1/5 Gov Tim Walz formally announces that he will no longer seek re-election

Summary

GARAGE LOGIC PODCAST #1687 (JAN 5, 2026)

Governor Tim Walz Will Not Seek Re-election: Reaction, Analysis & the Bigger Picture

Overview: On the first Garage Logic episode of 2026, Joe Soucheray and the crew (Chris Reavers, Kenny Olson, John Height, the Rookie, and Josh Arnold) dive deep into the bombshell announcement: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is not seeking a third term. With their trademark sardonic humor and common-sense critique, they examine Walz’s resignation speech, rip through Minnesota’s escalating fraud scandals, ponder the state’s welfare and political future, and lambaste the state of modern journalism.

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Main Theme

Gov. Tim Walz Announces He Won’t Run Again: Fraud, Accountability, and 2026 Politics

• Joe Soucheray opens by casting skepticism on Walz’s claim that the decision was entirely the governor’s own, suggesting DFL party pressure forced his hand:

  “I refuse to believe he has reached this decision on his own. That would require character and he has shown very little of it.” — Joe Soucheray [01:05]

• The GL team dissects Walz’s press conference in real-time, providing biting commentary on fraud, government accountability, and the prospects for the next election.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dissecting the Walz Speech

Rapid-Fire Fact-Check & Satire

• The crew interrupts Walz’s speech frequently, scrutinizing claims:
  • Walz blames a “group of criminals” for exploiting Minnesota's “generosity.”

    “There’s a great deal of difference between generosity and the creation of 15,000 different programs to distribute money. That’s not generosity.” – Joe [03:30]

  • Within 28 seconds, Walz pivots to blaming Trump and Republicans for Minnesota’s woes.

    “28 seconds it took for Trump to be mentioned.” — Chris Reavers [04:31]

• The hosts mock Walz’s positioning of Minnesota as the “best place in the country to raise a family,” citing crime, high taxes, poor schools, and over-generous subsidies.
  • “This is a bad place to raise a family because of the people we've elected.” — Joe [05:32]
• Repeated criticism of Walz’s assertion of taking “decisive action” on fraud:

  “You were always the CEO, Walz. You could have stopped it at any moment. The buck stopped with you, and you failed miserably.” — Joe [06:13]

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2. Minnesota Fraud Scandal: Systemic Issues

• The hosts argue that Minnesota’s rapid, poorly-controlled welfare expansion made it “an open vault for scammers.”
  • “We have seen under the Walz administration an incredible transfer of money to welfare programs... so much money that... it is an open vault for scammers.” — Joe (citing Wall Street Journal) [15:55-16:17]
• Rapid uptake of new family leave benefits (12,000 applicants on day one) demonstrates how quickly people pounce on new handouts.
  • “That’s kind of a nice... you don’t think this will appeal to people? 12,000 people tripped over each other trying to sign up.” — Joe [16:45]
• Deep concern about lack of communication on program launches to the general population versus “insiders” who exploit the system.
  • “Who did [know about these programs]? And how was it possible so many fraudsters so quickly applied?” — Joe [23:01]

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3. Political Fallout: What’s Next for the DFL?

Possible Walz Successors

• Heated debate on whether the DFL is now “less beatable” with Walz out, depending on who runs (Amy Klobuchar, Dean Phillips, Peggy Flanagan, Keith Ellison, Melvin Carter, and others discussed) [17:13-18:29].
  • “Now the question is, anyone associated with the Walz administration would continue to make the same mistakes... Flanagan would be a disaster. Ellison would be a disaster. Amy Klobuchar says she might consider it. Dean Phillips, to me, would be a good candidate.” — Joe [17:13]
  • “If they offer Amy, it's going to be a struggle.” — Kenny [18:23]

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4. Media, Journalism, and Fraud Coverage

Traditional vs. New Media

• Extended riff on how traditional newspapers have failed to cover fraud, compared to new “citizen journalists” or online documentarians.
  • “The Star Tribune really loves to shoot messengers ... they're scrambling to denounce the messenger rather than the message.” — Joe [40:02-40:41]
• Debate over who should be considered a journalist, but consensus that fraud is rampant regardless of who reports it.
• Commentary on the changing news consumption habits and how young people are getting news via social, not the nightly news:
  • “With every obituary, you’ve lost a 10pm news viewer... In place of that is a 25-year-old on their phone 15 hours a day.” — Joe [51:04]

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5. “Fraud Flu”: How Do the Scammers Always Know?

• Speculation that either insiders or specialized watchdogs monitor new government programs in real time to exploit them instantly.
  • “There are people waiting to take advantage of that money. The second part: there must be people who facilitate getting the money... Am I on the right track?” — Joe [24:36-26:17]
  • “Maybe Amy Bach… was someone legitimately involved in knowing the release of new programs...” — Joe [26:23]
• Reflection on the difficulty of preventing abuse, given the “plethora” of overlapping handouts and lack of oversight:
  • “We now have a program where we're gonna pay you just to be you.” — Joe [30:00]

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6. Broader Society: Trust, Division, and Political Decay

• The hosts lament the state’s division and inability to agree on basic realities (like condemning fraud, or dismissing gross conspiracy theories).
  • “We should all agree that this is terrible fraud, no matter who did it... we're being fleeced by an incompetent administration under Walz.” — Joe [42:00-43:51]
  • Discussion of false conspiracy theories implicating Walz in violence against politicians, blaming Trump for stoking them [44:16-44:28].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“This is a bad place to raise a family because of the people we've elected.”
— Joe Soucheray [05:32]

“You were the head of Integrity, Walz. You just aren’t able to get that through your head. You're unable to acknowledge your role in this state.”
— Joe Soucheray [07:38]

“12,000 people tripped over each other trying to sign up for this as fast as possible.”
— Joe Soucheray [16:56]

"We have people who make it their business to study where the money is, where it's coming from, when it'll arrive, and how difficult it will be to take."
— Joe Soucheray [29:04]

"The buck does stop with me. My administration has been taking fast, decisive action to solve this crisis."
— Tim Walz’s speech [08:19]
Reaction: “No. You were always the CEO Walz. You could have stopped it at any moment... and you failed miserably.” — Joe [08:19]

(On the DFL future) “If they offer Amy [Klobuchar], it’s going to be a struggle, I would guess.”
— Kenny Olson [18:23]

“The Star Tribune really loves to shoot messengers... they’re scrambling to denounce the messenger rather than the message.”
— Joe Soucheray [40:02]

"You know, our traveling linemans, they've been at sea. I can identify. Well, yeah, you're a yacht veteran of being at sea."
— Joe Soucheray [86:42]
(Typical GL sea stories and banter.)

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Important Timestamps

• Walz Speech / Real-time Commentary: [01:37–13:53]
• Analysis of Welfare, Paid Leave, and Fraud Risks: [14:22–24:40]
• “How do scammers know so fast?” (Deep Dive): [23:01–34:59]
• Next DFL Candidates / Political Strategy: [17:13–18:29]
• Media & Journalism Debate: [39:47–51:14]
• Defending News Standards (TV vs. Citizen Journalist): [46:00–49:44]
• Tribute to Outgoing MPD Inspector Nick Torberg / Listener Mail: [71:14–74:44]
• Author’s Corner & Sea Stories: [77:41–86:42]

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In the Show’s Own Tone:

This episode, full of sharp skepticism and laughter, is a classic hour of Garage Logic: streetwise, defiant, and always circling back to the value of “common sense.” The crew shreds political doublespeak, exposes the unglamorous realities of Minnesota’s welfare bureaucracy, and lampoons both their home state and themselves. The underlying message? Minnesota remains vulnerable to the same old games—unless voters and journalists start demanding honesty and accountability.

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Summary by Segment:

[00:00–01:37]

Opening banter; weather stats; Joe acknowledges being away; sets up Walz news.

[01:37–13:53]

Immediate reaction to and critique of Walz’s speech (fraud, Trump references, Minnesota's “family-friendly” status); Walz speech stops/starts with panel commentary.

Notable:

“28 seconds it took for Trump to be mentioned.” — Chris [04:31]
Critical breakdown of Walz’s claims of decisive anti-fraud action.

[14:22–24:40]

Discussion shifts to Minnesota’s new paid leave program, welfare expansion, why benefit programs so easily become fraud magnets, and who keeps signing up for them.

Notable:

“12,000 people tripped over each other trying to sign up for this as fast as possible.” — Joe [16:56]

[24:41–34:59]

Who is aware of new government programs? Accusations that insiders tip off scammers; the “business” of fraud.

Notable:

“We now have a program where we’re gonna pay you just to be you.” — Joe [30:00]

[39:47–51:14]

Discussion about media’s failure to cover fraud properly, the emergence of citizen journalists, and how news habits are changing.

[53:03–56:02]

Amy Klobuchar rumored to be considering gubernatorial run; reaction to Trump conspiracy posts.

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Closing Reflection:
The episode closes with laughter, sea stories, and some literary tangents—but the core sentiment remains: Until Minnesota reins in its spending and restores trust in government, “common sense” won’t prevail.

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Transcript

[Joe Soucheray]

Josh Arnold, investment Consultant, brings you Garagelogic podcast number 1687, the first GL podcast of the year. 2026. This is January 5th, 2026, 47 degrees, the record high on this day in both 1885 and 2019 and 28 below on this day and three occasions. 1884, 1912, 1924. Call Josh Arnold. Start the new year right. Call Josh Arnold at 952-925-5608 for a free 48 minute consultation.

[Chris Reavers]

Hail the Flashlight King.

[Josh Arnold]

Hail you.

[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 Crabby Coffee, John Height in the newsroom, and of course the rookie here is your Flashlight King fireworks commissioner and the keeper of common sense, your mayor, Joe Susher. Hi. I mean, hello. Happy New Year. How are you? Great much happened in my absence, including the governor having been told that he's not going to run again. I refuse to believe he has reached this decision on his own. That would require character and he has shown very little of it.

[Rook]

There was some arm tugging, I believe.

[Joe Soucheray]

There'S been a meeting of the great minds in the DFL and said, tim, you're not going to run again. And he accepted that. And then he gave his. He just concluded his remarks, in fact, and we have them for you. I don't like the look on your face that you were puzzled by that.

[Tim Walz]

Nope, nope.

[Chris Reavers]

I had to reset this. So just give me just a moment, sir.

[Kenny Olson]

That was one of the funnest press conferences I have ever heard, Joe. I was not ready to belly laugh and wipe tears away like I did.

[Chris Reavers]

He.

[Joe Soucheray]

How long did it take him to get to Trump about the third sentence?

[Josh Arnold]

Yes, yes.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, it was so wonderful.

