Podcasts about Leavenworth

Washington SOS punts on income tax pamphlet lies. Socialist Kshama Sawant angrily accuses AOC and Mamdani of betraying the defund police movement. Guest: KIRO News Radio's Chris Sullivan explains why it's going to get much tougher to get a new driver's license in the future. // Big Local: Skagit Valley farmers are voicing some (unwarranted) concerns about data centers. Leavenworth businesses are stealing dealing with the effects of wildfire smoke. // Guest: Jake Skorheim stops by to discuss Matt Calkins leaving the Seattle Times after his column on trans athletes was spiked, as well as a new song taking the internet by storm.

God's story in me is the story I will unashamedly share.

To have Jesus is to have life's greatest good. That frees me to give generously.

I get personal in this episode, in order to ask questions about the nature of what is called the “housing crisis.” Are we all just doom-pilling way too much?As a case study, I talk through the life and history of my parents, and discuss whether or not their life and lifestyle is still available today. I discuss house sizes, mortgage rates, lifestyle choices, lifestyle inflation, and more.Find more content on The Messy City on Kevin's Substack page.Music notes: all songs by low standards, ca. 2010. Videos here. If you'd like a CD for low standards, message me and you can have one for only $5.Intro: “Why Be Friends”Outro: “Fairweather Friend”AI TranscriptIntroductionWelcome back to The Messy City Podcast. This is Kevin Klinkenberg. I'm going to do something a little different today and just talk without a guest about the topic of housing in particular and how it ties into a few other kind of hobby courses of mine. Why Challenge the Housing NarrativeReally what I want to spend some time doing is taking a contrarian view of how we talk about the so-called housing crisis. And in one sense, this is kind of fun for me to do. One of the things I really loved about my father is when we would have our discussions or debates in the family about various things that were going on, he would often take an opposite view of Almost just for the sport of it. And the truth is, there are a lot of times he was so good at it, you didn't really know if he felt that way or not. Because he could do really well to argue multiple sides of an argument. And that was really a lot of fun. It was an education for me. It's something I wish more people would just do generally and try to see an issue from multiple perspectives and try to steel man different perspectives or perspectives that are different from your own. And so I've kind of taken to obviously do that if you know me at all.You know I've done that a fair amount in my own life. Not nearly as good as my father was at it, but it has been fun to do occasionally. And I really wanted to apply this to the topic of housing. And there's a couple of reasons for this. And this also ties into a story. I'm going to tell you a little bit of a story about my parents and how they grew up and their trajectory through life, because I think it's actually very relevant to this topic. And whether or not we have a housing crisis at all in America, or if we do, what is the actual nature of of that crisis. And I want to talk about this because I just see so much online and in person conversation that I just feel like there are too many people, especially too many young people that have been kind of doom pilled on life today and life in America generally.And the thing that I want to start out that I really want to propose to everybody and talk about is the life that my parents had And their trajectory through life is still available today. It is absolutely and unequivocally still available to anyone who wants to choose the life that they lived. And in my opinion, obviously, I knew them really well. In my opinion, they had a tremendous life. They had a great life. They've both passed on in recent years. And so I have to talk in the past tense. But by any measure that matters, they had a great life. They lived well into their 80s. They had four kids. We actually all like each other. So it's not just like a, you know, there are some families where you can say, well, I love my family. But as my brother used to say, or after my dad passed, he would say, you know, that... We didn't just love our parents, we really liked our parents.And I think if you're fortunate to be in a family like that, you know a little bit of what I'm talking about. And the four of us as children all... We get along. We're still all friends with each other and get along. We enjoy being together. We're all very different people with different interests and different worldviews. In some senses, we had pretty different childhoods, interestingly enough, because there's a big age spread in our family. So my parents had four kids that they raised. They had a long, stable marriage. They were able to get consecutively better houses as they aged. And then by the time they hit retirement age, they had saved enough money to be able to do other things that they wanted to do. Along the way, they traveled when they wanted to. They really wanted to get out and see the country, see the world.When we were young, that traveling mostly involved just driving around the United States and going to national parks and big cities and seeing the sights. As they got older and had a little bit more disposable income, they would join tour groups and go or sometimes with family to foreign countries and places they really wanted to visit. And I want to give you some context because my parents were not people that grew up with money at all. And I'm going to share some of this because I think it's important to understand. How they came to be where they were and some of the choices they made and how it might impact choices that young people especially could make today.My Parents' StoryMy mom grew up very poor. She spent a part of her childhood living in a housing project in Syracuse, New York. And she was one of five kids and they, you know, her whole childhood they never had any money for much of anything. And they often lived in not the greatest part of town, in Syracuse, even when they got out of the housing project. And my dad grew up in a small town in Kansas called Baser, which is just outside the Kansas City area. But at the time when he was growing up, it was a dusty little town of like 600 people. And, again, one of five kids. And his dad was an auto mechanic, had his own garage, but also just, you know, like people do in Little Towns, did a little bit of everything. He drove a school bus. We helped out with the mail. We did a lot of different things in the town. But it's not like they ever really had any money.My Uncle George, one of my dad's brothers, used to say that they were all poor, but they didn't know it. And part of that is the nature of living in a small rural community. They had a lot of spare time and freedom to roam. And so they probably were able to, you know, occupy themselves with a lot of things that maybe other kids weren't. My mom's father, my mom's