Bill Meyer Show Podcast - Sponsored by Clouser Drilling www.ClouserDrilling.com - 07-09-25_WEDNESDAY_6AM

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

Morning news coverage and into WHeels Up Wednesday, Eric Peters talks with me about the Epstein take a dive moment, the new Toyota review, can you get a non-complex care today? Plus your calls and more.

The Bill Meyer Show podcast is sponsored by Clouser Drilling. They've been leading the way in southern Oregon well drilling for over 50 years. Find out more about them at Clouser Drilling.com. Here's Bill Meyer. Good morning. It is 11 minutes after six wheels up Wednesday, which means Eric Peters will be joining me here in about 20 minutes. And we talk transportation, politics and a whole bunch more. And he always has great reviews.

And we always love talking about the open road things are are really good there. 770-5633 to join in 770-5633-770KMED if you wanted to join in and of course dozens of fires still burning here in southern oregon and yeah we got the haze in the air now and a lot of firefighters. The ones that were probably paying attention most, Interstate 5 down Ashland, this Neal Creek fire, this is east of Interstate 5 by Neal Creek, far from Ashland in the Ashland area. And everything is still fine at this point. Of course, overnight the fires tend to drop down in intensity. But there was talk that there might be some kind of a closure of Interstate 5 at some

point if fire activity were to bring it closer to the interstate. But everything is still looking okay at the moment. Now, Highway 238 is still closed. That's that section which ended up getting shut down because of the big storms on Monday night that knocked down the power lines. And so that is still closed for today. And I do understand they were talking about this being at least a two-day closure. So maybe by the end of today we'll have a better idea and they'll get that open. At least the power is on to most people. Big part of Jacksonville and out in Roush ended up getting their power back about 10 o'clock yesterday and that was good news. So kind of getting things back

to normal but now it's like fire season and now all of the the nice clear areas now getting muddied up but that is just kind of like, well, that summer, that summer here in the Rogue Valley. Jackson County Sheriff's Office ended up putting out a bit of information on the Medford police officer involved shooting. This is the one that happened on July 4th. You're all kind of wondering, they weren't saying a whole lot about this at the beginning and what they are saying. And now this has not gone through the grand jury process yet. They're all kind of wondering. They weren't saying a whole lot about this at the beginning and what they are saying. And now this has not gone through the grand jury process yet to decide whether or not it is a good shoot. In other words, it's a no-bill that the jury,

grand jury will say, hey, either this was a justified shooting or not. But still what happened, eight in the morning, Friday, Medford police encounter this suspect, Salvador Alex Sanchez, a 55-year-old Medford area transient. And of course, there's always that part that makes me wonder if this is a citizenship sort of issue here too, but Medford area transient Salvador Alex Sanchez, I don't know, just speculating on my part, but there was a felony warrant out for this guy's arrest. He was already wanted for two counts of unlawful use of a weapon for an incident that occurred earlier this year. Metford police call for backup. Sanchez, becoming uncooperative, armed himself with a large fixed blade knife.

So this is where things started going south. Sanchez ignoring several requests to drop his knife he advanced at an officer on the scene. Officer shot him. They quickly provided aid to him. Mercy flights got him in just a few minutes and Sanchez transported to the hospital. He's still in intensive care and stable condition. And so they filed charges against Sanchez for attempted first-degree assault, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, resisting arrest, and attempted second-degree escape related to this incident. Maybe they can keep him in jail this time. But like I said, he was already wanted for two counts of for unlawful use of a

weapon. So obviously not a particularly wise individual from the looks of it. Once again, we don't know this is justified shooting, but generally speaking, if someone's advancing on you with a knife, you could pretty much take them out. Really interesting. I noticed that when I would look on some of the online people be talking about this particular crime online and they're saying, well, shouldn't the officer, shouldn't they be tasing him first? I don't know. A tase is not a guaranteed deal of putting the threat down. Sometimes, heck, even people have pulled the taser probes out of them when they've been shot. And I don't know, if someone's coming after me with a knife, and I don't know if you feel this way too, but if someone's coming after you with

a knife too, I would just say shoot first and let the grand jury deal with it later because they can kill you dead right there with that knife. And I know sometimes people look at a knife as they're thinking, well, it's just not that big of a deal. Hey, hit you right with a knife, disembowel you, bleed out, things like that. But I do find it interesting that, well, why don't you go with the taser first? I look at the taser probably as being of dealing with more of a non-cooperative person. Okay, you're not going to cooperate or you want to try to fight or various other things.

And then you put the suspect down with something like that. If I had a choice between a 9mm pistol and a taser with someone coming at me with a knife. I take the nine millimeter pistol every time and just let fly. But it's funny though you could tell people who... the other one I love is, couldn't you shoot them in the leg? Do you have to shoot them? You know, the idea in a gunfight or in any kind of a fight for your life is that there's a Marcus of Queensberry rule. And I still insist with people that another big misunderstanding, not that I'm any expert on this, and I'm not, I don't claim to be an expert, but this whole idea is they shot

him in the back. You'll hear those kind of stories. And I think people go through this sort of Wild West movie mindset that it's dishonorable. You're shooting someone in the back or something. Well, now if it's obvious that someone is running away and getting away, that's one thing, right? If they're running away and trying to escape and you're trying and then you just... okay let's say someone comes up to your ring camera and tries to assault you and then you feel threatened for your life and so you start shooting. And if the guy is turning around and running away and running away and leaving the property

and you're still continuing to shoot at the person, yeah, you're going to get in big trouble because the situation is no longer a threat. But someone wrestling around and turning around and you happen to shoot someone in the back, that doesn't make it a bad shooting. But there are all sorts of sort of myths, I think, when it comes to this. It's a matter of is the person still the threat? Someone's close to you. Yeah, they are realistically still the threat, even if you end up shooting them in the back as they're rolling around, maybe running around, or trying to regroup and come after you again. But anyway, it looks like that will probably be a good shoot. But we'll see what the Jackson County grand jury has to say about this.

