12/18 Menards taken to task by the hard hitting Keith Ellison

Summary

Garage Logic — Dec 18, 2025

Episode Theme & Overview

In this episode, Joe Soucheray (“The Mayor”) and the Garage Logic crew dissect two distinct examples of questionable public policy and governmental intervention in Minnesota: Minneapolis’s controversial new public restroom funding scheme, and Attorney General Keith Ellison’s settlement with Menards over its rebate program. The team explores themes of government overreach, fiscal mismanagement, personal responsibility, and the often-misguided priorities of public officials—peppered with classic Garage Logic wit and skepticism.

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Main Segments & Key Discussion Points

1. Minneapolis Public Restrooms and the Mystery of the VCD Fund

[02:00 - 19:00]

• City Allocates $700k/yr for Downtown Public Restrooms

  • Recently slipped into the 2026 city budget, championed by outgoing 7th Ward CM Katie Cashman. The city plans to engage a "restroom as a service" operator, funded through what’s known as the Streetcar Value Capture District (VCD)—a tax district created in 2013, originally to fund a streetcar line that never came to fruition.

• Repurposing Taxes for Never-Built Projects

  • The hosts highlight the obscurity and elasticity of the VCD, essentially a special property tax that continues to collect millions, long after the streetcar plans collapsed.
  • “In other words, they just created a tax out of whole cloth.” — Joe Soucheray [05:00]
  • The fund’s surplus is now being applied to restroom construction, a development only just now being brought to public attention.

• Concerns and Skepticism

  • The team questions necessity, management, and cost: Will these restrooms become magnets for crime, drug use, and unsanitary behavior?
  • “These are basically drug houses.” — John Hight [09:21]
  • The mayor laments the erosion of individual responsibility and increased reliance on the state for even basic bodily functions.
  • “I want the United States to return to an era when the government had nothing to do with providing you a restroom.” — Joe Soucheray [16:20]

• Socioeconomic Implications

  • Restrooms, once managed privately—by businesses for customers—are now a municipal burden, implicitly indicating a shift in who comprises the city’s pedestrian traffic.
  • “It’s a sad point to have reached...because your bodily functions used to be done civilly, with a certain amount of propriety and decorum.” — Joe Soucheray [14:06]

• Recurring Taxation & Lack of Visibility

  • They marvel and bristle at the persistence of the VCD tax, expected to run until 2038, and the city’s ability to redirect “free money” wherever officials see fit.
  • “They dream this BS up.” – Joe Soucheray [08:07]

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2. Keith Ellison, Menards, and the “Deceptive” 11% Rebate

[25:18 - 38:06]

• AG Ellison’s Lawsuit Victory

  • Keith Ellison and other state AGs secured a $4.25 million settlement (with $630k for MN) against Menards over its famous "11% rebate" program, alleged to have deceived consumers into thinking they'd get an immediate discount, rather than a mailed future credit.
  • “...has said more about Menards than he’s ever said about about $2 billion worth of fraud in the state of Minnesota.” — Joe Soucheray [27:28]

• Rebate Details and Public Perception

  • The crew explains Menards’ system: buy an item, fill out a form, mail it in with your receipt, get an 11% merchandise credit by mail.
  • “If you’re like me, you let these [rebates] pile up and then go buy a high-ticket item for next to nothing. It’s absolutely wonderful.” — Kenny Olson [29:42]

• Is the Public Actually Deceived?

  • They argue that regular Menards shoppers clearly understand the process and see the state action as nanny-state overkill for the benefit of the “lowest common denominator.”
  • “This is the government telling private industry to dumb down their plans.” — Joe Soucheray [30:27]
  • “We have to dumb everything down to the dumbest person, the slowest driver, the biggest idiot out there.” — Kenny Olson [30:35]

• Compensation, Enforcement, and Priorities

  • There’s skepticism about the actual victims and how the settlement funds will be distributed, noting that the “confusion” seems too minor to justify the payout to the state instead of consumers.
  • “How is a monetary value attached to what would be considered merely confusion?” — Joe Soucheray [30:48]
  • Frustration that AG Ellison targets easily prosecuted technicalities in the private sector, while seeming less interested in much larger government fraud cases.

• Comparison with Past Ellison Legal Pursuits

  • Discussion of Ellison’s past COVID-era restrictions (small businesses closed, big-box stores open and raising prices), the lawsuit against Fleet Farm, and a general critique of his enforcement priorities.

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3. Political and Social Commentary

[46:02 - 67:29]

• State and National Political News

  • Various pieces of Minnesota political news are discussed, from Senate races to city council drama, with the usual tongue-in-cheek commentary, e.g., repeated jokes about perennial candidates and local personalities.

• On Government Fraud and Investigations

  • The hosts dissect Governor Walz’s request for House Republicans to turn over fraud whistleblower tips to the Department of Human Services, casting doubt on the administration's trustworthiness:
  • “They don’t trust anybody you’ve hired to investigate fraud.” — Joe Soucheray [46:02]

• National Headlines and the Epstein Files

  • Brief foray into national news, including Trump’s primetime address, inflation data, FBI drama, and speculation about the possible release of the Epstein files. Much eye-rolling at the “third rail” nature of the Epstein material and politicians’ willingness to move the goalposts.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the VCD Fund:
  • “In the minds of elected officials, this is what they mean by free money. Yeah, it’s not free… if it didn’t exist, property taxes would be lower.” — Joe Soucheray [06:56]
• On Public Restroom Plan:
  • “I just wasn’t made for these times.” — Joe Soucheray [10:50]
• On Menards Rebate Settlement:
  • “This is really the government telling private industry to dumb down their plans.” — Joe Soucheray [30:27]
• On Minnesota’s AG:
  • “Joe, I would like to live in an America where Keith Ellison could not possibly be an attorney general.” — Kenny Olson [35:09]
• On COVID-Era Restrictions:
  • “Keith Ellison was deeply involved in arbitrarily and whimsically ruining small businesses during COVID.” — Joe Soucheray [36:26]
• On Political “Third Rail” Issues:
  • “They’re purposely wearing us out with this stuff, hoping you’ll just forget about [it].” — Joe Soucheray [65:52]
• On Individual Responsibility:
  • “I want to live in America where citizens understand rebate programs.” — Joe Soucheray [34:49]

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Additional Segment Highlights

• Metaphorical Humor:

  • Numerous running jokes about bathroom use, proper decorum, and the shifting sands of public expectation and responsibility.

• Consumer Experiences:

  • Stories of how the Menards rebate works in real life, and why frequent customers appreciate it and feel misrepresented by the “deceived consumer” narrative.

• Deeper Frustration with Governance:

  • Recurring theme: political leaders continually misallocate responsibility (and money), shifting from personal habits to grand, expensive, but ineffective government interventions.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Minneapolis Public Restrooms and VCD Discussion: [02:00 – 19:00]
• Menards, AG Ellison, and the Rebate Lawsuit: [25:18 – 38:06]
• Public Trust and Fraud Reporting: [46:02 – 47:00]
• General Political Riffs and Social Commentary: [46:02 – 66:59]
• Memorable Quotes and Humor: Throughout, especially [05:00, 09:21, 14:06, 16:20, 27:28, 30:27, 35:09, 65:52]

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Tone & Style

Garage Logic maintains its signature skeptical, blue-collar, “common sense” tone—mixing sharp critique of bureaucracy and progressive governance with playful banter, sardonic wit, and a strong defense of traditional values and personal responsibility.

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Summary Takeaways

• Government mission creep is alive and well—old taxes are never retired, just rebranded for the cause du jour.
• Personal responsibility is increasingly subordinated to government intervention, even on the most fundamental human needs.
• Political leadership in Minnesota is depicted as more interested in appearances and symbolic litigation than in real, substantive reform.
• The Garage Logic crew stands as a sometimes bemused, sometimes exasperated voice of scrutiny, nostalgia, and practical wisdom.

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For anyone listening for the first time, this episode is quintessential Garage Logic: lampooning policy wonks, skewering state officials, and longing for simpler times—while finding humor in even the most aggravating municipal developments.

Transcript

[Joe Soucheray]

Hey Garage Logic fans. Mishke here slipping in ever so briefly to mention that I have a podcast that comes out every Wednesday and every Friday, twice a week now. The show is pretty much about everything you care about and are interested in and need in your life and want to know more about. I tailored the darn thing specifically to your liking. I tailored it to your loves, to your true passions. That took a long time. I'm spent, you know what I'm saying? Absolutely wasted. What can 160 years of experience teach you about the future when it comes to protecting what matters? Pacific Life provides life insurance, retirement income and employee benefits for people and businesses building a more confident tomorrow. Strategies rooted in strength and backed by experience. Ask a financial professional how Pacific Life can help you today. Pacific Life Insurance Company, Omaha, Nebraska and in New York, Pacific Life and Annuity, Phoenix, Arizona. Josh Arnold, investment consultant, brings you Garage Logic podcast number 1683. December 18, 2025. Why did you just turn me up?

[John Hight]

Because you're not recording very.

[Joe Soucheray]

55 degrees was the record high on this day in 1923 and in 1983 it was 24 below. Call Josh Arnold at 925-5608 for a free 48 minute consultation.

[John Hight]

Hail the Flashlight King.

