3/31 Misuse of Money, Political Mayhem, and Cocaine Sharks.

Summary

Podcast Summary — Garage Logic (Gamut Podcast Network)

Episode Title: 3/31 Misuse of Money, Political Mayhem, and Cocaine Sharks
Air Date: March 31, 2026
Host: Joe Soucheray (The Mayor), with Chris Reivers, Kenny Olson, Matt Birk, and Josh Arnold

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Overview

This Garage Logic episode is a whirlwind of sharp-tongued commentary on recent political and social absurdities, centering on three main themes: the dysfunction of identity-based political organizing (highlighted via a chaotic Canadian party convention), local and national political developments (incl. misuse of public funds by outgoing St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter), and quirky news bites such as sharks on cocaine. Woven throughout is the classic Garage Logic mix of cynicism, common sense, and banter, with the usual dose of Midwestern sensibility and skepticism toward progressive politics.

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Key Discussion Points & Notable Segments

Political Mayhem: The Canadian NDP Meltdown

(02:01—13:05, 16:00—29:04)

• Topic: The hosts dissect a spectacularly dysfunctional leadership conference for Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP), centering on “equity cards” and identity politics.

  • Equity Cards: Color-coded cards for marginalized groups that supposedly grant special privileges in party proceedings.
  • Result: Chaos, with delegates arguing over who was more marginalized and thus more entitled to speak, leading to infighting and constant "points of personal privilege".
  • Joe’s Take: “Their whole value system is based on your marginalization. So everyone’s gonna say, ‘Wait a minute, I’m more marginalized than that person.’” (05:52)
  • Kenny’s Orwell Quote: “All animals are created equal. Some animals are more equal than others.” (04:05)
  • Matt Birk’s Sarcasm: “Is this a Monty Python skit? Is this real?” (08:41)

• Memorable Audio Clip: The GL team plays actual audio from the NDP meeting, highlighting delegates fighting over who gets to speak first, reinforcing their satirical tone.

  • Key Moment: “I was standing here with my gender equity card before you called on the previous speaker. Wow.” (08:01)

• Social Commentary:

  • "These are all books about marginalization. They're all about victims. They're all about oppression. There is nothing uplifting here. There is nothing to suggest higher, higher reaching. This is all about somebody who's been screwed by this system..." (66:50)

Political Trends: From Minneapolis to LA

(17:32—23:13)

• Topic: The leftward drift of big city politics in the US, especially LA and Minneapolis—making the argument that each new officeholder is likely to be even more “progressive” (or "woke") than the one before.
  • Karen Bass (LA Mayor) and Nithya Raman: The GL team criticizes how LA mayoral politics have gone from progressive to ultra-progressive, with candidates proposing that carmakers are at fault for catalytic converter thefts. (19:12—21:59)
  • Satirical Recap: “So here’s one of the great cities of the world. Well, it used to be Los Angeles…” (20:02)
  • Minneapolis Reference: Discussion on how local voting blocs skew farther left each election, giving rise to candidates like Aisha Chugtai and Robin Wansley.

Local Outrage: St. Paul "Larceny" and Bonuses

(32:03—44:15, 45:38—46:33)

• Topic: Outgoing St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s decision to dole out nearly $775,000 in bonuses to departing staff.
  • Breakdown: Payments made to officials for "extraordinary achievement" and "substantial accomplishments", often with little public evidence as to what they actually did.
  • Joe’s Rant: “These people are thieves. There is no other way I can possibly look at it. These people have stolen the taxpayer's money. Melvin enabled it.” (39:12)
  • Kenny Olson: “How can you possibly live with yourself?” (40:27)
  • Perspective Check: The hosts challenge GL listeners—blue-collar workers, snowplow drivers, city employees—to compare their own workplace benefits to City Hall's golden parachutes. (41:56)
  • Joe’s Challenge: Offers $5,000 to charity if anyone can prove Carter’s staff worked in-person during the pandemic. (41:07—41:45)

Broken Education? Book Curriculum Debate

(58:01—67:48)

• Topic: The crew reviews controversial reading lists in local Minnesota high schools, lamenting the prevalence of books focused on marginalization, victimhood, and oppression at the expense of “classic” uplifting literature.
  • Joe’s Nuanced View: Not personally for banning books but sees curriculum choices as intentional social engineering. (59:45—60:35)
  • Matt Birk’s Satire: Reads summaries, finds a unifying trend: “All about victims. There is nothing uplifting here.” (66:50)
  • Contrast with Classics: None of the top 10 classics (e.g., Gatsby, Animal Farm, Mockingbird, Romeo & Juliet) made the new list.
  • Kenny Olson: “English class...traditionally was to make you fall in love with reading.” (63:11)

Sharks on Cocaine and the Rise of the Absurd

(81:15—87:04)

• Topic: Quirky headline—sharks in the Bahamas are found with cocaine, caffeine, and painkillers in their systems.
  • Joe’s Deadpan: “Sharks are high on cocaine. Wow.” (83:06)
  • Banter: Comparison to “Cocaine Bear” (the movie) and riffing on drugged-out sharks. (85:28—86:53)

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Notable Quotes & Classic Moments

• Kenny Olson on identity chaos:
  “We knew this was coming when they started giving out participation trophies 20 years ago.” (09:58)

• Joe Soucheray on progressive squabbles:
  “You’re going to spend your whole life husbanding your identity.” (12:04)

• Matt Birk, in faux outrage:
  “They got to speak before me. I’m more equal than they are.” (09:31)

• Kenny Olson (Animal Farm again):
  “What has happened that they're using Animal Farm as a playbook or as a manual?” (13:47)

• On city government perks:
  “Do you have a bonus situation for leaving? Do you have a personal leave arrangement where apparently if you don't take personal leave, you have a big pile of money? Do you?” (46:46)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Canadian NDP chaos and audio: 02:01–13:05
• Identity politics and social commentary: 13:05–29:04
• LA political extremes: 17:32–23:13
• St. Paul mayoral largesse: 32:03–44:15
• City worker vs. bureaucrat comparison: 46:33–48:01
• Book list/education segment: 58:01–67:48
• Shark news and banter: 81:13–87:04

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Tone, Flow & Overall Takeaway

The Garage Logic team is in peak form—sardonic, skeptical, and irreverent. Their critique of "woke" politics and government bureaucracy is biting but always layered with humor, as they leap from the travails of identity politics to local city hall shenanigans to news-of-the-weird shark science. If you want a blend of curmudgeonly wisdom, culture war snark, and community-centric values, this episode is a quintessential example.

Classic Garage Logic: Where cynicism meets common sense, and everything is up for debate (and ridicule).

Transcript

[Joe Soucheray]

10 rounds of golf for $99. Yep, the Minnesota Golf Passport is back and available now. Play at each of these great area courses. Elk River Golf Club, Bullrush, Chamonix, Purple Hawk, Golden Eagle, Legacy Golf, Birchwood Golf Course, Gopher Hills, Lake Pepin golf course and Mount Frontenac. Go to garagelogic.com keyword passport for your 2026 Minnesota Golf Passport. Josh Arnold, investment consultant, brings you Garagelogic podcast number 1,747. March 31, 2026, the last day of March, it was 82 degrees for a record high on this day in 1986, it was 1 below on this day in 1969. There were no ice outs today for Lake MinnetOnka.

[Matt Birk]

Really?

[Joe Soucheray]

But two ice outs throughout history for White Bear. Lake White Bear went out on this day in 1938 and again in 1968. Call Josh Arnold at 952-925-5608 for a free 48 minute consultation.

[Chris Reivers]

Hail the Flashlight King.

[Joe Soucheray]

Hail you. And now from the mayor's office above the boathouse on the east shore of Spoon Lake, it's Garage Logic with Chris Reivers manning technology corner, Kenny Olson from the Krabby Co shop, John Height in the newsroom, and of course the rookie always. Here is your Flashlight King fireworks commissioner and the keeper of common sense, your mayor, Joe Susherer. I wish to alert you, my fellow GL ers.

[Matt Birk]

Sorry.

[Joe Soucheray]

On the future of politics. Wow.

[Matt Birk]

The future of politics as seen by the mayor of Garage Logic, Joe Sucre.

[Joe Soucheray]

Thank you.

[Matt Birk]

That was unprompted by the way.

[Joe Soucheray]

A political conference for Canada's New Democratic Party descended into chaos after progressive activists got into a heated argument over equity cards. The members from across the.

[Josh Arnold]

Huh?

[Kenny Olson]

I'm already happy.

[Joe Soucheray]

The the members of this new party from across the nation gathered in Winnipeg, the capital of the Manitoba province. Our friends right up north to the Winnipeg over the weekend to elect the party's new leader. The event was billed as an opportunity for progressive Read Mysterion Canadians to come together to debate ideas, celebrate our shared values and help shape the future of our movement. Okay, but footage from the event revealed frustration among delegates over the alleged misuse of equity cards. Those were color coded cards that identified a party member as being part of a marginalized group that granted them special privileges. Equity.

[Matt Birk]

Equity is a woke buzzword that means equality of outcomes. Progressives say that equality, generally taken to mean equal opportunities, can be discriminatory because of some of the minority groups must first overcome disadvantages that others do not have. One delegate was outraged that she was allegedly skipped in the speaker queue despite having. Standing at the podium with her gender equity card, a transgender woman who argued her rights are under attack claimed it was frustrating that a cisgender woman had spoken over me.

[Joe Soucheray]

Similarly.

[Matt Birk]

Similarly, a black woman argued that equity cards for women like her have no value outside of this space.

[Joe Soucheray]

Thank you.

[Kenny Olson]

Can I read you something? All animals are created equal. Some animals are more equal than others.

[Joe Soucheray]

Thank you, Mr. Orwell. Yes, sir. Conference Chair Adrian Smith, who identifies as non binary, also seemed a bit testy and snapped at a delegate in Ikefia after being addressed as Madam Chair.

[Kenny Olson]

Hold on, I'm gonna have a coughing jag.

[Joe Soucheray]

I will say a party that will never get anything done.

[Matt Birk]

I've seen some of the pictures that accompany the Daily Mail piece, and it's again, Ricey calls it a failed S. Imperfect science.

[Joe Soucheray]

Imperfect science. After a vote had passed on rescinding the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which allows legislatures to temporarily override specific rights, a furious Asian trans delegate took the stand, highlighting first how it is hard as a radicalized and transgender delegate to even use her equity card. The delegate complained that a cisgender woman had been permitted to speak before her when she was holding a gender equity card. Okay, Gabe, we have a double secret emergency.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, good luck finding it. I know what you're gonna ask.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm looking for the audio. Do you think it exists?

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, the audio of this?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, it's the.

[Matt Birk]

I can look while Gabe's doing that.

[Joe Soucheray]

It's the NDP meeting in Winnipeg. New Democratic Party ndp. It might be really wonderful to hear the audience.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, it would be the best.

