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Welcome to Mississippi Happenings.

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My name is David Oles and I'm here with my co-host, Jim Newman.

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Jim, say hello.

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Hello.

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Hey, Jim.

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What we're going to do today is we're going to kind of do a recap of some of our
episodes.

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This will be our 17th episode.

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We have had 19 guests to join us and we have talked a lot about a lot of things, a lot of

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very important things both for Mississippi and in Mississippi, but also within our nation.

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But Jim, I got a question and for our listeners and our viewers, this is just us.

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So it's just a conversation between Jim and I.

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And Jim, tell me your thoughts on Elon Musk and his spaceship.

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Tell me about that, bud.

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I knew you were gonna ask about that.

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Well.

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He's got an awfully good contract with NASA to put a rocket up that will take astronauts
to Mars.

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and he's had four in a row that have blown up.

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Wow.

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uh, yesterday morning about 2 a.m.

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they did a launch pad test and it just blew to smithereens.

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Mmm.

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I mean, literally just blew up on the launch pad.

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It was a spectacular rocket show.

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and it strikes me as...

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maybe having some priorities in the wrong place, given what's going on in the United
States at this particular time.

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I know that the spaceship that's been used to go up to.

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the uh...

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to the moon and then to the space station.

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has been very successful.

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And a lot of good things have come out of the space station.

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And we've had international cooperation.

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We've had Russians, we've had uh Frenchmen, we've had, I think we've had a Chinese person
from China, all astronauts.

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So I think that's been a very good thing.

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And a lot of good scientific

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Stuff has come out of that.

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But I don't know.

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I'm just guessing that that rocket ship had to have cost.

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Well, a billion dollars.

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I mean, we've got...

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fighter jets and bombers that cost somewhere between 50 and 100 million each.

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I've got a feel that that rocket ship probably cost.

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half a million to a billion dollars somewhere in that range.

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And at the same time, its goal is to go to Mars.

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yet here we are cutting Medicaid, cutting veterans benefits and access to healthcare,
cutting SNAP, talking about reducing social security, potentially even cutting benefits

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that ah our senior citizens are eliminating.

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ah

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the education department, all of this in the name of cost cutting.

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And why are we doing the cost cutting?

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So that we can continue to have a

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beneficial tax program for those that are extremely wealthy.

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And all of that brings me back around to saying, I think we got some of our priorities as
a country in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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I'm not opposed to going to Mars, but I think there are some things that are a heck of a
lot more important right now.

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And we really ought to be concentrating on

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remedying those situations and we can still keep the Mars project out there as something
we wanted to accomplish, but we don't need to accomplish it on the backs of a lot of

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people that don't have the money.

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Understood, And you know, a couple of things that we've talked to, talked about, and you
just brought it up, the elimination of the Department of Education.

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And we know in Mississippi, we've had a chance to talk to Erica Jones with the MAE.

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We've had a chance to talk to Nancy Loom and what taken away between the school vouchers.

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and money just simply going to the private schools and the charter schools, it's been a
major effect on the state of Mississippi.

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We talked about $170 million dollars that the state of Mississippi lost because of uh
Linda McMahon.

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And she pulled back on the program.

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And it costs a lot of a lot of our rural school uh districts lost a lot of money.

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Do you recall that conversation, Jim?

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Absolutely.

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That was I think that was one of the best interviews we've had regarding

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education. I've always been amazed at our legislature who continues to talk

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how education is so important and the brain drain and all of this goes along the line.

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And yet the number one priority, the number one bill every year in the legislature is not
education.

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I did notice today or yesterday, maybe

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a Mississippi Today article that somebody was going to be introducing a bill to raise
teacher salaries.

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And I've forgotten what the other issue was.

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ah But it had to do with education.

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And my thought is, if our future is in our children and grandchildren,

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Why aren't we putting the money there first?

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if it's that important.

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uh I agree with you and in those episodes, we did applaud Philip Birchfield and Lance
Evans.

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uh They both had comments in Mississippi Today article uh trying to get uh Linda McMahon
to honor the government's commitment to Mississippi schools.

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to get both of them to join us.

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And we never heard back from either one of them.

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And we talk about a lot of subjects, but we talk about the kitchen table issues that
affects everybody, regardless of your oh political persuasion.

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We all have, I mean, we all love our kids.

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We love our grandkids.

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We love kids.

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And we know the importance of

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education, but it seems like that's always been kind of at the bottom of the oh of the
list of things that our lawmakers really want to discuss.

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Jim?

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You just have to look at their record and the record speaks for itself.

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Where Mississippi thinks education should be.

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They have yet, what, two years, two years I believe, they have fully funded the
educational program.

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Just two years since it came into effect in what the...

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90s?

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It was a matter of fact, it was the 80s and they had the one formula and they recently got
rid of that formula to make sure.

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Well, let me rephrase that.