[Joe Soucheray]

Now, that creates the possibility of a competent candidate to represent the dfl. It makes the DFL less beatable in this state. But the exchange, the trade off, could be a person with experience and competence and a desire to put this state back on the right path because it is veered dreadfully off course. And anytime you're ready, I would like to hear our governor announce that he's not running Sons.

[Tim Walz]

I have to tell you, I was glad to turn the page on 2025.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stop. He got that line from Gwen. Turn the page. Yep. Continue. You're right.

[Tim Walz]

Occult year for our state. And it ended on a particularly sour note. For the last several years, an organized group of criminals have sought to take advantage of this state's generosity.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stop. There's you know, words mean something, Tim. And there's a great deal of difference between generosity and the creation of 15,000 different programs to distribute money. That's not generosity. Continue.

[Tim Walz]

And even as we make progress in the fight against the fraudsters, we now see an organized group of political actors seeking to take advantage of a crisis.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stop.

[Chris Reavers]

I gotta get the rib shot ready.

[Joe Soucheray]

You gotta stop. This. This is. We've gone from fraud in the first 20 seconds of his remarks to the fact that this is merely an opportunity for political opponents to take advantage of the fraud. That is not the case. Continue.

[Tim Walz]

I don't want to mince words here. Donald Trump and his allies in Washington and in St. Paul and online want to make our state a colder, meaner place.

[Chris Reavers]

By the way, for the record 28 seconds it took for Trump to be.

[Joe Soucheray]

Mentioned, I don't understand how. Continue.

[Tim Walz]

Want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in the country to raise a family.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stop. Tim. This is not the best place in the country to raise a family. The taxes are outrageous. The spending habits have been irresponsible. The schools aren't doing that great of a job, and all they do is have their hand out. You have political operatives in place who are opposed to law enforcement. And I'm leaving out the weather. Those of us who remain here are used to the weather.

[Kenny Olson]

That's where I was going to go. And plus, it's cold as hell in the winter and hot and soggy and skeeter bitten in the summer.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't. I don't. As a Minnesotan, the weather does not bother me. This is a bad place to raise a family because of the people we've elected. Continue.

[Tim Walz]

They've already begun trying to withhold funds that were meant to help families afford child care, and they have no intention of stopping there. Make no mistake, we should be concerned about fraud in our state government. We cannot effectively deliver programs and services. And if we can't earn the public's trust. That's why over the past few years, we've made systemic changes in the way we do business. We've gone to the legislature time and time again to get more tools to combat fraud.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stop. No. You were always the CEO Walls. You could have stopped it at any moment. The buck stopped with you. And once you got the buck in your hand, you let it move on. The buck stopped with you, and you failed miserably.

[Tim Walz]

We've hired people who weren't. We fired people who Weren't doing their jobs. We've seen people go to jail for stealing from our state. We've cut off whole streams of funding in partnership with the federal government where we saw widespread criminal activity. We put new locks on the doors of our remaining programs.

[Chris Reavers]

Can I pull a card here?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Chris Reavers]

We need to re. Hear that part where he talked about the federal government's role with this. I want you to. There's a key.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah. The federal government forced Minnesota to stop. Right?

[Chris Reavers]

Yes. But he basically acts like they were just a kind of a small.

[Kenny Olson]

Like they were partners. Arm in arm.

[John Height]

Yes.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah. Yeah. For stealing from our state. We've cut off whole streams of funding in partnership with the federal government where we saw.

[Joe Soucheray]

You already ripped the federal government. Don't.

[Tim Walz]

Don.

[Joe Soucheray]

Tim. Whatever. Close enough.

[Tim Walz]

Widespread criminal activity. We put new locks on the doors of our remaining programs and we've hired a new head of program integrity to make sure that those locks can't be broken.

[Joe Soucheray]

You were the head of Integrity Walls. You just aren't able to get that through your head. You're unable to acknowledge your role in this state.

[Tim Walz]

Minnesotans are hard at work on this problem. Advocates, administrators, investigators are on the front lines defending the integrity of our science program.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stop.

[Kenny Olson]

Stop, stop, stop. Federal investigators. Go ahead, Chris.

[Tim Walz]

And I want to give a very heartfelt thank you. All of them. There is more to do. A single taxpayer dollar wasted on fraud should be intolerable. And while there's a role to play.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, there's been billions.

[Tim Walz]

Later to prosecutors, to insurance companies, to local and county government. The buck does stop with me. My administration has been taking fast, decisive action to solve this crisis. We'll win the fight against the fraudsters. But the political gamesmanship we're seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder. We've got Republicans here in the state legislature playing hide and seek with potential whistleblowers. We've got conspiracy theorist right wing youtubers breaking into our daycares, demanding access to our children. We've got the President of the United States.

[Joe Soucheray]

Here we go.

[Tim Walz]

Demonizing our Somali neighbors and wrongfully confiscating funds that Minnesotans rely on. It's disgusting and it's dangerous. Republicans are playing politics with the future of the state. It's shameful and I've said it before and I will continue to say it. We welcome ideas from anyone in any party, from any walk of life who wants to help us continue to stay ahead of these criminals.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stop. I've offered a number of opinions and ideas, and you won't. Come on this show continue and we.

[Tim Walz]

Welcome the involvement of the federal government. I am grateful to the career professionals at the U.S. attorney's office and the FBI who have been helping us fight this fight for years. But I cannot abide the actions of the political leadership in Washington. These opportunists are willing to hurt our people to score cheap points. They and their allies have no intention of helping us solve this problem.

[Joe Soucheray]

And every and none of the programs you had really helped anybody Walls because the money was stolen.

[Tim Walz]

Intention of trying to profit off of it. Which brings me to this. 2026 is an election year. Election years have a way of ramping up the politics at a time when we simply can't afford more of that in Minnesota. In September, I announced that I would seek a historic third term as Minnesota's governor. And I have every confidence that if I gave it my all, we would win the race.

[Kenny Olson]

Let's pause for laughter, shall we?

[Chris Reavers]

Sitcom. It needs a laughter.

[Kenny Olson]

Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

Thank you.

[Tim Walz]

Reflect on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can't give a political campaign my all. Every minute that I spend defending my own political interest would be a minute I can't spend defending the people of Minnesota against the criminals who prey on our generosity.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, you never have. You never did.

[Chris Reavers]

Wait a minute. So would that be unlike when he was running for VP and we didn't see him for about six months?

[Tim Walz]

Cynics who want to prey on our differences. So I've decided to step out of this race and I'll let others worry about the election while I focus on the work that's in front of me for the next year. I'm passing on this race with zero sadness and zero.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't know if it's better that he'd keep running so we wouldn't be working on this because he can't do it anyway.

[Chris Reavers]

That's a good point.

[Kenny Olson]

Right?

[Chris Reavers]

That's a really good point.

[Kenny Olson]

He's now going to be sitting in sweatpants playing video games for the rest.

[Chris Reavers]

Of the year, eating spongebob Cheetos or whatever. What's her name?

[Joe Soucheray]

The dog on the work that's in.

[Tim Walz]

Front of me for the next year. I'm passing on this race with zero sadness and zero regret. I did not run for this job to have the job. I ran for the job to do the job. Enormous challenges this year, and I refuse to spend a single minute doing anything other than rising to meet this moment. Minnesota has always come first and always will. That's what I believe servant leadership demands of me as an optimist. I'll hold out some hope that my friends on the other side of the aisle will consider what servant leadership demands of them in the moment. We can work together to combat against the criminals. We can work together to rebuild the public's trust and make our state stronger. But make no mistake about it, if Republicans continue down the path of abusing power, smearing entire communities, and running their own fraudulent game at the expense of Minnesotans.

[Kenny Olson]

What?

[John Height]

What.

[Joe Soucheray]

What game is that?

[Tim Walz]

Everything that I have. I am absolutely confident a Democratic and a DFLER will hold the seat come November. I'm confident that I'll find ways to contribute to the state that I love.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's okay. You can leave.

[Tim Walz]

But there'll be time to worry about all that later today. I'm proud of the work we've done to make Minnesota America's best place to live and raise. It isn't from our new paid leave policy to our child tax credit, to our school lunch programs, feeding every single child. And I'm doubly proud of the incredible team we put together to make this vision a reality. I want to take a moment to thank every member of my staff, to every single state employee who has been part of this fight. Now more than ever, I need you on the job. I need you to help work together to tackle the important work in front of us. And most of all, I want Minnesotans to know how grateful I am for the opportunity to serve this state, for the privilege that I have been given to serve in this office. I'm on the job. I'm focused on making sure that we stay America's best place to live and raise kids. Okay, Tim, no one will take that away from us.

[Joe Soucheray]

No.

[Tim Walz]

I'm proud of the way we treat our neighbors. I'm proud of the way that we welcome people to this state. I'm proud of the way that we innovate. And I'm proud of the way that we are optimists for the future. No one's taking this away from us. Not the fraudsters. Certainly not this president. Not on my watch. Tomorrow, I'll be back with you. I'll give you an update on America's best paid family medical leave program that is now a week into it. And at that time, I'll take all your questions. Thank you all.

[Kenny Olson]

No, you won't.

[Joe Soucheray]

From the January 3rd Wall Street Journal. Here is the real problem in Minnesota. The real problem is, once upon a time, the safety net was intended to help the disabled and Sick who cannot support themselves, not those who choose not to work, which is what it has become. Consider this in Minnesota. Minnesota offers a working families tax credit of up to $3,089 a year. We have. Well, this is a list of all the programs. We have housing programs. We have food programs. We have paid leave programs. We have childcare programs. We have health care programs. We have seen under the Wahls administration, an incredible transfer of money to welfare programs. And there are so many programs and so much money that the Wall Street Journal notes it is an open vault for scammers, especially when politicians are loathe to police fraud because doing so might be called racist or anti poor. But it's also corrupting for beneficiaries who have an incentive to remain on the dole rather than build an independent life. That's exactly what's happened here. And this family leave now just kicked in. The ink wasn't dry on the paper. And 12,000 families applied for family leave.

[Chris Reavers]

On day one.

[Kenny Olson]

I'm feeling a little gassy. I'll see you in three months.

[Joe Soucheray]

Minnesota lets workers take up to 20 weeks of paid family and medical leave a year if they've earned at least $3,900 in the prior year. The entitlement is funded by a 0.88 percentage point payroll tax. A worker who earned $4,000 last year can receive as much as $5,538 in paid leave.

[Chris Reavers]

Oh, you get a raise.

[Josh Arnold]

Wow.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's kind of a nice. So you don't think this will Appeal to people? 12,000 people tripped over each other trying to sign up for this as fast as possible.

