Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher - Not a Psychic… 12/11/24

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

Reading and Math skills are falling… Mariah number one again… Meth Presents in New Zealand confiscated… Taylor Swift ERA’s tour has ended… Person of the year is ??? Caitlyn is athlete of the year… Cruise robotaxi shutting down… Amazon sells cars now… Wildfires in Malibu…www.shopblazemedia.com Promo code BLAZE10 Subscribe to Blaze TV www.blazetv.com/jeffy Email: [e-mail] Who Died Today: Michael Cole 84 / Nikki Giovanni 81 / Michelle Thompson 40 / The Amazing Kreskin 89… Phil Robertson update… Disease X in the DRC… Virus samples missing… Joke of The Day… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Amex Platinum, you have access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. So your experience before takeoff is a taste of what's to come. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Blaze Radio Network. And now, Chewing the Fat with Jeff Fisher. If you haven't realized it yet or not, Americans are increasingly flustered by words and numbers.

and according to a test that measures adult literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills in 31 industrialized countries, yeah, the report card revealed an expanding gap between the most and least adept Americans in their ability to handle everyday tasks. You know, from calculating an average to understanding a government email. So the 2023 assessment of 4,600 U.S. adults showed the share of Americans scoring at the lowest level, one out of five, or below in literacy, rose to 28 percent, wow, from 19 percent in 2017, and to 34 percent scored at the lowest numeracy level or below compared to 29 percent six years ago. I don't know I don't know what's happening One plus one That means that over a quarter of Americans

Can reliably gauge info from only a simple text While more than a third You know, probably struggle to perform tasks Beyond basic arithmetic. So, I mean, don't look at me, so The decline wasn't even. The 90th percentile score didn't drop for literacy And numeracy, but for the 10th percentile score.

for both decreased. And we're not alone. So good. We're not the only country being stupid or okay. We're just not. Average literacy and numeracy scores dropped in 20 and 11 countries. In 20 and 11 countries, oh, in 20 and 11 countries, respectively. I can't read.

I literacy. Wait, numeracy scores, literacy and numeracy scores dropped in 20 and 11 countries. So, okay, literacy in 20, numeracy in 11, with some researchers blame on less reading and more scrolling, though some of it could be due to aging populations. Yeah. And language difficulties stemming from increased immigration. We're letting too many damn foreigners in here.

We can't understand them. That's because I can't add because we're letting too many foreigners in here. Finland ranked number one in both literacy and numeracy. Okay, calm down Finland. All right, we got it. You're smart. All right. Sharing first, oh, they did.

And they're not alone, okay? They're not all by themselves. So like I said, calm down, Finland. All right, you have to share the number one spot with Japan in problem solving. Okay. So just know that you're not alone. Welcome. Welcome to chewing the fat.

Now all I can think of is the Beverly Hillbillies with Jethro doing some ciphering for us. Do some ciphering for us, Jethro. Ah plus a equals a. A plus one. Ah, come on now. That's where we're at. That was years ago. So, I mean, we're far ahead of that, right?

Right? Come on now. We don't have Jethro's giving us ciphering skills. in today's world, do we? We do? All right, never mind. Not only is it beginning to look a lot like Christmas. And I know I'm gonna, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

Everywhere I go. Mariah Carey, her song, All I Want for Christmas. Come on now. I mean, classic. We all love it. You know it. You know you do. You sing along.

time it's played. It debuted in 1994. We've talked about that. It's been 30 years. It is now top on the Hot 100 songs. So it's got, it's a record with six distinct runs atop

the chart of a Hot 100. So, I mean, that is awesome for Mariah Carey. Now, I will say that because all I want for Christmas is you and it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. To me, a woman was arrested in New Zealand

with Christmas presents We're all wrapped up at the airport Apparently you can't give meth For Christmas presents 22 pounds of meth What is this world coming to? She didn't realize, apparently, that she couldn't

give meth presents away. The Canadian woman has been arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs into New Zealand 22 pounds of methamphetamine. And the woman's carry-on luggage and she arrived at the airport. The passenger just made, you know, the woman whose name, of course,

