Bill Meyer Show Podcast - Sponsored by Clouser Drilling www.ClouserDrilling.com - 05-19-26_TUESDAY_7AM

Episode Date: May 20, 2026

Should the FCC tighten up ratings on online streamed kids tv show? Melissan Henson from the Concerned Women Of America digs in, then former Sen. Baertschiger and I discuss the election, and other political news of the day.

This hour of the Bill Meyer Show podcast is proudly sponsored by Klauser Drilling. They've been leading the way in Southern Oregon well drilling for more than 50 years. Find out more about them at Klausor drilling.com. Now more with Bill Meyer. So glad you're here. It's 11 minutes after 7 on Pebble in Your Shoe Tuesday. Pebble in Your Shoe Tuesday, of course, would me bring up something which may be irritating. It's just bugging you and what could be done about that. And I'm going to shift it to the media environment.

here for a little bit with Melissa Henson. Melissa Hansen is the senior policy advisor for media and culture for Concern Women for America. It is the largest public policy women's organization. And I guess you're all about essentially Christian values. Would that be a fair assessment of what's going on here, Melissa? Welcome back to the show. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me on. Yeah. Concern Women for America is a conservative Christian women's organization, the largest, as you said, the largest women's organization in America. All right. Well, you've got a lot to be concerned about these days, I would figure, and not that I want to be

a cultural scold about everything which is going on. But I noticed that your group filed an FCC comment, a comment to the federal government, the Federal Communications Commission, about television rating systems. And the television rating systems, you know, you see the show come on and it says, all right, it's going to be MA mature, there's violence or there's sex, or now they even have smoking and, oh my gosh, there could be blinking lights on it too. I guess you have to, you know, have warnings about all sorts of stuff. But what you're going to go, well, you're saying that the rating system is just completely inadequate. And I'm wondering why, if you can break that

down for me. Sure, of course. Well, the rating system that we have now was created 30 years ago when streaming media wasn't even a, you know, a glimmer in the media industry's eyes yet. Yeah. You know, it was created for a broadcast universe and a broadcast universe that was already constrained by federal broadcast decency laws and so forth. But when it was created, you know, basically it was the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and Congress said, look, we'll give the entertainment industry an opportunity to come up with the system, the FCC can take a look at it. If they like it, they give it a thumbs up.

If they don't like it, they give it a thumbs down. And if the entertainment industry fails to come up with a system that the FCC can go along with, then the FCC will create a system that the entertainment industry has to abide by. So all these industry groups, you know, the big power players in Hollywood and their lobbyists, like the NCCA and the NAB and the MPAA put together this system. And that's the system that's still in place today. But there's no real oversight in how these ratings are applied. And the other aspect of this, too, I think you and I've talked about this before,

is that essentially they regulate themselves. That's it exactly. Yeah. And because of that, there is a real, well, there's a positive feedback loop that says, hey, you're not going to say anything bad about this particular show or this program, or you're going to soften it, whatever it is, because money's involved, right? Well, that's exactly right. So there's no real oversight because it's the same people that are producing and distributing the content

are the ones that are deciding what the program should be rated, and they're the ones who decide whether or not they rated it correctly in the first place. Boy, talk about the Fox, the garden house, right? That sort of thing in the media world. Okay. Right, right. So what we're seeing, though, is with string, media, they're still using this rating system that was created for broadcast TV, even though

really no longer makes sense. And content has gotten substantially worse. Well, if I understand correctly, though, there really is no requirement for rating online content, is there? Because FCC doesn't really have authority over online. Or does it? That's right. No, the FCC really has no regulatory authority over streaming content. But, you know, sort of by default, because I think people would expect to see something. So they sort of by default said, okay, well, we'll follow what the broadcast networks do. But what we are seeing is, you know, for example, if you look at Netflix, more than half the content on Netflix is rated TVMA.

And that TVMA could be anything from a cooking show where there's two or three F words to, you know, World War II documentary where you're seeing, you know, blood and gore to, you know, Game of Thrones level, explicit sexuality and nudity. So how helpful is that category if you're trying to decide, well, it's just something that my older teen could watch because I'd be fine with, you know, I have a 17-year-old who's interested in going into the military. I wouldn't mind him watching, you know, saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers. That's okay.

Yeah, and it's appropriately violent given the subject matter. It makes sense. Given the subject matter. Right. So how helpful is that actually? And then on the other end of the spectrum, what we are seeing is, for example, CWA did a study in December and found that about a third of programs that are rated appropriate for children. So the least restrictive ratings out there, Y, Y, 7, and G. About a third of those programs contain LGBTQ content or characters or messages or themes, but it's not labeled in any way.

