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The 2026 Minnesota Golf show is swinging into the Minneapolis Convention Center February 13th 15th, and we want your business on the green. With thousands of passionate golfers roaming the floor, this is your chance to get your brand in front of this quality demographic with a vendor, booth or larger sponsorship. And this year's ambassador, NFL hall of Famer and Viking legend John Randle. So, yeah, it's kind of a big deal. Want in? Don't wait for your invitation to land in the fairway. Call Bernie Lauer at 651-632-6646 or email blaurbi.com before the best spots are gone.
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Join me, John Randall at the North American Banking Company Minnesota Golf Show February 13th through the 15th at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Test your skills in the long putt contest for a shot at a $100,000 prize package. Plus, try the latest gear from top manufacturers and get free lessons from local PGA pros. Don't miss it.
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Tickets on sale now at mngolfshow.com save $3 with advance purchase. Each ticket includes 14 free greens fee passes valued at $500. Learn more at mngolfshow.com rock. This is the Weekly Scramble. A place where we chat about life over a cold one or two. It's time to belly up to the pod with Mike Fratelloni and your host, Chris Reivers.
B
That's right, it's time for the weekly Scramble podcast. My name is Chris Reivers. With me as always. His name is Mike Fratelloni. Hello, Michael.
C
How you doing, Reivers?
B
I've been better. But we're still gonna be here and still provide high quality entertainment program like we do every week.
C
The highest.
B
The highest quality program. And everyone's all up in arms because Vice President J.D. vance had the audacity to come to town to try to see get a status report on the efforts being made by ICE and the enforcement of illegals being here.
C
Is he gonna roll with some officers.
B
That I don't know.
C
I wonder. That would be kind of neat.
B
Can I tell you something very quick before I get into what I wanted to get into. So hold on one second. I promise I'm not sick. I'm just battling.
C
You are 100% gonna get me sick.
B
Think so?
C
Well, maybe so.
B
Yesterday I had to make not one, not two, not two, but three different trips between Jordan and Minneapolis. Yesterday?
C
Are you kidding me?
B
Nah, it was. I got some stuff going on. Okay.
C
Okay. That seems a lot, though.
B
So it's funny because I mentioned this about a week or so ago to you that When I drive my traverse and I have my top gun Maverick aviator sunglasses on, people think I'm a cop.
C
I like that.
B
I'm not joking. They do. In fact, my sons and I, we joke about it. Like, dad, that guy slowed down in front of you, he thinks you're a cop. I'm not joking. Yesterday I've made this public, so I'll address it here. My son has been. My youngest son has been battling some health related issues. Thank you to everybody that's reached out. You have no idea how much that's meant to me. Good. He's a rock star and everything's great. So I left here, went back to Jordan to pick up my oldest boy from basketball practice so that we could come back to children's to go see his little brother, lift up his spirits a little bit. And of course, he was still under drugs and basically a zombie in his hospital bed.
C
So you were crying, just staring at him probably right?
B
But it was funny because I told William, I said, dude, everyone that sees me is gonna. Cause the main reason I wanted is I can take the carpool lane. That's why I went and got. You go twice as fast. So I said, hey, just. He goes, dad, why is everybody slowing down in front of you? And I said, well, it's the same thing. He goes, oh, they think you're ice. And I said, oh, my God, I didn't even think of that.
C
You do have kind of an ice look about you.
B
Think so?
C
You're tall, you're white. You kind of have this supremacist feel about you.
B
Should I start pulling?
C
What you need to start doing is wearing a mask in your car, like.
B
One of those and just kind of giving people the stare.
C
And you get point to your eyes like with your fingers, and then point to them. You know, you think you have a bad with your car. Reverse. Yeah, I have a military Humvee. You know what? I haven't been allowed to drive for a couple of weeks now. Yeah, you don't want to go rolling through town in a. For fun for you Humvee.
B
Okay. Fun plan for us.
C
No, you're not doing that.
B
No, no, you just give me the keys.