we can't tell you because she's held on charges of importation and possession of a supply of Class A controlled drugs. This is a classic attempt by transnational organized criminal groups at trying to exploit the busy travel. season. I hate them for that. Why would they do that? Uh, well, they got in trouble for it too. Uh, a busy airport does not mean customs is not focused on or paying attention to anyone who may pose a drug risk. Good. Good. Because we don't want, we don't want drugs being

slipped into New Zealand, even if it's a Christmas gift. We don't want that. They're all wrapped up, stowed in her duffel bag, the picture shows that, I mean, she had him on the flight. Oh my gosh, she brought, she brought 22 pounds of meth on a flight as her carry on. I mean, so? Okay, it's an illegal drug. Sure, she got busted at the end. I wonder, and this is just a question for me, I'm sure it didn't happen. but I wonder how many other carry-on bags on that flight

had Christmas present meth packages in them because that would be, I mean, did they catch them all? I would hope so. I would hope so that they got them all. I hope this is the only one. But you did say it was the busy travel season. And you did say that they were, these organized criminal groups were trying to explain,

the busy season. So I would say that you would have multiple couriers on the flight with Christmas packages for the family. It just happened to be 22 pounds of meth. Hopefully that didn't happen, though. So if you were expecting meth from your dear old mom coming in from Canada, they're in New Zealand. Sorry about it. You're not getting it. Yeah.

Sad. You're going to have to hope that maybe your uncle came through with a bag of mouth. But you won't get as much as you had anticipated. I know. Sorry. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. What? Sounds like Ojo time.

Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements. What you win is yours to keep groovy. Hey, I won! Feel the fun And we'll begin when passenger Fisher is done celebrating

19 plus Ontario only Please play responsibly concerned by your gambling Or that if someone close you call 1-8665-312 Or visit comexonterio.ca You know, speaking of Mariah Carey And, you know, just milking the world For all I want for Christmas is you For the last 30 years

She makes like $3 million a year At least from this one stupid song Good for her. Good for her. But I see where Taylor Swift I want you going to have to dry your eyes and get a clean X out the Eros tour is over

it's finally over thank God it's finally over I was sick of hearing about it but it is she ended in Vancouver Canada which we talked about so the 2.2 billion dollar tour was the highest grossing

of all time so after nearly two years and 152 shows across five continents. The ERA's tour book, you know, had, she had the big book that came out on Black Friday,

which, you know, let's see, was, let's see, 814,000 copies sold over Thanksgiving weekend, the most for the first week, print sales in 2024.

I was only 40 bucks a copy. I'm sorry, $39.99 a copy. And you had the Ares tour movie that brought in 261 million which was a record

for a concert film and merch sales from the Arrow's tour total $440 $440 million for the merge so they had was the highest

grossing tour of all time earning more than a billion across 66 shows for an additional 86 shows this year year, so the final hall was $2.2 billion. Fans traveled an average distance of 338 miles to see a show. That's per vivid seats.

And in the U.S., they spent $1,300 on average for tickets, outfits, and more for the Taylor Swift era's tour. Good for him, for her, him, them, whatever. I can't take it. They also talked about, what was it? There was the other thing that, oh, she donated. She donated a bunch of money. Donated.

She gave bonuses. Like, I don't know, like 900. They said. They claimed that she gave bonuses of 970 million across the board to all the, all the workers on the Ares Tour. That's pretty sweet. That's pretty sweet. And they were saying what an economic juggernaut it was when she came to the cities. The cities all benefited from the Ares Tour.

So is she going to be Time Magazine's person of the year? I read somewhere where they've given her the person of the year. I don't know if that's the musician of the year. I don't know if that's what that is because they already gave Caitlin Clark the athlete of the year, Time Magazine. And we're told that they have a short list for their Person of the Year award, which was, you know, Donald Trump, Kate Middleton, Elon Musk Rogan, Jerome Powell, Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg. Why is Zuckerberg man here? Just because he's building some pipeline for meta. Stop it. I mean, I guess she could be, she's not on the short list according to all the lists I saw. So maybe it's Time Magazine's entertainer of the year or whatever. Taylor got that.