Okay, I want to make sure I hear you correctly. So the rating system will say that a young kid, a seven-year-old, right? Seven-year-old is then it's perfectly okay then in a cartoon or the kids show to be propagandized with LGBTQ? That's it exactly. And I think what's especially insidious about it is that very often what we're talking about here are reboots of shows that, you know, my generation or the generation of parents, with young children grew up watching themselves. And so they say, hey, I know strawberry shortcake, or I know my little pony. It's totally fine for little Johnny or little Janie to watch that.

Well, what is it now, my little trans pony? I mean, what are they doing with it? Yes, yes. Yes. Oh, is it really trans pony or are we just being sarcastic about it? They've introduced same-sex couples on My Little Pony. There is on strawberry shortcake, a couple with, let's see, one of them identifies as trans, and the other one identifies as non-binary, I think.

It calls himself Transberry. And he, you know, dresses like a woman. And, yeah, so it is absolutely propagandizing. But it's rated as appropriate for children, younger than seven. You know, here it is. Here it is. I just throw out something just off the top of my head thinking it is so totally outrageous. It couldn't be true when you're telling me, yeah, it's true.

This is what happens right now in cartoons. It's true. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. So as I say, about a third of the content. And it's not unique to Netflix either. We're seeing this pattern holds up across. You know, we're seeing it show up in PBS children's programming.

We're seeing it show up in Disney children's programming. But again, there's no warning. And you mentioned, you know, if you turn on Amazon crime video, they kind of do their own thing. And they'll tell you if they're smoking on screen or they'll tell you if there's alcohol on the screen. Yeah, and they do that. The flashing lights warning. And the flashing lights. So all we're saying is, you know, more information is better than less information.

And parents should have an opportunity to decide if they want their kids to see this kind of stuff. they shouldn't have to find out about it after the fact or when it's too late. Well, it would appear then Melissa. Melissa Hansen once again with me, and her group is concerned women for America. It does appear that the content providers or the content creators, whether it's the cartoonist, the television networks or whatever, boy, they're really all in on LGBTQ from the looks of it. I mean, if you're pushing it to a 7-year-old, a Y-7 audience, hmm? Why? Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and,

In fact, you know, there was, you may remember this was a few years back. Somebody recorded a private Zoom call. I think, in fact, it might have been during COVID, which is why it was over Zoom rather than in person. But somebody recorded a Zoom call where a Disney producer, I think she was one of the producers for Proud Family for the Disney, talking about her not-so-secret gay agenda and how Disney has really embraced it and allowed her to kind of run with that. Huh. And people are paying Disney Plus, and people are paying, okay, all right.

So you have a lot of people who are trying to just have their child grow up in a normal environment or something, putting in front of Netflix and says, why seven? Oh, it's perfectly okay. And that's not the case at all. Right. So what we're saying is that it's really time to revisit this 30-year-old rating system that was, you know, is a, you know, is a, different world in 1996, Senators in 2026. But to your point, though, if the FCC doesn't have authority to regulate that, and it would appear by statute, it does not, where do you choose to go or where are you trying to push this envelope, then? Well, in fact, you're right.

The FCC doesn't have any authority over streaming content, but many of the same studios. So like, for example, ABC is owned by Disney. Disney has the Disney Plus streaming app where they're also streaming the ABC and Fox content. So it would be curious if they didn't go ahead and use the standardized system, even though they're not required to. But if they're rating this content for their broadcast properties, they would probably use the same system for their streaming properties. And that's true. Almost all these streaming platforms now have some kind of put, in both broadcast and cable. But I think the other impact that it would have would be to sort of force a reckoning

with the entertainment industry more broadly and say, look, you're behaving in ways that are contrary to the values of a lot of families. Families should have some say in how this content is rated, how it's labeled. You need to be listening to the voice of families, and that's part of what this proceeding is trying to do is open up the oversight. of these and the oversight of the administration of these ratings includes the non-industrialized voices so that it's not such a, you know, right now it's very much a closed system with very little input from external voices and we need to change that. We need to make sure that

families are represented as well. All right, to be clear about this, you're not calling to ban my gay little pony or whatever LGBTQ-themed shows are coming out there, but you're saying that it should be noted in the ratings. Is that where you're coming from, Melissa? Yeah, and there are a lot of things that you could say should be noted in the ratings. So, for example, if you have somebody in your home or in your family who has struggled with alcohol dependency, you may not want them to see images of people drinking on screen. So maybe it would be a good idea to label that.