What other news do we have this morning? Yep, we've got the fires, we've got Intel. Intel is going to lay off another 500 people in the Portland area. Jordan Schnitzer, big real estate guy, Schnitzer property says this is going to be a challenge. Cuts are part of a 20% company-wide reduction in staff for Intel. Used to be the world's leading maker

of semiconductors. Other investment news this morning, investors snap up growing share of U.S. homes as traditional buyers struggle to afford one. Huh. Real estate investors are snapping up a bigger share of the U.S. houses on the market as rising prices and stubbornly high borrowing costs are freezing out many other would-be home buyers. Almost a third of all homes sold in the first three months of this year bought by investors. Highest share in at least five years. This

according to a report by real estate data provider Batchdata. Brad Bennington popped me the story. I want to thank him for this tip here. Wow. Almost a third of the house is bought by investors. Maybe this is what they meant in the great reset. You know, the great reset in which you will own nothing and you will be happy. You will be a happy renter in your climate friendly, equitable community. Is that where it's headed, Brad? I don't know. Twenty minutes after six here. Something to consider. I'm surprised that there hasn't been more downward pressure put on homes up to this point, because interest rates are certainly higher. I mean, I refinanced my mortgage a number of years ago and I'm paying about 3%. Got a great deal. And Linda and I, of course, are going to live in this until they

pull our cold dead fingers from around the doorknob. We're going to stay there because there's no way we can rent a house or rent an apartment or anything for anywhere close to what we're paying. And so we were very fortunate in this particular respect. And I understand younger generations really kind of irritated at this as if, I guess I have a duty to die, I guess is that sort of a way, being a baby boomer, even though I'm a young baby boomer, I have a duty to die so that Gen Z can come in and buy my house cheap, that sort of thing. Gen Z can come in and buy my house cheap, that sort of thing. Yeah. But actually, interest rates even right now of 6%, 7% for mortgages, that is not high historically.

It's only a high level of mortgage. It's only a high mortgage rate when you were trying to blow a housing bubble back in by the Federal Reserve for a number of years, this was all about blowing, re-blowing the housing bubble after the 2008 deal. They blew another housing bubble. Six, seven percent for a mortgage is not traditionally a high mortgage rate at all. In fact, it's kind of more normal. But it's not normal when your $100,000 crap shack is turned into a $500,000 crap shack in

Southern Oregon. And that is the rub, right? And you have a state that says, you can't build here, no you can't build there, no you can't do this, and you have to take a third of the housing cost and put it into systems development charges. And there we go. So I understand the irritation from the younger generations, but no, I don't have a duty to die and sell it to you. Just saying. So there's going to be conflict. 22 after 6, this is the Bill Meyers Show. KMED, what's on your mind? 770-5633. Hey there, Phil. Hey. You want to grab some lunch? I'd better not. I'm trying to lose a few pounds, and I'm worried. About what? Worried that we'll be able to stop thinking about food. That's the way the cookie crumbles. You see? That's what I'm trying to lose a few pounds and I'm worried about what worried that won't be able to stop thinking about food

That's the way the cookie crumbles. You see that's what I'm talking about Let me change the subject to Grover electric and plumbing Grover. Is that a restaurant? No, it's the home of do-it-yourself and say I worry when it comes to those do-it-yourself things. You don't need to worry with the help of Grover They know home fix-up stuff. Are you kidding? It's their meat and potatoes. There you go again. Bad choice of words, I'm sorry. I just meant that with Grover's expertise, your home fix up worries are over.

Even a tough job? Piece of cake. I love cake. Sorry. Oh, I love cake. I mean with Grover's great products and know-how. I'm so hungry. They make things worry free and easy.

Easy? Easy. Easy as what? Well, you know. tell me how easy as pie. Oh yes. At Fontana Roofing, they're doggedly determined to get things right. Here's just a sampling of conversations you'll hear around their office. So I've noticed we've been referring to roofs in our commercials. Of course, because that's what we do. We roof buildings.

