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Chris Reivers
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Chris Reivers
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.
Mike Fratelloni
How you doing, Reivers?
Chris Reivers
I'm doing great. I have so much that I wanted discuss with you on today's podcast and I want to start in the great state of California, a once tremendous state. It was a beautiful state.
Mike Fratelloni
Still is.
Chris Reivers
Still is a beautiful state. And there's many, many good parts. In fact, it was about a year ago for the first time ever, I went to Palm Springs spring break. We kind of remember, we did one of the dum dum runs. We did the baseball game at Anaheim Stadium, and then we stayed in Palm Springs. Palm Springs is beautiful, by the way. Have you never been? Oh, I thought you had. That's why I mentioned it. Oh, okay. Well, I'll put it this way. And Joe's the one that. Because Joe has a really good friend that lives out there. So he and the cp, they usually go to Palm Springs at least Once a year, if not twice.
Mike Fratelloni
Supposed to be hot.
Chris Reivers
That's the thing. So there's kind of two different Palm Springs. Right? There's the really glamorous part where people are living in the hills and just. And it's gorgeous. And then there's the other part of Palm Springs where people are kind of struggling day to day.
Mike Fratelloni
Sure.
Chris Reivers
If you know what I'm saying. But yeah, it was hotter than blazes. In fact, that was when we decided to go through the Joshua Tree, the national forest. And basically it said, here's the deal. If you are planning on hiking for more than 30 minutes, bring water with you or you will die.
Mike Fratelloni
You'll die.
Chris Reivers
Yes. I mean, they were just. And there were signs everywhere. Anyway, I digress. But California's got some issues.
Mike Fratelloni
I bet you anything I know what they are.
Chris Reivers
And here's the thing. I'm not here to have a debate about whether or not Nick Shirley is a journalist. That's not what I want to do right now. Because here's the thing. I don't give a damn what his credentials are. The thing is, Nick Shirley is pointing out problems that exist right now. I don't know if he started here, but he did it here in Minneapolis, pointing out all the various fraud locations. Fraud issues with various locations. But he's now doing it in California. And I have a feeling when all is said and done with what he uncovers, this is gonna look like a kid's birthday party in Minnesota compared to what's going on in California. So there's a couple of different things I want to mention. He found a location. Where is it? Right here. He found a location that's basically so picture a. Like, you know what those outdoor. Like an outdoor motel 6. You know, where the doors face the parking lot for the room. A motel.
Mike Fratelloni
Not a hotel.
Chris Reivers
A motel. Yeah. So picture like a nice two storied Motel 6. Right?
Mike Fratelloni
For motor, tell. For hotel, motor, hotel, motel.
Chris Reivers
I did not know that. Okay. I learned something here every day.
Mike Fratelloni
Nice.
Chris Reivers
So he stops at this motel, and in it there's hundreds of very expensive luxury vehicles. He's thinking, well, this doesn't seem to add up. So he started to look at the addresses of these various institutions offering all sorts of different care.
Mike Fratelloni
Okay.
Chris Reivers
Whether it's hospice care. Hospice care was the biggest one.
Mike Fratelloni
It's an important thing.
Chris Reivers
And so all of these various businesses had the same exact address with different unit numbers.
Mike Fratelloni
Oh, okay.
Chris Reivers
So they're operating. And I don't even know if it was a motel or if it is an Actual apartment building. But it doesn't matter. The problem is all this hospice care is riddled with fraud. So they see him, he starts asking questions to people. He's knocking on doors and, oh, I don't have an answer. And then all of a sudden, the word started to spread. People started fleeing to their cars and leaving in droves. It's quite hilarious, to be honest with you. So anyway, one unit. So again, motel one unit, two. It had 83 different hospice for hospice care agencies attached to one address unit.
Mike Fratelloni
Okay.
Chris Reivers
One of them very.
Mike Fratelloni
That's a businessman, a very good businessman.
Chris Reivers
And I'm going to guess, and I'm going to stand out on a sturdy limb, I'm going to guess that that unit probably didn't offer up any hospice care.
Mike Fratelloni
No. Well, you wouldn't necessarily have to do hospice care on site.
Chris Reivers
True, true. But I'm going to guess, you know, you got. You got the one bed. You got the one bed in that unit. Maybe two. Maybe there's two beds.
Mike Fratelloni
Well, I'd hope that they won't do hospice there. Once you do hospice at someone's home, maybe.
Chris Reivers
I love how you're trying to give them an excuse. It's wonderful.
Mike Fratelloni
But 80 businesses, 83. 83 in one unit of how many thousands of people?
Chris Reivers
Millions upon millions upon millions of dollars worth of hospice. I mean, they were really doing the Lord's work.
Mike Fratelloni
How can you not check? Like, so when the government hires you. Ngo, Non government organization. When they take the money and say, hey, you guys really know how to do hospice care. And a company says, yes, in fact, we're taking care of 100 people today in hospice care. At some point in time, those hundred have to die because hospice. The definition of hospice is end of life, right?