[Joe Soucheray]

And then rock another block out on the printer. But that's okay. I don't have to read it any further. My point being that this is. This is us. This is. This isn't that far fetched from us. Us being America, us being the closer you get to the country's tallest buildings. Us being people that have been completely surrendered to an ineffective, incompetent and useless political class. These poor saps in Winnipeg, they can't even figure out. They can't even figure out who should sit where or who should speak because they want to. Their whole value system is based on your marginalization. So everyone's gonna say, wait a minute, I'm more marginalized than that person. So what possibly can be accomplished by the creation of something called a new Democratic Party? And if I was a traditional Democrat, I'd be angry that they're stealing my name.

[Matt Birk]

Gabe, see if that works, in your opinion.

[Joe Soucheray]

So everyone's gonna say, wait a minute. I'm more marginalized than that. That's me. So what possibly can be a. Why am I hearing me?

[Matt Birk]

Yeah, why are you?

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't know. Was I in Winnipeg?

[Matt Birk]

Yeah, I think so.

[Joe Soucheray]

I have the audio that accompanied that meeting. All right, let's see what that sounds like. Now, balloting co chairs. There is a point.

[Kenny Olson]

Let's hear the point on microphone one.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm sorry, just real quick. Point of personal privilege. I understand there's very little time and for. For delegates to speak, but early on the mic, I. It's hard as a racialized and transgender

[Chris Reivers]

delegate to sometimes use this card and

[Joe Soucheray]

speak up, speak to somebody in front of me in line and ask, hey, this pertains to multiple intersecting parts of my lived experience.

[Chris Reivers]

I'd like to speak.

[Joe Soucheray]

I was rejected when I talked, and it's frustrating when these are my rights being directly under attack right now in Alberta and that a cisgender woman had spoken over me. There's a point of privilege on microphone one.

[Kenny Olson]

Then we'll go to microphone three.

[Joe Soucheray]

Go ahead, delegate. Yes, hello. I. I was standing here with my gender equity card before you called on the previous speaker. Wow. It's my point of privilege that I would like to.

[Kenny Olson]

I will explain the speaking order, which is fixed. That I cannot amend, which is the pro con rotation. You can move yourself up a line that you're standing.

[Joe Soucheray]

I am pro. And I. I was. We went pro. We went pro con pro. And my plan was to go con.

[Kenny Olson]

The speaker at con mic 3 also has a speaking card.

[Matt Birk]

Yesterday, this card was used in an inappropriate matter.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, my God.

[Matt Birk]

That these cards for individuals like myself

[Joe Soucheray]

who identify as a black woman, have no value outside of this space. Well, mother of God, she's right. Is that a Monty Python skit? Is this real?

[Kenny Olson]

It's got to be.

[Joe Soucheray]

Is this real? It is, folks. This was real.

[Matt Birk]

I don't know.

[Joe Soucheray]

This happened in Winnipeg.

[Matt Birk]

That.

[Kenny Olson]

That could easily happen here if it hasn't already.

[Joe Soucheray]

I said this is our future. It's. It does happen here. We just. It. It. I, I.

[Kenny Olson]

That is a treasured piece of audio.

[Joe Soucheray]

Gabe.

[Kenny Olson]

Hold on.

[Joe Soucheray]

Never lose that, Gabe. That's.

[Kenny Olson]

All. All people created equal wasn't working out for them. So look what they have now.

[Matt Birk]

They got to speak before me. I'm more equal than they are.

[Kenny Olson]

What went wrong, Joe? What went wrong in their upbringing? I mean, everything went wrong in their upbringing. Everybody.

[Matt Birk]

Right.

[Joe Soucheray]

What happened? How could this be?

[Kenny Olson]

When did it all start going so wrong for you?

[Joe Soucheray]

The failed academy has to play into this. Oh, without a doubt.

[Kenny Olson]

In the failed parenting.

[Joe Soucheray]

I. I'm speechless.

[Kenny Olson]

We knew this was coming when they started giving out participation trophies 20 years ago.

[Joe Soucheray]

What's.

[Kenny Olson]

We knew this was coming.

[Joe Soucheray]

What's non binary mean again?

[Kenny Olson]

Just normal.

[Joe Soucheray]

So you're a normal person.

[Kenny Olson]

Right.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, I'm looking at a picture of a non binary and she looks like a third adjutant general to Hitler.

[Matt Birk]

Not relating to, composed of, or involving just two things. That's the first one. Number two, denoting, having or relating to a gender identity that does not conform to traditional binary beliefs about gender.

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay, so this, it just means whatever you want it to mean?

[Matt Birk]

Yeah, I mean, take your pick.

[Joe Soucheray]

We won't dwell on it. I just wanted to give you all a picture of our future.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, binary is just normal. Male, female.

[Joe Soucheray]

Holy mackerel.

[Kenny Olson]

Non is everything else.

[Joe Soucheray]

That is just amazing.

[Kenny Olson]

Well, I mean, to be perfectly clear, non binary is not a thing. But they say it is.

[Joe Soucheray]

How. How do you. How do you function on a daily basis? Serious question.

[Matt Birk]

How you're put upon.

[Joe Soucheray]

How do you feed yourself? How do you get. Do you work well?

[Matt Birk]

You're mad and crabby all the time because you're not getting yours. You feel like you're not getting yours. You're oppressed.

[Joe Soucheray]

But when you're so consumed with your. If you're so seeking of and grateful for a marginalized identity, that's the only thing you have going for you, that's what you're focusing on, is your identity. You have nothing going for you that would translate to, where am I going? You're going to spend your whole life husbanding your identity, explaining.

[Matt Birk]

And when I meet you, you're gonna spend 10 minutes explaining why you.

[Joe Soucheray]

I have an orange card. I'm speaking before I'm a trans. I have the orange card.

[Matt Birk]

You're gonna spend half your life doing that.

[Joe Soucheray]

And so what happens is on the one hand, they wanna say they're all the same, we're all the same. On the other hand, they break down into a cat fight because they hold different colored cards that reward their different

[Matt Birk]

identities, trying to push themselves to the front.

[Joe Soucheray]

So they're treading water. Yeah, you're not getting nothing. They will never accomplish anything because they can't, because they're stuck in neutral. I'm a cisgender. I identify as a black, transgender, non, something. But you have the red card, so you get to speak before me. I think that's unfair. It's unfair. My card is blue.

[Matt Birk]

Well, let's take it out of the auditorium now. And let's fast forward to Sunday about 2, and we're gonna come on over to grandma's house, your Uncle Albert's house, for ham and some.

[Joe Soucheray]

Why do you turn this into food?

[Matt Birk]

I'm saying, how do they around their family? Well, they gotta tell Uncle Albert, who's got the farmall hat on and the overalls, and they got. And he doesn't give a rats behind number one. But here comes Ann, who's now, Andy, saying.

[Joe Soucheray]

And she still has her car.

[Matt Birk]

Yes. You know, Uncle Albert, I was at the podium, and this gu. Yes, this came up.

[Kenny Olson]

Is this a Beatles song?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yes. Honest to God.

[Kenny Olson]

What came in through the bathroom window? Right.

[Joe Soucheray]

What has happened?

[Kenny Olson]

What has happened that they're using Animal Farm as a playbook or as a manual. They read Animal Farm and they thought, my God, this is the greatest idea ever.

[Joe Soucheray]

Because some marginalizations are better than other marginalizations. Yeah, but they're not supposed to be, because you're all supposed to be sharing the burden of being marginalized equally.

[Kenny Olson]

We are not in this. We're not in this together.

[Matt Birk]

So are they saying that a black transgender person probably is more card than a white transgender. Okay. Because they're more put upon than the white transgender.

[Chris Reivers]

Absolutely.

[Kenny Olson]

Yes.

[Matt Birk]

Even though they're all supposed to be transgender.

[Joe Soucheray]

And that's the white transgender cardholder. To leap ahead of the black transgender card holder would need another. Would need another identity, an additional identity to push her ahead of the black

[Matt Birk]

leg braces or something like that.

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay. You know, a disease or.

[Kenny Olson]

I don't know which one is higher up. A male that has transgendered to female or female to male. Which one is higher up on?

[Joe Soucheray]

Wow, good question. There again, they would both need one more identity.

[Kenny Olson]

Right.

[Joe Soucheray]

To trump the other person. Oh, well, you went from male to female. I went from female to male. But I. I am also. I'm also part Indian.

[Matt Birk]

Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm part first nation. Right?

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, sure. Mixed race.

[Joe Soucheray]

So. So there I. I get ahead of you.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, there's no end to the game. You're gonna play to see who's ahead of who.

[Matt Birk]

Is there like a food pyramid.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yes.

[Matt Birk]

What you need to have this trumps

[Kenny Olson]

everything with no actual top or peak or acme.

[Joe Soucheray]

With the ongoing presumption that the reason they all believe this anyway is that they've all bought into the idea that in one way or the other, life has been unfair to them because they're

[Matt Birk]

oppressed, but they're getting what they want. They're going from.

[Joe Soucheray]

They have their own change, their own political.

[Matt Birk]

What's the. I forget what the operation is called.

[Joe Soucheray]

Np New Democratic Party.

[Kenny Olson]

Yep.

[Joe Soucheray]

Which will not be useful to anyone except them.

[Kenny Olson]

Have they even got out of the starting gates with that party? I'm not sure they have candidates.

[Matt Birk]

So they're trying to be a legitimate political party. Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

I'm wondering, do they have anybody in office yet? Are they still bickering?

[Joe Soucheray]

That's a good question.

[Matt Birk]

Canada has bought into this too. Or do you think Canadian?

[Chris Reivers]

Oh, my God.

[Kenny Olson]

I think leading the way, really, Canada is. I think they're friends.

[Joe Soucheray]

They're our friends. If they'll still have us, they're our friends. But I, I, I'm looking at the pictures of some of them and I just think, holy man.

[Matt Birk]

Yeah. In fact, here's the deal. When you look at the pictures, you're not sure which side they went to.

[Joe Soucheray]

You're not sure which card they're holding.

[Matt Birk]

Right. I'm not sure if they're going which way.

[Kenny Olson]

As soon as, as soon as I hear somebody say point of privilege, I start laughing.

[Joe Soucheray]

Remember the one, Remember the audio clip we had of that?

[Kenny Olson]

That's what I thought you were going to have look for.

[Joe Soucheray]

That was also in Canada.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, was it?

[Joe Soucheray]

I believe that was also in Canada.

[Matt Birk]

But why do they. What's point of privilege?

[Joe Soucheray]

Where the guy, that Mushmuth turn.

[Matt Birk]

My turn. Let me tell you, instead of saying it's my turn, they've even softened it up. Point of privilege.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, it was that Marsh mouth guy. You couldn't hear.

[Matt Birk]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Matt Birk]

Stop referring to people as gender. Gender wise. Because we're all.

[Kenny Olson]

And plus one of them was complaining about the noise.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'd ask Gabe to find that, but I don't know what to tell you to look for.

[Matt Birk]

I don't know what he would label did we say, I'll find it? We got. No, we got it here.

[Joe Soucheray]

In the meantime, you want to run out to LA for a minute, please? Because it's happening everywhere.

[Kenny Olson]

What do you got?