Not the person of the year. But, you know, I mean, the person of the year has to be either Donald Trump Elon Musk Joe Rogan Right has to be

Who else is there That would be Person of the year That has done You know Some would say more damage That has been in the limelight More than those three

This year I mean Seriously I mean You can make the case Taylor Sheridan could be a person here. He's not even nominated in any of these. You could make that case.

You could make the case that Taylor Sheridan. And you know another thing speaking of Taylor Sheridan. That got me thinking about it. Every show he does now, he has to be in. So not only is he making, I think we've talked about this before. So not only is he making money from writing and directing the shows and producing the shows,

co-producing the shows. Then it's filmed on his property. Most of the shows are filmed on his property. And then he's acting in them. So he's getting paid for that. And I mean, he just, in Yellowstone, they keep showing him at this Weatherford ranch. He just bought that ranch. But the four-sixes he owns, he bought that a while ago.

So he owns at least two and probably more big ranches here in Texas. And, I mean, what do you do with ranchers? but film TV shows on them. Right, Taylor? All right, let's go to the break room. I need something cold to drink desperately. All right, well, as long as we're in the break room, I might as well give you some headlines

that you need to be aware of. General Motors has announced it's going to stop funding its cruise robot taxi project citing competition, costs, and time required to scale the business. GM will instead focus on developing advanced driver assistant technologies and autonomous systems for personal vehicles, merging Cruz's technical team with its own.

GM spent over $10 billion on Cruise since acquiring it in 2016, and experts say it's going to save roughly about a billion annually from the restructuring. Okay. Now, they've had some issues. you know the big thing that put them down was that uh 2023 uh accident i'm sorry incident that uh where the vehicle struck and dragged a pedestrian but the car did what it was supposed to do the we've talked about this it's just it's maddening how narratives get set the car this lady was hit by a car that was being driven by a human

she flew when she flew she landed in the road and there was the robot taxi this cruise taxi that ran over and now when it ran over someone it rolled off to the side of the road and stopped like it's supposed to

it didn't hit the human I mean it did but it wasn't the first car that hit the human so anyway that led to a bunch of regulatory scrutiny and operational setbacks, according to the report. And then the Cruz co-founder, Kyle Vaught, resigned. Cruz laid off 900 employees.

And then last month, they paid a $500,000 criminal fine for submitting a false report related to the October 23rd incident. So I would be fascinating. I did not know that. I did not know about the false report. It'd be interesting. I'm going to have to find out what that false report was. Yeah, because they talk about falsified records in the federal investigation.

It's always good to lie under a federal investigation. Man, that always ends. Thumbs up. Always. Under the jurisdiction of the NHTSA within the U.S. Department of Transportation, The criminal investigation and prosecution against Cruz is being resolved with a deferred prosecution agreement in which Cruz admits an accept responsibility for the charge in the information. Okay.

Yeah, then it goes on to talk about what we talked about. The cruise vehicle operating without a driver ran over a pedestrian who had been thrown into the vehicle's path by a human-driven vehicle. The cruise vehicle stopped after running over the pedestrian. Yeah, but... However, because its detection system did not detect that a pedestrian was underneath it, the cruise vehicle then attempted to pull over to the side of the road with the woman underneath it. Oh, okay. Well, I mean, sorry about it.

I hit something and now I got to pull over. And I didn't realize that what hit me was a human. Sorry. Sorry. You know, we didn't see the woman flying in front of us. Okay. So federal regulations require cruise to report incidents, including crashes involving, yeah, yeah, yeah.

In a video conference, cruise employees provide a verbal summary of the accident that did not include a description of the dragging. There you go. They lied. They lied. So they lied about the dragging. And because really, the car,

I mean, should they have lied? Absolutely not. Especially when you're doing testimony in front of the fed. You just, it's not, that's an important, important little key. Don't lie. But now they're, you know, you're between a rock and a hard place, which is their car. Ah, ha, ha. Oh, kill me.

