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Good morning, Memphis. Yes. Luke Symbol here with Kristen New. We are filling in for Todd Starnes. He's traveling the country, signing books, speaking at.
Conferences and this morning we have a very special guest. We have Mr. Mark Billingsley. Good morning, Mark. Good morning.
How are you? I am good. I like your energy this morning. You're waking me up. No joke.
You're ready for the weekend.
Well, look, it's a rainy, kind of gray morning out there. We got to wake up. I don't know why. I like. Rainy weather, really.
Yeah, I'm kind of dark. I don't know. I'm a couple cups of coffee in, wired, ready to go. Um, so, Mr. Billingsley, it's really exciting to have you in the principal to it at a Memphis studio this morning.
You are kind of everywhere. You know, you've been a Germantown Alderman, you were on the commission for eight years, you're running for commission. Um, again, uh, you just can't stop trying to help Shelby County.
Well, you're very, very kind. I've been blessed. I'm. From Memphis, living Germantown. This is my community.
I haven't given up on it. We've got a lot of work to do. And uh but I'm very, very committed to making a difference. And you know, good government can do some incredible things when you get the right people in the seats. And I've been blessed to do a lot of really good things over the years.
We have got a lot of work to do. Sure. I've made a big point to say the next four years are incredibly pivotal for us as a community. And we either need to really Clean it up the next four years, or I'm really concerned about where we're headed. Is that the difference that you've seen from your previous political?
I think we're Kristen, I think we're a pivotal crossroads. I've been in public service a total of thirteen years. I actually served nine years on the commission. I was originally appointed when Wyatt Bunker became mayor of Lakeland. And then I served two s consecutive terms and then I'm coming back I'll tell you this, I really believe in term limits.
When I left, I was ready to go, because if you really do the work You're exhausted.
So, the last three years have been good for me. I've been doing some really good work in the public nonprofit sector. helping people with mental illness but And I'll continue to do that. I've always worked a nonprofit, but we've got some serious government issues that we've got to address. Sure.
One of those, you know, I know Senator Brent Taylor is supporting your run for commission. He's your treasurer. He's endorsed you. And you went on a tour of 201 Poplar, the Shelby County Jail, several months ago. I did.
And I had the opportunity to go with you too. It was kind of funny seeing you and Senator Taylor in jail cells checking things out. It was real rough. It was a rough tour. Especially 201.
That is not a pleasant visit. And they were, I mean, they were going into the rough parts too.
Some of the areas where that didn't smell great, and some of the inmates maybe did struggle from mental health. And, you know, there was, anyway, it was kind of gross. But one of the issues that was raised there, the Sheriff's Department said, we have a lot of state inmates here. We need help getting the state inmates out. I know that.
Since that jail tour, it's something you've been talking about. It's something Senator Taylor has been working on on the state level. But can you talk a little bit about that and the importance of the state taking those convicted criminals so that we can free up more room for our routine local criminals?
Well, the jail is absolutely overcrowded. It's certified for a much less number than actually are there. We've had days where Sheriff Bonner has had to deal with over 3,000 inmates at 201 Poplar. Which is so dangerous.
Well, it's a manpower issue. We have struggled with adequate staffing for a long time, but honestly, 201 Poplar. The the day that Senator Taylor and you Luke, you and I toured the facility, the air was broken. It had been broken for weeks. Water was standing in the jail cells, up to two inches of water, no circulation.
hundreds of broken doors. It's not fair to our law enforcement folks that have to man that every day. It's not really, it is absolutely not humane. And to going back to the point about state prisoners. Shelby County taxpayers are paying for our state prisoners in that We are paid about $44 a day, less than $45 a day.
Those prisoners actually cost us uh 111, 112 dollars a day. And so you're talking about tens of millions of dollars that the three of us pay and all the taxpayers of Shelby County pay. Uh We need the space in the jail. We need the state to pick up their prisoners or adequately pay. for their services.
And not only were we you know, when you think about uh the jail, you typically think about this room and board, right? You're thinking about food and you're thinking uh about a a roof over their head.
Well, guess what? You are paying all of their expenses. You are paying for their health care. And just like when you and I go to the doctor or go to the emergency room, which is extremely expensive, guess what? We're paying for the state prisoners.
