Podcasts about cautious

Quaranteam - Dave In Dallas: Part 8 Intruders! Based on a post by RonanJWilkerson, in 12 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. October 26, 2020. Monday afternoon, Reena took lunch duties. Lunch was often individual or in small groups, but she really wanted a crack at cooking for everyone. She said it could be 'come and go' to still facilitate varied schedules around the house. Her idea was ramen. But, it wasn't just basic out of the package. Well, it was, but with a variety of add-ons. You could pick your flavor of ramen, then she'd prepared chopped carrots, nori, sesame oil, diced onion, spam, eggs (fried up for each bowl individually) and Korean red pepper powder that Jan had gotten added to the spice rack. Oh, Reena still cooked it up, but each bowl was individual, and made on request. When Jan came in for lunch, she laughed warmly. Beaming, Reena asked hopefully, "Just like mom would make?" Jan placed a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "Not exactly dear. This is ore like what my Caucasian aunt would make when she tried to be authentic." Reena's face and shoulders seemed to suddenly melt. Jan stepped in beside the teen, wrapping her arms around her. "And the one time I made fun of my aunt for it in my mother's hearing was the last. She pulled me aside and scolded me for being insensitive, and ungrateful. Mom said that ramen was always about making something tasty, with love and what ever ingredients were available." Jan made a point of looking over the prepped ingredients arrayed on the counter. "And this is exactly what you have done." She kissed Reena on her cheek. "Thank you. Thank you for the meal, and thank you for reminding me of two lovely, caring women in my life." Reena hugged her. Then she got the specifics of what Jan wanted and got busy making it. Dave stepped out of his office and got two steps down the hallway when Lupie found him. "Dave, could I use your office and computer for a bit? It's kind of urgent. I was in the middle of some trades and my laptop died." "Again?" Dave chuckled. Lupie looked chagrined and rolled her eyes. "Good thing you have your software installed in there already. Just log me off and do what you gotta do. How long do you need me to stay out?" "Rest of the afternoon?" "Okay." Dave started to walk away but Lupie snagged him by the shirtfront and tugged him towards her. They kissed softly. They didn't hear the small footsteps approaching. "Oh gag me with a tamale." Both adults laughed too hard to maintain the kiss. "I do need to get in there," Lupie said. A quick peck and she scampered into the office. Dave knelt down and wrapped Esme in a hug. "And you, rascal, need to give it a rest. We keep a lot out of your sight because; well because it should be out of your viewing. So give us a break on the kissing once in a while, huh?" "Yessir" her tone sounded reluctant, but the grin was hard to suppress. She took four quick steps away from him before turning. "Dave?" "Yes, sweetie?" "Thanks for making mom happy." "Never have I ever; used a pay phone," Reena said with a wicked grin. Shawna and all the ladies over thirty took a drink. Dave first reached into his pocket, pulled his hand back out, and tossed a quarter at Reena. Then he took a drink. Liv busted out laughing. "One of Dad's favorite songs!" she cried as she cackled loudly and leaned a bit too far over into Mel. They'd been going for over half an hour. And she and Mel had pre-gamed. "Song?" Reena asked. "Pay phones used to cost a quarter to make a call. Early nineties, there was a country breakup song called 'Here's a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares'," Dave filled in. Reena pouted, then stuck out her tongue. "Okay, Lupie, your turn," Jan prompted. 'Never have I ever; done the splits." Reena threw one back. Liv joined her, while Dave laughed. "That laugh suggests a story," Nessa observed. "Yeah, yeah," Liv replied. "I was; oh, about ten or so?" "Eleven," Dave corrected. "Right. Anyway, the girlie girl types were saying I was not really a girl if I couldn't do the splits. So I did." Dave cleared his throat. Liv blushed. "On top of the monkey bars." All the older ladies burst out laughing. "Well, that showed them!" Shawna rejoined. "And I believe it's Dave's turn now." "Alright, never have I ever; taken a nude or semi-nude selfie." Reena's eyes bugged out. She reached for her drink, threw back a slug, then covered her face with her hand. Mel, Liv, and Nessa followed suit. That was no shock to anyone. Jan doing so caught a few looks. "Nope, not gonna talk about it." Jan's face was as red as Melanie's hair. "Okay, moving on; " "Not yet. Someone hasn't drunk." Dave said. He looked at Becca, clearing his throat. "What?! I've never sent nude selfies. You're the first guy I ever got naked for!" "I believe you." Then Dave held up his phone and waggled it. Becca's eyes got wide. "Oh, crap, I forgot about that!" The young blonde blushed about six shades of red before reaching for her drink. "Oh, this I gotta hear." Melanie breathed. Becca hid her face in her hands, peeking between two fingers. Lupie laughed loudly. "Okay, you busted me out, so spill." Becca looked pleadingly at Dave, then shrugged her shoulders, giving him a nod. "Loops, you remember that very first day, when the vax guy came around?" Lupie nodded in reply. "And you wondered why Becca was acting all embarrassed after I told you I'd accepted you both?" "Yes?; oh!" "I told you she'd be the one to say it was okay to tell you what happened? She just did." Lupie just nodded in reply. "Uh, care to fill the rest of us in?" Mel asked. "So the CDC guy came around mid-September. He got to Lupie's house first. She sent him over here with a letter asking that I request her and Becca, giving her reasons why I should say yes. After setting things up with Arthur, I texted both of them that I would make the request. Becca replied with a selfie. With her shirt and bra pulled up. Still have it by the way." Dave winked at Becca. "Shit, we shoulda thought of that! Right after the video call!" Liv groused, nudging Mel. "Another missed first." "Becca was weeks before that call, so still first. Well, first amongst this group, not first ever." "Oh, yeah?" Dave dodged. "Old girlfriend, long time ago. So, who's turn is it next?" Thankfully, they let it slide. October 27, 2020. Dave descended the stairs to see Olivia, Becca and Reena watching a 90's movie. The two teens were making a concerted effort to take in as much of the movies and songs that Dave had grown up with, particularly the ones he had physical copies of. Reena had taken some adjusting to the idea of watching without streaming. Not that they didn't stream at all. Last night, Dave had discovered several of his partners, including Reena, hadn't yet seen Hamilton. That required immediate correction. "Wow, really? It's a great story, well executed, and it's historical. I mean, yeah, they take some liberties, but Miranda was pretty true to the essence of the characters." "But history?" Reena whined. "It's just a bunch of old white guys." Dave looked askance at her. "You're sleeping with an old white guy." Reena's face fell, and Dave's heart with it. In a soft voice, she said, "You're not just an old white guy to me." Her head wasn't exactly hanging, but she didn't meet his eyes. Fuck, emotional landmine triggered. Splash damage accumulating. Dave got up swiftly, without rushing, to stand in front of her and take her in his arms. He kissed the crown of her head as her face nestled in his chest. "I'm sorry honey, I didn't mean to sound so disparaging." Reena slipped her arms around Dave and took him in a hug. Several others joined in, circling the pair in their arms. "Reena, honey?" Shawna prompted. "The guy who wrote it had a vision to make the story more interesting than 'just a bunch of old white guys. Give it a try. I think you'll like it." As often happened, Shawna was spot-on. This morning though, the trio were watching Dave's blu-ray of Twister. "You know, we'll have to watch this in April. Before or during the first severe thunderstorm warning." Dave said as he rounded the back corner to pass them without blocking their view. All three girls chuckled lightly and accepted the kisses Dave planted on them as he passed behind them on his way to the library. Entering, he found Vanessa lounging with a book. He took a seat in easy speaking distance without crowding her. "So, how are you settling in?" "Pretty well. It's; so peaceful here. I really expected a house with this many people in it to be more chaotic. I mean, there's a fun energy here, and a lot of life, but it's; so soothing here. Thank you, David. For accepting me, for just; being here to match with." "I'm enjoying having you here. Beyond the obvious, I mean." Nessa snickered at that. "You've slipped rather smoothly into the family and already I couldn't imagine this place, or us, without you." "That's so sweet, thank you." "Maybe once the whole state's vaccinated, we'll get some normalcy and get out to do the usual family things together." "When we get some normalcy again, you ought to marry Lupie." "I should marry all of you." "No. No, I don't feel that way. Lupie does. Olivia does. And maybe Janice. Shawna too, she has it bad for you. Becca is still young and sorting it all out. Same goes for Reena and Mel. I don't share that depth of bond. I wouldn't want to cheapen what they have with you by sharing a marriage ceremony when I don't have that connection. I damn well better be one of the bridesmaids though" A wry smile crossed Vanessa's face. "I care for you. I love you. I love this family. I am not in love with you." "If it weren't for this damn serum, you would be free to find someone to have that bond with." Vanessa's eyes watered. "Don't ever say that again." There was steel in every syllable. "I may not be in love with you, but this is one of the best relationships I've ever had. I have more joy; not mere happiness; joy in my life now than I have had in a very long time. If the serum caused this, then Thank God and bring it on. I wouldn't change what I have right now for anything. I know you care for me. I can feel it. I feel it from each of the others. What we have is special and I don't ever want to let it go." Dave stood and walked towards Vanessa. From one eye, a tear rolled down her cheek. "I haven't felt this safe and accepted since I was a little girl that didn't know what emotional pain was." She closed her eyes, surrendering, hopeful, to what he might do next. Dave bent down, bringing his face to hers. He kissed each eye gently. He kissed each tear streak. He kissed her gently on the nose, eliciting a small giggle. He kissed her lips, softly at first, growing firmer as she responded. She broke the kiss and opened her eyes in time to see his eyes opening. She could see the tears watering them. "You're going to make me fall in love with you aren't you?" "No. I'm going to give you every reason to, and let you decide." Dave reached underneath Vanessa and lifted her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him as he carried her. Olivia noticed them coming out of the library. With a small grin she began singing in a soft voice "Who; knows what to-morrow brings; in a world; few hearts survive ;” Dave tried scowling at her, but he couldn't get the grin off his face. As they neared the base of the stairs, Vanessa ceased her slow circuit of kissing Dave's cheek, neck and lips. "I think you better let me walk from here stud." Dave chuckled and lowered her feet to the floor. They rose up the stairs, side-by-side joined at the hips, shoulders, and lips. From below, they heard Olivia mutter "God that's hot." Reena Umm-hmmed her agreement. "My nipples are freaking diamonds right now." Entering the bedroom, Dave and Vanessa began removing each other's clothes, quickly, but without frenzy. They stood naked, at the end of the bed, kissing, holding and softly groping each other. Dave pressed in close and gripped Vanessa under the curve of her ass. He lifted her and tossed her into the middle of the bed. She squealed happily as she flew. Dave slowly crawled up the bed, kissing Vanessa as he went. He started by kissing the big toe of her left foot and proceeded down the top of her foot to her ankle. Then he switched to her right foot. When he reached her ankle, he continued laying soft, gentle kisses up her shin. Then again up her left shin. He avoided the backs of her calves, her kneecap and the inside of her knee. These spots were very ticklish for Vanessa. Becca loved the loss of control when Dave tickled her. Becca and Janice loved the counter play of tickling and sexual stimulation. Vanessa would mule-kick him through a wall if he tickled her. And be out of the mood. And be pissed for a few days. So no tickle-y He kissed his way up the tops and outsides of each leg. He kissed a wandering path around her abdomen, taking time at her belly button like a caravan merchant at an oasis. Vanessa moaned. Her belly button was one of her favorite places for Dave to play with. Dave began working his way upward again, kissing in a straight line that ran up from her navel between her tits. He looked up as he rose, seeing her eyes locked on him, hungry and happy. Pure joy radiated from her face. He reached the hollow of her neck and alternated kissing with light nibbling. Vanessa moaned again and shifted beneath him. This was another of her favorite spots. He kissed up to her jaw, across her jawline, to her lips. "Umm" Vanessa hummed as Dave settled in, his body pressing firmly against hers. He rested his weight on his elbows and knees (outside of hers) and took her hands in his, out to the sides of her head, their fingers interlaced. It was more sensual than sexual. After several minutes, Dave slipped his hands loose and moved lower for the next step. He broke the kiss. Vanessa whimpered and opened her eyes. She bit back a complaint about the end of the kiss, because she knew what was coming would be better. Dave kissed her chin, then her shoulder. He stroked the outside of each tit with his fingertips. He kissed from her shoulder down to the top of her tit. He kissed around her tit, never touching the areola. Then he placed tiny, soft kisses just at the border of her areola without brushing her nipple. Vanessa whimpered. His hand played with her other tit, likewise avoiding the areola. Vanessa squeaked as he took her nipple and areola in his mouth and suckled, flicking his tongue against her nipple. "Yes; ;” she clutched the sheets and writhed beneath him. It was delicious torture. He had her worked up and ready, but kept the foreplay going rather than enter her. One finger of his hand lightly brushed across her other nipple. Back and forth. Back and forth. Light pinch. "Oh, David, please baby." Dave chuckled. He met her eyes as he descended down her body again, taking less time than when he rose. He kissed her hip, then across her pelvis and down. He kissed her mound of Venus and descended with his mouth hovering over her labia, but not touching. He let his breath brush over her entrance. Then he pulled back further and kissed her inner thigh. He heard a strangled whine from above. He nibbled. He switched thighs. More shifting and squirming. Dave latched his mouth onto Vanessa's labia and suckled like a newborn. "Yes!" Her body lifted off the bed for several seconds. He flicked his tongue against her entrance before easing it inside of her. She let out a contented moan. He slid his hands along her sides and thighs. Dave lifted his eyes to look at Vanessa. Her eyes were closed in bliss. He moved marginally forward and took her clitoris into his mouth, massaging it with his lips and tongue. "Oh God!" her eyes flew open. Hands gripped sheets and pulled hard. Her feet lifted. Dave backed off, giving her a moment. He started crawling up the bed, over top of her. Vanessa pouted and locked eyes with him. Desire and need echoed back and forth between their eyes. Dave inserted himself into her wet, relaxed passage and slid forward purposefully. Vanessa issued a sound that was both a sigh and a moan signaling her satisfaction. Once again, Dave interlaced his fingers with hers. With his hands on top of hers, and all four hands beside Nessa's ears, Dave began to rock his body overtop of her. He held himself just low enough that his chest and ribs softly grazed over her erect nipples. With slow, gentle strokes, he raised the two of them towards ecstasy. Kissing softly, they communicated without words, just sighs, moans, and hums. Time stopped and the world fell away. Just two lovers wrapped in gauzy layers of lovemaking. Nessa's body trembled with anticipation for what felt like an eternity as Dave caressed and stimulated her, hitting all her pleasure spots just so, raising her gently to one delicious climax. He buried himself to the root within her as the dam burst forth. Her erotic writhing alternatively pushed him away and strove to swallow him within her. The oscillations of her wet passage seized his organ and sent him cascading over the cliff with her. Struck by the serum induced orgasm, Nessa clutched him tightly and howled her pleasure. When Nessa's grasp loosened, Dave slipped to lie beside her, holding her close. Drifting back into the conscious world, Nessa snuggled in close, draping an arm over him. "Hmm, so that's what the girls have been calling 'the full Dave', huh? I like it." Shawna's rotating early shift was today, allowing all of us to sit down as a family and finish discussing housing preferences. Mel came in from the kitchen once Shawna arrived. "We didn't quite get there last time, but with 12 or more people, we need a bigger kitchen." Lupie said emphatically. "Preferably with a double oven and a cooktop with five burners and a grill. Four burners and no grill is still okay. And gas, not electric." "Anything else for the kitchen?" "Well, an island, preferably with power to it, but with a cutting board top, and large enough for rolling out dough." Lupie paused, looking pensive. "Did I go too far?" "Not at all, that sounds great. Especially if I actually get to use it." Dave grinned back. Lupie smirked and rolled her eyes. "Oh, and one other condition; a nice big batch of tamales after we move in." Lupie's eyes danced. "Absolutely." "I was thinking," Reena said, "how about a backyard deck?" Dave interjected "Not really necessary. It would be good to have, but I can build a reliable deck. Especially with Livy involved. You can help too if you want." "If you can do renno, I may have work for you." Vanessa smirked. Dave laughed. "I still have a day job. Our house sure, but I'm not looking to make it a job. Oh, and what ever we get needs plenty of electrical outlets. If it's really necessary, I could run a few new breakers and circuits, but seriously, I'd rather stay away from that." Shawna looked alarmed. "Baby, I believe you when you say you've got skills, but I don't want you around one-ten, or worse, two-twenty." Dave returned with a scowling laugh, "That's why you turn it off at the box, dear." "Just be careful honey." "Yes, Peaches." That earned a laugh all around, as Shawna blew a kiss at him. Nessa looked at her. "Are you from Georgia?" "No, but my parents met there in college. Mom's from Georgia, Dad was just there for school. They raised me and my brother in St. Louis." "And you went there for your degree?" "Oh no. I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist since I was a young teen. I went to O U. With the National Weather Service center right there, I got experiences I could never have gotten elsewhere. Spent a good chunk of my upper-class and grad years chasing storms." "Sounds like a lot of fun." "Oh yeah." Nessa grinned with Shawna, then turned to Dave. "I have been asked to press the idea of the towers one more time. Not so much our immediate supervisor here, but the folks back in DC. Their argument is that it's more efficient." "Unbelievable." Dave managed to avoid grumbling. "You do realize that the same people that want to shove us into a shoebox are the same little hypocrites that scream their heads off when a CEO lays off workers to make his company more efficient. Both of them are promoting the math of what they want, ignoring what they don't, and neither actually gives a shit about the people they are using like pawns." Shawna, seated beside him, stroked his arm, a slight grin on her face. "Yeah, okay, I'll climb down off my soap box. But no, I do not want to live in an apartment tower. A neighborhood, sure. A diverse neighborhood sounds great. I'm not a fan of monochrome anyway." "Clearly," Nessa said. "Just looking around the room proves that." "I'm sorry, but the whole 'I know better than you' crowd pisses me off, whether it's the church variety, the lefty variety, or the old money variety." "Okay, okay," Nessa replied light heartedly. "I had to bring it up again. I've done so, and you've been quite clear. I'll get on the search tomorrow. It may take a bit, but I'm sure we can find something that meets our requirements." The conversation turned to other subjects, and the family splintered into little knots of discussions. Mel slipped back out to check on the meal she was making. Dave didn't know what it was, but it smelled really good. Well, he knew it was something with chicken. He decided to join Mel in the kitchen. "Hey, Mel, how's it goin'?" "Almost done." Mel turned her face to his and received the offered kiss. "Smells really good. Chicken soup?" "Chicken and dumplings. From scratch. I boiled the chicken earlier this afternoon. It's about time for me to mix the dumplings. After that, it'll be ready to eat in twenty minutes." Dave wrapped his arms around her, holding her close from behind as she watched the pot. "Perfect choice for a dreary day like today. And, I haven't had chicken and dumplings in a long time." "Well, I hope you like mine." "Oh, Mel," Dave said as he nuzzled his head against hers, "you know I like your dumplings." He traced the middle finger of each hand up her sides, pulling away before reaching her tits. She cackled, turning to face him. With a light smack on his shoulder she said, "You're an old lech," she stepped in for a kiss. "But you're my old lech." She waggled her eyebrows. Dave chuckled, resting his forehead against hers. Then the doorbell rang. "Go, I need to get on the dumplings anyway." Mel swatted him on the ass as he walked away. Jan was already at the door when Dave arrived. The soldier was just handing over the clipboard. Beside her stood a young black woman with her hair in several tight braids. She stood about 5'6", with eyes that appeared to prefer laughing, but bore the potential to penetrate obfuscation, a cute button nose and a bright red lipstick on her perfectly sized mouth. Large golden hoop earrings in her ears and tight black jeans on her legs were the only attire visible other than her thick coat. Given the near-freezing temperatures and drizzle that had gone on all day long, Dave could hardly blame her. The black handle and ribbing stood out starkly from the vivid, deep pink of her umbrella canopy. It looked thoroughly functional, and infinitely girlie; maybe a bit more Wednesday Addams than cheerleader, but that didn't bother Dave in the slightest. Jan handed the clipboard back to the soldier, who departed immediately. "Hello, my name is Janice, though I prefer Jan." She held out her hand, which was taken without trepidation. "And this is Dave." He likewise reached out and shook the lady's hand. "Come on inside. We were just about to sit down for dinner." "About twenty minutes," Dave supplied. "Mel; Melanie; is making chicken and dumplings." "Oh, that sounds really good. Especially with this weather." She pulled her roller case through the foyer and parked it just inside the living room. The ladies approached her, no more than three at once, and the early few drew her towards the center of the room as they greeted her and introduced themselves. Mel, having not taken a seat yet, exited to the kitchen again, reappearing barely a minute later. "It'll be about ten more minutes," she replied to the expectant faces that turned her way. Becca and Olivia immediately stood, heading to the kitchen. Apparently, it was their turn to set the table. The light conversations and sharing continued through the meal, interrupted only by nearly everyone asking for a second bowl (Dave had four, but made sure everyone else was done eating before the last two.) Of course, each family member took multiple opportunities to praise Mel for the quality of the meal, and the excellent choice for the dreary conditions. Dave listened in on the conversations around him, paying special attention to the ones involving the new arrival, Niki. Between his own conversations with her, he learned her full name was Nicole Lassiter, and she worked as the network administrator and network security administrator for a bank headquartered in Dallas. With all the losses, she was now over all computer issues that were not customer facing. Her little brother was still in college, hunkering down in the UGA dorms. Niki, her mom, and her dad each called him at least once a week both for their own peace of mind and to keep his spirits up. Niki's parents were recently vaccinated. Her mother had styled her hair before 'her baby girl' left for the Vax Center. The tight braids she wore were called a Senegalese twist. Since her mother was a hairdresser (not that she was seeing customers at the moment) she had extensions on hand to do her daughter up right. Niki's dad had just retired from road construction work, looking to open up a barbecue restaurant; right before the lockdowns hit. Dave also noticed a slight unsteadiness on occasion when Niki walked. It made him concerned for her well-being, but he wasn't sure how to bring it up without being rude. As the evening wore on, he noticed Niki making furtive glances his way. The next time she did, he made eye contact, lifting one eyebrow. She bit her lip and nodded. Dave rose from his seat and strode to her side. A few eyes followed them as he took her hand and led her upstairs. Dave guided her to the master bedroom. Niki quickly took a seat on the bed. "You know, I didn't ask you earlier: do you want to do this here, or in a separate room? Here, you're going to wind up with several other women in the bed as well. We still have a room you could wake up in with some privacy. Shawna and I use it sometimes to spend time together when she gets home from work, and she stores clothes in there so she can dress and not disturb anyone when she has an early morning shift, but nobody uses the bed in there." "No, here's fine, thank you." Looked pensive for a moment. And a little pained. "Are you okay? If you don't want to do this; " "No, no I'm fine, really. Well, I'm not fine, but you aren't the problem, not by a long shot. I pushed myself too hard this evening. I should have spent less time standing." Dave waited while she ordered her thoughts. "I haven't been completely honest with you, Dave. I only recently got to a point where I can walk without a cane. Over a year ago, I was t-boned by a drunk driver. Shattered my legs. It'd be a good bet that half the metal in this room, is in my bones right now." She let out an annoyed snort. "I used to run track. Even got a partial scholarship that helped me get my degree. I spent months in a wheelchair, and then a walker. After that, I moved up to those forearm crutches. During lockdown, I couldn't go to the doctor, so when I felt annoyed enough with the crutches I shifted to a simple cane. And now I've been walking without any aid for over a month, but it hurts like hell; and it's tiring." "You are one tough cookie." Dave said from the spot he'd taken beside her as she spoke. "I don't feel so tough. I feel beat up and worn out." Dave hugged her. "You want me to tuck you in and let you rest? We could do the imprinting tomorrow." "No, no I want to do this with you Dave. I just may need you to go easy. And probably help me undress." "Just to be clear, you're asking me to strip your clothes off, handle your body gently, and blow a load inside you?" Dave said with a hint of sarcasm. Niki giggled. "You seem man enough to handle the job." Dave answered her with a kiss, full on the lips, pressing firmly but with moderation. His hands drifted behind her shoulder blades. Niki responded, humming into the kiss and parting her lips. When Dave's tongue probed undemandingly, hers welcomed the visitor. Dave's hands roamed slowly, taking the first steps in learning the body of his newest lover. He enjoyed the