parents had a really difficult marriage. My grandfather, her father basically worked in a deli in Syracuse and he And so he worked in a Jewish deli. He was a very, very personable guy, made a lot of his own, made his own corned beef and bagels and everything. And a lot of the customers liked him, but it's not like he ever really made a lot of money. And he and his wife, my grandmother, had a really difficult time, eventually ended up divorcing.And my parents ended up meeting each other in sort of a star-crossed romance that I don't really have time to tell the entire story. But it ended up that they met when my mom was visiting a friend in Leavenworth, Kansas. And... Not too long after that, a romance ensued and eventually a marriage. My parents were born in 1935 and 36, so they're not boomers. They're sort of, I guess, what you would call as greatest generation. But they were too young to be deeply invested in the Great Depression or World War II. They were little kids, really, when all that was going on. So I guess in a sense what you could say is they had the cultural memory of those things. They grew up understanding what life was like in the Great Depression. They grew up poor. They grew up during the war and they knew all that that was going on and they were very well attuned to it, but they weren't part of it.And I think like a lot of people who grew up in that era, they were really affected, especially by the poverty of what was happening. So one of the things that we used to always say about my mom is she could stretch a nickel like anybody's business. She was frugal her entire life. And that really came from growing up with next to nothing. And then for many years... After they were married and started having kids, they were living off basically one salary, not like a big salary or anything, for a long time. And so my mom really had to stretch everything to make ends meet. I'm going to come back to the housing part of this because I think there's some importance to all this.The Housing LadderMy parents got married in 1957, on Christmas Eve of 1957, and then right after that, flew off to Germany. My dad at the time, 21, 22 years old, he had been working a little bit, but he decided he wanted to enlist in the Army, and they spent two years in the Army. He was basically sent off to Germany. And so obviously, you know, late 50s, a great time to be sent off to Germany. No active fighting or anything going on. And they spent two years there. My oldest sister was born in Germany. And then my next sister, I guess you could say, was conceived in Germany. And... And then born back here in the United States when they came back. So by the time they came back to the United States, it's about 1960, and they've got two little kids. And at that time, shortly after they bought their first house, which was in a not so great part of the Kansas City area. It was in Kansas City, Kansas.It was not a terrible area, but not like the greatest. And they bought a small house. And I've had some trouble finding out the exact details in this house, but I think it was probably a two or three bedroom with one bath. It's since been added on to, so it's hard for me to know exactly. But in this period of time, 1960 or so, that would have been their first house. And, you know, my siblings are just going to really... I want to mock my lack of understanding on some of these details, but I think by the time they left that house, my brother had also been born. So there were three kids there. And I want to trace this trajectory a little bit. There's a story here that I think we don't talk enough about that was very common and kind of understood in my parents' era. Which was the idea of buying a small house. New houses were all generally smaller than they are today.There's no question about that. We've had a lot of growth in the average size of houses. So houses were smaller. But it was also kind of understood that you were going to buy... A small house, you were going to build some equity in that, and then you would eventually buy a bigger house. And as you went through the progression of life, as you could afford more, you would buy more. And I'm not entirely sure how... I see a lot more people who are looking to buy their first house who want it all right away. They want that four-bedroom house at the right price, and they're unhappy that they can't get that. I don't want to overgeneralize, but this was something that was really common, certainly in my parents' era. So my dad, after he came back from the Army, he ended up working for a company called Wilson Foods. Wilson Foods was a meatpacking company.So at the time, one of what they called, I think, the big five meatpacking companies that were in the United States that dominated the field was, Wilson's was headquartered in Oklahoma City, but it had plants all over the Midwest. And so he started out as a clerk in the office in Kansas City. So he was on a management track, not on the factory track, but he started at a very entry level position. And then the way it kind of worked in our family and with that company was Again, this was an era where people tended to be a lot more loyal to a certain company. And there was more the idea that you find a good company to work for and you might spend your whole career there. So whenever he wanted a promotion or had the opportunity for a promotion, we typically had to move. So this story is going to sound a little crazy because we moved a lot.And people often thought that we were like a military family, that we were military brats. And we used to say, no, we're not military, we're meatpacking. And of course, people didn't have any idea what we're talking about, but another just little inside joke we had. So I want to talk a little bit as we trace this and think about house size, but also mortgage rates. Because as we talk about housing availability today, especially for sale housing, we're really stuck on the conversation about house size and about mortgage rates. Well, I think it's interesting to look at the trajectory that my parents went through and something very similar to millions of people in that generation today. Went through as they started to move on. So I think it was aboutMortgage Rates in Historical Context1966 or so that we moved to Omaha. Uh, and I went back and I just did some historical, uh, tracking of, uh, mortgage, typical mortgage rates in 1966, the typical mortgage rate was about 6%. So that's really not very far off from where we are today. Uh, depending on what you're looking at today, A lot of the standard kind of 30-year mortgage rates are around 6.5%. It fluctuates from week to week, month to month, but we've kind of been in that zone now for two or three years. And the conversation is very much about how high the mortgage rates are. Um, because we had such a sustained period of very low mortgage rates, such that people like myself, when, uh, we purchased and we, when ultimately refinanced our house in 2021, I think our mortgages, our rate is like 2.75%. So we had millions and millions of mortgages at like 3% or