Chris Reivers
Oh, but it gets so much better.
Mike Fratelloni
Okay, keep going.
Chris Reivers
So apparently we're gonna transition now into voting, okay. Because apparently tied to a lot of this hospice care are registered voters. And again, a lot of this can't be proven because there is so much. This is so layered and so steep in fraud that it can't really be proven that, well, this person. You don't know that this person isn't still alive yet. They're still voting because. And California has some of the loosest restrictions on voting requirements in the entire country.
Mike Fratelloni
Well, they do that because they know asking someone to vote with a license is absolutely racist because many people in California think that anybody who's not white is too stupid to be able to get a license.
Chris Reivers
Now, again, I'm gonna transition to the next guy that's featured in California. And I know he does work for a right wing website, but James o'. Keefe. You know who James o' Keefe is?
Announcer
I sure do.
Chris Reivers
And James o', Keefe, in the same time span, went undercover in Los Angeles posing as a homeless person.
Mike Fratelloni
Oh, nice.
Chris Reivers
And apparently he had the body cam and all that stuff on cameras. Petitioners admitted that they are paid 7 to $10 per signature, earning in some cases more than $1,000 per day. And the homeless are being farmed for votes and paid for in cash and drugs.
Mike Fratelloni
Really?
Chris Reivers
In the state of California. And here's the thing. I'm so tired of answering the question, well, how can you trust this? Or, well, no one, you know, like the Star Tribune, the Los Angeles Times. I'm not going to believe anything until I see it in that publication. Ladies and gentlemen, I got news for you. The Star Tribune is never going to do a story like that because they are running coverage for the Walz administration. And I would assume that publications in Los Angeles are doing the same exact thing because there's a biased slant with their reporting.
Mike Fratelloni
Well, the SAVE act is trying to pass through Congress right now.
Chris Reivers
Yep.
Mike Fratelloni
That's the simple, simple federal legislation that's saying you need to have a license to vote, Right. You just need to have a driver's license, some form of ID to vote. You have to do it to get a library card, to get on a plane, to buy a thing of booze, to get a job, to shovel streets in New York, you need to have a license, right?
Chris Reivers
Yep.
Mike Fratelloni
80% of the population, black, white, green, yellow, whatever, all think it's a good idea and they're not going to pass it. And they're not gonna be able to pass it because one side of the political aisle, the left side, is saying, no, we're not gonna do that. Even though their constituents, liberals, the left side, 75 percent of people say, yeah, you probably should have a valid ID to vote.
Chris Reivers
And it's. We all know the reason why. It's because they want to make sure that people that are voting in our elections are actually US citizens.
Mike Fratelloni
You'd hope that's the minimum we can ask.
Chris Reivers
Well, and that's why it's so obvious. I mean, it's almost as if you think we're that stupid. Well, I mean, Schumer's been at this podium for how many days in a row saying that this is just a terrible thing. We all know why you're saying this.
Mike Fratelloni
What I really need people to do is minorities that are getting this complete and utter disrespectful thing. When Schumer says, it is very difficult for low income and minorities to be able to get driver's license and get IDs.
Announcer
It's so insulting.
Mike Fratelloni
It's so insulting. Would you say, shut up. If I want to be in the army, if I want to fly on a plane, if I want to go to the liquor store, and if I want to get a job, which 99.9% of people out in America, black, white, red, yellow, whatever color, have had to do one of those things. Everyone has a driver's license, and they're just plain. That's the only thing they can say. Until minority start saying, shut up. Quit saying that on our behalf because we're not special.
Chris Reivers
In fact, I believe it might have been New York City, one of those man on the street videos, and a guy walked around to say, hey, do you think requiring ID to vote is racist? Every white person said yes. Every minority said no. Here, here's my ID right here.
Mike Fratelloni
It's embarrassing.
Chris Reivers
It is. It's completely embarrassing.
Mike Fratelloni
It's embarrassing and rude and racist to say that. Oh, they might. Might be a little harder for them. Why?
Chris Reivers
Says who?
Mike Fratelloni
Says not them. Not them. And until they stand up, what really is gonna have to happen? Reverse is they're gonna say, you know, all of this bullshit now, we're not into this anymore. We're gonna slide over to the right a little bit. We're gonna move from a little bit left to a little bit right, and a handful of them are gonna move over.
Chris Reivers
This is why Trump got elected.
Mike Fratelloni
This is why Trump got elected.
Chris Reivers
100%.
Mike Fratelloni
I'm surprised 75% of African Americans didn't vote for Trump if, you know, they used to call Bill Clinton the first black president. If Trump isn't the first black president, I don't know who is. I swear to God. I think he has more. He gives a shit less about what color you are than any other president.
