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Hello, my name is David Olds and welcome to Mississippi Happenings.

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I'm your co-host and joining me is my co-host and friend, Jim Newman.

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Jim, talk to me.

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How are you, buddy?

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I'm doing fine and I'm still trying to research your family because you told me your
family created the Oldsmobile automobile.

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Well, as a matter of fact, ah I know that you are familiar with REO Speedwagon.

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I know that music is a little bit after your time.

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But as a matter of fact, REO's, Ransom E.

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Olds, the inventor of the Oldsmobile is a distant, distant, distant uncle.

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So there.

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What do you think about that, big boy?

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Well, I have to research it, but I believe you.

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Okay, we're good, you should.

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I wouldn't let...

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I mean, isn't it great that your name's not Pontiac.

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Well, I am upset that they kept the Buick and got rid of the Osmobile, but that's a whole
different thing.

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But ah as you know, each week we talk about kitchen table issues and we, sometimes we have
a tendency to forget that what happens at the federal level affects here.

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And what happens at the federal level affects our kitchen table.

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ah

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And we've got somebody with us today that's going to talk about uh HR1, Trump's big,
beautiful bill.

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And I want to uh say hello and introduce you guys to Kathleen O'Byrne.

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Kathleen, good to have you with us.

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Thank you, David.

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It's great to be here.

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And just to be clear, there is not a relationship between your family and REO Speedwagon.

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REO Speedwagon got their name from R.

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E.

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Olds because his first...

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car was called the speed wagon.

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Yeah.

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So now that's a bunch of useless information that we all can forget about.

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But let me tell you guys a little bit about Kathleen.

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Kathleen is a Mississippi native.

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She's a former lawyer.

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And she...

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I'm sorry.

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I do not practice.

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There you go.

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There you go.

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Thank you, Jim, for the interruption.

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uh

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want you to have her show up.

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after you.

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Oh, okay.

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Alrighty.

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Sounds good.

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She received her BA in political science from Davidson College with a minor in Spanish,
and she got her uh law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

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She also served her junior year in Spain and also in Chile.

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Prior to working as a commercial litigator for 15 years, she worked in the nonprofit
sector with immigrant women.

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in North Carolina and in community development in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.

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She's also spent several years in various board positions with the Mississippi found with
the Women's Foundation of Mississippi.

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These days, she spends most of her free time as an activist and organizer, and she is
committed to moving Mississippi forward because, and this is her words.

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It's the only way she knows how to maintain her sanity.

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So Kathleen, thank you so much.

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And you're doing what a lot of people are doing and trying to keep our sanity.

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So, amen.

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And it's all about grassroots.

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Jim and I have talked to Northeast Mississippi Indivisibles, oh Mary Jane

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and Jamie, we've talked to them and we've talked to other several grassroots area.

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And that's really where it's happening.

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So let's jump right into this with, and we all know that Trump has such a command for the
English language oh and his big, beautiful bill.

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which was HR, which is HR one, it was passed.

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So Kathleen, how is this big, beautiful bill?

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What's that going to do to all of us in Mississippi?

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That's a great question, David.

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And as you all know, this bill, I think is written as over 900 pages and it covers so much
different territory, so many different issues, different components of our federal

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government.

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and I think we could talk about it for days and days.

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um But the specific issue, well, let me say this.

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So there are a few major things.

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One is tax policy.

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um

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changes to federal taxes that Mississippi families will owe is one thing that we should
discuss.

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There also were pretty major cuts to Medicaid, which will have a big impact on healthcare
in Mississippi.

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There's a huge

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provision and allocation of funding for immigration enforcement, I think to the tune of
about $175 billion.

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um which will have a big impact not just on our immigrant communities, but upon the
industries that depend on those on labor from immigrants in Mississippi.

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So those are kind of the three big areas um that are top of mind for me.

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And so, but what I wanted to talk to y'all about today really is um the tax policies and
how that is going to affect

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Mississippi families.

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And then about the effect, the combined effect of both tax policies under the big,
beautiful bill uh and also tariff policies, which our Mississippi GOP congressional

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delegation has, you know, ceded all of its authority over to the president.

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So that's where I'd like to start if that's fair for y'all.

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Okay, so um what I've been digging into is data from the Congressional Budget Office,
which of course is a nonpartisan um branch of, or office within the legislative branch of

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our federal government.

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And they, m

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they dig in and do the research and figure out what are gonna be kind the micro and macro
economic impacts of laws that Congress passes.

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And so, um

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They use data from the Census Bureau, the American Community Survey through the census,
and I'm sure all number of other information oh to determine the combined effect of all

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facets of the big beautiful bill on um American households by income.

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And so what they do is they take, this gets a little bit wonky, but y'all bear with me for
a little bit.

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So they basically look at a spread of American household income from lowest all the way to
the highest, and then they divide those groups into deciles.

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So for example,

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the lowest decile of American households makes about $23,000 a year.

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And then say the one, two, three, four, let's look at the fifth decile of household income
in America is about $85,000 a year.

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And then the highest decile is about $692,000 a year.

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And so,

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So with that information, they then look at, you know, different components of the big,
beautiful bill, um work their magic.

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I mean, these are like nerdy nerd, nerd, PhD, number crunchers.

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um You know, this is what they do.

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This is what they've always done.

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um And so they look at the net effect in dollars of changes to federal taxes and cash
transfers.

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um and then also federal and state in kind transfers and I can go into kind of what that
is um by decile.

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So um to me, the first place I wanna look to figure out um the effect on Mississippi
households is I wanna look at the median, um median Mississippi household income.

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So that is to say that's the number

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that um half of Mississippi households make more than that amount and half of Mississippi
households make less than that amount.

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it's different, is different than average.

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I'm sure you guys know this, but just in case some of your listeners um don't quite
understand, median is different than average because average would be skewed by like,

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the couple of billionaires that live in Mississippi, for example.

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So looking at median kind of leaves out the furthest, very richest and the very poorest.

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All right, so median household income is about 55, $56,000 for Mississippi.

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So if you go and look at the congressional and that's based on that census data.

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So if you go and look at the congressional budget office, it tells you that these people
are gonna be negatively impacted by the big beautiful bill to the tune of negative $156 a

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year.

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Okay.

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So that is the median income household in Mississippi.

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So the very middle list of the middle income, literally they are like the definition of
middle income in Mississippi.

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They make $56,000 a year.

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The net effect of the big beautiful bill on their pocketbook is negative $156.

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And so what that includes is tax policy changes, reductions in ACA premium subsidies.

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I'm sure y'all have heard that like not only are people gonna be kicked off of Medicaid,
but people who aren't on Medicaid, but get their health insurance through the ACA

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marketplace, their premiums are gonna go way up some of them.

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because of cuts to the premium subsidies in the Big Beautiful bill.

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So you've got tax policy changes, reductions in ACA premium subsidies, changes in student
loan programs, um reductions in...

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Let make sure I get this right.

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reductions in federal spending on Medicaid and SNAP, reductions in federal dollars to
healthcare providers and insurers, and reductions in state spending on SNAP and Medicaid.

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So those are all the changes because of the big beautiful bill that the Congressional
Budget Office is looking at to determine that median household incomes in Mississippi are

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gonna see a loss of $156 per year as a result of the big beautiful bill.