[Joe Soucheray]

Karen Bass is the current mayor of la and she's not woke enough. I told you, you'll always regret the. I don't think that's going to be true in the Melvin Carter Kali her case. And we'll get to that in a moment. But it's generally been true that no matter how far gone the current office holder is, you'll regret that office holder when they're replaced by the next one.

[Matt Birk]

I repeated that to RT Ryback two weeks ago at the airport.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, Karen Bass, we learned. You know, didn't she go to Cuba or something while the city burned. She's about as woke as you can find. Well, now you got a far left democratic socialist who's now taken the lead over Bass in the mare's race. And her name is Nithya Raman. She was born in India. She has a 33% support in the latest poll, leaving Bass trailing at 17%. And this woman has fulfilled all the crackpot checkpoints she got to have. She thinks car manufacturers are to be sued because they've made catalytic converters too easy to steal. That's not far off from here, right?

[Kenny Olson]

No, that's us.

[Joe Soucheray]

She shrugs her. Well, just a minute. I gotta turn this page here. She shrugs her shoulders and rolls her eyes when asked if it was safe for homeless encampments to be erected near the city schools. So she's okay with putting homeless encampments near the city schools. The poll was conducted by Loyola Marymount for the study of Los Angeles and found Bass has just a 5% lead ahead of reality TV star Spencer Pratt.

[Matt Birk]

I don't know.

[Joe Soucheray]

So here's one of the great cities of the world. Well, it used to be Los Angeles, California. Beautiful, big city. One of the. One of the icons.

[Matt Birk]

Everybody went there with their dreams. They wanted to become a strong icon here.

[Joe Soucheray]

Let me have to foghorn myself for that. I don't know where the horn went. To hell with it.

[Matt Birk]

We got her.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, whatever. So you got Pratt, who we already know is a failure, and then you got this Rahman, who's worse than Bass. And I don't know anything about Spencer Pratt, the reality TV guy. So Los Angeles, you also have surrendered, much as we have here in the Twin Cities or the closer you get to the country's tallest buildings. Rahman's lead comes after the city council. She's a city councilwoman. Comes as the city councilwoman has launched a far left platform and built a reputation for her takes on Los Angeles issues. She. In 2023, during a surge in automobile thefts, she sparked backlash by voting against banning the unlawful possession of catalytic converters. She was okay, if you had yours. You finally got to that, huh? Raman said she voted against the ban because she believed carmakers were simply making the part too easy to steal. In this case, I think one of the things that infuriates me is that we have a company, whatever, Toyota, who makes the Prius, that essentially has a device on their cards which is super easy to remove. It's basically the value of a MacBook. Right? She said despite almost 8,000 catalytic converters being stolen in LA in 2022. Raman said her solution was to manufacture a car that is not easy to be stolen. Well, I can't really say much. Keith Ellison has already done that.

[Matt Birk]

Yeah, jumped right on it.

[Joe Soucheray]

He sued Hyundai and Kia because it's their fault the cars are being stolen,

[Matt Birk]

making them too easy.

[Joe Soucheray]

What else can we learn here? Under. Homelessness in LA stood a staggering 67,000 people. And Raman was grilled about how she would solve the crisis, and she drew booze from the crowd. She told an audience in 2024 that she did not believe it would make any difference in enforcing laws banning homeless encampments from coming within 500ft of schools, drawing the ire of the crowd. I don't think a kid's gonna be safer if they are 10ft or 500ft away from a school, Raman said as she shrugged her soldiers shoulders on stage. She clarified in a statement after her remarks drew backlash. Keeping children safe is important. So she had to admit that. All right, that's all. I. I don't want. I didn't pursue it any further than that.

[Kenny Olson]

By the way, that motion, Joe, about catalytic. Catalytic converters passed. So she failed.

[Joe Soucheray]

Good. So. So there. There is a ban on the possession of them.

[Kenny Olson]

Correct.

[Joe Soucheray]

And she voted to all we should be able to.

[Matt Birk]

Did you find torn of privilege?

[Joe Soucheray]

I believe I do. All right.

[Matt Birk]

If we want to defeat capitalism, we are going to need a party that will organize working people to fight for the demands that we want and to win socialism. Thank you so much.

[Joe Soucheray]

Quick point of privilege.

[Matt Birk]

Quick point of personal privilege, guys. First of all, James Jackson, Sacramento. He him. I just want to say, can we please keep the chatter to a minimum? I'm one of the people who's very, very prone to sensory overload. There's a lot of whispering and chatter going on. It's making it very difficult for me to focus. Please, can we just. I know it's.

[Joe Soucheray]

We're all fresh and ready to go,

[Matt Birk]

but can we please just keep the chatter to a minimum? It's affecting my ability to focus. Thank you.

[Joe Soucheray]

Thank you, comrade. Okay, is there a speaker against name chapter pronoun. Here comes marshmallow. Yes. Please do not use gendered language to. To address everyone. That's it for that one. Oh, my God.

[Matt Birk]

Doesn't somebody have to be doing a bit? There wasn't that guy doing a bit. Whispering bothers him.

[Joe Soucheray]

I was gonna say, how does he ever eat in a restaurant, right? Yeah, there's usually a din.

[Matt Birk]

Could you people all be quiet? I'm trying to have my fried rice here.

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay, wait. Now, let's. Let's take some learning from this. These events are not uncommon. The progressives keep inventing new ways to manifest themselves. And we're getting closer and closer to understanding why Asia Chugtie gets elected. Or Chowdhury. What's Chug Tai's first name? Igor or Ashanti Oleg or something. And so Chugtie and Chowdhury and Robin Wansley, they are elected. I think it's a reasonable suspicion. They are elected by the kinds of people. Aisha Ayesha Chugtai, they're elected by constituents who would be perfectly at home identifying with these audio clips we've played you. So, you know, I think I've been a little naive thinking, why in God's name are these wrong people getting elected? Well, to the people electing them, they're not the wrong people.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah. They're playing to their own Democrats.

[Joe Soucheray]

They're not the wrong people. Yeah. Yeah. So Minneapolis problem. St. Paul's to a lesser degree, is the. Is the voting bloc has devolved into a very progressive mindset and ideology. They don't care that it doesn't result in anything. It can't. If you're going to spend your weekend arguing about who gets to speak first based on the color card they're holding, what can you can't accomplish anything for citizenry.

[Matt Birk]

Okay, but what did we cover yesterday? Where it's the goal of a conservative versus Liberal. Does this play into what you.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yes. Yes. The. The Republican goal at that meeting in Winnipeg, the end would justify the means. They will determine the outcome for you. For you. Whereas in gl, you are going to determine your own outcome.

[Matt Birk]

Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right.

[Matt Birk]

Okay. So that fits the profile.

[Joe Soucheray]

I think it does, certainly. Although that forces the question of what outcome did the people in Winnipeg, what can they possibly identify as an outcome of their inability to even proceed through a meeting without first stopping to see who should be in line ahead of who? What is their outcome? What is their end goal?

[Kenny Olson]

The Minneapolis City Council. That's what's gonna happen.

[Joe Soucheray]

I guess it just.

[Kenny Olson]

Nothing but infighting and getting no business done.

[Matt Birk]

Okay, but sounds like the end goal of everybody that chimed in at this NDP was here's more about me. I. I'm need the gray card, the orange card, or. Yeah, I. Listen to me.

[Kenny Olson]

I'm more equal than you.

[Matt Birk]

Right?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, it just.

[Kenny Olson]

Equal does not mean equal in their word world.

[Matt Birk]

Unless you're fighting Trump or whoever.

[Joe Soucheray]

Look, look, version is, we do have to quit being naive or I do. New York just elected this Guy, the. The one of the most fantastic cities in the country.

[Kenny Olson]

Well, we have Ilhan.

[Joe Soucheray]

I know, but they elected an unprepared, ill equipped Marxist socialist who would be perfectly at home at that meeting in Winnipeg. He would be accommodating to them. He wouldn't stand up and say, what is this bs Right? He'd go with it.

[Matt Birk]

He wouldn't be like George Bush when Wellstone came in all stormy. Who's this chicken shit over here?

[Kenny Olson]

Oh God, that was great.

[Matt Birk]

That was the first introduction of Senator Wellstone. Yeah, who is this chicken?

[Chris Reivers]

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[Joe Soucheray]

Investment services offered by Josh Arnold Investment Consultant LLC. A security investment advisor. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

[Chris Reivers]

All investments involve risk. All comments and opinions are Josh Arn

[Joe Soucheray]

and do not constitute investment advice. Chris Reivers is a paid endorser. I'm going to tell you about. I read something today about electric bikes are. Especially with rising gas prices, electric bikes could be a great part of the future of urban commuting. Now you got to be able to, you know, you don't want to.

[Matt Birk]

I'm not anti electric bike.

[Joe Soucheray]

You're not going to do it when you're 90, right? But right now, electric bikes are making a great deal of sense. And there's a great preseason sale happening at Ecofund Motorsports in Forest Lake, Columbus. Electric bikes are on sale at 899. That's cheap. That's cheap for a season of riding. And it won't just be this season. The bike's going to last you forever. And it makes a lot of sense. Just like I'M afraid to admit that an electric car makes a lot of sense for me because of my driving needs. So would an electric bike, right? But they got everything at EcoFun. 400 electric bikes in stock, 130 motorcycles on display. Great seasonal pricing. If you want water equipment, they've got Jet Skis and Waverunners and they're throwing in the fifteen hundred dollar trailer as part of the value. It's amazing. It's going to be the most fun store you've ever gone to. It's Ecofun Motorsports, Forest Lake Columbus. It's on Highway 97, immediately west of Interstate 35 and down in Burnsville on the service road of life. And a great, great [e-mail] might we turn now?

[Matt Birk]

Where are you going in the world now? Where in the world are you going?

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm leaving L. A.

[Matt Birk]

Okay, we'll hop on the. What was it? The common sense.

[Joe Soucheray]

And I'm the GL Jet.

[Matt Birk]

GL Jet.

[Joe Soucheray]

And I'm flying back to the Twin Cities where we discovered today, as far as I'm concerned, Melvin Carter displayed larcenous behavior. He took money that ostensibly was to be part of incoming mayor Collie Her's budget and he distributed handsome bonuses to his staff for the job well done.

[Matt Birk]

Huh?

[Joe Soucheray]

Melvin never accomplished anything as mayor. The city is in dire condition. Has he got his next free gig yet where he doesn't do anything and gets paid by the public?

[Matt Birk]

I have not seen that. Is it tradition to give bonuses to staff when you're outgoing? I've never heard of this before from any mayor.

[Joe Soucheray]

Kenny and Jay Coles were gonna break this story on Crabby Coffee Shop, but the Star Tribune got wind of it. And doing what news gatherers do, they printed it, which they should have. It's in their online edition today. And we learned that these bonuses were meant to reward extraordinary achievement, exceptional performance, significant contributions and substantial accomplishments well beyond normal or regular working responsibilities.

[Matt Birk]

Well, wait, this is a ray of hope. They're going to actually list the accomplishments or the positive job well done. Or is it just in general?

[Joe Soucheray]

No, I'm sorry, Matt. They. We don't really get a list of

[Matt Birk]

what I thought that'd be okay if

[Kenny Olson]

they list too positive. Matthew, this is up and up theft.

