BEST OF HMS PODCASTS - FRIDAY - March 14, 2025 - Rant On Slow Children Signs Bubble Wrap Parenting - April 2014

Summary

Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Arizona: BEST OF HMS PODCASTS - FRIDAY - March 14, 2025

Host: John Holmberg
Co-Hosts: Brady Bogen, Bret Vesely, Dick Toledo
Release Date: March 14, 2025

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1. Recap of Mexico vs. USA International Friendly

The episode kicks off with Brady Bogen discussing the intense international friendly soccer match between Mexico and the USA held in Glendale. He highlights the fierce rivalry and the passionate display from fans on both sides.

Brady (00:32):
"Went back on the Mexican, the hideously fierce battle in the international friendly... played last night in Glendale, Mexico versus the USA."

2. The Symbolism of Flag-Waving and Immigration Concerns

Brady delves into the contentious issue of fans waving the Mexican flag during the match, questioning the legitimacy of some supporters and tying it to broader immigration debates in Arizona.

Brady (01:00):
"If there's anybody in that crowd that's waving the Mexican flag that's not here on a legit status, you put that flag down."

A discourse ensues between Brady and Dick Toledo regarding the notion of a "free country" and the responsibilities that come with certain freedoms.

Dick Toledo (00:32):
"Misnomer too. You can't do whatever you want."

Brady (01:57):
"It's a free country."
Dick Toledo (01:55):
"But you can't."

3. Nationalism and the Pledge of Allegiance

The conversation shifts to the significance of the Pledge of Allegiance, with Brady expressing skepticism about its daily recitation diluting its meaning.

Brady (05:48):
"I was talking about the Pledge of Allegiance... it's just kind of this empty nonsense."

John Holmberg (06:27):
"Just like the I dos and marriage."

4. School Zone Safety and the Proliferation of Warning Signs

A major segment focuses on the increasing number of "Slow Kids" and "Kids at Play" signs around Arizona's schools. Brady criticizes the overreliance on these signs, arguing that they foster complacency among drivers and shift responsibility away from parents.

Brady (07:44):
"It's just signs and little things that we put up and lessen the job that needs to be done."

Dick Toledo (08:20):
"Not even 10 years ago, it wasn't this bad."

5. Overprotection of Children and Changing Parenting Practices

Brady and Dick Toledo reflect nostalgically on past parenting styles, suggesting that children were more street-smart and less shielded by excessive warnings and protective measures.

Brady (10:46):
"Kids aren't aware because they're constantly protected by mommy putting up little glow."

Dick Toledo (12:52):
"They make me feel like a bad parent and look down on you when you're not doing what they're doing."

6. Critique of Modern Parenting and Public Safety Measures

The discussion evolves into a critique of contemporary parenting and public safety measures, with Brady emphasizing that excessive signs and protections can lead to negligence and accidents.

Brady (13:35):
"If an unfortunate accident happens and you had your little glow in the dark man out there, then you can blame the driver."

John Holmberg (14:00):
"Shouldn't it be out in front of her?"

Brady further criticizes the implementation of glow-in-the-dark signs and flags, questioning their effectiveness and practical application.

Brady (14:16):
"If you're worried about your kid in the street, if he glows in the dark, that means it's nighttime."

7. Concluding Thoughts on Societal Changes

The episode wraps up with reflections on how societal changes, such as increased safety measures and shifting cultural norms, have impacted both parenting and community interactions.

Brady (15:08):
"Then you've got a weird cul de sac... we've come to a better world today."
(Note: This statement contains controversial and potentially offensive remarks reflecting the speakers' personal views.)