[Chris Reavers]

What was you and Royce had a buddy that worked at the paper talking about taking his sick time?

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't recall.

[Chris Reavers]

Well, Royce tells a story about how. Well, I don't take it. He's like, that's because you're an idiot. Meaning he wasn't gonna let any of that go.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, good riddance. I'm sure that Walls was coached and said, you can't run again. You're a disaster, and we've gotta find somebody else. Now the question is, and anyone associated with the Walz administration would continue to make the same mistakes. And that's even giving them the benefit of the doubt that this was merely a mistake. Peggy Flanagan would be a disaster. Keith Ellison would be a disaster. Amy Klobuchar says she might consider it. Dean Phillips, to me, would be a good candidate. There are competent DFL people. This group. This group drank the poison, and they're Long gone.

[Chris Reavers]

What about Omar Fateh?

[Joe Soucheray]

No.

[Kenny Olson]

Which one of those?

[Joe Soucheray]

And Melvin Carter? No, not qualified at all.

[Kenny Olson]

Those possibilities you mentioned. Which one of them. Let me rephrase that. Are any of them beatable by, let's say, Lisa Damith?

[Rook]

That's what my question is. Is this going to help us or hurt us with him out of the race?

[Kenny Olson]

It depends on who they offer. If they offer Amy, it's going to be a struggle, I would guess.

[John Height]

Yeah.

[Rook]

Then who runs for Senate for her?

[Chris Reavers]

Royce White.

[Kenny Olson]

Can you guys help me while we're paused here? The governor mentioned something about Republicans and whistleblowers. What was he talking about?

[Joe Soucheray]

The Republicans are hiding the whistleblowers.

[Rook]

Right. Hide and seek. What?

[John Height]

The whistleblowers.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, but there was a reason for that, Tim. They just didn't make them available for testimony because they didn't trust the people you have in place.

[John Height]

Right. They wouldn't give them to the legislature in general.

[Joe Soucheray]

Just.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, okay. All right.

[Rook]

Well, he played hide and seek with $18 billion.

[Joe Soucheray]

Winter is here. Yeah, I missed a great deal of it. I understand you did, but we recovered. We're Minnesotans and that's fine, isn't it?

[Chris Reavers]

It's a great place to raise kids.

[Joe Soucheray]

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[Joe Soucheray]

See, I had a deep thought. I tried not to have any deep thoughts last week, but I'm afraid I can't help myself. I got to thinking. Do you know anything? I'm asking all of us here, do you know about the availability of state programs? Have you ever wondered about that?

[Chris Reavers]

No. Gabe Reeves Only because I know someone that works in the industry, but I don't know the extent of the programs available.

[Joe Soucheray]

For example, when the when the food program began in about 2019, it was a hastily assembled program ostensibly believed to be needed because somehow the politicians believed Covid would hamper children getting fed. So they whipped up this program in Washington and states could apply for the money and then distribute it to people who fed children. Did anyone know that program was being created?

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, we talked about it extensively once.

[Joe Soucheray]

We learned about it.

[Kenny Olson]

Correct? Oh, oh, yeah.

[Chris Reavers]

Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

Right.

[Rook]

Never was sought.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, no. But you know, you woke up on a Monday, you didn't know that that program was suddenly in operation.

[Kenny Olson]

Correct?

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, who did? And how did they learn? And how was it possible that so many fraudsters so quickly applied right off the right at the moment of the program's inception? It was in fraud.

[Chris Reavers]

It's almost as if they they knew somebody on the inside.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, let's not get too carried away. But yes, the average Minnesotan doesn' wake up every day and and have some means of checking an updated roster of available state money. I certainly never have.

[Rook]

I would go so far as even to say, even if you are not, if you're not well off, if you are poor, you are not looking for some type of program to feed your son or daughter.

[Kenny Olson]

Lunch didn't Amy Bach take the heat for that? Wasn't it her?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yes. Someone immediately, immediately knew about this program. And immediately a flood of applications arrived at the Department of Education. They all were filled out. People started getting money. It took a while. It took a long time to realize that it was fraud. No one was getting fed. I'm very comfortable saying that no one was getting fed. And you didn't. A, you didn't hear about any starving children, and B, you never were made aware of long lines of children being fed by this program.

[Chris Reavers]

Well, that was your point from the get go. These would have been all covered in the news.

[Joe Soucheray]

And the first tip off was Heather Mueller, the head of the Department of Education. Once it was discovered she's gone, she's conveniently allowed to leave and move on and she gets replaced. Now, I'm trying to stay on track with my deep thought. There's gotta be. I think it has two components. One is the government that's been created in the United States is awash in programs. There's tens of thousands of ways to get money from the taxpayer. And there, there. So component number one is there are people waiting to take advantage of that money. The second part of the program would be there must be people who facilitate getting the money. There must be groups of people who did, in fact, know. Oh, look at this. Starting December 2nd, we have a new program coming from the Department of Agriculture that'll unleash untold millions of dollars to states so they can distribute it to feed children. And then somehow those people make people aware of this. Am I on the right track?

[John Height]

Correct.

[Joe Soucheray]

Those people. Maybe Amy Bach. Is that her name?

[Chris Reavers]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, maybe Amy Bach, whose biographical history is sketchy. Maybe she was someone who was legitimately involved in knowing the release of new programs. I'd have to go back and review her bio.

[Kenny Olson]

She founded the organization in 2016 and repeatedly applied for grants from the state of Minnesota, but was rejected due to allegations of mismanagement and abuses. That's feeding our future, Joe.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right. So did feeding our future ever have a legitimate base, a basis for operation? Did it ever have. Was it ever legitimate? Because the minute the Department of Agriculture hastily assembling this program because of COVID the minute that money became available, it was fraudulently taken, most specifically by one group of people.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah. According to what I'm reading, Minnesota Department of Education officials identified early signs of fraud in 2019. July of 2019, right before COVID.

[Joe Soucheray]

So I guess the deep thought I had was there are people who make it their business to be plugged in to those developments. Correct. They make it their business. And some of it they might walk away from because they realize, well, there's really no way we can steal any money there. There's too many security guards and gates up. That would be too tough. But then because they're in that business, along comes this program. And they think, look at this. They just unleash this willy nilly out of whole cloth. They're just gon. They're gonna open a bag of cash to feed people. Now that's one we can take advantage of. So they move in and they take advantage of that one. For all I know, there's been 10 programs since Food money from the Department of Agriculture that they walked away from that they didn't do. But then in this state, the same thing might have happened with. Look at, they're gonna throw a lot of Medicaid money at autism. Suddenly you had about what, a 200% increase in autism centers?

[Chris Reavers]

It was more than that, wasn't it?

[Joe Soucheray]

There are people. Boy, the job to clean up this state is going to be difficult. We have people who make it their business to study where the money is, where it's coming from, when it'll arrive, and how difficult it will be to take.

[Chris Reavers]

Well, that's why walls had to step down. Because he has to fight this.

[Joe Soucheray]

He has to fight this.

[Rook]

Why didn't someone say prior to feeding our future, where have these kids been up until now? Who's been. Why is there this serious hunger right now?

[Joe Soucheray]

Cause many sins were committed under the heading of COVID So, Joe, do you.

[Kenny Olson]

Surmise it's somebody within the government, or do you think it's somebody that just spends their days surfing government websites and doing the research for nefarious purposes?

[Joe Soucheray]

I think it could go either way. Yeah, I think, I think I. I think. I think it could go either way. And compounding this, compounding this is just the plethora of ways that money can be applied for. What the Wall Street Journal was referring to with this. This extraordinary growth of the welfare state in Minnesota up to now, and including the fact that we're going to give you money for nothing. Just not to work. Yeah. Yeah. You don't have to be sick. You don't have to be disabled, you don't have to have autism. You don't have to be homeless. We now have a program where we're gonna pay you just to be you. Yes, you in the back.

[Chris Reavers]

Wouldn't it be nice to see the list of the names of the 12,000 that I can't wait.

[John Height]

I can't wait to answer Rook's question and amplify what you said, Joe.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[John Height]

When Covid hit, we moved virtual learning and they shut down all school lunches. And at that point, the federal government relaxed requirements for states to get federal child nutrition programs money. And boom, there you go.

[Joe Soucheray]

And somebody. Somebody jumped on that. The relaxed is the key word.

[Kenny Olson]

Right.

[Joe Soucheray]

They relaxed any guidelines they might have had in place 10 years ago.

[Kenny Olson]

Joe, Isn't it hysterical that they knew that Feeding Our Future was maybe a little bit janky before COVID Yes. But Covid hits. And they said, here you go, here's the money.

[John Height]

The Sahan Journal is where I'm reading my info here. And apparently when that happened, when they were relaxed.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[John Height]

And the funds became available. Available Feeding Our Future. And Partners in Quality Care began greatly increasing the number of vendors who are working with them.

[Joe Soucheray]

There it is, folks. If you go back to the beginning, somebody was able to take advantage of this and spot this as a real opportunity for theft. And then they stole it. Yes.

[Chris Reavers]

Along those same lines. Are you guys ready to have your doors blown off? Liz Collins, you guys are familiar with her work, Alpha News, they were submitted a Craigslist ad.

[Joe Soucheray]

I saw it and I discounted it. I think it's a bit.

[Chris Reavers]

You do?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, I do think it's a bit. Is it a craigslist bad ad calling for child actors to.

[Chris Reavers]

Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

And if you were really looking for that, you wouldn't have used the term child actors because that just gives away that you're being fraudulent.

[Chris Reavers]

The ad was pulled.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't care. It's a bit.

[Chris Reavers]

All right.

[Kenny Olson]

It's a tough one to buy.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm not buying that one.

[Chris Reavers]

Gotcha.

[Kenny Olson]

Is there any way we can bring back double jeopardy? I want to see Amy Bach tried every six months for the same crime.

[Rook]

Just to refresh and feel better.

[Joe Soucheray]

Maybe.

[Kenny Olson]

Could she break rocks on a square somewhere in the Twin Cities field? Yeah. So we can all drive by and watch her breaking rocks.

[Joe Soucheray]

It's not terribly comforting. You know, in this walls with his braggadocio keeps saying this is the greatest state in the country. It's not, Tim. There are so many problems here that are burdening hardworking, honest, law abiding citizens. There are so many giveaway programs, so many welfare programs, so many entitlements, such incredibly high tax rates that it is not a great place for a family to try to get by in the state walls. And you have contributed to that mightily. Your words are almost the exact opposite of everything that's happened in this state.

[Chris Reavers]

And proving that by mass migration. That's the number one thing plaguing this state right now.