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So that's a problem.

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But it is a much, the even bigger problem to me is that our GOP elected officials have
been selling this terrible bill to Mississippians by saying that they are going to put

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more money back in the pockets of hardworking Mississippians.

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And nothing could be further than the truth.

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Well, how do they, ah I guess they justify that by saying that the grocery tax was reduced
ah and the state taxes are all going away.

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Well, no, I mean, this is I'm talking specifically about Senator Wicker and Senator
Hyde-Smith and their comments specifically on the big, beautiful bill.

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So what the state legislature is doing um is not not being considered um by Wicker and
Hyde-Smith when they make these statements.

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I mean, I'll tell you exactly, because I wanted to look at their websites and see what
they said.

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I mean, it makes me really angry.

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So here's what Cindy has, what Cindy had Smith's website says, the one big beautiful bill
good for Mississippi, good for America, the one big beautiful bill act makes Mississippi

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and the United States safer, stronger and more prosperous.

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um This new law stopped Mississippians from being hit with the largest tax increase in
American history.

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If, oh, this is what she says.

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If the 2017 tax cuts had expired, the average Mississippi household's taxes would increase
by $1,570 in 2026.

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It's not what the data says.

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As usual, they just make numbers up.

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I don't know.

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mean, I, you know, I would love to know where the numbers come from.

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But, you know, to date, nobody has explained to me what's wrong with the numbers from the
non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

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And then what are some of the things Wicker has said?

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Let's see.

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So stimulate the economy and benefit job creators across the country.

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uh The reconciliation bill delivers the largest tax cut for the middle class in American
history.

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That's just not true.

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I mean.

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You

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you're gonna talk about tax cuts for the middle class, like I hope you're talking about,
you know, the middle class of your own constituents, but.

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um

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Yeah, I don't know where the numbers come from.

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And the other thing is, I'm sure you all have heard a lot of talk about how this bill is
basically the largest wealth transfer from poor Americans to wealthy Americans.

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Well, being one of the poorest states in the nation, if not the poorest, what that means
is the detrimental impact of this bill

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is bigger for a poor state like ours than it is for any other state.

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If you are making life harder on more poor Americans and giving tax cuts to really wealthy
Americans, then the impact is gonna be far worse in a poor state like ours, right?

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Well, absolutely.

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ah The government transfer payments, whether it be for SNAP or Medicaid or any of the
other social programs, they're all been cut.

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yeah, you want to hear those numbers?

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No, and I don't have in front of me specific numbers about how much uh Medicaid funding is
going to be cut in Mississippi.

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That's something I need to dig into.

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um

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going to be something like 230,000 people are going to lose their Medicaid.

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However, that transfer is in the money.

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I don't know, but I'm more concerned about people and their health and their lives.

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Yeah, so folks, that first decile that we talked about, so the lowest income people making
$25,000 and less.

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And in Mississippi, it looks like there are about 200, 350,000 of those people.

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The net effect.

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of this bill for them.

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So these are folks who are already only making $25,000.

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The net effect is negative $1,357.

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Yeah.

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Those who can't afford it the least.

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That's right.

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And then the folks, the top decile of American income earners, households, those folks
make on average $692,000 a year and they're gonna get a boost of $13,000.

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Wow.

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Talk about just the opposite needs to affect.

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We had a conversation with Kara Roby, who's a political analyst.

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not to, I mean, we still want to stay on the big, beautiful bill, but she was talking
about the state, the elimination of the state income tax.

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And, you know, she was talking about the same group that you were talking about.

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You know, ah they're going to, they will save four.

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dollars, you know, a year.

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One, two, three, four.

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But, you know, you go back up to the other, the high, the wealthy, you know, like you
talked about the 600,000, they're going to save $40,000 in state income tax.

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it's

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inequality is sickening but the

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One of the messages I'm trying to get people to understand is that yes, the inequality is
sickening, but some people just don't care about inequality.

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It doesn't hurt their feelings.

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They don't care.

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They don't think about it.

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But when you think about, what did I say, 250,000 Mississippians and they've lost $1,300 a
piece.

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So do the math and think about what that is going to do to our local economy.

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in the state because I promise you um people making such with such a low income that
$1,300 would be spent in their communities.

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It would be spent at their grocery stores at Walmart at the totes.

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at the gas station out of, know, um, any number of places and they don't, they're not
going to have that money anymore.

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You know, and so what does that do um to small businesses, for example?

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You know, and then you play that out through these other deciles of income.

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It's gonna have a really horrible impact, not just on families who are gonna have a hard
time affording the things that they need to get by.

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but it's gonna have a terrible impact on businesses that supply those goods and services
that these families would be paying for, but now they can't afford anymore.

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Well, if you're making $24,000 a year and you've got a child and you are a single mother,
it's going to cost you $12,000 for child care during the day, which leaves you $12,000.

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And then you lose $1,000 of that, which leaves you with $11,000.

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I don't know many families

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that can live on $11,000.

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I mean, between groceries and keeping an automobile up and doctors and it's just
physically impossible.

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And it's no wonder that we have homeless and we have people that cannot afford health care
and end up in the emergency rooms and hospitals are going broke.

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It's just a vicious, vicious cycle.

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00:23:11,092 --> 00:23:15,102
And our governor, frankly, doesn't give a damn.

213
00:23:15,208 --> 00:23:15,949
No.

214
00:23:17,555 --> 00:23:29,775
I mean, my theory is, I don't know any logical reason to be against Medicaid expansion.

215
00:23:32,275 --> 00:23:44,555
So put aside how you feel about poor people having healthcare, because what I've realized
over the last couple years is there are a lot of people,

216
00:23:47,629 --> 00:23:49,521
who don't care.

217
00:23:49,521 --> 00:23:54,696
They don't care if poor people are able to go see a doctor or go to the hospital.

218
00:23:54,696 --> 00:23:55,927
They just don't care.

219
00:23:55,927 --> 00:24:03,294
And that's a really sad um conclusion to reach, but I don't know what other conclusion to
come to.

220
00:24:04,921 --> 00:24:17,642
Even if you don't care about poor people having healthcare, surely if you are a
Mississippian and you have your own private health insurance or you have Medicare or

221
00:24:17,642 --> 00:24:27,750
coverage through the ACA, surely you care about there being a doctor to treat you or your
loved one when you need it.

222
00:24:28,412 --> 00:24:33,035
And surely you care about um

223
00:24:33,105 --> 00:24:44,043
you know, that hospital down the street or 20 miles away, you know, whatever hospital you
depend on being open when you need it.

224
00:24:44,484 --> 00:24:58,154
Surely you care about um if your loved one shows up in the emergency room and they're
told, I'm sorry, we don't have a bed available.

225
00:24:59,313 --> 00:25:05,653
which just means it's not that we don't have a bed, it's that we don't have the staff to
treat your loved one.

226
00:25:05,653 --> 00:25:12,222
Surely you care if your own healthcare costs and premiums go up.

227
00:25:12,222 --> 00:25:15,594
um

228
00:25:15,594 --> 00:25:28,105
Surely you care if you need to see a neurologist and you can get in to see a neurologist
in three months as opposed to having to wait a year.