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Notable Quotes:

• Brady on Flag-Waving and Legitimacy:
  "If there's anybody in that crowd that's waving the Mexican flag that's not here on a legit status, you put that flag down." ([01:00])

• Dick Toledo on Freedom Limitations:
  "Misnomer too. You can't do whatever you want." ([00:32])

• Brady on the Pledge of Allegiance:
  "I was talking about the Pledge of Allegiance... it's just kind of this empty nonsense." ([05:48])

• Brady on Excessive Safety Measures:
  "It's just signs and little things that we put up and lessen the job that needs to be done." ([07:44])

• Dick Toledo on Parenting Pressure:
  "They make me feel like a bad parent and look down on you when you're not doing what they're doing." ([12:52])

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Conclusion

This episode of "Holmberg's Morning Sickness" explores a range of contentious topics, from international sports rivalries and national identity to the complexities of modern parenting and public safety. Through spirited discussions and differing viewpoints, the hosts examine how societal changes influence everyday behaviors and community dynamics in Arizona.

Transcript

[Dick Toledo]

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[Brady]

You're listening to the HMS Podcast brought to you by MMP Guns, your trusted source for firearms and accessories [e-mail] giving you a wake of homework's morning sickness in small doses, there's more of the best of homework's morning sickness. We're recapping the day on my emails. It's been kind of a fun thing. Everybody's got something to say. Went back on the the Mexican the hideously fierce battle in the international friendly the fierce rivalry that could to blows in this international friendly that was played last night in Glendale, Mexico versus the usa. And I was talking about, you know, if there's anybody in that crowd that's waving the Mexican flag that's not here on a legit status, you put that flag down. You know what I'm saying? You know, if you and Sky's email, you know, went back and forth about how the Steelers and the and Mexico are the same, my support of the Pittsburgh Steelers is the exact same as their support of Mexico. Maybe that is true. Point taken. But I will say that waving the flag of the country they're from, it's where it all gets different and it stems off. Look, somebody said it's a free country. Somebody know it's a free country. They can wave what they want. Exactly. It's a free country. And I can disagree with that. Just because it's a free country and you can do whatever you want doesn't mean there isn't a group of people that have to accept everything.

[Dick Toledo]

Misnomer too. You can't do whatever you want.

[Brady]

No, it's a free country.

[Dick Toledo]

But you can't.

[Brady]

Well, that's the thing. But I just don't understand the the thing that says that you can compare supporting an American sport based on where you lived in this country to, you know, the geopolitical nature of soccer. People don't want to accept that soccer has that. It just does. It's country representation. It's totally different. I get it. And I get waving the flag. I would get back in this debate, but I get waving the flag. I get it. If you're legitimate and everything else. It goes, like I told this guy, goes back to my argument that I was upset when there were marches up and down our streets of Phoenix saying that they didn't like the immigration process here and they're waving the Mexican flag. And I'm like, well, we don't. You're not putting your best foot forward. All I'm saying, like you said, Brady, is all I'm giving is a little piece of advice on how to quell the opposition a little bit. You don't rub the country you're escaping in our face to say we're staying.

[John]

It's just like anyone that speaks out back to the elections. If Bush gets elected back in the night, I'm gonna leave. Yeah.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[John]

If Obama gets elected.

[Brady]

Right.

[John]

Leave. And you get that same reaction sometimes when someone's waving that flag. You're like, well, if you like that place so much.

[Brady]

I'm not even talking about waving the flag. It's like a normal person who went through the system and did it. Right.

[John]

It's a red flag.

[Brady]

That's fine with me. That's your culture. I'm totally supportive of that. Good for you. I'm saying there were people in that audience last night, I guarantee it, that weren't here on the up and up. And if they're waving a Mexican flag, that's where I take umbrage with that.

[Dick Toledo]

You're making vast generalizations, John.

[Brady]

Yes, I am. Yes, I am. But I can pretty much be accurate. Exactly. Then my vast generalizations have some merit.

[John]

Now, if that country that they left.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[John]

To gain additional freedoms.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[John]

Would ever get its act together, what would you say? The odds of those people wanting to move back. Probably pretty high.

[Brady]

If they're here. Fine. And everything. They've signed the guest book on the way over. I'm fine with whatever they do. They're not the ones I'm talking about. Those are Americans.

[John]

But I'm saying, you know, they still couldn't. I don't know. I think there's sometimes there is a love for the country over the fact that, I mean, we love the United States. There's a lot of things that we.