feel of her in his hands. There was a looseness, as would be expected for an athlete that had been benched. Beneath that slight layer, there was a firm core. She was; exciting. And excited. Whatever she wanted in a man, she seemed to think Dave had it. Well, that and the serum had her amped up. Dave was finally getting past feeling guilty about that. Mostly. Dave started consciously directing his hands, seeking the buttons or clasps or zipper to loosen the neck of the tight black top she was wearing. Solid black panels with a black lace overlay stitched in at regular intervals. Finding the short zipper took no time at all. He next dropped his hands, seeking the hem of her shirt under her jeans waist. There was no hem. As his hands quested, he found bare hip, with cloth from the top still diving down her front and back. Just like a swimsuit. Then it struck him. He came up for air and play scowled at her. "You could have just said it was a bodysuit." She snickered. "Aw, where's the fun in that?" Dave kissed her. Then he gently shoved her backwards onto the bed. Her torso lay flat on the bed, her legs dangling off. Dave stood and faced her. Reaching down, he unbuttoned her jeans and lowered her zipper. Niki's eyes twinkled as Dave took hold of the cuff of her jeans and pulled them off. He missed the worried look in her eyes as the scars on her legs were exposed. That's because his eyes were locked on her trim brown legs. They stayed fixated on those lovely legs as he kneeled between them and began kissing her legs, first one then the other. All over her thighs, then, gently lifting, careful not to lift too high, he kissed her calves and shins. He lavished every inch of her legs with his lips and tongue. Niki moaned. Then she sniffled. Alerted, Dave brought his head up, locking his eyes on hers. Tears watered the bottom of her almond shaped sockets. "You make me feel beautiful again." "You always were." He kept his eyes on her as he kissed the inside of her knee. The kiss extended into suckling. He gave the spot a little nip, then moved his position by a few inches and giving the same attention, adding in a few strokes of his tongue tip. Niki's chest heaved. Dave could hear sobs amongst the moans as he switched to her other knee. He would have been alarmed except for the clearly cathartic tone. "Umm, David, please, I need you up here." With a grin, Dave worked his way, unhurried but not dawdling, up her leg, kissing and huffing hot breath on her exposed skin as he went. Reaching her fragrant core, Dave brought his fingers softly to the three little snaps holding the gusset of her bodysuit together. A gentle flick separated the two soaked flaps of cloth and revealed that Niki wore nothing underneath. The engorged, richly black outer labia of her nethers drenched in her arousal. Her inner labia petaled outward, yielding a peek at the pink interior. Dave blew one long, slow hot breath over her bare, quivering sex before latching his mouth on her. He suckled her lower lips as her back arched. Niki keened her pleasure while her arms beat a tattoo on the bed. "David, now, please, now." Dave shucked his shoes and quickly slipped his cargo shorts and boxers to the floor. In a flash, Dave was over top of her, dragging her up the bed like a leopard securing his prey in a tree. Niki's breath caught as he took charge of her body. The fire in her eyes was unmistakable. He kissed her deeply, then pulled away. With his eyes locked on hers, he moved himself to her entrance and pressed his cockhead just barely inside. The fluids leaked all over his throbbing cock touched her most sensitive places and set off a riot only attributable to the serum. Dave anchored her motions with his knees, pressed against her rear, but not enough to force her legs too far apart. "Fuck that was good." She paused for a deep breath. "Hmm, I'm all yours now Dave. Send me off to neverland, lover." Dave worked within her, slowly and gently at first, picking up pace slightly and a little more force when she signaled it was needed and acceptable. Her hums and moans continuously reminding him his actions were still mutually desired. His peak arrived and he shot hot ropes of cum with his cock buried deep in her, his cockhead brushing her cervix. Immediately, she shuddered, racked with the serum induced pleasure that forever locked her life with his. Dave held her in her throes until she went limp muttering "Imprinting; imprinting; imprinting ;” He rose, going to the bathroom to clean himself before returning with a wet washcloth and a hand towel to clean Niki. Once she was cleaned and dry, he snapped her body suit closed again and arranged her comfortably on the bed, beneath the covers. He placed a soft kiss on her forehead before heading downstairs to spend social time with the rest of his family. As he descended the staircase into the mild buzz of the other eight women happily sharing his life, his home, and his bed, Dave marveled at how amazing his life was. Chapter 10; Storm Winds. October 28, 2020 4:18am David's hand was halfway to the palmprint secured gun safe on the back side of his headboard before he realized he was even awake. With the vertical placement, and the; activity frequently occurring in the bed, he'd installed two Velcro loops to hold the pistol and magazine inside. He released the pistol and placed it on his chest before reaching back for the clip. Fortunately, only two hands and a part of one leg were draped over him at the moment. The four younger girls were in their rooms, leaving Lupie, Jan, Shawna, Vanessa, and his newest partner Nicole to share his bed. Nicole was one of the hands, and the partial leg. By consensus, the ladies decided she should get to curl up next to Dave for her imprinting sleep. Gingerly, Dave slipped free of his partners' limbs and slid down the bed onto the floor. Only then did he insert the magazine and work the slide. Flipping the safety on, he padded softly but quickly to the closet to grab a pair of shorts. He decided not to wear slippers this time. He might need the extra footing. Keeping close to the wall, he approached the bedroom door. With the door still shut, he took the safety off, but kept his finger out of the trigger well for the moment. Slowly, Dave eased the door open. Slipping through, he noticed a shape in the hallway, against the wall, at the top of the stairs. Too dark to identify an individual, the figure made the 'Join Me' signal his friend Carter had taught him long ago. He did not raise his weapon. Sliding along the wall silently, just the way he'd practiced at least once every year, Dave approached. Proximity gave the reassurance the lighting denied at a distance. Liv crouched in the hallway, pistol in hand, wearing only a light nightgown that reached most of the way to her knees. With a quick series of hand signals, Dave told Liv to follow at a distance as he prepared to descend the stairs as quietly as possible. Liv signaled back that she should lead, but apparently had no signal for why. Dave negated the suggestion, and started down the stairs. He reached the lower landing with no incident. His nerves had been raw as he got halfway down and the solid wall gave way to railing. Now he crouched on one knee, Liv a few steps up from the landing, but with good vision on the living room area, both of them listening. The nighttime chirping of mockingbirds was absent. No flutter of wings or rustle of raccoons, possums, or skunks. Out here on the wild edge of the metroplex, there was always something moving at night. Dave signaled for Liv to post up on the landing and then moved along the wall of the stairs, in front of the media center to the corner of the living room where the downstairs hallway started. He was now directly below the spot Liv had occupied when he first emerged from the bedroom. And just two steps from his secured gun closet recessed under the stairs and hidden behind a normal looking panel. Dave had only one twelve round magazine. Liv had purchased a larger safe and had a spare ten round magazine in addition to the one in her weapon. It was a bit awkward carrying it since she had no pockets, but Carter had taught a variety of firing stances, one of which allowed carrying something in the non-dominant hand. By the absence of natural sounds, somebody was outside. He did not know how many, or how they were armed, but he was sure they weren't here in the oh-my-god-it's-early hours for a friendly visit. He slid the cover for the pin pad open so he could punch in the unlock code. Dave heard a crashing thump at the door followed by cursing. The security door worked just fine. He didn't get a chance to smile though. The glass door at the back of the living room shattered from several rounds. Dave squared his body with the opening just as two men stepped through. The first man fell as Dave brought his weapon up. The second went down just as his head turned to his right to see Liv's position flanking their breach. Dave heard a tinkling sound from the entry. Someone was breaking the window in the front parlor. Now he was worried. The thick pillar at the free corner of the landing would give Liv scant protection against a firearm. Dave stayed low, stepping away from his corner. It gave him protection against someone firing from the sliding door breach, but he had no angle to fire into the entryway. With the furniture screening him from the glass door breach, he approached the arch between the entry and living room. Loud whispers drifted in from his right. The remaining attackers on the deck seemed to be hesitant about testing themselves against the defenses. He was straining to pick out words when a head began to resolve itself in the entry. Dave fired two rounds. The body fell. He held his position, weapon ready. Out back he heard an angry growl, "Hey, one of those women is my sister!" The reply was too low to understand the words, but the snideness came through clearly. As did the answering gunshot. What the hell is going on? They're shooting each other now? Hey, they don't need to be on my property for that! The fallen body in front of Dave slid backwards. Hands appeared from the foyer and the broken glass door, but they were empty. The hands gripped a pair of ankles of one downed man each and yanked them back to where the hands came from. This repeated for the second body near the glass door. Wet sickening sounds ensued, backed up by an occasional retching noise. Murmurs were heard. Someone said something about a marker and a bag. "David?!" Shawna's voice called from up the stairs. That wasn't the only sound from upstairs. Roscoe was barking his head off. Furtive whispers indicated some of his family were at the top of the stairs with Shawna. "Keep everyone up there. Open up the armory in the main closet and distribute weapons to the adults. Everything Lt. Malcolm Reed gave us is in there. Arm up and take defensive positions upstairs." That was a bluff. Hopefully enough of one to drive the attackers away. Dave was sure Shawna would recognize the name of the armory officer from Enterprise and catch on. The sounds from the foyer and back deck took on a hurried pace before Dave heard footsteps rushing away. Dave and Olivia exchanged glances, and then immediately darted their eyes back to the penetration points. This happened a few more times over the next several minutes. "Looks like we're clear." "Yeah, just stay on your toes." "I know. I grew up under the same guy that trained you, remember?" "Vividly." Cautious footsteps descended the stairs. "David, Olivia, it's Shawna. I'm coming down." Slowly, Shawna came into view, feet first on the exposed portion of the staircase. Her pink satin nightgown falling just past her knees gave her some coverage, but made Dave aware of the cold, damp air pouring in from both breaches. "Are you two okay? Is it safe?" "For now. We've got two big holes in the house, so maybe keep everybody up there where it's warm unless they're needed down here." Dave paused for a second. "Ask Nessa and Mel to look out the upstairs windows. See if they can spot these guys leaving, or lying in wait." Shawna disappeared upstairs, then came back down after a brief verbal exchange. Shawna came down to the lower landing and spoke briefly with Livy, giving her a hug. Then she came to Dave. She hugged him fiercely. Her voice shook as she said thickly, "For a little bit there, I thought I was going to lose you." "We held." Dave managed to keep most of the nervous tension and post-adrenaline shake out of his voice. By the look in her eye, Shawna wasn't fooled a bit. Dave led her to the beginning of the hallway, the cubby under the stairs. He whispered the passcode in her ear so she could unlock it. That had been the galling thing during the attack. His full stash of weapons had been right beside his shoulder, but he couldn't spare the attention to unlock it. Clearly, he needed to rethink his arrangements. Shawna handed out a thigh holster for him, which he only saw peripherally as he kept watch. The weight told him immediately she'd placed two pre-filled magazines in there for him. He pulled one out for a quick check. No use him having Livy's mags. "I go to the pistol range about every other month. Nothing fancy, but I'm a decent shot and I know the difference between ten mil and nine mil. What? It's a very satisfying skill to have, and a great way to blow off some stress." Dave chuckled and turned his head, with a quick lean to her and gave her a peck on the cheek. Then he stepped back out to his post. He felt Shawna walking out, so he moved to the other side of the hallway so she could make her way to Livy with the other thigh holster without crossing Dave's line of sight. She paused at his shoulder. "Dave, do you want the other weapons in there?" Dave thought for a minute. He knew which ones Shawna had to mean. He sighed, "Yeah. A tac vest and one of the MP5's. Tac vests should already have six loaded magazines in the pockets. Get two and give the other vest and weapon to Liv. Then find out if anyone upstairs has any weapons training. You said you shoot, how good are you?" Shawna handed out a vest first, which Dave quickly donned. "With silhouette targets, I can put four out of five rounds through the heart. Now, I haven't gotten to shoot since the lockdowns, but I was pretty regular before." She handed him one of the MP5's which Dave quickly slung over his head and shoulder, inserted a magazine he'd pulled from the vest and chambered a round, then safed the weapon. "Are those; ?" "Semiauto. Carter went to a lot of work to make sure we had everything we could legally have, but never anything illegal. They do have the integral noise suppressor. It was expensive as hell and took forever plus a mountain of paperwork, but it's all legal. At least in Texas." "God Bless Texas," she said with a gleam in her eye. Shawna gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before sauntering over to Livy, a thigh holster clutched in one hand, a tac vest in the other, and an MP5 slung over her neck. A second thigh holster, with a nine millimeter and magazines was strapped to her sleek, powerful thigh. Shawna handed off the gear to Olivia, then swiftly moved back to the concealed weapons closet. She was in there for quite a while before emerging. "There was only one more pre-loaded nine mil mag, so I had to load a few or just walk around with one. The second choice didn't sound viable." "Agreed." Dave grasped Shawna's bicep and pulled her in for a quick kiss on the cheek. She beamed at him after returning the kiss, then headed upstairs. Dave heard Liv saying something to Shawna as she passed by. An eternity and a short time later, two sets of footsteps descended the staircase. Melanie followed behind Shawna. "Carter and Liv both took me to the range several times. I even went to a tactical course once my aim was; acceptable. But only with pistol. I've never shot anything else." "Good enough. There's another thigh holster and pistol inside. What did Carter train you on? "Nine millimeter. He said it was so common it made a good starting point. Once with Liv, we rented shotguns at an outdoor range and I was decent with it." "Pistol will do fine. Shawna, help her get some magazines loaded. Has anyone called for police?" Mel swallowed nervously. "I didn't see anyone waiting in the back yard, but the deck;” "Yes?" "It's; disturbing. Dave, be careful." Dave nodded, as did Liv. Shawna spoke up as she followed Mel in. It was tight with two adults in there, but doable. At three it would have been cramped. "Lupie called. They didn't know how long before someone responds. They're stretched thin and the night shift is the least staffed." Wordlessly, she handed over a t-shirt she'd grabbed while she was upstairs. Dave slipped the tac vest off, donned the shirt, then the tac vest again. While he dressed, he spoke with his partners. "Fuck. Okay, here's what's gonna happen. You two take defensive positions on the stairs. One of you take the lower landing, one further up, just below the ceiling line. Then Liv and I will go out through the deck, and check the exterior all the way around." "I'll take the landing," Mel said. "I've had training with Carter, I should be the one exposed." "You sure?" Shawna prodded. "Yeah." "Okay, take your positions then." Dave kissed each one on the cheek before they walked away. When both had taken their places, Liv came over to him. Dave had one more instruction for Shawna. "Oh, and tell Lupie to call the police again, let them know we are clearing the grounds so they don't just shoot us on sight." Shawna nodded and crept upwards. Jan came down the stairs, bearing a pair of shoes for Dave and Liv, a pair of socks stuck into one shoe for each of them. After handing over the shoes, Jan headed back upstairs. They shod themselves quietly. "So, me on point?" Liv asked as she finished. "No, I'll take point, you cover me." "Dave, if anything happens to you, we're all in big trouble." "That's why you're watching my back. Otherwise, I'd go out there solo and leave you in charge here." "Like hell you would. I ain't some; " "I know you are capable, but I'm still going to shield you from as much risk as I can." Liv rolled her eyes. "Gee, I feel safe and offended all at once." Dave stared at her stony. "Are we done here? Ready to go?" "Shit, Dad really rubbed off on you. Yeah, let's do this." Olivia fell in behind Dave as he headed straight for the glass door breach. Both held their weapons ready, jutting forward with the strap taut around their necks and backs. Dave paused at the breach. "Off safe." "Roger." Dave examined the scene visible through the broken glass and the flapping curtain. Blood trails led out the breach from the various points where the bodies of the invaders had landed. He could see the legs of a few of them still on the deck. He turned his head to catch first Shawna's then Mel's eyes, nodded, and proceeded cautiously but swiftly out the breach. He swiveled right going out, knowing Liv would go left, just as her father had taught them for years. Each stopped at the furthest extension of the deck in their direction, scanning the deck and yard in a full semicircle, their backs to the house. There was no damage to the fence, and no apparent damage to the greenhouse or anything else in the backyard. The deck however; well, it wasn't damaged. The bodies on it were. Each had the pants and underwear pulled down and a huge bloody mess where the genitals once were. Blood continued to ooze out of the wounds, though clearly it had poured out initially. Dave signaled his intent to clear the greenhouse. Liv followed him. It didn't take long to clear. They emerged quickly, rescanning the backyard as they did. With Liv trailing, Dave exited the backyard through the side gate. The side yard showed no disturbance. In the front yard, they found the same gruesome sight as the back deck. Here though, they found an empty plastic baggie with blood spatter. And a few bloody fingerprints. The bag snagged under the heel of the corpse, ensuring the light wind was insufficient to blow it away. Dave and Liv finished the sweep, checking the other side yard, which showed no signs of disturbance. "I think we're safe, for now. These guys bugged out." "Yeah, but why did they cut their buddies' junk off?" Dave shivered, and not from the crummy weather. Well, maybe a little from the weather. He was barely dressed after all. "Let's get inside." Since the front door was still locked, they traipsed back through the side yard to the gate and came in through the broken glass door. "Coming in." Dave called before entering. "No sign of anyone out there." The relief on Mel and Shawna's faces was evident. Their shoulders relaxed slightly. "Can you two keep watch here? I'm gonna talk to the others, then we'll both get dressed, and then I'll call the police again." At the top of the stairs, four of Dave's partners wrapped him in hugs muttering their relief that he was still in one piece. He could see Lupie gazing at him, beseechingly as she held Esme close, soothing her. A loud bang against a door at the end of the hall reminded Dave of other necessities. "You better go let Roscoe out so he can see that we're all intact," Dave chuckled. As Olivia opened the door, Roscoe bolted from the room, turning only when she bellowed "Roscoe, Heel." That cut through his canine brain fog of 'defense mode'. He turned to her, sniffing as if checking on her condition. Liv knelt in front of him. She placed her hands on either side of his face and began stroking his neck and back while speaking softly, in calm tones. After a few whimpers, he started aggressively licking her face and putting his paws on her shoulders. Addressing his family, Dave said, "Liv and I need to get dressed. We need to call the police again, and we need to get those holes sealed." "Holes?" Jan asked. "Yeah, they busted in the sliding door and a window in the parlor. It's not quite as cold and miserable downstairs as it is outside, but it's close enough. For now, stay upstairs unless you have something you need to do down there. You can still run down to grab a book, or make meals or snacks. For tv, use the spare room that Shawna uses when she has morning shifts." "We could just use our laptops for streaming, Dave. We'll be fine." Reena added. She looked a bit bleary. To be fair, everyone seemed caught in some whipsaw state of alert and drowsy. Not surprising, given what they'd just been through. Dave patted her on the shoulder and kissed the crown of her head in appreciation. Releasing Reena, Dave knelt in front of Esme, who was showing clear signs of worry and strain. He enveloped her in his arms and held her close. "It's okay now, baby girl. We're all okay now." He held her, stroking her hair and back soothingly. After several minutes had passed, he loosened his grip and began to stand. Esme's arms immediately came up, wrapping Dave in a vise-grip hug. She didn't say anything, she didn't cry or whimper. She just clutched him tightly. Dave eyed Lupie, but she just looked back at him imploringly. He reached a hand out to her and she grabbed on immediately. He looked around at the others and saw the need for reassurance was still there. Olivia had already slipped into her room with Roscoe to get dressed. Becca, Reena, Jan, Nessa and Lupie all rushed to surround him the moment he waved his hand to 'bring it in'. Esme was wedged between Dave and Lupie. She finally relaxed her grip on Dave, and switched over to her mother. With a silent chuckle, Dave kissed Lupie on the cheek and slipped off to the master bedroom. Jan followed after him. "I thought I'd call the police and put it on speaker so you could talk to them while getting dressed." Dave nodded, then wrapped her in a hug and gave her a closed mouth kiss that was no less affectionate for its chasteness. Reluctantly, he released her and headed into the closet to collect some clothes. Jan dialed 911 as soon as Dave emerged. Police staffing was so low, all calls went through the emergency center. Long held habits are hard to break, though. Especially when those habits are codified in a manual. That's what they call 'procedure'. "911, what's your emergency?" "We called earlier about a break in. The people trying to break in have left, except the ones we shot," Dave called out in clear, even tones for the speaker. "Is anyone injured?" The operator droned, as if she been on duty too long, too many days in a row. "No, ma'am," Dave said. "No one in my family was hit, and the ones we shot are dead." "Are you sure they're dead?" "Yes ma'am. The guy that taught me how to shoot didn't teach me to miss. Besides, before they left, the invaders; mutilated the bodies. If they hadn't died from the gunshots, they'd have died from the blood loss." Dave was watching Jan's face when he mentioned the mutilation. Not the best choice, since he nearly fell over pulling on his cargo pants. It did allow him to see the flinch that briefly flitted across her face before she reasserted control. "Did you say mutilated, sir?" The tones were even, obviously someone that had worked 911 for years. Still, there were notes of 'oh shit' blended with 'what fucking else?' "I did." "Would you please specify the nature of the mutilation?" "The genitals of the deceased were removed." A short silence reigned on the line. "Could you repeat that sir?" The operator's voice sounded slightly more alert. Dave pulled his pre-tied sneakers on as he said, "the scrotum was removed from each of the corpses." This conversation was now added to the thick stack of reasons to be very glad of the distance between the master bedroom and Esme's bedroom. Lupie and the others had taken her there when Dave walked away. Between the walk-in closet and Dave's office, there was little chance sounds from the bedroom penetrated that far. "Are you certain the perpetrators have left?" "Yes ma'am, one of my partners and I swept the area; our yard anyway; and found no one remaining. All we found were the bodies that the survivors had drug back out of the house and carved up." "So the shooting happened inside the house?" "Correct." "I'm noting all this in the file sir. I'm appending this report to the prior calls your partner made requesting assistance. Since you are no longer in immediate danger, I am diverting the patrol response. They will get to you to you after attending to higher level calls." Even as she spoke, the woman's voice grew more exhausted, like a Walmart employee on Black Friday at about 3pm. "It's been almost an hour since the initial break in. Why has it taken so long?" "Sir, I'm not at liberty to discuss that, but I do apologize. I have no control over response times. I will dispatch a detective to investigate as well. Until then, please leave the scene undisturbed." "How long will that take? Can you give me an estimate?" "Probably a few hours, sir. There are very few detectives working night shift, so they'll likely hand this over to the dayshift investigators." "Hours? These guys busted in my sliding door and broke a large window in the parlor. It's making for quite a chilly cross breeze. And that's not even counting the blood stains and blood trails in my living room and entryway." Dave's voice had begun to rise. "Sorry, I'm trying to maintain a level tone here, but that's a bit difficult given what's happened and what you're telling me." The voice on the other end reached its most hollow state. "I'm sorry sir, I can't change those realities. Please understand that it will be three hours minimum before a detective would reach you. More likely it will be three hours before a detective is assigned to your case. Patrol won't take that long, but it won't be immediate." Dave took a deep, cleansing breath. It was only marginally useful, but it helped him keep his tone level. "And what is the longest likely time before a detective gets out here?" "Possibly six to eight hours sir." "That's; " Dave caught himself. And formed a plan immediately. "Fine. We'll be ready when the detective arrives." He hung up. Dave took a deep breath, staring intently at the far wall, fully aware of Jan quietly and patiently waiting off to his right. He rubbed his face, then snatched up his t-shirt and pulled it on. "Okay, let's meet with everyone else. I have a plan, and we can deal with this." Dave said as he stood. With a concerned look to Niki's slumbering form, he strapped the thigh holster in place and fastened the tac vest as he walked. The MP5 he slung over his neck and shoulder, then pulled around to his back. To be continued in part 9, Based on a post by RonanJWilkerson, in 12 parts, for Literotica.