Anyway, they're shutting down. And they shouldn't have lied. Don't lie. Oh, what a wicked wicked. I can't make sure I've turned out. I can't speak. Remember, I didn't pass the test. A wicked.

web we weave when first we try to deceive. I know. I know. Congratulations to Amazon. If you're looking to buy a car, you can now go to Amazon. Not only, I can get my vitamins, and I can pick up a new car. That's awesome.

Now, right now, we talked about this that it was coming, because I remember talking about it being Honda's. The e-conference, they've officially launched the Amazon Auto Service, which gets you shoppers in 48 U.S. cities to buy exclusively Hyundai vehicles from participating dealers. You can also finance your purchase, schedule pickups,

trade in existing cars, all from within the Amazon app. They plan, of course, to adding more manufacturers next year. They were going to add the cruise vehicles, but not going to have those anymore. But until then, it hopes that you will consider, I don't think that they were going to have the cruise vehicles. Sorry, just a joke. Procuring the, if you want to get the 20-25 Allentra, go to Amazon, baby. Listen, I'm a big fan of Hondas.

I changed my name. I changed my name for Hyundai. I was Jeff Fisher. I was Brandon Hyundai. The name of the dealership was Brandon, Florida, Brandon Hyundai. I changed my name to Brandon Hyundai, formerly Jeff Fisher, on the air for their bid. I drove a Honda for a little over a year. They let me just drive whatever car I wanted off the lot.

I just drove for a year. I'd go and trade it in. It was a good deal. It was a great campaign. It was a fantastic. I loved that campaign. Well, because I got the free car. But I love that campaign because I was Brandon Honda.

I changed my name to Brandon Hyundai. And it was awesome. And no, well, okay, I changed my name on the air. I didn't do it legally. Maybe that's why after a year they were like, yeah, we're not going to do that anymore. There was a fun bit, though. That was a fun bit. Anyway, you can get it in Hyundai now,

probably from Brandon Hyundai in Tampa on Amazon. So go, get your Hyundai. And make sure they, you know, they drop it off the same time they drop off your vitamins and your toothpaste, okay? It's all good. And we got, we also have a big, another wildfire happening out in California.

And the reason we're going to care is because it's in Malibu. And that's where all the money is. So we really care about that. Thousands of people were forced to evacuate yesterday as it cut through. And of course, they always tell us the wealthy coastal area. Yeah, we know. Malibu, we got it. Okay.

We got it. Okay. And it's threatening a nearby Pepperdown University and the Malibu Pier cannot have that. We've seen those shots in a million television shows, a million movies. I mean, if you ever been to L.A., that's what you see. I mean, it's just beautiful. and I mean when you stay Last time I was there I stayed

In Malibu Well I stayed on Right where as the road goes off the beach Down to Malibu And it's just beautiful The piers right there The homeless people on the beach are beautiful It's really nice

It's just really nice So the blaze burned more than 2,600 acres bolstered by heavy winds That are making it Yeah they're talking about the San Anna winds Coming in that are making it very difficult to contain. And we don't know where it started.

The cause of it is unclear. So I'm sure we'll find out soon enough that it was somebody who wanted to prove a point about something. And then, you know, it just got out of hand. One thing led to another. I just wanted to burn my brush in my backyard. I know fires are banned and it's windy, but I just had to burn my brush.

and the next thing you know the neighborhood's on fire and the next thing you know there goes Malibu sorry and I figured it would rain and geez it hasn't ran here in weeks so come to think of it

it never rains in California does it somebody should write a song this episode is brought to you by Peloton a new era of fitness is here introducing the new Peloton cross-training Tread Plus powered by Peloton IQ, built for breakthroughs,

with personalized workout plans, real-time insights, and endless ways to move. Lift with confidence, while Peloton IQ counts reps, corrects form, and tracks your progress. Let yourself run, lift, flow, and go. Explore the new Peloton Cross-Training Treadplus at OnePeloton.ca. Be sure to follow me on my social media sites

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but it's worth every doggone penny at Jeffie JFR on the Cameo app. And you can always email the show Chewing the Fat at theblaze.com. Chewing the fat at theblaze.com. I see them all. Thank you very much. I appreciate your emails.