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They had one formula that they said nobody could understand.

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So they changed it to another formula that even they could not understand.

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That was from an article also from Mississippi Today.

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So it seems to be a little bit of bait and switch when it comes to the money that really
goes to our public schools.

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Yes.

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And that's another issue with me, is it?

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The m money for education is allocated based on the pupil.

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The student goes to public school and the state pays X number of dollars for that student
and all the students in that county.

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If he doesn't go to that school and he goes to a charter school, the money follows him to
the charter school, which deletes the total amount of money available to the public

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schools to provide excellent education.

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Now, this doesn't happen in Oxford.

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or Hattiesburg, excuse me, or Tupelo, in our, basically our largest cities, because there
is a sufficient amount of tax base that the taxes are levied and the cities supplement the

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state funding so that we pay our teachers.

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better and facilities are better.

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uh I remember not too many years back when Tupelo decided to put in an artificial football
field and it was, I think it's a million dollars.

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And it didn't take him any time at all to raise the million dollars.

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Not that that was wrong.

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I'm not saying that.

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But what I am saying is that...

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The large cities are able to supplement the per student.

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money spent.

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Where it's hurting us is in our rural areas that do not have the tax base.

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and there's no way to do it.

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So the schools suffer.

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How do they suffer?

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Well,

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Maybe they don't get the best and brightest teachers.

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Maybe they don't have the best facilities.

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Maybe they don't offer as many courses.

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I'm pretty sure that a lot of rural schools don't offer French and Spanish.

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ah

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And I'm not sure whether I think Tupelo may offer another one.

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I'm not sure, but.

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What a school can offer to a student in an educational situation as far as the opportunity
for education is limited by how many teachers they can hire and those teachers have to

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fulfill the requirements and anything extra like foreign languages or whatever doesn't get
included.

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And it was interesting when we talked to Jack Reed Jr.

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of the history behind Mississippi going from a segregated school district and then to a
integrated district, but it took them, and Jim correct me if I'm wrong on that, but it

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took them about 16 years.

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from the time the government said, yes, we are going to integrate the schools.

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I don't remember the case, it took that long.

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It took 16 years from the time the government said it, you know, in the late 60s until the
early 70s.

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when it finally happened in Mississippi.

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was interesting when we talked to Jack Reed Jr.

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oh and how his father was involved in getting it done in Mississippi.

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That was another extremely.

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ah

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Wonderful interview.

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I really enjoyed hearing the stories about Jack Reed Sr.

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I did not get to Tupelo ah in time to be really that knowledgeable.

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Jack Reed Sr.

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I met, we were friends.

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ah He would recognize me, we would talk, but I never got to sit down with him.

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and ask him those questions.

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And I really regret having not done that.

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And that's one of the things that I enjoy doing with our podcasts because it was because
of that interview, we then went to an interview with Lovie West and Virginia Tolliver.

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Yes.

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uh, two black women, extremely intelligent, came from humble beginnings, but rose to the
top and, uh, in spite of things, but

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It was.

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It was just good to hear those stories and Mississippi is surrounded with those stories
and people who have done those things.

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ah I know over in the Delta, there was a saying that the road to success was whatever it
is, highway 59 North.

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In other words, get out of the Delta and

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Go ahead.

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I don't know what the highway was.

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What's the main highway there north?

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I think it's highway 51.

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Yeah.

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makes sense.

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Yeah, I had heard that a number of times that in the Delta, the road to success, if you
didn't own a plantation was highway 51 North.

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And a lot of people went North.

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ah

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went to Chicago and St.

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Louis and to Memphis.

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A good friend of mine, Jim Casey, went to Carbondale, Illinois, ah where he was very
successful and became principal and superintendent.

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ah

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So.

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I hope we continue those efforts in uh finding people with interesting histories because
history in our school system is about to be not taught nearly as well as it has been.

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ah I don't know whether it was this morning's newspaper or yesterday's newspaper.

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shed the,

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schools, the state school board has decided to do away with the history tests.

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If you're to do away with the history test, how much effort are you going to put into
teaching the kids history?

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Good point.

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And it seems to me that that might just be a result of the DEI situation, the diversity,
inclusion and equity.

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because I've heard a couple of professors and you have too at Ole Miss talk about, well, I
can't do this and I can't do that.

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And I can't talk about the Civil War.

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I can't talk about slavery.

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can't talk about, that's the history.

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and you cannot rewrite history.

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It's there.

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You can't change the facts.

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Read the first Mississippi Constitution.

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It's.

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I don't know the exact words, but it's to the effect that blacks are more ah able to work
in the hot sun than whites.

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So slavery is okay.

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There was, yeah, a lot of those things, just absurd.

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It is absurd.

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And if our children aren't learning the history of Mississippi, the actual history of
Mississippi.

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How are we teaching them to respect and treat others like they would like to be treated?