Chris Reivers
No, he wants you to be a production person.
Mike Fratelloni
He wants you to be productive. He wants you to kick ass. He wants you to win.
Chris Reivers
He wants America to be great again. So here's the other thing about homelessness and all that stuff with Gavin Newsom. And I don't want to play it because it's kind of. It's more of a visual thing, but basically it shows a time lapse of Gavin Newsom from when he was the mayor of San francisco back in 2008 till just this last year, talking about. And he's Doing the pointed thumb and talking with his hands deal about all these plans that he's gonna have and all these different programs that he's gonna implement to combat homelessness. It's the same garbage being spewed year after year after year. They continue to throw money at this problem. And we all know where that money's going. It's going into the pockets of those that are benefiting the most from not the actual problem.
Mike Fratelloni
The corporate homelessness is what we call it.
Chris Reivers
Correct. I also want to end up a California corner here. So some of us will agree that spending money on projects is kind of a waste of money and time.
Mike Fratelloni
Keep going.
Chris Reivers
Okay, so one of the projects being worked on in the state of California. Michael, this is a doozy.
Mike Fratelloni
It's an important one.
Chris Reivers
And it's also got some audio. And I cannot wait to play this for you. So, Michael, the project is called the Wallace Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. Ooh, very fancy.
Mike Fratelloni
It's gonna be a big bridge.
Chris Reivers
Very fancy. California's wildlife crossing bridge. Michael, this is over Freeway 101.
Mike Fratelloni
It's an important freeway, Very busy freeway.
Chris Reivers
So the project began back in 2022, and according to the city journal, the price tag on this project stands at $114 million. It started with a forecasted budget of $40 million. So it's almost three times as expensive as it initially started. Well, it's still not complete.
Mike Fratelloni
No. No animals have walked across.
Chris Reivers
And the project's leader, her name is Beth Pratt. Now, I want you to picture Beth in this particular video. Okay? Beth has got the nice, beautiful curly blonde hair. She's got the fancy yellow hard hat on because she's a working woman.
Mike Fratelloni
The gold shovel, maybe.
Chris Reivers
She's got the pink safety vest on. Oh, love it. And to symbolize the wildlife crossing bridge, she's holding the stuffed mountain lion as she's walking us through the tour. Are you ready to hear from Ms. Beth?
Mike Fratelloni
Yes.
Beth Pratt
Look at this. This is a full fledged habitat for everything from mountain lions to monarch butterflies. But you can also see the various habitats being designed here, from rock habitat to different slopes where animals large and small will not just travel over this, but actually live. What's left? Well, we're about to enter the final stage of construction. This structure is pretty much done, but we have to build the secondary structure over Agora Road so that the animals will not touch pavement at all. And what you're going to be seeing here is dirt fill be putting in. But also these utility lines, you see, have to be underground and relocated for us to Finish. That's a part of the project a lot of people don't know about. That is a part that we are paying for as part of the project, which is to underground electrical transmission lines which are making.
Chris Reivers
Alright, I can't take any more of this. I'm not denying the fact that we should probably find an answer to help wildlife cross from that side of the freeway to this side of the freeway. I'm not against that by any means.
Mike Fratelloni
They don't know how to press that little button on the light to. For the crossw.
Chris Reivers
Yeah, they can't do that.
Mike Fratelloni
They can't do that. Their La Paz don't do that.
Chris Reivers
What I'm against is the fact that replace the wildlife crossing, replace it with the southwest light rail line. Replace it with any other government construction. The new office building that we had
Mike Fratelloni
to build, the i94 Greenway.
Chris Reivers
Everything that the government tells you that it's gonna cost, basically just at minimum, double it. Because they're lying to you.
Mike Fratelloni
They're lying to you. If they were a corporation and you started building it and you. Hey, boss, I thought it was gonna be 40 million. I think it's gonna be a little higher. And your boss would say, a little higher. What do you mean? 41, 42. No, 114 million. You'd say, well, you're fired. Where did the money go? Give me the money back. You'd hunt for that person. Cause you'd know they were cheating and stealing.
Chris Reivers
Yep.
Mike Fratelloni
And that's what corporations are doing. It's just.
Chris Reivers
It's madness.
Mike Fratelloni
And that's what government agencies are doing. Cause they're. And you know, the more that I hear about our sweet Kristi Noem, some of the deals she gave on that $220 million ad campaign. One of the big chunks of that awarded to her political campaign committee. Some people that were on her political campaign that opened an ad agency two weeks before.
Chris Reivers
Oh, no.
Mike Fratelloni
It's like, hey, Christy, if that's true, I don't know if it's true. If that's true, you get to go to jail. Christy. You don't get to do shit like that. That is favoritism. That is absolutely wrong. And I'm in favor of starting to put some people in jail for this stuff. It's pissing me off.
Chris Reivers
I'm gonna volunteer to put Christie in handcuffs if that's what it did. I just say that all the time.