Aha. But do we roof or roof? It's an age-old question. Well, I suppose either pronunciation is acceptable. Sure. But maybe we should be consistent. Why don't we ask our resident mascot for his opinion? Well Bruno? What do you say? Interesting so when I say metal you say and when I say composite you say

tile Shake okay, that's pretty definitive. It's rough. I think we're gonna need to conduct a customer survey Yeah, we're up a creek crick Montana. Ropeen is your full-service residential and commercial Ropeen contractor visit Montana Ropeen services.com Creek Creek Creek Creek Hi, I'm Matt Stone owner of Stone Heating and Air and I'm on 106.3 KMED and we appreciate you Matt and all our other great sponsors. 24 minutes after 6 7705633 770KMED. Hey the Internal Revenue Service now came out with a ruling the other day says that churches can endorse political candidates. Isn't that interesting? I

know that President Trump was talking about going after the Johnson Amendment. This was something that was done by, well, former President Johnson back when he was Senator Johnson, Senator Johnson back in the 1950s, and it was all about the depoliticizing the churches that were against his corrupt rule, his corrupt leadership. And yeah, believe me, Johnson, one of the crudest, nastiest pieces of work that ever ended up occupying the Oval Office, in my opinion. Boy, some of the tapes that I listened to of him defecating on the toilet as he's talking to the reporters. It's just amazing. But I'll set that scatological part of it aside there. But since 1954, a part in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment says the churches and other nonprofit organizations could lose their tax exempt status if they take part in or intervene

in any political campaign on behalf or opposition to any candidate for public office. Well, it was designed. It was designed to do this. And this is why Pastor Chuck Baldwin, who is very politically active, I don't know if you have ever read him or talked to him or, you know, I talked to him a few times over the years and he ends up having a church over in in Montana, I believe is where he is now. He was in Florida for the longest time, but he moved to Montana and he refused to take the 501c3 tax-exempt deduction. He didn't want

that exemption because he says that it stops the preachers, it stops the ministers, it stops everybody from actually speaking on politics when it's needed more so than ever. Yeah. So instead, we've ended up having these 501c3 type churches, even the mega churches, the prosperity preachers like the Joel Olsteins with the... Yeah, I know that the whole purpose of Jesus is to get rich, you know, be a good Christian and get rich. You know, the prosperity preacher gospel.

I'm not a big fan of that, not that I'm any great Christian, okay, I'm just saying that. But so they had no problem with that, but then you end up letting bloodthirsty politicians do bad things. And this is for, you know, Republicans and Democrats. This is equal opportunity, all right? Now, the point being though, it was a rule that was not enforced very often. They didn't go after many churches over this. And Democrat churches for years have been violating this rule. They've been making a big deal. Okay, go ahead. Go ahead, politicians. Come on in here, Democrat politicians, and you can speak at ours. But like everything

else, if there was ever going to be a risk of the IRS coming after you, it was more likely going to be going after a Pastor Chuck Baldwin, who might say something that our government doesn't like about Israel or do something. Whatever the case might be. Whatever the case might be, you speak out against something and then you find yourself, well, that's gone. That's gone now. And the IRS rarely enforced the rule during Trump's first term. He promised to get rid of it totally. Now, in Monday's court filing, the Internal Revenue Service didn't go that far, but it did say that when a house of worship in good faith

speaks to its congregation through its customary channels of communication on matters of faith in connection with religious services concerning electoral politics viewed through the lens of religious faith, it neither participates in nor intervenes in a political campaign. That was the whole thing. So this is going away. They're chipping away at this particular situation. I would still say though that if you really want a truthful, totally out in the open religious experience, I kind of think that if your place has taken the 501c3 tax exemption, you're already a church that is cowed by Caesar to a certain extent. And I'm not criticizing them for it.

I understand the financial reason why you want to do something like this, tax exempt, da da da da, you're able to put all this, you're able to put your coffee stand in the 501C3 and make money with it. I get it. I understand this. But even though they're weakening this, it's better to be, I think, a church that is able to rail against the government, no matter what stripe the government is at any time, with no fear whatsoever. And the way you get to do that, in my opinion, is to not take the 501c3 tax exempt status. 501c, tax exempt churches. Well, look at what happened during COVID.

What happened during COVID? We had churches that were going against the vaccine mandates and the mask mandates and all the rest of it. And there was talk in many congregations about, oh, we don't want to get the government upset at us. You know, our tax exempt status, or they may come after us. And something tells me that Jesus may have had a different opinion about that. Just saying. So avoid even having to deal with the Johnson Amendment. Pay a little bit more. Don't worry about your contributions being tax exempt. Of course, I don't know, the tax exemptions and

deductions don't mean as much in the in the Trump tax bill now, now that that has been renewed. You have to have an awful lot of deductions before you're able to do anything about that. That's just my opinion though. Don't know if you have an opinion or not. Hi, good morning. This is Bill. Who's this? Hey, Bill. It's David. David, how you doing? Hey, I'm doing well. So that's something I've been thinking about and talking about with people a lot lately, you know, is if you have a good ideology or a good idea or whatever, the instinct we have here at this current point in time is, well, how can I take this ideology? Well, how can I really build it bigger? You know, how can I take this ideology? Well, how can I really build it bigger?

You know, how can I take this idea and get it out there more? And so, you know, it's not, it's not clear to me that the best ideologies have gotten the most financial support. Like you see a lot of churches that have buildings and once you have buildings, you've got to keep people engaged to keep paying for the building and then you need a treasurer. And then you're, you know, you're running an operation, you're running a business, you've got to keep people engaged to keep paying for the building. And then you need a treasurer.