[Joe Soucheray]

And now from the Mayor's office above the boathouse on the east shore of Spoon Lake, it's Garage Logic with Chris Reivers manning technology corner, Kenny Olson from the Krabby Coffee shop, John Hight in the newsroom, and of course the rookie. Here is your flashlight fireworks commissioner and the keeper of common sense, your mayor, Joe Susherer. I'd like to conduct this with some maturity. What I'm about to say, it could be I should leave you out. This just could be an indelicate subject, but I've been sitting on it. Now I. That's even a bad pun. Minneapolis is going to spend 700 grand of the taxpayers money to build some public bathrooms downtown.

[John Hight]

Is this from our homeless neighbors?

[Joe Soucheray]

One of the items slipped into the 2026 budget was funding public restrooms in downtown Minneapolis. 7th Ward council member Katie Cashman, who thank God in heaven lost her re election bid, advocated for the downtown public restrooms and successfully convinced her colleagues to make them to make that happen. The plan is for the downtown. The plan for the downtown restrooms is that the city will hire a for profit or nonprofit to provide, to quote 7th Ward policy aide John Misevich, a restroom as a service model, much like the software as a service model that is common in it. I don't know what that Means the downtown public restrooms are being funded by free money. The 700 grand annual annual cost. It's annual cost will come from the Streetcar Value Capture District.

[Chris Reivers]

What?

[Joe Soucheray]

Which was created in 2013 to collect property taxes for a streetcar on Nicollet and Central avenues. Plans for this streetcar fell through, so the legislature just allowed the city to change their mind for the purpose of the fund.

[Chris Reivers]

So they still called.

[Joe Soucheray]

So the taxpayers have been Getting billed since 20. What year did I say?

[Chris Reivers]

2013.

[Joe Soucheray]

2013. For a streetcar that never materialized. And now they can dip into that and use the streetcar.

[Kenny Olson]

To fund.

[Joe Soucheray]

Restrooms.

[Chris Reivers]

That's unbelievable.

[John Hight]

Wait, we were going to do streetcars when we already had light rail?

[Joe Soucheray]

Apparently.

[John Hight]

Your city's funny.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't live in Minneapolis.

[John Hight]

I just met the general. It's hilarious.

[Joe Soucheray]

This is from the. This is a story that was in the Minneapolis Times written by a guy named James Welby. And he's puzzled, as we all are. He said that vcd. Now let me go back and find what that is. That has something to do with the. Oh yeah, the Streetcar Value Capture District. VCD Value Capture District is a mystery to me. He writes. I have googled it and haven't found much about it. I have submitted a formal data request to the city for more information. How big the fund is, what other purposes it has been used for, et cetera. Per Katie Cashman's office, the VCD is a reliable long term revenue source. In other words, they just created a tax out of whole cloth. What's to stop them from doing this for virtually anything? Someday we might put a statue over there and we're going to begin collecting taxes for it now and then somebody will forget about the statue and the next thing you know, you get a different project.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah. How many other projects are there?

[Joe Soucheray]

As many as they can dream up. And this one happens to be restrooms.

[Kenny Olson]

I'm not seeing how much taxes per payer was collected though. But yeah, I see the 700k annual cost for the restrooms. But for the 2013 streetcar, the 700.

[Joe Soucheray]

Grand for the restrooms represents less than 20% of both the annual VCD revenue and the projected VCD fund balance at the end of 2026. In other words, they've collected a fortune for this invisible streetcar that doesn't exist.

[Kenny Olson]

And they're going to keep collecting until 2038.

[Joe Soucheray]

And this fellow writes, in the minds of elected officials, this is what they mean by free money. Yeah, it's not free. The reality is that the VCD is funded by Minneapolis property taxes and if it didn't exist, property taxes would be lower. Granted. Probably pretty immaterial dollar amount in the grand scheme of things. And this fellow who wrote this for the Times, James Welby, said, I hope to report in the future what I learn about this based on what I know. The city's VCD is a component of the property tax levy designed for transit purposes, which now includes broader uses than transit purposes.

[Kenny Olson]

Levies.

[Joe Soucheray]

I guess the council and the city attorneys have justified the downtown restrooms as transit related. I truly hope the restrooms work out. They don't become trouble spots. Downtown VCD is value. Let me find it. What. What is that, the acronym? Value Capture District.

[Chris Reivers]

Value Capture Disorder.

[Joe Soucheray]

They dream this BS up.

[Chris Reivers]

They make it up and they're very casual about it.

[Joe Soucheray]

Do you ever recall I consider myself to pay reasonably close attention to what we're going to call developments in the news? Yes. I don't recall a streetcar, do you? Does anybody recall a streetcar for Central Avenue? No.

[Kenny Olson]

You've said it over and over again. Why would you do that when you have buses doing the same thing right now?

[Joe Soucheray]

This Cashman's a sweetheart. Get a job somewhere.

[Kenny Olson]

She's gone.

[Joe Soucheray]

I know. I just. She'll end up in some activist nonprofit.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, yeah, she'll stay in the. Yep. In the public sector. I know she will.

[Joe Soucheray]

She is just a. She's the one that's driving the idea that you all taxpayers in Minneapolis have to pay more for your electric bills because she's gonna save the earth. Which does not need saving. It does need saving from her ideology.

[John Hight]

But does anyone else, outside of the horrifically bad waste of money that this is, does anyone else not see the problem with creating all of these outdoor public restrooms in Minneapolis?

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, now, that's the indelicate part I was gonna bring up.

[John Hight]

These are basically drug houses.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, here's the deal. The way I read this, they anticipate they'll cost 700 grand annually. How could that possibly be?

[Chris Reivers]

What kind of maintenance?

[John Hight]

Well, you're gonna have to scrub the meth off the wall every three or four days.

[Joe Soucheray]

See, I took a completely different view of this. It didn't, now that you mention it, of course. It registers with me. But the first thing I thought of was not a gathering place for drug use. The first thing I thought of is it used to be the responsibility of an individual to figure out where to go to the bathroom. And you had to figure out your plans. Right. And now it's become another thing the government wants to take care of for.

[John Hight]

You.

[Joe Soucheray]

In A day when Minneapolis was hustling and bustling and full of commerce. It never occurred to anybody to use public money to build public restrooms. People either had restrooms in their offices or in stores or where they were legitimate customers. They had restrooms in. Everywhere.

[John Hight]

I mean, I've got my go to spot. When I go to a Twins game.

[Joe Soucheray]

I've got go to spots. You could drop me down in Paraguay and I'd figure it out. This is an indication of a. I just wasn't made for these times. The taxpayers just paid. Now, I think I can understand this. Apparently outside this building is a. Oh, yeah, is an intense bus stop on Barrie. So buses stop and start here for various routes. Is that correct?

[Kenny Olson]

It's a break place where drivers are for the drivers.

[Joe Soucheray]

So the drivers often will be sitting on Barry street for 10 minutes.

[Kenny Olson]

They ruined Barry.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. You, you know, have a smoke or get up and. Well, so they decided to build restrooms for them. And I wonder now if this will look like the restrooms in Minneapolis. There's a beautiful little brick.

[Kenny Olson]

You can't.

[Joe Soucheray]

Facility over here, and only they can get in it.

[John Hight]

Yeah, that's the difference, though, is that. That's the. The bus drivers all have a key to gain access to those restaurants.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't begrudge the bus drivers that.

[Kenny Olson]

Do you know how much that costs?

[Joe Soucheray]

It cost, what, Five million. I heard.

[Kenny Olson]

Thank you. Thank you.

[John Hight]

Yeah, the nice thing, too, is when there's like five buses lined up down the road and you try to come up to that stop sign, God help you if someone.

[Kenny Olson]

And then a bus, a man and a woman come out of the bathroom. Buttoning up your brain, straighten things out, checking their hair.

[John Hight]

That was a pretty good break.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, you know, a guy emailed me today. He had a good point. You know, for 5 million, okay, they paid 50 grand a piece for toilet seats. But at least they got something. You know, the fraud we see now is there's no there. You don't get anything for it. You just waste the money. You know, remember in the Pentagon would pay 500 bucks for a hammer.

[Chris Reivers]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, at least you got a hammer.

[Chris Reivers]

Right? Something to show for.

[John Hight]

Yeah, it's different because that guy's buying an island in Kenya.

[Joe Soucheray]

Exactly. Right back to this downtown Minneapolis. What it really is, is an admission that the pedestrian traffic in Minneapolis is of a socioeconomic status, that they need restrooms. I. Which also begs the question, what's happening right now if there aren't any?

[John Hight]

I can tell you what's happening right now.

[Joe Soucheray]

People just Go outside?

[John Hight]

Yes.

[Kenny Olson]

They back up, lean up against the.

[Joe Soucheray]

Wall, pull out Mr. Chair.

[John Hight]

Not even that.

[Kenny Olson]

No. They don't know if you put enough pressure against the wall, they've got a built in. It's like leaning up against it. You're not a big outdoorsman, are you? You don't know about the various ways to.

[John Hight]

In fact, one of the common places is a. Is the alley on the corner of 5th and Hennepin.

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay, I can steer this.

[Kenny Olson]

I know that alley very well, Joe.

[John Hight]

I think that's what spurred this particular.

[Kenny Olson]

Let me sooch before you do such. He's exactly right on. It's gonna be drugs and it's gonna be sleeping and it's gonna be smeared all over the wall. It's gonna be disgusting and sick and twisted and wrong.