under. And then obviously the rates, uh, went up dramatically.Uh, they went up very, very quickly. Some of the quickest in history. And they've more or less settled into where they are the last two or three years, which is about 6.5%. But again, if you look back historically, one of the stories you can tell is that 6.5% is not like an unusually high mortgage rate. It's just not. You know, I know nobody wants to pay more than, you know... And so why don't I track here, just by way of example, some of the moves my family made. 1966, that more average mortgage rate was about 6%. In 1970, we moved from Omaha to Dell City, Oklahoma, which is a suburb of Oklahoma City. And the average mortgage rates then were closer to 8%. In 1972, we moved to Oklahoma City itself, and the rates came down a little bit, about 7.4%. In and around 1973, then we moved to Overland Park, Kansas, and mortgage rates had gone up again, a little bit more, closer to 8%.In 1975-ish, maybe 76, we moved to Albert Lee, Minnesota, where there was a meatpacking plant that my dad became the superintendent for. So this started an era where mortgage rates were really rough. So in 75, the average rate was about 9%. It went up from there. You know, in 1980, it was over, in 1980, it was almost 14%. 1984, my parents were able to, my dad was able to get a job in Marshall, Missouri. So we left Albert Lee and moved to Marshall. 84, it was still 13.88% average mortgage rate. And then by the end of that decade, 1990 had come down to about 10 and a quarter percent. And then 94, my parents, right around that period where my parents, um, Bought their final house in Lenexa, Kansas in their retirement. They weren't quite retired yet. That's a different story. But in 94, it was about 8%. And so there was a little blip again in 95 or so is about when I bought my first house.That was about eight and a half percent was a typical rate. And then it kind of went on a straight line down more or less from 1995 till about 2021 down to about that three percent rate. And so, again, this is kind of, you know, it's a bit of a long story. But if you can trace these things historically, you can see that the expectation of paying a six, six and a half, seven percent interest rate is just historically not that high. Now, I know historic doesn't matter when you're trying to buy a house today and they're not as much churn in the housing market. But I mean, that's just part of the reality that many, many families paid much higher mortgage rates. Now, what about the houses themselves? Well, this is also interesting. When we lived in Omaha, That's where I was born in 1969. Our house was a three bedroom, one bath ranch with a basement. Um, uh, sort of like a basement playroom.Uh, that was very typical for that era. So there were six of us living in a three bedroom, one bath house. When we moved to Oklahoma, the first house we had was three bedrooms, one and a half baths. And then when we moved to Oklahoma city, again, sort of within the same Metro at that point was our first four bedroom house. So here we are early seventies. Uh, my parents at that point had been married, uh, For 15 years, they had four kids at home. The oldest was now in high school or about high school age. And that was our first four bedroom house. And I think we had two and a half baths in that one. When we moved back to the Kansas City area in 73-ish, we also had a four-bedroom house. So that was a more comfortable kind of a split-level house at that point. And we're getting to the point there where almost all of us had our own bedrooms, but not all of us.I shared a bedroom with my brother in that house. I shared a bedroom with my brother for quite a long time. And when we moved to Minnesota in the mid-70s and then lived there for about eight years, we had a ranch house in Albert Lea. Housing costs everything. I will say this was my parents' experience of living in Minnesota was everything was a lot more expensive than they were used to. You couldn't, in their opinion, couldn't get as much house for your money. The taxes were a lot higher in Minnesota than in other states. The utility costs were higher. And so we had a ranch house that I think had three bedrooms and then it had a finished basement that we finished. And We put a bedroom in the finished basement that would not meet code today. It did not have the proper exiting. But that was something we did. And it was to the point where Minnesota, the winters could be pretty harsh.And so we would commonly close off the family room for the winter in Minnesota and just not use it. We had another room that had a TV where we spent the winter with But again, this is just kind of indicative of the frugal mindset that my parents had. AndLifestyle and FrugalityI want to say that because I think it's important when you're thinking about lifestyle differences in their generation versus today. And I'm not here to pass judgment on anybody necessarily necessarily. But that frugal lifestyle that they lived for many, many years enabled them to have the things that they wanted to have and do the things that they wanted to do. So what are some examples of that? Well, we almost never ate out. So I can barely even remember times as a kid that we would go out to a restaurant. My mom bought generic brands of food. She used coupons regularly. When we took vacations as a family, they were typically driving vacations. And my mom would pack a cooler full of food and we would stop at highway rest areas and eat our meals there. And we stayed in very cheap motels. Sometimes there was camping, not a lot. My mom did not like camping. But...And I'm here to tell you my memories of those trips were great. As a kid, I loved those trips. We would start, you know, for example, in Minnesota and we would drive all the way to the West Coast and we would go to the national parks in Washington State and Oregon and, you know, went to Redwoods National Park in Northern California. Or we would start in Minnesota and we would drive all the way to Disney World and we would hit sites along the way. And to me, those trips were magical and wonderful and a lot of fun. And I think for my parents, they were really great trips as well. But we did things on the cheap. And we just did not waste a lot of money on things. But it didn't stop my parents from Seeing the things they wanted to see and enjoying the things that they wanted to enjoy in life.And today, the term that we have for kind of that approach, because we have to have a term for everything, is FIRE or FI, Financial Independence or Financial Independence Retire Early. And so that's become kind of a thing that quite a number of people have latched onto. Which is terrific. And I'm a big fan of a lot of people in that world. It's also true that that was just kind of the way life was for an awful lot of people of a previous era. And that was just life. I remember my dad telling me one time that they never saved any money or weren't able to save any money until he was about 50 years old. And he had, you know, by the time he was 50 years old, at that point, he'd