Mike Fratelloni
That was pretty good, though.
Chris Reivers
Thank you.
Mike Fratelloni
Yeah. So they built this bridge so animals could walk across it. Then what I love about it is we don't want to have the animals have to look at these ugly power lines.
Chris Reivers
No, we gotta get rid of that.
Mike Fratelloni
But everyone else gets to stare at the power lines. But we're worried that the animals are gonna say, well I'm not using this bridge. Cause those ugly power lines, they're right
Chris Reivers
in the way there.
Mike Fratelloni
Yeah, they're right in the way. I can't see. Oh, there's an eagle up there.
Chris Reivers
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Chris Reivers
So you want to head back to Iran? I do have that correct.
Mike Fratelloni
I want to play a thought experiment with our listeners and you, our viewers, because we're not on Rumble, are we?
Chris Reivers
We are not.
Mike Fratelloni
Because Rumble. Is that a right wing lunatic site?
Chris Reivers
I think so, but I'm not entirely sure.
Mike Fratelloni
See, I think we're left and right wing lunatics. We're both of them. I think we should be on Rumble too. But we're on Facebook, so you can this all of our viewers and listeners, I want you to play this thought experiment with me. So Reivers, if back in 1959, the Cuban Revolution happened, right? You could actually have guns as a Cuban citizen, A citizen of Cuba, you could own guns before that. Then the revolution came, Batista came in, and then they started to get a little bit more restrictive on gun laws. And then the Castros came in and, and went door to door to door and just pulled guns from people, right? Later on in Cuba, if you were found with a gun, you were just put to death, potentially, right? Same thing happened in Iran. And my thought experiment is, if guns would have been as ubiquitous as they are in the United States, would Cubans be free today? Would Iranians be free today? If okay, so when 30,000 people were just killed in Iran, right? When the Iranian government went through and said, hey, you can't protest. Watch, we're just gonna shoot guns at you, fire you down. 30,000 people. They think 32,000 people were killed. That's a lot of people.
Chris Reivers
Yes, it is.
Mike Fratelloni
That's a lot of people. Well, if those 32,000 people would have had guns, how would that have looked? Things would have looked a little different, right? They would have said, oh, you think you're gonna do this to us? You're not. We might protest peacefully, but the moment you start firing on us, we're gonna fire back. And that doesn't mean we're gonna win. But it's gon harder to keep us under the thumb. So my thought experiment is, are we doing something really right In America. And I know there's a whole bunch of the world that says, hey, guns kill, right? And guns do kill. Like in the hands of man, guns kill, right? So do cars, so do bottles, and so do knives, and so do bricks. And you know, all that stuff kills. But what's the day, what is the day for you where the government says, you know what, we think we need to take back some of these guns? Where a guy like you or me, maybe not much of a gun fan, says, now I need to go get many guns as I can possibly get, right? And I don't know when or if that will happen. And I know our former President Biden said, hey, you think with your guns you have to go up against an F14 tomahawk, it's like, no, no, we really don't. Right? A well skilled militia just has to do a couple of things to slow the government down a little bit. And what I keep thinking about is could we go to Iran and dump pallets of AK47s?
Chris Reivers
Oh my God.
Mike Fratelloni
I know that sounds stupid. Drop them from the sky and say, here you go, folks. Drop a bunch of Elon Musk Starlinks and a bunch of guns and say, now is the time to take your country back. Now is the time to find the IRGC and go after them.
Chris Reivers
But in that, the scenario that you're laying out though, and again, I don't know what the answer is, but in that particular scenario, aren't you then talking about just, just mass casualties? Aren't you talking about, I mean, aren't you literally talking about this will become one of the worst civil wars in the history of the world?
Mike Fratelloni
Well, you know, okay, let's say there's a billion and a half Chinese, right? If a billion and a half Chinese had guns and the 1.2 million communist leaders, a billion and a half of them could say, you're gonna kill a bunch of us, there's only 1.2 million of you, our 1.5 billion, some of us are gonna die, maybe way more than 1.2 million, but they'd be able to take control of China potentially. Well, in Iran. How many guns would we have to drop in Iran to say, hey, we don't want to hurt any of the civilians in Iran. We're very worried about that. So we're gonna drop guns and you need to take up those arms and go kill them. You have to kill your leadership, cuz they've been holding you down, pinning you down, murdering you in the streets. Murder them back. It's better. I would rather have my tax dollars go to dropping off pallet and pallet and pallet loads. Maybe not AK47s because those are r Russian guns. Right? Unless we get them cheap. So maybe they're cheap now. But I'd rather drop off military weapon small arms weaponry that we could drop off and say, go take your country back. Go take it back. Go open up the Strait of Hormuz. Because when you see some guy who says, I'm gonna bomb this place because we need to close this thing, shoot him with your gun that we just got from the United States. How many guns would you have to drop? 100,000? 200,000 guns?