[Joe Soucheray]

I know. And larger point of observation is it's a sad point to have reached for a city, whether it's Minneapolis or Omaha or Portland or wherever, because your bodily functions used to be done civilly with a certain amount of. What's the word? I want Propriety. Propriety. And decorum. Decorum. Thank you.

[John Hight]

You're welcome.

[Joe Soucheray]

And well.

[Kenny Olson]

And wash your hands when you're done.

[Joe Soucheray]

And now we're in a situation where horribly enough you've got to take tax money from a streetcar that never existed to build restrooms for people who have no other means of this type of hygiene. So it's a. We're a long way from Mad Men.

[Kenny Olson]

Do you think that's going to stop these people from breaking into cars or entering cars or trucks or vans that are unlocked and using them as a bathroom? Do you think that this will curb any of that behavior? I'll answer for you. No, it will not.

[Chris Reivers]

Oh, he answered.

[John Hight]

I think I've come up with something. You remember years ago when Royce was still doing the morning show and he had Kenny get on the blue line and take the train on the very first day of its debut? I think, Joe, you in that same honor, should use the Minneapolis public restroom.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, give it her a shot.

[John Hight]

Can we break the champagne bottle and open her up for service?

[Joe Soucheray]

I would rather have my intestines explode.

[Chris Reivers]

You would rather have knee replacement surgery with all its side effects?

[Joe Soucheray]

Pat is not enjoying that knee replacement.

[Kenny Olson]

I was shocked when I got on that train. From inside the train, the city looks exactly like Paris. Puts you in a very romantic feeling sense.

[Joe Soucheray]

I want the United States. It won't happen. Were too far down the road. But I want the United States to return to an era when the government had nothing to do with providing you a restroom, that those were daily necessities that took place and you received accommodations where you worked, where you shopped, where you dined. I don't want the government having to build restrooms right there out on the sidewalk. I just don't. I want to return to an era when the pedestrians that were hustling and bustling had purpose. They had a place to go. They had to go to the bank. They had to go and maybe buy some stamps. Exactly.

[John Hight]

Do you think these will have sponsorship opportunities and we could buy a banner ad in front of the door?

[Kenny Olson]

I'm guessing you have never seen the movie Bridesmaids, have you?

[Joe Soucheray]

God, I hope not.

[John Hight]

Oh, I know exactly where you're going.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, I did, I did, I did. And there was a terrible problem in there involving.

[John Hight]

Oh, she's going in the street.

[Joe Soucheray]

Hygiene. Yeah, I did.

[Chris Reivers]

Look away, look away.

[Joe Soucheray]

Look away. I'm trying to end this on a note of propriety. I'm trying to. I'm trying to. I've alerted you, the taxpayers of Minneapolis, any of you, the three or four who pay attention, you're now going to be buying restrooms. I just merely want to return to an era of America where that didn't cross our consciousness. Know before you go, well, whatever that. We aim to please. So you aim to please.

[Kenny Olson]

I still think the bigger story in here, never mind the restrooms, is the VCD and the money that they've collected.

[Joe Soucheray]

Isn't it amazing?

[Kenny Olson]

It just blows me away.

[Joe Soucheray]

Amazing.

[Kenny Olson]

So stunned. I am learning about this for the very first time right now.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, thanks to the this New York, New York Times, Minneapolis Times piece by James Welby, the city council has approved this. Between five and eight public restrooms. And the money comes from money they've been collecting since 2013 for a little streetcar that never got operated. It's just amazing.

[John Hight]

At the low, low cost of 700,000 annually.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm going to read that again. Could that. Did I misread that?

[John Hight]

Yeah, you gotta snub those things.

[Kenny Olson]

No, I read along with you. You got it right.

[John Hight]

Annually, and that's what they're forecasting. Lord knows it's gonna be above a mil by the time we actually get these things built.

[Chris Reivers]

So it's 2013. So what should be in there? What should be 2023 would be 7 million.

[Joe Soucheray]

We don't know. We don't know what's in there.

[Chris Reivers]

Collecting 700 grand a year.

[Joe Soucheray]

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[Chris Reivers]

Hace nuevianos quel snack wrap se fue a cis in explicacion sin despedida y.

[John Hight]

Tu no los superaste y s iste.

[Joe Soucheray]

Posts, tweets hasta briste grupos enlas rede sociales iten focaste logra tu menta querezada yoj despesteanos de pedirlo volvio and Snack wrap Ordenalo and ranch o spicy encuentra two snack wrap and two McDonald's favorito.

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[Joe Soucheray]

Chris Reivers is a paid endorser. You'll learn more here by accident than elsewhere by design. Here's Joe Sug.

[Kenny Olson]

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[Joe Soucheray]

You serious, Clark?

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, I'm serious. Yeah. And I want to talk about the perfect gifts this holiday season, this Christmas. Get your spouse, your kids, grandkids, even mom and dad. Gramp. Whatever. Get them the perfect trio of gifts. The big three from Seafoam. Starting with, of course, the Seafoam Motor Treatment the answer to poor starting bad running engine. It cleans, preserves, rejuvenates, does everything your engine needs. The Seafoam Deep Creep, a premium grade shop lubricant. It creeps deeper, it works harder and lasts much longer than anything else on the shelf. You know what smells better too? And of course the Bugs Be Gone. This is the real hero of the trio. This makes that once time consuming, annoying job of trying to clean bugs and other organic material from your windshield, your paint, your boat, whatever. It makes that process fun. You just spray it on, watch them melt and wash it off and it's it's actually fun and enjoyable. You get that with Bugs Be Gone. There you go. The Big three. All the big three perfect Christmas gifts courtesy of me, your Seafoam Santa.

[Joe Soucheray]

Our fierce and always fighting for U.S. attorney General Keith Ellison is part of a lawsuit against Menards that finds victory for Keith and his fellow Attorney generals. Menards has to pay 630 grand to Minnesota because of some contention about their 11% rebate deal.

[John Hight]

Oh, that can pay for the new bathrooms for this year.

[Joe Soucheray]

The state of Minnesota will receive a $630,000 settlement for Menards to resolve claims the Wisconsin based home retail giant used deceptive marketing tactics with its well known 11% rebate program.

[Kenny Olson]

You know how this works, Joe.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, let's just read the story and then we'll worry about how it works, all right? Attorney General Ellison shared Wednesday the company will pay 4.25 million to a coalition of states involved in this suit, including Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. The settlement was filed yesterday in Ramsey County. The states alleged that the company engaged in false advertising by using phrases like 11% off or 11% off everything that indicated the customer was getting a discount at the time of purchase when the store only offered in store credits towards future purchases using a mail in rebate system. The company reportedly told customers that Rebates International was a separate business in charge of the 11% rebate program when it is actually just the same company as Menards. The suit also accused Menards of engaging in price gouging during the COVID 19 pandemic, spiking prices on highly sought after items like rubbing alcohol, garbage bags, dish soap and neoprene Everything. Yeah, an ad that says 11% off everything clearly implies that you can buy goods at an 11% discount, not that you can participate in a limited rebate program or get in store credit for future purposes, said Ellison, who in that one paragraph has said more about Menards than he's ever said about about $2 billion worth of fraud in the state of Minnesota. Today's settlement holds mounds accountable because you got to hold people accountable. Except the fear of frauds.

[Chris Reivers]

Feet to the fire.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. For how they advertised their rebate program in the past and ensure the program will be more honest in the future. Okay, so go ahead, Kenny.

[Kenny Olson]

Number one, everybody. The price spikes during COVID That's every. Almost every single retailer. Big box retailer out there.

[Joe Soucheray]

Determining that was unfair of menards. I guess Keith gets to determine.

[Kenny Olson]

But you remember, right? He shut down the nac hardware stores. So we kept the big box stores open. So then the big box stores, all of them, jack their prices up. So go after all of them. But this 11% deal, anybody that's been there more than once knows how it works. You go there, you buy anything. A bag of Doritos, a can of paint, a paintbrush, doesn't matter. You go to the counter, you pay it off. The price you know, listed give you on your receipt that says, take this rebate card and it'll have a number or a letter on it. You go to a wall of mail slots that has rebate cards. You find the one that has to do with your product, you rip one off, you take it home, you include the receipts in the card in an envelope, you send it off, you get store credit back through the mail. So you collect enough of these. Yeah, John, look at. John's got one right there.

[John Haidt]

You just fill this out with your receipt.

[Kenny Olson]

That's the rebate card. All you do is fill that out, send it in with the receipt, and they send you back store credit. And if you're like me, you let these things pile up and then you go in there and you buy a high ticket item for next to nothing. It's absolutely wonderful.

[Joe Soucheray]

What's the contention then? What's the problem?

[Kenny Olson]

Because evidently some dum dums walk in there thinking you're going to get 11% off instantly at the register.

[Chris Reivers]

How stupid do you have to be?

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, I don't know. That's a good question, Matthew. I never thought that.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, that rebate process for decades.

[Joe Soucheray]

I can imagine Allison being fooled by it. But I think the average person who goes and buys two by fours is probably used to it.

[John Haidt]

Kenny's right. The first time that's what I thought. I go In, I get 11%. But as soon as you see it in action, you immediately know what's going on. It doesn't work.

[John Hight]

I think you're vastly underestimating the stupidity of the average American consumer.

[Kenny Olson]

I think Chris is right. Maybe Comments? That's what it is.