HALSEY'S AGGRESSION AND STRATEGIC DEBATES Colleague Craig Symonds. Fearing the loss of Guadalcanal, Nimitz replaced the cautious Ghormley with Bill Halsey, whose aggressive "Kill Japs" attitude boosted morale. While Nimitz valued Halsey's pugnacity for "cavalry charges," he recognized the risks of his temperament. Halsey surprisingly bonded with General Douglas MacArthur, despite the rivalry between the Navy's Central Pacificstrategy and the Army's push to return to the Philippines. This strategic divide required a summit with President Roosevelt in Hawaii to resolve whether to island-hop toward Formosa or support MacArthur's pledge to liberate the Philippines. NUMBER 4 1945 1ST MARINES.OKINAWA

Choice Classic Radio presents This Is Your FBI, which aired from 1945 to 1953. Today we bring to you the episode titled "The Cautious Killer.” Please consider supporting our show by becoming a patron at http://choiceclassicradio.com We hope you enjoy the show!

SA economy battles headwinds in 2025, cautious optimism for 2026 by Radio Islam

Luke and John Lund discuss how cautious the Phoenix Suns should be with Jalen Green and his hamstring injury and look ahead to the Suns' matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Tesla (TSLA) stock soared over 20% in 2025, reaching new highs. Marley Kayden highlights a raised price target from Canaccord Genuity, despite a reduced Q4 delivery outlook, noting the market's focus beyond near-term challenges. Tim Biggam offers a "cautiously bearish" perspective, and demonstrates an example trade.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors. Before trading, read the Options Disclosure Document. http://bit.ly/2v9tH6DSubscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

