you up with classes to exit the military,
• 37:24
  Speaker 6: and there.
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: Are alases good at that time.
• 37:30
  Speaker 6: At that time, it wasn't so great. I hear now
• 37:33
  Speaker 6: it's a whole lot better, but at least they're taking
• 37:37
  Speaker 6: the steps. Because you know, one of my close friends,
• 37:41
  Speaker 6: he was a recruiter during post nine to eleven, like
• 37:44
  Speaker 6: right after nine eleven. He's like there was. He's like,
• 37:47
  Speaker 6: we weren't even screening them in the office. We were
• 37:49
  Speaker 6: writing their applications on the way to MEPs. That's how
• 37:52
  Speaker 6: both they were.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 37:54
  Speaker 6: So when you have an influx of people of that
• 37:59
  Speaker 6: joined the military and then all right, I did my
• 38:01
  Speaker 6: four years eight years, and there was a ton of
• 38:04
  Speaker 6: them that discharged after that time. Yeah, and you know,
• 38:08
  Speaker 6: the transition was pretty hard. Now it leveled out. Now
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: they have better classes to get you. You know, they'll
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: set you up with psych appointments and all these things
• 38:17
  Speaker 6: to get you situated in the civilian world.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: The reason I'm moving is we're getting a phone call
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: that keeps trying to call in, so I'm going to
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: take it. I don't know if it's a veteran or
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: it's someone that wants to ask you a question, just
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: real quick, call her. What's your name? Caller, you're on
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: the air, what's your name. I can't really hear him.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: I think he's on speakerphone. You can call back in
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: if you want to, and we are willing to talk
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: to although we don't usually take a listener calls during
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: this I want to transition to something else, and I
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: really appreciate everything you've said so far, but I do.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: We only got ten minutes left already. I want to
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: give you an opportunity to talk about your business. You're
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: a business owner here in town. Tell me a little
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: bit about that.
• 38:55
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I own a state farm agency out in Houston
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: Greenway Clause right behind Lakewood Church. Nice, and I've been
• 39:04
  Speaker 6: I've had my agency for about six years now, but
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: I started in Houston in twenty seventeen when I moved
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: here from Los Angeles.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, so I do want to ask you about something
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: I've noticed about certain industries and veteran owned versions of them.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: Like insurance is a game where there's a lot of
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: crappy people, there's a lot of shady owners and stuff.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Real Estate is another one I've come across where there's
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: certain agents that you don't want to work with and
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: ones that you do. And I've honestly found and I
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: don't mean this to kiss up to you. I just
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: mean this generally that veterans do a better job of
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: not being a crappy guy in a crappy profession, Like
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: they do a better job of being a dude that's
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: actually going to do what you need and not necessarily
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: take advantage of you do you think in your industry
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: that has a lot of shady characters, that that's true,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: that that's something that you really bring to the table
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: as a state farm you know, business owner or state
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: farm agency owner. Is that if you work with me,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: you're getting a version of service from someone who you
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: can trust.
• 40:03
  Speaker 6: So in my opinion, you know, being a state farm agent,
• 40:08
  Speaker 6: you have to have your why of what your why
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: you want to do this right. I genuinely care for people.
• 40:14
  Speaker 6: I generally help people out. A lot of people think
• 40:17
  Speaker 6: insurance is a scam or insurance agents are this and that. Again,
• 40:22
  Speaker 6: it's you would really have to have a passion for
• 40:24
  Speaker 6: what you're doing. A state farm agent changed my family's
• 40:28
  Speaker 6: life when my dad passed away. We had no idea
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: he had life insurance and me and me and my
• 40:34
  Speaker 6: sister had to pay for this funeral. Being from Los Angeles,
• 40:38
  Speaker 6: it's really thirty two thousand dollars in two thousand and nine. Sure,
• 40:42
  Speaker 6: so come to find out he had a state farm
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: agent sold him a life insurance policy we had no
• 40:46
  Speaker 6: idea about. So that's why I got into the business
• 40:49
  Speaker 6: because I generally love helping people out, and it's like
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: the title that like a good neighbors state farm is there.
• 40:57
  Speaker 6: And I take it to heart about that because I
• 41:01
  Speaker 6: don't I haven't found another industry that could protect someone
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: in their family more than this industry.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: I mean, well, this is what I mean about the
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: way that you just talked about insurance, because you're absolutely
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: right that there's a lot of people that wouldn't even
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: talk about it that way, even people who are in
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: the game that probably wouldn't talk.