[Joe Soucheray]

So this, this is really the government, the state telling private industry to dumb down their plans.

[Kenny Olson]

Thank you. That's what we have to do across the board in this country. We have to dumb everything down to the dumbest person, the slowest driver, the biggest idiot out there. That's what we all.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, and there's another problem here. How is a monetary value attached to what would be considered merely confusion? In other words.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, good point.

[Joe Soucheray]

Who was owed some money for this? Why does the state of Minnesota get 4.5 million and I don't know how much of that the state will keep? Probably a lot.

[Kenny Olson]

We'll get 632,000 from the settlement.

[John Hight]

My guess is that the people that thought they were deceived wouldn't they have to apply for some type of reimbursement through a state ordered website.

[Joe Soucheray]

But what are they seeking to be reimbursed for? It doesn't sound like there's any claims that Menards purposely tried to steal money from people. They didn't.

[John Hight]

Right.

[Chris Reivers]

They were not trying to trick people.

[Kenny Olson]

Nope.

[Joe Soucheray]

But the 11% off, okay, I probably would have thought, geez, I'm gonna get that at the cash register. And then probably would have been told at the cash register, in fact, wouldn't that be take place? I go and I buy the my new pliers and it's $15. And I say to the lady or the guy at the cash register, don't I get 11% off? And they give me their don't. They say, oh, here, you fill out this rebate.

[Kenny Olson]

They point you to the rebate wall.

[Joe Soucheray]

And then you know, what did Menards do wrong?

[Chris Reivers]

Nothing.

[Kenny Olson]

Nothing.

[Chris Reivers]

Now we're just dealing with lowest common denominator LCD theory.

[Kenny Olson]

It's idiots.

[Joe Soucheray]

You're dealing with somebody who wants to take that literally and is unaccepting of the fact that's not the way Menards does it.

[Chris Reivers]

And then you require some effort to get the electricity.

[Joe Soucheray]

And that's considered deception on the part of Menards.

[Chris Reivers]

Not in my eyes.

[Joe Soucheray]

What a bunch of bs. Did you hear about we're gonna build some new bathrooms downtown.

[John Hight]

You can use that money.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

Chris, there's no evidence in this Star Tribune story that this money is going to go to the consumers.

[Joe Soucheray]

Don't tell me the state gets it. And why should they?

[Kenny Olson]

The phrasing I'm seeing in the Star Tribune is Minnesota will receive 632,000, which.

[Joe Soucheray]

How much to resolve claims? Okay, so presumably somebody actually has filed a claim that they didn't get their $0.69 back when they bought a hammer.

[Kenny Olson]

Okay. That verbiage is not in my story.

[John Hight]

All right, Joe, just for fun, what is 11% off a $15 pair of pliers?

[John Haidt]

Buck 60.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, a $50 would be 10%.

[Kenny Olson]

Here's a better percentage of buck 70. Figure this out. First of all, how many billions and dollars do we have in loss to fraud?

[Joe Soucheray]

We're over a billion, and we don't know the end result.

[Kenny Olson]

What does $632,000 represent? What's the percentage?

[Joe Soucheray]

I have no idea. I'm not allowed to do math on this show.

[Kenny Olson]

But Keith will go after that, but he will not do anything fraud related.

[John Haidt]

I would like to say something about the menards thing. That's beautiful. And I hope I'm not telling them a secret. Menards. But take Kenny's example. His $300 ladder that he bought with rebate stuff.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah.

[John Haidt]

He also gets an 11% rebate when he buys a $300 ladder on that. So double rebate. Yeah. It's wonderful.

[John Hight]

Yeah. And this is a program, by the way, that they've had for 100 years.

[Kenny Olson]

So what he's doing, in effect, is not protecting consumers. He's making it worse for us.

[Joe Soucheray]

So as veteran John and Kenny, as veteran menard shoppers, you were in perfect understanding of how they operated.

[Kenny Olson]

Absolutely. I buy all of my house paint, exterior and interior, through menards because of that rebate.

[John Haidt]

I have two rebates sitting up on my cork board worth about $19. And save it a few more.

[Kenny Olson]

Cool.

[Joe Soucheray]

You're going Scotland on this again, John. Thank you. Now, when that happens to you, you don't know that that's happening, but we can.

[John Haidt]

I do not. It sounds normal to me.

[Kenny Olson]

He said he has $19 in rebates on his cork board waiting to.

[Joe Soucheray]

I not only want to live in America where the government has no obligation to provide restrooms. I want to live in America where the. Where the citizens understand rebate programs.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah.

[Chris Reivers]

Just a small thing to ask, huh?

[Kenny Olson]

And the other one.

[Joe Soucheray]

And do I ask for that simplicity?

[Kenny Olson]

What about the attorney general? What does he do?

[Joe Soucheray]

Joe, I would like to live in an America where Keith Ellison could not possibly be an attorney general.

[Kenny Olson]

That's even better.

[John Haidt]

Wasn't he a senator, right?

[Joe Soucheray]

No. Congressman.

[John Haidt]

Congressman and a lawyer.

[Joe Soucheray]

You must have figured there's better scams if you're just an attorney general, however. Allegedly. No. I don't know why he left. Who replaced him.

[John Hight]

He paved the way.

[Joe Soucheray]

Boy, there's a story to be written there, folks. It's It's a deep, deep mystery.

[Kenny Olson]

Wait a minute. Who replaced Khan?

[John Hight]

Oh, Kenny might be right. Ilhan, I think, replaced Phyllis.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, but then. But then she. That was for the state legislature.

[Kenny Olson]

We're getting bought.

[Joe Soucheray]

Then Ilhan left for Washington.

[John Hight]

Do you think Ilhan Omar has ever been inside of Menards?

[Joe Soucheray]

No. Okay.

[Chris Reivers]

Yes. Khan was succeeded by Ilhan, and then.

[Joe Soucheray]

Ilhan fled to D.C. yes.

[Chris Reivers]

Isle of Con.

[Kenny Olson]

I've got a ladder that I am so proud of. I will not let anybody touch it. Ten foot, yellow. Wonderful. Oh, my God, I love that. Thank you, Menards.

[Joe Soucheray]

I think the greatest point made was that Keith Ellison was deeply involved in arbitrarily and whimsically ruining small businesses during.

[John Haidt]

COVID.

[Joe Soucheray]

But big box stores, for no reason whatsoever having to do with illness or infectious diseases, was allowed to stay open. Of course, they had to raise their prices. There's now a great clamoring for rubber gloves. And there's nowhere else to get them, apparently, because Keith closed down your corner store. And in Acme, Minnesota, that wasn't open, so you had to go to Menards or Home Depot or wherever. And now he comes along later and says, I am proud to be part of this effort to collect $4.25 million from Menards for the horrible way they've treated the consumer, when, in fact, they haven't treated the consumer horribly at all. They merely have a rebate program that morons can't figure out.

[John Hight]

And for those of us keeping score at home, these things almost happen as a trilogy, Right? Things happen in threes because. Was it a year or two years ago he sued Fleet Farm.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, and that's still in the works, by the way.

[John Hight]

So who's he gonna go after next year?

[Chris Reivers]

Why did he go? Oh, Fleet Farm was for the guns, right?

[Kenny Olson]

Straw buyers and all. The Fleet Farms followed these state rules. They did exactly what they're supposed to do. But yet Keith went after them.

[Joe Soucheray]

Keith, you're a piece of work. You're an interesting piece of work.

[Kenny Olson]

I wouldn't call him a piece of work. It would be something else.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, I stuck with work. He's an interesting piece.

[Chris Reivers]

Politics is the family business.

[Joe Soucheray]

It is. Especially if you can get the taxpayers to pick up your airplane tab. He didn't. But he tried. Keith probably told him, look, son, if you don't try, you'll never know.

[Chris Reivers]

Worst I can say is no, Jeremiah.

[John Hight]

Apply for one of those rebates.

[Chris Reivers]

11% back on Boston flights.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, that's a shame, isn't it? It's a fine.

[John Hight]

How do you do?

[Joe Soucheray]

It's a fine. How do you do? I'd like to tell you that, you know we're talking about lawyers, but you're gonna need a lawyer if you're ever involved in an accident. Bradshaw and Bryant, you're sued by Keith Ellison.

[Chris Reivers]

You're gonna need representation.

[Joe Soucheray]

Bradshaw and Bryant are personal injury attorneys. If you're like me and many other people, you excuse me, I had a Royce like gas attack. You might not know what to do if you're ever injured in an accident because insurance companies and adjusters can be difficult to deal with. Mike Bryant and his team from Bradshaw and Bryant will explain your rights, represent you, help you through a tough time. Your evaluation of your case does not cost you anything. Mike has been recognized as a super lawyer by Minnesota law and politics. These guys are great. I hope you're never in an accident and so does Mike Bryant. But if you are, call Bradshaw and Bryant at 800-770-7008 or go to MinnesotaPersonal Injury.com As I said, your case evaluation is free. And please don't be part of the problem. Don't text and drive or drive distracted. That's just common sense from Bradshaw and Bryant.

[John Haidt]

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[John Hight]

REAVERS.

[Joe Soucheray]

The earth is not your mother. The Joe Sucere Show.

[John Hight]

You know What? No shady activity with masters [e-mail] you.

[Joe Soucheray]

Know what we missed yesterday? Talk to me Maple National Maple Syrup Day.

[John Hight]

How did I not know this?