had decent jobs. And my mom started, she worked when she could in between raising four kids.And so as the kids started becoming more self-sufficient, she was able to work different jobs and bring in some extra money. But yeah, he had told me they really were almost never able to save money until, frankly, we moved back to Marshall, Missouri, and he had a better job. And things were cheaper. They felt like they got a big pay increase when they left Minnesota and moved to Missouri. And so not long after that, then when they were able to retire, even in retirement, even at that point when they had Enough retirement income to rely on. My mom still could never, she just did not have it in her to like overspend for anything. And she still kind of questioned every purchase that she made. But they were also really happy people. It's funny how we have often such a consumerist mindset that we feel like if we're not consuming a lot of things, that means you're not happy.My parents were very social. They had a ton of friends. They stayed in touch with their families, an extended family. And they were just very active, fun, social people. So not being able to spend a ton of money just didn't stop them from doing things. By the time that I was in high school, my siblings were all out of the house. My oldest sister was already married. Teresa was well on her way in her education and career. Dean was also already well on his way in his college education and then later working after college. But I was actually the first one that they were even able to help with a little bit of money for going to college, which of course my siblings gave me a lot of crap about. And would call me spoiled. But that was just the first time that my parents had had enough little extra money to even be able to help any of their kids at that stage.What This Means TodaySo it's just really, to me, a story of living what at that time was a pretty patently kind of common or normal life, which was you buy a small place. Maybe you start in not the greatest part of town. And then eventually you start making more money and you work your way up until you can buy bigger places and nicer places. And I think this is a story we just don't talk about very much. As your family grows, as you grow in your career, you can afford more of a house. I think there's this sometimes doom-pilling that that's just not possible today. I wanted to test this a little bit, and I just did a little bit of playing around on Zillow. Looking at what houses were available that were anything similar to what my parents might have bought as their first couple of houses.Lo and behold, in some areas that are not the nicest, newest, greatest part of town, but not bad areas, you can find those small two and three bedroom houses, at least in my metro area here in Kansas City. For $250,000 to $300,000. And there's nothing wrong with these houses. They're smaller than normal. They're not a big four-bedroom, four-bath house. But they're perfectly livable homes in decent areas. If you want to go to even less fashionable places, you can find that same house. And houses that have been remodeled for under $200,000. So, you know, yeah, you're probably going to deal with higher crime. Maybe the schools aren't, it's not the school district you want to be in, but these are livable houses that are there. And they're also the kind of places like they're not, they're not horrid places to live.Like if you got some of your friends and you all convinced each other to all move to that part of a town, you could, you could make it better by buying these properties, uh, and real estate, um, And, you know, we don't like to talk about this very much as Americans, but the truth is by like global standards, any of these houses are very luxurious. We're all very lucky to live in a place where we could live, where you could own like a two bedroom, one bath house that is modern and nice with great appliances and everything else and complain about it, that you really wish you had more. So anyway, here's a few of the numbers. Just out of curiosity, if you're wondering, if you take like a $250,000 house, if you put 5% down on it, that's $12,500. And if you have a mortgage rate at 6.65%, that's about $2,000 a month with taxes and insurance.So I'm here to tell you that $2,000 a month is cheaper than almost all of the brand new, quote unquote, luxury apartments. That are all over my city that are renting with no problem. And I know they've got a pool and they've got a fitness center, but you're also paying somebody else to live there. You're not building any kind of wealth or equity for yourself. That's the sort of thing, that's the sort of a house that you can easily do on a salary of $80,000 a year, whether it's one person or combined. And by the way, I just, I was curious about this. The average 25 year old in my metro area makes 40,000 bucks a year. So you put two 25 year old salaries together, average ones, that's 80 a year. You can buy that house. And then you can start on that process that is similar to what my parents were on.And so again, I, you know, If you were to tell me, I'm not here today to argue that there aren't changes that need to be made in our cities with our regulatory apparatus or any of that. If you've listened to this podcast at all over the last few years, you know how passionate I am about all of that. I am very much in the camp that the administrative and regulatory apparatus that we created in the 20th century for our cities has failed by every measure. That doesn't mean the people in them are necessarily bad people or dumb or anything like that. It just means that we have, we created systems that just do not work and do not produce good outcomes. And any rational person or group should be able to say, we need to junk that and start over and rethink what we're doing.And so I'm very much in that camp that there's an awful lot of what we created in the 19-teens and 20s in terms of the city planning apparatus and zoning that has been a complete failure. And we need to start over, rethink all that. It's not working. So, you know, I have that as a baseline, but I just don't think so many I don't think especially young people should be so black-pilled on everything or doom-pilled on everything. The opportunities that previous generations had are still available. Now, are they going to be available everywhere in every market for every career path? No. I mean, I get it if you live in really high-cost markets like San Francisco, New York, Seattle, LA, wherever. I have no doubt it's a lot harder. I do think there probably are less fashionable places that people overlook. That would probably be just fine.I have no doubt that that's the case in every city in the country, every region in the country. There are perfectly nice houses, but they're not the newest, most fashionable, cool location. And, and we have had such a lifestyle inflation. We don't want to necessarily go there. I get that. But the truth, the question is, do you want to get there or not? Do you want to start on that path or not? And the