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Yeah, I'm of the opinion and this is my opinion that with the elimination of diversity,
equity and inclusion, you know, personally, I think that's a way for us to get back to

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segregation.

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And Jim, that scares the hell out of me.

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ah It's just, it's, frightening and it's, it's how we as a, as a nation have lost

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our way and have lost our compassion and our understanding of, of, of, of people.

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And you're absolutely right.

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Uh, the history books is thrown out.

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Yeah.

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Just because I know of, of, slavery and just because, you know, it was the, the white
plantation owners.

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that had the slaves, were beating the slaves.

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that has no, I mean, how do I put this?

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That's history.

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It doesn't make me feel any less of a person because of who I am, but some of the far...

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radical right, you know, they want to say, that's making the Caucasian, and I like the
term Caucasian better than white, but that makes the white person feel ashamed of their

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history, which makes no sense to me.

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History is history.

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You can't change it.

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No, you can't change it.

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And when you are racist,

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Yes.

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and you treat other races with less dignity than you treat the Caucasians.

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You are

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saying that you believe in slavery.

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And, and, know, we've, we've had some good conversations also, you know, cause this is,
these are, we, have to talk about these things because it goes back.

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It's not going to be taught in the school.

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It'll, as you said, it's good to hear the stories.

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You know, we're just, we're just two old white men.

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I mean, let's face it.

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And I am ashamed.

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I only learned about June 10th, which was June the 19th.

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I only learned about that about four years ago, which is, you know, I'm ashamed to say it,
but it was taught in my history books.

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I had to learn that from other people.

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you know, yes, it's great that we all need to be celebrating Juneteenth or June 19th.

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It's some of the things, one of the things that I've recently discovered, and I'm not
quite sure where I read it, m but in Mississippi, the governor has his Confederate day.

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Yes.

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Well, that's a state holiday.

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But I recently have learned that not every municipality has to celebrate that holiday.

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00:24:54,548 --> 00:25:08,829
They can not have it and just have it as a regular workday and make Juneteenth or that
weekend the holiday.

229
00:25:09,524 --> 00:25:10,518
Yep

230
00:25:11,025 --> 00:25:13,976
So how do you go about getting that done?

231
00:25:13,976 --> 00:25:23,078
You got to go to your city council or city alderman and get a petition and get that done.

232
00:25:23,379 --> 00:25:27,079
So there are opportunities out there.

233
00:25:27,219 --> 00:25:31,121
I mean, this, was surprised to hear it.

234
00:25:31,121 --> 00:25:34,062
I don't know how that got passed the legislature.

235
00:25:34,062 --> 00:25:39,803
Somebody ah wasn't paying attention, but thank goodness they weren't.

236
00:25:39,980 --> 00:25:41,018
Slid it in.

237
00:25:41,018 --> 00:25:41,683
Good!

238
00:25:41,683 --> 00:25:47,505
gives us an opportunity to make right something that I think is wrong.

239
00:25:47,766 --> 00:25:52,343
Yeah, we've talked to a representative.

240
00:25:54,730 --> 00:26:17,661
Robert, excuse me, Representative Justice Gibbs, and we've talked to Senator Robert uh
Johnson, and they had some great stories to tell us during the 2025 oh legislative

241
00:26:17,661 --> 00:26:18,332
session.

242
00:26:18,332 --> 00:26:21,104
They had some good stories about that too.

243
00:26:21,388 --> 00:26:36,068
and the elimination of primarily, yes, public education again, but also the elimination of
the state income tax and how we are, you know, it's going to save the average

244
00:26:36,068 --> 00:26:38,368
Mississippian about $44.

245
00:26:39,008 --> 00:26:47,908
On the poor end, know, the poor, it's going to save them four, one, two, three, $4.

246
00:26:48,268 --> 00:26:49,836
But on the

247
00:26:49,836 --> 00:26:56,776
the millionaires and the people with the money, it's going to save them about $40,000.

248
00:26:57,776 --> 00:27:03,236
But we all will lose a lot of services, in my opinion.

249
00:27:04,189 --> 00:27:23,586
I think that's one of the things that brought you and I together on this podcast is that
what we're trying to do is bring out issues that are not generally talked about in the

250
00:27:23,586 --> 00:27:31,923
open, in the legislature, ah or on the editorial pages of our newspapers.

251
00:27:33,701 --> 00:27:42,278
And as a result, things go on and happen and we're all surprised by it.

252
00:27:43,559 --> 00:27:46,021
And it's too late to do anything about.

253
00:27:46,181 --> 00:27:48,703
And you mentioned kitchen table issues.

254
00:27:48,723 --> 00:27:49,603
Yes.

255
00:27:51,803 --> 00:27:54,696
One of the things that Jack Reed Sr.

256
00:27:55,578 --> 00:28:07,093
said that will stick with me forever is, what happens in your house is more important than
what happens in the White House.