[Joe Soucheray]

You should have known.

[John Hight]

I'm the spokesperson for Masters Maples. So hey, you know what? Celebrate the day after National Maple Syrup day by ordering 100% pure maple syrup and the best that Minnesota has to offer. By the way, you can do it [e-mail] but you can also walk into any one of your Fratelloni's hardware and garden stores locations. The maple syrup is great, we all know that. But also the sweet and savory seasonings and rubs. Also the best 100% pure maple sugar for the bakers in your life. It's wonderful stuff. There are gift boxes available [e-mail] and it's a wonderful operation run by Ben. He's a gler and this is his brainchild from 12 years ago based out of Cohasset, Minnesota. Place your order today at mastersmaples.com Let Ben know that you heard about him on the GL podcast and taste the difference with mastersmaples.com here's John Haidt.

[John Haidt]

Thank you Joe. This news brought to you by North American Banking company One Sports Note before we get rolling on news, hall of Famer Kevin Garnett has agreed to reunite with the Timberwolves and Lynx in a new all encompassing role involving business, community and fan engagement efforts and content development. The Timberwolves also will hold Garnett's much awaited number one jersey retirement ceremony in Minnesota sometime over the next season. This season. Next season. Garnett had been distant from the wolves since his playing career ended in 2016 because of fallout with former owner Glenn Taylor, with Garnett refusing to have his jersey retired. But he built a rapport with new owners Mark Laurie and Alex Rodriguez, and the sides found common ground on a reunion. Timberwolves officials finalized the terms of his return to the franchise this month. Garnett a 15 time NBA all Stars, the Timberwolves all time leader in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. He's the only NBA player to lead a franchise in all five of those categories. He's also the only player in Timberwolves history to ever win an MVP award. In news, A new Republican Republican candidate has joined the race for one of Minnesota's U.S. senate seats. David Hahn, the former state senator and ex chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, revealed his bid for the seat today. He joins a growing field of candidates seeking to replace Senator Tina Smith, who announced earlier this year. She won't seek reelection. Hahn is joined in the Republican running by Royce White, Adam Schwarz and Tom Wyler. The leading Democratic candidates for the seat are Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and Congresswoman Angie Craig. Now both parties look like they'll have competitive primaries next summer. Hahn has told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that while he plans to seek the Republican Party endorsement, he also plans to run in the primary regardless of whether he gets the endorsement or not.

[John Hight]

I have a question about that. Rice is going to be one of those guys that's just probably never going to go away. He's going to announce his game. But wasn't he running for a completely different seat less than a year ago?

[John Haidt]

No. It's the same seat, wasn't it? No, it was a different seat.

[John Hight]

Was a completely different seat because I know the guy that beat him.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[John Hight]

Because it was down in my neck of the woods.

[Kenny Olson]

Was it Harold Stassen that used to run for everything in president?

[Joe Soucheray]

I think he still is. Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah. So we know those guys.

[John Hight]

We don't know the answer to my question.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah.

[Chris Reivers]

Who's the guy? Was it Dan Frazier? There was something. Remember when we used to get faxes and he would fax all the time? Some guy named Frazier. I forget what his first name.

[Joe Soucheray]

We haven't had a fax machine in here for years. I know long.

[Chris Reivers]

It was in Maple. And then Sharon Anderson was always on the ballot and she won once and they sold her.

[John Haidt]

No. Remember that fellow would draw little pictures all over those faxes.

[John Hight]

Rook.

[John Haidt]

Piggy pictures and just weird little. Yeah. Governor Walls this morning called on Republicans in the Minnesota House to provide information regarding alleged fraud to investigators in the Department of Human Services and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Up to this point, the committee is actually. I'm sorry, I just skipped a sentence. That comes after five eyewitness sues reported that the House Fraud Committee was withholding whistleblower tips from the Department of Human Services. Instead, committee chair Representative Kristen Robbins said the tips are being sent to other investigators, including the U.S. attorney's Office, House DFL Leaders Act. Stevenson added that the fraud committee should be about solutions, not spectacle. But, quote, if the GOP did anything to solve the problem, they would have to stop using it to score political points.

[Joe Soucheray]

Can I. Can I interpret this? Walls, you thick skulled fellow. They don't trust anybody you've hired to investigate fraud. They're not going to turn the fraud reports from whistleblowers in the agencies back to the people who supervise the whistleblowers. Okay, Walls, you thick skulled fellow. They don't trust you. They don't trust the agencies. They don't trust the people who the whistleblowers would have to report to. That's why you're not hearing about it, you thick skulled fellow.

[Kenny Olson]

Joe, it's angel from Rockford Files is doing the investigating.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[Joe Soucheray]

Nothing is still nothing.

[John Hight]

I was wrong. Royce ran and was defeated by amy in the 2022 election.

[Kenny Olson]

Klobuchar. Yeah, well, he didn't have a chance.

[John Hight]

Not a snowball's chance at hell.

[John Haidt]

Why even all right, State Legislature will reconvene in two months and there's a push to increase local government aid, or LGA, this session. The St. Paul City Council heard a presentation of legislative priorities yesterday based primarily on council recommendations, which include an increase to LGA and indexing LGA to inflation. Legislature has established a $644 million fund for LGA. Increases have to be approved by the Legislature. It's divided between cities based on a formula that takes into account factors like city size, age of housing stock, population decline and others. There are dozens of cities that don't qualify. It's meant to help those who have a smaller property tax base. St. Paul received 81.1 million this year, which is an $8 million increase since 2002, according to St. Paul Intergovernment Inter Governmental Relations Association's Eric Peterson. The city would have received 151.1 million if LGA were adjusted for inflation. City of St. Paul is expected to present a full report of legislative priorities in mid January after Mayor Elect her takes office and reviews it. The city has been advocating for LGA increases for years through multiple administrations, according to Peterson. A defiant Jennifer Carnahan addressed a standing room only council meeting in Niswa this week. City Council still directed staff to draft resolution on censure, even though she reiterated she would not resign as mayor. Carnahan argued that actions are a violation of her First Amendment rights and that she hasn't violated any codes of conduct. The controversy in the small town in the Brainerd Lakes area stems from Carnahan taking to social media to accuse a resident of physically assaulting her. The resident has denied those allegations and prosecutors twice have declined to press any charges. The resident had previously emailed Carnahan with concerns about overhearing the mayor at local bar and restaurant talking about ways to remove Jesse Zahn from the City Council at a special meeting last week. Called to talk about Cardihan's conduct, ZOD asked for the mayor to Step down. Carnahan didn't attend the meeting, but she addressed Zahn at Tuesday's regular meeting, saying, I was duly elected by the people of this city. I am going to remain mayor. The former state GOP chairwoman was elected in November 2024 as mayor of Nizwa, where she is owned and operated a boutique for a decade. She moved from the Twin Cities to Nisswa after the 2022 death of her husband, US Representative Jim Hagedorn, and being forced out as chairwoman in 2021 over allegations of creating a toxic workplace in the Republican Party.

[John Hight]

John, just because you're going to get emails. It's pronounced Niswa.

[John Haidt]

Nisswa.

[John Hight]

Yes.

[Chris Reivers]

Really?

[John Haidt]

I've always said Nisswa.

[John Hight]

Great Tomball team. They won the 2022 state amateur tournament.

[Joe Soucheray]

At Belfield in Faribault as a little tourist trap.

[John Haidt]

She.

[Kenny Olson]

She doesn't have a great record, does she?

[John Haidt]

She really does.

[Joe Soucheray]

She's like that little Abner character. They had the cloud over his head.

[Kenny Olson]

From every job she's had.

[John Hight]

Is that above the.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, no, I don't. I don't know anything about her personally.

[John Hight]

Oh, okay.

[John Haidt]

She was the buddy of that Lanza character too. Remember, they did a podcast together, so.

[John Hight]

Oh God, that's.

[John Haidt]

She has a little cloud above her head. Yes. Why don't we wait for a minute to do some.

[Joe Soucheray]

Is he the guy hustling the young ladies? Correct. Yes.

[John Hight]

Yeah, that's why I made the reference.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, you're right. Then above this line.

[John Haidt]

We'Ll have Dashiell International losing a minute. Before we do that, let me get to Ora Frames. It's a really wonderful thing. We have an Aura frame in our house. We've added, I don't know for a few months now. And we took all our favorite videos and photos, loaded them into the aura frame. About 800 items right now in there and it's really easy to use. All you have to do download the Aura app. It's a U R A and connect to WI Fi and you can start adding pictures from your phone. It took about about two minutes to get the whole thing set up. You can personalize your gift, add a message before it arrives. If you want to send it as a gift for a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get 35 off Aura's best selling carver Mat frames. That one is named number one by the folks at Wire Cutter. You can get your 35 bucks off by using the promo code GL at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code GL the deal is exclusive to listeners and frames sell out fast, so order yours now. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. Again, that's auraframes.com promo code GL.

[Kenny Olson]

Here it is, Positive Thursday as usual. Brought to us by Schoon Over Body Works and auto care, Inshoreview, 1060 County Road E. Mike Schoonover joining us today. Hi, Mike.

[Mike Schoonover]

Hey, Kenny.

[Kenny Olson]

So for a while I've been meaning to ask you. When an assurance adjuster tells you to take a picture of your damage, say you've been in a crash, minor, major, whatever, and then send that in to them, how can they judge by just one picture what it's going to cost to repair a vehicle? We used to have adjusters that would come in person and lay down and snoop around and check it all out. That seems like a thing of the past.