And it's not prohibiting it. It's not saying you can't watch it. It's just saying you should be informed. It's no different in my mind than when you go to the grocery store and you pick a package of food off the shelf and you look at the ingredients. Yeah, there's the ingredient list. Yeah. And say, I don't like high fructose corn syrup. I don't want to feed that to my family.

You know, the next person after you may be totally fine with high fructose corn syrup. My choice doesn't impact their purchase decisions or what they're allowed to buy for themselves. But I'll bet you there are a lot of parents that are just sitting their kids down in front of the screen and just letting it stream and just not. thinking too much about it, not really watching it with them. Would that be fair? Or assuming that because it's rated Y or G, that it's okay and that there's no need to look any deeper. All right. So what happens next?

You commented to the FCC. Will it take some, are you asking for like some legislation to give them authority to take a look or not? No, we're not asking for legislation right now. The FCC is looking for input from everyday citizens. They're looking for comments from the listeners in your audience. So if you go to concernwomen.org, we have a link right there on the homepage so that you can file comment yourself. And I would encourage folks to do that because right now a lot of the comments are trending in favor of, you know, exposing children to content like this and saying, no, parents don't need to know about it. And parents don't need to be warned about it.

parents don't need to know about this in the school curriculum. Parents don't need to know if their kids are being transitioned socially. They just don't need to know. They don't need to know. So if you disagree and you think as a parent you have a right to know so that you can make an informed choice for your family without impinging on the choices other families make. If you just want to have the information so that you can make the best choice for your family, and encourage your listeners to go to concernwomen.org and click the link to file a comment. All right. Very good. And the deadline for commenting is this Friday, correct? This Friday. That's right. All right. Melissa Henson, senior policy advisor for meeting and culture for concern

women for America.concernwomen.org. Good idea. Thanks for sharing this. And I didn't realize that they weren't under the same rules, but now we understand why and we'll see what happens and where this goes. Okay. Thanks for the call. All right. Thank you. Thank you. 725. This is KMED and KBXG on the Bill of Meyer show. The food banks are running out of food again. So this month at Kelly's Automotive Service in Grants Pass in Medford, if you have a rodent deterrent installed for $199, will donate $30 to local food banks.

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Central Point Family Dentistry.com. It's on Freeman Road right next to Mazelon Mexican Restaurant. Great place. I think you'll enjoy that a lot. Ava writes me this morning. Bill, this is what I ended up posting the other day. Please vote. Thousands of people rushed in to sign a petition to get the gas tax on the ballot. Otherwise, the legislature would have succeeded in making you pay even more for gas right now. If you support the public bus service, vote for it.

If you feel strongly that you don't want higher property taxes, vote no, and your property taxes will go up. And, of course, vote for who you want in the legislature. Your vote counts if you vote, but other people's votes will carry the result if you don't. By the way, she writes, my Democrat family member who thinks that Portland is trashed is going on a trip to downtown Portland. and will be interesting to see what she says about this on her return. Bonnie writes me about, hey, you talked with the Dresen surrogate the other day, and they were talking about how law enforcement is endorsing Christine Dresen. I want to know who endorsed Dresen.

All right. Granny says on the candidates, she canceled two radio interviews because she's out talking to voters. What that? Okay. All right. Not buying what happened last week on this one. Elaine on the surrogate interview, Bill, I hope people picked up on the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. She didn't answer Holly about why she doesn't notify the Republican Party in Josephine and Jackson County when she would be speaking.

All right. And let's see. Karen also writing, boy, that was a great show, all those conversations here on the candidates going to share with others. Thanks for asking great hard questions. I appreciate that. Sharon also weighing in. Bill wasn't overly impressed with Chris Dudley this morning, although I wanted to be. He's a bit too squishy around the edges, plus circling the abortion issue. Playing with trailblazers doesn't qualify anyone, but he couldn't help including that narcissistic information in the voters pamphlet. What do you think?

Sharon, it's just marketing. I think what is helpful about having been a trailblazer person or a player like Chris Dudley is that people know the name. They know the name and may think about it favorably. You know, that's what you did. Hey, you're certainly not going to ignore that, all right? That's just the way that goes. I wouldn't read too much into that. And we also have Karen saying, Bill, thanks for the time you gave to each candidate or lack thereof.

I had already voted, but my takeaway was that Dudley loves Dudley much more than Dudley loves Oregon. Brazen, a positional political climber is getting in cowering at accountability to the people of the state. You asked the correct question. Some sadly didn't answer them correctly. Thanks for your support. Well, I appreciate that, Karen. It's what we are trying to do. Like I said, I have no extra grind against any of them, all right?