Healthcare. When you've got a $60 plus dollar deficit every day, For every state prisoner, again Tens of millions of dollars are paying back. Being paid by Shelby County citizens. And it's got to stop.
Well, and to your credit and Senator Taylor's credit, since you both went on that tour, and again, I was with you. I heard the sheriff say, We need help with this. Both of you, both you and Senator Taylor have made it part of your mission to make sure that the state. Is taking these inmates and reported yesterday over 100 state inmates have been moved away from Shelby County Jail to state facilities, which again frees up the space for Shelby County folks, routine and violent criminals pending trial who are not being released on bail. It frees up space to get more criminals off of our streets.
You mentioned something. You said we have a staffing problem. My understanding is that Mayor Lee Harris has in In effect, defunded the sheriff's office by reallocating money that was meant for salaries that wasn't being used. He reallocated away from the sheriff's department. Can you talk a little bit about that?
And what are ways that the commission can hold the mayor accountable? Because I think, doesn't the commission kind of hold the purse strings?
Well, absolutely, the county holds the purse strings, but. Luke, what the bigger problem is to me is we've belittled law enforcement for so long. It happened. Several years ago when I was on the county commission where you literally had county commissioners that refused. To buy bullets for police officers to recertify.
And so we've discredited law enforcement and public service so badly. I've even spoken with firefighters recently who've recently retired. And it used to be that if you were a police officer, you were a first responder, you were a fireman, typically your son or daughter would fire you f f file you into that career.
Well, they're they're not um They're not doing that any more because it's become very, very dangerous to become a police officer. Uh, not only in the city of Memphis, but across this county, and so we're not if when you see a very small class of Future police officers coming out, you're seeing more than that retire.
So I don't as a county commissioner, I can tell you I know we could find the money, but the problem is people are not going into law enforcement, and every time you hear an incident where Immediately, the police officer is in the wrong. Why would you want to go into the police? Why would you want to do that? And they're worried about that all the time, and the morale is really low. And another thing that the police officers have to deal with on a daily basis is the mental health crisis that we have here.
So let's talk a little bit about that, about the mental health crisis, the mental health crisis at 201 Poplar, and how maybe we can maybe free up some of those beds.
Well, I'm currently the executive director of the Alliance Foundation.
So less than three years ago, Myself and a board started to revitalize the foundation in town. That helps support the work of Alliance Healthcare Services. Alliance Healthcare Services is a nonprofit in town, it's been around for over 50 years. Unless you've utilized their services, a lot of people don't know that name. It's not like a name that pops out, but Alliance Healthcare Services has been helping the needs of people with mental health and substance abuse for over 50 years.
And as it relates to, Uh the jail Alliance Healthcare Services is diverting over 400 potential. uh inmates away from the jail. Every month, 400 people a month. That has a big impact on the base. Oh my gosh.
Can you imagine? But here's the deal: these people that are being diverted away are people with serious mental health issues. And it may be, if you're going down Union Avenue, you may see someone who's in a psychosis. They're talking to themselves. They may be seeing things that are not there.
They're in the middle of either a a a psychosis because they're very mentally ill or they're in the middle of a psychosis because they've used substance abuse. And so what we do, we have an agreement with Memphis Police Department, Shelby County Sheriff's Department, Memphis Fire, County Fire, And the officers have the authority and ability, instead of taking someone who's mentally ill, who's a nonviolent offender, instead of taking them to 201 Poplar. they can drop them off at our crisis center. We have a brand new $34 million crisis center at 3200 broad. It's right off of Sam Cooper.
It's so easy for Memphis Fire and Memphis Police and the sheriff to drop off folks. And what the really amazing thing is Prior to this crisis center being open, There was a long wait at Memphis Mental Health Institute to do the same thing, but now there's a very safe way. for first responders to drop off folks, and within about five or ten minutes, Police officers can drop off that potential patient and be back on the streets protecting all of us. It's great. We don't need police officers.
Or firefighters waiting at local emergency rooms. For hours and hours. I worked at Methodist for 10 years. Most hospitals don't have the capacity to deal with someone with a mental health issue.
So what typically happens is they either go to Tuon Poplar where they don't have any appropriate services. And I will also tell you: Floyd Bonner, our sheriff, doesn't want people with mental illness in the jail. He's a good guy. But he doesn't want him in the jail because we don't really have appropriate services for them. If we can get law enforcement To drop off, guess what?