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: I remember this.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you it's a different state entirely,
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: so it's not gonna make anybody mad here in Texas.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: But I remember sitting down with a guy who wanted
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: to do an advertisement for radio show I was doing,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: and I started to talk to him, and I got
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: this weird sense and he was an insurance guy, but
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: I got this weird sense that he wasn't the most
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: honorable human being. And so I walk out and I
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: just start contacting people that I know who are a
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: little bit more familiar with him, and I kept hearing
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: back how he takes advantage of people, how he finds
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: avenues to get out of certain things if somebody winds
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: up needing him, Like all the stuff that you hear
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: is the horror stories of insurance companies. And there's so
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: many industries that have that one in one hundred opportunity to,
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: as you said, really impact someone's life.
• 41:58
  Speaker 3: And so it's kind of amazing to.
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: Hear you say that you take it to heart because
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: at times that might not be the most beneficial to
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: you as a business, but it's going to be the
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: most beneficial to the people that you are working with
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: and that you care about. And so there's something really
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: cool about that idea. Go ahead, what do you want
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: to say?
• 42:13
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's I get some sort of satisfaction or something
• 42:19
  Speaker 6: when you know, when I have someone a customer coming
• 42:22
  Speaker 6: into my office, I'm not going to tell a chiropractor
• 42:24
  Speaker 6: how to crack a person's neck, right, And I'm the
• 42:28
  Speaker 6: professional here, and I'm going to give my professionalism to
• 42:32
  Speaker 6: all my customers, and I'm going to tell them this
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: is what you you know, this is what you owe
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: or earn and what you have, This is the family
• 42:39
  Speaker 6: you have, and this is the legacy you want to
• 42:41
  Speaker 6: leave behind. This is how to go about protecting all
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: of that. Wow, they might think we us agents that
• 42:49
  Speaker 6: I've heard this so many times my premium is five
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: hundred dollars a month, and my agent gets paid five
• 42:55
  Speaker 6: hundred dollars a month a commissioner. No, not at all,
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: not at all, nothing close to that. Yeah, we do
• 43:02
  Speaker 6: earn a commission. It's a very small amount, but it's
• 43:07
  Speaker 6: how we impact all our customers and how we portray it.
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: You know, there's a difference between an insurance agent and
• 43:14
  Speaker 6: an insurance broker. Yes, two different worlds broke. In my opinion,
• 43:21
  Speaker 6: the brokers are the ones that are just shopping for
• 43:24
  Speaker 6: the cheapest price. The agent is the one that sits
• 43:26
  Speaker 6: down and goes over the coverages, goes over what you
• 43:30
  Speaker 6: need to protect you and the family and how to
• 43:34
  Speaker 6: leave a legacy behind if something happens.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: Well, And the other thing you can say about the
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: agent is they're actually the one you contact if something
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: bad happens.
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: Correct.
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: Like, the other thing about having an agent instead of
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: like going through some internet program or something to do
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: it is that inevitably you made this person and you
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: get to know them, and that if something horrific happens,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: if a storm ruins your roof at the in the
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: middle of the night, you probably can contact this agent
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: that you know.
• 43:55
  Speaker 6: Correct, It's like during Hurricane Harvey or a hurricane Barrel. Know,
• 44:00
  Speaker 6: we were a state farm agent's were out on the
• 44:03
  Speaker 6: streets passing out checks. Beryl, did I did it during Barrel?
• 44:09
  Speaker 6: You know? Or the Texas freeze that was the craziest
• 44:12
  Speaker 6: one I have ever experienced. And it's knowing that I
• 44:17
  Speaker 6: could go to go to a customer's house their house
• 44:20
  Speaker 6: caved in because of pipe break, and I'm like, here's
• 44:23
  Speaker 6: a check for ten thousand dollars, go find a hotel
• 44:27
  Speaker 6: or Airbnb something, and let's get this claim process started
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: immediately and help them out. That's there's a difference versus
• 44:35
  Speaker 6: calling another company that doesn't have agents and they just
• 44:38
  Speaker 6: have to sit there and wait. Now you have you
• 44:41
  Speaker 6: have to understand when a catastrophic claims happen like that, hurricanes, floods,
• 44:46
  Speaker 6: whatever it is, wildfires in California. There's so many claims
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: adjusters that are being deployed. Again, I'm not a claims adjuster,
• 44:56
  Speaker 6: but I see what goes on and it's a way game.
• 45:00
  Speaker 6: That's where the agent comes into play and sort of
• 45:03
  Speaker 6: acts like a middleman even though we're not claims adjusters,
• 45:06
  Speaker 6: but will help the process out as smoothly as.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: So well, what's also interesting about what you said?
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: And we only have about four minutes left and then
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: the show's already over, and really thank you to Martin
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: Melconian for being here.
