From the Mighty 990 Broadcast Center, you're waking up in Starnes Country with Todd Starnes. And good morning, everybody. Welcome to Starnes Country. We are proudly broadcasting in the Principal Toyota Memphis studio. If you're looking for a great deal on a car, got to go visit our friend Todd Lochner over at Principal Toyota.
And a huge, huge thank you, by the way, to Luke Symbol for filling in over the past couple of days. I was supposed to be in Houston delivering a speech to the Republican Party in Houston, Texas. And because of the weather, that got canceled.
So I decided to take a couple of days, play hookie from the show, and finish up this major book project that has been lurking in the background.
So, anyway, got that done and am glad to be behind the microphone. But, man, sure to appreciate Luke. You guys sent so many wonderful, kind messages yesterday saying what a great job he did, and he did.
So, Luke Simple, thank you for all of the great work that you do for Memphis and Shelby County. We're going to start out, and if you follow us on our social media pages, you already know that I have a bee in my bonnet, as they say. About the road conditions here in Memphis, and we're going to give you the opportunity to sound off here and really have a little bit of a, I don't know, it's too early in the morning to have a come to Jesus moment, but there is a lot of frustration out there among motorists, and not just motorists, but parents from business owners, restaurant owners, churches across everything shut down. And looks like many churches are probably going to be shut down again on Sunday, two Sundays in a row. And Lord knows we need the Lord in this community.
So we have got to figure out what in the world is going on here because let's just have a reality check. It was four inches of snow people. Four inches of snow, and it has crippled a major American city. I've never seen anything like this. It is just insanity.
So, the question is: was it the four inches of snow that crippled the Mid-South, or is it just bad leadership?
Now I want to say something about Bartlett. You guys give yourselves a round of applause because you your roads are probably better than anybody else's in the Mid South. You guys have all of the equipment that you need. And yeah, I mean, I think a day or two, but here we are, and we're almost a week into this. And I don't see anything getting better.
As a matter of fact, Laura Huckabee will be along in just a little while, and she'll have your complete forecast. But tonight, we're doing the deep plunge again. By Friday night, we'll be down to fourteen degrees and by Saturday, nine degrees.
So what's frozen is going to stay frozen.
So it could be a situation where and I think there was a prediction made that kids may not be back in the classroom here in the Mid South until sometime in February, the first part of February. Four inches of snow people. And I just want to say this. Wow.
So the The truck drivers of the Mid-South. And I want you to hear me on this. The truck drivers of the Mid South, what's going on, dudes? I mean, seriously, you've got truck drivers that are I mean, slamming it in the snow covered, ice covered lanes And slipping and sliding all over the place, passing people doing 45 on these snowy, icy roads. We get it to drive a pickup truck, good for you.
But there's no reason for you to terrorize other drivers out there on the roadway.
So do a little bit better. The situation in Mississippi, that's just unacceptable. Where you had people spending the night, spending the night on Interstate 55. It's insanity.
Now, in just a second, we're going to get to the Mississippi Department of Transportation. I had them on my Newsmax show yesterday, and I asked them some very frank questions because I hear from a lot of you. Let me ask you this: Are you satisfied with the response you're getting from your city leaders, wherever you may be? And hear me on this. A lot of folks are saying, how come the governor isn't sending in like snowplows to help and say, I'm just spitballing here, but like Germantown.
Because that's not the state's responsibility. That's Germantown's responsibility. That's your municipality's responsibility. Interstate says, I was coming across Poplar this morning, and by the way, watch out for that black ice. It'll come up on you this morning.
Interstate's looking pretty good right now. But I'm telling you the the side streets I just haven't seen much improvement. And that's where I'm wondering: what's going on here?
So, are you satisfied? With the way your leaders are handling this, this is a major disaster for a lot of people. And I say that because you've got small business owners that are shut down. People aren't getting paychecks. They're not going to be able to pay their rent.
You've got schools that are closed, churches that are closed. It's and people are literally and this again goes to the heart of who we are as a people. The the generosity of the people here in the Mid South has been off the charts. I have seen so many posts and I've gotten so many messages from you guys. That Uh, that you have seen people out there doing good deeds.