They get to get back on the streets, they appreciate it. Police officers don't want to stand at an emergency room for hours while calls are piling up. Isn't it refreshing, Kristen, to hear somebody that's so knowledgeable about local politics and is willing to go back? I mean, nobody. Honestly, so few people want to be on the county commission.
And I think you're going to restore seriousness, order. You're going to get meetings back to being efficient rather than lasting till 2 a.m. I think we need more people like you and so on. And then having the same meeting over and over again because they table all the important issues, they never get to the meat of the meeting.
Well, you are speaking Mr. Billingsley's language, I know, because we've had a lot of conversations about this. But, you know, today's theme is really saving Shelby County one day at a time.
So thank you for what you do, both and your public service and your work, which your work is also public service. But we have about 30 seconds. Do you have anything else you'd like to share with the people of Shelby County? If you're in crisis and need help, I would encourage callers to call us. We are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Our crisis line is 901-577-9400. I'm going to say it again: 901-577-9400. Call us if you need help. I'll be speaking tonight at the White Haven Republican Club. If you want to come out to the White Haven Republican Club, I'll be doing an in-depth talk about mental health and how your family.
can get help. It's right there on Elvis Presley Boulevard at the new Cato Johnson YMCA.
So come out and see us tonight. Starts at 6:15. Oh, that's great.
Well, thank you for doing that. I think, isn't this month, is it Mental Health Awareness Month, I think, or Suicide Awareness Month?
Okay, Prevention Month.
Well, thank you for the work that you do and what Alliance does. And folks, he'll be speaking in the White Haven YMCA this evening, 6:15. Go hear him speak. It's always a good time with that group. But we appreciate you being here.
Thanks so much. Appreciate your service. Thank you both. Our community. All right.
And friends, stay tuned. Kristen and I are going to have a little Jimmy Kimmel debate coming up next. Everything from clothing to household items are getting more expensive each day. The world of fast fashion has complicated clothing production by shipping cheap parts around the world to whoever can sew them the cheapest. And now you, the consumer, are paying the price with rising costs.
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A lot about what I need to say and do tonight, and the truth is, I I don't think what I have to say is going to make much of a difference. If you like me, you like me. If you don't, you don't. I have no illusions about changing anyone's mind. But I do want to make something clear because it's important to me as a human, and that is, you understand that it was never my intention to make light of the murder.
of a young man. Uh I don't Another big thing, only thing funny about it, I posted a message on Instagram of the day he was killed, sending love to his family and asking for compassion, and I meant it. I still do. Nor was it my intention to blame any specific group for the actions of what it was obviously a deeply disturbed individual. That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make, but I understand that to some that felt either ill-timed or unclear, or maybe both in a face.
All right, Jimmy. You know, I have to say, when I first listened to it, Kristen. I hated it from the start. I hated it from the start. I hated it from the start.
You know, at least he's addressing it. It was kind of more than I expected. He's just a dirt bad. At no point did he say the words. I'm Sorry.
Well, you're right. And then listening back to it again, he said: at no point did I mean to, and I'm paraphrasing, you know, denigrate a certain group.
Well, he did say that Charlie Kirk's assassin was Magna, which we knew. Hours and hours before, which you can't tell me his producers did not tell him, that the assassin's own mother said he has gone radically left in recent years, and we're concerned about him.
So I think, you know, I listened to it once. I was like, oh, maybe that's okay. It's a narcissistic way to apologize where they say, I'm sorry if you took it that way. And I hate that. I hate that more than anything.
Never apologize that way, people. Do not say, I'm sorry that you misinterpreted what I said, because that is not an apology. That is putting the blame back on the person who was wronged. Look, let's juxtapose beta male Jimmy Kimball's statement to our vice president, J.D. Vance.
Let's play SOT number one. You don't have to agree with my immigration policies. You don't have to agree with Donald Trump's immigration policies. But if your political rhetoric encourages violence against our law enforcement, you can go straight to hell and you have no place. in the political conversation of the United States of America.
I love how straightforward they're being lately. I mean, they're just putting it out there. Between Stephen Miller, Trump's always been that way. But Trump was always kind of on an island and he had to take all of this heat. But now, all of the people surrounding him are doing it too, and it's great.