And then you're, you know, you're running an operation, you're running a business, you know, and so, um, you know, so, and then you go and you get the 501 C3, a tax exemption, which essentially means that you are under Caesar's thumb. It's always left unspoken. And that was the whole purpose of the Johnson amendment back then, even if they are watering it down right now. Right. Well, it's just, it's part of a bigger conversation about concentration and building things, building structures and systems. And so you might find there's maybe some cult out there that's not really well known, that

doesn't have any formal meeting place, that doesn't have to have a budget, that doesn't have to have any kind of like, like, you know, strict dogmas and it might be the best ideological thing in town. And it may not even have a building, you know, it may just be like an ideological group and it may just be a real superior way of, of having ideas, you know, trade places and having community be built around things that don't require money and, and politics, you know. What. What you mean that actually doing something as the Spirit moves you, in other words? Yeah, right. Exactly. It's not clear to me that many churches have any divine spark at this point. Maybe there was a point in time where it was useful, but I've been to some big churches in the Valley and I feel like they run a lot like a business.

Well, and run like a business because it's a 501c3. That's what I'm getting at. You're looking at it and you do what you can to protect your tax status. What is the real business? Yeah. And then also maybe an element of looking at it is like maybe the best, maybe the most purest form of spirituality has to have almost no earthly needs or presence, you know, and that's the most purest way you get connections. I don't know, there's a lot to talk about there, but definitely something I've been thinking about lately, you know. And I appreciate your thinking about it, okay? Thanks so much.

You be well. Thanks, David. 632. David will cause a lot during Eric Peter's segment here. We're going to have Eric coming up in just a moment. We've got a lot to talk about. And something I look forward to talking with him about is what is our climate-friendly, equitable community ordered by former dictator, Governor Brown. She's the one that ended up bringing these these sidewalks here to southern Oregon and the idea that you will own nothing and you will be happy in your habit trail

stack and pack in downtown Medford if we can ever find the you know the financing for that you know one of them fell through the other day that kind of thing. What would it be like? Eric wrote an article which is quite interesting. He says there's already a city in the world that is pretty much showing where that 15-minute city is going and what it would look like. You'll be surprised. He'll share that next. Oregon Truck and Auto Authority is your work truck and van headquarters, proudly offering Adrian steel interior shelving packages, partitions, and the best ladder racks in the business. Integrated bed slide or decked drawer system to boost your efficiency.

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wildfires around the area. The Neal Creek Fire burning near Ashland is 250 acres this morning, burning along the southbound side of I-5. There are a number of Level 2 evacuation notices in the area, with the fire being attacked from the air and ground. Overnight structural protection crews staged throughout the area to provide protection for homes. While I-5 is open, ODOT warns they may close the lane as necessary for firefighting equipment. The Deming Gulch fire south of Jacksonville along Sterling Creek Road has grown to 350

acres. Currently there are no evacuation notices for the fire. Tuesday evening, air tankers were called in though to protect structures within a half mile of the fire. Yesterday's red flag warning for the local area was rescinded last night, but fire danger for Jackson and Josephine counties may increase this weekend, as temperatures Saturday through Tuesday are expected to be over 100 degrees. Bill Lunnen, KMED. Call me at 541-680-5875. Call Cherise like I did or visit their showroom off Biddle Road in Metford. NoWiresNow.com. Restrictions apply. Call for details. Internet and cell phone service not provided by DISH. Stephen Westfall Roofing is growing. Now proudly serving Brookings, Gold Beach, and the entire southern Oregon coast.

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Epstein did kill himself. There are no clients, nothing to look at. There's no list. And who the hell are you to even ask? Come on. kill himself. There are no clients, nothing to look at, there's no list, and who the hell are you to even ask? Come on. Yeah, he didn't even need Johnny Cochran, did he? It's demoralizing. You know, the last time people kind of, you know, when Trump said he was gonna lock her up, lock her up, lock her up, and then he didn't, of course, and people let that pass, and they voted for him again

because he was going to lock him up, wasn't he? And here we go again. And it's just, it's as the saying goes, doesn't matter who you vote for, you end up with John McCain and B.B. Netanyahu, it looks like. Yeah, well, what really surprised me about that when I watched the press conference yesterday, with President Trump getting very defensive, you know, about that whole thing with Epstein and then you have the the performative art from Pam Bondi and And you got a cash Patel. I don't think was cashing that one yesterday I know that you know damn this was a cut

You're talking about the one that I was I guess about two or three weeks ago Where I think it was Patel and Bon Gino and they were giving an interview to a reporter and the subject came up and they both Looked like somebody was holding a gun to their head. You know, like that old picture from National Lampoon you might remember where the dog is on the cover with the revolver held to his head. That's how they looked. Yeah, yeah. And I agree wholeheartedly.

And I know Bongino, Patel, were both stand-up people. Stand-up people, all right. Pam Bondi, I've had a little less faith in because I remember she's the one that trumped up that whole thing going after George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin fiasco. And a lot of people forgot about that, really. But still, the bottom line here is that to me, it was like looking at members of the Trump administration who had been threatened, honestly. And that's what bothers me more than anything else, when it is well known that Epstein, when even, what was his name, Alex, Alex, oh gosh, the former Miami attorney, US attorney

in Miami, his name is Alex, but he's the one that ended up telling the Trump administration when they were trying to get him confirmed that, well, you know, I was told to lay off Epstein because he was intelligence. He belonged to intelligence, right? So, yeah, we know and he I think he was telling the absolute truth at that point. I was told that's why he ended up cutting him a pretty sweet deal, you know, at that time. Yeah, I think what we've been privy to here is a sort of kind of look behind the curtain as far as who's actually running the government. And I think it's very clear it's not Trump, it's not Bondi, it's not Bongino. And that ought to worry people.