229
00:25:28,986 --> 00:25:37,693
So mean the point is that even if you literally do not want poor people to have
healthcare,

230
00:25:38,491 --> 00:25:49,798
there still is so much argument for all of the rest of us in favor of expanding Medicaid.

231
00:25:49,798 --> 00:26:01,665
Because if those people don't have healthcare and they don't have a way to pay for the
care that they are entitled to get in our hospitals, the effects of that are gonna reach

232
00:26:01,665 --> 00:26:03,126
us as well.

233
00:26:03,246 --> 00:26:09,900
It's gonna be terrible for that person who doesn't have health insurance, but it's gonna
be terrible for all of the rest of us too.

234
00:26:11,170 --> 00:26:13,681
And I think so many people just don't understand that.

235
00:26:13,681 --> 00:26:27,264
think people, especially in Mississippi, have this misconception that Medicaid is just
another government handout of cash to welfare queens, which like couldn't be further from

236
00:26:27,264 --> 00:26:27,945
the truth.

237
00:26:27,945 --> 00:26:30,496
It is literally health insurance.

238
00:26:30,516 --> 00:26:38,438
Nobody, no Medicaid recipient gets a cash handout that is called Medicaid.

239
00:26:38,552 --> 00:26:45,049
Literally, it is payment to the providers for providing care to the insured.

240
00:26:45,382 --> 00:26:47,112
And so it's like, what do you think?

241
00:26:47,112 --> 00:26:54,459
So a doctor should or shouldn't get paid depending on how wealthy his or her patient is?

242
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,501
That's ridiculous.

243
00:26:56,728 --> 00:27:11,452
You hit one of the main points ah is that we, or people don't realize, people that have
health insurance, that have Medicare, our costs go up.

244
00:27:11,772 --> 00:27:23,835
And that's where the focus, we need to let people know that yes, you're paying for it and
your costs are going up when, you know,

245
00:27:25,199 --> 00:27:32,852
with Mississippi would simply accept the federal funds to expand the Medicaid.

246
00:27:33,212 --> 00:27:34,422
It would help everybody.

247
00:27:34,422 --> 00:27:42,415
But I think like you said, a lot of people look at it as a handout.

248
00:27:42,756 --> 00:27:51,859
And that's sad because one of the things, you have to have a healthy workforce.

249
00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:55,200
And right now, I don't think Mississippi

250
00:27:55,524 --> 00:28:03,628
has a very healthy workforce because of not accepting uh Medicaid funds.

251
00:28:03,628 --> 00:28:04,839
absolutely.

252
00:28:04,839 --> 00:28:10,614
And just to be clear, um there still is an opportunity to expand Medicaid in Mississippi.

253
00:28:10,614 --> 00:28:25,957
So in spite of the cuts to Medicaid that are part of the big, beautiful bill, our state
legislature still could oh expand Medicaid and help offset some of the negative impacts of

254
00:28:25,957 --> 00:28:29,059
the federal Medicaid cuts in Mississippi.

255
00:28:29,219 --> 00:28:31,993
That would make a big difference.

256
00:28:31,993 --> 00:28:32,405
Yes.

257
00:28:32,405 --> 00:28:46,299
Well, we have one we have the highest rate of baby deaths before one year of age at 10 per
thousand of any state in the union.

258
00:28:48,755 --> 00:28:56,817
And that's got to be attributed to lack of prenatal health care and postnatal health care.

259
00:28:57,226 --> 00:29:08,501
All right, and there's no way for those stats to improve by cutting access to care and
cutting funding.

260
00:29:09,423 --> 00:29:11,125
No, it's not.

261
00:29:13,948 --> 00:29:27,689
And if you live in the Delta, in certain parts of the Delta, if you have a heart attack,
everybody, all the doctors and everybody say that the first hour is so critical.

262
00:29:27,789 --> 00:29:39,061
Well, there are parts of the Delta that that first hour, you can't get to a hospital or to
a critical care facility within an hour.

263
00:29:39,061 --> 00:29:40,451
That's exactly right.

264
00:29:40,451 --> 00:29:57,165
Another one of the really stupid things about this bill is, so we haven't even discussed
the fact that these cuts to Medicaid, cuts to SNAP are intended to offset um huge tax

265
00:29:57,165 --> 00:29:58,466
breaks for the really wealthy.

266
00:29:58,466 --> 00:30:00,716
So I can't remember what the final number is.

267
00:30:00,716 --> 00:30:09,142
Maybe it's like $3 trillion um that's being added to the federal debt.

268
00:30:09,142 --> 00:30:19,262
because of these huge tax cuts to the super wealthy, to the tune of $13,000 for a family
that makes $700,000 a year.

269
00:30:19,262 --> 00:30:20,382
So that adds up.

270
00:30:20,382 --> 00:30:30,462
And so they're trying to offset that amount by reducing spending on things like Medicaid
and SNAP, which is again, like if that inequality doesn't just blow your mind, I don't

271
00:30:30,462 --> 00:30:32,402
know what will, but.

272
00:30:33,384 --> 00:30:39,495
So they have these cuts to Medicaid and the way they're cutting Medicaid.

273
00:30:39,794 --> 00:30:50,461
expenses is by making the um hoops that folks have to jump through to get Medicaid more
cumbersome.

274
00:30:50,461 --> 00:30:56,726
So they're just, they're not changing like the substantive requirements to my
understanding.

275
00:30:56,726 --> 00:31:02,409
They're just making you have to jump through more hoops to prove that you meet those
requirements.

276
00:31:02,409 --> 00:31:06,492
And so if you miss a hoop, if you miss jumping through a hoop, you lose your coverage.

277
00:31:06,492 --> 00:31:08,084
So that's how they're kicking you off.

278
00:31:08,084 --> 00:31:19,144
And so the amount of Medicaid cuts that they're uh anticipating, I'm using real round
numbers right now.

279
00:31:19,144 --> 00:31:23,707
I wanna say it's around $150 billion.

280
00:31:25,610 --> 00:31:35,375
To help offset that, what the Republicans who crafted this bill decided to do was to
provide

281
00:31:35,375 --> 00:31:40,517
$50 billion in relief to rural hospitals.

282
00:31:41,277 --> 00:31:51,231
So it's like, we're gonna take all this money away from you rural hospitals because we're
not gonna pay for your Medicaid patients anymore.

283
00:31:51,231 --> 00:31:54,122
We're not gonna pay you to treat your Medicaid patients.

284
00:31:54,122 --> 00:31:56,133
So the patients won't have coverage.

285
00:31:56,133 --> 00:31:57,344
They're not gonna get care.

286
00:31:57,344 --> 00:31:59,224
They're not gonna come in.

287
00:31:59,245 --> 00:32:03,526
But we'll just give you $50 billion dollars

288
00:32:03,658 --> 00:32:14,392
that is the dumbest thing like why would you give them $50 billion when you could use the
$50 billion to provide Medicaid coverage?

289
00:32:15,294 --> 00:32:16,996
I mean, that's bananas.

290
00:32:16,996 --> 00:32:21,502
You want to talk about like a really crummy return on your investment?

291
00:32:21,502 --> 00:32:22,465
Ha m

292
00:32:23,790 --> 00:32:24,910
Right?

293
00:32:25,030 --> 00:32:27,750
Like, where are the adults in the room?

294
00:32:27,750 --> 00:32:28,930
That's what I keep asking.

