The Breakfast Club - DONKEY: 2 Teens Break Into Railroad Facilities,  Stealing and Crashing A Train

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

Charlamagne Tha God gives Donkey of the Day to two teens who broke into railroad facilities, stole a train, and then crashed it. Listen for more!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us. I'm Lola Blanc. And I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the host of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out.

Trust me. New episodes every Wednesday on Exactly Right. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions. Did George Washington really cut down a charity? Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair? And I find the answers.

I'm so glad you asked me this question. This is such a ridiculous story. You can listen to American History Hotline on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Noah and I'm 13 and I started this podcast because honestly adults don't ask the right questions. Now You Know with Noah DeBaroso

is a show about influence. Who's got it, how they use it, and what it means for the rest of you. It's not the news. It's what the news should be if someone Gen Z or Gen Alpha made it. Politics is wild and I'm definitely not here to payment, but I'm here to make sense of it.

Listen to Now You Know with Noah DeBarroso. on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Get fired up, y'all. Season two of Good Game with Sarah Spain is underway. We just welcomed one of my favorite people, an incomparable soccer icon, Megan Rapino, to the show. And we had a blast. Take a listen. Sue and I were, like, riding the lime bikes the other day.

And we're like, we! People ride bikes because it's fun. We got more incredible guests like Megan in store, plus News of the Day. day and more. So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. You're trying to be a fake-ass Charlemagne.

He's only one Charlemagne. Damn, Salam, who you give a dusty other day too, then? Well, sexy red donkey today for Thursday, August 14th, goes to two teenagers in my home state of South Carolina. They're teenagers, so I don't have their names. But this isn't really about them. It's about us. A teachable moment.

See, I'm thinking about President Trump and the federal takeover, D.C., the police and, you know, mobilization of the National Guard. Yes, we notice is yet another distraction that the Trump administration has created to attempt to get people to stop talking about the Epstein files. But listening to the president cite a lot of false and misleading claims about murder and youth crime in the nation's capital got me thinking just because the data and information he may have cited is wrong doesn't mean that youth crime in D.C. and all over the country isn't happening. Because let's be honest, we all know it is.

And we all know why it is, because the powers that be aren't doing anything to truly combat crime in our communities. They never have. Okay, if you aren't addressing the social and economic factors that contribute to crime, then you're not serious about combating crime. But we're going to get back to that because I need to talk about these teenagers in South Carolina. Two juveniles have been detained for stealing a train and causing a derailment. This is impressive, stupid but impressive because I've never, ever, ever, ever heard of somebody committing a crime like this. Let's go to NBC4 for the report, please.

Two teens in Lawrence County are facing charges for taking a joy ride in a train. Lawrence police say it happens sometimes Saturday night. They say two juveniles unlawfully entered both the Carolina Piedmont Railroad and CSX Transportation Railroad Facilities and stole a train. Investigators say they drove around the rail yard and when they tried to return the engines, they crashed into parked rail cars, causing a derailment. Officials say both those teens faced several charges that include second-degree burglary, grand larceny and malicious damage to property. Listen, I need all my nieces and nephews out there. Please listen to your uncle Shala. If you can take the time to unlawfully enter a railroad facility and figure out how to

start an engine of a train that was connected to two other trains and then drive those three trains around the yard before taking them onto the rail line that connects toward Greenville. If you can figure out how to do all that, damn it, you can do anything. Okay, there is literally nothing your mind can conceive that you can't achieve because your brain told you to do this and you did it. First of all, my whole life, I've never thought about driving a train, ever. But those are the kinds of thoughts that if we were investing in our kids the way we should, they could share with us, and we could help them become an actual train operator. I wish that these two kids would have told an adult that, hey, I want to drive a train

and connect them with someone who can make that dream come true for them, okay, like a ride-along program or something, because I just Googled this morning, how do you become a railroad train operator? And correct me if I'm wrong, all the railroad train operators out there. But from what I see, the requirements are pretty basic. Okay, you can become a railroad train operator by having a high school diploma or the equivalent of it. It says you've got to pass a physical exam and complete training and certification through the Federal Railroad Administration. An entry-level positions often require on-the-job training and advancement to engineer roles. They typically involve years of experience as a conductor, and they make pretty decent money.

Okay, the best-paying jobs in railroads include locomotive engineers. They earn around $85,000 a year. railroad conductors make about 65 a year railroad yard masters which I don't even know what that is earned up to 70 grand a year and signal and switch operators can make over 80 grand

my point is kids if you can spend time and energy doing the wrong thing you can use that same time and energy to do the right thing but this is where we okay come into play we are failing a lot of our kids

man I already know the Trump administration wants to make America a police state but making America a police state isn't going to solve the problem You really want to combat crime. You have to deal with the social and economic factors that contribute to crime. You know why I invest so much of my personal time, energy, and resources into mental health initiatives? It's because I understand that if you help someone be the best version of themselves mentally and emotionally, you make society better.