[Rook]

What's the next fraud? Or is there going to be started Monday?

[Joe Soucheray]

It did start Monday and 12,000 people signed up.

[Rook]

Okay, all right, fair enough.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, the next fraud. That's an interesting question. What is the next fraud? We don't know. But there are people who know what it will be.

[Chris Reavers]

They're just waiting, rubbing their hands together.

[Joe Soucheray]

There are people who. This is what they do and we don't do it. It's never occurred to honest people in the state of Minnesota, whether they live in Roseau or Rochester. It's never occurred to people to every day. Thumb through the latest. I'm sure you can find it. Thumb through the latest programs coming online in Minnesota.

[Kenny Olson]

The way I look for for foreclosed property in the back of the paper.

[Joe Soucheray]

I look for boats and cars on want ad sites.

[Chris Reavers]

Out of curiosity because Matthew, you're in charge of this, right? Have you seen an increase?

[Joe Soucheray]

How many people at the airport have applied?

[Rook]

Well, for our company, we haven't had anybody apply yet.

[Chris Reavers]

Oh, okay.

[Rook]

I don't know how that.

[Chris Reavers]

I mean everyone was feeling it.

[Rook]

Everybody is at work.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's what's feeling it today.

[Kenny Olson]

Who here at GL has applied already?

[Joe Soucheray]

Not me.

[Kenny Olson]

Besides me.

[Rook]

I have twice. But they're always. It's like buying a car. We're having trouble with your paperwork, Mr. Mikulski. We can't push it through.

[Kenny Olson]

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[Chris Reavers]

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[Joe Soucheray]

Chris Reavers is a paid endorser. Ready? Here's a man who spends hours in hardware stores sifting through the nuts and bolts of life. Joe Sushiray. Well, in my absence, some young YouTuber or citizen journalist, as they might be called, Nick Shirley came to town and riled up the locals with his idea about daycare fraud. And Tom Hauser, for example, filled in here. And he was upset in the sense that Nick Shirley really wasn't revealing anything that Jay Coles and Hauser and others had already revealed. And that's a game a lot of us find that we're playing. You know, we've been talking about fraud here for years and years and years. And there's a couple of interesting ways to look at this one. The Star Tribune really, really loves to shoot messengers. They sit up in the catbird seat and they're trying to plink off messengers as fast as they can find them. They did it with the Rick Capchella documentary that was called Precarious State. Precarious State. They were very concerned about who paid for that, although they could not contest one fact of Kipchella's findings. Now they're very concerned about this. Nick Shirley had come to town and who was Jack? Did he go around with a guy named Jack or Dave or.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

And then they had a big piece Sunday on who Dave? I think it was Dave Hoak who once ran for governor. And they were very upset about this. Well, they didn't contest any facts. Here's something we all. This is very difficult for me personally to accept, but I'm getting there. This is the future of journalism. No, no, no. You don't think so?

[Kenny Olson]

This is not journalism, Joe.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, it's not the future of journalism, but it's the future of the way what journalism should treat as a story.

[Kenny Olson]

You don't get to call yourself a journalist if you have a website, a podcast and a camera. Give me a break.

[Joe Soucheray]

He. I'm afraid that's the way it's going, though.

[Kenny Olson]

Well, he played pretty hard and loose with the facts.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, but I'm afraid that's the way it's going. But can't we, can't we agree on something, that there's fraud here? I think the print media has done a terrible job with it. And the print media is getting burned by the likes of these guys who show up and then they have to scramble. And what they're scrambling to do is they're scrambling to denounce the messenger rather than the message.

[Kenny Olson]

And it's extra glaring because in my mind, print media is made for these kind of fraud stories going back since forever. That's what print media does best. And in our case, the fraud case, it seems like they've, to me anyway, have dropped the ball.

[Joe Soucheray]

It would be like if Woodward and Bernstein were condemned for bringing about the message of Watergate.

[Kenny Olson]

Were they?

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, they were. That's my point. Imagine that Woodward and Bernstein were ripped to shreds by the Washington Post for bringing light to Nixon's crimes.

[John Height]

Well, they were ripped by the people who were Nixon backers.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, yeah, but the press wasn't involved in condemning them.

[John Height]

It took a good two years for all of that you remember to develop. And the Republican side was not. They weren't. How can I say this?

[Kenny Olson]

Well, no, you're right.

[John Height]

Of any of that.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right, but it creates this idea that it's, that it's, it's not fraud. You're, you, you're alleging too much fraud here. We don't have fraud. We're just generous people. And you're. And because these are people of color, we don't dare call it fraud, which is B as in B S as in S. There are certain things that we should all agree on. And the countries become so divided. We no longer all agree. We should all agree that this is terrible fraud no matter who did it. We should all agree we're being fleeced by an incompetent administration under walls. We should all agree, for example, that Trump's charge that Trump. That Walls put the hit out on Melissa Horton and her husband is absolutely obscene of him to do. That's obscene. Walls didn't put the hit out on anybody. But the country bathed in conspiracy. They love that idea that this fruitcake who crept around Maple Grove in the middle of the night last summer was somehow acting on the orders of walls. That didn't happen. We should all agree that that's bad.

[Rook]

No, you're not.

[Joe Soucheray]

But people don't. I guarantee you for what I just said, I'll get emails.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

There are people who want to believe that Walls wanted Melissa Hortman murdered. That's absolutely outrageous. But we've reached a point in this country where we can't. We can't come together on anything.

[John Height]

Well, can I expound on that just a little? The part that disturbs me about that is I don't care if people believe it, but when the president of the United States is putting that on a social media. That's bad. Yeah, that's.

[Joe Soucheray]

It's horrible.

[John Height]

That's.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, it's horrible. It's irresponsible, unethical, immoral, ridiculous, and frankly.

[Kenny Olson]

A waste of time.

[Joe Soucheray]

We.

[Kenny Olson]

And a distraction.

[Joe Soucheray]

We can't even. We can't even agree that the fraud is bad. We can't because you've. There's too many ways. It's trying to be excused.

[Rook]

Well, we all agree that the fraud is bad, but when you add that we were served by an incompetent administration, that's where the Walls jumpers jump back on their bandwagon.

[Chris Reavers]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm willing to. Willing you. We have an obligation to denounce Trump's ridiculous social media. What the hell's wrong? Are you dying? Go on the.

[John Height]

Go outside.

[Joe Soucheray]

Go outside and get some air.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, I didn't even notice.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, he's choking and coughing.

[Rook]

I'm not giving him mouth to mouth.

[Joe Soucheray]

Came up.

[Kenny Olson]

Where were we?

[John Height]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, where were we?

[Kenny Olson]

We were.

[Joe Soucheray]

Trump. Trump has not helped Minnesota's case. Precisely because of the division. Precisely because of the division. And I'm not ready to go to Venezuela yet.

[Kenny Olson]

In your mind, I want to ask you.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm in the camp that's glad Maduro's out of There. But I don't have a clue what's.

[Kenny Olson]

Going to happen when residents of the country are celebrating and clapping and dancing in the street. When he's gone, that's. That's an indication. Back to our local situation. Joe, what obligation do you think TV news has on covering this fraud? Because obviously Jay covered the Nick Shirley thing a year ago now, January of 2025.

[Rook]

Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

And I saw, while you were gone, I saw comments criticizing Tom and the GL crew and Channel 5 for not having the story or not hammering on the story enough. And I don't think those people realize that you have the two to three minute window to discuss something that literally takes hours to break down.

[Joe Soucheray]

Can I have a deep thought about that too, please?

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, please.

[Joe Soucheray]

In every obituary page, whoever you read and see who has passed on that many fewer 10pm news watchers and that many fewer newspaper readers.

[Kenny Olson]

Well, is it the fault of Tom and Channel 5 that they didn't hammer on this story for five minutes every single night for the last 10 years? No, it's not their fault.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, no. They had the story. They have time constraints. Yeah. The Star Tribune never had the story. Never had the story. Pioneer Press never had the story. Part of that is newspapers are just a very slim shadow of what they once were. I understand, by the way, a little comical aside that nobody got a Monday paper in town.

[Chris Reavers]

A week ago today I had some very colorful off air commentary from a.

[Joe Soucheray]

Sports reporter bringing the papers from Des Moines couldn't get here. Yeah, we closed the freeway printed in Des Moines and we had a snowstorm.

[Chris Reavers]

Can I defend Tom for just a brief second? And he said this on the show in your absence. He gets hammered a lot because people want him to call for Tim Walls to resign. Well, that's not Tom's job. Tom's job is to report on the news, not call for the resignation of a governor.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's my job.

[Chris Reavers]

That's Joe's job.

[John Height]

Yeah, that's a really good point Chris makes. Because a lot of people I see would like Tom Hauser to come out and say, look, this person just stole X amount of dollars and leave it at that.

[Joe Soucheray]

Houser has a very professional career and he's done a marvelous job at hiding his own politics. And you have a fart button and I have buttons.

[Kenny Olson]

Do people not realize they can't differentiate, Joe? Is that where we're at?

[Joe Soucheray]

In fact, Hauser is unique in the sense that he doesn't give you his opinion on television. He's unique in that sense.

[Rook]

You don't want to.

[Joe Soucheray]

He could never work for cnn.

[John Height]

Yeah, I was going to bring up Fox. People think Sean Hannity's a news reporter.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, he's not a news reporter.

[John Height]

But that's what you see. People post. He reported. Well, no, he didn't.

[Joe Soucheray]

And then it's human nature on Hauser's part or even the Tribune's part. It's human nature to condemn the messenger if you've already given that message. In other words, you feel a little put upon when you see some guy come to town and get 20 million hits for his video. When you did the same story six.

[Rook]

Months ago with integrity.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. I don't know anything about this Shirley character.

[Rook]

Well, Tom's problem.

[Joe Soucheray]

But the left wing columnists in the Tribune and that they should be called left wing because they always call other people right wings. The left wing columnists are just irate that this, this 23 year old had the audacity to point out the fraud.

[John Height]

The only time I had run into Nick Shirley, we talked about this last week was a couple years back. He went to Ukraine and sat at an outdoor restaurant and said the Russians are not causing any problems in Ukraine. So that immediately told me Nick Shirley perhaps wasn't really.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well. And you could still go back to that outdoor cafe and probably sit there because that cafe hasn't been attacked yet.

[Chris Reavers]

And of course, the point you were trying to make earlier too, Joe, about content creation, especially now going into 2026, it's just different. And as you mentioned, many people are not watching the 5, the 6, the 10 o' clock news. This is good or bad. This is how they're getting their information.