Chewing the fat at the blaze.com. Also, now is the time to take a look at what we've got for sale on our merchandise website, shopblazmedia.com. You can check out all the cool stuff from the Blaze Media. All you have to do, and I'm going to tell you this, I'm going to give you a promo code. It's going to save you 10% off your entire order. I know, I know. I don't have to, but I'm going to. Blaze 10.

You go to Shopblazmedia. Use the promo code Blaze 10 B-L-A-Z-E-1-0 Get you 10% off Right? Thank you. Shopblazmedia.com Shopblazmedia.com.

I mean, we've got some really cool merchandise available and you're going to go there and now is the time. I don't know when the cutoff date is to have it delivered for Christmas. So if you're listening to this, it already may have passed.

You know, I don't know. But I would check because these will be great gifts. And if you think, and also, you know what? You could give it as a Christmas gift. And if it's late, you give them a card and say, hey, I love you. Merry Christmas. I have a special present on the way that got lost in shipping. And I'm waiting for it to arrive because the shipping company is screwed up.

And they're getting it to me. but it was so important to me, I wanted you to be aware of it. So I'm going to give you this card and let you know that it's on the way. And then when it comes, you give it to them. And this is a Christmas present. I know. I mean, I give and I give and I give. And that's not lying.

That's just, you know, it's just kind of, well, let's telling somebody a lie. Shopblazedmedia.com. Shopblazmedia.com. promo code blaze 10 get you 10% off your entire order all right who died today who died today all right we have several in who died today and one is most important that i care about the most is uh i mean the guy the one guy that uh passed away uh who lived an amazing life and i can't wait to talk about him but i will begin with michael cole who is you know i'm sorry that he died michael cole the star of the Mod Squad. You remember him from the Mod Squad? Of course you do. He was 84.

Rest in peace to Michael Cole. He said that, or I mean, he didn't say, they said that he died peacefully surrounded by loved ones after living a full and vibrant life. Which is all we can, any of us can ask for, right?

I did not realize that he had a memoir out. I may have, I don't know that I want to. read it, but I love the title. His memoir was called I played the white guy. That is awesome. Now, it might be worth a read.

It might be worth a read saying that he offered a candid and heartfelt account of his experiences in Hollywood. He survived by his wife, Shelley, and his children. I mean, he played in all kinds of shows. on television and uh you know i mean his big show obviously was the mod squad

but he was on murder she wrote and fantasy allen those were all 70s and 80s shows but he got his start um like uh on gun smoke gun smoke holy cow and then uh then the mod squad series

was uh i think that was five years and you get five years in you get you start to make some little bit of money and uh plus you get money hopefully he had a deal on although back then they didn't have a big deal on reruns.

It was just like you're getting the money for the show and what we do with it after that is none of your business. So, and if we would need you, we'll call you. And that's probably what the case was. Which is why he played the white guy. Anyway, rest in peace to Michael Cole

dead at the age of 84. Then the costume designer and stylist with dozens of credits, but I mean, the favorite one of course is Cha-cha, real smooth. And so rest in peace to Michelle Thompson dead at the age of 40. Then, now I can get to the person that I really wanted to talk about.

The amazing Kreskin. The amazing Kreskin has passed away. First, let me say, when I read this headline, I thought, he's still alive? Well, yes, he was. But not any longer. He was dead at the age of 89, the amazing Creskin. I mean, this guy, and then I'm reading about his life, and everyone, and I say everyone,

we remember him because he was on the, you know, the Tonight Show, and Carson made a big deal about the amazing Creskin. And he really, Carson, the reason that Carson created Carnac the Magnificent was because of the Amazing Creskin. Crescott talked about it at one point talking about how his his first time on television he came out and he was billed as this great mentalist

and it was the Steve Allen show in 1964 and when he walked out to the stage he said the bright lights blinded him and so when he walked up to the stage he tripped and fell flat on his face and Carson, that's why when Carson came out

with Carnac the Magnificent, he always tripped when he was coming to the, when he's coming to the desk, Carnac, the Magnificent! And he would come up and he would trip onto the stage because that was what the amazing Kreskin did. Anyway, the amazing Kresk,

he did 88 appearances on the Tonight Show. And it was Johnny Carson that dubbed him amazing. And so he was, he had his own TV shows. He was, I mean, he was a mentalist. Now, a lot of people thought that he was psychic.