Okay? When you help someone deal with their unheeled trauma and that pain and hurt the individual is feeling, when you help them get some healing, they don't go out here and project that pain and hurt on the other people. okay but that is dealing with what's in people's head and heart we got to start dealing with what is in people's pockets okay acting like poverty and crime don't go hand in hand is retarded okay you have to give these kids opportunity and something to do idle mind is a devil's playground when kids don't have nothing to do and no legal means and making ends meet they will resort to crime unless you provide them with opportunity we know the answers to all these problems. Our governments know the answers to these problems. Okay, we got to stop saying the system

is broken. All right. It's designed to do exactly what it's doing. For example, you want kids to not turn the crime. Okay, you need strong family support, which is why the system goes out this way to tear families apart. You need positive community involvement. After school programs, recreational activities, mentorship programs, community engagement, youth clubs, religious groups. You have to give these kids a real sense of belonging, but they cut in funding for a lot of these programs okay because they know it gives them purpose of course education of course job training and employment opportunities okay social and emotional development that goes into the education piece they need to have social and emotional learning from pre-k to 12th grade teach these kids empathy

and compassion conflict resolution skills we know the solutions to these problems but we don't implement them because the school to prison pipeline is big business now let me get back to the real root cause poverty and inequality okay address that and you're getting right to the root cause of reducing the risk factor associated with crime mental health support i will stress that until the day i die okay help them deal with their trauma and emotional distress early intervention programs okay target these at-risk youth not by militarizing the police and sending the feds into these cities target them with early intervention programs that can prevent them from developing harmful behaviors and trajectories.

Okay, trade schools, steam programs, job core. And once again, mental health services, okay, see, when I look at these kids who went for a joyride on this train before they derailed it, I don't see lost causes. Okay, I see the right energy going in the wrong direction because once again, if they can come up with an idea to go into a railroad facility, start a train, and drive it, then they can walk into a trade school and learn how to do H-FAC.

Okay, they can go to school and make a new road. and anything in Steve but we have to be their guide we have the good nobody coming to save us because the upward mobility of these young things in Queens is not part of the plan of their system please give these young teenagers who stole that train in South Carolina the biggest he hawf but we hit what will happen let me look oh yeah I knew that already. Hi, Jess. Hey, what's that?

How are you? I'm good. Are you ready to fix somebody's mess? Of course not. 1-800-5-105-1. It is time for Jess fix my mess. She's not an expert at anything, but she has some life experiences.

And if you think some of her experiences can help you call us right now. And if you love us out because you win a Royal Caribbean cruise, I can help you too. So, yeah. It's the world's most dangerous morning to show the breakfast club.

Donkey of the day is sponsored by renowned personal injury attorney Michael the Bull Lamb and Soft. Don't be a donkey. When you need a fighter on your side. If you're ever injured, go to Michael the Bull.com. That's Michael the Bull.com. And when you mess with the bull, you get the horns.

Hold on. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The breakfast club. You're all finished or y'all done? Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult. But it happens all the time to people just like you. And people just like us.

I'm Lola Blanc. And I'm Megan Elizabeth. We're the hosts of Trust Me, a podcast about cult. manipulation, and the psychology of belief. Each week we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out. Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on exactly right.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, a different type of podcast. You, the listener, ask the questions. Did George Washington really cut down a cherry? Were JFK and Marilyn Monroe having an affair? And I find the answers. I'm so glad you asked me this question. This is such a ridiculous story.

You can listen to American History Hotline on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Noah and I'm 13 and I started this podcast because honestly adults don't ask the right questions. Now you know with Noah de Barroso is a show about influence. Who's got it, how they use it, and what it means. for the rest of you. It's not the news. It's what the news should be if someone Gen Z or Gen Alpha made it.

Politics is wild and I'm definitely not here to payment, but I'm here to make sense of it. Listen to Now You Know with Noah DeBarrasso on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Get fired up, y'all.

Season 2 of Good Game with Sarah Spain is underway. We just welcomed one of my favorite people and incomparable soccer icon Megan Rapino to the show and we had a blast. Take a listen. Sue and I were like riding the lime bikes the other day, and we're like, we're like, people ride bikes because it's fun.

We got more incredible guests like Megan in store, plus news of the day and more. So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports Network. This is an IHeart podcast. Thank you.