257
00:28:07,604 --> 00:28:08,785
Absolutely.

258
00:28:08,785 --> 00:28:10,567
and it is so true.

259
00:28:10,968 --> 00:28:21,343
What happens in your house if you are not involved, if you're not trying to get educated
on the political issues.

260
00:28:21,343 --> 00:28:23,245
m

261
00:28:24,850 --> 00:28:26,598
If you're not out.

262
00:28:29,065 --> 00:28:33,192
promoting or protesting or whatever you want to call it.

263
00:28:33,654 --> 00:28:39,815
The fact that we in Mississippi do not have the right for an initiative petition.

264
00:28:42,803 --> 00:28:59,962
because the legislature won't rewrite the Constitution so that instead of having five
congressional districts, we have four, and then they could pass an initiative petition.

265
00:28:59,962 --> 00:29:03,563
But they're not interested in doing that.

266
00:29:04,824 --> 00:29:06,875
That's a kitchen table issue.

267
00:29:07,093 --> 00:29:07,912
Yes.

268
00:29:08,851 --> 00:29:09,990
healthcare.

269
00:29:12,009 --> 00:29:16,571
cuts in Medicaid, the lack of Medicaid expansion.

270
00:29:17,572 --> 00:29:26,937
And the one thing that I always get upset about is they want people to have to work to get
Medicaid.

271
00:29:27,518 --> 00:29:29,979
They already have to work.

272
00:29:30,860 --> 00:29:37,223
If you're able-bodied, you've got to do 20 hours a week, 20 hours a month, I believe.

273
00:29:38,424 --> 00:29:41,075
Most people on Medicaid

274
00:29:41,471 --> 00:29:43,030
Cannot work.

275
00:29:45,107 --> 00:29:47,160
That's why they're on Medicaid.

276
00:29:48,184 --> 00:29:50,388
They don't want to be on Medicaid.

277
00:29:54,387 --> 00:29:59,419
When you are not involved, you don't realize that.

278
00:30:01,021 --> 00:30:02,891
most of the nursing homes.

279
00:30:05,297 --> 00:30:12,032
are only able to survive because their patients are on Medicaid.

280
00:30:14,101 --> 00:30:23,365
Now if they cut Medicaid enough, grandma's going to be out on the street because the
nursing homes are for profit.

281
00:30:26,291 --> 00:30:29,169
These are things that go ahead.

282
00:30:29,779 --> 00:30:41,100
And you look at the jails and we do want to, we're trying to get someone scheduled to talk
about their jail system, you know, and their jails are for profit.

283
00:30:41,140 --> 00:30:45,565
That to me, that's just absurd.

284
00:30:45,565 --> 00:30:47,206
Jail's for profit.

285
00:30:47,881 --> 00:30:57,074
Yes, the article ah yesterday, Representative Curry, State Representative Curry was over
at Parchman.

286
00:30:57,496 --> 00:30:58,797
She's a nurse.

287
00:30:59,063 --> 00:30:59,952
Mm-hmm.

288
00:31:01,821 --> 00:31:09,269
She saw a man, six foot two, who weighed 115 pounds.

289
00:31:14,867 --> 00:31:17,670
He had lost the weight.

290
00:31:20,125 --> 00:31:23,179
because he wasn't getting the medication he needed.

291
00:31:25,321 --> 00:31:26,311
But it was.

292
00:31:28,113 --> 00:31:32,720
not something that he couldn't get, they just weren't giving it to him.

293
00:31:34,525 --> 00:31:38,732
She saw another person there who had

294
00:31:40,871 --> 00:31:52,206
I think ammonia in his blood ah had something to do with ammonia in his blood.

295
00:31:52,707 --> 00:31:57,709
But that was another instance that could be taken care of.

296
00:31:58,309 --> 00:32:07,093
And the result was that he had a five-year sentence, but because of what he had
contracted,

297
00:32:09,821 --> 00:32:11,922
He was given three months to live.

298
00:32:12,336 --> 00:32:13,085
man.

299
00:32:13,747 --> 00:32:18,066
So you go from a five year sentence to three months to live?

300
00:32:21,819 --> 00:32:26,562
We're going to try to get representative Curry on a podcast.

301
00:32:26,562 --> 00:32:29,638
ah I would love to hear her story.

302
00:32:29,638 --> 00:32:37,426
me greatly when we don't treat incarcerated people with dignity.

303
00:32:37,647 --> 00:32:39,929
I don't care what they've done.

304
00:32:40,611 --> 00:32:46,857
When you put them in jail, we need to feed them and clothe them and take care of their
medical needs.

305
00:32:48,871 --> 00:32:56,988
I think that's just, that's the minimum that we should be doing.

306
00:32:57,530 --> 00:33:05,617
It's enough that they're not running around in society again, but they certainly should
not be dying for lack of healthcare.