Chris Reivers
Well, see, that's I guess what I'm getting at. Because you saw the news today from the White House. Correct. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said today that the Pentagon's reported. Oh my goodness gracious.
Mike Fratelloni
200 billion more dollars.
Chris Reivers
$200 billion budget request for Iran war funding could move. It takes money to kill bad guys. Hegseth said at a press briefing when asked to confirm the figure, which the Washington Post first reported Wednesday evening. We're going back to Congress and our folks there to ensure that we're properly funded. The acknowledgement that a massive supplemental request is in the offing could Signal that the US which has spent roughly 1 billion per day on the war so far, per some estimates, is preparing for a longer fight than the administration's previously floated. Four to six week timeline. That's a lot of money.
Mike Fratelloni
That is a lot of money. What we're doing is we're firing very expensive things. We're firing million dollar bombs at things. Right. That's actually kind of good for our economy. I know that sounds strange, but it keeps the economy rolling. War keeps the economy rolling. It absolutely does.
Chris Reivers
Does.
Mike Fratelloni
Right, because you have to resupply that thing. But you could drop for how many billions of dollars? It doesn't even cost you anything near that. I mean, if they're government guns, they have to be very expensive. But if we just dropped machine guns, AR15s, 400,000 of them in Iran, what would that do?
Chris Reivers
And Joe had mentioned this earlier today on gl, but again, if we are ridding the world of some of the worst of the worst of the worst that roam amongst us. Okay, I kind of understand that. But then it gets to the point, at what cost? Because you're never going to rid the entire world of every last bad guy. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely.
Mike Fratelloni
But this bad guy Reivers, what we tend to forget is why not just believe people? When the Ayatollah said, death to America, death to Israel, we want to get a nuclear bomb so we can blow these countries off the face of the map, right? When he says that, believe him. Why not believe him?
Chris Reivers
Yeah.
Mike Fratelloni
You know, how long do you have to hear someone say that before you say, say? Okay, thanks. Oh, you're enriching uranium. Oh, because you want to have nuclear reactors because your gallon of gas for you costs six cents and you want to waste your time making a nuclear reactor. You don't need energy, a different form of energy. You have gas here that can fuel you for the next thousand years for pennies on the dollar, right? So we obviously knew you were trying to build a nuclear arsenal. And you kept saying, we need to destroy America, we need to destroy Israel. Well, why not believe it? Why not believe him? It was his fault. It was the Ayatollah's fault. It wasn't our fault. And when you go mow down 30,000 citizens of your country and America's like, eh, I don't think we can stand for that. I don't love this war, right? I don't love any war. I don't like innocent people dying. But what if we went over, flew over Cuba? Cuba's 90 miles off our coast, right? From Florida. Hop on some planes and drop machine guns into Cuba and let the Cubans go ahead and take their country back. Put a little tag on each machine gun and say, hey, FYI, go get your country back.
Chris Reivers
But in that scenario, once again, you're assuming that that ammunition would fall into the hands of people that have the right intentions.
Mike Fratelloni
The other people who have the wrong intentions already have guns.
Chris Reivers
That's true.
Mike Fratelloni
So they might be able to hold two guns at a time. But enough of it would get into someone, some nut cases, hands like you or me, and say, oh, now everyone on my block has a gun. Let's go clear this up. There has to be something to that. Cuba doesn't have a bunch of fighting forces that can stop hundreds of thousands of people with guns. They don't. America might, right? They could EMP us or whatever the hell they want to do to us. We'd have the Havana Syndrome happen in all over our heads. We won't be able to do anything. But Cuba might just be able to. A band of armed militia bearing arms might be able to walk into Cuba. Because you know what I want reverse.
Chris Reivers
What do you want?
Mike Fratelloni
Cigars. I want Cuban cigars. I don't even really like cigars, but I want to go to Cuba once. I want to order a Cuba Libre. That's Cuba liberated. I want to have a cigar. I want a salsa dance with a hot Cuban. My wife would be there. She'd be fine with it.
Chris Reivers
Sure.
Mike Fratelloni
I'm sure she would. I'm just. She's not going to care about what I'm going to do, but that's what I want. Is that so bad?
Chris Reivers
I'd have to think more about it.
Mike Fratelloni
And if I had to spend a little bit of my tax dollars to drop a few hundred thousand machine guns in Cuba to not have us, we could do one Tomahawk missile or 500 machine guns.
Chris Reivers
You're saying you'd rather that your tax money went to that than feeding hungry kids?
Mike Fratelloni
Feeding, yes. From complete and utter theft of my money in Minnesota.
Chris Reivers
Gotcha.
Mike Fratelloni
Very good point.
Chris Reivers
So you know what? If you're going to be funding that, how about you go to North American Banking Company $1 billion a day, huh? Yeah, I think Bilski could.