C
Yeah. Just let you go driving through. Yeah, I don't. You know, it is funny because I did say to one of my daughters, I'm like, that's a truck. I probably won't be able to drive around very often lately. Coming up, I think that one screams kind of ice military type of deal.
B
Well, I've rode dirty in that thing.
C
Yeah, it's fun, isn't it?
B
Oh, it's awesome.
C
And little kids wave to you. I get more looks in that car than any car I've ever owned in my entire life. I don't think this would be the kind of looks I'd want to get in the next handful of weeks driving through Minneapolis.
B
Probably not. Okay, so there's a statistic that I wanted to bring up with you and to the listener, and I find it not quite astounding, but I find it almost laughable at the current state of affairs, especially as it relates to the current state of affairs here in the great state of Minnesota and in the Twin Cities. Michael, I give you this. Are you ready? Mm. You know who Tom Holman is, right?
C
I do.
B
Tom Holman is the chief of. What would we call him? The Chief of Homeland Security.
C
Homeland Security. Director of Homeland Security.
B
Well, that. Isn't that Nome's job?
C
Yeah. Director of. I'll look for it.
B
Okay, so he has been employed by Donald Trump, but he was also employed by former President Barack Obama. Michael. In 2012, Tom Homan and Barack Obama deported 409,000 people.
C
Say that again.
B
409,000 people were deported in the year of 2012 under the direction of former President Barack Obama. In 2025, President Trump and Tom Homan deported 290,000 people. Barack Obama's ICE chief, Tom Holman, received an award for those 920,000 removals. That's right. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2012.
C
He put it around Tom Holman's neck.
B
And now he's being called a Nazi. He's being called Hitler. He's being called all sorts of bad names. And it shows you one thing about how the American public can so easily be manipulated.
C
He was active. Former active. Acting ICE Director is what they have his.
B
Under the Obama administration.
C
No. And now it's the Executive Associate Director of Enforcement and Removal. He's got kind of a weird title. So, yeah, it is strange when you listen to quotes from Barack Obama. Do you have any quotes from Barack Obama?
B
I do, Michael. And, you know, this is why it's. This is why it infuriates me so much, because it's hard to not be able to see all of the different semantics revolved around a topic. I totally get it. We're all busy. We got things going on. We've got kids to take care of. We've got a job to worry about. So there's many, many things that can get lost in the shuffle. And I will say, that's the very reason why we are in this mess, especially in this state, because not enough people are paying attention to all the particulars with a given subject. And that's one party. The one party rule in this state has easily been able to get away with what they've been able to get away with over the number of years. I'd like to play you this from our president, Michael. Our president had some thoughts on immigration.
C
Can't wait to hear these from our president.
B
His bipartisan hope of getting it done. This year, the Senate passed an immigration reform bill by a wide bipartisan majority, and it addresses the key issues that need to be addressed. It would strengthen our borders. It would level the playing field by holding employers accountable if they knowingly hire undocumented workers. It would modernize our legal immigration system so that we eliminate the backlog of family visas and make it easier to attract highly skilled entrepreneurs from beyond our borders. It would make sure that everybody plays by the same rules by providing a pathway to earned citizenship for those who are living in the shadows.
C
So let me ask you this reverse. Did Barack Obama become a liberal after that, or did the liberal party, was it conservative and now has gone very far to the left?
B
I can tell you what happened. And I think it started under the Obama administration. Where from? He was inaugurated in what? Well, he was elected in 08, but took office in 2009, and then Trump took office in 2016. During that time, things were pretty good.
C
Race relations plummeted.
B
Well, right. That's, I guess, my point where it started to really teeter off the rails. And then the alignment with the democratic socialist movement in this country is what really, really caused that party to plummet.
C
I mean, did the Overton window shift so far that you and I are using quotes from Barack Obama and saying, yeah, we agree with those. We agree with that. President Obama, we need secure borders. We need a pathway to citizenship for people that are here or want to come here. Right. A legal pathway to citizenship. That seems awfully common sense. Back then in 2009 when I was saying, was I saying that seems super aggressive. Why is he talking about this? I can't imagine I'd have that much of a different view than what Barack Obama had in 2011 or whatever it was. 2009.