307
00:33:06,234 --> 00:33:07,364
I agree with you there.

308
00:33:07,364 --> 00:33:19,218
And, and we know that there are those that uh strictly don't care about the incarcerated,
you know, the other side of the coin.

309
00:33:19,218 --> 00:33:22,216
Well, they shouldn't have done whatever they did anyway.

310
00:33:22,216 --> 00:33:30,671
You know, they shouldn't have been, you know, whatever they got sent to jail for they,
well, it's like the opposite of the coin as well.

311
00:33:30,671 --> 00:33:31,651
You know, they deserved it.

312
00:33:31,651 --> 00:33:33,542
Well, that's wrong.

313
00:33:33,562 --> 00:33:34,848
You know, that's

314
00:33:34,848 --> 00:33:42,666
They don't deserve to die uh in jail because of lack of healthcare.

315
00:33:42,666 --> 00:33:52,376
That's just not who we are as human beings and as compassionate people that we need to be.

316
00:33:52,376 --> 00:33:53,840
uh

317
00:33:53,840 --> 00:34:05,639
of the jails is you can, um somebody can be picked up, taken to jail for drunk driving or
whatever.

318
00:34:07,997 --> 00:34:09,798
and they may sit there.

319
00:34:11,369 --> 00:34:22,069
for six months, a year, year and a half, two years, because they don't have the money to
make bail, and they don't have an attorney.

320
00:34:24,191 --> 00:34:28,466
who's going to process it and cause it to happen.

321
00:34:29,568 --> 00:34:30,869
So we wonder.

322
00:34:32,501 --> 00:34:34,401
why we have.

323
00:34:36,059 --> 00:34:48,185
a population that thinks that the way to solve problems is through guns.

324
00:34:50,097 --> 00:34:51,990
and not at the ballot box.

325
00:34:53,846 --> 00:34:57,824
Yeah, we could spend days talking about that, we?

326
00:34:58,091 --> 00:35:10,707
my gosh, 29,000 voters in ah Tupelo and in the Mayorial election, less than 5,000 decided
who the mayor was going to be.

327
00:35:13,066 --> 00:35:15,647
I remember talking to Dr.

328
00:35:15,647 --> 00:35:19,868
Deborah Williams from uh DeSoto County.

329
00:35:20,288 --> 00:35:26,140
She is the chairwoman of the executive committee of the Democrats in DeSoto County.

330
00:35:26,140 --> 00:35:31,911
you know, there was a plea for poll workers.

331
00:35:31,911 --> 00:35:41,494
oh And also, you know, she also touched on, oh yes, getting out the vote and...

332
00:35:41,814 --> 00:36:02,734
of what a lot of people term is GOTV, get out the vote, which kind of ties into a little
bit of what we talked to Jamie and to Mary Jane from indivisible Northeast Mississippi and

333
00:36:02,734 --> 00:36:05,194
political activism.

334
00:36:05,194 --> 00:36:08,074
And that was a fun episode.

335
00:36:08,614 --> 00:36:11,246
They were a lot of...

336
00:36:11,369 --> 00:36:12,347
Bye.

337
00:36:12,502 --> 00:36:13,203
They were.

338
00:36:13,203 --> 00:36:14,704
That was a good one.

339
00:36:14,765 --> 00:36:19,912
And a few days later, they had a

340
00:36:23,397 --> 00:36:33,889
hands off or no no kings no kings here in Tupelo ah

341
00:36:35,949 --> 00:36:42,012
Oxford, Jackson, Gulfport, Biloxi.

342
00:36:42,012 --> 00:36:49,676
think there were seven or eight cities in the state of Mississippi that did the No Kings.

343
00:36:53,671 --> 00:37:05,425
That brought a lot of attention, ah got a lot of coverage, and it wasn't just in
Mississippi.

344
00:37:05,425 --> 00:37:10,047
2100 cities had no King's protests.

345
00:37:10,607 --> 00:37:15,569
And the estimate is that there were five million people.

346
00:37:17,275 --> 00:37:30,603
showed up in all cities around the country to protest what's happening with our government
for various things.

347
00:37:30,603 --> 00:37:32,545
ah

348
00:37:32,742 --> 00:37:50,990
And we've been very fortunate to have the retired Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett ah to talk
about, you know, the international uh issues that we have, both with the international uh

349
00:37:50,990 --> 00:37:54,031
diplomacy and also cybersecurity.

350
00:37:54,031 --> 00:38:00,574
ah I mean, and this, all the people we talked about, they're all

351
00:38:00,734 --> 00:38:05,126
that we mentioned, they all are experts uh in their field.

352
00:38:05,126 --> 00:38:07,417
They have firsthand knowledge of this.

353
00:38:07,417 --> 00:38:16,601
uh But some of the stuff that Jamie Barnett talked about was kind of, really was kind of
frightening.