[Brady]

Don'T like about what we do.

[John]

Yes.

[Brady]

Yeah. It's like being a.

[John]

And how we handle things.

[Brady]

You cannot like your Brother. But if somebody else starts messing with him, he's like, all right, I'm gonna step in. Yeah. No, if they straightened it up and whatever. All I'm saying is. And the guy that emailed me, I just. I think I just zinged him because he's like, it's America. People are free to wave the flag. Right. You're right. Every American citizen is free to do anything they want with that kind of speech. You're absolutely right. I'm not talking about them. And I think that's. That's what's getting lost in my argument about the flags last night. Yeah. And if everybody was on the up and up. Cool. We've got a problem. So I'm guessing that's not the case. And again, you have to remember who's talking here. I'm a guy who is. Every two weeks was. Used to be pretty. For the immigration thing being, you know, levied into some sort of a amnesty program because my yard got so long. And then after it got cut for about three days, I was like, we gotta do something about this immigration issue. Then I'd look out there and see that lawn again like, damn it.

[John]

It's pretty good.

[Brady]

Pretty good system we got going right now. Everybody gotta be uppity. Let's just be quiet. Yeah. Every American citizen. You can wave whatever flag you want. If you're not. And that's what I'm saying. Hypothetically. Probably somebody in there cheering away. I question that motive. My buddy who moved here from another country didn't have to renounce his citizenship, but you definitely have to pledge allegiance to the United States and get rid of all other allegiances. If you're trying to be a citizen of our country, and that's our country talking. In order to make you a citizen, you have to say, I don't have any more ties back there as far as, like, allegiance. My allegiance to this is to the United States. You say it in the Pledge, people forget what the words mean. Now I'm waving a flag. I'm on a mountaintop. Ready? I pledge allegiance. Those are. Those are.

[John]

You're not saying you fly.

[Brady]

See, that's because. And that's why I'm against saying it in schools and stuff. You say it every once in a while. You teach the Pledge of Allegiance, but you say it every day. And even in my head, it just becomes words. Right. It's just. I memorized it, so it's just kind of this empty nonsense. But you think of the words, I pledge allegiance. That's pretty strong. Penmanship. Right. That's pretty. Pretty good. Wordsmithing.

[John]

Just like the I dos.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[John]

And marriage.

[Brady]

Right. People just say it because it's part of the routine. But you think about what you're saying.

[John]

Death do us part.

[Brady]

Whoa. Think about what you're saying. Think about what. You're not taking that too seriously, though. You're right. It's. You know, there's power in a pledge.

[John]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's get on to the kissing part.

[Brady]

There's power in pledge. Cleans wood, cleans glass, cleans leather. Power. And orange pledge, too. Cause it smells great. The other thing people are emailing me about are the slow kids at play signs. And like, this one dude wants to start a petition, like, is there signs going up all around this elementary school, by his house, Kids, kids this, kids that? And he said, that's what these city signs I pay for are for. It's a school zone.

[John]

Wish people would obey them. They do, for the most part.

[Brady]

Come on, you only hear maybe one or two every few years.

[John]

No, I'm saying every time I go through the school zones, it's amazing how many people. How often you get passed.

[Brady]

Well, it depends on what you're doing, though. If you get past.

[John]

I mean, there's no kids around.

[Brady]

People are like, right, you blaze through because the kids should be in school and. But it's true. I. I slow down in school zones to the thing because I don't want the massive ticket that comes with it. But I don't see it being something that's just such a. We don't have a massive issue with.

[John]

Sickness.

[Brady]

Hol's morning sickness. We have to really kind of, as a whole culture, pull back on what the media tells us. Our big deals are that because. Because it is not like we do not have a problem with school zones to necessitate like three crossing guards. Like, what goes on at mine. We got one on both sides. They got signs that say, kids, kids, kids everywhere. I'm like, I get it, it's a school. If so stupid that the school doesn't make me go, oh, there could be kids nearby. Extra signs aren't going to do the trick.

[John]

Where were the years?