other thing I would tie into that is like I've mentioned on multiple podcasts here, let's say that you don't want to do that two bedroom, one bath house. You want something a little bigger. Well, you could also combine it with the house hacking approach, which I have done in my lifetime, multiple times. The first house I bought was actually built as a single family house in the 19 teens. But by the time I bought it, it was actually a triplex. It was one unit per floor.And I lived on one floor and rented out the other two. It was not in great condition. I got it pretty cheap. It was not in the best neighborhood at the time, but I got a good deal on it. I put a lot of sweat equity and work into improving it and was eventually able to sell it for a good profit and move on to the next house, which was much nicer and where I also house hacked. In that case, I had an apartment over the garage, what we call an ADU today, that I finished out as an apartment and I rented that out. And helped offset the mortgage. So there are plenty of ways that you can get creative. You could buy a three-bedroom house and rent a room out to a friend or a family member or somebody else. There are ways that you can leverage house hacking to get into the house that you might want sooner. But the main message I would have is that those things are still possible.Practical AdviceThe basics that enabled previous generations to live a good life in this country are still here. If you have a strong sense of family, if you get educated or have a trade or a skill that is tangible, that is marketable, for example, try not to enter a field of work that is overly academic or philosophical in nature. You need to have a real skill. If you have a good work ethic, If you do get married, stay married. Again, I'm not going to moralize on any of that, but the data is super clear that people who get married and stay married almost always end up in the middle class or better in this country. Make yourself valuable to others, you know, from family to neighbors. Get involved in your community in some fashion, you know, in the real world and Be frugal. Save your money. Don't waste it until you can afford to waste it.And if you have any sense of frugality when you're a younger person and you can put money away in your 20s and 30s, you will get older. And by the time you hit your 40s, 50s, or 60s, you're going to find you're going to have maybe some money, more disposable income, At that point that you can really enjoy and you're still young enough to enjoy it. And health care these days is so good and health science is so good that you should be able to stay healthy for a much longer period of time. Buy a small house, take care of it, and then either add to it or sell it and buy a bigger one when you can. That is part of the process that we just don't talk very much about today. So I think in general, I would suggest let's stay away from, try not to lean too much into doomerism.Regardless of your own personal feelings, you know, how you see the world today or not, focus on yourself, what you can control, and what's possible. And figure out how to create your own life trajectory that is valuable and great for you.What's NextI'm going to tackle a couple other subjects in future episodes. I want to talk a little bit more about how I think the... The administrative and regulatory processes we created over 100 years ago have failed us and what's to be done about that, like what's a different idea or path. And then I also want to touch on a little bit, there's a whole other subject. There's a big part of what we call the housing crisis that is really driven by a series of policy choices we've made for the last 50 years or so. That have really benefited a small number of cities and the professional class in those cities. And it's really hard to uncouple these realities that we have what a lot of people have described elite overproduction today. We have been emphasizing for 50 years to tell everybody to go to college and get a degree, any degree. And I understand why we did that at the time.I went to college and I think going to college to get a degree. To go for higher education and get a really great skill is a great thing to do. But we have a lot of people who went to college and don't really have still very marketable skills or degrees. And they're all kind of following a path that I think they were told to follow by parents and grandparents and counselors, which was go to college, go move to one of these really great cities where there's a lot of jobs for college graduates. And starting your path and what you end up with is you have too many people chasing housing and jobs in too few cities.That has led to a lot of what we talk about as the housing crisis, but there's the flip side of that we don't talk very much about, which I'll also delve into in a future episode, which, in my opinion, is the true housing crisis, and that is that we have too many places in our country that have been in terminal decline for decades. They often are well located neighborhoods. Or well-located communities, but they have been dying. And this proliferation of dying and derelict communities and neighborhoods is really at the heart of a terrible, terrible problem where people are just more bent on trying to figure out survival. Because there's not an economy to attach themselves to that gives hope for the future. So we've got two sides of the same coin with very different concerns.One is we have an awful lot of people chasing a certain lifestyle in a very small number of places that is driving price increases in those places. And then we have actually a much larger number of places that have basically been abandoned. Some that could really have hope for the future and others that there are not great answers for, at least today. And that's a subject that I'll try to tackle a little bit more for a future day. So at any rate, I hope this has been interesting for you. If you've listened to this podcast at all since I've been doing it, you know I actually really enjoy talking about my family and talking with my family members. And I've had my brother and one of my sisters on here before. And I'll be having my brother on again very soon because he's got a new book out that I think you'll be actually very interested in. So that's all for today.I hope everybody's having a good summer and we're dealing with the full breadth of the Midwest heat at the moment, but it'll be over soon and then fall is right around the corner and on into another year. Thanks so much for listening. As always, if you enjoy it, please hit like, leave a review, follow, whatever it is. I am terrible about marketing this podcast since it's something that is basically a hobby for me. But if you enjoy it, please help me out and help spread the word. Thanks so much. Bye. Farewell, farewell with a friend, farewell. Farewell, farewell with a friend, farewell. Farewell, farewell with a friend, farewell. Farewell, farewell with a friend, farewell. Get full access to The Messy City at kevinklinkenberg.substack.com/subscribe