You know, it's not just a matter of being disappointed with Trump. It's like, who is it that's running Trump? And who is still running that system? And I still can't think, but help but think about the George Carlin thing. It's a big club and you aren't in it. Sure. I've heard this theory that's been put forward by some of the Q people that it's just so bad that they can't really tell us about it because it would just be too shocking to the system. The normies can't take it and that's the reason, supposedly. Well, you could try to use that as an excuse, but when it comes right down to it, there are a ton of very powerful perverts that appear to still

be having leverage to make the government bend to its will. Just saying. Yeah, it sure seems to be the case. And you know, the broader point here is that nobody at that level seems to ever be held accountable for anything. And that includes Fauci leaving aside the Epstein list and all the people who wreaked havoc on us for four years over the COVID stuff. None of these people ever is held responsible in any meaningful way. Whereas you and I, you know, we get caught going through a red light and we get nailed to the wall for that. Oh yeah, and the FBI can of course tell us every single January 6th insurrectionist of the details about this, but yeah. You know, and I'm gonna talk with Kevin Sterred from Oregon

Firearms about this too, because he and I were talking about this last night, just like you and I are talking about this right now, and it seems obvious that A, they're lying, B, I think they've been threatened. I really do. And I think it's one of these things where is it, you know, hey, listen, the assassination attempt was unsuccessful last time, you're able to do that, but maybe next time it's a little bit better. You need to back off on this. It's above your pay grade, even for President Trump. so he has to act a very defensive about I'm not you know explaining or excusing the You know the lack of truth-telling on this one, but I'm just saying I think I understand what's going on

Not that I know this is pure conjecture I agree I think your analysis is spot-on you know the initial buildup that we got particularly remember the scene of bondi clutching the so-called Dossier or whatever it was, very publicly. It's on her desk. They're looking at it. They're reviewing it, very clearly telegraphing that, yep, we're going to be on this. There are going to be indictments.

There are going to be arrests. And now it's just, oh, nothing. How could they not have known it was nothing? They have armies of lawyers pouring through this. Yep. And that's why I was so disappointed. Many of my listeners are disappointed, not all. But just on cue though, especially with the announcement that they're going to go after

Brennan and Comey for potential criminal charges, I looked at this as could this be the misdirection? Hey, you know, go ahead, see if we can forget about the, you know, the Epstein deal a little bit. Although certainly Brennan and Comey deserve, you know, to be. Do you really think that either Brennan or Comey deserve to be... Do you really think that either Brennan or Comey are ever going to be indicted for anything? Of course not. But I'm saying though that this is about changing the subject right now. And I understand why it might be going on. So a disappointing time, unfortunately. That's just the way it is. And just on cue, national talk show

hosts are talking about, you know, there are more important things to be talking about now and moving along. And I knew I was going to hear that too. And I'm waking up and I'm listening. Yeah, we have to move along. As if on cue, which is interesting. It seems to always be how this works. It's if somebody sent out a memo to every news outlet in the entire country and they all have the talking points. But you know what's the problem with the right wing though, unlike the left wing, I think the right wing is not as good at lying and hiding it as the as the left wing is. I honestly... That's a very insightful comment that you've made and I agree with it because I think that perhaps they at least have a vestigial conscience. Yeah, which is not unlike the you know the left wing

side of the aisle quite often, okay? So let's set that aside, brother, we're going to do it's above our pay grade, but still we had to make note, okay? I want to talk about a car that you were reviewing the other day, and I wasn't even really familiar with this one, and it's the Toyota Crown Signia. And what is the story, what did you think about that, about that vehicle? Well, let's give some background. First of all, there are two Crowns. One is a sedan, and then you think about that, about that vehicle? Well, let's get some background. First of all, there are two crowns. One is a sedan, and then the one that I reviewed is kind of a crossover wagon. Both basically the same thing, just slightly different shaped, and both of them essentially

replaced the Avalon sedan, which used to be Toyota's top of the line model. And one of the interesting things about this to me is that the Avalon, of course, used to come standard with a the six engine and used to be able to get it this is recently is two and a half years ago in twenty twenty two for about thirty six thousand dollars now the crown which is the replacement starts around forty one thousand and it comes with a four-cylinder hybrid drive frame

uh... well why does it do that you know yeah it gets better gas mileage well you're paying thousands of dollars more for the vehicle. So are you saving any money? And the answer is no. The reason is, of course, because of compliance pressures. The reason the V6 is gone is because it, you know, not so much that it used too much gas, but that it emitted too much gas, the dread gas carbon dioxide. Yeah.

So the reason for all these hybrids is... Yeah, we're still doing this. We're still under these, you know, apparatchiks that these, you know, the regulatory apparatchiks. The reason you see hybrids everywhere now is because they can shut the engine off. So you take a smaller engine to begin with and then you shut it off as often as possible so that while it's shut off it's not emitting any carbon dioxide. That's the sole reason for all of this. It's ridiculous to talk about how much money you're shaving. Oh, because look, I get 40 miles per gallon, but I had to

pay $45,000 for the car. Yeah, there is an issue there. What was your overall impression in spite of the fact that it has been neutered down from six to, well, six, two cylinders have been sliced off for compliance? Well, gosh, you know, I want to be fair and kind to it to the extent that it's possible and it like most Toyota vehicles It's a nice vehicle. It rides nicely But when you when you give it a little gas, I'm not talking about flooring it You know as you and I like to do just a little gas because you want to get going The the sounds that emanate from that underpowered drive train from that little four-cylinder engine that's trying desperately to move

Wait for it 4,200 pounds empty. You put my 200 pound self in, now you've got 4,400 pounds of vehicle to be pushed down the road, and it's just not a good sound. Okay. What about reliability on these? And I was reading an article, I forget where I caught this, that was actually talking about the reliability of vehicles going down right now because of a number of recent redesigns and that Subaru was apparently on top. The Subaru brand was on top because there has been less redesign. Could you confirm or deny what might be going on here?