Now, the latest that we're having here this morning has to do with Ed Deal, actually calling for Christine Drazen to resign, and we had state rep Dwayne Yonker file a ethics complaint, saying that the nasty Graham text messages, the anonymous text messages from last week, may have come from the Dresen campaign. Now, the funny thing is that Kevin Starritt, of Oregon Firearms Federation who wrote me about that this morning saying,

you know, Bill, I cannot stand Dresen, but I kind of smell a rat. And I said, what, you think there's some kind of a setup in something like that? And then he reminds me so, Bill, I mean, could even she be this stupid? Well, yeah, so maybe it was a setup of some sort. We don't know. But, of course, as we also know when it comes to ethics reports, or ethics charges, the charge is the punishment, right? We talked about that with Herman before.

Actually, he's going to be on next. We'll talk about that. And other things as we roll through Election Day, get your ballot in, 8 o'clock, that is it. We'll have a lot to talk about tomorrow, no doubt. This Memorial Day, get up to an extra $1,000 off select top brand appliances like LG. Plus, get free delivery at the Home Depot. Whether it's backyard cookouts or watch parties,

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Construction, specializing in foundation repair and replacement. Get on solid ground. Visit Millet Construction.com. KMED News, here's what's going on. A driver from Grant's Pass accused of DUI now is in the hospital and in trouble after driving the wrong way on I-5 Sunday night and colliding head-on with an SUV.

Jackson County Sheriff say they tried to stop the truck on Rogue River Highway, driven by Ivan Barber Jr., but he refused to stop. They called the chase off because of safety concerns. Rogue River Police then spike stripped the truck, but Barber kept going, driving the truck northbound in the southbound lanes of I-5, smacking head-on into an SUV, totaling both vehicles. The other driver had minor injuries. Today is primary election day, and a reminder that if you haven't yet voted, get your ballot in the drop box by 8 p.m. tonight.

A number of candidate races are being decided, along with the fate of Measure 120, a major statewide gas tax and fee increase. Voter turnout as of late Monday was a little more than 26 percent in both Jackson and Josephine counties. We know more about who has been arrested in a fatal Gold Hill hit-and-run crash that killed 47-year-old Justin Hannaford early Saturday morning. 44-year-old Chauvonne Marie Walker appeared in Jackson County Circuit Court Monday. She's been charged with failure to perform the duties of a driver to a seriously injured person. Walker's next court appearances a week from today. And the Rogue Valley International Airport is to get about $4.5 million in a federal grant to rebuild the apron pavement. Newswatch 12 reports the pavement to be repaired is next to Millionaire and Mercy flights.

Seven other airports are sharing $14.5 million airmarked for repairs. and upgrades. Bill Meyer, KMED News. This hour of the Bill Meyer show is sponsored by Glacier Heating and Air, making sense of the heating and air business. We built this city by Jefferson Starship was released in 1985 and quickly reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. And while their city was built on rock and roll, Millet Construction wants to remind you that your home was built on ordinary earth that tends to shift over time. So before you get knee deep in a hoopla of sloping floors and cracked walls, ask yourself, do you remember? Yes, call Millette Construction for a free inspection and estimate to fix your foundation.

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License number, CCB-250730. Hi, I'm Matt Stone with Stone Heating and Air, and I'm on KMED. Every week, former state senator Herman Barichiger and I kick around politics because I enjoy talking with Herman. And, of course, Herman had a lot of experience in the day, and I think has forgotten more about a lot of politics than a lot of the New Guard even gets, but that's just me. Not blowing any smoke up your skirt there, Herman, but welcome back to the show. Good evening. Well, sometimes, whatever.

I've always said, I'm probably being as wrong as much as I've been right. Well, the one thing, though, is that you say one of the most important aspects of being a politician, and you have tried to implore this with candidates, is that you have to know how to count. And I swear there's so much of what goes on in politics. It doesn't seem to understand the knowing how to count aspect of things. I know it's pretty simple, but it's true. What are the numbers for you, right? Yeah, and the legislature, it's not big numbers.

You've got to count to 16 in the Senate, and you've got to count the 31 in the house. And, you know, so I don't know, maybe some people, you know, they might have to take their shoes off or something to get it figured out. All right, fair enough. Well, let me talk about the latest political, I don't know if it's a scandal du jour, but the one about the Ed Deal campaign calling for Christine Drazen to withdraw because of the nasty text grams. And I guess some nasty Ed Deal text came out last week. And I mentioned that because I got them and I didn't know who they came from.