Well, and that's something he's taught the Republican Party from the top down is. How to fight. I mean, look, Kristen, the Republican Party, after Romney ran in 2012, it was largely dead. I mean, it was, there was no captain, there was no fight, there was no inspiration, largely dead. And suddenly, Donald Trump revived and said, wait a minute, folks, this is how you fight.
You don't have to take it anymore. You don't have to take it. And now, if you're a Republican who's elected, your constituents expect you to fight. That's right. And I think a lot of people got afraid of name calling.
Oh, no, they're going to call me a bigot. They're going to call me some phobe word. They're going to call me a racist. I'm racist.
So what? Yeah.
So what? Let them. We're not afraid of their lies anymore. And JD Vance saying if your political rhetoric encourages violence, you can go to hell. I love it.
I love it. I love it. And finally, we're talking about the leftist violence that we've seen on the rise for the past 15 years, really, since President Obama was elected. Just terrible left-wing violence and violence. Violence against our police.
You know, we were just talking about just with Mark Billingsley that the public. Or the the the narrative against police that again started under President Obama's important police positions because they they are tired of it. I'm sure that their family goes home when he goes home they probably like this was the worst day. Their children are hearing that and they're going, I don't want to do that. Um, you know, we see, and we see local Republicans here starting to feel the effect of, okay, my people want me to fight.
You have Senator Brent Taylor who goes out there and is unafraid to fight. Um, John Gillespie is passing some really strong bills and stood next to Senator Taylor when he introduced his causes against D.A. Molroy. You saw Gillespie standing there next to him. And so you see some of this rhetoric getting tougher.
So local elected Republicans, don't be afraid to fight because your constituents are expecting it now. Republican voters are saying. Enough is enough. We're gonna live our lives and Unapologetically speak the truth, no matter what the left, whether the left tries to call us fascists, racist, Nazis, it's lies. Yeah, deplorable, basket and deplorables.
But that's the thing. They take these words and they attach it to an entire group of people. And now we can't be surprised that the Democrat Party is attacking an entire group of people, and they're doing it so very violently. We just had the attack on the ICE facility yesterday. That was breaking news during our show.
It's disgusting. It's disgusting. And this is going on every day. We've had four. Left attacks on the right in like the last two weeks.
And it is ramping up. I think people are waking up. And then part of the reason people are waking up is because folks like Vice President J.D. Vance are unafraid to speak out. Folks, stay tuned.
We are going to be talking about. Online auto scams coming up. I have been a victim. Of an online auto scam. We're going to talk about it and how you can avoid it.
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Alright, mid-south. Welcome back to Stars Country. This is Luke Symbol. And Kristen New filling in for Todd and the Principal Toyota Memphis studio. And this morning we have Mr.
Randy Hutchinson, president and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South. Good morning, Randy. Yeah, good morning.
So, this morning, you are here to talk about online auto scams. And I can speak to this personally because I myself. have been a victim of an online auto scam. I uh purchased a vehicle that I found on Facebook Marketplace. And I was given from the cellar.
A fake Carfax, which lists the information or supposed to list the information of the vehicle, and they had doctored it, which I did not know.
So I learned a lesson: buy your own Carfax for $50. But And I purchased a vehicle where they had taken the dashboard off of another vehicle. Put on the dashboard onto the vehicle I bought, and it had lower miles. That's about the, you know, people talk about rolling back odometers. That's kind of the only way now to do it because of technology is to take the entire dashboard off.
And so I unknowingly purchased this vehicle. They were quite sophisticated. It's a local crime family that lives in Germantown. I was not the first person they did this to. And I caught it just because I happened to call the dealership where it was serviced in Michigan.
And they said, wait, your mileage is wrong.
So talk to us about online auto scans.
Well, you've mentioned two kinds, one of which was actually on my list, and the fake odometer is another one. And there's probably more than we have time to talk about. The Attorney General of Tennessee, Jonathan Scrimetti, put out a. An alert. Earlier this year, about a variety of online auto scams that he was seeing victimizing people in Tennessee, some of them originating in Tennessee, probably victims elsewhere.
For example, An outfit called Leo's Luxury Motors claimed to sell and ship classic cars. The photos on its website were actually copied from a legitimate dealer's website in Michigan. Of course, there really wasn't a Leo, and anybody who sent them money lost it, didn't get a car. Uh An outfit called Equipment Express is actually a legitimate business in Lebanon, Tennessee. Sells forklifts, other equipment.