And he said, no, I am not a psychic, okay? I'm just not bringing immense joy to people's life. But I have nothing to do. I'm not psychic. And what was the thing that he pissed him off the most? Oh, yeah, hypnotism. He did not believe in hypnotism. He did not believe in that.

He called himself sensitive, someone who could tune in on the thoughts of other people. And, I mean, he built his work around the power of suggestion. He was called one of the most tremendous forces known to mankind is the power of suggestion. And so he talked about how when he would tour the world, I mean, the man he toured the world as the, you know, the amazing Kreskin. he would work for his check. He said that he would show up and if they would hide his check somewhere in the building

where he was working and if he couldn't find it, they didn't have to pay him. And he said he almost always found it. He did, there were a couple of times when he didn't find it. And he said, sometimes I failed to find it.

Like he made a big deal out of the $51,000 he was supposed to get for his New Zealand show. He was probably smuggling meth at the time, so it was fine. The money was donated to the Children's Hospital. So he couldn't find the check, but he donated the money of the Children's Hospital.

That's pretty cool. He said, I held a press conference the next day, and I said that I'd be checking into a hospital myself soon, the way I felt. That's awesome. I mean, the guy did shows everywhere. I was looking at some of the numbers of shows that he did.

I mean, he had his own shows, multiple different shows. He had 25,000 shows, 3 million miles, seven decades, over a million minds read. And I've just, he consulted,

um, law enforcement agencies on various cases. He said that the comic strip, Mandrake, the magician, was, uh, about him.

And it just, it was just, He was just an amazing man. And he was born in New Jersey, died in New Jersey. He never left New Jersey. He was a New Jersey boy at heart, although, you know, he traveled the world.

And, you know, he just loved New Jersey. New Jersey was his home. The amazing Kreschen dead at the age of 89. And he said, I'm sure this will probably be on his tombstone, although the family in the article doesn't say, that's what we're putting out of his tombstone. But when he, after he, at the end of all of his shows, he would say, this is not goodbye, but to be continued.

So rest and peace to the amazing Kreskin, dead at the age of 89. Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals on amazing gifts. So you don't have to. They've bagged this season's Italian leather handbags. Designer. Handpicked the finest sweaters from the rest. cashmere landed makeup pallets from the brands you love rushes too and hustled all those wishless topping toys so plush our buyers have got you covered marshals we get the deals you gift the good stuff

you know we did get some sad news though about uh phil robertson from uh unashamed uh you know our blaze tv uh family uh the people have been wondering where he's been um and they have sent prayers and well-wish as well, we find out, Jace has revealed that the reason that he hasn't been on the show is that he has some sort of blood disease that's been causing all kinds of problems and is also in the early stages of Alzheimer's.

Very sad. And he's such a good man. Phil Robertson. I mean, we've talked to him on this show before. I've talked to him before. He's such a good man. So obviously, our thoughts, and prayers are with him and the family.

And so he's fought all his life, and he'll continue to fight for sure. But if you were wondering, you know, hey, where's Phil been on? I'm ashamed. I want to apologize because I wasn't wondering that. But, I mean, I'm sure someone was. I tell you, I don't listen to every episode, okay?

Don't look at me like that. I just don't. I wasn't wondering that. But I'm still. I liked him. He was a good man. I've had him on the show. We've talked about his early days playing football in Louisiana, how he quit the football team so that Terry Bradshaw could become the quarterback. He's good friends with Terry Bradshaw, who I don't know if you know this, four Super Bowl wins, Hall of Fame quarterback. He was, Phil was a quarterback in Louisiana

before Terry Bradshaw. And then he decided, I just want to go fishing and read the Bible. And that's what he did. And that's what he did. And that's what he did. And that's where he then he got the duck calls. And, you know, the rest is history, so they say. But anyway, he is suffering from some sort of blood disease and it's causing all kinds of issues. And they also claim that he has early stages of Alzheimer's. Very sad.