But then what State Rep. Duane Yunker is claiming then is that that same number ended up sending out pro-Drazen stuff. Is that going to go anywhere you think? or is it, you know, what's your overall impression about that? Have you heard? I don't know, but I, there's one thing. I have a rule when I was in politics. Never text, period. Never text?

Because a text is a permanent thing. And so, you know, you can get all, maybe you get all emotional, you get upset or something, then you blast out a stupid text. You can never retrieve it. Same with emails, all that stuff. Don't use it, politicians. You're going to get in trouble. Well, my concern about that when those nasty text messages came out is that it didn't say who did it.

And when it's anonymous, I always say, hey, consider the source. But if it is, but if it is from the Dresen campaign, is that a serious violation in your view? You know, an ethics violation of sorts, if it is? Oh, there's no ethics violation in politics. politics is nothing but a mud pie throwing contest. All right. Now, hold on. For once,

former Senator Bear Sugar gets the real American salute. It's a mud pie. There's the quote of the day. It's a mud pie fight. Okay. Yeah, that's right. All right. So, yeah, go ahead.

The thing is, though, you have to watch what you say, because the citizens are watching the mud pie, watching the fight. And they might not like what they see. So you got to, you know, you got to be careful. The only polling which matters is the polling for tonight. And I guess it'll be, what, 30 days before it's officially certified. But what did they get your take on it?

Folks would write me and ask me, you know, what I thought about the county commission races. Now, there's no drama in Jackson County. All we're doing is setting up for the general. And many of them are running out of post right now. So it's not a big deal. Right. But you got the jungle in Joe County. and there's possibility that, do you think that anybody could get 50% plus one?

Is there that much strength in any of the candidacies? You know, there's always that possibility, but I doubtful, okay? So this is really going to be a setup for who are the top two they're going to be going on in November in both of those county commission positions? Well, because we're nonpartisan in Josephine County, and even if we are partisan, And we figured that there was, I don't know, a few hundred Democrats that switched their party affiliation just so they can vote in the primaries. This county is really interesting. I mean, there's a, there is a fight, you know, and that's why it is so partisan.

It's more partisan in our nonpartisan county than it is than most other places. I wonder if it would actually be less partisan if the votes were partisan. and everybody just had to settle and, you know, go to their corner. Well, they're changing party affiliation and stuff. So, you know, it's just kind of crazy. And, you know, the state, Bill, I noticed this when I was in the Senate. They, you know, I knew the Democrats were pouring in money. You know, you try to take the weakest out, and I think Josephine County is the weakest.

they really believe they can convert this to a Democrat County. I don't think so, but it is one hell of a fight because the state has the checkbook. Look at, they built that all-care mansion, and that, you know, that is nothing but free health care and everybody else pay for it. You know, that's just how it is. And they built, have you ever looked at the DHS building they built here? I've driven by it, but no, tell me about it. It's big enough to put all 87,000 people in. I mean, I thought, why are you building such a big building for a county that only has 87 or 88,000 people? Well, the fact of the matter is, though, my gosh, you know, Josephine Kelly, of course, ever since the death of timber or the restriction of timber or the, you know, the enforced death of timber, has become a very important.

poor county overall. And you have, what, 45% of the population, almost half on the free government health care, on the Oregon Health Plan? Isn't that right? Last time I checked. I think it's like 39%. Maybe I'm a little under. You might, you might be right. I don't know what those. The last numbers I know of it was 40%. Yeah. And it's just a scramble for a scramble for benefits. I'd say that. That's just sad, you know, when you contrast it to where it used to be. County has a lot of people on it too, but not nearly to the same extent. But we have a bigger population base and a little more economic activity, I think, you know, from that magnetism, that depth, I guess, that Joe County. And that's why there's so much conflict in your politics, too, right? It's the

fight to control the tiller. Well, yeah, anytime you try to take free ice cream away from people, you're going to get the wrath of God, you know? Yeah. And you're going to have to. You know, the Oregon Health Authority now makes up about one-third of our budget bill. And I don't know what the feds are going to do. The feds are really wheeling back money in California. It's on, like, there's so much fraud. So it's billions and billions of dollars they're withholded. And I think that's going to happen to Oregon, too.