[Joe Soucheray]

I understand. I said with every obituary you've lost at 10 o' clock news news viewer. And in the place of that 10 o' clock news viewer are 25 year olds who are on their phone 15 hours a day and that's where they're getting. I have a kid who admits she gets her news from the phone.

[Chris Reavers]

Social media.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rook]

You're sitting across from one too.

[Joe Soucheray]

I think probably.

[Rook]

When's the last time you watched the 10 o' clock news?

[Joe Soucheray]

And I've never missed it.

[Chris Reavers]

Is that before or after milk and cookies?

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm done with that. I never eat any food now after 6pm really?

[John Height]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

What a bummer. It's been that way for years now.

[Kenny Olson]

I got a message from somebody who gets their news from social. On Friday, Amy Coney Barrett has been arrested for treason and is in Gitmo. I spent a good 10 minutes chasing that down, down the rabbit hole.

[Joe Soucheray]

Why don't we switch over to John? Okay.

[John Height]

I'll just give you my opinion on all the news. How's that?

[Chris Reavers]

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[John Height]

Thank you, Chris. This news is brought to you by North American Banking Company as we've been talking about. Tim Walls will not seek a third term as governor of Minnesota. A lengthy statement which we played for you. He expressed concerns about fraud and political challenges in Minnesota. He talked to reporters at about 11 this morning. All he did basically was read the statement he released earlier in the morning. He did not take any questions from reporters. He said he would answer their questions tomorrow at a press conference. To talk about something else we've talked about today, the state's new leave.

[Chris Reavers]

Do you believe him? Do you think he'll take questions from the news tomorrow?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yes.

[John Height]

Meanwhile, a source close to Senator Amy Klobuchar told the fellow we've been talking about Tom Hauser, the chief political reporter at 5eyewitness who's quote, in the event Governor Walls decides not to run, she will likely run for governor. The source says Klobuchar is getting outreach from people encouraging her to run and is seriously considering it.

[Joe Soucheray]

Let's, let's pause there a moment. John.

[Chris Reavers]

Stop.

[John Height]

Stop.

[Joe Soucheray]

She's a long standing US Senator who probably could be the senator for the rest of her life. Why, why would she, why would she make the move, I wonder?

[Kenny Olson]

Democratic orders.

[John Height]

She want to move back home, save.

[Kenny Olson]

The state they all know what, what I guess I know and I, I don't want to say out loud she'll win. I hate saying that, but and then.

[Rook]

Black helicopter theory appoint Tim Walls as her senatorial.

[Kenny Olson]

I, I'm not on board with that, but I, I, I, I think, and I kind of hate thinking this, but I think she'll win if she run.

[Joe Soucheray]

You know, it's January 5th and we're going to do ourselves a favor by not worrying about that race quite yet.

[John Height]

Yeah. And until she announces to maybe just, you know, if she does another story you talked a bit about. The children of Melissa and Mark Hortman, who were shot in June of 2025, have responded to a social media post from President Trump asking him to take the post down and issue an apology. On Saturday, Trump posted a video on Truth Social that claimed Governor Walz was behind the assassination of the former House speaker and her husband.

[Joe Soucheray]

You can't be that stupid.

[John Height]

Video claims the Hortman's were targeted because Representative Hortman was the only Democrat to vote against a bill providing health care for undocumented immigrants. The Hortman son, Colin, issued a response to the post saying in part, my father and mother, Mark and Melissa Hortman and their dog were killed by a man who believed conspiracy theories and fake news words matter. Sharing fake news is dangerous. Advance Belter is facing several charges in both state and federal court in the shooting of Speaker Emerita and her husband, as well as the shootings of Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. They were wounded by the shootings. Hoffman and his wife. Belter has pleaded not guilty.

[Joe Soucheray]

Isn't Trump the king of saying everything is fake news? Then why is he releasing fake news?

[John Height]

It's a good question.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[John Height]

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Fry, sworn in for a third term today. Frey is the city's 48th mayor, the strongest in Minneapolis history after voters approved changes to the city charter in 2021 that shifted power from the City Council to the mayor. In Minneapolis, new strong Mayor Era Fry consolidated control over the city's daily operations among top administrative officers who report directly to him. After serving one term as Ward 3 City Council member, he ascended to the mayor's office. As mayor, he's fended off multiple challenges from the political left, most recently defeating Democratic Socialist State Senator Omar Fateh last November. Fry's first two terms marked by some of the greatest challenges that Minnesota has COVID 19, the death of George Floyd and officers being depleted from the police ranks and the opioid crisis fueling homelessness While there's been progress on all fronts since the height of the pandemic in 2020, many of the issues stick around. For example, Minneapolis is in its third year of a state consent decree prescribing police reforms. It's expected to take more years to take care of for. I grew up in Virginia. He was a professional runner and lawyer before entering public office. I didn't realize he was a professional runner.

[Rook]

What does that mean?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yogging he got paid.

[John Height]

Kelly her was officially sworn in last Friday.

[Kenny Olson]

I want to be a professional sitter. I did a damn fine job of sitting over the last week.

[John Height]

I wonder if that pays well.

[Chris Reavers]

Well, yeah, just apply for the paid family leave back. There you go.

[John Height]

Keoli her officially sworn is as the first woman and first Hmong American to be the mayor of St. Paul. Friday, Hur laid out her three major priorities to get the city back on track. The first priority, she said, is safer communities and emphasizing support for first responders to address issues like mental health and drug use. Second priority, the economy and finding ways to encourage development.

[Joe Soucheray]

How did she tell us to pronounce her first name? Is it Kali?

[Chris Reavers]

Isn't it Kali?

[John Height]

Kali. Oh, is it Kali? Her Kali?

[Chris Reavers]

I was surprised because, Joe, in your absence, we got a pretty significant snowfall on Sunday. Friday, she was still a little treacherous to get on those side streets in St. Paul.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, I know they finally got around her.

[Chris Reavers]

But I guess salt. Should we. Salt.

[John Height]

Shall I continue with national news here? I. I forget what we.

[Chris Reavers]

Sure, yeah.

[John Height]

Why not?

[Joe Soucheray]

Why not?

[Rook]

We're on it.

[John Height]

International news. We haven't hit on this at all, but a huge story, obviously. Over the weekend, deposed Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro declared himself innocent and quote, a decent man as he pleaded not guilty this morning to federal drug trafficking charges. Maduro told the judge, I'm innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man and the president of my country. Maduro was making his first appearance in an American courtroom on the narco terrorism charges that the Trump administration used to justify capturing him and bring him to New York. Maduro, wearing blue jail uniform, and his wife were led into court around noon Eastern time for a brief but required legal proceeding that will likely kick off a prolonged legal fight over whether he can be put on trial in the US Both put on headsets to hear the English language proceeding as it translated into Spanish. The couple were transported under armed guard early Monday morning from the Brooklyn jail where they'd been detained to a Manhattan courthouse. The trip was swift. Motorcade caring. Maduro left jail around 7:15 in the morning and made its way to a nearby athletic field, where he slowly made his way to a waiting helicopter. The chopper flew across New York harbor, landed at Manhattan heliport.

[Rook]

What a nice helicopter ride.

[Joe Soucheray]

You know, I'm guilty of reading too much. Len Dayton, who I've just discovered late in life, Ev Crisfile and others. I'm at the. I'm of the opinion now that everything is about something we haven't considered. In other words, everything that takes place geopolitically is about something that we don't know. In other words, the easy answer on this one is, well, we want the oil. They stole it from Exxon. Exxon went in there and built the infrastructure. Now Exxon has the right to go back. It's probably going to be about something else. Yeah. You know what I mean? Sure, yeah.

[Chris Reavers]

This is what the public knows. But what's really going on.

[Joe Soucheray]

We did this for oil, but this, you know, Obama's been involved in this. W's been involved in this. HW has been involved in this.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

Biden that did something Trump. And Trump's been involved in it. This, this has always been in the geopolitical menu of things taking place was a concern about Venezuela.

[Kenny Olson]

You, you're one of us, Joe. You are a conspiracy theorist. I can go back in history and att that to everything that's happened since World War I, since the outbreak of World War I, every single story.

[Joe Soucheray]

But there's.

[Kenny Olson]

What's it really about?

[Joe Soucheray]

There's a level of reason here that is not made privy to the American public. There's a level of, of operation that we don't know anything about why this was done. Yeah, that's my new theory. We have no.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, I'm with you, brother.

[Rook]

But to get back to Maduro, let me just tell you why he's such a nice guy because as he's walking down the hallway in handcuffs, he's wishing everybody a Happy New Year. He was. Happy New Year. Happy New Year.

[Kenny Olson]

In regards to Maduro, can we play what ifs? Because I've been playing what ifs in my head since this arrest in regards to all the protesting that are, you know, all these people in America are upset that he was arrested and that Trump went in there. And my what if in my brain is what if Biden had done this? Would you be protesting then?

[Joe Soucheray]

The people in this country would not protest Biden.

[Chris Reavers]

Well, plus, Kenny, someone would have to point on a map to Biden where Venezuela actually is.

[Rook]

True, that's true.

[Joe Soucheray]

What about Mrs. Maduro? Is she a looker?

[John Height]

I was kind of.

[Joe Soucheray]

Is she a Melania type? Oh, no, no, no.

[Chris Reavers]

I was a little underwhelmed.

[Rook]

Nobody touches Melania.

[Kenny Olson]

No.

[Joe Soucheray]

Care of. Why did you say that?

[Chris Reavers]

Because you knew that's what Joe was gonna say.

[Joe Soucheray]

I wonder who. Somebody's taking care of her.

[Kenny Olson]

I. I haven't seen her. I'm picturing Aunt Be from.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't think we're going on like.

[Rook]

A Venezuelan version of Venezuelan.

[Joe Soucheray]

Aunt Bee with a giant beehive with bananas and fruit in it and stuff. Miranda, that's Argentina.

[John Height]

Yesterday, after all this played out, the President implied he might take military action in Colombia, told Mexico to get its act together on drugs and said the US quote, needs Greenland. After those remarks about Greenland, in a direct statement, the Greenlandic Prime Minister, Jens Friedrich Nielsen accused the US of completely and utterly unacceptable rhetoric, saying enough is enough. The comments came after Denmark's Prime Minister Matti Fredriksen said it made absolutely no sense to talk about the US needing to take over Greenland. She added that the US had no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish kingdom. Greenland, interestingly enough, is protected by NATO's Article 5 that invokes mutual defense in the case of any armed attack or invasion.

[Joe Soucheray]

You know, the word banana reminds me of monkey never cramps. That interview with the Toronto Blue Jay players, you ever see that? No, it's legit. It wasn't a bit. He missed a game and it was a cramp. A Japanese player and the guy said what? What happened? He said, I cramp no banana. Monkey never cramps. It's two bananas. Monkey never cramps.