[Joe Soucheray]

The deputy mayor, I think her name is Tinchner, she got 96,500 shoopers. Now, we learned that she had some personal leave. We learned that part of that's recognition pay. We learned that some of that's termination settlement. And part of that was Vacation. Then you got. The chief of staff got 83 grand. Wow.

[Matt Birk]

Jamie Tincher.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. The city attorney got 73 grand. The chief equity officer got 63,700. Now, there's an. See, a deputy mayor could probably demonstrate to taxpayers what she did. Okay. A chief of staff could probably demonstrate to the taxpayers what they did. A city attorney could certainly demonstrate to the taxpayers what they did. But as I read the rest of the list, there's not a chance in hell you could demonstrate to the taxpayer what you did. Chief Equity officer got 63. 7. I defy Carter to have the guts to tell the citizens of St. Paul what that chief equity officer did to earn a $63,000 bonus.

[Matt Birk]

We should demand that. We should demand that.

[Joe Soucheray]

Did he give himself a bonus? The Chief Resilience officer, Russ Stark. 54,500. No, I'm sorry. Yeah, 54,500. I defy anyone, Carter, to tell me what he did. What accomplishments are there? If there are, I will apologize and take my words back.

[Matt Birk]

Was he the street guy that would come out and talk about. I don't know what he did, plowing

[Joe Soucheray]

inner government, working there? No, inner. That's.

[Kenny Olson]

That's Joe's buddy.

[Matt Birk]

Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's.

[Kenny Olson]

I forgot his name.

[Joe Soucheray]

Kershaw. Okay. Public works.

[Matt Birk]

Got it. Excuse me.

[Joe Soucheray]

He's not all bad.

[Matt Birk]

No, that's.

[Joe Soucheray]

He actually works. Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

And he's honest about.

[Joe Soucheray]

Intergovernmental relations associate, 42 grand. Communications director. 42 grand. Policy director, 42 grand. You all didn't do anything. Intergovernmental relations director. So wait a minute. The intergovernmental relations associate got 42,400, but the intergovernmental relations director only got 41,800. Fire chief. Okay. They do something. 41 grand. Policy advisor. They don't do anything. 37 grand. Policy advisor, 31 grand. So that policy advisor did even less than the policy advisor. Got this.

[Matt Birk]

These people are gone. Now they have to reapply.

[Joe Soucheray]

Alvin's cabinet. Maybe they had to reapply for Collie her. I don't know. Press secretary got 29 grand. Office of financial services director got 21 grand. Assistant to the mayor, 19 grand. That was the person who answered the phone every day and said, he's not here.

[Matt Birk]

Plus, the press secretary, who did not make him available, got 29 grand.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

Press secretary. 29,100 to be exact. Staff assistant, 12 grand. 11. 8. Deputy director of financial services. 7.8 and executive assistant to the mayor. That must have been somebody that. They didn't do anything because they got 4.6 plus he worked from home.

[Matt Birk]

So they just sat around this Deputy

[Joe Soucheray]

Mayor, Jamie Tincher, who got the. She damn near got 100 grand. She received a termination settlement. Do you all have this at your place of employment, by the way? All you GL ers who are listening, do you have this figured out the way the public class has it figured out?

[Matt Birk]

No, they do not.

[Kenny Olson]

It's funny you asked that, because St. Paul didn't have this when Coleman was running the show. He didn't do this once.

[Joe Soucheray]

So Tincher received a termination settlement of $47,100.60, a bonus of $10,183.68. She left the city with $9,400.32 in personal leave and $29,872.45 in unused vacation time, for a total of $96,458.05. These people are thieves. There is no other way I can possibly look at it. These people have stolen the taxpayer's money. Melvin enabled it. Now am I gonna get sued for calling them thieves?

[Kenny Olson]

I think that's pretty accurate.

[Joe Soucheray]

How else am I supposed to look at this?

[Kenny Olson]

The only problem I have is that it's not larceny per se, because larceny is at stealing from a private individual.

[Joe Soucheray]

All of this.

[Kenny Olson]

So this would be fraud?

[Joe Soucheray]

Joe, no. What? All of this will pass the test of the city attorney. All of this will be legal. All of this will be written in their various voluminous books of bylaws. It's all going to be legal. The taxpayers are never getting this money back. It equaled. What did it equal? 700 grand?

[Kenny Olson]

775. I think something like that.

[Joe Soucheray]

$775,000 of your money just went to pay people who have not, if they can. They should have not demonstrated to the St. Paul taxpayer what they did to earn this money.

[Matt Birk]

That's what I want to see.

[Kenny Olson]

Carter has no moral compass. It might not be illegal, but it's really a crappy, crappy way.

[Joe Soucheray]

Melvin, you look really bad.

[Kenny Olson]

I keep asking this of our elected officials almost every day. How can you possibly live with yourself? How can you look yourself in the mirror and live with what you've done? The one thing that really bothers me. Well, many things that bother me are. Carter decided that their last day, their last service to the city would be January 2nd instead of the last day of 2025.

[Joe Soucheray]

Dad, buy him some more vacation.

[Kenny Olson]

Personal. Personal days. Yeah. Let me see. I want to get the six days. Six days of personal. I Don't know what they call it.

[Joe Soucheray]

Prove me wrong somebody in St. Paul, because I'm about to make a bet. I'll bet $5,000 that I'll pay to the Union Gospel Mission because I like the Union Gospel.

[Matt Birk]

Split with second store. How about split with second store?

[Joe Soucheray]

I'll pay 5,000 to Union Gospel Mission. I'll throw something at second store and something for Mary Copeland's sharing and caring hands. But we'll start with 5,000 to the union Gospel Mission if you can prove to me you are at work during COVID Remember, all of these bonuses are paid to people who never even went to the office. They worked.

[Matt Birk]

Right. And the mayor stayed.

[Joe Soucheray]

Carter stayed at home, including the mayor. All of this money went to people who didn't do a gol darn thing.

[Kenny Olson]

How do you blue collar folks feel about that? You guys building roads and houses and buildings?

[Joe Soucheray]

How do you snowplow drivers feel about this? Oh, yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

I mean, we could just talk about

[Joe Soucheray]

city and how do you cops feel about this?

[Kenny Olson]

Talk about city employees, the fire department. Yep.

[Joe Soucheray]

How do you water department guys feel about this? These people did nothing. And I would say during the. During the brunt of your tenure, Carter, these people did not even show up downtown. This is a travesty. It's theft. And it just committed in broad daylight.

[Kenny Olson]

It's so greasy. So greasy.

[Matt Birk]

You know what's just funny is I can't find. She's from West Virginia. Jamie Tincher.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't know her.

[Matt Birk]

And I can't find out anything more about her bio.

[Joe Soucheray]

Now you want a bit of ray of hope? I'm clinging to the hope that Kali, her, given her background, has not totally consumed every drop of mysterian Kool Aid.

[Matt Birk]

Okay, not perfect.

[Joe Soucheray]

She vetoed the St. Paul City's Council. Same desire that Fry vetoed to extend rent forgiveness to 60 days. She sees no wisdom in that, which she should see no wisdom in it. She vetoed that in St. Paul. So I offer that as a brief ray of hope. A, it just burdens the people who own the property, and B, it burdens the renters who are broke. Now why would you think they're going to be less broke? We give them another 30 days anyway. Colley. Her. This money came out of her budget, apparently. The Melvin money.

[Matt Birk]

She's not going to like that as a business.

[Joe Soucheray]

$5,000 to the union Gospel Mission, Melvin. Which is probably more than you've given to charity in your entire life. You prove to me that all these workers were downtown from March 1, 2020. One through the end of your tenure.

[Matt Birk]

I can't do it.

[Joe Soucheray]

It's a. This is all a lie. It's fake. It's theft. It's just outright theft. All of you. And they'll all take the money because they don't have any character. This is just pathetic. It is truly, truly pathetic.

[Chris Reivers]

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[Joe Soucheray]

Do you have at your workplace g lers? Do you have these situations? Maybe you do if you bargain it for yourself. Do you have. Where did I just read it? I got it here. Don't worry.

[Matt Birk]

More on tincture. She was the Mark Dayton's deputy chief of staff.

[Joe Soucheray]

They're all in a club. They're. They just keep Klobuchar's campaign pretending he's working for somebody, Right?

[Matt Birk]

She grew up in West Virginia. Bachelor's degree in communications from Denison University.

[Joe Soucheray]

They don't. Well, she might have done something because he didn't. So she might have had to do a lot of stuff.

[Matt Birk]

To her credit, she began working as a promotions manager at a classic rock station in West Virginia. So maybe she's not all bad.

[Joe Soucheray]

Can I ask you something?

[Kenny Olson]

Almost rock and roll.

[Joe Soucheray]

Can I ask you something?

[Matt Birk]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

How big could a classic rock station be? In Virginia.

[Matt Birk]

There you go.

[Joe Soucheray]

West Virginia.

[Josh Arnold]

West Virginia.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's even smaller.

[Matt Birk]

West Virginia.

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay. At your workplace, do you have a termination settlement clause in your contract? No. Do you even have a contract?

[Matt Birk]

No.

[Joe Soucheray]

Do you have a bonus situation for leaving? No. Either do I. Do you have a personal leave arrangement where apparently if you don't take personal leave, you have a big pile of money? Do you?

[Matt Birk]

I do not.

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay. Do you have. Do you get paid for unused vacation?

[Matt Birk]

I do not.

[Joe Soucheray]

I believe the saying here is use it or lose it.

[Matt Birk]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

Isn't that true?

[Matt Birk]

Yeah. You can only. You can hang on to some. You can't hang on to it all. With the government, you can hang on to it all. They protect themselves rather well. I mean, sick pay one. When most employees are there, sick pay is as a benefit. It's not paid out by private companies.

[Kenny Olson]

I think the problem here is you should be working for the city because you have. What do you have in vacation? Every year you get about eight months of vacation a year.

[Joe Soucheray]

Right.

[Matt Birk]

Which is anymore. It's seven.

[Kenny Olson]

You use about eight days of those eight months. Just think if you worked for St. Paul.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, my God.

[Kenny Olson]

Can you imagine?

[Joe Soucheray]

You will be. Well, it's funny you say that, because I saw today I saw an example of why I don't want to retire. All right. I won't name any names, but there's a guy near me who's retired.

[Matt Birk]

Okay. I hope so. In that area. I hope so. Sorry.

[Joe Soucheray]

And I happened to catch him this morning. I was outside getting the papers and the trash truck was down at the end of the street.

[Matt Birk]

I think I know. Go ahead. I think I know what you're saying.

[Joe Soucheray]

I think I'm surprised. You.

[Matt Birk]

Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

The trash truck was down at the end of the street, and he's looking at the trash truck and he's thinking, well, the north side of the street's going to get picked up before mine. He's on the south side of the street. So he pushed his bin over to the. Across the street neighbors, to the north side, and positioned it for pickup so that his bin got picked up. Maybe, you know, 10 minutes.

[Matt Birk]

Sure.

[Joe Soucheray]

Faster than it would have when the truck swung around and came back the other way. And I'm thinking, you know, that's too much time on your hands.