295
00:32:28,930 --> 00:32:30,930
It's like, where are the adults in the room?

296
00:32:30,930 --> 00:32:33,470
Who comes up with this garbage?

297
00:32:33,610 --> 00:32:38,310
And on what planet did they live that like, it makes sense to them?

298
00:32:38,505 --> 00:32:41,256
Well, you need to change your saying.

299
00:32:41,260 --> 00:32:43,609
Where are the adults in Washington?

300
00:32:43,917 --> 00:32:44,775
Yeah.

301
00:32:46,441 --> 00:32:48,762
because the adults in the room are out here.

302
00:32:49,878 --> 00:32:51,838
Yeah, yeah.

303
00:32:53,139 --> 00:33:00,661
Yeah, well, and you know, I mean, on that note, like the adults in the room are the
constituents.

304
00:33:01,362 --> 00:33:10,304
They are the grassroots folks who are figuring things out, who are realizing we ain't that
stupid.

305
00:33:11,865 --> 00:33:14,666
And we're not gonna be deceived anymore.

306
00:33:16,010 --> 00:33:21,280
Yeah, I've come to the point that we're not constituents anymore, we're victims.

307
00:33:21,548 --> 00:33:23,470
Yeah, absolutely.

308
00:33:25,689 --> 00:33:34,729
And it irritates just irritates the hell out of me that we're coming up on shutting down
the government.

309
00:33:35,549 --> 00:33:38,909
And a lot of people are going to get laid off.

310
00:33:39,509 --> 00:33:45,229
And some people are going to be required to work even though they don't get paid.

311
00:33:46,669 --> 00:33:51,465
And the 430 some legislators and

312
00:33:51,465 --> 00:34:04,876
100 senators will continue to receive their health care and their paychecks while
everybody else in the government that gets laid off and furloughed is going to suffer

313
00:34:04,876 --> 00:34:06,137
tremendously.

314
00:34:06,818 --> 00:34:07,862
That's right.

315
00:34:08,068 --> 00:34:09,131
That's right.

316
00:34:11,025 --> 00:34:14,308
What about ah let me ask you about education?

317
00:34:14,308 --> 00:34:32,983
ah If he does away, if they're successful doing away the Department of Education and I
think the number was 800 billion that they were cutting out of education.

318
00:34:33,504 --> 00:34:35,565
What is that going to do to Mississippi?

319
00:34:35,565 --> 00:34:39,985
ah Since it is always.

320
00:34:39,985 --> 00:34:49,548
I've always understood that we get roughly $2 back for every tax dollar we send to
Washington.

321
00:34:51,702 --> 00:34:53,793
Yeah, it's gonna be devastating.

322
00:34:53,793 --> 00:34:55,404
There's no question about it.

323
00:34:55,404 --> 00:35:00,445
um I don't have, I'm trying to think, where do I have that information?

324
00:35:01,006 --> 00:35:02,507
I'm have to go find it.

325
00:35:02,507 --> 00:35:12,392
does federal funding make up like a third of our spending on education in the state?

326
00:35:12,392 --> 00:35:16,905
I can't remember the number, but it is significant.

327
00:35:16,905 --> 00:35:17,755
Hmm

328
00:35:17,755 --> 00:35:26,038
And if that funding goes away, it's gonna have a devastating effect on so many families.

329
00:35:26,038 --> 00:35:39,443
I mean, I think about, I had a friend who early on in this administration um lost his job
as a counselor at a local public school.

330
00:35:39,644 --> 00:35:45,486
And as a parent, I got to thinking about, I mean, obviously it's terrible for him that he
lost his job.

331
00:35:45,486 --> 00:35:58,066
But I got to thinking about the families who depend on the services that he provides to
their children and what that disruption looks like for them.

332
00:35:58,066 --> 00:36:13,484
I mean, if you've ever had a child who needs special behavioral therapy or interventions
in school for dyslexia or ADHD or

333
00:36:13,484 --> 00:36:18,936
you know, has an, what is it, an individual education plan, IEP.

334
00:36:18,936 --> 00:36:32,001
um You know, any of that, it's really hard as a parent um first to figure out what's going
on with your child and then to figure out...

335
00:36:32,001 --> 00:36:33,982
um

336
00:36:33,982 --> 00:36:41,115
how to get your child the most effective services to deal with whatever that issue is.

337
00:36:41,115 --> 00:36:48,029
And I think about a counselor in the school, mean, how huge is that?

338
00:36:48,029 --> 00:37:00,815
Let's think about if you're a two-parent, two-working parent family, your kids are in
public school, you've got a kid who's got some behavioral struggles, let's say, and you

339
00:37:00,815 --> 00:37:02,515
need that child to have therapy.

340
00:37:02,515 --> 00:37:03,856
So you've got to

341
00:37:03,856 --> 00:37:11,278
um You've got to have a therapist nearby, which in some rural communities is probably
difficult to come by.

342
00:37:11,278 --> 00:37:19,960
You need, um if there is a therapist, you need that therapist to accept whatever insurance
you have, assuming you have insurance.

343
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:26,542
You have to figure out how to get your child to that therapist probably once a week.

344
00:37:26,542 --> 00:37:28,343
um

345
00:37:28,343 --> 00:37:37,546
you know, there are all these steps that you have to go through to make sure that your
child is getting the best care that you can get for him or her.

346
00:37:37,926 --> 00:37:50,750
And so how lucky were these families um in public schools here um whose children were able
to go see my friend for free.

347
00:37:51,346 --> 00:37:55,268
during the school day, you know, he's right there.

348
00:37:55,268 --> 00:37:59,131
He knows the children, he knows their environment, he knows their teachers.

349
00:37:59,131 --> 00:38:07,715
um Nobody has to leave work to go pick up the kid from school to get her to therapy and
then get her back to school and then get back to work.

350
00:38:08,556 --> 00:38:13,459
And all of a sudden, all of that is ripped out from under those families.

351
00:38:13,819 --> 00:38:15,100
For what?

352
00:38:16,641 --> 00:38:17,421
But that's...

353
00:38:17,421 --> 00:38:18,822
um

354
00:38:18,836 --> 00:38:28,693
That's what the Trump administration is doing um in schools all over the country,
industries all over the country.

355
00:38:28,693 --> 00:38:32,276
uh Again, for what?

356
00:38:32,596 --> 00:38:37,780
What about this is making things better for us Americans?

357
00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:52,068
uh I'm looking at an article from Mississippi Today and it's from July the 24th and it
talks about some of the things that the big beautiful bill and it talks about uh federal

358
00:38:52,068 --> 00:39:06,346
money uh for workforce training uh will be eliminated but also the main thing is free
school meals will be affected.

359
00:39:06,616 --> 00:39:22,535
ah It says it would create more work requirements for parents to qualify for the SNAP
program, which may decrease the number of students available for the free meal program.

360
00:39:22,535 --> 00:39:30,009
And of course it talks about a domino effect and that there's a lot of paperwork to fill
out and it just makes it harder.

361
00:39:30,009 --> 00:39:35,532
uh And we do in Mississippi, there's a...

362
00:39:35,789 --> 00:39:38,332
food insecurity issue.

363
00:39:38,332 --> 00:39:45,840
uh And a lot of the kids, you know, oh they do go to school hungry.