That's generally true. You know, you're safer with an older model. There are many 2025 models that are more or less the same as they were say back in 2021 or 2022 the older you can get the unfortunately the more reliable they are because they're simpler you know they have less electronics things have gotten completely out of hand with all the electronica that they're putting in the vehicles. And just as an aside, I was supposed to get the VW ID Buzz electric bus. Oh, okay.

Oh no, wait a minute. Okay, now you're lighting me up here, okay? Because here it is. I'm driving that 40 something year old bus, that old diesel van again of mine still. And I was kind of wondering what this new iteration of the Volkswagen camper was going to be like here and what happened? Well, I'm not getting it because it glitched out. I got a text from the delivery

service that brings these vehicles to me and they said they had to reschedule it because something, I don't know what exactly happened to it, but it glitched out. It wasn't serviceable so they couldn't get it to me. As far as the rest... What was it? The blue screen? Hold on, Eric, are you trying to tell me that the new Volkswagen busts the electric... what is it called? ID Buzz? ID Buzz is the name they've given. So what did the buzz have? The blue screen of death? Is that what happened? Yes, and you know I can tell you again I test drive new cars every week and lately it's not uncommon for some weird little bug to pop up. Now most of the time they correct themselves but I think to myself holy cow these are brand new vehicles and not only are they brand new vehicles

the ones they sent to me and other reporters you know they check them out because obviously they don't want any bad press. Yeah you don't want to they don't want you getting a bum vehicle to write about for sure. Yeah yeah so I think to myself well what is this vehicle going to be like three or four years down the road, particularly after the warranty expires? And, you know, I don't think I'd want to be holding the keys to them because again, they're putting so much complexity into these things. They're so intricate and delicate. Years down the road, you know, you're subjecting the thing to potholes and to rain and to heat and to freezing cold. Inevitably

anything that complicated, some little thing is going to go awry. And mind you, now, everything's connected. It's not a discrete system. So one thing fails and potentially it causes various other things to fail. A lot of the controls in the new cars are integrated into this touchscreen, the whole touchscreen. So it goes dark, you lose everything. You lose your climate control, you lose your stereo.

All sorts of things go dark. Yeah. All right. control, you lose your stereo, all sorts of things go dark. Yeah, all right, so no ID buzz to review then, but you know, but still this is going to what we were talking about then with the complexity of some of these newer vehicles. So what you're suggesting in some ways is that if you can go to a, if you're looking for a new car, if you can find a new car that hasn't been redesigned very recently, that might be actually a better move for you at this point in time?

Oh, absolutely. You know, it's already a little too late to do this, but last year when you could still get the last generation Toyota Tacoma, that was one of the best pickups on the road. That was a vehicle that you could expect to go 250,000 plus miles, last you 20 years before anything major fell apart, because it's just a simple truck that they've been making pretty much The same way for a long long time now, of course It has a turbo hybrid drive train and the new one is yeah They tout how much more powerful it is and it's got a bigger touchscreen and all this other stuff

But at the end of the day, how's that going to be in ten years from now? Are they being rushed to the market because of the compliance rules? Well, yeah are they being rushed to the market because of the compliance rules well yeah because the compliance pressure keeps ratcheting up and you know they're having to retire prematurely drivetrains that in the past they would have kept going for a long long time okay and that really good example is the toyota v six that is one of the best engines that has come out in the last fifty years the three point five liter v six there's zero

reason for retiring that engine and one of the most bulletproof vehicles ever made really any I mean that engine. Just I mean easily a 300,000 to 400,000 mile engine with proper care, right? Yeah and so you know their tooling and R&D costs and everything else are already paid off. They could just continue to make that engine and make good money on it and people would be happy because it was a great engine. Well it's gone and the only reason it's gone is because it can't be made compliant anymore. So they've had to invest a ton of money developing an entirely new type of engine and system, a drivetrain system, a hybrid system, to

replace it at a faster pace than they would have done, say, the past 20 years ago. Yeah, we're talking about vehicles this morning and the complexity of the later vehicles. Are there any suggestions that you would bring to bear here of vehicles that are available right now that are new but are not new as you and I have been talking about here because a lot of stuff has been rushed to market for compliance purposes. Yeah, unfortunately, there aren't many left. We're kind of right now in the middle of this great transition. If we had this conversation two years ago, there are there many examples you could have gotten something like the dodge charger that had been essentially the same vehicle

for more than ten years also vehicles like the toyota to come with it we've been talking about uh... and the camera and there are a bunch of other ones that were pretty much the same you know they may be made some cosmetic tweaks here and there over the over the over the years but fundamentally mechanically they were pretty much the same now time is caught up with us unfortunately and, and I'd have to go look. There are probably still a couple that would fall into the category, but by this time next year and certainly the year after,