It does not have a website, but Crooks created a phony website using their name and address. uh and offered to sell and ship equipment uh dirt cheap Again, pictures of equipment for sale were actually copied from the internet and anybody who sent the phony Equipment Express, I want to stress again, the Real Equipment Express is a legitimate company. Other content scan marketplace, Facebook Marketplace. You mentioned a problem. Another fellow complained to us that he bought a car from what he thought was a reputable dealer on Facebook Marketplace, sent the money.
Car was never delivered. And of course, as al unfortunately always happens, once the crooks got the money, they stopped corresponding, stopped answering the telephone, website went down, and he was out the money. Uh Buyers have been tricked into sending money to a phony escrow uh Company that supposedly will hold on to their money to be sure it's safe until they get their vehicle and are sure that it's what they're paying for. I remember a few years ago, a young man in Arkansas was getting ready to send money to what he thought was eBay's. Escrow company for them to hold it while he inspected a car that was going to be shipped to him.
Luckily, his mother got involved, looked at it and said this doesn't look right, got hold of eBay, and they said it was a scam. And then On my list, the one you talked about, phony vehicle history reports. In your case, I guess you're saying it was appeared to be car facts, but was fake. The other people have been tricked into paying money for a report from some company that doesn't really even exist.
So the tips. First, watch out for good old cliché. Watch out for deals that appear to be too good to be true. They probably are. Uh Really, if you if you're buying a vehicle online, and of course, you know, a lot of dealers, reputable dealers, sell them on the website.
But if you can't inspect the vehicle, generally, a dealer you can go there and inspect it before the money changes hands, but if you can't Actually, inspect the vehicle, truck, car, piece of equipment. Try to have a neutral third party, a local mechanic, may cost you a little bit of money, but to have them inspect it, first of all, to be sure there is a vehicle, second, to be sure that it's in the condition that's advertised. Look for reviews, ratings, complaints about the business. If it claims to be a real business, Frankly, we ought to have a report on them, but you're car dealers. Sure.
But go online. See if other people have reported a problem with this particular company or a good experience. Uh If you're going to get a vehicle history report, always a smart thing. Get it from, be sure you're getting it from Carfax, AutoCheck. There's a website called the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System that you can get the legitimate history reports from.
And then, sort of a. Deal killer, if you will. We talk to a lot of people who think they're getting a great deal on something, or they've gotten some urgent message they need to send money, or the IRS calls them and says you're delinquent on your taxes. You need to pay money immediately. And then they're asked to pay with a gift card from Amazon or cryptocurrency or something like that.
If you're asked to pay with a very unusual payment method, Red flag, it's likely a scam. The reason their crooks like those payment methods is once they get the money, you're just not going to get it back. Sure. You know, something that I do when I'm looking at a reputable company, and even if it's a service company, you know, if I'm having somebody that I want to come maybe renovate a bathroom. Um bbb.org.
Uh y'all have the reports on business. Have you Kristen, have you ever used BBB.org? It is a great resource. I use it. And what I like sometimes is if you find a company, let's say they're advertising on Facebook.
The ones that say That create a link to the Better Business Bureau saying, hey, we have good ratings on the Better Business Bureau. You know that, okay, they're reputable.
Well, if they're being transparent, they're not afraid of what you're going to find about their company. I always read reviews, but even those reviews can be faked.
Well, I appreciate the plug for bbb.org. That's always a piece of advice. It's free, it's easy, it's quick. You can check out a company anywhere in the country. And if they've had any complaints, and even good companies get complaints.
What's more important is how they handle them, but bad companies don't handle the complaints. But you can read the text of complaints. We allow consumers to post reviews on our website. But we also encourage people: don't stop with the Better Bispier, particularly if it's a big purchase involving a lot of money that if something goes wrong, you're in a deep hole. Go online.
There's a lot of review sites these days.
Some vet the reviews more than others.
Some may have more fake reviews. Could be a competitor filing a negative review. Could be an employee filing a positive review. But check them, take them all with a grain of salt, and then look at the total picture and make your decision. What I find online is that a lot of bot accounts will come on and make fake positive reviews on some of these products.
And then you get scammed thinking that there's a lot of people that really like this product. I know I haven't bought a car online like that, but I have been scammed plenty of times on products. When you look on Facebook, I get sucked into those really flashy, really good videos.