[Dick Toledo]

Not even 10 years ago. It wasn't this bad.

[Brady]

No.

[Dick Toledo]

You didn't have this many crossing guards even here. I remember going to neighborhoods around here with the elementary schools. There wasn't none that many crossing guards.

[Brady]

Like two streets down, everywhere.

[John]

Okay, what happens, though? And I agree with you first foremost, but you could have some pretty good logical little bit of an Argument of the way people drive in Arizona.

[Brady]

Sure. Okay, then here's the deal.

[John]

Because. Because there's some. I've seen some just absolute.

[Brady]

But if we're so afraid, Brady, that we got to put up 25 signs to remind people that schools have kids in them, close the streets around the schools.

[John]

Well, I haven't really. I mean, I. You increase.

[Brady]

Oh, my God. My neighborhood has them. But it's the extra signs people keep putting up. The guy said he's got. I've got kids. Zone, school zone. They put out the signs. They put out extra signs later to remind you that kids are out at certain. It's like. I get it.

[John]

I think it's a school. Increasing of signs is. I think what's more is the increasing number of schools.

[Brady]

Well, it's in the name.

[John]

It's like you go every two streets. You're in a.

[Brady]

You know, you're in the burbs, man. So there's nothing but houses and there's Mormons, so they're multiplying like rabbits. There's kids.

[John]

Scratch my head when a kid still gets it. There's a kid last year that got hit in my neighborhood, and the streets are basically 25 miles per hour. And it's so obvious when there's kids around. And yet this kid gets hit by. You know, and it comes down. I think the texting thing.

[Brady]

Well, there's all sorts of reasons, but I'm not saying this to sound. It's the same argument people use for gun control. It's like, if we could lower the body count, we'd do it. It's not that. It's not happening that much.

[John]

And what you're saying is calm down.

[Brady]

About the kid flags.

[John]

You can calm down about the kid thing, but also I would say the other thing. I. I would apologize. I guess the city needs to apologize to this. The people that are upset on the sides that it's taken an additional 30 seconds out of your day.

[Brady]

It isn't that. It isn't that. What I. You know what I see when I see extra signs? Little glow in the dark, men with flags and all these things that say, slow down. Kids at play. I see parents not doing their jobs. I see little signs out there saying, you know what? I put the sign out. It'll be somebody else's fault if I stop, if that kid should be allowed to run free because I put up little sign. No, you keep an eye on your kids. Don't let them play on the road. First of all, I wasn't allowed in the road when I was a kid and no little electric glowing man was gonna help.

[Dick Toledo]

This is when I've realized I've become an old man. Because. Because when we were kids, your parents used to say, go outside and play. And they didn't worry about you unless they heard screeching breaks.

[Brady]

That's a little late. Until somehow, somewhere in between there and. And today is where we need to go to. Screeching brakes. Not the. Not the siren. I want to be able to tell.

[Dick Toledo]

Your kids, hey, watch out for cars.

[Brady]

Kids weren't so insulated. And they did.

[John]

But that didn't make it right. I mean, kids were still getting hit. You know, it.

[Brady]

Does it seem like they were a little street smarter? Like they weren't so insulated and afraid of everything. Kids are being taught to be scared to death. There's signs that protect them from everything. Little fake fences.

[Dick Toledo]

They're not even being taught. They're not even like, you have to be careful that are out there now.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Dick Toledo]

Oh, no, no. Don't. Don't go beyond the sidewalk. Right.

[John]

You have to be careful of the overprotection because now the kid's not aware of it.

[Brady]

Exactly. That's what I see with. I see signs. That's exactly. That's a succinct way of saying what I'm trying to say. The kids aren't aware because they're constantly protected by mommy putting up little glow.

[Dick Toledo]

In the dark field.

[Brady]

And why in the world is it a glow in the dark man? If you're worried about your kid in the street, if he glows in the dark, that means it's nighttime. Why would you put a glow in the dark man in the road at night? So your kids can have access to the traffic dummies.

[John]

We don't use it too much at night, but during the day. Of course you don't.