In this gripping episode of Gangland Wire, host Gary Jenkins sits down with Robert “Bob” Cooley, the Chicago lawyer whose extraordinary journey took him from deep inside the Outfit's criminal operations to becoming one of the federal government's most valuable witnesses against organized crime. Cooley pulls back the curtain on the hidden machinery of Chicago's underworld, describing how corruption, bribery, and violence shaped the Chicago Outfit's power in the 1970s and beyond. As a lawyer, gambler, and trusted insider, Cooley saw firsthand how mob influence tilted the scales of justice—often in open daylight. Inside the “Chicago Method” of Courtroom Corruption Cooley explains the notorious system of judicial bribery he once helped facilitate—what he calls the “Chicago Method.” He walks listeners through: How defense attorneys worked directly with Outfit associates to buy favorable rulings. The process of approaching and bribing judges. Why weak forensic standards of the era made witness discrediting the key mob strategy. His personal involvement in the infamous Harry Aleman murder case, where clear guilt was erased by corruption. Life in the Outfit: Gambling, Debt, and Mob Justice Cooley recounts his early days gambling with Chicago Outfit associates, including Marco D'Amico, Jackie Cerrone, and John DeFranzo. Notable stories include: The violent implications of unpaid gambling debts in mob circles. Tense interactions with bookmaker Hal Smith and the chaotic fallout of a bounced check involving mobster Eddie Corrado. How D'Amico often stepped in—sometimes with intimidation—to shield Cooley from harm. These stories reflect the daily volatility of life inside the Outfit, where money, fear, and loyalty intersect constantly. Bob Cooley has a great book titled When Corruption Was King where he goes into even greater detail and has many more stories from his life inside the Chicago Mob. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here.  To purchase one of my books, click here. 0:06 Introduction to Bob Cooley 1:32 Life as an Outfit Gambler 2:00 My Relationship with Marco D’Amico 10:40 The Story of Hal Smith 11:05 A Dangerous Encounter 20:21 Meeting Sally D 22:23 A Contract on My Life 22:37 The Harry Alleman Case 34:47 Inside the Courtroom 51:08 The Verdict 52:26 Warning the Judge 53:49 The Case Against the Policewoman 58:36 Navigating the Legal Maze 1:08:14 The Outcome and Its Consequences 1:11:39 The Decision to Flip 1:24:38 A Father’s Influence 1:33:57 The Corruption Revealed 1:50:12 Political Connections 2:02:07 The Setup for Robbery 2:20:29 Consequences of Loyalty transcript [0:00] Hey, guys, my guest today is a former Chicago outfit associate named Robert Bob Cooley. He has a book out there titled When Corruption Was King. I highly recommend you get it if you want to look inside the Chicago outfit of the 1970s. Now, Bob’s going to tell us about his life as an outfit gambler, lawyer, and I use payoff to judges to get many, many not guilty verdicts. Now, I always call this the Chicago method. This happened for, I know, for Harry Ailman, a case we’re going to talk about, Tony Spolatro got one of these not-guilties. Now, the outfit member associate who is blessed to get this fix put in for him may be charged with a crime, even up to murder. And he gets a lawyer, a connected lawyer, and they’ll demand a bench trial. That means that only a judge makes the decision. A lawyer, like my guest, who worked with a political fixer named Pat Marcy. [0:53] They’ll work together and they’ll get a friendly judge assigned to that case and then they’ll bribe the judge. And all that judge needs is some kind of alibi witnesses and any kind of information to discredit any prosecution witnesses. Now, this is back in the olden days before you had all this DNA and all that kind of thing. So physical evidence was not really a part of it. Mainly, it was from witnesses. And they just have to discredit any prosecution witness. Then the judge can say, well, state hadn’t really proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt and issue a not guilty verdict and walk away. Now, our guest, Bob Cooley, is going to take us inside this world. [1:29] And it’s a world of beatings, murders, bribes, and other kinds of plots. He was a member of the Elmwood Park crew. He was a big gambler. He was a big loan shark. And he worked for a guy named Marco D’Amico, who was their gambling boss and loan shark in that crew. Among other bosses in this powerful crew were Jackie Cerrone, who will go on and become the underboss and eventually the boss for a short [1:55] period of time. and John no-nose DeFranzo, who will also go on to become the boss eventually. What was your relationship with Marco D’Amico? I talked about when I first came into the 18th district, when I came into work there, and they put me back in uniform, the first person I met was Rick Borelli. Rick Borelli, he was Marco’s cousin. [2:23] When I started gambling right away with Rick, within a couple of days, I’m being his face, and I’m calling and making bets. There was a restaurant across the street where every Wednesday and sometimes a couple days a week, I would meet with Ricky. And one of the first people he brought in there was Marco. Was Marco. And Marco would usually be with a person or two. And I thought they were just bookmakers. [2:55] And I started being friendly with him, meeting him there. Then I started having card games Up in my apartment And, Because now I’m making, in the very beginning, I’m making first $100 extra a week. And within a couple of weeks, I’m making $500, $600 extra a week. And within about a month, I’m making $1,000, sometimes more than that. So now I’m having card games, relatively big card games, because I’ve got a bankroll. I’ve got probably about $5,000, $6,000, which seemed like a lot of money to me. Initially uh and after a while that was a daily that was a daily deal but uh so we we started having card games up there and then we started socializing we started now he’d be at these nightclubs all the time when when i’d go to make my payoffs he was part of the main group there he was one of the call he was right he was right under jack right under at that time originally Jackie Cerrone, and then he was right under Johnny DeFranco. [4:07] But he was… And we became real good friends. We would double date and we spent a lot of time together. And we had these big card games. And that’s when I realized how powerful these people were. Because after one of the card games, there was somebody that was brought in, a guy named Corrado. I’m pretty sure his name was I can’t think of his first name, but Corrado was this person that somebody brought into the game. And after we finished playing cards, and I won all the time. I mean, I was a real good card player, and I wouldn’t drink. I’d supply liquor and food and everything, but I wouldn’t drink. And as the others drank, they were the same as at my office. After we finish up, this guy says, you want to play some? We can play maybe some gin. just human being. And he was there with another friend of his who just sat there and watched. So we played, not gin, but blackjack. We played and passed cards back and forth when you win. Then you’re the dealer and back and forth. And I lost, I think I lost about $4,000 or $13,000 to him. [5:26] I lost the cash that I had. I had cash about $5,000 or $6,000. And I gave him a check for the rest. You know, but everything I was doing was wrong, you know. Yeah, one of those nights. It’s in there. And it’s funny because you asked about Marco. [5:47] And I thought, you know, oh, well, and whatever. And I gave him a check. I said, no, it’s a good check. And it was. It was for my office. It was an office check that I gave him. And that next morning, I’m meeting with Ricky and with Marco at this restaurant across from the station before I go in and to work. And I said, son of a B. I said, you know, they had a bad night first ever. Marco wasn’t at that game, at that particular game. And what happened? I said, I blew about 12,000. Okay, but you? Wow. And I said, yeah, I said, one of the guys at the game played some, I played some blackjack with somebody. What was his name? Eddie, Eddie Corrado. Eddie Corrado. He said, that mother, he said, stop payment on the check. He said, stop payment on the check. He said, because it wasn’t nine o’clock. It was only like, you know, seven, you know, seven 30 or whatever. He said, and when he gets ahold of you, arrange to have him come to your house. Tell him you’ll have the money for him at your house. So that’s what I, that’s what I do. So I stopped payment on it probably about five after nine. I get a call from, from Mr. Corrado. You mother fucker. [7:17] I said, no, no. I said, there wasn’t enough money in the account. I said, I’m sorry. I said, all right, then I’ll be over. I said, no, no, no. I said, I’m in court right now. I said, I’m in court. I said, I’m going to be tied up all day. I’ll meet you at my place. I’ll meet you back there. Well, I’ll be there. You better have that. I want cash and you better have it. Okay. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m at home. Marco comes in. And he was there with Tony and Tony was there and Ricky was there. And Ricky was there. And they come over a little ahead of time and he comes in. I live on the 27th floor. The doorbell rings. Up he comes with some big mustache. [8:00] I open the door. You better have the fucking money and whatever. And I try to look nervous. I try to look real nervous. and when you walk into my apartment you walk in and you see the kitchen right in front of you and to the left to the left you’ve got an area away and you’ve got the the kitchen wall blocking what’s behind it over there and these three guys are standing marco and you are standing right there alongside of it and and when he walks in behind me, He sees Marco and all but shit in his pants. When he sees Marco, he goes, and Marco, you motherfucker. And, you know, oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was with you. He says, how much money you got me right now? And, you know, he says, pull your pockets out. He had about, he had about three or 4,000 with him. [9:02] And he says, you give him that. He says, you, he says, you, and he says, you give him that right now. And you apologize to him. Oh, and he says, he says, and I may give you a number. I want you to call. He says, we can put you to work. Apparently this guy had done the same thing to them a few years before and got the beating of his life somebody brought him into one of their card games, did he have a technique a cheating technique or had some marked cards no it was a card mechanic he could play games with cards they call him a mechanic and, in fact the guy was great at it because he had his own plane and everything else. But again, he had moved from Chicago and had just come back in the area. And they mounted. And so anyhow, he leaves. And he leaves then, and Marco took the money. Marco took the money. Marco took the money. Typical Bob guy, man. [10:19] And I says, what about the cash I lost to him? He says, well, you lost that. He says, you lost that. That’s when I realized how powerful. That’s when I realized how powerful that [10:35] he was part of the mob, not only a part of it, but one of the operational. Yeah, important part of it. That brings to mind another unbelievable situation that occurred. [10:49] The, uh, this is probably the, we’ll know the year by when it happened. There was a bookmaker named Hal Smith. Oh yeah. I remember that name. He got, tell us about Hal Smith. [11:05] Well, Hal Smith was a, he was a big guy too. A real, a real big guy. I met him on Rush street. He knew I was a gambler. He knew that I was a big gambler and I started gambling with him. Thank you. And I was with him probably for about maybe five or six months. And I’d win with him. I’d lose with him. And he would take big places. He would take $5,000 a game for me. And as they say, so the numbers were big. At the end of the week, we were sometimes $60,000, $70,000. [11:42] They were big numbers back and forth. And he was always good for the money. I was always good for the money. And one particular week, it was about $30,000. And I was waiting for money. Somebody else was supposed to give me even more than that. And the person put me off. And it was a good friend of mine. And I knew the money would be there. But a lot of times, these guys are going to collect it at a certain time. And then they’re expecting to give it to somebody else. Well, he was short. So I said, look, I don’t have it right now, but I’ll have it tomorrow, I said, because I’m meeting somebody. Well, okay, it better be there. [12:31] And look, it’ll be there, okay? Not a problem. So the next day, the person I’m supposed to get it from says, I’ll have it in a couple of hours. I don’t have it right now, but I’ll have it by late this afternoon. And I’m in my office when Hale Smith calls me and I said, I’ll have it a little bit later. And he slams the phone bell. I’m downstairs in Counselor’s Row. In fact, I’m meeting with Butchie and Harry. We’re in a booth talking about something. They had just sent me some business or whatever, but I’m talking about something. And George, the owner of the restaurant, comes over and he says, somebody is asking who you are and they want to talk to you. And they point out this guy. It was a guy I had seen before, because a lot of times at two in the morning, I would go down on West Street, and they had entertainment upstairs. And there was this big English guy. He was an English guy, as you could tell by his accent, a real loud guy. And when I walk up to talk to him, and he’s talking loud enough so people can hear him, and he says, you better have that. I’m here for it. You better have that. You better have that money. [13:51] Bob Hellsmith sent me, you get the money and you better have that money or there’s going to be a problem or whatever. And I said, well, the money will be there, but people can hear what this guy, this guy talking that shit. And he leaves. And he leaves. He’s going to call me back. And he leaves. I said, I’m busy right now. I says, give me a call back when I’m in the office and I’ll meet with you. So Butch, he goes, what was that all about? And I said, you know, it’s somebody I owe some money to. Well, who is he? Who is he with? I said, Harold Smith. And he said, who’s Harold Smith? You don’t pay him anything. He said, you don’t pay him anything. And he calls, when he calls back, he says, you will arrange to meet him. And I said, you know, I said, well, where? [14:44] And they knew where I lived. They’d been to my place at that time. I’m living in Newberry Plaza and they said, there’s a, there’s a Walgreens drugstore in Chicago Avenue. Tell him you’ll meet him there at Walgreens, and we’ll take it. And he says, and we’ll take it from there. When he does call me, I said, look, I said, I’ll meet you tomorrow morning for sure at Walgreens. I’ll have the cash. I said, I’ll have the cash, and I’ll have all of it. I said, but, you know, I’m tied up on some things. I said, I’ll go to my own bank when I’m finished here and whatever, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning for sure at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning. Okay. I sit down with them and they just said, I said, they said, go there and go meet them. And we’ll take care of it. The Walgreens is a store right in the corner of Michigan Avenue and Chicago Avenue, south side of the street. And it’s all windows. Huge windows here. Huge windows here. And a bus stop, a bus stop over here. When I get there, I park in the bus stop and I’m looking to my right and here he is sitting in a booth by himself, right by the window. And I look around and I don’t see anybody. I mean, with a lot of people, I don’t see Butchie. [16:06] Uh or red or anybody around but i i go in there anyhow and uh sit down and i uh sit down in the booth across from him and he’s eating breakfast he’s got some food in front of him and uh the girl comes by right away the girl comes by and i says you know just get me a coke and and he says have you got the money and i said yes and why i got i got a lot i got a lot of money in my pocket but not the, whatever it was he wanted, not the 27 or 28,000. There’s nobody there. And, uh, so we’re talking for no more than about two or three minutes. They had a telephone on the counter. I hear the phone ring and the waitress, the waitress is on the phone. And then she comes walking over and she says, it’s a call for you. And, and when I go get in the phone, I woke up and there’s a phone booth there. And here’s Butchie in the phone booth. And he’s there with a couple of other people. I hang the phone up. I walk over and I had my appointment booked. And I walk over and I just pick up the book. And as I’m walking out there, walking in, we pass each other. And so now when I get in my car and he’s looking at me in my car and right next to him is Butchie. And across from him was a red old male and Fat Herbie. [17:34] Herbie Blitzstein? Herbie Blitzstein? No, it wasn’t Herbie. This is another one. That’s one thing of Herbie. We called Herbie Fat. It was Fat Herbie. And the third guy is like sitting facing him. This is like, that weighs about 300 pounds. Oh, Sarno. Make Mike Sarno. Mike Sarno. That was it. And that’s, that’s, that’s who it was. You know, and I, I drive off, go to my office and go about my business. I get a call later that day from, uh, Hale Smith. Where’s my money? Where’s my money? I said, I gave it to your guy. You what? I gave it to him. I met him at nine o’clock this morning and I gave him the money. You did. And I said, yeah. Um, okay. And he hangs, and he hangs up. I don’t hear anything for a while. I never saw him again. I saw Hale a couple of times because he was always in one of the other restaurants. I lived in Newberry right across from there, but he never talked to me. I never talked to him, never said anything. It was about maybe it had to be a good couple of months later, When I read about Hale, Hale’s no longer with us. [18:52] That’s obviously how they found out about him. I never saw the other guy again. I’m hoping they didn’t kill him, but I’m assuming that’s what probably happened to him. In a public place like that, they probably just scared him off. He probably said, you know, I’m way over my head. I’m out of here. [19:15] They didn’t kill him in the public place he wouldn’t have been in the newspapers my little thought is like with the three guys they took him for a ride, I don’t know they just told him to leave town and he realized what it was and he did Hal didn’t get a chance to leave town Hal had other problems if I remember right I’d have to look it back up but he had other problems with the outfit what I found out later what they had done, was they had gotten one of their guys connected with him to find out who his customers were. In other words, one of the other people that he didn’t realize, that Hale didn’t realize was with them, they got him connected with them where he’s the one who’s doing his collecting and finding out who the customers were because they wanted to get all his customers as well as his money. It turns out he was He was a huge bookmaker for years. That’s what happened to him. And they just took his book. Yeah, I remember something about that story because I killed him in his house, I believe. Yeah, Sally D. [20:22] Sally D, yeah. Sally D was one. When I first met Sally D, he was with Marco’s Fruit, too. [20:30] He owned a pizza place up on the north side, north shore, and I broke him. I was betting with him and beating him week after week. And one of the last times I played with him, he couldn’t come up with the money. It took him an extra couple of weeks to get the cash to pay me. But we were real close friends with him. He’s a bizarre character because he was a totally low level at that time. Yeah. When he then connected up with the Cicero crew, with Rocky and Felice, with Rocky and those people, he became a boss with them. It turns out it was after they killed Al Smith. He was part of all that. That’s Salih De Laurentiis. He’s supposed to be a boss. He moved on up after the Family Secrets trial. He didn’t go down with that, I believe, and he kind of moved on up after that. I don’t know what happened to him. What was so funny about that, when he would come into the club, Marco’s club, Bobby Abinati. [21:42] Who was strictly a very low-level player, although we indicted him with the Gambia star. He’s the one who set up