364
00:39:48,366 --> 00:39:58,826
Yeah, mean, look, David Jim, I was a free lunch kid at Oxford Public Schools in 1985, six,
six, seven, 87, 88.

365
00:39:58,826 --> 00:39:59,786
Is that right?

366
00:40:00,462 --> 00:40:05,482
I've got, no, I'm off a year, 86, 87, 87, 88, 88, 89.

367
00:40:05,482 --> 00:40:09,282
I was a free lunch kid because my family and my father had died.

368
00:40:09,282 --> 00:40:22,662
We lost our primary breadwinner and we moved to Oxford and my mom went back to school and
we had federally subsidized free lunch at Oxford Public Schools.

369
00:40:23,242 --> 00:40:28,522
I'm about 95 % sure our health insurance was through Medicaid.

370
00:40:28,686 --> 00:40:46,286
Our housing was 100 % subsidized for three years by family members who had an extra
apartment for us to live in and and I promise you the return on the federal government's

371
00:40:46,286 --> 00:40:51,886
investment in my family for those three years has been repaid.

372
00:40:51,886 --> 00:40:54,106
I don't know a thousandfold.

373
00:40:54,106 --> 00:40:57,406
You know, I mean

374
00:40:57,854 --> 00:41:17,339
It's just so short-sighted to me to think that somehow it's gonna, it'll be better for us
to not feed these children during the school day than it would be to feed them in the long

375
00:41:17,339 --> 00:41:19,260
run, right?

376
00:41:20,940 --> 00:41:23,617
But you know, I mean, here's what I've come to.

377
00:41:23,617 --> 00:41:27,142
Here's what I've come to about, um

378
00:41:27,491 --> 00:41:45,823
particularly our GOP leadership in the state of Mississippi, is that for some reason,
their disdain for poor people and people of color is stronger than their love for

379
00:41:45,823 --> 00:41:47,033
Mississippi.

380
00:41:48,533 --> 00:41:49,777
Excellent point.

381
00:41:49,964 --> 00:41:53,190
Because how else can you explain it?

382
00:41:55,855 --> 00:42:08,402
And to Trump talk this morning at the United Nations and say that Christianity is the
world's most persecuted religion.

383
00:42:08,402 --> 00:42:11,105
ah

384
00:42:12,516 --> 00:42:17,081
That just doesn't fit with what you said just a few minutes ago.

385
00:42:17,582 --> 00:42:33,500
And I don't know of, actually I don't know of any religion that thinks it's okay for
people to starve to death.

386
00:42:35,241 --> 00:42:38,031
or be killed at random.

387
00:42:39,758 --> 00:42:43,850
just because of their religious philosophy or political views.

388
00:42:43,850 --> 00:42:48,533
ah I just don't.

389
00:42:49,174 --> 00:42:52,035
And yet he thinks Christianity is...

390
00:42:55,884 --> 00:43:01,544
It may be the most persecuted, but it's probably because nobody's practicing it.

391
00:43:02,131 --> 00:43:20,778
Yeah, I mean, I think absolutely Christians are criticized uh a whole lot, but as far as I
can tell, the reason so many people are skeptical and maybe even antagonistic towards

392
00:43:20,778 --> 00:43:28,659
Christianity is because so many people who profess that faith, uh

393
00:43:28,659 --> 00:43:40,428
their actions wholeheartedly contradict the golden rule, which is supposed to be the
essence of Christianity, right?

394
00:43:40,428 --> 00:43:52,336
Like, it's not Christianity that's being persecuted, it's hypocrisy that is being called
out, and there is a huge difference.

395
00:43:53,102 --> 00:43:58,220
My dad always told me that your actions speak louder than your words.

396
00:43:59,122 --> 00:44:00,619
And it's very true.

397
00:44:00,619 --> 00:44:08,239
I think there's, there should be, uh, and I, and I preach this and I don't mind saying I
preach this.

398
00:44:08,239 --> 00:44:15,559
There is a difference between, uh, Christian nationalism and Christianity.

399
00:44:15,559 --> 00:44:22,279
I like to tell people I'm a, you know, I'll tell people upfront, I'm not a Christian.

400
00:44:22,279 --> 00:44:26,619
And then watch the jaw drop and they know me.

401
00:44:26,619 --> 00:44:29,137
They know that I'm, uh,

402
00:44:29,137 --> 00:44:39,971
a good old Methodist boy, but then what I tell people, I am not a Christian, but I am a
follower of Christ.

403
00:44:39,971 --> 00:44:46,912
I don't want to get oh off on a tangent, but there is a difference.

404
00:44:46,912 --> 00:44:57,751
Evangelical Christians have turned this into Christian nationalism, and that scares the

405
00:44:58,067 --> 00:45:06,189
the hell out of me, oh literally, oh because there is a separation of church and state.

406
00:45:06,189 --> 00:45:10,450
And the separation of church and state is for protection of the church.

407
00:45:10,450 --> 00:45:15,872
oh And it's all about the Ten Commandments.

408
00:45:15,872 --> 00:45:17,072
That's what they want to preach.

409
00:45:17,072 --> 00:45:21,514
Well, what about the Beatitudes?

410
00:45:21,514 --> 00:45:22,804
Let's talk about that.

411
00:45:22,804 --> 00:45:27,143
Let's put the Beatitudes wherever you want to put them.

412
00:45:27,143 --> 00:45:28,970
instead of the Ten Commandments.

413
00:45:28,970 --> 00:45:29,828
Yeah.

414
00:45:31,519 --> 00:45:46,087
You know, and those beatitudes, I mean, as best I understand it, those beatitudes are for
sure the golden rule is uh near universal in terms of the world's major religions.

415
00:45:46,087 --> 00:45:50,142
Like, you know, and uh anyway.

416
00:45:51,645 --> 00:46:08,891
Yeah, we need to do uh a podcast, just on religion, and really how close, you you look at
all the denominations or even the major uh religions, and they have so much in common.

417
00:46:10,268 --> 00:46:11,081
Absolutely.

418
00:46:11,081 --> 00:46:15,918
eh

419
00:46:16,287 --> 00:46:20,138
If you say so, go for it.

420
00:46:20,341 --> 00:46:21,195
Go Jim.

421
00:46:21,195 --> 00:46:29,918
What do you anticipate as far as them getting a budget before the end of the

422
00:46:32,790 --> 00:46:48,690
I don't know, but I will say I think there is more support for shutting down the
government now than there was when was that?

423
00:46:48,690 --> 00:46:50,570
What back in March?

424
00:46:52,690 --> 00:47:01,790
Because of the way the federal government is being weaponized against the American people.

425
00:47:02,798 --> 00:47:19,735
Yeah, I mean I think I think there are a lot more people now who say Sure shutting down
the government is gonna hurt It's gonna hurt those folks who are gonna lose their jobs or

426
00:47:19,735 --> 00:47:31,710
those folks who have to keep working but don't get their full paycheck But maybe right now
the alternative is far worse than that

427
00:47:33,922 --> 00:47:49,452
It almost seems to me, and I hate to say this because I don't want it to happen, but I'm
willing to bet that if they shut down the government and included...

428
00:47:51,492 --> 00:47:53,826
No more social security checks.

429
00:47:56,389 --> 00:48:04,494
I can almost guarantee that a lot of Republicans are not going to be re-elected next year.