forget about it. It's all over. One of my biggest concerns, Eric, when I, in fact, I have been looking at my PT Cruiser, which is very long in the tooth at this point, 16 years old, and I think it would cost more for me to repaint the clear coat on it than the vehicle's worth, right? Although it's still running okay. So I was out looking at cars just for having fun over the weekend. And I almost couldn't find anything without a CVT,

a continually variable transmission. And I'm hearing horror stories from the transmission rebuilders about this. Is there anything out there that has an actual conventional transmission that could go a couple hundred thousand miles that you're aware of right now? Well, not so much anymore because now the regular conventional automatics with planetary gear sets have typically eight, nine, even ten speeds. And they too are far more complicated than they were in the past. I think, I'm not sure about this, but I think Nissan still offers the Versa with a five or

six speed manual. You'll have to look into that or I'll email you later and let you know. But I think you could still get a manual in the Versa. Yeah, because a lot of times it's not even whether or not the engine will blow up on you early. It's what will happen to the transmission. And some people have said, well, you just have to make sure and service it a lot more than you would otherwise, you know, your CVT. Well, that's great, except some of them aren't realistically serviceable. They are sealed and filled for life.

Yeah. And that's why I wanted to ask that question. And thank you for at least answering. I'm talking with Eric Peters this morning. You have a question for him or a comment. Happy to take it. This is what Wheels Up Wednesday is all about. A little bit of politics and now we're into actually keeping you on the road in style

and more importantly, reliability. This is the Bill Meyers Show. More with Eric next. The Medford Rogues host six home Pacific Empire League games Tuesday through Sunday this week as they compete for a playoff berth. First a clash with the Humboldt Crabs on Tuesday through Thursday, then Friday through Sunday, the Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley Wembley W Visit MedfordRogues.com for tickets or call and pick up prior to each game. Cheer on your Medford Rogues this week and Harry and David Field. Hi, it's John at Wellburn's Weapons. The only thing better than shooting is shooting with a suppressor.

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Call Bill now, 541-770-5633. That's 770-KMED. Yeah, we've been talking about transportation this morning, some of the... looking for the best way to maybe avoid the complexity. Is there still a way that you can get a reliable vehicle right now? And some of the journalism is indicating it's been a problem right now. And that's an issue. And where do we go Eric Peters with me ep autos.com Peter is here Peter you have a question about an Acura go right ahead you're over there okay so I need some good advice from I presume a couple of fathers also okay I've got a I've got a

twenty-something year old daughter who I've managed to get into a I think it's like an 03 Acura that's been in the family for its whole life bouncing around from people 130,000 miles and she wants to drive across the country and then doesn't want the burden of a vehicle in New York City and so she wants to sell it. I'm going, oh no, don't sell it, you won't get anything for it. No, I wouldn't think so. What was your question about it though?

My question is whether or not you think that's as crazy as I do to sell it I I absolutely do and if it were me what I would do is fix your daughter up with a good rental so that she can drive across the country in somebody else's car and she can deposit it in New York when she gets there and hold on to that Acura which has low miles that's nothing yeah that car you could put another hundred thousand miles on that thing and the value of it is going to go up not down Yeah, yeah, and and is that to rent a car or something? That's like from enterprise enterprise or anybody. Yeah, look, you know, especially if you've got the luxury of time You know

You don't have to have the car tomorrow look at yeah their rates are see what it would cost to to rent the car from wherever You guys are typically you can rent them in one place and just drop them off at the other In other words, you don't have to bring them back and forth. People do that all the time. And it does make sense for her to do that because you don't want a car in New York City unless you're rich because of the cost of keeping one. She's right about that. That's a smart move. Okay, sounds great, Dan. I hope you keep that accurate because, like I said, with good car and you've had it in the family, you know how it's been treated and that's an investment at this point in time. Accurate, very good car.

Thanks for the call there Peter. Let me go to James. James is in Selma. James, you had a question for Eric. Go ahead. Yeah, Eric, I'm wondering, just driving a car, I usually, we got Hayes Hill here, which is a pretty steep hill, and I usually we got Hayes Hill here, which is a pretty steep hill and I usually like flow a brand new car That I'm trying out I usually floor it and try to make it up the hill and see how how fast it goes up the hill But I'm wondering what steps do you do with? Trying out a car and how fast do you take it? do you punch it off the line and do you like take it around quick corners? And then does the car snitch on you when you're test driving it? How fast you're going and why not?

That's a really interesting question if the car snitches on you. Eric, what do you say? Yeah, you know, I have thought about that and I would imagine that the answer is yes. I think that they do keep track of what happens to the vehicles that they loan to journalists, but you know I think it's understood, you know, wink wink, nod nod, they know perfectly well that we're going to drive them fast, that we're sometimes not going to cue exactly to the legalities, and the thing is as long as you don't get caught, you know, by the law I mean, or as long as you don't cause a problem, which so far knock on wood I never have, I don't think they particularly care.

But of course, yes, of course I'm gonna floor it. Yes, of course I'm gonna drive the thing fast around the curves. Otherwise, what's the point? Might as well just get an Uber and tell you how nice and comfy the backseat was. That's good. Well, how about that, James?