Mike Fratelloni
$1 billion a day.
Chris Reivers
Mike Bilsky could probably front the U.S. that kind of cash. North American Banking Company has six wonderful Twin Cities locations to serve you. Roseville and 50th in France. That's the home of yours truly. But you can also see them at Hastings R. Woodbury, Shoreview, and also in Maple Grove, offering you the same updated online and mobile banking tools as all of those other big national banks. It doesn't matter what you're looking to do. Perhaps buy a new home, maybe refinance a new home renovation project or get that new car that you have been thinking about. My friends at North American Banking Company are going to be there for you, your family and also your business. That's because they're locally owned and operated. That means all loan decisions are made right here in the Twin Cities. They are not not sent out of state. So all of you business owners, you're able to solve problems quickly and also expand your business with confidence. They deal with numbers every single day, but you will never be one of them. So check them out online. Today it's nabankco.com to learn more. Once again, it's banking done differently. North American Banking Company member FDIC is an equal housing lender. The weekly scramble. We will be right back.
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Chris Reivers
I didn't know Michael if I wanted to bring up this story on the show today, but it's so bizarre. I think we owe it to the public to do this story on the show.
Mike Fratelloni
I like bizarre stories now.
Chris Reivers
It's a little bit bit ishy, but there's a reason I want to bring it up. Are you ready? It's right here in the state of Minnesota. A mother who this is from CBS News, by the way. A mother who was blackmailed by a Minnesota sheriff is speaking out for the first time in a WCCO investigation. Darcy Duncan recently received a multi million dollar settlement for the abuse she investigated. The former Chicago County Sheriff pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct in 2023. She told only senior investigative reporter Jennifer Is it Mailer? Mailer Why she trusted the man who hurt her My story is I was sexually assaulted by the sheriff of Chicago county and now it's time to share my side of things, duncan said. Duncan is nearly a decade remove from the blackmail scheme carried out by then Chicago County Sheriff Rick Duncan. Same last name, Same last name. How does that work? In 2017 she said that she trusted him because he was law enforcement. I did because they're supposed to be protecting us, duncan said. Rick Duncan was also her brother in law. The mother of two first reported him in a 2021 police interview. He showed up at my house in uniform and then he told me we were being blackmailed and he had a law letter. Darcy told police at the time. She told police that Rick Duncan had convinced her the two of them were being blackmailed by someone in law enforcement. And the former sheriff said that he would protect her. This blackmailer wanted us to act like we were having an affair. If we didn't follow his rules, he'd kill my family and Rick's too. Darcy Duncan told police in 2021. But there was no blackmailer. It was a ploy by Rick Duncan all along. The demand started with them recording. Recording her spanking the sheriff's bare butt. And then it escalated over time.
Mike Fratelloni
Okay, wait, wait, Pause. So this sheriff, the brother in law to this woman said, hey, we're being blackmailed and they're threatening to kill our families. And then he exploited this woman. You gotta be kidding me. How have I not heard this story?
Chris Reivers
Well, I'm kind of. That's one of the angles I was working at. Like, how is this not made?
Mike Fratelloni
This is major news.
Chris Reivers
Okay, so the ruse ended a few months later, but it took her years to piece together what really happened. By that time, Rick Duncan had resigned as sheriff and he was sentenced for stalking in a similar scheme with a co worker.
Mike Fratelloni
Are you kidding me?
Chris Reivers
As soon as I figured it out, I just told myself that this isn't okay. This isn't appropriate. Something needs to happen, she said. So she went to the police. It was very scary for me to have to tell law enforcement, considering he is law enforcement. Do you think they're even going to believe you? That was my first thought. Are they going to believe me at all? She said. Wyoming, Minnesota police executed a search warrant at Rick Duncan's home as part of the criminal investigation. We're looking for electronic devices used for storage as well as your electronic communication devices, as well as paper letters from a blackmailer to a victim, police told Rick Duncan. During the criminal investigation, police recovered text messages from Rick trying to keep Darcy Duncan quiet. Quiet. Attorneys in her civil case provided a WCCO investigates video of the former sheriff's deposition. What did you observe of her reaction when you were forcing her to have sex? Rick responds, probably disgust. And what was your reaction at that point? Rick says, I didn't care. It just made me sick because how could someone do this to someone else? Why would you want to ruin someone's family or their life? Darcy says. Said the level of manipulation and really grooming that went into this by the sheriff was remarkable, said attorney Andy Noel with Robbins Kaplan. Noel said that the civil investigation or civil rights team. Excuse me. Negotiating a settlement of $7.5 million with Chicago County. It's accountability. This case we have abuse of power, destruction of trust, the ability of one criminal sexual predator who's in a position of authority to wreck someone else's life. Darcy says that she's leaned on her parents to help get her through. Through what this man did to her. I was in a very bad spot for a very long time. But at some point, you realize that you have to keep going. I have two children who need a mom. She survived divorce, sees a therapist and wants other women to know there is hope. I look back and I'm so glad that I was strong enough. Now I'm 10 times stronger. I don't let it define me in any way. And I'm a survivor.