the robbery. Would that have been great if that would have gone through? He’s the one who set up that robbery in Wisconsin. He’d be making fun of Salihide all the time. [22:03] When Salihide would come in, he would make fun of him and joke about him and talk about what a loser he was. This is when he’s a boss of that crew. I mean, just a strange, I mean, nobody talked to bosses like that, especially when, when you’re, when you’re what they call Bobby, you know, what was Marco’s nickname for Bobby Knucklehead? [22:23] That was his nickname, Knucklehead. Pat Marcy, uh, contacted me about, you know, handling me in the only own case. [22:32] I couldn’t have been happier because that was a short time after they put a contract on me. So now i realized if they’re going to be making money you know they finally stopped because for good six seven months when i when i came back to chicago uh i was checking under my car every day in case there was a bomb i moved i moved from uh from a place that i own in the suburbs into an apartment complex so i wouldn’t be living on the first floor yeah it’d be impossible to somebody to break into my, you know, took them thrashing into my place. I changed my whole life around in that sense. [23:10] And when I drove everywhere I went, you know, I would go on the highway and then jump over. I would do all, I wanted to make absolutes. Even though nobody came around, I wasn’t taking any chances for a long period of time. And that was too when it cost me a fortune because that’s when I stopped dealing with the bookmakers because I wasn’t going to be in a position where I had to go meet somebody at any time to collect my money and whatever. [23:39] So what had happened, though, was somebody came to see me. And when I was practicing, there’s a lot of things I wouldn’t do. I set my own rules. I would not get involved. After the Harry Alleman case, I never got involved anymore myself fixing certain cases. But even prior to that, I wouldn’t fix certain cases. I wouldn’t get involved in certain cases, especially involving the police, because my father was such a terrific policeman, and I felt I was too in a lot of sentences. I loved the police. I disliked some of the crooked cops that I knew, but on the surface, I’d be friendly with them, etc. Harry Ailman was a prolific hitman for the Elmwood Park crew. He killed a teamster who wouldn’t help set up trucks for the outfit, a guy named Billy Logan. He was just a regular guy. He’s going to take us right into the meeting with the judge. He’ll take us into a counselor’s row restaurant where these cases were fixed. Now, Bob will give us a seat right at Pat Marcy’s table. Now, Pat Marcy was the first ward fixture, and he’s going to take us into the hallway with Pat Marcy where they made the payoffs. [24:57] Now, Bob, can you take us inside the famous Harry Aileman murder case? I know you fixed it. And tell us, you know, and I know there was a human toll that this took on that corrupt judge, Frank Wilson. Okay. The Harry Aileman case was, it was not long after I became partners with Johnny DeArco. I get a call from, I’m in Counselor’s Row at the restaurant. Whenever I was in there now, my spot was the first ward table. Nobody was allowed to sit there day or night. That was reserved for first ward connected people and only the top group of people. [25:40] I’m sitting there at the table and Johnny DeArco Sr. Tells me, you know, Pat wants to talk to you. About something. And I said, you know, sure. Not long afterwards, Pat comes downstairs. We go out. We go out in the hall because we never talk at the table. And he tells me, have you got somebody that can handle the Harry Alleman case? I had seen in the news, he was front page news. He was one of the main mob hitmen. He was partners with Butchie Petrucelli. But it was common knowledge that he was a hitman. He looked like one. He dressed like one. He acted like one. And whatever. And he was one. In fact, he was the one that used to go to New York. And I know he also went to Arizona to do some hits and whatever. He traveled around the country. I said to Pat, they thought the case was a mob hit on a team street. a teamster. I assumed that it was just that. It was people doing what they do. But I said to Pat, I said, well, get me the file. Get me the file. Let me see what the case looks like. Because I would never put a judge in a bad spot. That was my nature. [27:06] When I had cases, a lot of these judges were personal friends of mine. What I would do, if I wanted to have a case, if I wanted to fix a case to save all the time of having to go to a damn long trial, I would make sure that it was a case that was winnable, easily winnable. When I got the file, when I got the file from Pat, he got me the file the next day. The next morning, when he came in, he gave me the file. I looked at the file. It was a throw-out case. When I say throw-out case, absolutely a nothing case. [27:46] The records in the file showed that a car drove up down the street. Suddenly somebody with a shotgun blasted a guy named Billy Logan in front of his house and drove away. They were contacted by a neighbor, this guy, Bobby Lowe. Was it Bobby Lowe? Yeah, I’m pretty sure Bobby Lowe. Who indicated that he opened the door and let his dog run out. And when he looked, he saw somebody. He saw a car, and he gave a description of the car. And he saw somebody pull up, and he saw him shoot with a shotgun. And then he saw the person get out of the car and shoot him with a .45, and shoot him with a .45. And then the car sped away. That was pretty much the case. Some other people heard some noise, looked out, and saw a car driving away. A period of time after that, it had to be about a year or so after that, somebody was arrested driving to Pennsylvania to kill somebody. There was a guy who stopped. [29:16] Louie Almeida was his name. Louie Almeida was stopped in his car. He was on the way to Pennsylvania. And in front of his car, he had shotguns. And he winds up, when he gets arrested, he winds up telling the authorities that he can tell them about a mob murder back in Chicago and winds up cooperating with them. He indicates what happened. He indicated that, you know, he was asked to, you know, or he got involved in it. He got the car and whatever. They did this. They did that. And he pulled up alongside Billy and wound up shooting the victim as he came out of the house. [30:09] Now, I look at some other reports in there, some reports that were made out, new reports. They talk about the Louis Almeida. They talk about the witness that gave the first statement. and they said that they found, or he’s giving us a new statement now where he says he’s walking his dog. He hears a shotgun. His dog runs towards the car where the shooting was coming from. He saw Harry get out of the car and walk over and shoot him, walk over and shoot the victim, and he was looking at him, And then he jumped in the bushes and the car drove away. A complete new story. Yeah. A complete new story. And. I looked at the reports, and this is an easy winner. And so I told Pat, you know, I’ll take it. You know, I’m sure I can handle it. I said, I’m sure I can handle it, but, you know, I’ll let you know. [31:21] That’s when I contacted, I met my restaurant, Greco’s, and I had Frank Wilson there a lot. Well, I called Frank Wilson, invited him and his wife to come to the restaurant. I had done that many times before. When he gets there, I tell him, I have the case. You know, I told him I was contacted on this case, I said. And I said, it’s an easy winner, I said. And I explained to him what it was. I told him, you know, it’s the driver of the car who’s doing this to help himself. And this other guy, Bobby Lowe, that gave a complete new story from the original story that he gave. And I indicated, you know, can you handle the case? And he tells me, I can’t handle the case, he said, because I was SOJ’d. In Chicago, Illinois, they have a rule that makes it easy for people to fool around because for no reason at all you can ask to have a judge moved off the case. And you can name a second judge that you don’t want to handle the case. [32:34] Frank Wilson’s reputation was as such that the lawyer that turned out to be a judge later on, Tom Maloney, who had the case, named him in the SOJ. It was assigned to somebody else, and he indicated he wanted any other judge except Frank Wilson. Frank Wilson on the case. And this was Harry Aileman’s lawyer. Yeah. Okay. And who Tom Maloney, who then ends up being the judge years later. But yeah. Well, because we knew he was going to be a judge. Yeah. We knew ahead of time. I knew at that time. That’s what makes the story so unbelievably interesting. Yeah. Anyhow, he says, I can’t do it because… In Chicago, in Chicago, it’s supposed to keep it honest. I love this. To keep it honest. Yeah. To keep it honest, each judge is supposed to be picked by computer. [33:33] Same thing they’re doing to this day. Trump wondered why the same judge kept getting all his cases. Because they’re doing the same thing we did, some of us could do in Chicago. He was the chief judge in the area. he said to me, I don’t think I can get the case. I don’t think I can’t get the case. I said, I’ll get the case to you. I said, I’ll get, because I already, I, in fact, through Pat Marcy, anytime I wanted a case to go anywhere, I would contact Pat and I’d give him a thousand dollars and he would get me any judge I wanted. Uh, I said, well, I think I can. I said, I said, And I gave him $1,000. [34:16] I said, here, this is yours. And if I can’t get the case to you, you keep it. If I can’t get, I never said to him, will you fix it? Will you this or that? I mean, he understood what it was. I didn’t know how he would react to it. When I asked him, would you handle it? Were the words I used. I had never fixed anything with him before. [34:43] In case he was, you know, he would want to report it to somebody. I wasn’t worried because Frank had a reputation as being a big drinker. After I got the Harry Elliman file, Pat tells me, I’m going to have somebody come and talk to you. Who comes? And we meet in the first ward office, and then we go downstairs into the special room they had for conversations. It’s Mike Ficarro. He’s the head of the organized crime section. He’s the one who prosecutes all the criminals. He’s one of the many prosecutors in Chicago. That’s why there were over 1,000 mob murders and never a conviction from the time of Al Capone. Not a single conviction with over 1,000 mob murders because they controlled absolutely everything. He’s the boss. [35:35] I knew him. I didn’t like him. He had an attitude about him. You know, when I would see him at parties and when I’d see him at other places, and I’d walk by and say, hi, he just seemed coldish. [35:47] I found out later why. He was jealous of the relationship I had with all these people. [35:54] He says, I’ll help you any way I can, anything you need, whatever. So the prosecutors on the Harry Olliman case were our people. That’s who’s prosecuting the case anyhow. But they couldn’t get one of their judges apparently who would handle the case. So, but anyhow, uh, so, uh, when we, um, when we go, when we, when we go to trial, um. [36:25] Before to help me out, I told Pat, I’ll get somebody else to handle the case. I’ll have somebody else. I said, I won’t go in there. I won’t go in there because everybody knows I’m close to Frank, very close to Frank. I said, so I won’t go in there. I’ll get somebody. He says, no, no. He said, I’ll get somebody. And so he gets a guy named Frank Whalen, who I didn’t know at the time. He was a retired lawyer from Chicago. He was one of the mob lawyers. [37:00] He was one of the mob lawyers. And he lived in Florida. He lived in Miami. I think it was, no, Lauderdale. He lived in the Lauderdale area. He was practicing there. So I fly out. I fly out to meet him. I i do all the investigating in the case the i’m using an investigator that harry alleman got from me in fact he was the same investigator that got in trouble in in uh in in hollywood for what for a lot of stuff i can’t think of his name right now but he’s the one who got indicted in hollywood eventually for you know wiretapping people and whatever it was the same one. And he got me information on Bobby on this Bobby Lowe. He found out Bobby Lowe, Bobby Lowe was a drug addict. [37:59] When the FBI got a hold of him, Bobby Lowe was living out in the street because he had been fired from his first job. He had a job in some kind of an ice cream company where they made ice cream, and he got fired there for stealing. And then he had a job after that in a gas station, and he faked a robbery there. Apparently, what he did was he called the police and said he had been robbed. This is before they had cameras and all the rest of that stuff. He said he had been robbed. And somebody happened to have been in the gas station getting gas. It was a big place, apparently. [38:45] And when the police talked to him, he said, I didn’t see anything strange. He said, I saw the attendant walk out to the back about 10, 15 minutes ago. I saw him walk out to the back of the place and then come back in. And so they go out, and he had his car parked behind it, and they found the money that was supposed to have been stolen in the car. So not the best witness, in other words. Well, that’s an understatement, because that was why… That was why now he suddenly shows up, and they know all this. The FBI agents that obviously know all this, that’s their witness. That’s their case. To me, it’s an airtight, you know. Yeah. Anyhow, I developed the defense. I went back to see Frank a second time. I flew out to Florida a second time, gave him all this information. [39:48] I had talked to some other people to a number of people that were going to indicate that Harry played golf with them that day see how they remembered not golf but he was at a driving range with them with about five people they remember what they were three or four years three or four years before that what I also found out now, and I didn’t know and it changed my whole attitude on that this wasn’t a mob killing you, This guy that he killed was married to his, I think it was his cousin or some relation was married. I’m pretty sure it was to his cousin. She had told Harry, I got this from Butchie, Butchie Petrosselli, who had become a close friend of mine after I got involved with Harry’s case, his partner. And that was why he killed them, because apparently the sister, his sister-in-law, whatever she was, had told him, you know, when he was beating her up, she had said, well, my Harry Alameda won’t be happy about this. And he said, supposedly, he said, fuck that, Kenny. [41:02] And that’s why the shooting took place. Wow. This changed me. You know, I’m in the middle of it. There’s no getting out of it now. Yeah, they’ll turn it back. And by now, I’m running around all the time with Butch and Mary at night. I’m meeting them at dinner. They’re coming to one of my places where I have dinners all the time. You know, I’m becoming like close friends, close friends with both of them. Yeah. So anyhow, but anyhow, the lawyer that he got, Frank Whalen, who was supposed to be sharp, turned out like he was not in his, let’s just say he was not in his prime. [41:46] Charitable. And when he went in, you know, while the trial was going on, you know, while the trial was going on, I get a call from Frank. From Frank Wilson, because I told him, you don’t come back into the restaurant now. You don’t come back into the restaurant. I used his office as my office all the time, along with a bunch of other judges. I had a phone, but it cost about a dollar a minute to talk on my phone. I had to talk on my phone. So when I’d be at 26th Street in the courthouse, even though no lawyers are allowed back there in the chamber, so I’m back there sitting at his desk using the phone taking care of my own other business. I stopped going in there while the trial was going on. [42:35] So, anyhow, he calls me, and he wants to meet me at a restaurant over on Western Avenue. And, okay, he called me from one of the pay phones out there in front of the courthouse, and I go to meet him. What did he want? Was he complaining about the lawyer, Waylon? What was he complaining about, Waylon? and I was screwing it up. [42:59] When I meet him, I said, you know, he’s like, you know, he said, you know, we go into the bathroom and he and he said he’s all shooken up. He says, this is going to cost me my job. He said, he said, you know, they’re burying him. You’re burying him. You know, because I had given this information on the two witnesses. And he says, Frank Whalen, he said, isn’t doing a thing and cross-examining these people and whatever. [43:32] And he says, and he’s all upset. And I said, Frank, no, I’m shook up one of the few times in my life where it’s something I can’t handle. He had never told me, you know, I’ll fix the case, never. And I said to him, and I said, Frank, I said, if something goes wrong, I said, I’m sure they’re going to kill me, is what I said to him. Yeah. I said, if something goes wrong, I’m sure they’re going to kill me. And I left. I left the bathroom. Now, I have no idea what’s going on in his mind and whatever. Yeah. I see Pat the next day. And by something goes wrong in this case, you mean if he gets found guilty, that’d be what would go wrong and you would get killed. Is that that’s what you mean? Well, no question, because when I met, I didn’t go into that. I met with Harry Alleman. I get a call after I got involved in the case. A couple days later, I get a call from Markle. Meet me at one of the nightclubs where I was all the time at night with these people. [44:47] Above it, you’ve got a motel, a bunch of hotel rooms. I get a call from Markle. The reason everybody loved me and the mob, I never discussed what I was doing with anybody or any of the other dozens of mobsters I run with that I was involved in Harry’s case. Never said a word to anybody about any of this. That was my nature, and that’s why all these people love me. I never talked about one thing with anybody else or whatever. He says, I want to meet you. When I get over there, he says, let’s go upstairs. Somebody wants to talk to you. And we go upstairs, and there’s Harry Alleman. And Harry, how you doing? How are you? [45:27] And he says, listen, you’re sure about this? And I said, yeah. I said, I’m sure. And he said, well, if something goes wrong, you’re going to have a problem. Those were his words to me. You’re going to have a problem. And I said, you know, he says, because this judge, he says, this judge is a straight judge. And he said, Tom, you mean Tom Maloney. He says, and Tom wants to handle my case. And he tells me he’s going to be named a judge by the Supreme Court real soon. And he wants to handle and he wants to handle my case before he… Uh, you know, before he becomes a Supreme court, before he becomes a judge, I knew the moment he told me that I knew for sure that was the case because we control everything, including the Supreme court. I said, you know, I said, don’t, you know, don’t worry about it. I lied to him. And I said, uh, I said, yeah, the judge is going to, I said, yeah, he’s going to throw it out. He knows, I said, he knows what’ll happen if he doesn’t. That’s what I told Harry. I want to keep him happy. [46:34] I’m going to keep him happy probably for a few hours I’m a little nervous and then that’s all behind me like so many other problems I got in the middle of oh my god talking about walking a tightrope so now the lawyer came into Chicago he was in Chicago I met him when he came in he was staying at the Bismarck was at the Bismarck Hotel right around the corner from you know where Counselor’s Row was that’s where he was staying in the in the hotel right there by the first board office and there was a way to go in there without being seen and there was a, You go through another restaurant and you go through the alley and go up there. And I wouldn’t, I didn’t want to be seen walking into there because I know the FBI are probably, are probably watching and whatever. When he comes into town, they handle the case. So I go upstairs to see him. You know, I said, what the hell’s going on in court? He says, I’m going, it’s going great. It’s going great. I said, it’s going great. I just, you know, I just got a call last night. I had to go meet the judge. And he said, you’re not doing any cross-examining. Oh, I’m doing a great job. You know, I’m doing a great job. So after a few minutes of, I