And so be sure to say a prayer for him and the family when you look up and you say, hey, how come Phil's not on the show? Okay, sure there's a mystery illness dubbed a disease X that has infected 400 now and killed dozens of children in the DRC. So? More Democratic Republic of Congo people dying.

I mean, okay. The WHO sent investigators to remote the pansy region in the southwest of the country. And I don't know if they're pansies or they're just chimpanzees. it's the P-A-N-Z-I region. That's what they call it. I'm just reporting. Just reading the story.

It said the outbreak, and they've now issued their first report of the situation. The agency said that since October 24th, there have been 406 cases and 31 deaths, mostly children, from the undiagnosed disease. so because they don't know, the true number could be likely higher because they don't know how many people died and they don't figure they don't know. So it's just disease X.

Now, I don't think the disease X in the DRC has anything to do with the missing virus samples from Australia that they decided, yeah, we don't know what happened to them. We had 300 live virus samples. And gosh darn it, we just don't know what happened.

happened to them. Now, we're launching an investigation. We're going to find out, we're going to get to the bottom of this and find out, you know, what happened to the 323, to be exact, virus samples that went missing from the state virology laboratory after a freezer storing the samples broke down. Now, we talked about this this morning during Pat Unleashed. Now, during Pat Unleashed, we talked to you about the security breach being discovered in 2023, okay? So it's taken a year for the department to get accreditation from the federal agencies to launch an investigation. However, the laboratory freezer breaking down that stored the samples happened in 2021. So it's even farther away.

What did we do with those viruses? I'm sure it's just an accounting error. Who knows? The freezer broke down and, you know, Mildred threw the stuff away. She didn't know what was in there. It was bad stuff. It's not worth anything if it's not refrigerated anyway. Don't worry about it.

Yeah, let's worry about it, okay? That's incredible. So the majority of virals contain samples of lysivirus, which can cause rabies. Nearly 100 of the missing viruses contained hendrovirus, which has a 57% fatality rate among the few human cases since the illness was discovered in the mid-90s. Two vials contained the Hunter virus, which also has a highly a high fatality rate.

So right now, though, I just want to be clear, there's no evidence of any public threats that came about because of these lost vials. So, I mean, since 2021, there have been 323 virus samples. Poof. Gone. What did I do? do with those viruses.

Yeah, I was darn it. Oh, you know what? The freezer broke down. The freezer broke down. Yes. And then, well, I don't know what happened after that. The freezer broke down and now we just, we can't find them. And we haven't done anything about it because nobody cared.

And now somebody cares. And it's been four years. So, four years, I'm sorry, three. It's only been three. I'm sorry, I don't want to exaggerate. It's only been three years since 323 of these virus samples went missing and now we're finally getting someone to care. I'll worry about it's fine. It's fine.

All right, let's get out of here. I'll leave you with a joke of the day. Since we started out with it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere I go. Hey, thanks for coming tonight. Be sure to tip your wagers. It's good to see you. Thanks for coming to it. Caesar's Palace Lounge. This comes from an email from Robert, who emailed chewing the fat at the blaze.com.

And the email reads, first of all, let us thank you for our elf on the shelf. We won from you several years ago. You're welcome. I have the owner on, the founder, the designer, the maker of elf on the shelf.

She would join us a couple of times and she was great. And what a, I mean, you want to talk about an American dream success story. That's it. But they named their elf, Jeffie the elf.

So kind of sweet, and I appreciate it very much. So Robert believes that he could write his own jokes too. And you know what? Let's see if he's working on, all your listeners that are emailing me your jokes, I know some of them are a work in progress, some of them are working, and I appreciate it.

It means a lot. Write them down every day, work through them, make them work, then send them in. Because this one I think works. That's what I think works. It's a Christmas joke,

and I think it works, Robert. How much did Santa pay for his sleigh? I don't know. How much did Santa pay for his sleigh? Nothing. It was on the house. See? Because Santa lands.

Wow, you understand. Stream and subscribe to more Blaze Media content at the blaze.com slash podcasts.