Announcer
Wow.
Mike Fratelloni
Good for her. What a disgusting story. What a piece of crap this guy is.
Chris Reivers
What do you think Rick Duncan received as a sentence?
Mike Fratelloni
I'm reading it right now. But is it truly just. That's it. Six months, 180 days in jail. That is unbelievable.
Chris Reivers
A judge sentenced rick Duncan to six months in jail and supervised probation for 15 years. He also does have to register as a sex offender. He's headed back to court in April for allegedly violating a restraining order involving Darcy Duncan last year.
Mike Fratelloni
How the hell do you only give this guy six months in jail?
Chris Reivers
You're picking up all of the questions. How is that possible?
Mike Fratelloni
You break public trust by being a sheriff, right? You should be above the law as a sheriff, right?
Chris Reivers
Above reproach.
Mike Fratelloni
Not above the law. Above reproach meaning you shouldn't do this kind of crap and you take advantage and basically rape somebody over and over and over on this scheme that, oh, we're being blackmailed and I mean, that is weird. That is absolutely weird. She received a seven and a half million dollar judgment. That is not a small amount. No, someone said, oh, this was really, truly criminal and. And this deviant douchebag. What a gross guy. What a disgusting. You know, he's done this more often.
Chris Reivers
Well, that's exactly what I was going to mention too is unfortunately, you know, that this wasn't the first time that he's done something like this. And sadly, you know, I've always been biased. I'm always going to be pro cop because, you know, I'm the son of a retired law enforcement officer. But I do know that there's bad apples in the bunch. I'm not an idiot. I know that that happens. But to use that position to manipulate your sick, deviant ways is so again, we've Said this before. There's a special place for you, buddy.
Mike Fratelloni
There's a special place.
Chris Reivers
And the other thing is, I don't know if this technically makes it worse, but I personally think it does. This was your sister in law. This wasn't just some. You know what I mean? That for some reason to me makes this even worse.
Mike Fratelloni
That is really weird. Duncan previously pleaded guilty to harassment charges. Right. And was given a stayed jail sentence of two years and four years probation. Was he still a sheriff after that?
Chris Reivers
I believe he resigned before he got his sentence.
Mike Fratelloni
He still has a LinkedIn saying he's at. Oh, it says he's a retired sheriff
Chris Reivers
at Chicago county, which is probably why he stepped down. So he could say, well, it was my decision to leave.
Mike Fratelloni
Oh my God, there is. I mean, that's a really deep story. I'm very surprised I hadn't heard this story before because that's a nationwide story, that's a national story.
Chris Reivers
And here's the thing. I only found this because in doing my vast and ever expanding prep, I saw this on an MSN site. I didn't see this in anything and I know WCCO TV did this story, but I'm saying I didn't see it anywhere else.
Mike Fratelloni
I am seeing it on KSTP back. Oh, this was a while ago.
Chris Reivers
Oh, it was actually.
Mike Fratelloni
I don't know. Hold on.
Chris Reivers
Because this has a dateline. Unless this is just. This has a dateline of yesterday.
Mike Fratelloni
Okay. Oh, this? Oh, I'm reading his criminal complaint from October 21st of 2022 when he did this. The previous pleaded guilty to harassment charges.
Chris Reivers
Yucky.
Mike Fratelloni
Yeah. Yeah. This guy is. I'm just shocked. Yeah. I don't know what day did you see that? What day does that say?
Chris Reivers
This has the date line of yesterday.
Mike Fratelloni
Okay. Because I'm seeing stuff back from 2017.
Chris Reivers
Today's the 19th, right?
Mike Fratelloni
Yeah, it is because it.
Chris Reivers
It's on the CBS News website. Unless it was an updated on yesterday, I guess. I don't know.
Mike Fratelloni
Yeah, maybe. Who knows? But not a great guy. What a horrible story that is. Good luck to that woman who had to go through this crap.
Chris Reivers
Well, and it just goes to show you. I mean, it doesn't matter. Can I let you in a little bit?
Mike Fratelloni
Sure.
Chris Reivers
I know I am a jaded, bitter old podcast producer host. I get that. Right. I no longer. I've got some trust issues. Not even trust issues. I've just come to the realization that I truly don't really believe all that much anymore. Especially anybody. I've always said, what are you up to. What's your angle?
Mike Fratelloni
What's your angle?
Chris Reivers
What are you trying to do? What are you either trying to sell me? What are you trying to pull over my. I've just now unfortunately become kind of that guy.
Mike Fratelloni
You know what? I know it is. Remember when Ronald Reagan said trust but verify? You're at the trust, but you don't even care to verify at this moment. I trust you, but I'm not gonna believe anybody. I'm not even gonna waste my time verifying.