I would agree with you, too. you can see the similar kind of wind-up, and here comes the pitch, you know, that kind of thing. Well, here is the challenge because the people of Oregon, or I should say the dim bulbs of Oregon, in this particular case, they actually voted to codify free health care or universal health care. So isn't the fact that Oregon Health Authority is one-third of the budget right now, just kind of going down that merry way, that Mary Primrose path, you know, to. hey, everyone's going to be taken care of, and then the hospitals go broke. There'll be nobody to take you, you know, there'll be no hospitals to take the patients to, Herman,

but gosh, you'll have a free OHP card. What do you think? Well, yeah, so you look at the Oregon Health Authority budget is $40 billion. Yeah. Now, let me get this in contest. I went in the legislature in 2013 was the first year I served. The 2013-15, Oregon's total budget was $65 billion. Now the Oregon Health Authority budget is $40 billion.

And the difference in population between then and now is only $350,000 more people. Okay. So, you know, the total budget for Oregon into 2527 was $139. billion dollars. How much is that over when you went in there just 15, what, 10, 12 years ago, 12 years ago, right? That's almost a hundred billion more. Oh, man. We're just going nuts on this. 90 billion, yeah. Yeah. So anyways, but look at that. If the Oregon Health Authority, if they had a 40 billion dollar budget, when I first went in, would have to, and when I first went in, would have to run the rest of the state on $15 billion.

Now, 75% of the Oregon Health Authority budget is dedicated to funding the Oregon Health Plan. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. And the Oregon Health Plan, but the reason why this is important is because you remember that conversation with the Asante CEO, you know, a couple of weeks ago. He ends up putting out the memo talking about how, hey, we're in pretty serious financial straits here and providence is in no different situation. It's the same kind of a situation that Oregon Health Plan does not pay what it costs to actually provide the service and neither does Medicare. And there are fewer people on private insurance because, well, I guess I don't know if it's just people are older or there's less of that being offered.

And that, you know, essentially that, you know, the people who are paying the bills, there's fewer and fewer people. to pay the bills and yet where to be going this one Herman? Where are we going ahead? It's crazy. Let me do a little breakdown. Okay. So it's actually I'm looking at

it's actually a little over 40 billion, it's almost 41 billion dollars is their budget. I'm looking at the Oregon Health Plan budget from the legislature. 23.1 billion come from federal funds

6.4 billion from general funds, 38 million from the lottery. The lottery, I thought the lottery was supposed to be for the school. Well, the lottery has been sucked dry by all sorts of other things, though. Bad fun, you know that. And you always remember, it's bonded out 25, 27 years. So that money is not really available for redistribution because it has to pay back the bonding.

that was used for all right okay right and then other funds 11.9 billion that's revenue from fees licenses and assessment so that's what they charge the hospitals stay in business and the hospitals are going broke right now as we speak this this is insanity it's absolute insanity this is socialism at its best it really is but the problem is is that socialism at its best when the debt is at its highest and the ability to probably tax people more and get away with it is not so strong. What do you think? Yeah. Work and business, you know, here's how I look at it from a 30,000 foot business. Businesses are leaving the state. Right. Money people are leaving this. People are leaving the state because of the debt tax. So the people who can afford

afford to pay the least are taxed the most. That's what's going on in Oregon right now, Bill. All right. Boy, that's going to be an interesting news cycle here over the next day, year or two on this one, for sure, Herman, especially if the hospitals don't make it or finding themselves in receivership of some form because we're writing out of other people's money, as you've made clear on this little talk here. Talking with former state Senator Herman Bairchiger this morning, Let's take it back to the election right now.

RBTD is on the Jackson County budget. There's a, or the ballot, rather, and there's the, there's the asks to renew the five-year local option levy. It already has a district, so it's going to get money one way or the other, but they have an option to, you know, bill us a little bit more. I don't know what's going to happen with this one. I voted no on it. Now, you have in Joe County, it is the animal shelter.

That's the big talk right now. Yeah, that's the ask is the animal shelter for 18. I think it's 18 cents, 16 or 18 cents. Yeah, you know, that is such a sad story. You know, I go out there, it'll bring tears to your eyes, or at least the average person. It does, you know, I'm big into dogs. We train stock dogs here at the ranch and everything.

And, you know, you go there, and it's just heartbreaking what you see. But the reality is it is a no-kill. shelter and because it's a no-kill shelter, it's just driving the cost just out of sight, Bill. Yeah, now, I was looking at this, and the Jackson County Animal Shelter does not, is not listed on the Oregon No-Kill Animal Shelters network website now. I guess that means that Jackson County is a kill shelter, but Josephine County is not, right? Right, right. And, you know, it's just no matter how you slice this problem, it's just heartbreaking. You know what I mean? It's just it. I mean, those poor animals, but also reality has to catch up with you, too. Maybe that's a little easier for me to accept because I've lived on a ranch most of my life and you see a lot of things that you don't like to see that just happen. That's what happens on ranches. So maybe I accept it a little easy. easier than other people do, but... This is something which has always been contentious, and I'm not saying that animal

lovers are all liberals, right? They're not. No. No, they're not. But I do find it that, you know, some of the biggest protesters of kill shelters also tend to be the biggest supporters of abortion, which I find ironic in a strange way. I've always thought that... Oh, boy. Boy, did you grab the Tasmanian devil out of the bag this morning?