B
I'm sorry, go ahead.
C
I mean, it just seems so weird now. Why did he shift? Okay, let me ask you this. You love the Minnesota Vikings?
B
Sure.
C
You've loved them for 20 years.
B
Oh, God, no. More than that.
C
More than that. Has your Mind completely shift on the love of the Minnesota Vikings sometimes. Okay, my point is, is how did Barack Obama go from I don't believe in gay marriage, I don't believe in illegal immigration. I don't believe.
B
And just completely, completely shift everybody that's been a long tenured member of any elected position. Whether you talk about Chuck Schumer, whether you talk about Nancy Pelosi, whether you. Anybody on the right. Right. The only thing that they have in mind is what am I possibly going to do to remain elected and remain in office. There's also clips of Schumer saying the.
C
Exact same thing, literally the exact same.
B
Thing about immigration and how we really need to get a handle on this. The entire Clinton campaign had that exact same rhetoric back in 1992 or whatever.
C
Bill Clinton was a far right conservative in comparison. It's weird how far right he was.
B
Yeah. And I think so. To answer your question, I will say this. Many people have issues with Donald Trump, even people that voted for him. I happen to be one of them. I'll say it publicly, I don't care. So I'm just gonna speak for me that, yeah, there's some things like Don, we don't need to do that, don't need to. We don't need to say that.
C
Send the military into Greenland.
B
We don't really need to put that on Truth Social. We don't really need to say that. Just let that sleeping dog lie, you know, maybe just, you know, don't call the gal piggy. And there's so many things that he's done that I 125,000% agree with. But I think the reason why we have the quote on jeel, that's why Trump got elected. I think so many people, and I'm 100% including myself, myself in this, we got so freaking tired and exhausted of the woke nonsense that I said, I don't care who it is, I can't cast a vote for that.
C
Has the conservative side shifted that far?
B
A little bit. Trump's had a little bit to do with that.
C
Okay, well, help me understand this. What did we believe in 20 years ago that we diametrically oppose today? And when I say we, I mean the Conservative Party, not necessarily. Mike Fratelloni. What did the Conservative Party believe in wholeheartedly in 2011 and now believes completely different? Cuz Barack Obama in 2011 said he wanted closed borders, he wanted to stop illegal immigration. Now he doesn't want that.
B
Why? But when that shift started to happen, and it's absolutely crystal clear why the open border policy began. Let's not kid ourselves. The Democratic Party said, my God, we're gonna get our asses kicked by Trump. And the ramifications of, again, so many people saying, I don't want the WOKE nonsense overtaking my country. They realized, meaning the Biden administration realized, if we don't do something about this, we're not only gonna lose to Trump in the presidential election, we're gonna lose congressional seats, we're gonna lose a lot. So that's why they flooded this country with people here illegally and have done everything possible to try to get them to vote. Look what's happened in our state alone. When Walls and those buffoons in state government said, you know what? Everyone has the right to a driver's license. We're not morons. We know exactly why you did that, you idiot. It's not because everyone should be behind the wheel, which, by the way, this time of the year, no, everyone should not be behind the wheel because no one knows how to drive in the snow anymore. That's beside the point. My point is, we know exactly why you did that, you buffoon. You're not One Minnesota. This whole notion of One Minnesota walls isn't from here. Flanagan's not from here. None of these people are from here.
C
Mayor Fry's not from here.
B
Mayor Frye's not from here. Keith Ellison's not from here. Quit with your One Minnesota bull.
C
Was her born in Minnesota? No. No, she wasn't. She's an immigrant.
B
Her family. But her family did it the right way. Yeah.
C
Yeah. They came here legally.
B
They immigrated to this.
C
But one thing. This is a little digression, but before you blow a gasket in your heart, I wanted to give you a little digression.
B
Thank you.
C
Have you heard corporate national media talk about May or her?
B
No.
C
They believe that her is her pronouns. So they keep using her first name as her last name. And I really think that's quite adorable.
B
So they call her Ms. Kholoi. Yep.