[Matt Birk]

That's a guy needs a place to go.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's a sign to me that that's just, you know, what's tomorrow? You gotta buy a new toothbrush.

[Matt Birk]

See, I. Yeah, I thought.

[Joe Soucheray]

I can't see it. So go ahead, Ken.

[Kenny Olson]

You Told me this story earlier and I was on your side. But since then I've been. I've been thinking about this. The main thing is he's retired, right?

[Joe Soucheray]

I believe so.

[Kenny Olson]

He is winning in life. If he's been doing that sort of thing since the. Since he graduated from, say, college. Little cheats like that every single day. That's how you retire early. That's how you win.

[Joe Soucheray]

Somehow you've been able to associate this to money.

[Matt Birk]

Yeah, he's given himself an advantage.

[Kenny Olson]

An attitude, Joe. It's an attitude of I have to be first. I'm going to get mine.

[Joe Soucheray]

I know the guy. I know the guy well. He's hail. Fellow well met.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, no doubt. He's probably a Gl or he's smart. Smarter than the rest of us.

[Joe Soucheray]

But I. I see you came up with a reason. I can't come up with a reason. I cannot come up with a reason why you pushed your bin across the street then walked back to the end of your driveway to watch your bin get emptied and then go fetch your bin.

[Kenny Olson]

I think this is part.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's who he is.

[Kenny Olson]

He's a winner.

[Matt Birk]

And can I tell you who this guy is right here? This is the guy that is featured in the progressive commercials that stands on his side waiting for the trash guy to come so he can say a couple of big loans today. Hi there, Jerry. What are we. How are we doing on the south side of the city?

[Kenny Olson]

Knees, not your back.

[Matt Birk]

Just so he can converse with the guy for 20 seconds out of his day. And then you are seeing weather. Yep. See next Tuesday. Yeah, it's gonna rain. You better hurry up as he's dragging it in, you know. Thank you.

[Joe Soucheray]

You're off a hair.

[Josh Arnold]

You're off.

[Joe Soucheray]

Tell me you're off a bit.

[Matt Birk]

Correct me.

[Joe Soucheray]

I. We have an up nod relationship.

[Matt Birk]

It's not like before with Frank.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, Frank, I drove the truck.

[Matt Birk]

Right, right, right.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, boy. You are that guy in the commercial.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, shit.

[Matt Birk]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

Didn't kid. Do you know about my relationship with my energy resource rec field representative?

[Kenny Olson]

I've never heard this.

[Joe Soucheray]

I made. You've never. No. Frank Del Maris was my guy and I knew him for 40 years because he was my guy in my alley where I live prior to where I live now. And he knew just vaguely, that I was at that time I was a sports writer. And he said, you know what I just did? He got out, we finally knew each other's name. And I said, how you doing, Frank? He says, well, I just left some twin stick. It's taped to the garbage can lid of one of my neighbors because I can't use them. And he told me the story that the next time he went to a game, he was at the game with his kid. And Howard Fox was sitting in front of him because Frank had really good tickets. And Howard Fox was Calvin's traveling secretary. And Howard was turning around, trying to be friendly. Hey, how you doing? He looked at Frank and, oh, wait, I screwed it up. Frank found two tickets.

[Matt Birk]

Somebody left two tickets.

[Joe Soucheray]

Somebody left two tickets for Frank under the garbage can lid. So when Frank picked him up, he put them in his pocket and they were. They ended up being these great seats. And so Frank's at the Metrodome and Howard Fox is in the row ahead of him. And Howard Fox turns around and he looks at Frank, who he didn't know. Frank's sitting there with his kid, and Howard says, season tickets? Frank says, no, I found them taped to the bottom of a garbage can lid on my route. Howard blanched and turned around.

[Matt Birk]

See you later.

[Joe Soucheray]

But I. I got to know Frank. That made Sports Illustrated.

[Kenny Olson]

Did it really?

[Joe Soucheray]

That little story we got in Sports Illustrated? Yeah.

[Matt Birk]

Do you remember your ride?

[Kenny Olson]

How did you go from being. How did you get behind the wheel?

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay, so now I move. And sure enough, Frank is my guy. And it's Highland Sanitation. And I wrote columns about him. I had a name for him. He was energy resource recycling agent, field representative. He would give talks at the kids school on career day. He was the happiest trash collector you'll ever meet. He was good. He was good at it. See, that's the key to life. Be good at whatever you do. And he was a. A great trash guy. So. So he got a new rig and he's showing it off. He says, why don't you drive it? So I got in, I drove the D. And you're sitting way up high, way up high, going through the. It was wonderful.

[Matt Birk]

He was the guy that.

[Joe Soucheray]

We had dinner at his house one night and it was. What are those birds?

[Matt Birk]

Bacon wrapped Morning dove.

[Joe Soucheray]

Morning dove.

[Matt Birk]

And a leg of. That's exotic. A leg of venison that he grilled. Oh, and he did get a visit from the dnr. We talked about it on the radio. Yeah, they did come and see him, but Gabe was, I think, two years old. And Frank pulled up in the machine, the truck, and Gabe, did you have

[Joe Soucheray]

him two on your route?

[Matt Birk]

Yeah, Goodrich. And Gabe got to ride on the. Back down the hill.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, cool.

[Matt Birk]

And pull the lever.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, cool.

[Matt Birk]

I thought Gabe was gonna spontaneously combust.

[Joe Soucheray]

And then Gabe siphoned the gas out of the tank and drank it.

[Matt Birk]

That's good, Frank. Here you for another two blocks.

[Kenny Olson]

Gabe's been self medicating since a very, very young age. What I love about that story is that you have a guy. We all have guys for that.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't anymore.

[Kenny Olson]

He retired, but in most cases we have a guy now. It might be early spring right now, but it's not too early to start thinking about your summer landscaping projects. We have a guy, or I should say we have a crew for that. Allow us to help get hooked up with our guys@prothetic turf.com Time is of the essence here because the schedule fills up fast. Proturf they're a certified landscape designer by the Minnesota Landscape association and they'll work with you using digital photography and landscape imaging software so you can see what your completed project will look like before they even put one shovel in the ground. Pro Turf specializes in, well, everything landscape related. The installation of trees, shrubs, perennials, rocks, sod you name it. They can really upgrade that outdoor environment. I'm thinking pavers. You want pavers or maybe natural stone patios, a fire pit, retaining walls, bulge beds, whatever you can dream up, they can make happen. You can see a lot of their previous work and schedule a free in person estimate by going to professionalturf.com pro turf providing superior lawn scare treat, lawn care treatments, I can say it. Landscape and irrigation service since 1982.

[Joe Soucheray]

Log on to professionalturf.comreivers here once again

[Chris Reivers]

from my friends at North American Banking Co. Here's the deal. A couple of months ago I decided that I was going to make a switch because I was just tired of being a number to my big national bank. And that's when I met my friends at North American Banking Company. I got to tell you, I'm really glad that I did because here's the deal. When you go into North American Banking company you can tell right away it's banking done differently because they want to get to know you, your family and in some cases your business and what your needs might be be from a financial standpoint. And that's why they're the absolute best. They have six locations to serve you. I go between the Roseville and the 50th and France location. But you can also see them in Hastings, Woodbury, Shoreview, and they also have a location in Maple Grove. They offer the same exact online and mobile banking options as the other banks. But you're going to get the unparalleled Service of a community bank. They are also locally owned and operated. Here's why that's important. That means loan decisions are made right here in the twin cities, not sent out of state. This helps business owners solve problems quickly and expand their business with confidence. At North American banking company, they deal with numbers every single day. But you will never be one of them. So your first step, check them out online. It's nabankco.com to learn more. Nabankco.com to learn More. Like I said, it's banking done differently. North American banking Company member, FDIC is an equal housing lender.

[Joe Soucheray]

How did we get on trash? What were we talking about? How did that happen?

[Kenny Olson]

What were we talking about? The.

[Matt Birk]

Oh, retirement. Retirement, yeah. Retirement.

[Joe Soucheray]

All retirement. Retirement, yeah.

[Matt Birk]

How do we get talking about retirement?

[Kenny Olson]

Joe doesn't want to retire.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, I saw a sign that. That I didn't want. I saw a sign that you didn't want to retire. Shouldn't you know, because.

[Matt Birk]

Got it.

[Joe Soucheray]

It's. Remember now, walls will not let me deduct any money in a federal program if I donate money to private schools. Yeah, because that would be detrimental to the failing public education system he presides over. I'm not indicting teachers, by the way. I am indicting your top heavy administration. It's ridiculous, but I was reading about the Blaine high school English course, and the parents are seeing some of the books that the kids are assigned are inappropriate. You have a foghorn. Oh, of course you do. I can't move on till you do it. Oh, I like that.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, wow.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, there's a good one too. Which one's that?

[Matt Birk]

That's the newest one. That's the one which comes through.

[Kenny Olson]

That was that big one.

[Joe Soucheray]

Big freighter. Which one is it? I don't remember the James Barker.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh,

[Joe Soucheray]

the books the kids are required to choose from include one called last night at the Telegraph club. Or A sexual interaction between two girls is graphically depicted. Let me stop right here. I personally would never ban a book. I personally would not.

[Matt Birk]

Would you be selective?

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm not done. I would not. You have to be that way. Kenn.

[Matt Birk]

Not offended.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, I know you're not. In fact, you take it as a compliment.

[Matt Birk]

Exactly. Thank you.

[Joe Soucheray]

If kids want to read this stuff, that's their problem or their parents problem. What I am opposed to is this being made part of a curriculum. It's not the school's business to sexually indoctrinate kids. If you want to read that kid at home, your mom says, great that. Go for it. I Don't care. But in the schools that I have to pay for, apparently it's very common to have these kind of books that the kids are to choose to read.

[Matt Birk]

Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

You know, and then they'll come up with some BS excuse why they shouldn't read To Kill a Mockingbird or something.

[Matt Birk]

That was going to be my next reference.

[Joe Soucheray]

The books students were required to choose from included one called Last night at the Telegraph Club. Okay. A book list for a 9th grade honors English class at Blaine High School is full of inappropriate titles. A concerned parent shared this and Alpha News picked it up.

[Matt Birk]

What's the name of it? I'm gonna look it up as you. No, I'm not gonna.

[Joe Soucheray]

Last night at the Telegraph Club, students were given a list of 11 books and required to choose one to read for a class book club discussion. My concern and the concern of many other parents. This is a quote. Is that a large number of the books in the list have been banned or repeatedly challenged in schools across the country, many due to explicit sexual content and other mature themes to parents. Hit. I wish I had the. Quit looking that up. See if you can.

[Matt Birk]

I'll give you the rundown of the Telegraph Club.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'd rather have a rundown of what 11 books were available to the kids.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh, it's in the story here.