I practice the rhythm of repentance because I know the mercy and love of the Father.

Meet Kevin Rieke!

Prayer is humble submission to God's will and dependence upon His mercy and grace because my faith is rooted in Who God is.

God transforms me as I read His word, believe it, and live by it daily.

Not much to say about this one...just enjoy it!But as usual, Luc is shouting out Keeping Families Covered!#######TRIVIA NATIONALS 2026We're heading back to Las Vegas this year - and I'll be hosting the Pop Culture Bee! Get your tickets at ⁠⁠⁠trivianationals.org⁠⁠⁠ and use the code POP26 at checkout for $20 off! JOIN THE DISCORD!!!The best way to get the latest updates about the podcast and the Tuesday Sunday night Twitch stream is to join the Discord server. It's easy to do by clicking this link: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/z95CZGQrKQ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Want to build your own game of Tangents?All you have to do is pick a date that works for you: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://calendly.com/triviaworkshop/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And be sure to check out the other Trivia Workshop links here:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/TriviaWorkshop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thank You Patreon Crew!This podcast wouldn't be possible without your support. Thank you all - and welcome to our newest member, Matt Lamia! If you'd like to join, it's easy! Just go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/TriviaWorkshop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for your options.And as always, thanks to the entire Patreon Crew - Adam Wendell, Alissa, Andrew Buxbaum, Anne Putnam, Asha Ouseph, Brandon Fellows, Brian Irving, Brock Kwiatkowsky, Bryan Nash, cheyenne fletcher, Chris Collins, Christian Hernandez, Claire Bancroft, Dalton McGhiey, Danielle Fields, Ian Schulze, Jane Hansen, Jay Borsom, Jeff Clear, Jillian Hawkins, JJaz, John Liu, Kevin Kuschel, Leslie Hyman, Luc Leavenworth, Madeleine Garvey, Martin Ebert, Matt Lamia, Marc Poland, Nabeel Bader, Nanci Skinner, Nicole Bates-Rush, Paul Paquet, Quizmaster Caleb, Samantha Kuchar, Sara Callori, Sarah Collins, Scott Anglemyer, Scott Barber, Shaun Bernstein, Steven Beningo, StitchinStacey, Tamara Morgan, The Professional Left, Tim Robert Gomez, Tony Schmit, Wendy Curtis, and Will Gilbert

Those who have faith in the resurrection of Jesus are revolutionaries who change the world.

I can be a true friend to others only when I am secure in Christ.

From 2019 to 2023, Jermaine Wilson served two terms as mayor of his hometown of Leavenworth, Kansas—an amazing achievement considering that only a decade earlier, he had finished serving several years in prison. In this week's episode Jermaine talks with Nate Dewberry about his life journey, from his “hopeless” upbringing surrounded by poverty and crime to his spiritual awakening in prison to his current work with Prison Fellowship, the country's largest nonprofit Christian ministry serving the incarcerated and their families. Whether or not you have any kind of criminal record, you'll benefit from hearing Jermaine's wise counsel about fatherhood, finding forgiveness and acceptance, and transcending victimhood to live a mature, responsible, fulfilling life in the identity Christ has for each of us.Segments/chapters0:00 Intro/Jermaine's “hopeless” childhood3:00 Jermaine's seasons of incarceration8:09 Finding community in Prison Fellowship16:52 What Jermaine's post-release life looks like now21:15 Words of wisdom for fathers inside or outside prison walls24:36 Challenges in the transition to post-prison life31:12 Fostering unity and community in a time of discord38:09 Closing thoughts: What does redemption mean to you?Find community, deepen your faith, join the brotherhood for free today at theredeemed.com/join.Visit The Redeemed's website for downloadable discussion question sets,  show notes, inspirational articles, more resources, or to share your testimony.Join our Exclusive Newsletter: Signup today and be the first to get notified on upcoming podcasts and new resources!The Redeemed is an organization giving men from all backgrounds a supportive, judgment-free environment, grounded in Christian love without demanding participation in any faith tradition, where they can open up about their challenges, worries, and failures—and celebrate their triumphs over those struggles.Starting Point: https://theredeemed.com/spJoin the Community: https://theredeemed.com/jointrHave a redemption story? Share your redemption story here.Interested in being a guest on our podcast?   Email Nate@theredeemed.comFollow The Redeemed on Social Media: PodcastYouTubeFacebook...