[Mike Schoonover]

Yeah, well, Kenny, this is A.I. this is, this is that whole artificial intelligence. Yeah, it's People G L ERs, insurance companies are doing you no favors. They might, it might be convenient, but you're not, you're not getting the full, you know, you're not getting everything that you need. So what we've experienced, Kenny, many, many, many times, I mean, every day and it's getting worse is customers will file a claim, their insurance company, they don't even talk to anybody. It's just done via email or, or computer generated or whatever. Take pictures of your car and upload it to our link and voila.

[Josh Arnold]

Look at that.

[Mike Schoonover]

I got a thousand or two thousand dollars in my bank account. Or we're going to send you a check for a thousand or two thousand dollars. Meanwhile, they come to us, we schedule the, the, the appointment to get it fixed and we take the car apart. And that repair is now 5 or 10 or 15 or $20,000.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah.

[Mike Schoonover]

So it's doing two things. It's setting a false pretense of the severity of the damage. And number two, and probably most important is you got a lot of people who are just kind of quote unquote cashing out or, you know, these days, damage on cars or trucks or whatever looks really minor, but it's really expensive because, you know, a bumper job, you know, used to be a thousand or $2,000 bumper job now is, is close to ten grand.

[John Hight]

What?

[Mike Schoonover]

Basic, just simply because of the cost of the parts and the labor, operations and all the calibrations you have to do with all the electronics on these cars.

[Kenny Olson]

So it's Just.

[Josh Arnold]

It's just crazy. So it's.

[Mike Schoonover]

It's just be. You know, it's just. It's buyer beware with filing a claim and, and, and for sure, for sure. Whether you live in Minneapolis St. Paul and you want to come to us for some guidance or help or whatever, you know, we're here. But in other markets or, or if you have a shop that you like dealing with, go to them and let them help you guide, you know, get guided through the process.

[Kenny Olson]

Okay, help me out here. You've been in. You've seen my truck. I've had it for years. I've got a 180 on it now. I have full coverage on this thing. Let's say somebody rear ends me and it actually bends that big, heavy steel bumper. What. What would you do if you were in my position? Just a bent bumper. No electronics in it, mind you, Mike. It just license plate lights. That's it.

[Mike Schoonover]

Well, as far as getting it fixed, I would. I would for sure go see, you know, come and see us to get the full scoop coupe. And in a lot of those, like in your particular case, Kenny, your bumper, I believe, can be bought in pieces.

[Kenny Olson]

So.

[Mike Schoonover]

And those are, you know, those pieces are expensive. You can buy a kit, you can buy an aftermarket bumper. You can do so many things. But I would just, you know, whatever. Whatever it is, you know, come and see us so that we can guide you through the way. Because, you know, I hate to be. I hate to be harping on insurance companies, but they're total mission is to minimize what they're paying out. They are not looking out for the consumer. They're not looking out for repair shops. They're looking out for their. Their stuff.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Schoonover]

And. And they're just trying to, you know, make it look good and, and that type of thing.

[John Haidt]

So.

[Mike Schoonover]

And. And it's. It's just a shame because the good old days are gone of when you actually had humans come out and go over a car with you or come to your house and look at the car and come up with an estimate and give it, you know, a good try. Well, now they're using AI and now they're taking advantage of that. So I just. I don't know. I just find it appalling. But hopefully it'll change. But, you know, the most important thing, Kenny, is that GL ERs and consumers have to be aware of what's going on here.

[Kenny Olson]

This is why I'm a schoonover customer, because you guys always deal with the insurance company. I Don't even speak with them. Them you've been around since 1938. The official shop of Garage Logic. And everybody, you all just heard why and you heard why. They're always rated as one of the top shops in the metro. Schoonoverbodyworks.com the website. Thank you very much, Mike.

[Mike Schoonover]

Thanks, Kenny. Thanks, Jellers.

[Kenny Olson]

It's the end of the world.

[John Hight]

When are we getting together for the Village?

[Joe Soucheray]

Already did that.

[Chris Reivers]

Right after we come back from the.

[John Hight]

Bank, we're gonna have to go to North American Banking Company who has been investing in your success since back in 1998. And they wanted to create a better banking experience for you, for your family and also for your business. They are locally owned and operated. Here's why that's important. That means that loan decisions are made right here in the Twin Cities. They are not sent out of state. So this helps all of you business owners solve problems quickly and also expand your business with confidence. You see, they deal with numbers every single day, but you will never be one of them. But you can see it for yourself. Check them out online [e-mail] to learn more. With six Twin Cities locations to serve you. Roseville, 50th in France, Woodbury, Hastings, Shoreview and Maple Grove. A better banking experience with the same online and mobile banking tools as all of those other big national banks. Nabankco.com North American banking company member FDIC is an equal housing lender. Johnny.

[John Haidt]

Thanks, Chris. Before we get to other news, let me tell you this one story that is kind of breaking. We've been talking about here off air. A plane reportedly belonging to former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle has crashed in North Carolina. The FAA told People magazine the crash occurred around 10:20 local time. Said the investigation remains ongoing. A local news station reported that their chopper, the one that they went to cover the story and needed to turn back because there was so much heavy fog when they were trying to take a look at the plane. And apparently records, like I said, show that Biffle owned it. And several news outlets, including 2am radio stations, are reporting that Biffle, his wife and child were on board. But there has been no official confirmation.

[Kenny Olson]

There is true been conf. It's been confirmed by a fella and I wouldn't expect you guys to know this guy. He calls himself Cletus McFarland. He's a big, big, big deal on YouTube with, I mean, 5 million or more subscribers. His real name is Garrett Mitchell and this is what he wrote on Facebook about an hour ago. Unfortunately, I can confirm Greg Biffle, his wife Christina and son Ryder were on that plane because they were on their way to spend the afternoon with us. We are devastated. I'm so sorry to share this. I do not know if his daughter was on board. Those two became friends after what was the hurricane? Helene.

[John Haidt]

Helene, Yep.

[Kenny Olson]

After Helene devastated parts of North Carolina. Up in the mountains where roads were shut down or washed away, Greg, along with Cletus, got in their very small helicopters and for weeks and weeks and weeks flew relief missions, bringing supplies and water and chainsaws and gasoline and generators, everything they needed to these mountain people. And a lot of them survived thanks to Greg and Cletus who did this all gratis. So Greg was a hell of a guy, just a wonderful, upstanding American.

[John Haidt]

In other news, President Trump gave a primetime address to the nation last night to highlight his administration's work on the economy, health care and immigration. He blamed the previous administration for the economic troubles the US has now. He also announced a $1776 dividend to every US soldier. The speech came as a recent poll found his approval ratings had reached a two term low, much of that fueled by Americans facing higher prices that are stretching their budget. The address also followed his announcement that the US Military will impose a total blockade on sanctioned oil tankers near Venezuela. The US has 11 warships operating in the Caribbean Sea, its highest naval buildup there since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Meanwhile, at a time when Americans are frustrated and angry over the high cost of living, the government released a report this morning showing inflation had unexpectedly cooled in November. But economists quickly warned that the last month's numbers were suspect because they'd been delayed and likely distorted by the 43 day shutdown. The Labor Department reported Thursday its consumer price index rose 2.7% in November from a year earlier. Yet year over year, inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. FBI Director, Deputy Director I'm sorry Dan Bongino announcing he is leaving in January after less than a year as the number two official at the nation's premier law enforcement agency and after reported conflicts with Attorney General Pam Bondi over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein investigative files. Bongino, former podcaster, had been telling people he's leaving his job early next year and he cleared out his office yesterday and that was confirmed by the president. In an ex post confirming his departure, Bongino thanked Trump, Bondi and FBI Director Cash Patel for the opportunity to serve with purpose, his words. President Trump praised Bongino in his post, saying Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back, back to his show. But Fontino's tenure as deputy FBI director was marked by conflict as he sought to shed his role as a provocative media personality and establish himself as the agency deputy who traditionally oversees the vast law enforcement agency and its day to day operations. Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers in a closed door interview yesterday that his team of investigators quickly developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump criminally conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Smith also said investigators had accrued what he called powerful evidence that Trump broke the law by hoarding classified documents from his first term as president at his Mar a Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, and by obstructing government efforts to recover the records. He said that if asked whether he would prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so, he said, regardless of whether that president was Republican or Democrat. The Republican led committee subpoenaed Smith this month to provide testimony and documents as part of the GOP investigation into the Trump inquiries. During President Biden's administration, the former special counsel cooperated with the congressional demand. He had volunteered more than a month before the subpoena to answer questions publicly before the committee, but Republicans stopped any plans for a public appearance. Democrats have charged Republicans did not want an open hearing based on the damaging testimony about the president that they said Smith had offered.

[Joe Soucheray]

Isn't it amazing how vitally significant the Epstein files are to the third rail but has nothing to do with America? Once in a while they'll throw you a titillating crumb just to remind themselves that we're still here, that we're out here while they're playing these games and they invent new amendments to the game every day while we can't release this because this might cause that. And it just goes on and on and on. They're all worthless, basically. They're all worthless.