430
00:48:06,680 --> 00:48:11,823
Because older people will not take kindly to that.

431
00:48:12,685 --> 00:48:15,746
And they will get out and they will go vote.

432
00:48:16,647 --> 00:48:17,878
And they won't.

433
00:48:17,935 --> 00:48:18,355
so.

434
00:48:18,355 --> 00:48:27,600
then also, Jim, if you think about, you know, the older people, and I confess, I don't
know if there's a government shutdown.

435
00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:30,948
Is that true that social security checks won't be issued?

436
00:48:30,948 --> 00:48:33,592
No, they will continue to be issued.

437
00:48:34,014 --> 00:48:41,848
What I'm saying is if they cease issuing, they will have hell to pay next year.

438
00:48:41,940 --> 00:48:53,087
Right, I mean, because if you think about it, like not only um does that impact, I don't
know how many millions of older adults, but if older adults aren't getting their social

439
00:48:53,087 --> 00:48:57,590
security anymore, then that has a trickle down impact on their children and grandchildren.

440
00:48:57,590 --> 00:49:01,442
You know, because who's gonna be taking care of them?

441
00:49:02,660 --> 00:49:03,468
Precisely.

442
00:49:03,468 --> 00:49:05,015
ah

443
00:49:05,015 --> 00:49:15,462
mean, I think, I hope and I think that um there is gonna be a reckoning in 2026.

444
00:49:15,462 --> 00:49:30,062
I ah mean, especially if you look at like, you the other thing, the other numbers I've
looked at are the impact of tariff policies, which our Republican congressional delegation

445
00:49:30,062 --> 00:49:31,653
has wholeheartedly endorsed.

446
00:49:31,653 --> 00:49:33,934
um

447
00:49:34,679 --> 00:49:45,519
If you combine the effects of the Big Beautiful bill and tariff policy on Mississippians,
it's way worse than just the impact of the Big Beautiful bill.

448
00:49:46,019 --> 00:49:55,099
mean, major, a major dent in Mississippians' pocketbooks.

449
00:49:55,819 --> 00:50:00,159
Or, you know, for the next hour and a half.

450
00:50:00,739 --> 00:50:01,929
What's that?

451
00:50:01,929 --> 00:50:04,832
and its effect on the farmers.

452
00:50:05,575 --> 00:50:06,144
Yeah.

453
00:50:06,144 --> 00:50:06,584
sure.

454
00:50:06,584 --> 00:50:09,687
um know, tariffs affect on farmers.

455
00:50:09,687 --> 00:50:14,322
um The loss of immigrant labor's effect on farmers.

456
00:50:14,322 --> 00:50:27,345
It's effect on the manufacturing industry, know, construction, um any number of industries
in Mississippi.

457
00:50:27,345 --> 00:50:28,686
um

458
00:50:30,468 --> 00:50:34,408
folks are gonna really gonna be hurting.

459
00:50:38,409 --> 00:50:41,071
Jim, you had something.

460
00:50:42,237 --> 00:50:57,578
You mentioned the farmers and I heard an interview the other day that in Mississippi, if
the farmers don't get help, the family farms ah are going to be approaching 50 to 75 %

461
00:50:57,578 --> 00:51:07,644
bankruptcy, which will mean that the larger corporate farmers will take over and

462
00:51:07,652 --> 00:51:10,144
There'll be fewer people needed to work the farms.

463
00:51:10,144 --> 00:51:12,232
ah

464
00:51:13,968 --> 00:51:30,308
And the proof of that is that Caterpillar has already lost 300,000 in this last quarter
and they expect to lose that again.

465
00:51:32,248 --> 00:51:43,588
I don't know how we're going to get out of this without a real change in our legislation
or legislators.

466
00:51:44,557 --> 00:51:46,011
And that's going to require.

467
00:51:46,011 --> 00:51:46,803
is.

468
00:51:46,835 --> 00:51:50,578
The impacts are already devastating and they're only gonna get worse.

469
00:51:50,578 --> 00:52:03,757
I've got a friend who's a bank president down here and he um told me, he's got a lot of
bank customers who are farmers and they've been calling him since March and saying like, I

470
00:52:03,757 --> 00:52:04,898
don't know what we're gonna do.

471
00:52:04,898 --> 00:52:09,610
And these are fifth, sixth, seventh generation farmers.

472
00:52:09,991 --> 00:52:15,274
And I mean, that is a segment of the population that is...

473
00:52:16,683 --> 00:52:19,105
you know, what, 90 % Republican?

474
00:52:19,105 --> 00:52:20,263
I don't know.

475
00:52:20,263 --> 00:52:24,829
I mean, and they are being squeezed.

476
00:52:24,829 --> 00:52:28,371
um And again, it's for nothing.

477
00:52:28,371 --> 00:52:33,815
we, you know, it would be one thing if we were getting something out of this.

478
00:52:34,055 --> 00:52:45,443
I read somewhere or heard a podcast maybe, I don't know, talking about, you know, that
authoritarian regimes, if they succeed,

479
00:52:45,683 --> 00:52:58,167
they succeed because the people believe that there's gonna be a benefit that offsets the
detriment.

480
00:52:58,427 --> 00:53:12,703
So the detriment is like we're losing our freedoms, we're, you know, our first amendment
rights, you know, due process rights.

481
00:53:12,703 --> 00:53:14,005
Freedom of speech.

482
00:53:14,005 --> 00:53:23,932
maybe go away, there's redistricting and that sort of thing, but we benefit in some way.

483
00:53:23,932 --> 00:53:35,180
our, um you know, we're more prosperous or we're safer or we have better healthcare or we
have, you know, better something.

484
00:53:35,541 --> 00:53:38,943
And that is absolutely not.

485
00:53:39,167 --> 00:53:41,569
what is happening in our country.

486
00:53:41,569 --> 00:53:44,211
We are losing all of our freedoms.

487
00:53:44,231 --> 00:53:46,593
We are losing our democracy.

488
00:53:46,593 --> 00:53:55,380
And we are also losing, excuse me, our asses financially because of these policies.

489
00:53:55,721 --> 00:54:00,024
And like I keep saying, Mississippians ain't that stupid.

490
00:54:00,305 --> 00:54:02,747
Like we are waking up.

491
00:54:03,187 --> 00:54:04,318
and paying attention.

492
00:54:04,318 --> 00:54:06,942
And we're not going to stand for it.

493
00:54:06,942 --> 00:54:11,427
I mean, look, I think the pitchforks are coming in 2026.

494
00:54:11,638 --> 00:54:15,441
And they should people should be mad as hell.

495
00:54:15,795 --> 00:54:16,735
Yes.

496
00:54:18,858 --> 00:54:23,642
I love that Mississippians ain't that stupid.

497
00:54:23,642 --> 00:54:27,866
ah Tell us about Cat O'Shea.

498
00:54:27,866 --> 00:54:29,387
Tell us about her.

499
00:54:29,933 --> 00:54:33,075
that's my alter ego on social media.

500
00:54:33,877 --> 00:54:50,993
I have an Instagram account and a Facebook account and who knows if it's uh helpful or
not, but I give myself a little bit of anonymity with uh a alter ego.