[Chris Reavers]

Funny.

[John Height]

Meanwhile, back to Venezuela for a moment. Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, did say yesterday the US would not take a day to day role in governing Venezuela other than enforcing an existing oil quarantine on the country. That's a turnaround from what President Trump had said. President Trump had said we'd be running Venezuela following the ouster of Maduro. Rubio statement on talk shows yesterday morning seemed designed to temper concerns about whether the American action to achieve regime change might again produce a prolonged foreign intervention or a failed attempt at nation building.

[Joe Soucheray]

Monkey Never cramped.

[John Height]

J.D. vance's home was broken into by a hammer wielding intruder over over the weekend. According to sources, a man was taken into custody after the alleged break in at the Vice President's home in Cincinnati, Ohio. Secret Service agents found the person who had broken the window with a hammer and was trying to get into the house after hearing a loud noise. The agents apprehended the suspect Alerted police. Photographs from the scene show several holes in the windows of the 19th century hillside property. The man had also vandalized a secret service vehicle on his way up to the home's driveway. The vice president and his family were at their main residence in Washington D.C. when all of this happened. Vance flew to the five bedroom home in his home state of Ohio after the US operation in Venezuela. He left for Washington Sunday afternoon. In a statement posted to X, Vance said that a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows of his home. And he thanked the secret service in the Cincinnati police for a swift response.

[Rook]

As opposed to a normal person trying to break into your house.

[Joe Soucheray]

In Animal House, would walls be flounder?

[Kenny Olson]

No, he's not lovable.

[Joe Soucheray]

But he was easily taken.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, you know what, that's a. That's a fun question.

[John Height]

What?

[Joe Soucheray]

What?

[Kenny Olson]

Cinema Evil doer or what's the word I'm looking for? Who would walls be in cinema?

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, he wouldn't be an evildoer because he's just stupid. That's why I thought founder. He is so easily taken advantage of.

[Chris Reavers]

Oh, I know forest walls. He's Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers. Yeah.

[Rook]

For $1 million.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, there's somebody. I'm picturing a Peter Sellers character. I don't know who yet though, you know.

[Joe Soucheray]

And we're done with John and done with a break after John. I have a gift for everybody.

[John Height]

Wow.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. Well, I don't look around here. A retired Minneapolis police officer has a gift for all of us and it's very nice.

[Rook]

Yeah, right. I got some. Some open parking tickets.

[Joe Soucheray]

Job, but not John's. Not done.

[Chris Reavers]

Oh.

[John Height]

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this morning announced he's issuing a letter of censure to Democratic Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona over the lawmakers participation in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders. Hegseth said the censure was a necessary process debt to proceedings that could result in a demotion from Kelly's retired rank of Captain in the US Navy. According to Hegseth. Kelly now has 30 days to submit a response to the proceedings. The decision will be made within 45 days, according to Hegseth. Kelly's office had no reply, but Kelly did reply on social media this morning saying over 25 years in the US Navy, 39 combat missions and four missions to space. I risked my life for this country to defend our Constitution, including the first amendment rights of every American to speak out. I never expected that the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense would attack me. For doing exactly that. Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain's King Charles III said he was privileged and proud to have known Schloss, who co founded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. She said the horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and devoted the rest of her life to overcoming the hatred and prejudice she was born Eva Gehringer in Vienna in 1929, fled with her family to Amsterdam after Nazi Germany annexed Austria. She became friends with another Jewish girl of the same age, Anne Frank, whose diary, of course, would become one of the most famous chronicles of the Holocaust. Like the Franks, Eva's family spent two years in hiding to avoid capture. They were eventually betrayed and sent to Auschwitz. Schloss and her family, Fritz and her mother. Excuse me, Fritzi. Survived until the camp was liberated in 1945. Her father and brother died there. After the war, Eva moved to Britain, married German Jewish refugee Zvi Schloss, and settled in London. And in 1953, her mom married Frank's father, Otto, the only member of his immediate family to survive. And Frank, as we know, died of typhus in the Bergen Belsen concentration camp at the age of 15. Schloss did not speak publicly about her experiences for decades, saying the wartime trauma had made her withdrawn and unable to connect with others.

[Joe Soucheray]

Wait a minute. Anne Frank died in a concentration camp?

[John Height]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, I thought she made it. I thought she lived.

[Rook]

No, they found her diary way later.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, for Pete's sake.

[John Height]

She died in the concentration camp.

[Joe Soucheray]

I. I had that part of history wrong, didn't I? Geez. John.

[John Height]

Yes?

[Joe Soucheray]

Do you need a personal injury lawyer?

[John Height]

Don't think so.

[Joe Soucheray]

If you do, get a hold of Brad Shaw and Brian.

[Rook]

There it is.

[Joe Soucheray]

You might not know what to do if you're ever injured in an accident. Insurance companies and adjusters can be difficult to deal with. Let Mike Bryant at Bradshaw and Bryant put together a team to help explain your rights, take care of you, get you through this mess. For six consecutive years, Mike has been recognized as a super lawyer, and he's been named Among Minnesota's top 40 personal injury lawyers by Minnesota Law and Politics, which is the Bible. They hope you're never in an accident, but if you are, call Brad, Shaw and Bryant at 800-7008 or go to MinnesotaPassonalinjury.com for a free case evaluation. And don't be part of the problem. Don't text and drive. Or drive distracted. That's just common sense. From Bradshaw and Bryant. The earth is not your mother. The Joe Sugiray Show. I got a really nice note from a guy named Nick Torberg who is now retired.

[Rook]

Oh, is this a gift?

[Joe Soucheray]

Police inspector from the 2nd Precinct. After 32 years as a police officer in the belly of the beast, I will be retiring December 31st. So he's retired.

[Rook]

I bet he knows my buddy Bob Dale, who was an inspector.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't think I would have lasted so long in this job without my regular dose of garage logic. There were many times when I was just about overwhelmed with the insanity that is the politics in Minneapolis. And I listened to an episode of Gl and it convinced me, or maybe just gave me some hope, that there was a little common sense left in the world. So for that, I say thank you. Now that I'm retired, I can actually speak with members of the media like yourself. If you ever have any questions about the MPD or police work in general, please feel free to reach out to me. I've got his number. Finally, I've enclosed official MPD 2nd Precinct challenge coins for you and the crew. Since they also serve as bottle openers, I am confident you guys will put them to good use. I hope you enjoy them. Sincerely, retired Inspector Nick Torberg, Minneapolis Police Department. Thank you, sir.

[Chris Reavers]

I believe I've met Nick.

[Joe Soucheray]

Thank you. Here's Chris.

[Kenny Olson]

All right, I'll be there on Wednesday for mine.

[Joe Soucheray]

Real deal. Here's Rook.

[Rook]

I got that one. Thank you.

[Joe Soucheray]

Appreciate it. Gabe even got you in here. Here's Gabe. Oh, wow. That's the open mind. And here's. Kenny and John are right here.

[Tim Walz]

There.

[Kenny Olson]

I'll be there on Wednesday, so. Thank you, Inspector.

[Joe Soucheray]

Holy cow.

[Chris Reavers]

That's cool.

[Joe Soucheray]

Aren't they neat?

[Chris Reavers]

That's very.

[Joe Soucheray]

People see it. Well, I get here. Give it to me. Give me mine. Mine's in the other room. No, but give me a Rook. Just a challenge.

[Rook]

He's a patient man.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, not really.

[Chris Reavers]

These are very cool.

[Joe Soucheray]

See that?

[Kenny Olson]

Nope.

[Joe Soucheray]

I held it close to the microphone as though that was.

[Rook]

Is it talk?

[Joe Soucheray]

No.

[Rook]

Hello.

[Joe Soucheray]

Open up another one.

[Tim Walz]

Open up another one.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's neat.

[Rook]

Thank you, sir.

[Joe Soucheray]

Thank you. Thank you.

[John Height]

Microphone.

[Chris Reavers]

Very cool to that.

[Rook]

Yeah, I can see that.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, now I can see it.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, it's really cool. It's very nice. What does this one say? Oh, Joe. On my. On our drive home from the family's Christmas gathering, My high school son and I ended up discussing racial slurs. Oh, it started because he has one little family chat.

[Rook]

How do you start that one? Hey, brother, what's going on? Let me talk to you.

[Joe Soucheray]

May I finish?

[Chris Reavers]

Yes, son, let me tell you.

[Rook]

Yeah, life.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, he's going to explain this if you wouldn't interrupt so much. I can't help it. I know. It started because he has friends from all sorts of backgrounds. And we got into why certain slurs are casually tossed around by some groups in conversation, songs and movies without much backlash, while others would face total social exile for even uttering one quietly. I half jokingly suggested that Minnesota's DEI bureaucracy should launch an Office of Inclusive Slurs and Equitable Epithets to sort it all out fairly with things quiet at work. Today I drafted this satirical announcement letter from the state of Minnesota introducing the new equitable epithet initiative. It's meant as an over the top satire, but given the current political climate here, I can easily imagine some people taking it seriously. Even more disappointingly, others actually cheering it on. Attach is the memo I put together for your review. This is pretty good. Look at this. He got official stationary. State of Minnesota. Stationary. Dear Minnesotan, we are thrilled to announce the launch of our groundbreaking equitable epithet initiative. In the spirit of true diversity and inclusion, our office has painstakingly curated a comprehensive list of state approved racial and ethnic slurs, carefully balanced, to ensure every demographic receives an equal opportunity to be offended. This program guarantees proportional representation in progressive prejudice. No group will be left behind in the vital work of equitable discrimination. Mandatory training sessions will begin in March 2026 where state employees will practice deploying those inclusive slurs in workplace settings to promote cultural sensitivity through shared trauma. Remember, exclusion is the real hate speech. Only by offending everyone equally can we achieve justice. Sincerely, Dr. Luna Trigger. She they Director, Office of Inclusive Slurs and Equitable Epithets, Minnesota DEI Department. That is too close to the truth to be funny. I can see the state doing this. You know, not everyone has a racial slur that's not equitable.

[Rook]

Right, Right.

[Joe Soucheray]

We got to come up with more of them. That's fantastic. Chris shearer. Thank you, Chris.

[Kenny Olson]

2020, the mayor of Duluth advocated for removing the word chief.

[Joe Soucheray]

Chief.

[Kenny Olson]

That's a certain city job title, remember?

[Joe Soucheray]

That's right.

[John Height]

I have a question, somewhat related. Joe and Kenny. You guys read. I'll ask you if you've run into this. Oh, that's mean. I'm sorry. I just. I'm reading.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right.