Uh, there are folks that are using their vehicles to transport transport rather first responders, uh, nurses, doctors to the hospital so they can get in and take care of their patients. That's huge. But I don't think we should have to be relying on each other. As much as we are, especially with the taxes we pay in this part of the state.
So, good on you for everybody looking out for their neighbors, which is really symbolic of who we are as folks here in the Mid-South. Again, our telephone number this morning, 901-260-5926. Coming up, Congressman David Kustoff joins us. We'll ask him about the snow situation as well, because I know he likes to play around with words like snowmageddon. This was not snowmageddon.
Four inches of snow people. Four inches of snow. By the way, if you think it's bad here, They put a diversity hire in charge of the power company in Nashville. Over 100,000 customers are still without power. And people are losing their ever-loving minds in Nash Vegas because, you know, they all have to get up and well, this is so insulting, but it's true.
They all have to get up and put on their makeup and do their hair and get all gussied up. And I'm talking about the men of Nashville. That's how bad it is. And now they can't do that. And, you know, you don't want to be around those Nashville guys when they can't moisturize or exfoliate.
I'm just saying. Let's go to the, geez, why did I just say that? Let's go to the phones here. Mary in downtown Memphis. Mary, how are things in your neck of the woods?
First, I want to say welcome back, Todd. I enjoyed the shows yesterday. There was a caller that called in that was saying something about let the community do it and get some tax write offs, you know, you know, people that got their trucks and just let the community come out and clean their own streets.
Now when I saw downtown, uh Sunday night as I was going in, I was out here the whole time. And uh there were two. Pickup trucks. They were white. They had a front end.
And they went all the way down on third, you know, going to the downtown area. And come Monday morning, that area, that. Inbound for third was clear. You see, they came in Sunday night. I don't know who had them out here, but it was just two white men and they were in white trucks, and they had the front end on the truck.
I don't know. But it can work. Let the community come out and do it. I mean, that's a time to make some extra money or get some tax write-offs. And I enjoyed that caller yesterday when he brought up that suggestion because I saw it in action.
I don't know, they weren't city trucks. but they were out here and to this day right here and now from Sunday, Monday. That inbound lane to the downtown area is clear. And so that's that we just didn't figure out what to do. I don't think but those men had figured out.
And so the other side coming from downtown on Third Street, well, CBT Street, really. and it is still full smoke. People saying it? Is that right?
Well, I Mary, I look, I love that idea. And you do want, I was thinking about that yesterday because you've got all these private shopping centers and they've got folks clearing out. And most of the shopping centers, like the Kroger, I was over the Kroger in East Memphis. Germantown is empty. The Germantown Kroger, it truly looks like the apocalypse.
So I was over at East Memphis, over the one near what used to be the old Houstons, and the parking lots are all clear. And I thought, why can't we ask those folks to handle what's happening out on the roadways? Because you're right. There are folks out there that are doing that. I will say this to Mary, thank you for the call.
I will say this. I was making some calls yesterday. We're trying to get the snow cleared from our little parking lot here. It's ice now, but $250 an hour plus $50 for each bag of the The ice melt. Summertime cannot come quickly enough, ladies and gentlemen.
901-260-5926. Also, if you want to share what is open and what is still closed, I know a lot of folks are itching to get out of the house. What is open, what is closed across the Mid-South? Give us a call this morning, 901-260-5926.
Now, let's check in on Mississippi. This is insane. You had hundreds of drivers still stuck. They shut down Interstate 55 yesterday north of Batesville. People are really struggling across.
And by the way, Olive Branch, I've heard a lot of information from you guys. Roads are just simply not getting cleared out there. Let's take a listen to that conversation. Good to have you with us, and I want to cut right to the chase here. We're getting inundated with a lot of angry calls from Mississippians wondering why it's taking so long for these roadways to be cleared.
Well, we received a significant amount of ice where our neighboring states and some metro areas received just snow. And as many people know, you can't plow ice. We had over an inch of ice in many areas in North Mississippi, but our crews are mobilizing from central Mississippi. Much of our Fleet of 135 snowplows, 64 motor graders are in that area this afternoon doing some heavy work trying to clear that ice out of the road. What happened overnight, which led to those people being stalled, was we had commercial carriers, heavy traffic of them, along with other motorists who got on the interstate and the temperatures dropped after we had plowed in many areas and it began to ice over again.