C
They're saying Mayor Khali. It's like. Cause they don't want. They think the her is her. Marking her pronouns. I'm like, no, that's not helpful. No, no. But I thought that was kind of clever when I was like, oh, corporate media that you don't know. And many people not understanding that it's Mayor Fry, not Frey.
B
Right.
C
Yeah. A lot of, I don't know. Reivers. I'm still. I like to try to figure things out. I really do. And I wish we could go back to Chuck U. Schumer. And I think we could go back to Barack Obama. I think we could have a conversation with Bill Clinton and say, bill, what the hell happened? You know, I probably would be a guy who would like Bill Clinton.
B
Yeah, Right.
C
I like a good massage. I like private jets. Right. He too seemed to like those things. Right. He probably had a burger in his lifetime before he turned into some vegetarian.
B
Right.
C
But he was a middle of the roader. And now what he said sounds extreme. Right. To people. How the hell did that shift happen?
B
I don't know.
C
And so here's one thing that I'm going back on. I think today is the day where if we were gonna have a Republican governor in this state, it's coming up to this election, right? We have a chance with so much going on in this town right now. But what's gonna happen? I have this theory about Michelle Tafoya. She's gonna take a big chunk of the Republican money, right? And she's gonna do it, and then she's gonna step up and she's gonna open her mouth up about abortion, and then boom, all that money, all that effort is just gone.
B
Well. And as Joe has stated, 100,000 gets an endorsement and accepts it and aligns herself with President Trump. Unfortunately, she's got zero. She's got zero shots winning in the state.
C
She can't say anything about Donald Trump. She only has to say things about what's going on in this state. And if she opens her mouth up and says, we have to outlaw abortion in the state, I don't get it. You know, you can't win with that. Is it better to win and then decrease the amount of abortions that happen? Maybe don't outlaw them, but say, hey, let's set up this society so more people don't have to have abortions. Isn't that better?
B
Let's just play the two sides of this. Bill Clinton said this. Best abortions should be legal and rare.
C
Rare and safe. Right?
B
Yeah.
C
And now that seems fairly conservative to me. That seems like a winning conservative strategy. Right? That seems like, oh, I can live with that. Mike Fratelloni can live with that strategy. Right.
B
It's wrong. What are we doing? His name is Mike Fredaloni. My name is Chris Reivers. This is the weekly scramble podcast, and we're. We'll be right back.
D
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B
Normally I end a segment with an ad, but let's start this segment with an ad from our friends@wearenuts and we are nutsmn.com check this out. You think I'm sharing this with anybody?
C
That's really good. If you're watching. This is a jumbo can of can. How many ounces is that?
B
Let's look this up. I'm now at the age where I have to lift up my glasses.
C
I saw that. I think it's kind of funny.
B
400. It's one pound. It's absolute. One pound jar.
C
Oh my God.
B
Of jumbo cashews.
C
Salted.
B
Oh my God. That's gonna come in handy.
C
Someone asked me like, oh, I wonder if they make them unsalted. I'm like, they could. Why would anybody eat them?
B
Why would you take joy out of your life?
C
It's like the people that eat sunflower seeds with no salt on them. Gross Weirdos.
B
It's just disgusting. Anyway, the entire lineup can be found at weearnutsmn.com, available right now at 700 different quick trip locations. Fratelloni's Hardware and Garden Stores Locations. Mac's Hardware, Lunds and Barleys. Kowalski's Markets. Coburn's is also carrying we are Nuts Cub Foods. Boy, the list keeps going on and on. County Market. Am I forgetting anybody else?
C
You're finding them all over the place, right? They've really had this incredible growth in the last eight months or whatever. And good for them.
B
By the way, the big game is coming up, so stock up on snacks right now for the big game coming up.
C
You could get a super big bowl and pour them into the super big bowl for the big game.
B
Right?
C
You really could screw them. Have them come sue me after that.
B
No.
C
What? Right.
B
You didn't use the words consecutive super big bowl that.
C
I'm putting my. We are nuts in the cashews.