Yeah, I know. And I'm not saying that I don't want to save animal lives, too, but I guess the challenge is, though, it's very expensive. Isn't it an expensive service? Yeah, and it's a reality, and I would like to see some policies, and they can be, you know, pretty relaxed, but at some point we have to make some decisions, whether we like it or not. And I know that I would not like to be that person, okay? I'll admit that. I would not like to be the person making a person. I would not like to be the person making a those decisions. But anyway, that's what's going on in Josephine County with the animal shelter. Do you think that'll pass? We couldn't get four cents for veterans to last go around, so I don't know. And given that you have Measure 120 on both of our county budgets or ballots, you know, this time around here,

you got the Measure 120, so a lot of people are going to be going out there and probably voting no. I'm thinking that's about a 30-70. 30-per-yes, 70-% no on that. on 120? Yeah. And, you know, when a measure like that's on, is it easier to say no on other things because you're saying no on that? That's what I was wondering. That's what I'm wondering here on all the, if there's anyone with any money measures on this particular primary ballot.

Yeah. I think there's some of that. I guess how much of that is going to be, is the question. Yeah. We'll find out tomorrow because tonight's the only poll that matters, Herman. That's for sure. Well, okay, so what's the attitude of the voter right now? Well, what do I hear most when I'm out bouncing around?

Groceries and gas. Yeah. I would say the electorate is a little grumpy at the moment, wouldn't you? The most grumpy I have ever seen in my political career. Yeah. It doesn't matter if you're Democrat, Republican, non-affiliated. All walks of life, it's groceries and gas, groceries and gas. Yeah.

So I would say they're pretty grumpy. Something tells me the vote is going to go in a grumpy direction. We'll find out more tomorrow morning, Herman. Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah, we'll have something to talk about next Tuesday, won't we? Well, you got that right.

Thanks, Herman. All right. Have a good day. You too now. former state senator Herman Berchiger, 756 at KMED and 993 KBXG. Jay Austin and Company, Jay Austin and Company, one of my oldest sponsors. And if you're looking to diversify your portfolio, maybe add some physical gold in silver. By the way, you know, when I was telling you how the bond market is starting to go a little bit nuts with higher interest rates here,

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The Kim Commando show. You've missed a lot. But you're getting scammed. Scammers will take money from anyone. It doesn't matter how young, how old you are, how rich, how poor. Short, tall, fat, skinny. As soon as she went to WhatsApp, we both looked at them and going, yeah. Has anyone asked you to go to Telegram or WhatsApp?

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translator K-294AAS, Ashland, K290AF Road River. I was reading The Investors Observer, one of the financial blogs I like to get into, and I love this one. I missed this one with Brett Bear over the weekend. And Brett Baer, great reporter on Fox News. He's the political anchor. And he apparently got Donald Trump tangled up in his own argument on Iran.

And Trump said, we're going to go get it, the Iranian. We're not going to let you take it. And they said, we can't take it. We don't have the capability of taking it. And I said, why? And he said, because it was hit so hard. I mean, the mountain literally collapsed on it, a granite mountain. And then Brett Baer comes out and then says, so why isn't that good enough?

You know something, Brett? That was a great question. I love that. All right. So if the mountain was hit so hard, it collapsed in on all of it, why isn't that good enough? That's a good question, Brett. President Trump went on talking about the Space Force trying to change the topic until Bear cut him off and asked Point Black. Why are we there?

Did you underestimate Iran's, rather, pain intolerance? And that question lands at the core of the president's Catch-22 situation. Iran does not stand much of a chance against Washington, but the regime also appears to be willing to fight to the bitter end there too. But, you know, that's the one thing. I love Brett Bear because, you know, he can ask you a question like that, and he'll, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, he's going to ask the question. And then the president did a little song and dance, I guess, at that point.

And that's what we were asking right from the beginning, too. It's like, wait a minute, I thought this was all destroyed back, you know, last July, Last June and July. Remember the attacks last June and July. But, oh, well, everyone's got their reasons, right? Cherry, Cherry's here. Hello, Cherry. How you've been? Oh, I'm just great. Except that I want to point out that the last talk person you had, he said, make Americans financially independent. Yeah, make Americans financially independent. Yeah, that's what he's called.