[Chris Reivers]

I was going to say go ahead and release it all. And people aren't going to give a rats behind.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, no, I think people will. I think they will if the President of the United States is discovered to be a pedophile. Well, which we don't know, allegedly. I said if he's discovered to be one we don't know. That would cost him his job, I would think. Although this country's pretty shot in terms of its morals.

[Chris Reivers]

If that's in there, that would have been leaked.

[Joe Soucheray]

You would think so. You would think so. Why don't these people End it.

[Kenny Olson]

What am I leaving out? The fact that this is a nonpartisan list. The people on this list are from both sides, and they're both. They're people with power.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's why I say it's the entire third rail.

[Kenny Olson]

It's the entire third rail. Republican, Democrat, and otherwise. So it's not just one guy.

[Joe Soucheray]

But it has nothing to do with you getting a rebate at Menards.

[Chris Reivers]

I don't think Prince Andrew is guilty.

[Kenny Olson]

I do, But I. I disagree with you, Matthew. I think the world and the country would rightfully be. Be shocked and appalled and disgusted, and we'd finally see through this third rail nonsense. And, you know, that's what might drive all of these people out of the office.

[John Hight]

I don't know.

[Chris Reivers]

They're so well protected.

[John Haidt]

Exactly. I think Joe's partially correct. I think there's a segment of society that would go, so what?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, like the super elite, because they're purposely wearing us out with this stuff, hoping you'll just forget about.

[Kenny Olson]

A lot of people don't even know who Epstein was.

[Chris Reivers]

A lot of people like Trump.

[Joe Soucheray]

A lot of people.

[John Hight]

Well, and if that was to happen, this would be the time to release it, you know, the Friday of a holiday weekend.

[Chris Reivers]

Right.

[John Haidt]

Well, this is the weekend, Right. It's supposed to be out by this weekend.

[John Hight]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

Is that why he gave his speech last night, hoping that would provide some cover for the release of these things? Because the speech was just a boasting fest, how great things are, and he might be trying to line himself up to think, how could they get rid of a president who's done such a great job? If we see these Epstein files. I have no idea.

[John Haidt]

I know, Joe. That was. That relates back to us trading messages the other day and me saying. You saying plausible speculation, which is what you just did, and that would be a great name for a podcast.

[Joe Soucheray]

I replied plausible. Can I be an optimistic pessimist?

[Chris Reivers]

Optimistic, yeah, because you would be on that.

[John Hight]

Is there a difference between that and being a pessimistic optimist?

[Chris Reivers]

Huh?

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, that's a good question.

[John Hight]

That's what I do here.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, no, actually, that's not what you do here.

[John Hight]

I do have a question, since. Since we're down this road, does he have the ability to pardon himself?

[Joe Soucheray]

I believe so.

[Chris Reivers]

If. If he does, he will.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. And if he doesn't? He'll invent it. John, thank you so much.

[John Hight]

Can't thank you enough.

[Chris Reivers]

I can't thank you enough for letting you know what great deals. This is not a Menards Thing.

[John Hight]

Hey, the countdown is on by the way.

[Chris Reivers]

It is 8 o'. Clock. So you got 6 hours and 59 minutes until that 8 o' clock deadline we're talking about.

[John Hight]

You're bad at Bath too tonight.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[John Hight]

6 hours and 48 minutes.

[Chris Reivers]

What'd I say?

[John Hight]

59.

[Chris Reivers]

Oh dang it.

[John Hight]

58.

[Chris Reivers]

It keeps changing. Here's the deal. If Joe wants to treat the family. The Metropolis Resort two night stay, double queen, room five, water park passes my friend.

[Joe Soucheray]

Where is that?

[Chris Reivers]

It's right there at the Metropolis, south of St.

[Joe Soucheray]

Cloud.

[Chris Reivers]

It's a fine place. You can find out all the details like that when you go to garagelogic.com it's the online auction. The Metropolis Resort is a fantastic. With the water park et cetera, you're gonna have a complete blast.

[John Hight]

Papa Joe at the water park, huh?

[Chris Reivers]

And there's so much more. All you have to do is go to garagelogic.com, type in keyword auction 2024 Modern Buggy RV. The Big Buddy B Big Buggy B12. It is on auction sale right now. Currently 85 50. It's a pretty cool. It's like a little scamp, but it's a really cool deal. And you can get that if you have the proper bid. Check them out online at. One more time. I'm going through about six or seven items here right now. What you can do is you can get some great deals from Ecofun. There's a one night stay at deluxe suite. You can see it right there. It's right there on the auction. 5 hour mobile golf simulator rental. $50 gift certificate for bricks and minifigs. I can't read them all here folks. You gotta check them out yourself. It is garagelogic.com keyword auction for the online Twin Cities Savers Christmas auction Battalion Commando online auction action. Who shows away and doesn't come back for the show? It's Joe Suture.

[Kenny Olson]

Joe.

[Chris Reivers]

Joe, what do you think of that last segment?

[Kenny Olson]

Jailer of the week time. Joe, why don't you read it to us?

[John Hight]

All right, he will. This week's Giller of the week is. Hang on, let me take off my glasses because I'm getting old like you guys. Cameron Mayisich of Alvin, Texas.

[John Haidt]

How about that?

[Kenny Olson]

Wait a minute. A Mayasich. Do they qualify?

[Chris Reivers]

I don't think so. That's. They're inside. We got. Yeah, the Mr. Mayisic used to work here.

[John Hight]

But you will get the Masters Maples gift package. And if you would like to become eligible to become the next GL over the week, all you have to do is upgrade to an annual town council membership. And you do that [e-mail] all joking.

[Chris Reivers]

Aside, I'm starting to get nervous.

[Kenny Olson]

Matthew.

[Chris Reivers]

Yes?

[Kenny Olson]

Where are you going tonight?

[Chris Reivers]

We are going to the cathedral for the 7pm performance of Stephen Sees. What would we call them? The ensemble with Gillian, with Pat Donahue. The entire gang starts at 7 o' clock tonight, 2 o' clock tomorrow, and then 7 o' clock tomorrow night at the cathedral. You can just google Stephen C at eventbrite and you can figure out how to buy tickets. They are extremely affordable.

[Kenny Olson]

The 2pm show tomorrow, isn't that the one such is going to.

[John Haidt]

Allegedly.

[John Hight]

Well, I think so.

[Chris Reivers]

He left already for it. He must be a big lineup.

[Kenny Olson]

Are we doing the show early? How is he gonna go from. We usually end at 1:30. How is he gonna go from the station?

[John Hight]

Cathedral's not that far from here.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, but he's got to go down into Inver Grove Heights, over the river, then he's parking and then come back up Highway 52.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right.

[John Hight]

So more about that holiday online auction. Right Rook?

[Chris Reivers]

Exactly.

[John Hight]

We are back on the show. Just so you are aware, we just came back. We announced the giller the week. How about this, Mayor? The jailer of the week this week is Cameron Mayasich of Alvin, Texas.

[Kenny Olson]

And we're questioning that because we're wondering, isn't Maya Sitch an insider?

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, Johnny Mayosich is Minnesota hockey legend.

[Kenny Olson]

Right. And also worked at hbi.

[John Hight]

I don't know if this is any relation. It might be. It might not be. I have no idea.

[Joe Soucheray]

I think this is on the up and up.

[John Hight]

Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[John Hight]

Everything okay over there?

[Kenny Olson]

How'd everything come out there?

[Chris Reivers]

Jon.

[Kenny Olson]

A reminder. Su.

[Chris Reivers]

I was gonna. I was gonna run in there, but.

[Kenny Olson]

I didn't want to. One reminder. We just brought up Steven C. And you don't forget are going to the 2pm show tomorrow.

[Joe Soucheray]

Tomorrow at 2pm yeah.

[John Hight]

What's your road?

[Kenny Olson]

I got a route so 35E down into Egan, then over to Invert Grove and then are you gonna take North 61 or North 52 back up?

[Joe Soucheray]

I'll take Crosstown.

[Chris Reivers]

We're going tonight.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, thank you.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah. We're going to take a different route though.

[Joe Soucheray]

Only because they come to us all the way from Kiowaka, New Zealand. And the traveling Lymans. I'm so glad I didn't check it was on this day.

[Chris Reivers]

I would never be the same.

[Kenny Olson]

Are we going to tell them that we're not actually doing the show?

[Joe Soucheray]

Right now. We're not.

[John Haidt]

No, no, we are.

[John Hight]

We are. We are.

[Josh Arnold]

We are.

[John Haidt]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, is on this day, December 18th.

[John Hight]

Day that will live in.

[Kenny Olson]

Why do I get the feeling that we're going to be in a lot of Trouble?

[John Haidt]

I know.

[Joe Soucheray]

1985. On this day, December 18th. Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

I gotta go see a boy.

[Joe Soucheray]

A milestone in. A milestone in the history of health and medicine. I'll say. In Minnesota.

[John Hight]

Minnesota.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right here. Mary Lund was the first woman to receive a Jarvik 7 artificial heart.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, I remember that.

[Joe Soucheray]

December 18th.

[Chris Reivers]

Wasn't that yesterday?

[Joe Soucheray]

No, you were thinking of a kidney yesterday.

[John Hight]

One of them might be in the third stall.

[Chris Reivers]

Yeah, right. Which you no longer have.

[Joe Soucheray]

And I remember last year we looked her up.

[Chris Reivers]

I do remember that. I remember looking her up.

[John Haidt]

Up.