501
00:54:50,993 --> 00:54:52,975
um

502
00:54:53,295 --> 00:55:10,547
Because I have a big mouth and I'm not very good at biting my tongue and I don't I don't
want everybody else to go down with me But yeah, you know I um I want one of the things

503
00:55:10,547 --> 00:55:16,431
that I Want to do most is to help

504
00:55:16,842 --> 00:55:31,564
Mississippians understand how different policies affect us because we certainly aren't
getting that information from our elected officials.

505
00:55:31,564 --> 00:55:35,707
mean, the information they are giving us is garbage.

506
00:55:35,707 --> 00:55:36,608
It's not true.

507
00:55:36,608 --> 00:55:40,672
um And so,

508
00:55:41,271 --> 00:55:48,606
ah One of the ways to do that, to help educate people is on social media, which is really
bizarre.

509
00:55:48,606 --> 00:55:57,842
mean, you know, like we're used to writing letters to the editor and, um you know, I don't
know how else you do that.

510
00:55:57,842 --> 00:56:10,411
um But these days, a lot of people are getting their information on social media and there
is so much garbage out there that I just...

511
00:56:10,527 --> 00:56:12,868
kind of feel like I can't be quiet anymore.

512
00:56:12,868 --> 00:56:15,760
And I get curious about these issues.

513
00:56:15,760 --> 00:56:24,925
I mean, with the big, beautiful bill, I'm like, there's no, there's no way Cindy Hyde
Smith is telling the truth when she says, you know, middle income Americans are going to

514
00:56:24,925 --> 00:56:26,534
get back $1,500 a year.

515
00:56:26,534 --> 00:56:27,587
That's not true.

516
00:56:27,587 --> 00:56:32,818
And so I go digging into it and sure enough, it ain't true.

517
00:56:33,687 --> 00:56:36,227
And it makes me mad.

518
00:56:36,227 --> 00:56:50,967
mean, I get, I have one child who's very, very stubborn and, you know, if he sees anything
that he perceives as remotely unfair, particularly if it's unfair to him, he just throws a

519
00:56:50,967 --> 00:56:54,127
fit and I wonder where he gets it from.

520
00:56:54,327 --> 00:57:02,447
You know, like I just, and I tell you when it started, it was back during COVID and

521
00:57:03,103 --> 00:57:09,997
where we used to go to church, priest made a, long story short, the priest made a comment
on Facebook.

522
00:57:09,997 --> 00:57:16,171
It was a post on Facebook about how um they were, you know.

523
00:57:16,204 --> 00:57:25,211
doing the best they could and as much as they could to help make sure that our teachers
were taken care of during COVID.

524
00:57:25,211 --> 00:57:30,344
And I knew for a fact, because I was on the PA board, that that wasn't true.

525
00:57:30,344 --> 00:57:38,682
And we had a lot of elderly teachers who we just adored and we were worried for their
health during COVID.

526
00:57:38,742 --> 00:57:42,938
And he put that on Facebook and I was like, hell no, uh-uh.

527
00:57:42,938 --> 00:57:44,135
Hahaha!

528
00:57:44,919 --> 00:57:47,139
I commented on his post.

529
00:57:47,139 --> 00:58:02,979
I mean, it just made me so mad to see like somebody in a position of authority speaking
out to his followers about something and it's not true.

530
00:58:04,079 --> 00:58:11,359
And he later said to me like, you know, shouldn't have put that in the comments on my
Facebook post.

531
00:58:11,359 --> 00:58:13,819
I said, no, no, no, father, uh-uh.

532
00:58:14,001 --> 00:58:18,757
you shouldn't have made that Facebook post that was not true.

533
00:58:20,311 --> 00:58:31,054
And kind of ever since then, I just like, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna sit here and sit back
and be quiet and watch people be lied to.

534
00:58:31,935 --> 00:58:39,146
We don't hold our authority figures or our leaders, we don't hold them accountable.

535
00:58:39,188 --> 00:58:42,613
And we let them get away with crap.

536
00:58:42,613 --> 00:58:43,725
ah

537
00:58:43,725 --> 00:58:52,813
I don't know if you saw, I uh had a video rant um several weeks ago.

538
00:58:52,813 --> 00:59:02,652
was after um after Wicker made those public comments on video down at the Gulf Coast
Chamber of Commerce event.

539
00:59:02,652 --> 00:59:06,305
said, uh he was, don't, did y'all see this video?

540
00:59:06,305 --> 00:59:07,775
Do know what I'm talking about?

541
00:59:08,817 --> 00:59:09,327
Yeah.

542
00:59:09,327 --> 00:59:11,792
So he was asked, um

543
00:59:11,792 --> 00:59:22,305
if he receives the messages when people, constituents call and email his office and he
said two things that were appalling and all the rest of it was like mumbo jumbo.

544
00:59:22,305 --> 00:59:23,005
have no idea.

545
00:59:23,005 --> 00:59:25,044
was like words weren't even coming out of his mouth.

546
00:59:25,044 --> 00:59:26,476
It was just grunting.

547
00:59:26,476 --> 00:59:33,918
But he said, um, surely people have better things to do.

548
00:59:34,052 --> 00:59:37,662
And he said, people need to get a life.

549
00:59:37,662 --> 00:59:38,499
Yes.

550
00:59:39,535 --> 00:59:47,100
What struck me was that that is exactly our problem is that?

551
00:59:47,561 --> 00:59:55,687
for I don't know decades now at least the last I'd say 15 years people

552
00:59:56,499 --> 01:00:03,703
are going on about their lives without paying attention to what's going on in government
and politics.

553
01:00:03,703 --> 01:00:08,206
And people are oh finding better things to do.

554
01:00:08,206 --> 01:00:22,373
And that's how we got into this mess is because we're having better things to do, we're
getting a life, and we're just going on about our day and our lives and assuming that our

555
01:00:22,373 --> 01:00:25,235
elected officials are doing right by us.

556
01:00:25,843 --> 01:00:27,170
and they're not.

557
01:00:30,653 --> 01:00:32,836
Yeah, we're with you.

558
01:00:33,481 --> 01:00:35,167
to tell that they're not.

559
01:00:35,872 --> 01:00:36,882
Right.

560
01:00:37,380 --> 01:00:47,342
When Wicker says Mississippians ought to get a life, send the money and maybe some of them
will be able to get a life.

561
01:00:47,735 --> 01:00:52,815
Yeah, I mean, yeah, stop making our lives harder.

562
01:00:53,935 --> 01:01:08,155
That's what government is doing is it is our federal government and our state government
too is making life harder for the vast majority of Mississippians.

563
01:01:08,155 --> 01:01:09,695
And it's time to stop.

564
01:01:10,328 --> 01:01:13,310
Well Kathleen, this has been so much fun.

565
01:01:13,310 --> 01:01:16,672
uh We admire your passion.

566
01:01:17,432 --> 01:01:23,736
We admire your candid comments and that's quite all right with us.

567
01:01:23,736 --> 01:01:24,917
We like that.

568
01:01:24,917 --> 01:01:28,078
So thank you for being with us.

569
01:01:28,239 --> 01:01:29,159
Jim?

570
01:01:30,318 --> 01:01:32,309
I want to have Kathleen back.

571
01:01:32,625 --> 01:01:33,784
Yes, we do.

572
01:01:33,784 --> 01:01:35,941
eh Well, I've sure enjoyed it.