Yeah, Dr. Murray Sabrin, the economist. Just add an A to that, and it spells mafia. Make, okay, hey, make all Americans financially independent again. All right, mafia, there we go. I got a thing, I went to Tinseltown for the first time in seven years, and I almost killed myself on those steps. Really? And, you know, trying to get to a seat that was still way too close to the screen. So I wasn't going to, you know, have a heart attack of trying to get farther away.

I did see the movie. The Devil Wears Prada, too. I didn't get a chance to go to it that first weekend. And since you are the official reviewer of my show here, what do you think? Well, I got to be honest with you. I was a little disappointed. Really? Because it didn't have a punch that the first one had.

It didn't have the disparity of the culture. between Anne Hathaway and Meryl Street. Actually, Anne Hathaway was already a successful person and shown in her own light. And I just felt like actually Meryl Street was the least diabolical of all of the characters, which looked like that came from the island of Dr. Morrow. It was awful. So you were expecting a little more. grist, a little more grist for the mill, right?

A little, a little punch. And my husband has something to say, what, Joe? It sucked, Bill. Just like Barbie. Just like Barbie. Okay, so Barbie sucked and so did the devil wears Prada. Okay, too. Got it.

The first was good. The first one was good. This one's chunky, donkey, stunko. Yeah, and it had, you know, characters in there that were, ugh. You know, the first one, the first one was smart and sharp, I thought. Right. And I still remember Stanley Tucci, you know, there in that one part. And they edited the movie that you get now when you see Devil Wears Prada has been edited.

They took out the part that says, you, fat girl, you know, pointing at, you remember. You remember that, don't you? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You can't find it now in any of the versions that exist out there. I think that's a little PC edit that they put. in there.

Yeah. He's old and drab, and he's, he's younger than my husband. I mean, it's like, what happened here? Well, no, I'll tell you what happened. Stanley Tucci is a raging liberal. That's why he's so unhappy, okay? He can't help himself. Although I love the guy in many ways. I was watching this, this travel show of his that he was doing a while and back. It was quite interesting, I thought, but still. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, I think, Lido would enjoy the film. I did enjoy the film, but not as much as the first one because everybody was kind of already done. And there was this little twist, supposedly.

Well, you could have fooled me because it wasn't, I mean, look, I need, I. You enjoyed it, but you were disappointed overall. Okay. Yeah. So on a scale of one to five, what do you say? I'd say to me it was a two and a half. All right. Wow.

That's relatively low. Cherry, thank you for the review and the interesting talk. Don't get a heart attack going in Kenseltown, okay? All right. Hi, KMED. Good morning. Who's this? Is it Jean?

Jane. It's on your mind. Go ahead. Take it away since I wasn't able to get you on yesterday. I had a few things to say. Okay. Ask you, Kristen, she's a turncoat. Why would I want to vote for her?

Okay, so you don't like Christine. Fine. What's next? Okay. When did Kotech become a Republican? Whoever said Kotech became a Republican? Well, she's on the Republican ballot. The only Democrat on the Republican ballot. What? She was on the Republican ballot. You could vote for her if you wanted to.

Really? Yes. That doesn't make sense to me, Gene. Didn't you get a Republican ballot because it shouldn't have had Tina Kotech on it? I know. And I'm wondering if the Independence got it too. Can anybody confirm what Jean is saying?

Did anybody get a Republican ballot that had Tina Kotech on it? Jane will try to find out. We'll just throw it out to the Southern Oregon jury, okay? I have not heard that. I did not see Tina Kotech on my ballot, okay? Well, she was online and what? She did not get voted for. Okay, well, good for you.

I wanted for someone else. But anyway, another thing I was wondering is, what is the discrimination against people who do not have computers? Well, it's not a matter of discrimination. It's just a matter that that's where it is. And, you know, we don't have cranked telephones anymore either, you know? You can't use them. Well, we've got cell phones and businesses should have.

have phones. If they want to talk to people, then... Now, nobody wants to talk to people, Gene. Nobody. The whole idea, you have phones so that you can text to each other. The last thing you actually want to do is talk. A point well taken. I'm going to try to find out. I've not heard any news about Democrats on the Republican Party ballot, okay?

But thank you for the call. I've got to go here. Fox News coming up in just a moment. Happy to take your calls. We'll do a 90-62 quiz in a little bit in a little while. and it's pebble in your shoe Tuesday. Let me know. If you want unlimited...