So the conditions worsened in the evening and night hours, and those people were not able to get traction on the road. It was icy and all of a sudden you have a bunch of cars and vehicles, trucks stuck on the interstate. This afternoon with those closures by the highway patrol, we're hoping to move most of those vehicles out so we can get our equipment in to try to break up some of that ice while the temperatures are above freezing and get it out of the way so we can get traffic moving again. I think what's surprising a lot of people here is the conditions of the interstate because the side roads and neighborhoods and subdivisions, in many cases, are still impassable. Who ultimately has the responsibility for getting those roads cleared?
Well, for the side roads, that's going to be local municipalities. and governments and county officials are. Responsibility is the interstates and highways, state highways in Mississippi. And right now we are. operating with all hands on deck if you want to say so to get those cleared.
We understand the National Guard came in. What did they do to help? And what did you guys do with all those people that were stuck on the interstate? Did they have to sleep in their cars last night?
Some did, unfortunately. From the beginning of this winter storm, we had been issuing emergency travel alerts, which basically were saying don't get on the roads if you don't have to. We were trying to keep at least one travel lane open for emergency vehicles, such as fire trucks, ambulances, taking people to the hospital, other first responders. But what happened is a lot of people gained some false confidence and got out there and thought they could drive in the wake of this winter storm when the conditions were still really bad. And we were still telling people, Hey, let us do give us a little time to clear the roadways.
They are iced over. Not it. This wasn't snow our maintenance crews were dealing with. It was pure ice that was stuck to the roadway.
Now, today, all right, let me jump in here.
So, you heard the gist of the conversation there with Mississippi Department of Transportation. It is still bad out there. By the way, got to give a shout out to Clyde Bynum and his son CJ, there was Snyder off-road. They were in their jeeps on I-55. And they were helping stranded motorists for the past two days that they've been out there using their Jeeps, rescuing a lot of these truckers.
So, God bless Clyde, CJ, Bynum. Guys, you guys are great patriots. We're getting right to your phone calls. Got to take a quick break. 901-260-5926.
This is Darn's Country and the principal to go to Memphis Studio. All right, let's get right to the phone lines this morning. 901-260-5926. Let's go to Olive Branch. Keith joins us.
Keith, how are the roads out there in those parts? That's still pretty bad. I'm parked in my at work, still in the parking lot, so I could talk to you, but. What I wanted to say is, I'm from Michigan, and I just moved to Ola Branch about two years ago.
So, this is my third winter. Mississippi. And I think that uh the style You guys need to lose the mentality when it comes to winter, like, oh, this is the south, it rarely happens. And start thinking about winter as a normal, you know, these storms as a normal winter occurrence.
so that they could properly prepare. like having plow trucks and sock trucks and having a a a plan.
So that when it comes, you're not behind the eight ball, you're not reacting, you're already proactive, you know what I mean?
So. being from Michigan, it's like to me, it's like Why don't they just plow the road before, you know, pre-treat the roads and plow the roads? And coordinate like in Michigan and Wayne County, they coordinate with the meteorologists so they know exactly when the. know what time to get out there and start small team and start scraping the roads is It's not rocket science, you know what I mean?
So No, it's a good point. And maybe, Keith, what we ought to do, you know, we've had a lot of Northerners move into the Mid-South. Maybe the Northerners should be phoning in this morning and giving us some ideas on what we ought to be doing. Because you're right, I'm from here, but I lived 15 years in New York City.
So I know about snow. And I've been back almost six years now, and I think we've had major snow events every year that I've been back in the Mid-South. But this particular storm, for whatever reason, I don't know if people didn't think it was going to be that bad. And when I say people, I mean, you know, the government leaders, the people in charge, I just did not see a lot of preparation going into what just happened. Yeah, exactly.
A lot of times it For uh the road conditions can get bad even if it's not like a quote-unquote storm. if it's just a regular snowfall with you know two or three inches of snow But the roads are not treated. And you know, that snow gets compacted, it's going to freeze over and it's going to be icy, and it's going to be. a a mess just like it is now.