[Joe Soucheray]

Am I going to get to it? Okay, never mind. I'll get to it. All right. The book students were required to choose from included Last Night at the Telegraph Club where a sectional interaction is graphically depicted. The hate you give the letter U. The hate U give is another book on the list that has also been frequently removed from schools across the nation because of its vulgarity, sexual references and the way the book portrays police brutality. I'm sure the book would be very unfair to police. Other titles on the list include Concrete Rose. I've never heard of this and I'm pretty well read. The Firekeeper's Daughter. We are not from here. Ready? Player 1. Words on bathroom walls. The Grace Year. I am not your perfect Mexican daughter. Internment and Between Shades of Gray. Where is fine literature here? Where is.

[Kenny Olson]

That's where I was going. Do any of these titles.

[Joe Soucheray]

Where's something meaningful?

[Kenny Olson]

English class. When you read an English class I thought traditionally was encouraged to make you fall in love with reading. Make you passionate about reading books.

[Joe Soucheray]

Rook. Look up for me. Words on bathroom walls. What would that be about? Isn't the world ugly enough without having 9th graders read this stuff? Why don't you read something? Catcher in the Rye. Mark Twain.

[Kenny Olson]

That's I made a list of the books I was forced to read. Catch 22.

[Joe Soucheray]

Catch 22. This is ninth grade. Remember ninth grade.

[Kenny Olson]

Portrait of Dorian Gray. Some Anne Rand book. I don't remember what the title was.

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't care if they don't read

[Kenny Olson]

that super boring Catcher in the Rye. You said that. And Animal Farm. Yeah, Anything. Mark Twain. All of those books lit a fire in me and I've been reading ever since.

[Joe Soucheray]

Hey, ninth graders. Mark Twain was the first guy to write about children. Responsible. He treated children as real human beings. It's the first author that ever happened along that way.

[Kenny Olson]

Joe, you know why they won't read Mark Twain?

[Joe Soucheray]

Because it has Jim in it.

[Kenny Olson]

James. Yeah, our friend James.

[Joe Soucheray]

Rick, what'd you find?

[Matt Birk]

Words on Bathroom Walls by Julie Walton. A young adult novel about a witty introspective teen named Adam who navigates high school while living with paranoid schizophrenia. Chronicling his experiences through journal entries as he takes place in an experimental drug trial to manage his hallucinations and falls for a new girl, Maya, while trying to keep his illness a secret. The book is praised for its honest, humorous and uplifting portrayal of mental illness, relatable characters and its exploration of love, friendship and acceptance.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stop. Read me another one. Find. No, I think there's a theme that I'm identifying a theme here. Okay, do concrete rolls. Whoever can do it faster if Gabe wants to participate.

[Matt Birk]

Young adult novel by Angie Thomas. Serving as a prequel to the Hate U give. Focusing on Starr's father, Maverick Carter as a teenager in Garden Heights, the story follows a 17 year old MAV as he navigates gang life, his father's prison sentence and his mother's struggles, only to discover that he's a father himself, forcing to him.

[Joe Soucheray]

Stop. Do we are not from here. Then I'll identify the theme that's being.

[Matt Birk]

Young adult novel about three Guatemalan teenagers, Polgachico and Pequena, who flee their homes and embark on a perilous journey to the US border, riding the dangerous train system known as La Bastilla. Inspired by current events, the story follows their harrowing escape from violence and gang. Exploring themes of survival, family and hope through alternating first person perspectives with elements of magical realism. The book is praised for its powerful, poignant and unflinching portrayal of the migrant experience.

[Kenny Olson]

I've got one that let me read this one. It fits in with what Matt just read.

[Matt Birk]

All right.

[Kenny Olson]

Between shades of gray Historical fiction 15 year old who is deported from Lithuania to a Siberian work by Soviet officers in 41 forcing her to fight for survival while documenting her experiences through drawings.

[Joe Soucheray]

All right.

[Matt Birk]

And last. Telegraph club, set in 54, San Francisco, following Chinese American teenager Lily Hu as she navigates her identity. She starts the Telegraph Club is a lesbian bar in China.

[Kenny Olson]

There's a theme here.

[Joe Soucheray]

You're right.

[Kenny Olson]

Such.

[Joe Soucheray]

Here's the theme. And I said before, I'm not indicting teachers. In this case, I will. The teachers or the committee that got together and put together this reading list. These are all books about marginalization. They're all about victims. They're all about oppression. There is nothing uplifting here. There is nothing to suggest higher, higher reaching. This is all about somebody who's been screwed by this system, the system as they identify it. That's my. Guess what the theme is. I don't even know if they consciously were going after that theme, but the theme they came up with is let's come up with a list of books. And it's gonna be about somebody, whether they have mental illness, they're a lesbian, they're this, they're that. We're gonna explore the whole world of marginalization. And then when they graduate, they can go to Winnipeg and become New Democrats.

[Matt Birk]

Do you want the most 10 common high school books?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yes. Yeah.

[Matt Birk]

Mockingbird.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, that's not on here.

[Matt Birk]

Gatsby?

[Joe Soucheray]

Not on here.

[Matt Birk]

The Flies?

[Joe Soucheray]

Not on here.

[Matt Birk]

Animal Farm.

[Joe Soucheray]

Not on here.

[Matt Birk]

Romeo and Juliet?

[Joe Soucheray]

Not on here. 1984, not on here.

[Matt Birk]

Catcher?

[Joe Soucheray]

Not on here.

[Matt Birk]

Mice and Men.

[Joe Soucheray]

Not on here.

[Matt Birk]

Macbeth?

[Joe Soucheray]

Not on here.

[Matt Birk]

And Knight, which is about the Holocaust.

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay. Huh.

[Kenny Olson]

Could you say the same for those titles, Joe, that you just said for these new titles? Isn't kind of. That's what's catch 22 and catcher.

[Matt Birk]

Well, some of them are self, aren't they? But they're not in a lesbian bar or transgender.

[Joe Soucheray]

This. The. These head. No, they're not the same.

[Kenny Olson]

They're certainly not great literature, that's for sure.

[Joe Soucheray]

Mockingbirds. Great literature.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yep.

[Matt Birk]

The Gatsby.

[Joe Soucheray]

You know, that's my cousin. All right. Be careful what you say.

[Matt Birk]

I forgot about F. Yeah,

[Joe Soucheray]

that big ship that went down the F. Scott.

[Matt Birk]

Yeah. Boy, that was a tough November. Thanks, Elaine.

[Kenny Olson]

The legend.

[Matt Birk]

Lizard Seinfeld.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. The parents said that several people contacted her after she shared her concerns about the book list on Facebook. Yesterday we received her book club list, and I'm literally sick to my stomach after looking into these books. Explicit sexual contact content, anti Christian, lgbtq, anti police feminist, and just extremely inappropriate. Students have to choose one book and a backup book from the list of 11. But we were only able to find one book on the list that we would be okay with her reading. She wrote this is a parent talking. She also connected with some individuals with the Anoka Hennepin School District who worked with her and others other concerned parents to add additional two titles to the 11 that the parents deemed more appropriate. The 11 books on the original list will remain as part of the curriculum. Do they tell us what the two new ones are? I appreciate the district's effort, but it doesn't address the core problem. These sexually explicit books are carefully selected and presented to our kids as part of the required curriculum. That's what I also disagree with. I don't care if the kid wants to read that book about telegraphs at home, the Telegraph Club. That's her problem. Go ahead and read it. I don't give a damn.

[Kenny Olson]

Question. Do you mind that being in the high school library?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, I do.

[Kenny Olson]

Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

So not just you don't want it part of the curriculum, you don't even want it in the building. Yeah, that's what I can't. I don't know either. That's why I guide me here. Fireworks commission.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, as long as it's next to an alternative like Catcher in the Rye or To Kill a Mockingbird that better also be available. If the library's full of that, then I don't want them in the library. If there's a balance in the library, I'm cool with that. She said that some parents reached out to her saying she didn't even think to review the list for age appropriateness because they trusted the school. When I asked how these books were deemed appropriate for 9th graders, I was told was based on the Minnesota Academic Standards. These are the schools that I have to pay for, but cockwamble won't let me donate to another school. But those standards only define the skills students must master. They include no age limits or content restrictions the parents had. Decisions about mature material are left entirely to local school districts. This raises the question, where is age appropriateness actually determined? If at all the books on the list were purchased by the school in 2022 as part of the Intro Literature for HMH curriculum. What's HMH? I don't know. The school district has a process to provide alternative curriculum material options upon the request of a parent or student. The district said there is also a format, a formal complaint process that could be pursued regarding instructional materials if that is of interest, appearance and guardians. I just think it's bs. It's by design that these are what they are. That's by design. Nothing can persuade me otherwise.

[Kenny Olson]

HMH is Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

[Joe Soucheray]

They're of a mind to indoctrinate. I don't know what those books would do to inspire a child's love of reading.

[Kenny Olson]

You know who made me hate reading? Faulkner. He should be banned from all libraries. If you like Faulkner.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah, but now you're talking about boredom.

[Kenny Olson]

That's what I was going to say. If you claim to me you love Faulkner, I say to you you don't understand one word he wrote. Nobody gets Faulkner.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'll give you a Southern author. I bet you haven't trusted Tennessee Williams.

[Kenny Olson]

I love him.

[Joe Soucheray]

Walker Percy.

[Kenny Olson]

I've heard the name. I've never read anything.

[Joe Soucheray]

The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. Try that.

[Chris Reivers]

One of the neat things about having a whole home water treatment system is you never have to buy bottled water. And that's of course, unless you go out of town like I'm currently doing. But that's the beauty of a brand new whole home water treatment system offered by my friends at Hoferman Water and Connecticut. There are so many benefits that go beyond just that treatment system for hard water, iron and chlorine. But having that fully third party certified reverse osmosis can take reduced contaminants that are commonly found in water in both city water and also well water. And I made that switch. In fact, when I moved into my home three years ago, that's the very first thing we did is at Hofferman Water and Connecticut install a whole home water treatment system. And it has made an amazing difference in the quality of my water. And it will do the exact same thing for you too. But you have to get on that schedule and have them come out to give you that free water analysis. And when they do that, they're going to give you what's called a water score. And then based upon that water score, they're going to offer you solutions to make your water just as amazing as mine is. So check them out online. Today it's hoffermanwater.com you can book that appointment and you can also see every single water treatment system that they have to offer. And you can also give them a call directly to book that appointment at 612-895-2440. Either way, get on the schedule and have them come up for that free water analysis. And that's because Hofferman Water has been proudly serving the state of Minnesota for over 50 years. Please do me a favor and mention that you heard about them right here on the garagelogic podcast.

[Joe Soucheray]

Look, folks, a lot of things have been taken out of our hands. The use of our taxpayer money to grant bonuses to people who didn't do anything and didn't even show up for work. It ranges all the way to reading curriculums in the public schools that are designed by committees that Cockwomble put together. You'll remember I went to McAlester once to try to track down one member of the. Of the team who was a. An admitted Marxist, an admitted anti capitalist. He was proud of it.

[Matt Birk]

How did that go?

[Joe Soucheray]

I didn't find him. Well, to McAllister's credit, they had some security that just didn't allow any moron like me to walk in.

[Matt Birk]

Have your orange card.

[Joe Soucheray]

I needed a card. I needed a red card.

[Matt Birk]

Get the front of the room.