[Brady]

But it's glow in the dark, so it's designed for night play optic.

[John]

The optics always come. It's glow in the dark green.

[Brady]

The optic is the sun shining down and showing you everything in front of you. The glow in the dark is nighttime. It's a bright color. But if the orange flag isn't enough, Gotta be glow in the dark everything. That is a great idea, though, is to put one of those jam. One of those in the grill of your car. Just keep driving. What happened? Totally oblivious to the whole thing. You got one of those little glow in the dark flag men in the front of your car. Better him than the kids, I suppose. Yeah. I just don't understand it. All right. You get me off on these tangents. You emailers. Stop it. You email me and I'll recap the whole damn show.

[John]

There's a lot of helicoptering.

[Brady]

It just seems to be signs and little treats and little things that are like, okay, we'll put that. And it lessens the job that needs to.

[Dick Toledo]

Here's the other side of the too much helicoptering. They make me feel like a bad parent and they look down on you when you're not doing what they're doing.

[Brady]

That's true.

[Dick Toledo]

When you let your kids go outside and ride around. Ride their bike around the block.

[Brady]

Yeah.

[Dick Toledo]

But on the flip side, go out of your sight.

[Brady]

Yeah. Your kid did fall.

[John]

You know, there's a couple of.

[Brady]

But I was right next to him. That's true. You pushed him. I forgot about. You were there for that. That's right. And it's going to happen either way. You know what I think?

[John]

Knee deep in your laptop.

[Brady]

Yeah. Yeah, probably. So you didn't have a sign that said, don't climb in the banisters. That would. That would have saved him.

[Dick Toledo]

Just got done telling him, get off there.

[Brady]

You're gonna fall.

[Dick Toledo]

To me, it's literally the last word.

[Brady]

Cover your ass. So if your kid does happen. Yeah. If an unfortunate accident happens and you. You had your little glow in the dark man out there.

[Dick Toledo]

Right.

[Brady]

Then you can blame the driver.

[Dick Toledo]

Yes. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Brady]

So it's not about you saying, oh, my God.

[Dick Toledo]

Well, I'm driving.

[Brady]

Driving on the roads, because that's where cars go. And your kid ran out and I didn't see him.

[John]

If Kirby is gonna ride her bike or scooter around the neighborhood, the only way she does it is leashed to the green guy. He's just a drag him around. Wait a minute.

[Dick Toledo]

Shouldn't it be out in front of her?

[Brady]

No. It's my theory of dipping your kids in glow in the dark paint when they go outside, making them carry an orange flag. If that thing started walking around, people would slow down. Oh, my God, those little guys have come to life.

[Dick Toledo]

You get Kirby in that outfit for Halloween this year.

[Brady]

And for those of you who don't remember this morning I was talking about. Because some lady near my house in a cul de sac with three houses in it. That is part of the road. It's a bubble. It's not even a cul de sac. Had these slow. Please watch out. Don't drive too fast in my cul de sac. There are kids in it. And it was in the cul de sac. It wasn't even on the road outside. It was inside the cul de sac. You got to be a complete moron.

[John]

She's trying to lay down the territory that don't pull into this cul de sac.

[Brady]

Then you've got a weird cul de sac. Cause not a lot of people just go, you know what I'm gonna do? Dig a couple little curved detours. I just love driving in those little cul de sacs.

[John]

Or it was the man everyone hates, cul de sac. Or the father was putting out because mom hasn't come home yet, and she'll come barreling in there.

[Brady]

That's true now. That is true. If the wife isn't home yet and.

[John]

She'S got access to a vehicle they know those green kids mean slow down.

[Brady]

Then you just need a gate.

[John]

It's the added tennis ball.

[Brady]

It's an extra. That's an excellent point. There are too many women drivers is what it's come down to. Necessitating all these stupid signs. Back to my grandpa's way, when this country meant something. We weren't waving Mexican flags and women couldn't drive anyway. It's a better world today. Sorry, they got me on a tangent. Brady.

[John]

It's out of control now.

[Brady]

98 to you, PD.