So I would suggest, though, you know, these municipalities, the county, the cities, and the state need to. start investing in trucks.
Well like, you know, um even for even if they don't want to buy New trucks, they can get their current trucks, like dump trucks, retrofitted with the plows, the scrapers underneath and And uh And you know, add Some mechanics for the hydraulics or whatever for the to dump the salt to release the salt onto the roads or the uh The ice milk.
So Uh it will be an added expense.
However, look at the cost of, like you said, People not being able to go to work. Um A lot of businesses closed down. And from what I understand, this area is the largest. distribution center in the whole country.
So Commerce is being affected, not just in this area, but nationally, because. you know uh Trucks are not able to get to their destination.
So it's affecting businesses outside of the mid-south area. You know what I mean? Yeah. No, Keith, you're absolutely right. And it's a great call.
And I sure do appreciate you listening to Kay William and calling in. No, that is a great point. And if you look, if you look at the images coming out of North Mississippi, all you can see for miles are big rigs heading into Memphis.
So to Keith's point, absolutely. Real quick, let's go to Dean in East Memphis. Dean, how are things out in your neck of the woods? I posted a video yesterday. I mean, our street and yards still look like they did whenever the event happened.
Uh White Station and Mendenhall. I got out yesterday. 'Cause I had to go get it.
Well, I didn't have to go get his dinner, but I did go get his dinner. I was going to order a pizza from Marco's over there on uh Sanderlin And They weren't delivering, or something, or is it going to be kind of cost too much to deliver, or whatever, or it was going to be like. an additional fifty bucks. to deliver. $50 to deliver a belly.
So I called them. I called them and they said, Oh, no, we're closed. I'm like, Well, why don't you put that up on your website?
So, anyway, I went over to Elwood Shack. Elwood Shack was open. Oh. And Got the big giant meatball sub for me and the brisket taco for Melanie. Dean, you made the entire audience hungry with that note.
And of course, you hear that music, my good friend, and that means we've got to take a quick break. Dean, stay safe out there in East Memphis. $50 for a delivery. That sounds like drub hub. All right, 901-260-5926.
We'll be right back. Congressman David Kustoff coming up. All right, welcome back, everybody. This is Starnes Country in the principal Toyota Memphis studio. Looking for a great deal on a car, visit our good buddy Todd Lochner.
Principal Toyota, new polling data out from the Beacon Center. They've been polling Tennesseans about the gubernatorial race. Of course, there is a hotly contested Republican primary. Actually, it's really not. Marcia Blackburn, Senator Blackburn, a 49-point lead over Congressman John Rose and a 52-point lead over Monty Fritz, a state rep.
As a matter of fact, President Trump had something to say about Marsha Blackburn yesterday. Let's take a listen. Marsha Blackburn is. An incredible person. Unfortunately, she's running for governor.
She's running for governor of Tennessee. I'd love her not to. I begged her. I said, Marcia, don't we don't want to lose you in the Senate. But I have to say they're lucky.
They're lucky to get you because you are a talent and a great person. And you've been with me all the way, and I appreciate it. You're a very special person. Marcia, stand up, please.
Okay. All right, I want to know which of the candidates is going to be the first to take the president out of context in a campaign ad and say, unfortunately, Marsh is running for governor. We ought to run a contest on that. Anyway, Marshall Blackburn with a great endorsement there from President Trump. Again, our telephone number.
And this morning, any of you northern transplants that want to give us some guidance here on how to deal with all this snow, all of this ice, and also if you've got information on what is open and where you can find provisions like ice melt, things like that, give us a call. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Let's go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Say good morning to our Congressman David Kustoff.
Congressman, I hope you're doing well today. Thank you, Todd. Good morning. Hopefully, everybody is staying warm and staying safe, and they've got enough groceries. I will say that the uh that the quota at Poplar and Kirby is very well stocked.
Is that Poplar and Kirby? That's good to know because the one at Farmington is not.