354
00:38:16,601 --> 00:38:25,205
uh He also has a sub stack uh called opinion aided, which is opinion aided by facts.

355
00:38:25,645 --> 00:38:27,446
And uh it was kind of...

356
00:38:27,446 --> 00:38:28,250
uh

357
00:38:28,250 --> 00:38:43,417
It was frightening some of the things that he was talking about of oh how we are losing
our foothold as the world's leader and we're letting other countries take over because of

358
00:38:43,417 --> 00:38:56,122
the current administration and uh their lack of, what's the word I'm looking for, I guess
for their imperialism or because they...

359
00:38:56,234 --> 00:39:13,760
You know, it's all about America and, but it's America is a big part of the world and has
been a leader in the world for decades.

360
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:21,512
And I guess ever since the first or the second world war, I'm not a history teacher or
historian.

361
00:39:22,090 --> 00:39:27,836
But it seems that we're losing that and that was kind of frightening and that came from
Jamie Barnett.

362
00:39:28,253 --> 00:39:28,694
Yes.

363
00:39:28,694 --> 00:39:41,311
And if you think about it, everything he talked about, cybersecurity and ah the number of
ships the Navy has, things like that.

364
00:39:41,311 --> 00:39:42,107
Yeah.

365
00:39:43,623 --> 00:39:52,143
Just remember that Ingalls Shipyard on the Gulf Coast is one of the largest employers in
the state.

366
00:39:55,675 --> 00:40:14,576
And then when you find out that the United States as a country builds, I think my memory
is right, two warships a year is what we're turning out to join the fleet.

367
00:40:15,817 --> 00:40:23,743
While the Russians or the Chinese are turning out something like 20.

368
00:40:25,255 --> 00:40:26,298
It was either 20 or 200.

369
00:40:26,298 --> 00:40:30,950
What oh was it David, do you remember?

370
00:40:30,950 --> 00:40:33,510
I don't remember, but that's close.

371
00:40:33,671 --> 00:40:38,427
Yeah, it was just really amazing.

372
00:40:38,649 --> 00:40:44,817
there's, know, people don't realize that we're building ships in Mississippi.

373
00:40:46,845 --> 00:40:48,827
High technology ships.

374
00:40:49,128 --> 00:41:02,545
My gosh, right here in Tupelo, we've got a company that builds the propulsion system that
goes on an aircraft carrier that propels that jet off the deck.

375
00:41:04,807 --> 00:41:12,443
The technology is fabulous and it requires a workforce that's educated.

376
00:41:13,224 --> 00:41:13,995
And here we go.

377
00:41:13,995 --> 00:41:17,087
That circle is coming back around, isn't it?

378
00:41:17,188 --> 00:41:19,209
An educated workforce.

379
00:41:20,614 --> 00:41:21,395
Absolutely.

380
00:41:21,395 --> 00:41:29,144
And we talk a lot about the issues in Mississippi, but uh there's ours.

381
00:41:29,144 --> 00:41:31,774
There's wonderful things about Mississippi.

382
00:41:31,774 --> 00:41:36,362
You know, I grew up in Tennessee, just across the state line.

383
00:41:36,362 --> 00:41:40,475
And then you grew up.

384
00:41:40,757 --> 00:41:42,628
Where did you grow up, by the way?

385
00:41:43,237 --> 00:41:44,804
I haven't grown up.

386
00:41:45,453 --> 00:41:47,156
I'm still working on it.

387
00:41:47,156 --> 00:41:50,711
Yes, it's like, okay, Jim, what are you gonna be when you grow up?

388
00:41:51,293 --> 00:41:52,774
That type deal.

389
00:41:53,156 --> 00:41:56,061
But that'll work.

390
00:41:56,061 --> 00:41:56,799
That'll work.

391
00:41:56,799 --> 00:41:58,391
a bell at Christmas.

392
00:42:01,270 --> 00:42:10,850
But, you know, it's, and so there's, we, I mean, we love, we live in Mississippi.

393
00:42:11,050 --> 00:42:17,810
You know, I've been here since 72 in Mississippi and you've been here since the eighties.

394
00:42:19,337 --> 00:42:20,671
78.

395
00:42:20,990 --> 00:42:21,350
78?

396
00:42:21,350 --> 00:42:22,050
Okay.

397
00:42:22,050 --> 00:42:23,150
We love Mississippi.

398
00:42:23,150 --> 00:42:23,990
We really do.

399
00:42:23,990 --> 00:42:33,270
There's a lot of great things, you know, but also we do have to bring out, we do try to
bring out the issues so we can address these issues.

400
00:42:33,270 --> 00:42:42,190
And yes, we are reaching out and we do want to hear from, you know, Republicans.

401
00:42:42,190 --> 00:42:44,390
We want to hear from independents.

402
00:42:44,390 --> 00:42:46,670
We want to hear from progressive.