God uses the need in front of us to wake up the gift inside of us.

I will risk what I have when I have confidence in what I've received.

Retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective Gary Jenkins sits down with former criminal and prison minister Bill Corum for one of the most unusual conversations ever featured on Gangland Wire. Bill Corum recounts his journey from car theft and prison escapes in the early 1960s to his deep involvement in Kansas City's criminal underworld in the 1970s and early 1980s. He describes his work around pornography, prostitution, stolen property, cocaine trafficking, and his connections to notorious Kansas City underworld figures. Gary and Bill discuss legendary Kansas City mob fence Sol Landi and his murder by assassins sent by the mob, the River Quay era, Junior Bradley, corrupt influences in local politics and the courts, and the explosive cocaine culture that swept through Kansas City during the 1980s. Bill also shares stories involving Weld Wheels founder Kenny Weld, cocaine trafficking operations, and the dangerous atmosphere surrounding organized crime in Kansas City. The conversation dives into: Bill's prison escape and stolen car career The prostitution business in Independence, Missouri Mob-connected fences and stolen property rings Cocaine trafficking in Kansas City during the early 1980s The murder of Saul Landy River Quay nightlife and mob influence Corrupt officials and criminal networks Kansas City organized crime personalities Prison life and criminal culture Bill Corum's dramatic religious conversion in 1983 His decades-long prison ministry work across America Bill also explains how he transformed his life after addiction, violence, and years in the criminal world, eventually dedicating his life to prison outreach and ministry programs throughout the United States. You can learn more about Bill Corum and his book at either The Ultimate Pardon or Bill Corum Official Website If you're interested in true crime, mafia history, and real law enforcement stories, this is an episode you don't want to miss. Subscribe for more mafia history and true crime stories every week. 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. [00:00:00] hey, all you wiretappers. Gary Jenkins here, retired Kansas City police detective in the intelligence unit. Turned podcaster and author and documentary filmmaker. If you want to see any of my stuff, go to my website and look in the show notes or look in the I think the donate page. Of course, if you’re in the donate page, you might want to hit the donate button. We always use a little, can use a little support. And I have a guy that I’d heard of and I’d seen on YouTube and I have mu- we have mutual friends, but I had never actually met him. And I, so I g- I… Some people he knows asked me to be on their show. And so I was on their show, and Bill was on that show at the same time. So we started talking. We had lunch and we had all these… We were running in the same circles, but separate circles that then overlapped every once in a while. He was on one side of the law and I was on the other. So Bill Corum. Welcome, Bill. Thank you, Gary. Thank you so much. And we were running in opposite… We were running real close- … but I was careful. When [00:01:00] I got out of prison, it- You were. When I got out of prison in 1964, I had two goals. Yeah. Never go back, and never get caught. And I started breaking the law the day I got out of prison, and I broke the law for almost 19 years and didn’t get caught. I got caught a couple times at little things, and I got… I hired a high-powered criminal attorney that came out of Alex Peebles’ office who’s now a judge. I won’t even mention his name. He’s now a judge. I think I told you who it was. But and Alex got me out of a couple deals way back when. But little things. And I was still, doing everything. And I went for almost 19 years and didn’t get caught. Unlike many of my friends, I’ve been in prison ministry for 40 years now, and I run around with a lot of guys that did a lot of time. 25 years, 40 years. Li- they had double life without parole, now they’re out But I never got caught. Yeah. And I was speaking at a women’s prison just recently, and I was talking to the women, and I was telling that story, and I said, “I got out and I [00:02:00] went for 19 years.” She said, “You must have been awful smart.” I said I wa- I wasn’t too smart or I wouldn’t have been doing that stuff.” But I did know ways and one thing was ’cause I didn’t talk to people. I didn’t have a lot of… Kinda like the trench coat robbers. They robbed banks for 15 years- Yeah … and never got caught because they didn’t email, text, phone calls, none of that. Yeah. They would, they would- And they moved away too. Oh, yeah. Kinda moved away from their home territory, so they- Yeah y- they weren’t having their buddies come up to them say, “Hey, what are you doing? Where you been?” “I haven’t seen you for a while.” And then they turn around and tell some cop that they know, “Hey, I can’t remember the guy’s name now. Billy Kirkpatrick. Billy Kirkpatrick. He’s been out of town. He just got back.” And, you know- Yeah … then they put… Suddenly they get this notice about these bank robbers somewhere else. They… He didn’t do that. He stayed- … out of town. So Bill, let’s- No, that was me. Go ahead. Go, let’s go back and start you from the beginning. Introduce to who you are to my guys, ’cause they don’t know you. I didn’t know you, ’cause you were such a low profile in this world. You said you got out of prison. Why don’t we [00:03:00] start with that? Where, what were you in the joint for originally? I was originally in there for Dyer Act, which