B
The maple bourbon toffee, almonds. The cinnamon toffee. Peanuts. Peanuts. I'm gonna fancy this one right now. The big jar of cherries, berries, nuts and chocolate.
C
Yeah, that one's weird.
B
I haven't had this one yet, so I'm excited about that as well.
C
You might as well break it open because you know if you don't break it open, it's gonna be gone. It's like. It is weird that whenever someone brings something into the studio, it's just gone.
B
It just disappears all the time.
C
Like, who's stealing this stuff? What? Thieves are in radio.
B
He normally sits in that chair over there. Rookie. So anyway, we are nuts and we are nutsmn. Com. Place your order. Let them know that you heard about them on the Garage Lodging podcast and also here on the weekly scramble podcast. I was distracted because I was looking up a story. We were talking about where did we go from here? And I don't know. Did you see President Trump's video that he posted on social media today?
C
Which one?
B
Where the Democratic Party really wants to take us. They want one party rule in this.
C
Is this AI? It's an AI Video?
B
No. Cause I think it was issued from his account.
C
Okay.
B
But anyway, I don't wanna necessarily highlight that point, but some of the things he pointing reference to made a ton of sense. Right. Because it's been so clear where, hey, early voting starts today. I mean, I'm getting texts almost every day about early voting starting already in January. I'm thinking the election's in freaking November.
C
Yeah. How was early voting starting today? I don't get that.
B
Well, it actually started, I think, on January 7th.
C
How? For what?
B
For governor. That's my point. When it's specific races, Mike, that's the problem that I have is when you.
C
Try to manipulate political races, not ethnicity races.
B
What did I say?
C
Well, you said specific races. And I was like, well, let's say no. Political races.
B
Political races. Yes, that's exactly what I meant to say. So when you try to make something so convoluted and so difficult that wasn't broken to begin with, by the way. That's the problem that we're going to keep encouraging and keep taking place, because nothing good is going to happen from this. And that's why so many people, myself included, don't trust the process. I don't anymore. And you think, okay, we've had food fraud, we've had Medicaid fraud, we've had daycare fraud. We have had whatever.
C
Any place where there's an ngo, any place where people are spending not their money, we'll have fraud. We've always had it. And hopefully.
B
And where does it all start at? It starts at the election ballot. So if you don't think that there's any type of election fraud going on, you're clearly not paying attention. Now, how extensive is it? I have no idea. But there's a reason we got to this place, you know, got here in the first place, because of how messed up this entire system is.
C
Okay. I can't find that early voting is open in Minnesota. I can't find that. Do you think you could be just getting. Maybe I'm getting spam text messages.
B
Maybe I'm getting spam. Maybe that's. I don't know.
C
But maybe I'm wrong because it's going back to September 25th. I can't imagine early voting would be open because who could you possibly vote for?
B
Right.
C
Who would be on the ballot? I mean, there's 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats. Are there any Democrats that you've seen that are running for governor that you think would be worth looking at?
B
Off the top of my head, I guess I have not.
C
Okay.
B
I guess I have not.
C
I just don't know. Right.
B
One of the things that I did want to point out, though, in this sea of mess is you remember our friends from the Quality Leering center, right?
C
I did.
B
So they have. For those of you that don't know, the Quality Leering center, which they meant to type, Quality Learning center were the ones that were highlighted in the Nick Shirley. Nick Shirley video that basically exploded, went viral. Everyone saw it all across the world. And so the Quality Leering center started their own Twitter account. Oh, did they? Oh, yes.
C
Oh, no, no, no. Someone started it. Well, someone just like I wanted to buy. Cause I went out to buy the URL. Cause I wanted to own that URL so I could make shirts. Yes. Someone else. Someone opened their own. By the way, Amy Klobuchar is running.
B
She's.
C
We could do worse than Amy Klobuchar.
B
We could do worse. But she will still pursue and go after the same type of woke nonsense that the Walz administration.
C
Steve Simon, Secretary of State.
B
No, thank you.
C
One Keith Ellison. You'd love him.
B
No, thank you.
C
Let me go. Senate Majority Leader Aaron Murphy. No, no. Okay. That's who we had thus far. Kind of the notable Democrats.