[Kenny Olson]

Just tell them I'll give you a thousand dollars if I can use your toilet for 45 minutes. During the last Wednesday of Mardi Gras, Binks Balling, a 29 year old stocks and bond salesman in New Orleans, received an invitation to lunch from his aunt Emily. Binks feels a prickle of foreboding. I'm already hooked. And this is just the summary.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's Walker Percy.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah, the moviegoer.

[Joe Soucheray]

Does it say what year it was written? I'm gonna guess the 60s.

[Kenny Olson]

Give me some time for that.

[Joe Soucheray]

There's lots of good stuff to read, kids. I mean, if you want to read the Telegraph story, that's fine with me, but why don't you balance it with something good? You know, you don't always have to be a victim of something.

[Kenny Olson]

61.

[Joe Soucheray]

61. You don't always have to be put upon. You don't always have to be oppressed. You can make your own decisions. See, here's the problem with that kind of indoctrination. It's watering the seeds here. It's training you to believe in progressivism, which is essentially a complete and utter thorough rant against anything that works. Progressivism doesn't work. They couldn't even get their meeting off the ground in Winnipeg. It doesn't work, work or other places.

[Matt Birk]

Plug in whatever city you want. We just don't have the proof.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, we do have the proof. You're seeing it in two destroyed cities in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

[Matt Birk]

That's okay. Point of privilege.

[Joe Soucheray]

What does that mean? Point of.

[Matt Birk]

Give me the mic, damn it.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, I know, but I want to about.

[Kenny Olson]

Talk. Talk?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. Quit gendering. Everybody stop doing general evidence. Good God, I bet you would love.

[Matt Birk]

Sure I would.

[Joe Soucheray]

If I did something here and we can do that then, huh?

[Kenny Olson]

Geez, look at the time, Gabe.

[Joe Soucheray]

Wow. Well, I'm going to tell you about the center of the American grievous in height.

[Matt Birk]

Who needs them?

[Joe Soucheray]

Don't, don't go down that road.

[Matt Birk]

Don't, don't say okay, sorry, take it back.

[Joe Soucheray]

I. I need.

[Matt Birk]

Boy, the rookie really needs be here every day, doesn't he?

[Joe Soucheray]

Minnesota hull has always been a place where we build stuff. Steel, equipment, technology. But we can't build that stuff without affordable electricity. Look at your electric bills. We're so buttoned up here in Minnesota because a cock womble and his gang of trifectas, they locked us into a 100% wind and solar by 2040. That won't work. It just. It won't work. There's a moratorium on building nuclear plants. All they do is provide clean, reliable energy with no carbon emissions. The technology is safer. It's more advanced than ever. But we can't do it. Let's not make the same mistake as other states. No, this isn't going to turn out well. For affordability, go to americanexperiment.org, that's one word, americanexperiment.org and click on Take action. And you'll have a way there to tell your lawmakers to lift the moratorium and free the nukes. The American experiment wants to protect America's energy future. Oh, I don't have this thing. Yeah, I do. Here. No, I don't. I don't have it.

[Kenny Olson]

Here's a guy who doesn't have a thing. Joe Susher. Not only is the shipping free, it's crazy, crazy fast. Let me explain here. Yesterday afternoon I logged on to custom roasting.net I ordered the Garage Logic Twin Pack. That's two pound and three quarter bags of dark roasted ground coffee. That's for me. The dark roasted roast. One bag of Boundary Waters, one bag of French roast. You have your option. Dark or light. That's three and a half pounds total of coffee and. I can't believe this. I'm following the shipping. It's already making its way to Jackass Ranch. I ordered yesterday afternoon. It'll be here before sundown. And yes, the shipping is free. We all love free shipping, you know. You know I love it. And I can't promise. I wish I could. I wish I could promise. Promise that your package will arrive as quickly as mine does. But you know how shipping is. I can't promise that to you. But I can promise you that the coffee they do send you was roasted right before they shipped it. That's why the beans and the ground coffee from custom roasting.net is so wonderful. It doesn't sit on a shelf waiting to be shipped. They roast it, bag it, and then ship it as soon as they get your call. And the next thing you know, you're enjoying an amazing cup of coffee at a very reasonable price. Custom Roasting, they're a Minnesota company. They're right there in Buffalo. They've been around since the early 90s. So Stephen, the head roaster and co owner, he knows how to do business. Let's call it the GL way. Be sure to click on that garagelogic tab when you order your coffee from customroasting.net rook.

[Joe Soucheray]

What were the three things that we said preceded 911 sharks and hashtag speaking in tongues? Shark attacks and the legislator who was involved or not involved with the disappearance of an aide? Something like that.

[Matt Birk]

Yes. All right. Yes. I can't remember that.

[Joe Soucheray]

Then I have a warning for people. And then 911 followed that almost immediately. I have a warning for people. We already have the sharks. We already have the story of this. Most recently of this legislator who got involved with someone who then killed herself. Remember? She.

[Matt Birk]

Yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

Okay, so beware. Is Anne Hess Harrison Ford's wife?

[Matt Birk]

No. They were in a movie together.

[Joe Soucheray]

They were in a movie together. Well, be careful. If Anne Hess starts speaking in tongues, then the war in Iran really got out of hand. Because the latest news. There's more shark news? No. Oh, no.

[Kenny Olson]

I got bad news about Ann.

[Joe Soucheray]

She dead?

[Kenny Olson]

We lost her in 2022.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, that's right. She was in a car accident, wasn't she? Something like that. Well, anyway, watch out for her. Speaking to her.

[Matt Birk]

Gary Condit. Gary Condit Was the guy Chandra Levy?

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh, yeah. What happened to that?

[Matt Birk]

That was the Levy scandal. He became the subject of national news coverage after the disappearance of Chandra Levy, a young woman who was working. Working as a D.C. intern.

[Joe Soucheray]

But he never was convicted of anything, was he?

[Matt Birk]

He was questioned twice. He denied having extramarital affair with her. However, Levy's aunt eventually went public with conversations she had about their relationship.

[Joe Soucheray]

I see. Well, the sharks. Now around the Bahamas, Brazilian scientists have discovered that these sharks are ingesting a lot of cocaine. Cocaine, caffeine and painkillers. Sounds like they hang out with Tiger Woods. This is not good. I mean, I don't know why this should surprise me. The world is really screwed up now to the point where sharks are high on cocaine. Wow.

[Matt Birk]

Maybe it's from the Trump blowing up those boats. There's cocaine all over the Caribbean. Atlantic side. Yes, yes.

[Joe Soucheray]

This is the fallout from an upper that needs to be foghorned. Gabe. Uptick. I don't care which horn you use. From an uptick in marine pollutants. Per a study commissioned in the journal Environmental Pollution, pharmaceuticals and illegal drugs are increasingly recognized as contaminants of emerging concern. We call those cecs contaminants. Contaminants.

[Kenny Olson]

You're on your own.

[Joe Soucheray]

Of emerging concern in marine environments, particularly in areas undergoing rapid urbanization and tourism driven development. The researchers wrote while disrupt. Boss, Having a little trouble.

[Matt Birk]

I'm glad it's getting close to the end of the show because you're from

[Joe Soucheray]

where the researchers wrote while describing the troubling shark trend. We have sharks. No fault of theirs.

[Josh Arnold]

Right.

[Matt Birk]

They're just doing what they're supposed to do.

[Joe Soucheray]

You got hayseeds visiting the Bahamas from Las Vegas and they're blowing cocaine right in the water.

[Matt Birk]

There we go. How bad can they be?

[Joe Soucheray]

You know that I'm reading a book that's set in Vienna, Austria, 1913. And a lot of people went to Vienna because they thought they had the best doctors. The doctors would give you something called Coca Cola from the Coca plant. Well, it has to be cocaine.

[Matt Birk]

I'm sure it was. There was cocaine in Coca Cola early on.

[Kenny Olson]

I just love the fact that there's sharks swimming around with runny noses jonesing, trying to score an eight ball and trying to call people at three in

[Matt Birk]

the morning trying to get that gummer on the shark teeth.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

Hey, sorry to wake you up. Can I come over and pick up an 8? I'll be really quiet. I won't wake your wife.

[Joe Soucheray]

Oh.

[Matt Birk]

Oh my God. With those fins, you know.

[Kenny Olson]

Don't ask me how I might know that stuff.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm not going to.

[Matt Birk]

Your cousin told you at the fourth of July picnic.

[Kenny Olson]

But this reminds me, I know a movie is going to be made about this suit because of Cocaine Bear. Have you seen Cocaine Bear Bear? That's when they threw a bunch of smugglers throughout backpacks full of cocaine into a forest in Georgia.

[Joe Soucheray]

You sure?

[Kenny Olson]

And a bear got a hold of it. It started eating it by, you know, the fistfuls and then went on a rampage. And it is the funniest horror movie you'll ever see.

[Joe Soucheray]

Get this. I read a lady who I read about a lady. I think it was in the Daily Mail, so it's probably isn't true, but she ingested what she thought was cocaine. It was LSD.

[Kenny Olson]

Oh no. Oh no.

[Joe Soucheray]

She took 50 times more than the amount of. Now, listen to this. She took 55 times more LSD than the amount that would kill you of lsd. She went into a coma.

[Matt Birk]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

She had been a Long Covid sufferer. She went into a coma, woke up, I don't know what it was. Six days later, completely healthy and pain free.

[Matt Birk]

Her heart did not stop.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, I'm not suggesting we run out and ingest a lot of lsd.

[Matt Birk]

That's not a good.

[Joe Soucheray]

And the doctors can't explain it.

[Kenny Olson]

Right. Did she say anything about dreams when she was under? I can't imagine the dreams.

[Joe Soucheray]

I'm sure she did.

[Matt Birk]

They were probably trying to wake her up. She's like, no, I'm good. Hang on.

[Joe Soucheray]

On.

[Matt Birk]

Almost done here.

[Joe Soucheray]

But she got rid of all the symptoms of the Long Covid.

[Matt Birk]

I don't think that's a good.

[Joe Soucheray]

That's not the way I would do it.

[Matt Birk]

What would we call it?

[Joe Soucheray]

Yeah. Only because they come to us all the way from Penguin Tasmania home.

[Matt Birk]

When are they going to get out of Tasmania?

[Joe Soucheray]

It's coming up.

[Matt Birk]

They got devils there.

[Joe Soucheray]

You can get there. From the traveling Lymans, who can be followed at worldwide waftage. It was on this day, March 31, in 1810. Newspaper editor James M. Goodhue was born in Hebron, New Hampshire. In 1849, he established the territory's first newspaper, the Minnesota Pioneer, which is hanging on till this day, which promoted the territory both within its borders and beyond. Goodhue died in 1852. But in 1858, Jane Gray Swisshill used his press after hers was destroyed. See March 24th.

[Matt Birk]

So he came here in 1810.

[Joe Soucheray]

No, that's the year he was born, man.

[Matt Birk]

Oh, here he was born. Okay.

[Joe Soucheray]

No. Yes. The year he was born. On this day, March 31st. On this day in 1847, for the fourth and final time, Seth Eastman took command of Fort Snelling.

[Matt Birk]

How come he lost it four times?