Is that, that's your question? Yeah, yeah, that's it. I appreciate the call. Thanks for checking in. Let me go to another line here. Good morning, you're on with Eric Peters. Who's this? This is Dale. Hi Dale. What are you thinking? Eric, is any of the manufacturers doing anything to address the overheating problem of a car sitting in the sun? Yes. Let me give you

some examples. I'm pretty sure the current Prius has a system whereby there's actually a fan, a solar- powered fan, that will come on and try to recirculate the air if the interior of the car gets really hot. There are not many cars that have it, but there are some that do. Now, I think the more interesting thing that you bring up here is that the ACA systems that are in use now, and new cars are not as good as they were in the past, takes them longer to cool down and it's harder for them to maintain a cool temperature. If you're of the vintage of Bill and myself, you can remember when GM air conditioners, for example, that used Freon back in the 70s, they were cold enough to turn your car into a meat locker. In some cases you could even see frost on the vents. Yeah, so we're not getting that anymore. Does that work

for you, Coller? Is that what you were looking for? Yeah, because I'm buying aftermarket sun shields and little roll the window down fan kind of things. And I thought insulating the roof and painting the top white or something, I don't know. Painting it white? Well, painting it white would certainly help. It'd be more reflective or least or more heat reflecting kind of color.

Yeah, and tinting the windows helps, but of course then you have to deal sometimes with legalities depending on the state where you live. But if you go to Florida, for example, you'll see that a lot of the windows there are so dark you can't even see inside them. But if you do that in other states, you risk getting pulled over by a cop and given a ticket for too much tint. Yeah, of course. I have the low the low-tech, stupid foam foil thing. Yeah, I just can't help that one. Thank you.

Good luck on that one. Appreciate the call. So what were you going to review next week, Eric? I'm not sure because the ID buzz was supposed to show up today. They told me they were going to sub something in, so it's going to be a surprise review. I have no idea what they're going to show up today. They told me they were gonna sub something in, so it's gonna be a surprise review. I have no idea what they're gonna be bringing. You know, like a Tiguan, or what do they call that? The Tiggy, or whatever? The Tiggy, maybe, yeah,

cause it's new, I don't know. But you know, to get back to that ID Buzz, I wanted to mention, because you know, you're a guy who's got an old van. Yeah. Back in the day, those old vans, the reason they were so esteemed by hippies, as the stereotype had it,

was because they were cheap. They were not only cheap to buy, but they were very cheap to maintain because it was basically beetle under things. Air-cooled four-cylinder engine, totally simple. This new thing is like it starts at I think $54,000 starts. Yeah, and most of them as I have seen when they're coming equipped there from Volkswagen are about 70 grand, aren't they? Yeah, so you know they're for aging old hippies who have cashed in their 401ks and have the money to indulge in a toy. That's what it is now. Okay. So the old hippie ended up first being against the man, then they became the man,

and then after selling out their stock options from having been the man, now they can go revisit the hippie time. It's great. Yeah. And the fundamental incongruity here, as I see it, is that Volkswagen literally means people's car. And the brand, the whole point of Volkswagen was to sell affordable cars in great numbers to lots of people. And by definition, they're not going to sell many $50,000, $70,000 EVs or otherwise, because most people can't afford to spend $50,000 or $70,000 on a car. And speaking of the people's car, I want to talk with you briefly here. I want to send people to epautos.com because here in southern Oregon, we have a governor, past governor, that has ordered the climate friendly equitable community. In other words, stack and pack, you will own nothing and be happy kind of things. That's the envision for the urban areas, especially

here. And I've often wondered what does this look like taken to its logical conclusion and you say that there is a city right now which has almost completed this transition and which one is it? Well there are actually more than one but there's another one joining the crowd and that is Berlin in Germany where there's a referendum that's about to be voted on that if it passes will essentially make uh... the city what they call uh... auto fry meaning car free essentially you can't have a car within a radius of of the downtown area which essentially means that everybody except of course the special people

will have to either walk bicycle or take the bus to get anywhere and that of course will mean they're stuck within that that urban area because it's just too much hassle as a practical matter to get farther than about 15 minutes away from the downtown area. Are they only people who are allowed to drive in there government people in downtown? Of course, of course. They're literally exceptions for that. Government people are always those exceptions aren't they? Isn't that curious? Well yeah you have to understand their time is much more valuable than the people like you and me and the listeners. Yeah, well that's why I call them the important people. They have

important things to do and they can't be held up by any of these gritty concerns. It's only us, though the proletariat, that has to make sacrifices. And get on the bus, prole, right? Hmm, interesting. So it's called, how do you pronounce that German term? Auto is German for car, auto. So Freie, F-R-I-E is free in German, so car free. That's what that word means. Okay, nicht fahren? Is that the article though? Don't go. Yeah, fahren is to drive in German. Oh, got it.

So no drive. Alright, up on... And you know, we can laugh at the Germans all we want to, but this stuff is spreading like metatastic cancer. It's already afflicting Paris and London. They apply exorbitant fines on people for driving into London, for example, and you're not even allowed if you have certain non-compliant vehicles that were made before such and such a date.

And this sort of thing is going to come to the United States if we don't stomp it with both feet. Thank you very much and that's what EP Autos is all about, making sure that you stomp out these kind of scourges, alright? EPautos.com. Eric, have a great week in spite of all the weirdness that's going on. We'll talk next week, okay? Likewise, Bill. Thank you. This is KMED, KMED HD1, Eagle Point, Medford, KBXG, Grants Pass.