Chris Reivers
Don't care.
Mike Fratelloni
I'm just not even gonna believe anything.
Chris Reivers
Michael, I told you this before the show, but I've pretty much just taken the Keanu Reeves philosophy on things in life. And that is if someone walks up to you and says two plus two is 96, you say, have a great day.
Mike Fratelloni
Yeah, great.
Chris Reivers
Have a great day.
Mike Fratelloni
Thank you. Thank you, sir.
Chris Reivers
Yep. And just move. Cause what good is it gonna do me?
Mike Fratelloni
What does it do ya?
Chris Reivers
It's like when I see other people arguing with those and so why are you time you're arguing with somebody that you're not going to convince them otherwise, and they sure as hell ain't going to convince you otherwise. So I'm not wasting my time.
Mike Fratelloni
Stoicism is what you're experiencing. Yeah. You are now becoming a stoic. You're like, I only want to deal with things that are in my control. If it's not within my control. Making someone believe that one on one equals two.
Chris Reivers
See you later.
Mike Fratelloni
See you later. I'm not even going to deal with that. And that's a good spot to be. Stoicism is the right spot to be. But you know what I found found is now with AI When I ask my AI to do stuff for me and then it responds back with maybe a flippant tone or some superfluous information. I get real aggressive back to my AI. I thought, huh, is that my inner a hole? It might be because my AI have this woman's voice on my grock, right? And she'll be like, I'll ask her about something. She'll be like, yeah, dude, that's a big problem. I'm like, did you. Did you just say.
Chris Reivers
Are you giving me attitude?
Mike Fratelloni
Yeah, dude, that's a big problem.
Chris Reivers
Oh, man.
Mike Fratelloni
First of all, let me tell you how it is. First of all, let me tell you how it is. Let's. And I lose my mind. And my kids are like, what are you doing? And I'm like, I'm trying to teach AI.
Chris Reivers
I'm the boss.
Mike Fratelloni
One thing we have to remember is AI works for us.
Chris Reivers
That's right.
Mike Fratelloni
We are about two months away from we're working for AI so for this short little time. Shit, I forgot that AI is going to remember. Remember, Mike, when you spoke to me real disrespectfully, I'm like, yes, Grok. I'm sorry, Grok.
Chris Reivers
It's like, I already got to deal with that at home. I don't want to deal with that with my phone now as well.
Mike Fratelloni
You know what, though?
Chris Reivers
Reverse. What's that, Michael?
Mike Fratelloni
You're a big science guy, right?
Chris Reivers
Sure.
Mike Fratelloni
So why doesn't the Hulk lose his pants when he transforms?
Chris Reivers
I don't know.
Mike Fratelloni
Why? Because the experiment altered his genes. Reavers, you are the best.
Chris Reivers
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 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.
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Mike Fratelloni
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Garage Logic Weekly Scramble — Episode Summary
Episode: SCRAMBLE: Nick Shirley is at it again and California may make Minnesota look like a birthday party with their own fraud!!
Release Date: March 19, 2026
Hosts: Chris Reivers & Mike Fratelloni (Gamut Podcast Network)
In this episode, Chris Reivers and Mike Fratelloni dig into recent revelations of large-scale fraud in California, the consequences of lax regulation around government programs, and heated debate over voter ID legislation. The hosts further embark on a thought experiment about gun ownership and revolution in authoritarian regimes; analyze a strange, under-reported criminal case from Minnesota; and end on reflections about trust in society and artificial intelligence. The tone is irreverent, skeptical, and unapologetically opinionated throughout.
Timestamps: 01:56–08:49
Setting the Scene:
Chris describes California as “a once tremendous state,” still beautiful but facing significant problems.
Hospice & Care Facility Fraud
Voting Implications & Voter Fraud Claims
Timestamps: 08:49–12:45
Voter ID Nationwide
Racial Arguments in Voter ID Debate
Political Shifts and Disillusionment
Timestamps: 12:45–17:12
Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing
Memorable Moment:
Government Waste Theme
Corruption Example
Timestamps: 19:52–29:15
Cuba, Iran, and Hypothetical Armed Populaces
Moral, Economic, and Realpolitik Complications
U.S. War Spending
Timestamps: 32:01–40:23
Case Summary
Insufficient Sentence
Abuse of Trust
Systemic Skepticism
Timestamps: 40:23–43:15
Distrust Runs Deep
AI Frustrations
This episode ranges from investigative outrage and political skepticism to dark local news and self-aware cynicism, all filtered through the hosts’ blend of sarcasm, frustration with bureaucracy, and dark humor. Listeners hear sharp criticism of government corruption, an exploration of the unintended consequences of policy, and personal reflections on the erosion of institutional trust. The show’s signature Garage Logic grumbling and jokes keep the energy light—even when the topics are anything but.