• 45:16
  Speaker 3: How do people contact your agency?
• 45:18
  Speaker 6: Real quick? A lot of people contact us through social media?
• 45:21
  Speaker 6: Your agent Marty dot your agent Marty is our tag name,
• 45:25
  Speaker 6: your website or your agent Marty dot com our office too?
• 45:29
  Speaker 6: Eight one seven one two seven eight eight say that
• 45:31
  Speaker 6: number again two eight one seven one two two seven
• 45:34
  Speaker 6: eight eight.
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: Nice, thank you, Yeah, you got to do it twice
• 45:36
  Speaker 3: on the radio. Thank you.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: But before I let you go, I do want to
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: say this about the whole idea. And you said that
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: you're like out there handing out checks during one of
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: the hurricanes. Are you sort of a calming voice? I
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: feel like your military experience, everything else you've been through.
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: If somebody's freaking out that had something terrible happen, and
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: your agent Marty is the guy that they're reaching, do
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: you think maybe you help calm some of these people down.
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: Definitely, definitely. It's uh a the You know, I have
• 46:01
  Speaker 6: one customer in mine right now. I can never forget
• 46:04
  Speaker 6: about her. But I remember I delivered water to her
• 46:06
  Speaker 6: house because she couldn't go anywhere. Wow, and it was
• 46:10
  Speaker 6: a whole different Uh, it's a it's a different experience.
• 46:14
  Speaker 6: It's it almost I related to my time in Iraq
• 46:18
  Speaker 6: when you know, helping out the local citizens over there
• 46:22
  Speaker 6: because their their house got bombed or something like that.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: It's it's amazing to consider the trajectory. I just have
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: a couple of months left. I do want to ask
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: you why insurance. Was that an obvious fit for you
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: immediately out of the military or did it take a
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: while to find it.
• 46:36
  Speaker 6: I had two choices. I was either going to go
• 46:39
  Speaker 6: to law school or and I was looking at insurance
• 46:42
  Speaker 6: at the same time. Then I realized, I can never
• 46:45
  Speaker 6: put myself involved in a in a career like attorneys.
• 46:50
  Speaker 6: No offensive attorneys. But you know, I never understood how
• 46:53
  Speaker 6: a criminal defense attorney could defend could no, not defended,
• 46:57
  Speaker 6: only a criminal defense someone that's a child rapist. So
• 47:00
  Speaker 6: I was like, I can't. I can't put myself in
• 47:02
  Speaker 6: that category. So I was like, insurance changed my family's life,
• 47:05
  Speaker 6: so I'm gonna go do that.
• 47:07
  Speaker 3: That's amazing, man.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you one more time before we get out
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: of here with you about a minute to goo. I
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: do want you to promote your business again, and then
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: anything else. If there's something else you want to say,
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: you got a minute and a half to do it.
• 47:17
  Speaker 6: Sure, Thank you very much again for this opportunity. The
• 47:20
  Speaker 6: other thing that I'd love to do with my business,
• 47:23
  Speaker 6: like helping people out, is you know, I love to
• 47:27
  Speaker 6: donate to veteran organizations. A couple my couple go tos,
• 47:34
  Speaker 6: I would say, in the Houston areas, give us pause
• 47:37
  Speaker 6: that trainer and register dogs as for PTSD veterans.
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: Awesome. I love those organizations.
• 47:42
  Speaker 6: And then the George Hotel in downtown Houston. They house
• 47:47
  Speaker 6: homeless and homeless veterans. And if you want to donate
• 47:52
  Speaker 6: your clothes or furniture, don't donate it to other places
• 47:55
  Speaker 6: that you know, God knows what they do with it.
• 47:58
  Speaker 6: But take it to did George. They really appreciated.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's saying did George d E g E O
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: r g E at Union Stations. Did George is a
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: nonprofit organization. The Housing Coorp dot org is their website,
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: The Housingcorp dot org. And then give us pause. I
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: love organizations that do this sort of thing. Give us
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: Pause dot org. That, as you said, trains dogs to
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: be service providers for veterans, and those relationships actually have
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: heard can help a lot of people overcome mental health
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: issues that they're struggling with. Yes, yes, yeah, so it's amazing. Well,
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: thank you, Martin, You're awesome. My agent, Marty is your
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: website for people to go to, and.
• 48:35
  Speaker 6: Your agent Marty your agent.
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: Sorry, well I was assuming that some of these people
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: would buy it. Your Agent Marty is a great place
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: to go to learn more about him.
• 48:42
  Speaker 3: That's it. That's the whole show. We'll talk to you
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: guys next time.
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: The Craig Collins Show, KSV The Voice of Texas be
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: right back