403
00:42:47,010 --> 00:42:48,490
We want to hear from

404
00:42:48,490 --> 00:42:53,294
Democrats because we want the discussion.

405
00:42:53,294 --> 00:42:55,325
We are not afraid of discussions.

406
00:42:55,325 --> 00:43:00,159
We do very respectful interviews.

407
00:43:00,159 --> 00:43:13,609
oh I've seen some from Mississippi Public Broadcasting, which I'm thinking, I don't know
if I'd want to have a conversation with some of those interviewers, but that's a whole

408
00:43:13,609 --> 00:43:14,890
different thing.

409
00:43:15,456 --> 00:43:24,574
You know, we do want to discuss those issues and we as a nation have got to come back
together again.

410
00:43:24,574 --> 00:43:26,775
There is middle ground.

411
00:43:26,775 --> 00:43:29,708
There is a gray side.

412
00:43:29,708 --> 00:43:35,142
It's not all all the way to the, to the left or all the way to the right.

413
00:43:35,142 --> 00:43:42,569
We've got to meet somewhere in the middle because we all have the same goals.

414
00:43:42,569 --> 00:43:44,532
We all want, you know,

415
00:43:44,532 --> 00:43:48,665
healthcare, we all want, you know, good roads.

416
00:43:48,665 --> 00:43:50,917
We all want to have good education.

417
00:43:50,917 --> 00:43:53,578
We all want good hospitals, good doctors.

418
00:43:53,578 --> 00:43:58,512
We want educated, we want an educated workforce.

419
00:43:58,512 --> 00:44:02,345
But it seems the difference is how we go about it.

420
00:44:02,345 --> 00:44:07,438
And that's where we got to come, that's where we've got to come together.

421
00:44:08,029 --> 00:44:17,632
And most of these issues, when you get right down to it, are not Republican or Democrat.

422
00:44:17,752 --> 00:44:24,093
They're issues that affect every one of us every day of our lives.

423
00:44:24,674 --> 00:44:37,097
And unless everybody comes together and talks to each other and comes to an agreement, we
don't really move forward.

424
00:44:37,403 --> 00:44:39,061
One of the things that...

425
00:44:41,617 --> 00:44:49,181
the Minnesota Senator, or yes, Senator that was killed.

426
00:44:49,702 --> 00:44:53,043
can't think of her name right now.

427
00:44:53,364 --> 00:45:10,533
Everybody I've heard talk about her that knew her said that she was the absolute best
person ever to get

428
00:45:10,693 --> 00:45:18,959
both sides to come together and sit down and hammer out an issue that was so critical to
Minnesota.

429
00:45:19,059 --> 00:45:27,585
And I don't, I have not heard exactly what that issue was, but that's what we've got to
do.

430
00:45:27,846 --> 00:45:33,830
And it's very hard to do when one side says, I'm right, you're wrong.

431
00:45:33,830 --> 00:45:36,752
And the other side says, no, you're right.

432
00:45:36,752 --> 00:45:38,473
I'm right and you're wrong.

433
00:45:40,529 --> 00:45:44,160
Nobody's right all the time and nobody's wrong all the time.

434
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:47,941
But we need to get together and start talking to get each other.

435
00:45:47,941 --> 00:46:08,337
And that's what I hope we're trying to do with this podcast is bring people together ah so
that we can talk about the various issues and see their side of it and get an education.

436
00:46:10,354 --> 00:46:13,005
Absolutely, absolutely.

437
00:46:13,005 --> 00:46:18,686
we do want to thank our, uh have oh several sponsors.

438
00:46:18,747 --> 00:46:20,927
We do appreciate them.

439
00:46:20,927 --> 00:46:25,411
ah Yes, we look for more sponsors.

440
00:46:25,612 --> 00:46:33,354
We ask, yes, uh we want more subscribers.

441
00:46:33,354 --> 00:46:37,315
We ask that you subscribe to this broadcast.

442
00:46:37,591 --> 00:46:40,153
this podcast is no charge.

443
00:46:40,153 --> 00:46:49,701
It is free for you to view it or for you to listen to it, however you do.

444
00:46:51,543 --> 00:46:56,817
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, we would love to hear from you.

445
00:46:56,817 --> 00:47:06,545
And you can email us at mshappenings, the number one at gmail.com.

446
00:47:06,611 --> 00:47:11,074
That's mshappeningsthenumberone.com.

447
00:47:11,074 --> 00:47:12,484
We'd love to hear from you.

448
00:47:12,484 --> 00:47:22,720
We want to hear, uh you know, things that you want to talk about, things that you like
that we said, and things that you disagree with what we said.

449
00:47:22,720 --> 00:47:34,246
And we do want to uh talk to local and state elected officials that can share some
information.

450
00:47:35,033 --> 00:47:35,754
to us.

451
00:47:35,754 --> 00:47:43,756
do want to educate uh our viewers and our listeners.