[John Height]

I'm almost done with a James Elroy book. You familiar with James Elroy?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah.

[John Height]

Called Clandestine. And. And it has every slur in the world in it, but when the N word is used. Yeah, it has an N and a line.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[John Height]

Have you ever run into that?

[Joe Soucheray]

No.

[John Height]

No, I haven't either. And it's. I mean, they use every other slur.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

Not in a book. I have not.

[John Height]

And James Elroy, you know, and all those detective books have racial slurs in them, especially in California in the 40s and 50s. This is based in 1955.

[Joe Soucheray]

I just finished a book. This is Author's Corner, I believe. Oh, this is Author.

[Chris Reavers]

I thought that was the end of this.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, John introduced Author's Corner. I wish to continue it. I wish to continue it.

[Chris Reavers]

Give me just a second. We gotta go.

[Rook]

There's so many to choose.

[Chris Reavers]

I mean, it's a library.

[Joe Soucheray]

Just.

[Rook]

It's time for Author's Corner with Joe Susher. And this one is a strike.

[Joe Soucheray]

This is a. This is a strike.

[Rook]

A little spin. Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen of Garage Lodge. Time for another segment of Author's Corner with Joe Su. Author's Corner. Sometimes it gets a little bit crazy.

[Joe Soucheray]

I was very apt that I read this. I don't want to hear another one. It was very apt that I read this because I was at sea last week. I was.

[Rook]

Okay, Sailor Jerry.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah, well, I was.

[Joe Soucheray]

Aye, aye, captain was on the ocean, skipper. And.

[John Height]

Don't.

[Kenny Olson]

No, you know, don't.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, I.

[Kenny Olson]

No, no.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah.

[Josh Arnold]

You were not.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Rook]

Like a seagoing vessel. He was.

[Tim Walz]

Africa, all right.

[Joe Soucheray]

Sailed from here, over to the core sea of Cortez and back. And I read a book called Marriage at Sea, and it's nonfiction. And it's the story of Maurice and Marilyn riley, who in 1972, set off in their homemade boat. They're both a little odd.

[Rook]

Homemade boat scares me, but go ahead.

[Joe Soucheray]

About a 30 footer. And they were going to sit. They just wanted to be alone. They just wanted to get away from life. And they. They did. And a whale punched a hole in their boat.

[Tim Walz]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

And they were adrift for 107 days, I think. 107 days in a rubber dinghy game of flaws. Oh, man. That was that. I think that's what attracted the author. I apologize. I can't remember her name.

[John Height]

Sophie Elliot Elmhurst.

[Joe Soucheray]

Sophie Elmhurst. Their marriage not only survived, but it apparently was the key to keeping both of them alive. And it's. But the book got to the point where if they didn't get rescued in the next chapter I was going to quit the book because I couldn't take what they were going through. Yeah, their bodies were deteriorating to the point of near death. They were down to eating turtle eggs and drinking turtle blood. And the rainwater they saved would go south on them because of the intense sunlight. And they were developing horrible sores from the salt water. And their skin was leaving them. And it was just how they did it is worth the read. And. And then they were passed by seven ships during that time. And finally, a South Korean. And this is a real interesting twist in the book. A South Korean fishing freighter or trawler, a big boat that had been at sea for two years, saw them. And the captain, he saw. He was told, sir, we got something off in the distance here. And he looked and he decided to investigate. And it's the only good thing that South Korean boat did in two years. Because they were all afraid when they went back, they were going to get fired because they were so lousy at what they were doing. They didn't catch anything. The boat was getting rusty. Everything was falling apart. They didn't accomplish anything. They were really bad seamen.

[Kenny Olson]

What sea was this? What ocean?

[Joe Soucheray]

Pacific. Okay. And there's one part of the book I challenge. In fact, I'm going to write a letter to the author. Don't think I will.

[Advertisement/Announcer]

Here we go.

[Rook]

To Whom it May Concern.

[Joe Soucheray]

Listen, it's not because I think she's not being factual. It's just because I want to know more. They were the. Marilyn and Maurice climbed up the ladder to get into the ship.

[Chris Reavers]

I know what you're gonna say.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't know how they could have.

[Chris Reavers]

They would have been so weak.

[Joe Soucheray]

They were an hour from death. They were. They were. They couldn't have been more than a day from death. And they climbed up the ladder and got in the. In the ship.

[Kenny Olson]

Well, you said it was nonfiction.

[Joe Soucheray]

It's nonfiction. How they climbed up that ladder is the. Was the ultimate feat of their. Of their accomplishments.

[Rook]

I climbed up the ladder. You ain't got no fish. What's wrong with you guys?

[Joe Soucheray]

The other interesting thing is that it really puts South Korea on the map. I don't remember this story. It made national headlines.

[Rook]

What a year.

[Joe Soucheray]

Roughly 73. And they were feated by. Is it fated. Feted by the South Koreans. And they became. They had their moment of fate. Then they made another trip, and that went unrecognized. And then they. After that, they went out. Wait.

[Kenny Olson]

They went out again.

[Joe Soucheray]

They built a new boat, and they sailed for this time.

[Kenny Olson]

It'll work the definition of insanity.

[Joe Soucheray]

They went from England to Patagonia and back.

[Kenny Olson]

They're lucky they weren't in the Arabian Sea. They would have been shot out of the water, suspected as pirates.

[Chris Reavers]

I have a question for you in all seriousness. Is the main reason this attracted you is because of the Lyman story and because they're part of the show.

[Joe Soucheray]

That and it was a book given to me for Christmas. I took it with me and I was on the sea last week. I read the damn book while I was at. And I saw whales. That could have said I could have been adrift in a dinghy.

[Kenny Olson]

What's wrong with Hemingway? Islands in the Stream.

[Joe Soucheray]

I know, I've read. I've read all Hemingway. I love it. But anyway, that was my author's corner for the day. It's called Marriage at Sea by Sophie Hujan.

[John Height]

Elm Hearst.

[Joe Soucheray]

Sophie Elmhurst, Non fiction. Bing bang boom. It was her first book. She did a good job. Who will it be next?

[Rook]

Saps at Sea.

[Joe Soucheray]

That was a Laurel and Hardy. Have another meatball Dizzy. Made out of a sponge that they painted orange. Why don't you eat it? Ah, you go ahead.

[Chris Reavers]

You can try it.

[Rook]

That's fine.

[John Height]

Where's the goat?

[Kenny Olson]

Hey, I have a question, much like John's question about the N word in print. How do you feel about Quentin Tarantino in Django Unchained using the N word 110 times?

[Joe Soucheray]

Was it said by.

[Kenny Olson]

Many times by white people? Don Johnson for one. And was it Leo that was in that?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, I didn't see that movie.

[Chris Reavers]

Oh, really?

[Kenny Olson]

No, it's one of those movies with a one hour ending. You know how Quentin is.

[Chris Reavers]

It won a couple of awards. It did.

[Kenny Olson]

It did very well. And I think it might have been his highest grossing.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. Did you guys feel as sad as I did that Leonardo DiCaprio couldn't get to wherever the hell he was supposed to go get an award?

[Rook]

Oh, he was in the Bahamas or something.

[Joe Soucheray]

Because his yacht was at St. Barts. Yes. And he couldn't get a flight out because of the Venezuelan deal.

[Kenny Olson]

Sure.

[Joe Soucheray]

Bummer. Yeah, I, I really, I felt bad.

[Chris Reavers]

I'm sure he was stuck there by himself too, on that yacht.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, no.

[Rook]

Oddly enough, on the USA Critic Awards last night, I think it was Chelsea Handler. Funny line about that, saying it would have been okay, but he had to spend time with Jeff Bezos down there.

[Joe Soucheray]

So it was really bad. Let me tell you something. That fool is on the list of people who can't lecture about the climate. Right. Because you know, he no Chris, he. He was accompanied.

[Chris Reavers]

He was. Okay, good, good. I don't want the guy to get lonely.

[Kenny Olson]

He's a hell of an actor.

[Chris Reavers]

That was the greatest line Ricky Gervais had. When he last time he hosted the Golden Globes, he said, I forget which film it was. Leonardo DiCaprio's movie was so long, by the end of it, his date was too old for him. That's clever.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's not bad. That's a pretty good look. That is not bad.

[Chris Reavers]

And he ripped everybody.

[Rook]

Richard Gerv Gervais was fantastic.

[Joe Soucheray]

Is that the one where he opened by saying, just get your award.

[Chris Reavers]

Don't lecture the public?

[Joe Soucheray]

That was. Boy, that was wonderful.

[Chris Reavers]

Oddly enough, he was never asked to do it again.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, but he survived it. Yeah, he was great because he didn't give a bleed.

[Chris Reavers]

No, he did not. He did that.

[Joe Soucheray]

He had a. He had a very interesting series. What, an eight part series? Six part series. This is life.

[Chris Reavers]

Yes.

[John Height]

Very good.

[Joe Soucheray]

I loved it.

[Chris Reavers]

Yeah, it was really good.

[Joe Soucheray]

You know, our traveling linemans, they've been at sea. I can identify. Well, yeah, you're a yacht veteran of being at sea. And he. They are. And they're still in Kawaka, New Zealand. He has not corrected me on the pronunciation, so I bet I'm saying it correctly. Well, you try it. K A I W A K A K. Walka Kai Walker. Yeah, Walk in New Zealand.

[Chris Reavers]

It was on this day, Joe, today is January 5th.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, on this day in 1805, Joseph R. Brown was born in Harvey Hartford County, Maryland. A drummer boy at Fort Snelling. He learned the Dakota language and later became a trader, a member of the Wisconsin territorial legislature, a participant in both the Stillwater Convention and the Minnesota Constitutional Convention, an editor of the Minnesota Pioneer and the Henderson Democrat, and an officer during the U.S. dakota War. He also was the first lumberman to float logs down the St. Croix river and staked out the first road from St. Paul to Prairie du Chien. He died on November 9, 1870.

[Rook]

Probably not the first to float logs down the river. I'm sure there was many that preceded him.

[Joe Soucheray]

Anyway, on this day. You're not supposed to look at him.

[Chris Reavers]

Looking at him, dude.

[Rook]

This is the bonus part of the show.

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day in 1892, mining classes began at the U of M as Professor William R. Appleby instructed a class of four students in mining.

[Chris Reavers]

On this day, Joe, today is January.

[Joe Soucheray]

5Th in 1928. Who was born in Ceylon, Minnesota, on this day in 1928, Walter Mondale.

[Rook]

I was going to go home Free.