Some of them are AI videos that they do on these products. These products look amazing, and you're like, wow, that is an amazing product. It's really affordable. I'm going to purchase it. And it has 1,500 positive reviews.
It must be great. And then you get it and it's not great. There are what are called overseas content farms in India, Pakistan, other places that are paid. Businesses in this country will pay to have them generate tons of positive reviews that, yeah, are fake. Uh so you w I obviously want to be uh again, careful, take take the uh take the reviews with a grain of salt.
Yeah.
And and and boy, we we we talked Todd and I uh talked Frequently, about AI will make scams ever more believable. Yeah.
And the videos and everything else about them, people just got to unfortunately have to be ever more vigilant. AI is going to do, is doing, will do a lot of good. But boy, when it comes to scams, the former chair of the FTC said it will turbocharge scams. Yes, absolutely. I've seen it.
I've seen it myself. And they know the algorithms too. Once you click on something, then you have even more scam products come into your feed. And so you're just looking and then you don't even know what's real and what's not. And that's boy, and that is the unfortunate part of it, that that Good, honest businesses suffer because people start to just kind of get skeptical.
Yes. Well, and you know, I learned some lessons from my auto scam experience. It was: number one, pay for a CarFax yourself. It's about $50. It's worth the money.
You know, the sellers gave me a CarFax, but they had doctored the odometer on, you know, the mileage on the Carfax, I couldn't tell. And so I was being cheap and I should have bought it myself. And then, you know, for about $75 to $100, you can have somebody inspect the vehicle. That's a great, just a little bit of money can save you a lot of heartache. And I was being cheap and I did neither of those things.
And I learned a lesson.
Now, I luckily got my money back. And I'm an attorney here, and I knew how to navigate the legal system in order to get my money back. But that doesn't happen with everybody, and you can be scammed out of a lot of money. Unfortunately, rarely do you get your money back. Yeah.
It's unfortunate.
Well, Randy, we really appreciate you coming in again, folks. This was Randy Hutchinson. President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South. When you're looking at a business here and perhaps you're vetting a business or you want to know more information, bbb.org is a great place to start. Randy, we appreciate you coming in this morning.
Thank you for having me. All right, folks, we will talk to you on the other side. Stay tuned. More breaking news. Stop settling for weak sound.
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Bring the bowl. X boom. All right, folks. We have some breaking news this morning. from the principal to Memphis studio.
GDP expectations. We're just smashed. Huge deal. GDP rose 3.8%. That is an entire half a point higher than expected.
Cassie, let's play that slot.
Well, listen to second quarter GDP, Maria, a gain of 3.8%. This is much higher than the second read of the second quarter for GDP of 3.3%. It's now 3.8%. And this is the final read for the second quarter. A strong economy.
Consumer spending, strong. Yes, imports decrease, and that certainly affected the number, but again, a much better than expected. And this is a bit of a surprise for the markets. Claims, better than expected for jobless, $218,000. We were looking for $235,000.
Continuing jobless claims, $1.926 million. This is a good story for the employment picture. Durable goods, get this month over month, up 2.9%. That expectation was for a loss of five-tenths of a percent. That's very strong.
Show about transports. Excuse me, you got a gain of four-tenths of a percent, Maria. But that GDP number, that just is very rare to see that, but it was a good number. Kristen, I thought that tariffs were going to crash the economy. We were going to have tons of empty jobs.
It was going to be the next great recession. What is going on? Trump is what's going on. Trump is right again. He is right about everything.
He is right about so much. We were supposed to see our economy in free fall, and it has been revised up with each read. A nearly 4% GDP increase in a quarter is something that folks never expected to see in this country again. And I don't know how the Democrat media is going to spin that because they're going to try to spin that because they do not want to give Trump credit for anything good that goes on in this economy.
Well, breaking news, folks, GDP, the economy is roaring. Thank you, President Trump and his administration. Scott Besson has been working his tail off so good on those morning shows. There is so much hope. Can't you feel despite recent tragedy with the assassination of Charlie Kirk?
There is so much hope in this country in so many different areas. Trump promised us the golden age, and he's going to deliver because I can't think of anything that Trump doesn't promise that he doesn't. Get there. It may take a little bit longer than you want it to take, but Trump is going to get there.