[Joe Soucheray]

The device kept her alive for about a month and then she received a real heart via transplant. I don't recall what John found, but.

[John Haidt]

Yeah, I don't either.

[Joe Soucheray]

Mary lynch, when did it occur to you that.

[Kenny Olson]

Hey, Chris, is this worse than firing up the boxer in the garage? Am I going to be in more or less trouble than the Boxster?

[Chris Reivers]

You could gut it out and they're.

[John Haidt]

Like, you know what? You know.

[Chris Reivers]

I just better check. There's no going back.

[Kenny Olson]

No. Can't put it back in the tube.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right, Right. On this day.

[John Hight]

I think we'll have.

[Chris Reivers]

Without any warning. Without any warning. Just said, you know, the boys are gonna be okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day. Oh, my God. Can I tell you what happened on this.

[John Haidt]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

What day?

[Chris Reivers]

Did he give it to household?

[Kenny Olson]

Did he give it to household Rock back and forth.

[John Hight]

Stop it.

[Chris Reivers]

I'm gonna. Have you seen the. Have you seen the. I'm sorry. It's on social media, but it says. It says there's a guy, he's got a picture of his belt. It says, this is my belt. And then the next one says, this is my belt and I have to take a dump and it's a rubber exc. It's got like locks and bells and whistles.

[Joe Soucheray]

You know, I'm going to. Let me tell you something. You're. You're. You're making some presumptions here that are false.

[Chris Reivers]

Oh, I ran down to HR. It's good for 20, 26. Okay.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, I was talking about Newberry in the hallway. Sure you were.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, you are. You're making a terrible mistake.

[Chris Reivers]

Cook still work out here? Where's Sue?

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, I came to get a cupcake for Susan. It was on this day.

[John Haidt]

You know what, Joe? Can I add add to your Mary lunch story? Cuz you asked. Yeah, she. After she got the human heart, she lived another nine months.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, that's not good.

[Chris Reivers]

You got to be kidding me.

[Joe Soucheray]

Wasn't long enough, was it? Rubik's cubis went cut on this day. My belt in 1988.

[John Haidt]

Tried to change the subject.

[Joe Soucheray]

I know you did, John. And? And it was a yeoman service, and it doesn't work with the daycare center here.

[Kenny Olson]

Okay, do you have an extra pair of pants in your desk drawer?

[Joe Soucheray]

See, you're making a presumption that that was my call of duty. It was not.

[Chris Reivers]

It was not.

[Joe Soucheray]

It was not. I had a different problem.

[Kenny Olson]

Okay.

[John Hight]

All right.

[Joe Soucheray]

The Pillsbury Company, on this day in 1988. 88. Announced that it had accepted a 5.7. A $5.7 billion buyout from the British food and liquor conglomerate Grand Metropolitan plc. See?

[Kenny Olson]

Why did Matthew bring in a trash can?

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't know. Matt, that's not funny. Those aren't mine.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, my.

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day in Minnesota, sports disappointment history.

[John Hight]

December 18th, who'd we lose to?

[Joe Soucheray]

A university committee presented findings of Musselman ERA violations to the ncaa. Deal was struck about players, whatever that means. On this day, December 18th in 1991, Jack Morris signed with the Blue Jays after Carl polled told him to sign elsewhere because he was saving his money for Puckett. Yep. Isn't that something?

[John Hight]

It was.

[Chris Reivers]

That's a pretty bold move.

[Joe Soucheray]

Geez, the guy just gave you one of the world's greatest World Series games in history.

[John Hight]

Very upset the manager very much.

[Chris Reivers]

I wonder how.

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day, December 18, 20, in 2000, the Star Tribune quoted Carl Pollat as saying he wants no part of contraction and that his objective was to keep baseball here. All right.

[Chris Reivers]

Was he under oath there? Because I don't think that's the case.

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day, on December 18th in 2009, and I remember this, the Wild's equipment caught on fire in Ottawa.

[John Hight]

Oh, that's right.

[Joe Soucheray]

Their truck with the equipment and it caught on fire. They had no equipment. They had to get new stuff.

[John Hight]

Didn't they borrow stuff from us?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, I remember that.

[John Hight]

I do too.

[John Haidt]

Thank you.

[Joe Soucheray]

Thank you.

[Kenny Olson]

Before you go away, I've got some show prep for tomorrow. This just released from the U.S. attorney for MN. And you can talk about this tomorrow. Six additional defendants charged. One defendant pleads guilty in ongoing fraud schemes.

[John Haidt]

Wonderful.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

So there you go.

[Joe Soucheray]

Wonderful. We'll have that tomorrow. Thank you.

[John Hight]

We're definitely having a meeting today.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, you are?

[John Hight]

Hey, please do us a favor, if you haven't done so already, and Hit the subscribe button. It's right there on the Garage Logic YouTube channel. Yeah, that's right. Did you know that GarageLogic has a YouTube channel where you can watch the show each and every single day starting right around noon. And you can also see full segments, video shorts, behind the scenes footage. It's all there for you. Just search Garagelogic on YouTube along with all of our social media channels that includes Facebook, Instagram and X. And also don't forget to sign up for the Daily Logician. That's an email that comes right to your inbox each and every single day. And it includes the most recent episode of the podcast. Find out more and sign up [e-mail] it is time once again that we check in with our guy, Mr. Money Talk. Josh Arnold is with us once again right here in Garagelod. And now is the time for you to do the same. So do not delay, do exactly what I did and pick up that phone and dial 952-925-5608. That number once again is 952-925-5608. When you call that number, you're going to get Josh and he is there for you for that. Free. Yes, I used the word free. 48 minute financial consultation with absolutely zero obligation. And he will always give you the straight talk. He will never give you the sugar coated advice. And he is on the line with us once again right here, Rod Zodzic and Josh, once again today, it's all about the shoes.

[Josh Arnold]

It's the shoe. It's not Michael Jordan playing basketball, it's a shoe. That was probably one of the more iconic commercials around done by Spike Lee, a noted New York Knick fan. Well, you can buy the New York Knick, you can buy the New York Rangers by owning Madison Square Garden Sports. If you add Madison Square Garden entertainment now, you get the sphere in Las Vegas as well as Radio City Music hall and several other venues that are in the Madison Square Garden complex. But yes, it's the shoes today. It's the shoes. First off, Lululemon. Yes, they do sell shoes at Lululemon. That retail store has had its issues recently. Elliott Management, an activist manager, took a fairly significant Mexican stake in Lulu and has brought in a new management team. The owner and founder of the company is quite pleased with that as he believes that Lulu needs, we'll say, a big makeover to compete in the Athleisure State. Lulu has been moving, we'll say, a little bit more upscale. And it has been an upscale retailer. You know, for quite some time and it has done quite well attracting people to their stores with their yoga classes. And it's not just appealing into women, but it definitely appeals to men locally. Honolulu did have a very nice presence in my favorite mall, actually my father's favorite mall, which is the Galleria up until recently when it moved across the street along with several other higher end retail stores to the new upscale Southdale Mall. But Lulu took a nice jump. Then we had Birkenstock, a shoe brand that I just understand never understood. Don't wear don't wear those cloggy, ugly sandals or Shoes. Birkenstock. Ms. They missed their numbers. That stock was down today. Tonight, favorite Nike reports Nike's in the midst of a massive turnaround that is going to take quite some time. Nike did bring in some new management. Actually there's an old manager at the store or say with the brand and he is charged with making some very, very significant changes after Nike has seen its stock cut in two thirds. So it's only a third of its value from about six years ago. That's a pretty significant fall. And I think founder Phil Knight wanted a big, big, big change, so he brought in a Nike veteran. This veteran, Elliot Hill, is definitely making some changes to rebrand Nike and focus quite heavily on athletes rather than just street wear. And I think the focus on athletes and on specific sports is going to become a very big thing for for Nike, I'll say as a runner and the the number of I'll say shoes on the shoe wall at my favorite running store. TC running from Nike had definitely dwindled over the last six years and that is that is starting to starting starting to change first with some brand extensions and then it's going to be with some new styles. But it takes quite a bit of time to get those new styles to the market. Basketball will be a big another big focus. And of course in 2026 you're going to hear a lot more about soccer as World cup soccer comes to North America and Nike is very big soccer. Meantime, analysts others are waiting to hear more about Nike's turnaround plan when they report their earnings and what their guidance is going to be going forward as well as what Nike has been doing to reduce old inventory and bring new inventory in. Likelihood is Nike stock could dip a few dollars from where it is currently trading around $66 a share and any positive news can move the stock up. But this is definitely a longer term story that will play out over I'll say over the coming months and years and I do believe Nike will find themselves in the lead again. It is about the shoot.

[John Hight]

Excellent advice as always Mr. Money Talk. You heard him G E Lears. Now is the time for you to pick up the phone and make the call for that free 48 minute financial consultation with absolutely zero. And you do that just like I did by dialing 952-925-5608 where you always get straight talk and never ever sugarcoated advice. Josh, once again, thank you so much for the time and the chat. Enjoy the rest of your day. Have a fantastic weekend and we'll talk to you again next week.

[Josh Arnold]

Look forward to it. Thanks Chris.

[John Hight]

Investment services offered by Josh Arnold, Investment Consultant, llc. A security investment advisor. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All investments involve risk. All comments and opinions are Josh Arnold's and do not constitute investment advice.

[Joe Soucheray]

Chris revers a paid endorsement.