leave. Yeah. [47:52] That’s when I saw Pat Marcy, too. And I said, Pat, I said, the judge is upset about whatever’s going on. I said, maybe we should give him some more because I agreed to give him $10,000. And he said, you know, what a piece of work he is. You know, he said $10,000, and that’s all he’s going to get, not a nickel more or whatever. So now to say I’m nervous again is an ultra statement. The case, I walked over, and I wouldn’t go in the room, but I wanted to just be around that room for some reason. FBI agents all over the place. [48:30] FBI agents all over the place. And so now I’m at home and I’m packed. I’ve got my bags packed because if he finds it, I don’t know what he’s going to do. I’m worried he might find him guilty because of all that had happened. He, when the trial ended a given night, and the next day he was going to give the result. In fact, I didn’t go out and play that night. I was a little nervous, and I stayed home, and I packed up my bags. I packed up my bags, and about 9 o’clock, I got in the car, and I started driving. And by the time he gave the ruling, I was probably about 100, maybe 150 miles away. And I hear on the radio, you know, found him not guilty, found him not guilty. So I turn around. Hit the next exit, turn around and come back. I turn around. Northbound on I-55. [49:27] Probably a couple hours later, here I am parked in my parking spot. My parking spot was in front of my office, right across from City Hall. And I parked in the mayor’s spot when she wasn’t there. And drove probably to drive her crazy. But that was where I parked. That was my parking spot. We’d see my big car with the RJC license plates parked in the bus stop. And so here I am. I parked the car and I go in. I go in. [50:01] And I’m sure Pat told some people, probably not, but I’m sure they told all the mobsters, all the top mobsters, because these guys all wanted to meet me afterwards and get the restaurant. I go in to see them. We walked into the janitor’s closet. You walk out of Counselor’s Row. You go to the left. It goes into the 100 North Building. Now, you’ve got the elevators to the right. And behind that, you’ve got a closet where the janitors keep all their stuff. And you’ve got some stairs leading up to the, there was a, what do you call it? There was an office there where the commodities, big commodity exchange was right there. that there was a stairway leading up to where the offices were with some doors with bars and everything on it. And Pat is standing on those stairs, about two or three stairs. You know, I said, wow. I said, you know, everybody’s going nuts. And he goes, well, you know, you did a good job. And he gives me an envelope. He gives me an envelope. And, you know, I put the money in my pocket. [51:09] We said we had some more. We said a couple other words about, you know, this and that. And then I just go in there. I go back in the counselor’s. [51:21] Now, after the feds started getting indictments, did you try and warn the Aleman case judge, Frank Wilson? Why did you do that? And when I went to see Frank Wilson, I went to help him. I said, Frank, I said, look, I said, I was contacted by, I said, I was contacted by the, by the, by the FBI. They were investigating the Harry Aleman case. I said to him, I said, they, they feel the case was fixed. I said, when they come to see me, I said, you know, I said, I’m not going to talk to them. I said, I’m not going to talk to them. I’m going to take the fifth. And in your case, you can do the same thing. When they, if they come to talk to you, you just take the fifth amendment. If they give you immunity, I said, you know, then you, then you testify, but you tell them the truth. I said, don’t worry about me. Tell them the truth. This is how I talk to him. When I’m talking to him like that, it’s almost like he’s trying to run away from me. [52:27] We’re at a restaurant in a big complex. It was in one of those resorts in Arizona. He’s all but running away from me. I was trying to help him. What I said to him was, Frank, I said, the statute of limitations ran on all this. It’s been more than five years. There’s nothing they can do to you or to me, I said, because the statute ran. I said, so don’t lie to them. What the feds were concerned about, and I don’t know why, that he would deny ever fixing the case when it went through. I don’t know why they’re worried about that, but they were, and I didn’t want to see him get in trouble. [53:13] That’s why I went there to protect him. Hey, Bob, you were asked to represent an outfit associate or an outfit associate’s son who was accused of breaking the jaw of a Chicago policewoman. And you know, when a cop is injured in a fight with somebody, the cops follow that case. And I do not want to see any shenanigans going on. So, so tell us about how you walked that line. And I bet those cops were, were not happy with you in the end. Some people think this is a reason you flipped. Take us inside that case, will you? [53:45] And the reason I mentioned that it had a lot to do with what I eventually did. Now we’ll get back to what made me do what I was going to do. When I was practicing law now, and now I have been away from all this for years, I was out of town a lot because I’m representing the Chinese all around the country. I’m their main lawyer right now. [54:10] And I get a call from Lenny Colella. And he says, my son, he said, my son is in trouble. I want to come in and I want to talk to you about handling his case. This was a heater case, too. This was a front page case because he was charged with aggravated battery and attempted murder. Supposedly, he had beat up a policewoman and it was all over the place. He was a drug addict and whatever, supposedly he did all this. And when he came into the office with his dad, he was high. When I talked to him, he’s got his kid with him. And the kid is a smart aleck. As we’re talking, the kid, and I asked the kid, well, whatever. The kid was a smart aleck. And I just said to him, I said, Len, I can’t help you. I said, get him out of here. I want nothing to do with him. I said, I can’t help you. You didn’t take cases that were involved with cops anyhow, for the most part. No. I didn’t know what had happened in this case. I know what I saw in the paper. I didn’t know what the facts or anything were or whatever. I mean, if it turned out that if I felt when I talked to him that he had done it, whatever, I would not have taken the case anyhow. [55:26] I mean, I would not have. That’s why I say, too, that may be, too, why I was as quick and as rude as I was when he came in there and was acting and was a little bit high. I just wanted nothing to do with him, period. I said to his dad, his father said, you know, if I get him cleaned up, you know, I said, well, if you get him cleaned up, then we’ll talk again. I said, but I can’t help him, and I can’t help him. [55:54] And off he goes. the father re-contacted me about a week later. And he said, I had him in rehab and he straightened out and whatever. And he brought him back in and it was a new person. And when he told me the facts of the case, when he told me what happened, because he was a big, tough kid. He was a big, you know, he was a weightlifter, but he was a big, tough looking kid. [56:19] And it’s a little police woman. When he told me what happened, I believed him. Because I’ve been out in the street and whatever. And he says, you know, he told me what happened, that he had gotten stopped. He was out there talking to her. And when she said, you’re under arrest for DUI, he just walked. He says, I walked. I was going to get in my car and drive away. And she grabbed me and was pulling me or whatever. And I hear all these sirens coming. And within a few minutes, there’s all kinds of police. There’s about half a dozen police there. He says, and then they started jumping on me. He said, she was under me. He was all beaten up. He was all bloody and whatever. And she apparently had her jaw broken. And there’s no doubt in my mind when he’s telling me that, you know, when they were hit with his clubs or with this thing that they claimed he had without his fingerprints, it was a metal bar. Right, a slapper. A chunk of lead covered by leather. Everybody used to carry a slapper. How about you carry a slapper? They claimed, but there was no cloth on this. It was just the metal itself. Yeah, oh really? [57:45] Anyhow, that makes it interesting during the trial when they flat out lied. No, he had no blood. I got the hospital reports. They wouldn’t take him in the station because he was too badly beaten up. But anyhow, he also had two other charges. He had been involved in a fight in a bar. And he had been involved in another situation with the police. And he was charged with resisting arrest and battery on a policeman out in Cicero. So he had these three cases. So I gave the father a fee on handling, you know, the one, I was going to, I gave him a fee one case at a time. I said, you know, first thing we’ll do, I want to get rid of those other two cases. I’ll take them to juries, I said. [58:36] I’ll take them to juries because I wasn’t going to put them. I knew both the judges on those cases, but I wasn’t going to put them in a position on a case like that. I take the first case to trial. And I get him a not guilty. That was the fight in the bar. [58:54] That was out in one of the suburbs. That was out in, I’m not sure which suburb, in the northwest side. After we get that case over with, before that case, I get a call from Pat Marcy. Pat Marcy, I hadn’t seen him probably even for a couple months, but I hadn’t talked to him for quite a long period of time. And he says to me, you got a case that just came in. He said, we’re going to handle it. And I said, there’s no need, Pat. I said, I can win these cases. I said, there’s no need. I can win these cases. And he said, we’re going to handle this. The case is going to go to Judge Passarella, he said, and we’ll take care of it. I said, Pat, there’s no need to. I said, I can win these cases. I said, they’re all jury trials, but I know I can win them all. And he says, you do as you’re told. Pat had never talked to me like that before. [59:54] Powerful as he was and crazy as I am, And he never, you know, you never demand that I do anything or whatever. We had a different type relationship. And although I hadn’t broken away from them by now, it’s been years. I had broken away from them for about, you know, two, three years. And he says, you know, take the case to trial. I said, well, he’s got some other cases, too, and I’m going to take the one. And she says, I’ll take it to a jury, and I’ll win it. You’ll see how I win it. I take her to trial, and I get her not guilty. The second case was set for trial about a month after that. Not even, yeah, about a month or so after that. And during that time, a couple of times I’m in counselors, and Pat says, when are you going to take the case to trial? I said, well, Pat, you know, I won the one case. I got the other case on trial, and it was before Judge Stillo. He was a judge that we eventually indicted. [1:00:51] Stillo was very, very well connected to the first ward. He’s one of the old-time judges out in Maywood. And I told him, you know, when I came in there, he assumed I’d take it to trial and he’d throw it out. And I said, no, no, no, there’s no need to. I says, I’m going to take the jury on this one. Number one, I had stopped fixing things long before this. And, but he was, to make money, he was willing that he would have thrown the case out. It was a battery with a Cicero policeman. And I says, no, no, I’ll take it. I’ll take it to, you know, I’ll take the jury. I said, I don’t want to put you in that pursuit. Oh, don’t worry about me. I take that one to trial and I win that one too. Now Pat calls me, when the hell are you going to take the case to trial? And that’s the original case with the police woman. That’s the main one. The main one. Okay, go ahead. [1:01:44] When are you going to take it to trial? And I don’t want to take it to trial. In fact. I had talked to the prosecutor, and I said, look, I said, because he was charged with, he was charged with, you know, attempted murder and arrest. I said, if you’ll reduce it, the prosecutor was an idiot. He knew me, should have realized that, you know, that I never lose cases. Yeah. You know, but I want to work out something. He was a special prosecutor on it. He said, we’re not going to reduce it. We said, you know, if you want to work out a plea, we went five years, we went five to ten or whatever in the penitentiary. And I said, well, that’s not going to happen. I said, well, then we’ll just have to go to trial. So now, while I’m at Counselor’s Row, on one of my many occasions, because I was still having some card games over there at somebody else’s other lawyer’s office, because I had had big card games going on there for years. I’m sitting at the counselor’s row table, and Judge Passarella comes in. There’s just him and me there, and when he comes in, I say, Oh, you’re here to see Pat? [1:02:56] And he goes, Pat, who? No more conversation. Who the fuck? No more. The guy’s treating me like I’m some kind of a fool or whatever. And I developed an instant disliking to him. I had never seen him around that much or whatever before that. So now, after the second case, you’re going to go to, you know. So I talked to Lenny. When Lenny came in, Lenny came in with him when we were starting to get prepared for the case. And, oh, this is before this is before I talked to the prosecutor. And I said, Lenny, I said, I says, if I can get it reduced to a misdemeanor, to a misdemeanor. I said, you know, can we work with, you know, and work out a plea, let’s say, for maybe a month or two, you know, a month or two. Is that OK with you? Oh, sure. He says, oh, sure. [1:03:57] Now, this Lenny, this was the kid’s dad, your client’s dad. This is his dad. Now, explain who he was, who Lenny was. His dad was. What’s his last name? Yeah, Karela. Karela, okay. Lenny Karela, I’m pretty sure was his name. He owned a big bakery out there in Elmwood Park area. Okay. And he was friendly with all the mobsters. Okay, all right. I got you. For all I knew, he may have been a mobster himself, but I mean, he may have been because we had thousands of people that were connected. He was a connected guy. All right, go ahead. I’m sorry. And he said, oh, yeah, sure, no, not a problem because the papers are meant, they’re still, after a year, they’re still mentioning that case will be going to trial soon and every so often. [1:04:43] What I had also done, I tried to make contact with the policewoman, not with her, but I put the word out and I knew a lot of police and I got a hold of somebody that did know her. And I said, look, I said, no, the case is fixed if I want it. Yeah. But I don’t want it. Even though I know that, you know, that it’s all BS, you know, I said, look, I said, get a hold of her and get a hold of her lawyer and tell them if they want to file a lawsuit, you know, you know, we can, they can get themselves some money on it. Uh, you know, he’ll indicate, you know, he’ll, he’ll, he’ll indicate that, you know, he, he was guilty or whatever, but I wanted to get her some money. The word I get back is tell him that piece of shit, meaning me to drop dead, to drop dead. You know, we’re going to put this guy in prison and that’s where he should be too. When the case now, now when the case goes to trial. [1:05:48] The coppers lied like hell and talk about stupid. I’ve got the police reports there. When they took him into the police station, they wouldn’t take him. The station said take him to a hospital. He goes to the hospital and the reports, you know, bleeding here, bleeding there, and, you know, marks here, marks there. They beat the hell out of him. [1:06:10] You know, nobody touched him. You know, nobody touched him. Nobody touched him. Was he bleeding? No, no, he wasn’t. He wasn’t bleeding. Didn’t have any, you know, along with, you know, along with everything else. Flat out lied. How many policemen were there? There were two or three. There were about 10 by the time it’s over. But it’s an absolute throwout. Any fingerprints on that metal? Well, we had some fingerprints, but not his. And on and on it went. It’s a throwout case to start with. The courtroom now where the case was, was very interesting. You walk in there, and when you walk in there, there’s about 20 people that can sit. And then there’s, it’s the only courtroom in the building where you have a wall, a glass wall, all the way up, all the way up. Covering in the door, opens up and goes in there. You go in there. It’s a big courtroom. A bunch of benches now in there. You go to the left, and here’s the judge’s chambers. You come out of the chambers, and you walk up about four steps. And here the desk is on like a podium. And it’s not where all the others are, you know, where you look straight forward. It’s over on the side. It’s over, you know, to the left as you walk out of his chambers. [1:07:40] When the judge listens to the case he goes in there I’ll come up back with my ruling he comes out about 10 minutes later he walks up the steps, And now he turns off the microphone. Somebody turns off the microphone so the people in the back can’t hear anything. The ones inside there can, you know, can hear. The one back there can’t hear anything because it’s all enclosed. [1:08:11] That’s why they got the microphone back there. Somebody shut it off. He says, basically, I’m not guilty in a real strange voice. And all but runs off the all but run and don’t ask me why this is what he did all but runs off all but runs off into the into his chambers, you know he’s afraid all those cops out in the audience were going to come and charge the stand I guess and put a whack on him. [1:08:43] But think about it this is Chicago he’s with the bad guys but I’m just saying I don’t know why he did all that, but that’s what he did. And so now, as I come walking out with Mike, and they’re all in uniform, and most of them are in uniform, and then you’ve got the press and all kinds of cameras and whatever there. And as I come walking out along with him, some of these guys I know, and these jerk-offs are like calling me names and whatever. I go, I go see Pat. [1:09:23] And when I go back into Counselor’s Row now, he’s there at the table. And when I come in, it’s a repeat of the Harry Allerman thing. He walks out. He walks directly. And I’m following him, and he walks in. He goes back into the same janitor’s closet and stands on the same steps just above me, you know, talking to me. And I said to him I said this judge is going to have a problem, I said, he’s going to have a problem. I said, what if he says something? And he said to me, nobody would dare. He said, nobody would dare cooperate against us. They know what would happen. Or words to that effect. And don’t ask me why. So many other things had happened before this. But now I’m looking at him and I’m thinking, you know, somebody’s got to stop this craziness. All this stuff. I’m thinking that at the moment, but then I’m worried for some reason, I think he can read my mind. [1:10:34] Stupid as all of this seems, I’m afraid to think that anymore. I’m almost, you know, cause Pat’s such a powerful person and every sense I know, I know his power, but anyhow, so I leave. And like I say, 10, 15 minutes later, that’s all forgotten about. He paid me the rest of the money I was supposed to get from them. [1:10:56] Obviously, he wanted to do it because he was probably charging a lot of money. That’s why he didn’t want me to take things. He wanted to collect the money because while the case was going on too, he puts me in touch with the head of the probation department because he was able to help in some way. He knew some of the, you know, some of the, some of the policemen involved in the thing had been contacted too. Yeah. But they were contacted and they messed up by, you know, they messed up by lying about all that. Yeah. When there’s police reports saying, oh, no, but anyhow, that was that particular case. Tell us why you decided to flip. [1:11:38] These had been your friends. You knew you had explosive information. You knew as a lawyer, you knew what you had to say would send these people to prison for many, many years. if not life. It had to be hard. As other things happened, why did I commit the, Probably two or three other times things happened. But the most important thing was to think when my dad was dying, and I was very close to my dad. When my dad was dyi