452
00:47:46,000 --> 00:47:45,758
Jim, you got anything you want to...

453
00:47:46,588 --> 00:47:47,845
End this with.

454
00:47:48,781 --> 00:47:49,635
Bring us home.

455
00:47:49,635 --> 00:47:52,980
uh Bring it home or what are we?

456
00:47:54,568 --> 00:47:55,631
Yes.

457
00:47:57,212 --> 00:48:01,718
I would like to see.

458
00:48:03,819 --> 00:48:08,364
legislators from both sides of the aisle.

459
00:48:09,566 --> 00:48:11,207
Maybe a couple of them.

460
00:48:12,697 --> 00:48:15,415
come together on the podcast.

461
00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:18,496
And let's just have a conversation.

462
00:48:18,896 --> 00:48:19,723
Yes.

463
00:48:22,946 --> 00:48:26,188
and see where it goes.

464
00:48:26,969 --> 00:48:47,374
The legislature will reconvene next January and now is the time for citizens to be talking
to their legislators, letting them know what is of interest to them as far as legislation

465
00:48:47,374 --> 00:48:50,426
is concerned or what's important.

466
00:48:52,186 --> 00:48:58,169
But we got a good size state here, a little less than three million people.

467
00:48:59,109 --> 00:49:05,372
And I can promise you everybody's got an opinion and we're not always gonna agree.

468
00:49:06,353 --> 00:49:08,953
But I think the time has come.

469
00:49:10,800 --> 00:49:22,138
for us to start to at least agree on the things that we do agree on and move forward on
those.

470
00:49:22,198 --> 00:49:33,526
And we can work on the things that we disagree on, but let's get together and agree on the
important things and move forward in Mississippi.

471
00:49:34,415 --> 00:49:36,778
One last thing, Jim, I've got to ask you.

472
00:49:36,778 --> 00:49:42,726
ah You seem to be in a, your arm seems to be in a sling.

473
00:49:42,726 --> 00:49:44,367
What happened, buddy?

474
00:49:45,179 --> 00:49:45,982
Oh.

475
00:49:48,106 --> 00:49:52,329
I tripped.

476
00:49:53,911 --> 00:49:57,433
No, no.

477
00:49:57,834 --> 00:50:00,416
A dog got in my way.

478
00:50:00,637 --> 00:50:06,441
I was taking steps backward and a dog got in my way and I went down.

479
00:50:06,582 --> 00:50:09,644
Fell on my shoulder last Saturday.

480
00:50:09,644 --> 00:50:14,388
ah Hurt an awful lot.

481
00:50:14,809 --> 00:50:16,930
Thought I had just done some.

482
00:50:18,948 --> 00:50:23,263
tissue damage, maybe a ligament or two or something.

483
00:50:23,744 --> 00:50:33,656
Went to the doctor on Monday and found out that I had fractured the humerus bone, which is
the bone that runs between your shoulder and your elbow.

484
00:50:34,177 --> 00:50:34,517
And...

485
00:50:34,517 --> 00:50:35,358
uh

486
00:50:37,392 --> 00:50:39,283
They didn't want to do any surgery.

487
00:50:39,283 --> 00:50:48,745
said that putting it in a sling for three weeks, everything that was fractured was in
proper alignment.

488
00:50:49,305 --> 00:50:56,187
And they're hoping that three or four or five weeks we'll get it cured and I'll be fine.

489
00:50:57,268 --> 00:50:58,948
Thank you for asking.

490
00:50:59,928 --> 00:51:04,350
But I tell you, it has given me a new perspective.

491
00:51:04,350 --> 00:51:06,430
ah

492
00:51:09,004 --> 00:51:23,338
If you, I don't know how you, how you might view handicapped people, but I'm here to tell
you, I've got a new perspective and respect for handicapped people.

493
00:51:23,758 --> 00:51:28,119
When you only have one arm, try to get your pants on.

494
00:51:28,500 --> 00:51:30,300
Try to brush your teeth.

495
00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:32,701
Try to fix dinner.

496
00:51:33,721 --> 00:51:37,482
Just try to do the things you normally do.

497
00:51:37,818 --> 00:51:41,227
and you'll find out that you cannot do it.

498
00:51:43,214 --> 00:51:53,980
And like I said, I've gained a real healthy respect for those that are not as fortunate as
I have been throughout my life to have everything work.

499
00:51:54,851 --> 00:51:59,095
But to all of our listeners and our viewers, we do appreciate you.

500
00:51:59,095 --> 00:52:00,476
You are very important.

501
00:52:00,476 --> 00:52:04,781
uh Please share this with your friends.

502
00:52:04,781 --> 00:52:07,002
We'd love to hear from all of you.

503
00:52:07,123 --> 00:52:14,150
And as always, may we never be indifferent to the suffering of others.

504
00:52:14,150 --> 00:52:15,170
Thank you.