[Joe Soucheray]

A lifelong public servant, he represented Minnesota in the Senate, occupied the Vice Presidency under Jimmy Carter, ran for president against Ronald Reagan, and served as U.S. ambassador to Japan. On this day in sports disappointment history.

[Chris Reavers]

Who'D we lose to on January 5th?

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, on this day at. In 1969, the Vikings lost in a playoff bowl, the third place game to Dallas, 1713.

[Chris Reavers]

We used to have a third place game.

[Joe Soucheray]

Don't do that, please.

[Tim Walz]

What?

[Joe Soucheray]

Make that noise. You're scratching your coin. On this day.

[Rook]

Is that what they call it these days?

[Joe Soucheray]

Jesus.

[Tim Walz]

You.

[Kenny Olson]

Are you off your meds or something?

[Joe Soucheray]

Welcome back. I still could be at sea.

[Chris Reavers]

His mom's been telling him that since he was little.

[Rook]

You made it back, you know, you were far out there.

[Chris Reavers]

You could still see, like the island, right?

[Rook]

The island's 10ft away.

[Kenny Olson]

He's on a boogie board.

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day. No, I was out there.

[Chris Reavers]

No, you were.

[Joe Soucheray]

You know, I was at sea. What day is this?

[Chris Reavers]

Jan. 5th.

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day in 2013, the Vikings lost the wild card game to the Packers 2410.

[Chris Reavers]

Oh, yeah, that was a bad one. Joe Webb, right? Wasn't it? The Joe Webb was weber.

[Joe Soucheray]

Your hope for local sports success currently rests with your Minnesota Wild. Don't do it. Or having a hell of a road trip.

[Kenny Olson]

One of those games.

[Joe Soucheray]

They were down.

[Kenny Olson]

At the last five minutes and they came back and won it. They didn't deserve to win, but boy, they won.

[Joe Soucheray]

They have to go now. One more road game. I think it's tomorrow night.

[Kenny Olson]

No, it's the Kings tonight. Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, no, they've played the Kings.

[Kenny Olson]

Are you sure? I thought they had two.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, wait, they have two more. They got the Kings tonight and they got the Kraken on Wednesday. I think at Seattle.

[Chris Reavers]

The old west coast trip.

[Joe Soucheray]

They lost to the Kings in a shootout Saturday night.

[Kenny Olson]

No, they lost to the Ducks.

[Joe Soucheray]

They played the King Saturday night. Then they had played the Duck on Friday night. They had back to back games. They played the Duck on Friday and won. And they played the King on Saturday and got a point, but they lost in the shootout. Okay, I'm gonna.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to go with that.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. Well, G ellers, it's good to have you back. Or be back. I was at sea.

[Rook]

Yeah, he was out there for a while.

[Kenny Olson]

I was ready 100ft out.

[Rook]

Decided not to reenlist.

[Joe Soucheray]

Does it count if you're at sea and the boat has a ship F? I think it does, yeah.

[Rook]

What do you make? What was the best meal?

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, I didn't rent the boat. Believe me, I couldn't have.

[Rook]

I don't mean. What does he make a year?

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What did he.

[Chris Reavers]

Yeah, what did you. What did you have?

[Rook]

Dish. Did you like this.

[Joe Soucheray]

How do you say it? Srivachi.

[Kenny Olson]

Were you on one of those trawlers that helicopters land on?

[Joe Soucheray]

No.

[Rook]

Yeah, I'm sure.

[Joe Soucheray]

And then tacos with beef and chicken and all this.

[Rook]

You wanted to go home with them, huh?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, yeah, we're.

[Kenny Olson]

Any Minnesota Vipers on that thing was at sea.

[Rook]

You were at sea?

[Joe Soucheray]

I was. I was at sea. And there was a. There was a very front perch where you could go. And I sat on that perch as we left the harbor. Look at him out there. And a lot of family members. Say goodbye to Joe. Yeah, right off that seat.

[Kenny Olson]

You think they would have cut the throttles and maybe swung her around to pick you up or this. Ah, he's probably at the bottom.

[Rook]

He can swim.

[Joe Soucheray]

I could have just hooked on another boat passing by. Well, G Ellers, happy 1926.

[Tim Walz]

Nope.

[John Height]

No, no.

[Kenny Olson]

Swinging abyss.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's 20, 2600 years ain't what it used to be. Pretty soon, 100 years ago it's gonna be, you know, 1950. That's not gonna sound right.

[Chris Reavers]

Can I tell you a moment? I had over the break.

[Joe Soucheray]

Why not?

[Chris Reavers]

I was getting gas. I went up to the gal that's got the cigarette thing on there. And then it also sells liquor. I don't know why I had such an issue with this. Kids that were born in 2005 can buy alcohol.

[Rook]

Yeah, that's this guy in two days.

[Joe Soucheray]

When was your birthday? I had. We've gratefully haven't heard about it today.

[Rook]

That's really a bummer.

[Joe Soucheray]

What day was it?

[Rook]

It was the 23rd of December, but it's passed. I don't talk about my birthday after it's been passed.

[Joe Soucheray]

Were we here the 23rd? Oh, yeah. No, we weren't.

[John Height]

He wore a shirt.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, we weren't.

[Chris Reavers]

He wore his shirt with the birthday boy.

[Joe Soucheray]

That was the 23rd. Oh yeah, we were here.

[Rook]

How long were you at sea?

[Joe Soucheray]

Long time.

[Rook]

Welcome back.

[Joe Soucheray]

Cotter.

[Chris Reavers]

Do us a favor and hit smash that subscribe button man. And we have a lot of people viewing The Garage Logic YouTube channel today where, yes, 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 garage logic on YouTube along with along with all of our social media channels. That includes Facebook, Instagram and X. And you can also 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] Time once again to check in with our guy, Mr. Money Talk. Josh Arnold is with us once again right here in garagelogic. 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 use the word free 48 minute financial consultation with absolutely zero obligation and 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 in garagelogic. And Josh boy, today, oil, oil, toil and trouble.

[Josh Arnold]

Well, that's what an awful lot of people would think today, Chris, given some of the, I'll say the activities over over the weekend. Dictator of Venezuela Maduro was brought back to the United States to face all kinds of charges and markets were initially worried that, oh my goodness, what is this going to do to the oil market and what is going to happen to stock markets around the world? What is the fallout of this going to be? And Trump again is exceeding his authority. Holy bucket. There's an awful lot going on there and that doesn't even count. You know, the Vikings having quarterback issues, Kevin Stepanski out as the coach or head coach of the Browns, more coaching changes going on which could affect the predictions, markets and the governor of Minnesota deciding not going to run for a third term, even though I probably would have won a lot going on. First off, the price of oil with what has been going on in Venezuela and the overall impact. And there's a lot of conversation around the impact, the potential impact of the, of the political fallout. Not to mention is this only about oil. Venezuela has gone, I'll say since the ascension of Hugo Chavez from an oil rich, capitalist oriented country to an inflation ridden, depressed economy. I guess that's the, to use the term of the new mayor of New York. Venezuela embrace the warmth of collectivism as opposed to the coldness of rugged individualism. You've seen how that has turned out in Venezuela, going from rich to poor and inflation ridden as the rich people decamp to places outside of Venezuela, including the United States. Price of oil. Well Some would have thought that the price of oil would have spiked on disruptions in the oil market. And maybe that would have happened 30 or 35 years ago when Venezuela was pumping a lot more, I'll say was pumping four times the amount of oil that they're currently pumping out right now. A lot of the oil that they're pumping out, some goes to the United States. A large majority does go to China. So China is going to see some fallout, I'll say, at least in their energy, energy cost with energy coming from Venezuela. The president of the United States, President Trump, said it's going to take a while for redevelopment of the oil infrastructure or energy infrastructure in Venezuela. And that cost is going to be borne by many U.S. oil companies. The leading U.S. oil company in Venezuela is still Chevron, and again, Chevron could be a nice beneficiary. And Chevron, which is a member of the Dow Jones, saw their stock up significantly. Some of the other larger international oil companies, whether it's BP or Exxon, also saw their shares rise. Additionally on this news, we also saw oil service companies like Halliburton and Schlumberger Baker Hughes rise because their products would be needed, needed for infrastructure development. And if you're doing any type of infrastructure development, I that leads back to the company that makes the big yellow machines out of Peoria, Illinois. Caterpillar. Caterpillar saw a or seen a big, big move in their stock. Companies in the energy field that have been hurt by this. Several of the local oil companies have been hurt by this company drilling in the Permian basins, seeing their stocks go down. Northern Oil and Gas saw its stock go down. Kinder Morgan, now that's a pipeline company, saw their stock go down. The Canadian oil companies Imperial and Suncor have seen their stocks go down. Devon Energy also saw their stocks drop. Several oil analysts have been out saying this move is not going to affect the oil market that much as there's plenty of oil around. But to me, there's plenty of oil around. The price of oil is still down and for inflation, price of oil coming down and staying down I think is a very, very positive sign. The overall fallout for what happens over the weekend in Venezuela is still going to take a while to fall out. But I'll say on a political spectrum, I think this move could hurt China politically, Iran, Russia and definitely Cuba, which has been especially a big recipient of Venezuelan dollars moving away from oil. Well, now we move into some things that you and I might be a little bit more interested in as a big consumer electronics show opens up tonight in Las Vegas. Last year an awful lot going on on electric vehicles and autonomous driving. Probably still be some of some of that and probably a little bit more related to artificial intelligence. And we'll say chatbots with and as well as computer chips. The lead in the the leading speaker to open up the CES conference in Las Vegas is Jensen Wong of Nvidia. And Nvidia is now and has been seen and might still be in the future seen as a leader in we'll say the plumbing for artificial intelligence. And those chips designed here in the United States, manufactured through Taiwan Semiconductor is probably which continues to get upgrades. Could be a good bet. One of my favorite companies, the second largest position for myself and my clients, Amazon. Amazon has gotten a big boost on some of the products that they could be showing at CES, including their extension of their Alexa line with Alexa plus and then Alexa.com which aims to compete with Chat GPT and that could be could be very, very interesting. So this week pay attention to what's going on related to the energy markets and. The consumer. Consumer electronic show more on that as the week progresses.

[Chris Reavers]

Once again, thank you so much, Josh Arnold for the great talk and also the never ever sugar coated advice. You heard him G elers. Now is the time for you to pick up the phone and to make the call for that free, free, free 48 minute financial consultation again with zero obligation. And you do that just like I did by dialing 952-925-5608. Josh, once again, thank you so much for the time and the chat. Enjoy the rest of your day and we'll talk to you again tomorrow.

[Josh Arnold]

Look forward to it. Thanks, Chris.

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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 Reivers is a paid endorser.