So well, i anybody who wants to go there, uh we we saw them bloating the the bread on the shelves yesterday, and that's good. But no, they were their Poplar and Kirby that Clover is very well stocked and There are people who are going to work, they're breaking the roads, and look, we appreciate them, we applaud them. We just we need to get our lives back to normal. Yes, we do, Congressman. And I appreciate you saying that.
There is so much we've got to talk about on the national side. You know, there was something, and this sort of bothered me because it happens all the time. There was an incident involving this male nurse who got shot. He instigated this confrontation with federal agents, and it was a horrible, horrible tragedy.
Now, you know, the guy was being portrayed as a saint, and then yesterday the BBC comes out and they've got video of this guy attacking a vehicle that was occupied by federal agents, screaming, cursing, spitting on them. And yet, you had all these Republicans sort of jump the gun and come out and condemn federal agents. And now everybody's got egg on their face. I really wish people would just wait until we get all of the facts in before rushing to judgment.
Well, that's an excellent point. And in this age of social media, everybody thinks they know all the facts and they issue whatever statements they issue. To your point, I saw that video. I've watched it several times, the one that was released Yesterday that apparently took place I don't know, Todd, ten or eleven days before his death, Where he is ranting and raving and using a lot of F-words that. that are not very polite.
Dr. Unkind, then he is frankly acting like a maniac. kicks the the vehicle of of law enforcement kicks out the The taillight And I don't understand why he wasn't detained, why he wasn't arrested. At that point, and maybe, you know, in hindsight, if he had been. But he wouldn't have been uh i out that Saturday last week and uh and and he wouldn't be dead.
I I don't understand why he wasn't taken into custody at that at that point, but To your point. He wa he antagonized at that event that the the video that the BBC uncovered and released, and I'd encourage everybody to go watch it. And it gives you an idea of what these poor federal agents have to deal with on a daily basis. I mean, this is insane: sun up to sundown. You know, so one of the requests, the Democrats have a lot of requests.
Of ICE and Homeland Security. And one of them is is that these agents need to take off their their masks. And there are, I think everybody realizes, there are extreme security reasons. Why these ICE agents who are really vilified By the far, far left. Have to wear these masks, and part of it is not only for their own security.
But these people are being doxxed. These agents and officers are being doxxed. And not only are they being threatened, Todd, but their families are being threatened. And unfortunately, that's what it's That's what it's come to. Donald Trump I think was elected for a lot of reasons, one of which though, Was to reverse what Biden had unleashed at the southern border where we had.
Millions of unlawful migrants who crossed the southern border. Donald Trump. And ICE agents and border control agents and law enforcement have done a great job. Those numbers have really. It really dwindled.
But the fact of the matter is, is that the far left Wants to take their fury out on these law enforcement agents and these ICE agents. And it's unfortunate, and they've got to do what they've got to do to protect their own security.
So I know, and by the way, as you and I are talking, we've got Tom Homan, the Borders are who's in Minneapolis, holding a live press conference right now. President Trump, in just moments, will convene a cabinet meeting. There'll be a lot of news coming out of that. But as the President talked about Waltz, the governor of Minnesota, calling him and wanting to work out something, we now know that Waltz put out a presser, a campaign, really fundraiser, begging for money and doubling down on his promise not to work with federal agents. Mayor Jacob Frye says yesterday that they're not going to enforce federal immigration law.
Now, you guys in Congress, you've got a unique responsibility because you do have the power of the purse here. And I'm wondering, you know, if we're not going to surge more agents, why don't we just cut off or at least suspend all federal funding until those city leaders? and state leaders do comply. I think everything's an option, and I would encourage I would encourage President Trump to continue to have those federal resources In Minneapolis, if he if he truly sees threats we've seen in cities like Memphis. Where uh where we have great cooperation.
Between local, state, and federal law enforcement. And Todd, I'll go back maybe if I can go back in history for a moment. I was the U.S. Attorney 20 years ago. historically, in our community, that's been the case.
We have We have local and state and federal law enforcement that work together. They want to try to do the right thing. We know back in. In September, the President Trump surged federal law enforcement here to try to get a handle on crime in Memphis. He's done a great job.
We've seen over 5,500 arrests, over 5,500 arrests. since since President Trump surge these uh these law enforcement agencies in Memphis. And and so I think that cities like Minneapolis could take a a queue from Memphis. Work together.