B
Oh my God. Okay, let's explore more fun things.
C
Some Twitter from the Quality Leering Center.
B
So the Quality Leering center started a Twitter account and of course the first thing I did was had to follow the Quality Learning Center.
C
How many followers do they have?
B
About 20,000.
C
Oh my God, why didn't we do that?
B
So they like to highlight. They almost. It's a parody account obviously, but they like to highlight videos from the likes of Jacob Fry. And it's a good follow if you must. And I must.
C
Okay.
B
So Ilhan Omar, you're familiar with her, heard of her. So she. Representative Ilhan Omar. This was. When was this, this took place? I think, I think it was either early this morning or late yesterday. She tweeted the following. Okay, Minnesota is getting hit with severely cold weather this week with a little snowflake emotion.
C
Oh, nice.
B
Find your closest warming center here. And she included the URL for the Hennepin US severe cold warming options because there are people out there.
C
There are people out on the street.
B
Gonna need a warm place to stay. They're gonna need just somewhere to maybe find a meal and what have you. The Quality Leering center replied to that and said, if you get cold, you can come to our school. We have plenty of open space. Meaning we haven't had any kids here.
C
We haven't had any kids here for a long time.
B
But them checks keep coming on in.
C
Oh my gosh.
B
And then they override, or what do you call it? They replied the entire thing and said, today in math class, kids, we're going to learn about ratios. Because Ilhan's Tweet got about 220 likes. 442 comments. And then the reply got about 2000 comments.
C
Wow.
B
Meaning people really liked the fact that.
C
They were ripping on Elon.
B
They were called out. Or that she was called out by the Quality Leering Center. The Quality Leering Center.
C
It is of great importance that people stay warm and safe. Right. People are gonna be outside, it's gonna be very, very cold. And it is. Is that the function of government to make sure people don't freeze to death?
B
Maybe, To a certain extent, I would think. Maybe. Probably that's A public service.
C
I have a question for you.
B
Oh, boy.
C
This is another function of government question. This would be a great topic for Joseph Schray. All right, Add a little. Get one of those big voices that says, is this a function of government? I was listening to Minnesota Public Radio today. Listen NPR kind of a lot. It's my go to when I drive. And they were talking about shelter and people needing food assistance this time of year. And they said, we've also opened a pet food resource center. So if people were struggling because they weren't able to feed their pets, cats, dogs, and rodents, and I thought, wait, is that. And I'm not trying to be cold. I love dogs. I love cats. I love pets. Is it my job to pay for someone's gerbil food because they're struggling?
B
No, Mike, it's not. No, it's not.
C
A charity that people are passionate about could set up.
B
And you want to contribute to that.
C
And you want to contribute to it. God bless you. I believe in dogs shouldn't go. If I lost my job, God forbid, and my dog was starving to death, I wish there was a kind person there to help me with food for my dog.
B
Right?
C
I wish that. But is it the government's job to set up a dog center so people who are struggling economically can feed their dog, cat and rodent? I thought, is that right? Are some of my taxes going to gerbil food? For someone who has a gerbil terrarium in their house and they're struggling and it's mandatory that I pay for their gerbil food, I have compassion. If someone said, hey, my gerbil's starving to death, I would be compassionate and pay for it. I would. I'd help them figure it out. Or I'd say, let's get rid of your gerbil, run free of your gerbil. I'd figure out a way to do it right? But why is that a function of government?
B
And that's the problem that I and so many others have, Mike. It's almost as if, you know, when you decide to either buy a home, whether you decide to buy a car, whether you decide to get an insurance plan, you have options, okay? You have choices that you get to make based upon what you either can afford or want to spend or a combination of the two. With this, we don't gotta say, yeah, we're supposed to trust those that have been elected to these positions to take care of that for us. Here's the problem. The problem is no one's being responsible with any of this.
C
Or they want this massive abuse to happen because they're abusive, because they're probably on the take. I can't get to the on the take.
B
I know you are, but I was where you were maybe three years ago. Two or three years ago, then I started. Well, wait a minute. Then why would you keep. Here's the thing. There's no other explanation now because everything's been exposed. And here's the thing.