Industry leaders point to improving market balance, stronger grower returns, and renewed focus on global demand at the 53rd Annual Almond Conference.

As people head to coastal resorts this festive season, more and more incidents of drowning are being reported and several deaths recorded with the latest case involving a teenager who fell from a cliff in the Garden Route National Park. It is against this backdrop that the National Sea Rescue Institute - NSRI - is urging beachgoers to exercise caution during this new moon spring tide, which peaks TODAY, (Saturday 20 December), as it will significantly affect tidal conditions over this weekend. To tell us more, Elvis Presslin spoke to NSRI Communications Manager Andrew Ingram.

Cautious drivers, we chat buzz ball 2025.

In this episode, Laura Dyrda, Vice President and Editor in Chief of Becker's Healthcare, shares insights on the 2026 outlook for healthcare providers, including policy shifts, Medicaid changes, consolidation trends, and financial pressures. She discusses why leaders are balancing near term challenges with cautious optimism as they plan for stability, access, and long term transformation.

Micron just reported a record-breaking quarter with $13.6 billion in revenue and confirmed that their capacity is fully booked through 2026. We analyze the company's impressive sequential growth and the Q2 outlook which implies a 132% year-over-year revenue increase. Additionally, we clarify the misunderstanding regarding the company's decision to exit its direct-to-consumer memory unit versus its ongoing sales to PC and smartphone manufacturers.Despite the strong performance, we remain prudent regarding valuation and the cyclical nature of the industry. We break down the adjusted free cash flow metric, which adds back Chips Act incentives , and discuss how significant capital expenditures for equipment are impacting profitability. Join us on Discord with Semiconductor Insider, sign up on our website: www.chipstockinvestor.com/membershipSupercharge your analysis with AI! Get 15% of your membership with our special link here: https://fiscal.ai/csi/Sign Up For Our Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/b1228c12f284/sign-up-landing-page-short-formIf you found this video useful, please make sure to like and subscribe!*********************************************************Affiliate links that are sprinkled in throughout this video. If something catches your eye and you decide to buy it, we might earn a little coffee money. Thanks for helping us (Kasey) fuel our caffeine addiction!Content in this video is for general information or entertainment only and is not specific or individual investment advice. Forecasts and information presented may not develop as predicted and there is no guarantee any strategies presented will be successful. All investing involves risk, and you could lose some or all of your principal.#Micron #MU #Semiconductors #ChipStocks #Investing #StockMarket #AI #TechStocks #Earnings #Finance

Peter Murphy Lewis and Jalene Carpenter are joined by Philip Scalo, Founder and Chairman of Bartley Healthcare and Chairman of Preferred Care Management. An attorney who began his career representing health-care clients, Phil pivoted in the 1980s to build a better model for long-term care, founding Bartley Healthcare in 1984. He has grown it into one of New Jersey's most awarded senior living organizations, spanning skilled nursing, rehab, assisted living, memory care, hospice, and home care. Phil shares his perspective on the industry's big wins, the fight for regulatory relief, and the formative moments that have shaped his leadership philosophy. He discusses the critical role of the AHCA in supporting its members and the importance of changing the public perception of the entire long-term care sector.Key Takeaways:00:00 Introduction.03:24 Building a better care model was the best way to argue for better care.06:08 Quality senior care is found even in rural communities across the country.08:20 Representing long-term care professionals is a great honor for leadership.11:00 Industry-wide legal action requires uniting diverse state perspectives.13:28 Surviving existential threats requires unity around a great mission.16:16 Documentary storytelling effectively portrays the reality of long-term care.19:08 The care profession must combat the feeling of being "just a" worker.23:56 Cautious optimism for more appropriate regulations.27:40 Success in any field is built on hard work, passion, and humble aspiration.37:52 Every team member makes a difference and has great, valued potential.Resources Mentioned:Philip Scalohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-scalo-3350b210/Bartley Healthcare | LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/bartley-healthcare-nursing-rehabilitation/Bartley Healthcare | Websitehttps://bartleyhealthcare.com/Preferred Care Management | LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/preferred-care-health-centers/Preferred Care Management | Websitehttps://preferredcarehc.com/“Getting to Yes” by Roger Fisher and William Uryhttps://www.amazon.com/Getting-Yes-Negotiating-Agreement-Without/dp/0143118757Thank you for listening to “People Worth Caring About.” If you found value in this episode, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating to help others discover these important stories.For more information and to connect with our guests, visit PeopleWorthCaringAbout.com.#HealthcareLeadership #SkilledTrades #PeopleWorthCaringAbout

Chris Versace is "cautiously optimistic" on markets heading into 2026. He backs his confidence with an increase in A.I. use cases and expanding head room for the FOMC. Chris expects January's earnings season to be the next catalyst for markets. His stock picks include Waste Management (WM) and Welltower (WELL).======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors. Before trading, read the Options Disclosure Document. http://bit.ly/2v9tH6DSubscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

Larry Werther offers a cautiously optimistic outlook on the U.S. economy, highlighting the resilience of the consumer sector despite softening labor markets and elevated stock valuations. He discusses the nuances of a K-shaped economy, where upper-income spending remains robust, while lower and middle-income households face increasing pressure. Werther also delves into the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, acknowledging both its promise and the inevitable market corrections for certain AI stocks, drawing parallels to past tech bubbles.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Options involve risks and are not suitable for all investors. Before trading, read the Options Disclosure Document. http://bit.ly/2v9tH6DSubscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

Book a personal astrology reading with Rux: https://writteninthestars-astrology.com/products/1h-live-video-consultationAdd the most important astrological events of the month straight to your calendar (description included): https://www.astroincalendar.com/Timestamps for each sign:00:00:00 Intro00:17:55 Aries00:22:45 Taurus00:26:55 Gemini00:30:03 Cancer00:33:09 Leo00:36:34 Virgo 00:40:18 Libra00:43:40 Scorpio00:48:33 Sagittarius00:52:59 Capricorn00:56:45 Aquarius00:59:58 PiscesAll videos on my channel follow Western Tropical astrology.

From creamy to crunchy, more than 32,000 jars of peanut butter are making their way into Florida homes, thanks to this year's Peanut Butter Challenge, and national origin, and American farmers reacted to the USDA's new $12 billion aid package with cautious relief.

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote to Governor Gavin Newsom demanding California abandon a proposal that redistributes agricultural land based on race, ethnicity, and national origin, and American farmers reacted to the USDA's new $12 billion aid package with cautious relief.

Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote to Governor Gavin Newsom demanding California abandon a proposal that redistributes agricultural land based on race, ethnicity, and national origin, and American farmers reacted to the USDA's new $12 billion aid package with cautious relief.

Diane King Hall talks about Toll Brothers' (TOL) cautious outlook for 2026 adding pressure to its mixed earnings. She offers her take on what it means for the homebuilder space. AutoZone (AZO) shares slid after net income dropped despite a revenue rise. Diane later takes on choppy waters seen in Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) over a Goldman Sachs downgrade. ======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/ About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

Tiger's last fund did well with investments in OpenAI, Waymo and Databricks. But it warns investors that AI valuations are already 'elevated.' Skild AI is developing a hardware-agnostic foundation model for robots that can be customized for various uses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Join us as we discuss how we are to hold on to the Truth of the Gospel, watch out for false teaching, and exercise caution when offering hospitality to enemies of the Gospel.

What are supermarkets and consumer brands saying about shoppers? And which companies are getting a boost from higher-income customers? Plus, who are the winners and losers after Netflix's biggest acquisition? Host Francesca Fontana discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are supermarkets and consumer brands saying about shoppers? And which companies are getting a boost from higher-income customers? Plus, who are the winners and losers after Netflix's biggest acquisition? Host Francesca Fontana discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben and Tom discuss ADP employment, the Dell family donation, and updates on the consumer.Song: Back to December - Taylor SwiftFor information on how to join the Zoom calls live each morning at 8:30 EST, visit:https://www.narwhal.com/blog/daily-market-briefingsPlease see disclosures:https://www.narwhal.com/disclosure

Thinking about buying a home in Chicago during the holidays but feeling nervous about the market? You're not alone. Every winter I talk to buyers who are scared of overpaying, unsure about rates, and waiting for "the right deal." Here's the truth: the holiday season can be one of the best times to buy Chicago real estate—if you know what to look for.