Well, Congressman, I hear what you're saying, but that's not what we're hearing out of City Hall. And I heard Secretary Noam, you know, when she gave Memphis a shout-out and she was boasting about that collaboration, Mayor Paul Young came right out and said, Oh, no, no, no, no, no. He says, and I want to read the quote here from the mayor, I want to clarify: yes, they, talking about the feds, have been working with the city of Memphis on addressing violent crime, but I want to be very clear: there has been no collaboration with ICE on immigration. He also said that Memphis police officers do not assist in immigration enforcement anyway. I think, unless, of course, the collaboration is the mayor's just keeping his mouth shut about all of this.
Yeah, I don't know about that. I mean, you and I. I've been with these law enforcement officers a lot. You've fed them. I've fed them, we've talked with people who are here from all over the country.
I've been very impressed. With the way that local and state and federal have worked in Memphis. And just very appreciative of them because You know, you've got these agents who are here from all over the country. They could be other places, obviously, and they're here trying to do the right thing.
So I understand what the mayor said. But I think with these men and women who are doing the job, the law enforcement job, That'll do. They are working together and they've done a great job. And, you know, I I gave those stats. The stance I think that are really stand out here locally.
Almost 550 known gang members have been taken off the street. That's remarkable. It really is. And the number of missing children, almost 150. missing children.
located so to Mayor Fry and Governor Waltz. Look at what we've done in It met this and instead of trying to gin your own people up. If you could work with federal law enforcement, I think you'd see that it would make a difference in Minneapolis and in Minnesota. Real quick, Congressman, looking ahead, we've got a looming government shutdown again. It sounds as if leadership, Speaker Johnson, is drawing the line in the sand, and we are not going to be defunding Homeland Security.
No, and you know, what we did in the house We took a vote last week. We passed the funding for Homeland Security and for other agencies, Department of Defense, et cetera. We packaged it up. where the Senate has to vote not only on Homeland Security, but five other funding bills as one vote. And To me to uh to defund Homeland Security, like some of these Democrats want to do.
It makes no sense. We saw the hurt that the shutdown caused, not only the government employees but to our own constituents.
So they're going to take a vote. The Senate will take a vote.
Sometimes later this morning. We'll see what happens. I know Senator Thune wants it to pass. And if I can point one other thing out, Todd, on this, That funding bill Was negotiated not only with Republicans, but with Democrat leadership. The Democrats signed off on the funding.
Until apparently now They don't sign up on the funding. Imagine that, Congressman. All right.
Well, we've we've got to leave it there. Appreciate the intel on the Kroger. If you're there, just put pick me up a six pack of Doctor Pepper if you don't mind. I'm going through withdrawal. I will take care of you, Todd.
All right.
Congressman, as always, I love constituent services. Very well done. Congressman, always appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you, Todd. Thank you for having me on today.
All right.
Congressman David Kostoff, everybody, and he did give us, I think the, I'm trying to think that we covered a lot of ground, but I think the headline is there are groceries on the shelves at the Kroger over at Kirby and Poplar. 901-260-5926, we're going to your calls. How do you grade city officials on how they've handled the big storm? Again, our telephone number, 901-260-5926. This is Stern's Country.
And welcome back, everybody. Hey, have you heard this story? Mall walking is apparently coming back. It's in vogue again. I remember back in the 80s and 90s, the grandparents used to go over to, well, they used to walk Southland Mall, and then when they moved to Kirby Pines.
In the mid-80s, they switched over to Hickory Ridge Hickory Hill Mall over there off of Winchester. But they loved it. And it was like a big thing. I mean, you'd have hundreds of people doing the mall walking before the stores opened up.
So, anyway, just curious: are you one of those mall walkers getting up early and doing the instead of hitting the trails at Shelby Farms? You head over to the gallery at 901-260-5926, our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. By the way, a Memphis now a finalist. Every year, Beacon, the Beacon Center of Tennessee, Releases the pork of the year award.
This is not an award you want to win. There are three nominees for the finalist. The top three instances of government waste in the state of Tennessee. In other words, they keep track of how your elected leaders are using your hard-earned money. The top three, are you ready for this?