C
But don't blame to malice. What could be blamed on?
B
Stupidity for sure. But you can't be this stupid to not see what's really happening. And the only reason that one party is trying to protect those that are here illegally to remain here is for one reason only. To make sure that they can still vote come November.
C
Yeah, to keep that trough going. To keep that pile of more votes. I do see when a certain group of people steals money, right? Defrauds the state government and federal government and then that money gets funneled back to a candidate in donations. Right.
B
Which has happened often.
C
Which happens often. Right. I don't necessarily know that the politician. I don't think Tim Walls is saying, hey, I need to get me some of that food fraud scandal money. I don't think that's happening. I think that would leave an incredibly clear paper trail.
B
I cannot wait for when the investigation into Ilhan Omar finally surfaces and we realize just how extensive this has become. When she went from a net worth of. Of 50 bucks when she took office to $30 million and her husband's business. Or her husband, her brother. No, her husband. Sorry, her husband. Her husband's business went from a value of about 50 grand to over $5 million. I mean, it's almost as if they're not even trying very hard to hide it anymore.
C
They're not.
B
Because they're getting away with it.
C
And they don't need to not get away with it. You know what they have to say? Nothing. Doesn't matter. That's how it works.
B
Make sure you vote for.
C
Make sure you vote for me. That's what they need to do.
B
Where we see the same frickin B roll that she said she's been running for the last 500 years.
C
Do you think Ilhan could run for governor?
B
Oh, don't even, don't. I mean, I'm already in a bad mood.
C
She's already United States representative. She could run for governor. She could become a senator.
B
Here's. You know what, here's what's gonna happen. I know Amy filed her paperwork to run for Governor today. If Omar Fateh decides to run for governor, God help us one and all, he'll get the nomination.
C
You think so?
B
Well, he almost got the nomination, and.
D
We had it in.
C
But from what I understand from the Somali streets, because I follow some Somalis on social media, he is in the wrong clan. Oh. And because his clan is not the one, the majority clan, it's very hard for him to get massive votes. That's why Fry won, Because Fry was accepted into, I'm gonna say, the higher clan or the larger clan. He was given a designation in that clan. Which is interesting. Right? That's very interesting.
B
But honest to God, what's happened to us? This is not the Minnesota I grew up in.
C
Yeah. And you say that. I get it. And. Right. Okay.
B
Is your life well? You're the wrong person to ask.
C
My life has been great. I can't bitch about anything. Here's what I'm going to say something. There's something called counterfactualization. Right? And if you want to become insane Reavers, keep counterfactualizing things. There is nothing you can do about the past. Nothing. It is gone. We are here today. We can pine for 1980, by the way. 1980 and between 1980 and 1989 were the best years. That was the pinnacle of America, Period. We didn't need to make America great again. It already was. Right. It's all been downhill slide since then. But you can't counterfactualize things. We can't change what's past today. We were living in this world. This world has some corruption. We have ICE agents running rampant through town. Right? Here's where we are today. How do we make today the best? I keep going back to make America one again. Right? You know that. Instead of make America great again, let's make America one again. Let's all be on the same side one more time. Let's do that in Minnesot. We can do it. All right.
B
That's a good note. That's a good note to end on. Thank you.
C
Okay.
B
Wait.
C
I'm not ending on that.
B
Oh.
D
I'm sorry.
C
Cause I don't know if you knew this, but I had a little surgery. Right? I had a clock installed in my brain. Reavers.
B
Oh, no.
C
Yeah. You know what's happening?
B
What?
C
Now I'm having second thoughts. Get it? Second thoughts.
B
Thank you. Reverse.
C
You are the best.
B
Please do us a favor. Rate and review the show wherever you happen to be. Listening to the weekly Scramble podcast. It helps others find the show. It helps us out as well. And we appreciate each other, each and every single one of you. His name is Mike Fratelloni. My name is Chris Reivers. Thank you so very much for listening to the weekly Scramble podcast. We'll talk to you again next time. Until then, cheers.