573
01:01:35,941 --> 01:01:37,893
I'll be glad to come back anytime.

574
01:01:37,893 --> 01:01:43,651
we can pick another subject and have a go at it and tear into them.

575
01:01:43,651 --> 01:01:45,526
ah

576
01:01:45,526 --> 01:01:46,736
Give me a topic.

577
01:01:46,736 --> 01:01:48,269
I'll dive into it.

578
01:01:48,269 --> 01:01:49,620
Yeah

579
01:01:50,292 --> 01:01:50,622
it.

580
01:01:50,622 --> 01:01:54,655
It's all about the deep dive and you're right.

581
01:01:54,655 --> 01:02:07,042
We have got to communicate what's going on and the real news and the real facts and know,
you know, and this is what we found.

582
01:02:07,042 --> 01:02:08,923
This is where we found it.

583
01:02:09,184 --> 01:02:13,589
And Cindy Smith is lying her off.

584
01:02:13,589 --> 01:02:14,419
Yeah.

585
01:02:14,700 --> 01:02:16,051
And let me just say this right.

586
01:02:16,051 --> 01:02:26,180
I know y'all are trying to wrap up, but not only do we have to, do we have to educate
people about the what's really going on, but we have to, um as Mississippians have to

587
01:02:26,180 --> 01:02:27,511
speak up.

588
01:02:27,511 --> 01:02:29,693
We cannot sit idly by.

589
01:02:29,693 --> 01:02:35,933
cannot sit in our, um what am I trying to say?

590
01:02:35,933 --> 01:02:37,242
recliner, I don't know.

591
01:02:37,242 --> 01:02:37,991
Say hello.

592
01:02:37,991 --> 01:02:46,095
our echo chambers, you know, you and I can't, the three of us can't just sit here and talk
amongst ourselves.

593
01:02:46,095 --> 01:02:50,537
Like we have to share with other people what's really happening.

594
01:02:50,537 --> 01:02:54,819
We have to be in community with other people um and we have to do something.

595
01:02:54,819 --> 01:02:56,880
We've got to call our elected officials.

596
01:02:56,880 --> 01:02:58,060
We've got to write to them.

597
01:02:58,060 --> 01:03:00,161
We've got to show up to protest.

598
01:03:00,161 --> 01:03:03,947
October 18th is No Kings Day 2.0.

599
01:03:03,947 --> 01:03:17,180
They're going to be protesting Gulfport at the federal courthouse in um Jackson at the
state capitol and in Tupelo in front of Trent Kelly's office, I believe.

600
01:03:17,321 --> 01:03:27,101
So October 18th is a great time for people literally to show up with their bodies and um
do something.

601
01:03:28,731 --> 01:03:34,376
Jim, let's talk about your favorite subject, Jim.

602
01:03:34,619 --> 01:03:35,915
Oh, money?

603
01:03:35,949 --> 01:03:37,478
I love money.

604
01:03:39,202 --> 01:03:40,161
Yes, you do.

605
01:03:40,161 --> 01:03:43,540
it comes in and we don't have to continue paying for this.

606
01:03:43,684 --> 01:03:44,745
Hahaha

607
01:03:46,895 --> 01:03:48,176
But it's worth it.

608
01:03:48,816 --> 01:03:53,881
But yes, these broadcasts do cost.

609
01:03:53,881 --> 01:03:59,265
They're not terribly expensive, but they are somewhat expensive.

610
01:03:59,726 --> 01:04:12,597
And if you'd like to ah to continue seeing topics of interest to Mississippians and what
David calls kitchen table issues.

611
01:04:12,597 --> 01:04:14,735
ah

612
01:04:14,735 --> 01:04:28,455
We sure would appreciate it if you would consider making a donation one time or on a
monthly basis, even if it's five or $10, everything helps.

613
01:04:32,557 --> 01:04:35,608
We've got some great, great people coming up.

614
01:04:35,608 --> 01:04:41,970
One of the ones I'm really looking forward to is with retired Admiral Jamie Burnett.

615
01:04:41,970 --> 01:04:58,054
ah And hopefully he will have a JAG officer, which is a justice, naval justice advocate ah
with him.

616
01:04:58,514 --> 01:05:01,715
And ah we're gonna talk about

617
01:05:01,837 --> 01:05:09,151
blowing up boats in the Gulf of Mexico without any justification.

618
01:05:10,092 --> 01:05:17,995
And I think a retired admiral and a retired JAG officer might have some opinions about
that.

619
01:05:17,996 --> 01:05:24,299
So that's one really great one that's coming up and I can hardly wait to see it.

620
01:05:24,499 --> 01:05:27,781
But like I said, it all costs money.

621
01:05:27,781 --> 01:05:31,819
ah The good thing is

622
01:05:31,819 --> 01:05:34,101
It's not like the grocery store.

623
01:05:34,341 --> 01:05:37,423
Our costs have stayed the same.

624
01:05:38,505 --> 01:05:41,767
Trump says grocery bills are going down.

625
01:05:41,828 --> 01:05:45,230
Well, ours isn't going down, but it's not going up.

626
01:05:45,271 --> 01:05:48,974
So if you got a little change, send it our way.

627
01:05:48,974 --> 01:05:50,255
We'd appreciate it.

628
01:05:50,255 --> 01:05:56,140
If not, continue to listen in, get educated and take some action.

629
01:05:56,421 --> 01:05:59,573
Don't sit on the log doing nothing.

630
01:06:01,444 --> 01:06:03,115
Absolutely, absolutely.

631
01:06:03,115 --> 01:06:03,756
Thank you, Jim.

632
01:06:03,756 --> 01:06:10,802
And if you want to contribute, uh your cash app is at Mississippi Happenings.

633
01:06:11,263 --> 01:06:15,536
PayPal is dollar sign Mississippi Happenings.

634
01:06:15,536 --> 01:06:23,603
And also you can check us out at mshappenings.org and you can also contribute there.

635
01:06:23,603 --> 01:06:25,274
So we do appreciate it.

636
01:06:25,274 --> 01:06:26,736
We appreciate you listening.

637
01:06:26,736 --> 01:06:28,777
We do want you to subscribe.

638
01:06:28,777 --> 01:06:29,906
It is free.

639
01:06:29,906 --> 01:06:38,650
We do need more sponsors, ah and yes, we do need donations to keep us going like this, but
we do appreciate it.

640
01:06:38,650 --> 01:06:45,513
Also, our email address is mshappeningsofone.com.

641
01:06:45,513 --> 01:06:49,375
That's mshappeningsofone.com.

642
01:06:49,375 --> 01:06:50,725
We do want to hear from you.

643
01:06:50,725 --> 01:06:57,998
We do want to talk about the that you want to talk about, the things that you want to hear
about.

644
01:06:58,071 --> 01:07:05,684
And this helps us get great interviews like we just had with Kathleen.

645
01:07:05,684 --> 01:07:07,195
So we do appreciate that.

646
01:07:07,195 --> 01:07:16,078
ah And in closing, may we never become indifferent to the suffering of others.

647
01:07:16,138 --> 01:07:17,058
Thanks.

648
01:07:17,058 --> 01:07:17,819
Y'all take care.

649
01:07:17,819 --> 01:07:18,339
Be safe.