There's a TV show called 911 Nashville, which we've only watched once because Aiden Pettit, one of our crew here at K-Wham, was actually one of the celebrity guests on the show. And it was a pretty awesome episode, but it was the most bizarre TV show I think I've ever seen. Anyway, it turns out Tennessee. Committed $10 million in tax incentives to support bringing 911 Nashville to the state. More than any other show filmed in the state has ever received at all.
So that is number one. And by the way, the show's not doing well in the ratings. Ford Motor Company got $900 million in incentives from Tennessee. And once again, this is what they announced in December: the fourth delay at Blue Oval City since the project was announced. Production now delayed until 2029, and they've officially scrapped electric vehicle production in favor of producing gas-powered vehicles.
And last but not least, ladies and gentlemen, the city of Memphis is a finalist for pork of the year. And the reason why the city purchased the Sheridan Memphis Downtown Hotel, as described by the beacon, It is an outdated hotel in need of massive repairs. The city issued $30 million in bonds to cover the $22 million purchase price, tossing tens of millions more onto the city's debt pile.
So there you go. Congratulations, Mayor Paul Young and City Hall. You guys are a finalist for the 2025 Port of the Year Award. Anybody surprised by this? All right, let's go to the phones: 901-260-5926.
Mike in Memphis. Mike, what's on your mind? Hey, greetings, Todd. Yeah, the caller earlier she commented about my colleague yesterday regarding let the neighbors, let the people in the community. We have tens of thousands of people that have equipment that they run businesses, and we can go out and clean the roads in lieu of taxes.
Let us do the work instead of taxing everybody to buy equipment that's kind of sat there for 20 years and that people that are going to be on the salary with pensions and benefits and retirements, we can do it ourselves. We don't need to keep building bureaucracy. And I think more people are coming to that realization. You know, your congressman there, he had no solutions to this problem with the ice because he has never had a solution to anything other than spending money. He's the guy that's part of the problem.
What do you mean by that? No, no, no. I'm not what do you what what do you mean by that? I mean, it doesn't matter alike or not. We call out the congre and what does the con what responsibility does the congressman have to get ice off of your street?
Well, if he's a congressman over this district, he ought to have contingency plans in place that he's no, sir. Mike, Mike, that is the responsibility of municipal leaders.
So you're telling me that the congressman should go to City Hall and just throw the mayor out of office? Is that what you're saying? Negative. No, he's in charge of the federal budget and to allow the people to take responsibility for themselves, to take care of their own needs and to benefit them by eliminating the property taxes, which if you don't pay your property tax, they'll take your property from you. We need to go back to where the individuals are self sufficient and they're not being leveraged by these corporate cities.
The corporate cities are a problem.
So again, I want to go back to, and I mean, clearly, you have an issue with the congressman. You said my congressman.
Well, I'm not sure where you live in Memphis, but is he your congressman as well? I didn't vote for the guy. I would never vote. I know him personally. I've known him since 94.
And he is beyond a rhino. He's a Democrat that just puts on a persona. I'm sorry.
Okay, Mike, appreciate the call. 901-260-5926. It is not your congressman's responsibility, it is the responsibility of your local municipalities. And maybe, just maybe, we ought to have, maybe, maybe we could do this here at K-Wam. We could hold a symposium and we could invite the good people of Bartlett, who run Bartlett, to come and explain to the other municipalities that are struggling: hey, here's how we cleared our roads.
Here's how we prepared for the snowstorm coming up. Maybe, I don't know, maybe we could do that. But as it stands now, I'm going to be surprised. I mean, again, the idea that your kids are going to be out of school for what, two weeks? For this snowfall?
I don't know about that. All right, folks, we have got a very busy day coming up here on the Mighty Nine Nighty. Armstrong and Getty coming up next. Later, 11 o'clock, the Todd Stern Show. Really appreciate Chris Alcedo filling in.
We have Congressman Jim Jordan. Chairman of House Judiciary. He's going to drop by. We're going to have a lot of fun. KWAMRadio.com.
Go check it out. Get out there. Be safe, everybody.