Episode: SCRAMBLE: An interesting immigration statistical comparison between Trump in 2025 and Obama in 2012
Date: January 23, 2026
Hosts: Chris Reivers & Mike Fratelloni
Network: Gamut Podcast Network
This episode of the Weekly Scramble explores a thought-provoking comparison between immigration enforcement during the Trump and Obama administrations. Hosts Chris Reivers and Mike Fratelloni examine shifting political stances on immigration, the manipulation of public opinion, and broader transformations in Minnesota and national politics. Peppering the episode with biting humor, local references, and friendly banter, the hosts discuss the consequences of “one party rule,” frustrations with the current direction of political discourse, and how these changes are impacting everyday life in Minnesota.
Chris brings up a striking statistic from Tom Homan (Acting ICE Director under Obama, later Trump):
"409,000 people were deported in the year of 2012 under the direction of former President Barack Obama. In 2025, President Trump and Tom Homan deported 290,000 people."
Homan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Obama for his enforcement efforts—a fact now seen in a new, sometimes negative light today (06:32).
“He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2012 … and now he's being called a Nazi. ... It shows you one thing about how the American public can so easily be manipulated.” – Chris (06:34)
Mike notes the dramatic political shift:
"Did Barack Obama become a liberal after that, or did the liberal party, was it conservative and now has gone very far to the left?" – Mike (08:39)
They play an Obama clip highlighting his past support for border security and a pathway to citizenship (08:00).
The hosts reflect on how statements from Clinton, Obama, and even Schumer now seem out of step with today’s Democratic Party.
Chris and Mike debate if their own values have changed or if the Overton window—the range of acceptable political discourse—has moved.
“I think the reason why we have the quote on jeel, that's why Trump got elected. ... So many people ... got so freaking tired and exhausted of the woke nonsense.” – Chris (11:55)
They explore how politicians’ stances shift with the winds of electability, not principles (10:43–11:13).
Critique of recent Minnesota government policies, from driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants to concerns over election integrity (13:09–14:39).
Chris and Mike voice skepticism toward early voting and potential for fraud (22:06–23:32).
“If you don't think that there's any type of election fraud going on, you're clearly not paying attention.” – Chris (23:12)
Conversation about whether it’s a legitimate function of government to provide pet food and shelter support (27:41–29:43).
“Is it my job to pay for someone's gerbil food because they're struggling?” – Mike (28:36)
Chris argues that government mishandling and incentives create opportunities for abuse, with little accountability (29:43–30:54).
Mike reflects on nostalgia and urges listeners to focus on making things better today, rather than longing for the past (33:53–34:59):
“Let's make America one again. ... Let's all be on the same side one more time.” – Mike (34:59)
On Politicians’ Shifts:
"Whether you talk about Chuck Schumer, whether you talk about Nancy Pelosi, whether ... anybody on the right ... the only thing that they have in mind is what am I possibly going to do to remain elected." – Chris (10:43)
On the Political Climate Shift:
"Bill Clinton was a far right conservative in comparison. ... It's weird how far right he was." – Mike (11:29)
On Voter Trust:
“That's the problem that we're going to keep encouraging ... because nothing good is going to happen from this. ... So many people, myself included, don't trust the process.” – Chris (22:31)
On Small-Scale Corruption:
“The only reason that one party is trying to protect those that are here illegally to remain here is for one reason only. To make sure that they can still vote come November.” – Chris (31:13)
On Unity:
“Make America one again. ... Let's all be on the same side one more time.” – Mike (34:59)
The episode is a blend of local color, national political commentary, and personal outrage over what the hosts see as misplaced priorities and shifting standards. Chris and Mike return repeatedly to frustrations with how political messaging, especially around immigration, is less about principle and more about maintaining power. The pair mix humor and exasperation as they wrestle with why things have changed so drastically and wonder if a return to “common sense” politics—or a new sense of unity—is still possible.
For listeners seeking a candid, often irreverent take on the current American and Minnesotan political scene—particularly around immigration—this episode delivers insight, historical context, and a strong sense of local voice.