[Joe Soucheray]

We don't know, man.

[Kenny Olson]

More. More returns than Bud Grant.

[Matt Birk]

Hey, what are they working on over there? Are they building something new at the fort?

[Joe Soucheray]

I don't. What am I?

[Matt Birk]

Well, don't you ever go to Mendora Bridge or by the airport?

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day, March 31, in 1918, Raoul Roald Amundsen, the famed Royal Roald.

[Matt Birk]

Why do you say it like you have some kind of tick?

[Joe Soucheray]

R, O, A, L, D. How would you say it? How would you say it rolled? That's Roald Roald Amundsen, the famed Norwegian polar explorer who had discovered the south pole in 1911, addressed a large audience in Duluth about the ongoing battle of World War I and appealed to the people of the United States, especially American legacy, to stand behind the President to the last ditch and to work with 100% efficiency to the end of the war. Kind of not like that today, is it?

[Matt Birk]

I bet that guy was a pain in the ass. You know, when I was at the South Pole and I invented the remarking

[Joe Soucheray]

that Norwegians in this country will be pleased to know after the war that they too have had a share in the liberation of mankind. Amundsen continued on a speaking tour of Minnesota and later left for Norway to prepare for a North Pole expedition. Yeah, well, how about that? Roald comes to Duluth, bitches and moans about get to work, people, let's go. Then he goes to the North Pole, right?

[Matt Birk]

Right after I discovered the South Pole, I went to the North Pole with somebody else.

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day, March 31st, in 1934.

[Matt Birk]

Here we go.

[Joe Soucheray]

And I know exactly where this happened.

[Matt Birk]

Now we're getting it.

[Joe Soucheray]

A shootout between John Dillinger and the FBI occurred at the Lincoln Court Apartments in St. Paul.

[Kenny Olson]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

Dillinger escaped, but a few months later was shot to death by FBI agents in Chicago.

[Matt Birk]

Yeah. Don't we wish you would have got done in damn near.

[Joe Soucheray]

Lincoln and Lexington.

[Matt Birk]

Yeah.

[Kenny Olson]

Promote the book. Dillinger slept here.

[Joe Soucheray]

Dillinger slept here. The local guy?

[Kenny Olson]

No, your buddy, the Architect.

[Matt Birk]

Not Mitchell.

[Joe Soucheray]

It's not John Camp?

[Matt Birk]

No, no. It's days and nights of strange days.

[Joe Soucheray]

Days and nights.

[Matt Birk]

It's not Larry Millet?

[Joe Soucheray]

No, it's all right.

[Matt Birk]

Tell me again the name.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well, Lincoln slept. No, not Lincoln. Dillinger slept here. It's a local guy. Come on.

[Matt Birk]

Paul McAbee.

[Joe Soucheray]

Paul Maccabee.

[Kenny Olson]

That's what it was.

[Joe Soucheray]

McAbee. Yeah. On this day in sports, disappointment history. Who do we lose to today, Joe? March 31, 1971, the twins released Louis Till.

[Matt Birk]

Oh, with the great wind up.

[Joe Soucheray]

Great windup. On this day, March 31, in 1980, the Phillies lost to the Iowa Comets in the semifinals, which must mean of the playoffs. On this day, March 31, the very next year, 1981, the Phillies played their last game and the league folded. On this day, March 31, in 1987, the North Stars fired Lauren Henry Manning as coach.

[Matt Birk]

Was he anything? He never really remember him. He was the bald guy.

[Joe Soucheray]

They fired a man.

[Matt Birk]

Yeah.

[Joe Soucheray]

On this day, March 31, in 2013, the Star Tribune printed the Twins. Silver linings. I no idea what that's referring to. I don't know what that means. They were outdoors or at the target Field silver linings printed the twins silver linings. Well it was early in the season, March 31. Maybe it was the who knows? I have no idea.

[Matt Birk]

Well, I bet the polads at that time wish they hadn't invested in commercial real estate.

[Joe Soucheray]

It sounds like the twins are going to be coming to town and encountering inclement weather Thursday and Friday, if not Saturday and Sunday.

[Matt Birk]

Sunday should be nice. The sun should be out Saturday. You might get a little bit bit of.

[Joe Soucheray]

We're not really going to have a couple of snowstorms, are we?

[Matt Birk]

No, we'll get some.

[Joe Soucheray]

Why am I asking you?

[Matt Birk]

Cuz I'm paying attention. I'm entertaining for according easter according to

[Kenny Olson]

Barlo we're going to get a few inches.

[Joe Soucheray]

Well thank you G l ers we'll grace for that for thank you.

[Kenny Olson]

Don't. Don't.

[Joe Soucheray]

North American Bank. How about North America?

[Matt Birk]

This awesome segment brought to us by the North American Banking Company. Mr. Bilski and his whole crew tending to all of your financial needs. The North American Banking Company. Thanks Bilski. Hey, Garage Logic is your home for so much information. I'm talking about how to sign up on YouTube so you can watch the show live. The town council Joe's got a pile of certificates to sign because there are a whole bunch of brand new members to the town council and what they get is access to Garage Logic prior to the show, post show grumblings and then in between when we go to a break, you can hear us all rip each other while the ads are being played. It's kind of fun. It's sadistic, but it's okay. That's [e-mail] Gilers it's time for you

[Joe Soucheray]

to pick up the phone and call Mr. Money Talk Josh Arnold at 952-925-5608. That number again is 952-925-5608. For a free. Yes, that's right, free 48 minute, no obligation financial consultation. But only if you're looking for straight talk and no sugar coated advice. Josh, I'm curious, as somebody who is very new to investing and doesn't have a big portfolio, would you suggest trying to kind of find the unicorn company that's going to make me a lot of money or try and go a safer route and go for more of a. A consistent growth?

[Josh Arnold]

You know Gabe, that's a very interesting question. Find a unicorn investment or go a safer route? Well, because I'm, I'll say old and experienced. I would tend to say starting out, go first With a safer route. I would say when you're starting out investing as a young person and if you're working, first thing to do is fully fund your 401k or IRA or retirement account account. You get a tax and invest that money in what I'll call the most aggressive choice that's available to you. Usually that might be an S and P index fund or some type of growth fund within that 401k as places to start. So fully fund that one, you get a tax deduction for putting the money in. 2, the money accumulates within that 401k or IRA or if you're self employed in SEP, the money grows without you paying taxes on it. And when it's time for retirement, you pull the money out and pay the taxes at that point in time. So that's the first thing that I would do, you know, as a, not only as a young investor, but even as an older investor, make sure you fully fund your retirement account. Now I've tended when I say the most aggressive choice within a 4 401k that could be an S and P index fund or it could also be a growth fund. If you're putting these into a, an ira, you know, the same rules would apply. Use you know, an S and P index fund which is put you in, you know, the 500 top stock and the S and P index fund is always changing. And then in an IRA or an SCP then you could start looking at either individual stocks or pick a growth oriented neutral fund. That's the way that you're going to over time create, you know, the most wealth. Now I happen to like, I'll say when I was starting out I use growth funds before moving on to individual stock. And when it came to picking individual stocks, you know, trying to find a unicorn is very difficult. Trying to find a stock. Well, if I buy a lot of shares of a dollar stock and it goes up, you know, to $10, I'm going to make a lot of money. Yes you will. But do bear in mind that large investors, namely mutual funds or hedge funds, tend to avoid stocks trading under $5 a share because they like companies that are more seasoned. And typically companies that might have been seasoned and then drop, you know, below $10 a share, those shares become suspect and then show that there are a lot of issues. Now I have tended Gabe, to focus in on companies involved in the Internet which now extends to artificial intelligence. And you can include semiconductors within that and software companies. Companies such as Apple, Amazon, Google, Meta would all Nvidia would all fit in that Internet category if, if I were to even stretch it, I could look at the number of companies now that are involved in artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence that could be even on a physical basis. Like companies that are building out drones, even companies that are building out their robot. Probably one of the two of the bigger robot manufacturers right now are Tesla and Amazon. So Tesla, many people, people look at it as more than just a car company, but look at it more as a technology and even artificial intelligence company. Then I focused in on companies in the leisure phase. And that comes from something I found when I was in graduate school in Akron, Ohio, that no matter what was going on in the economy, people in Akron, which is pretty blue collar town, spent money on leisure pursuit. So that's a, again, a pretty broad category. You know, in my, my case, my leisure pursuits revolve around running and a little bit of travel, not to mention baseball. There are many companies in that arena right now. People like to go to live events, they want a lot of experience. So that led me to companies like Alive Nation or tko, which is an owner of, of Ultimate Fighting and Worldwide Entertainment. Because I've been running for many decades and I, at one point in high school and college, a little thereafter, I sold running shoes out of the trunk of my car that I purchased from a company called Blue Ribbon Sports that changed its name to Nike. I was never looking for the unicorn that would be magic. But finding existing companies that were growing at a pretty good pace and should have been able to provide a service or product to a lot of people where they're going to constantly use that product or update that product made a lot of sense, probably made the most money over time. Buying a little company called Apple and holding on through thick and thin. And I didn't consider Apple, you know, a uniform. And it's really tough. I mean, you can even have people that are involved in private equity or venture capital finding that one company that's going to make a lot of money very, very difficult. And that's why they invest in a lot of companies and just hope that one or two make out because most of the others are going to be failures. So to me the safer route might be the best. But first, of course, fully fund your 401k or IRA. Or if you're self employed in SEP, invest that in the most aggressive place available, which in many cases is an S and P index fund or a growth fund. Then you can pick some, if you're with the IRA or sep, you can pick some individual companies, but around the characteristics that I've described. Making a product or service that people want or need and not something pie in the sky.

[Joe Soucheray]

You heard the man, G. Ellers. That's why they call him Mr. Money Talk. You don't get that nickname without knowing how money walks. Thank you so much, Josh.

[Josh Arnold]

You are welcome. We'll talk to you again, Dave.

[Joe Soucheray]

Yes, you will. Have a good day, sir. Garage Logic isn't just another podcast. It's a trusted voice with a loyal audience.

[Matt Birk]

Every day, listeners tune in and pay

[Kenny Olson]

attention to the businesses we feature.

[Joe Soucheray]

When you advertise with Garage List Logic, you're putting your brand in front of people who listen and act. We're number one in Anguilla, and we'll make your business number one with G. Ellers.

[Matt Birk]

Here's what one of our clients had to say.

[Chris Reivers]

Hey, it's Pete Arnold from Hire It Pro. And I've used garagelogic to promote my business for years. And I've seen great results in new

[Joe Soucheray]

clients for my services from the GL audience. I recommend it to any business looking for new customers. GL ers are pretty awesome.

[Kenny Olson]

You just gotta ask for an introduction.

[Joe Soucheray]

You just heard how garagelogic delivery delivers results for our advertising partners. Now it's your turn. Reach our engaged audience of G l ers and grow your business by contacting

[Matt Birk]

account executive mark [e-mail].

[Joe Soucheray]

that's mark.ellisbi.com Put your message where it

[Matt Birk]

belongs, right in the ears of listeners

[Joe Soucheray]

who trust Garage Logic.