From Wall Street to Main Street, the latest on the markets and what it means for your money. Updated regularly on weekdays, featuring CNBC expert analysis and sound from top business newsmakers. Anchored and reported by CNBC's Jessica Ettinger. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Equity markets staged a cautious rebound yesterday, with major indices posting modest gains. In Europe, utilities led the advance, lifting the broader market, while in the US, leadership came from big tech and AI-related stocks. Sentiment was buoyed by SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son's revelation that he was “practically crying” to sell the company's Nvidia stake, alongside a strong earnings report from MongoDB. However, not all segments participated in the rally – precious metals lagged, and the energy sector saw a notable reversal. Meanwhile, DarioMessi, Head of Fixed Income Research, discusses expectations surrounding the still-pending appointment of a new Fed Chair for next year and how the bond market is digesting this transition.(00:00) - Introduction: Helen Freer, Product & Investment Content (00:28) - Markets wrap-up: Jan Bopp, Product & Investment Content (06:29) - Bond market update: Dario Messi, Head of Fixed Income Research (10:34) - Closing remarks: Helen Freer, Product & Investment Content Would you like to support this show? Please leave us a review and star rating on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

“Giants Talk” hosts Cole Kuiper and Alex Pavlovic offer updates on Tatsuya Imai and on San Francisco's latest free-agent signings. Plus, a look at major deals around MLB so far.--(2:57) - Giants sign reliever Sam Hentges to one year deal(8:31) - The latest on Tatsuya Imai(18:47) - Looking back on large Giants contracts(22:00) - A look at major deals around the MLB(30:53) - Fan mailbag questions Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

To round out the holiday week, Charles Schwab's Joe Mazzola considers the broadening activity in markets heathy for the long-term but remains cautious. Expectations of a FOMC interest rate cut in December is something he sees setting up a volatile scenario as market dynamics shift. Joe says fundamentals will be the ultimate driver for markets, citing positive earnings momentum as a buoy for bulls. ======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

11-26 Dirty Work Hour 2: Greg Silver & Todd Husak, in for the boys, sit down with Steve Young to break down the Brock Purdy/Mac Jones drama & also dive into should Brock be gunslinger or cautious vs the Browns this SundaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

11-26 Dirty Work Hour 2: Greg Silver & Todd Husak, in for the boys, sit down with Steve Young to break down the Brock Purdy/Mac Jones drama & also dive into should Brock be gunslinger or cautious vs the Browns this SundaySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melanie Brown, vice president of data insights at Key Data, joins the podcast to unpack Key Data's Vacation Rental Industry Outlook 2026—a survey of nearly 250 US property managers that reveals what operators expect in the year ahead. According to Brown, sentiment has finally shifted toward “cautious optimism,” with most managers anticipating flat to modest gains in ADR, demand, and revenue per unit. But optimism isn't replacing realism: staffing shortages, revenue pressures, and tightening regulations remain top concerns heading into 2026.

There is cautious optimism around continued M&A momentum and the public equities markets as biotech heads into the New Year. On a special edition of the BioCentury This Week podcast recorded in London during London Life Sciences Week, BioCentury's Simone Fishburn and Stephen Hansen were joined by a trio of guests to discuss their key takeaways from the week and expectations for next year, including trends in M&A and creative deal structures for business development.The group also discussed the potential for biotech venture investing to make a comeback as a key asset class for LPs, especially in the U.K., as the government continues to encourage pension funds to invest more broadly.The three guests joining BioCentury included Luciana Griebel from law firm Morgan Lewis, James Critchley from PJT Partners, and Carmine Circelli from the British Business Bank.The podcast was recorded Nov. 19 on stage at the Victoria House in London as part of the 3rd Biotech CEO & Investor Reception.BioCentury's next recording “on the road” will take place on the sidelines of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco in January at the 11th East West Healthcare Reception hosted by BioCentury, Panacea Venture and Maytech Global Investments.View full story: https://www.biocentury.com/article/657686#BiotechMandA #DrugDevelopment #VentureCapital #LifeSciences #LondonLifeSciencesWeek00:00 - Introduction02:24 - Market Recovery08:02 - Growth and Influence16:24 - Creative Dealmaking21:40 - Role of CVRs25:52 - Pension Funds and Venture Capital30:09 - AI Bubble34:17 - Accelerating Clinical TrialsMorgan Lewis has prepared its materials for this podcast for general informational purposes only. They do not and are not intended to constitute legal advice. This podcast was recorded on Nov. 19. Morgan Lewis does not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information contained in these materials and disclaims any obligation to advise you of any changes in the law. You should always refer to original source documents for complete information and consult directly with an attorney for advice, including on the latest developments in this rapidly changing area of the law.To submit a question to BioCentury's editors, email the BioCentury This Week team at podcasts@biocentury.com.Reach us by sending a text

Artificial intelligence is transforming how CPA financial planners approach research, analysis, and communication. In this episode, Chris Benson shares how he moved from curiosity to confident integration of AI in his daily practice. He explains how AI helps him generate first drafts of client communication, brainstorm planning strategies, and reduce research time from hours to minutes. Chris also provides a balanced perspective on data privacy, compliance risks, and how planners should evaluate new tools without getting distracted by every new release. Whether you are just beginning to explore AI or already incorporating it into your workflows, Chris's insights will help you find practical, responsible ways to harness the power of AI in your practice. Topics Covered How to begin experimenting with AI as a CPA financial planner The role of AI as a research assistant, communication partner, and brainstorming tool Time-saving examples from client questions, financial modeling, and planning scenarios Risks related to privacy, cybersecurity, and client impersonation Cautious evaluation of emerging AI tools and what to look for in early demos A realistic forecast for how AI may be embedded in future tax and planning software AICPA Resources: Upcoming webcast: AI & Technology updates for PFP   Resources:      AI Tax Resource Center                         Empowering tax professionals with AI                         Leveraging Generative AI                         Business in the age of AI                         Getting started with generative AI/ChatGPT This episode is brought to you by the AICPA's Personal Financial Planning Section, the premier provider of information, tools, advocacy, and guidance for professionals who specialize in providing tax, estate, retirement, risk management and investment planning advice. Also, by the CPA/PFS credential program, which allows CPAs to demonstrate competence and confidence in providing these services to their clients. Visit us online to join our community, gain access to valuable member-only benefits or learn about our PFP certificate program. Subscribe to the PFP Podcast channel at Libsyn to find all the latest episodes or search "AICPA Personal Financial Planning" on your favorite podcast app.

Quiet, Cautious, and Careful - The Fellstar Pirates deal with Boneclaw, and finally uncover the face of the necromancer behind the horrors. Content warning: Emetophobia, zombies, and zombie-typical body horrorANNOUNCEMENT: Beginning this week, we will be returning to a bi-weekly release schedule for the holidays! We hope you have a wonderful season and a safe end to 2025! See you in 2026!

Show Notes:Cash is still pouring into money market funds…https://x.com/MikeZaccardi/status/1984585372366750138S&P 500 Index vs. S&P 500 Equal Weight…https://x.com/dailychartbook/status/1985380197089370155A Fed Cut in December?Source: Briefing.com “The Big Picture”https://www.briefing.com/InPlayEq/Commentary/TheBigPicture.htmTech Performance YTDSource: X Post from The Trading Initiative on 11/3https://x.com/howtoswingtrade/status/1985521724297761236Don't Mix Politics And InvestingSource: X Post from Ryan Detrickhttps://x.com/RyanDetrick/status/1985356620168106074#325 Topics:$7.5T in cash sits in money markets — fuel for future gains once rates fall below 3%.Market concentration peaks — S&P 500 cap-weighted index beats equal-weighted by 13%, signaling opportunity in overlooked large-caps.Fed uncertainty grows — odds of a December rate cut drop from 90% to 65% after Powell's comments.AI drives tech rally — strong earnings and spending power gains, but a 20%+ correction looms when AI growth slows.Cautious sentiment lingers — investors hesitate despite market highs, risking missed opportunities.

Wednesday saw a rebound following a sharp sell-off Tuesday, though Kevin Hincks considers Thursday's premarket trading action "cautious." He points to the challenger job cuts at a 22-high year as one reason stocks halted their rally. Kevin talks about how the print pinned A.I. and DOGE as reasons for the spike. Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang also spooked investors when he stated that China is pushing the U.S. out of the lead when it comes to A.I.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/ About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

Sean McWilliams says investors should be "cautiously optimistic" about the market's strong performance this year, citing factors like A.I. adoption and earnings growth. However, he also warns of potential headwinds, including stretched valuations, market concentration, and the risk of overinvestment in A.I. McWilliams suggests investors should maintain a balanced approach, considering lower-risk, higher-quality stocks and potentially adding treasuries to their portfolios as a hedge against potential volatility.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/ About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

Sean Burton runs one of the most integrated multifamily platforms on the West Coast. As CEO of Cityview, he oversees development, construction management, and property management across ~40 assets in supply-constrained markets. That full-stack view matters right now because capital is moving—and underwriting discipline will separate winners from passengers.   Theme: Debt is back, development capital is selectively returning, and OZ 2.0 arrives in 2027. But the only rate that really matters for valuations is the 10-year, not the headline cut. If you build your thesis on structure, not dirt, regime changes will find you out.   Five questions Sean answers: What's actually happening in debt? Why are private-credit spreads at cycle lows and banks re-entering, and how should sponsors lock terms without over-betting on near-term policy cuts? Where is equity leaning now? Why are insurance companies and bulge-bracket managers warming to development in true supply-constraints—and why are coastal markets back in the conversation? Do tariffs and immigration enforcement change cost and schedule? What did a 17-sub deep-dive reveal about hard costs (+2.7%) vs. headline noise—and how should you interrogate your supply chain? How should investors think about policy-driven liquidity (Basel relief, rate cuts) vs. the cap-rate anchor at the long end? Where's the line between stimulus and a "sugar-rush" that lifts the 10-year? What can cities do—practically—to attract capital? Why San Diego's timeline certainty (with real affordability requirements) is winning 1,000-unit pipelines while LA's political risk still prices deals wider. If you're underwriting 2025–27, this episode is a field guide: fundamentals over financial engineering, explicit policy-risk pricing, a 2027 OZ relaunch plan, and a daily read on the 10-year. Capital is available; discipline is scarce.   Tune in for the full conversation with Sean Burton, CEO of Cityview—and pressure-test your next IC memo against his playbook.   *** In this series, I cut through the noise to examine how shifting macroeconomic forces and rising geopolitical risk are reshaping real estate investing.   With insights from economists, academics, and seasoned professionals, this show helps investors respond to market uncertainty with clarity, discipline, and a focus on downside protection.    Subscribe to my free newsletter for timely updates, insights, and tools to help you navigate today's volatile real estate landscape. You'll get: Straight talk on what happens when confidence meets correction - no hype, no spin, no fluff. Real implications of macro trends for investors and sponsors with actionable guidance. Insights from real estate professionals who've been through it all before. Visit GowerCrowd.com/subscribe Email: adam@gowercrowd.com Call: 213-761-1000

Q3 US corporate earnings continue to report strong, with S&P 500 profits on track for 12% year-on-year growth and widespread beats on sales and margins. However, despite robust fundamentals, stocks reacting to positive reports have underperformed historically, weighed down by already-bullish investor positioning. An inverted put-call skew in the “Magnificent 7” suggests elevated optimism, often followed by short-term pullbacks. Meanwhile, fears of AI-fuelled overinvestment in tech appear overstated: while capital expenditure is rising, it remains modest as a share of revenue, free cash flow, and GDP. Looking at China, policy direction after the Fourth Plenum supports continued advancement in AI, semiconductors, and robotics, while the recent Xi-Trump meeting offers temporary relief on trade tensions. Though near-term consolidation is possible, structural drivers keep China tech and equities attractive for diversified portfolios.

Join us as teaching elder Adam Vinson continues our study through the book of Ecclesiastes. Notes from today can be found below. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1StvFnNIy1GbPZqXzssm9tOkAmq7TK-kq/view

October 30, 2025: Today's episode explores the shifting dynamics shaping business and leadership. Across industries, experience itself is being questioned as companies reject overqualified candidates, revealing how age bias and short-term thinking are reshaping hiring. Business leaders are entering 2026 with growing pessimism as geopolitical instability overtakes inflation as their top concern, and 84% now cite political and legal volatility as a major business risk. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase is using its in-house AI system to help employees write performance reviews, offering a glimpse into how artificial intelligence is changing not just operations but management itself. And in retail, Walmart's CEO warns that AI is no longer an emerging tool but a leadership necessity. Together, these stories show a world where adaptability, technological fluency, and cultural stability have become the defining traits of future-ready organizations.

10.21.25 Hour 4 1:00- Jacory "Bill" Croskey-Merritt joins G&D to discuss the Commanders loss against Dallas, plus what he thinks he has to do better moving forward. 16:45- Do the Commanders have to play it cool when it comes to Jayden Daniels' second injury of the season?

On this week's The Business Of Watches podcast, we catch up with Antoine Pin, the Chief Executive Officer of Tag Heuer. He's having quite a year. The brand is in the first season of a new decade-long deal to be the official timekeeping sponsor of Formula 1. It's a high-profile, multi-brand agreement that, if executed correctly, could launch Tag Heuer to a whole new level of visibility. But it also comes at a challenging time for the global economy and the watch industry in general as soaring input costs, a strong Swiss franc, and U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods take a toll on margins and confidence.Pin tells us Tag Heuer has plenty of experience overcoming tough challenges. When the brand launched the first version of its carbon hairspring technology in 2019, there were issues. But the Tag Heuer laboratory didn't give up, and now it's back with a new version, which it says has overcome the problems. We hope you enjoy our conversation with Antoine Pin. Be sure to leave any thoughts or questions in the comments section, and we'll do our best to respond.Want to subscribe so you never miss an episode? This new show is being published to the original Hodinkee Podcasts feed, so you can subscribe wherever you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or TuneIn.Show Notes: 4:10 Tag Heuer at Geneva Watch Days 6:48 Previous issues with carbon9:00 New carbon spring oscillator solution11:10 Silicon hairspring13:00 Tag Heuer Formula 1 15:15 Cautious production20:00 Tag Heuer Monaco Split-Seconds Chronograph (CHF 155,000) 25:30 Tariffs and price increases 

4. The Aggressive Commander: Nimitz Appoints Bull Halsey AUTHOR: Professor Craig Symonds BOOK TITLE: Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay Perceiving that Admiral Ghormley was too cautious and in poor health, Nimitz replaced him with Admiral William "Bull" Halsey to rescue the precarious situation at Guadalcanal. Nimitz knew Halsey's aggressive nature ("Kill Japs. Kill Japs. Kill more Japs.") and used him primarily for "cavalry charges," preferring Spruance for thoughtful planning. While Halsey's attack strategy led to some naval losses, Nimitz appreciated his belligerent approach against the Japanese strategy of attrition. Halsey and General Douglas MacArthur, co-commanders of separate theaters, met in Brisbane; MacArthur avoided a clash by charming Halsey to ensure cooperation. The strategic debate between MacArthur's South Pacific route to the Philippines and the Navy's preferred Central Pacific island-hopping campaign is introduced. 1911 USS MAINE IN HAVANA HARBOR

From 10/10 Hour 3: The Sports Junkies debate if Terry McLaurin is being too cautious with his injury.

Trump's Israel-Hamas ceasefire sparks cautious celebration but future remains unclear for Gaza Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jonathan Schanzer reports cautious optimism for the Gaza deal in Cairo, noting the main challenges include locating all hostages (alive and deceased) and Hamas's refusal to disarm. He discusses Turkey's wild card role, advocating for Hamas's survival. Iran, reeling from economic isolation and military impacts, has shown a surprising willingness to accept a ceasefire. Schanzer concludes that Saudi Arabia's MBS is primarily focused on achieving normalization with Israel to secure US security guarantees, potentially setting a precedent for other Muslim nations. 1910 VALDEZ AK