Well, and even when it comes to Memphis, I've been telling folks: Trump is not going to let this federal task force fail. Even if you want to be negative about it, his ego is too big. All these people with Trump derangement syndrome here locally, it's like, well, you're always commenting on his personality. His personality won't let this task force fail. Trump loves to prove people wrong.
And he's like, you know what? When you tell me I can't do something, then I'm just going to go at you harder. Did you see his new gallery from the West Wing? You know, that outside.
So you have all the presidents in order. All of their portraits. All their portraits. And then when you get to Biden, it's the auto pin. It's the auto pin.
And you love it that Trump hangs his higher than everybody else's. He's like, and mine's up there. And of course, they have gold frames. You know, I will say the gold is not my personal taste, but they tried to assassinate him. Let him have his gold in the Oval Office.
See, I love it. I think it is just in your face. That is what Trump loves. Just in your face. You know what?
I'm going to gold gild my pin next time I sign something. If we keep having nearly 4% GDP increases, he could have as much gold as he wants in that Oval Office. He pays for it, actually. He's building a ballroom full of gold. Just let him do it.
Let him do it. We have a lot of commenters listening to us live on Facebook and X and on the Mighty 990 app. Again, folks. I love that app. Go ahead and download it.
Listen to us anywhere in the country. But what are you hearing this morning on the conversation?
So there's a lot of people that really liked Mark Billingsley, and I encourage you guys to go see him tonight. If you want to get in touch with him, you can find him on Facebook. You can find him on social media.
So I encourage people to do that. Um there's one that says, I can't believe you guys removed the questions from yesterday's show with Brent Taylor. Is that Chris? Yes, it is Chris. Chris called in yesterday, asked Senator Taylor a tough question that he addressed directly, you know, said, I've talked to you on the phone at least a couple of times.
I've been keeping up to date with the investigation. Chris, unfortunately, his brother was murdered. It's a terrible situation. And my understanding is that MPD is investigating. And Chris is holding their feet to the fire, which is great.
But our internet went out yesterday, Cassie, for about 90 seconds, and our live feeds went down right as Senator Taylor was answering some questions. You can confirm, right, Cassie? Yeah, our internet was down, but the Facebook well yeah, yeah, our internet was down. Just for we were panicking a little bit. We were brought it back up as soon as we could and we started a new stream.
Yeah.
So uh the Chris, we are sorry that the live feed went down.
Now, of course, listening to us live on FM and 990 AM, those were still going. It was just the Facebook, you know, that 90-second blip, and we got right back up.
So we appreciate you calling in.
Well, any more comments, Chris? Kristen Hicks says, oh, boo-hoo, Jimmy Kimmel. No one believes your crocodile tears. You also did not say, I'm sorry. Thank you.
So the Kristens are locked up, as always. The Kristens are always calling people out.
Okay, what else do we have here this morning? Just mostly some comments. about your story, Melanie Mosley says, wow, Luke, that is scary.
So there's a lot of people that kind of maybe had a personal. Kind of reaction to your story? Yes, and there's more to that story that's especially frustrating. As you know, Kristen, I'm a local attorney. I did my law review note on immigration, and I'm kind of almost a one-issue voter when it comes to immigration.
And the folks who scammed me was actually an immigrant crime family. The parents immigrated here. They have a lot of kids here. There's actually a whole brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles who all immigrated here. And they.
They scammed me, and I managed to get my money back. They had done it to multiple people, and there were already cases here in the Shelby County. Um Uh, the Shelby County District Attorney's Office had the cases, but you know, we should not be importing people here. We have enough crime, we have enough crime. Thank you.
We don't need to be importing people who are committing more, and they were quite sophisticated. I hope they're held accountable. And, you know, I may talk to the Trump administration about their immigration status. I would. Yeah, we don't need to be scamming people here locally.
We also have Whitehaven Republican Club tonight, folks, at the YMCA starts at 6:15. Mark Billingsley is speaking. Always a fun time. That YMCA is a great location. And we will be back tomorrow.
Our week wraps up. We're going to have a lot of exciting guests and news to share. We're going to have a lot of fun on a Friday morning.
So tune in. 7.2 start to weekend is Friday for me. All right, folks. Have a great day. Go ahead and get early.
All right. Y'all have a great day.