is, in the feds, that’s interstate transportation- Yeah of stolen motor vehicles. I was in the Marine Corps. I went AWOL. I got caught. I went back. I got back AWOL again. I went back. They put me on restrictions, said I couldn’t leave the base. I was at that point in my life where nobody could tell me what to do. And so I’s “I’m leaving the base,” and I left and I think I stole 10, 12 cars while I was out. And then I got put in the… When I got back the next time, they put me in the brig, and I escaped from the brig. And and I stole a car off the base back in tho- in the ’60s, early ’60s, ’62, 3. People left their keys in their car. Yeah. And I went out. I was in the parachute locker painting. When the guard came in to check on me, I hit him in the back of the head with a full bucket of paint, a full gallon of paint, and I went out the window and I got a car, and I actually had a guy with me. He said, “I’m going with you.” And so we got in the car, and when we got to [00:04:00] the gate, I said, “Now, if that guard steps out at the gate, I’m running over him.” And he’s “No, don’t do…” I said “Just shut up. I’m running over him.” And I got to the gate, and the guard stepped out and saluted me. And I’m like, “What in the world?” I drove into town, run out of gas, Gary. Got out and stole… I don’t know how I remember this. I stole a ’62 maroon Bonneville. And when I was walking away from the car, my buddy looked back and started laughing. I said, “What are you laughing about?” He said, “I see why they saluted us. That car had a colonel sticker on the bumper.” So then I stole that car, that Bonneville, drove into Mississippi. Because I always ask guys in prisons, “How many of you know when you escape from prison you need some different clothes?” Yeah. So I drove into a little town called Leland, Mississippi, and I was breaking in a clothing store to get me some clothes. It was 11:00 at night, and I looked down, I was climbing up on some boxes to get to the roof to go in the skylight, ’cause they had analog alarms, they were easy to beat. [00:05:00] And I looked down and I saw a flashlight coming down the alley. So I dropped down, ran the other way, and I turned the corner and ran into the biggest, fattest Mississippi sheriff you ever seen. And he had a gun, he had a gun about this long. And he stuck it right here, and he goes, “Where are you going, boy?” And I said, “With you, sir.” That’s what I said. And that was the end of the Marine Corps. So now I’ve taken a car across the state line, and the feds step in. And I went to… I got a six-year sentence. I got what they call a zip six. And back then, before ’86, now in ’86 they passed it to 85%. Yeah. But prior to 80- prior to ’86, you could get out of the feds at one-third of your sentence. And so I got this six-year sentence. I got out in two years, and when I got out, I said, “I’m never getting caught again. I’m never going back to prison.” And I went for ni- and I just started right then. And everything from then on was like, I got involved with pornography. I was promoting [00:06:00] pornography and prostitution. There’s a story in my book about me being a… I was a bodyguard and a chauffeur for a lady that had a cat house over in Independence. You know where Inglewood was in Independence? And guys- You know where- … In- Independence is a suburb of Kansas City, but it’s like whole, decently large city for a suburb- Yeah … but it’s connected to it. Yeah. That’s where Harry Truman was from- That’s right … and retired back to. Yeah. So y- you were over there probably on the east side of Independence. Inglewood’s kinda closer to Kansas City, over there- Yes … by Dogpatch, in what we call Dogpatch. That’s- The- … kinda totally lawless area. And so there was a guy there that I was friends with that had a record store. He was the first guy in Kan- his name was Tony Marino. He’s in my book. He’s dead now. He was the first guy ever in Kansas City to sell paraphernalia in a record store. And he was making 25,000 a month- Wow … back in the… Yeah, when it started. That was a lot of money. And he, right next to him was a [00:07:00] store, it’s still there. I go by it all the time, ’cause we eat at the Englewood Cafe all the time. It’s the only one on that little s- first strip there that’s got steps going up. And a lady up there had a cathouse for 12 years, prostitutes. And her main customers were executives from Ford Motor Company- … from General Motors, and from Hallmark Cards. And the reason, Gary, was because she knew if she had executives, they weren’t gonna talk. Yeah. And she had beautiful women. She didn’t have ladies like up on Main and Troost and Prospect. Yeah. The- these women had all their teeth, and they were- … and they were good-looking. Yeah. And so the first guy, a- actually, who got me the job was Sal Rello, that o- that owned he owned that deluxe deli down on 430, where the Erotic City is now. Oh, yeah. He owned that- Yeah … he owned that bar. Heard about him, yeah. And I told him for years, I said, “You need to open an adult bookstore here,” because Gary, he was the only bar in Kansas City, the only bar [00:08:00] in Kansas City that was open on Election Day. You know why? ‘Cause he was in the county. He was in the county. He wasn’t in- Wasn’t in the city, yeah … he wasn’t in the city. And he was open on Election Day. And I told him, I said, “Man, if you’d open an adult bookstore, you could make a lot of money.” He never did, of course. Yeah. And then they put Erotic City in there, and it went good for a few years and stuff, yeah. But so he’s the one that told me about her. I went to interview with her, and she said, “I just have one question. Do you carry a gun?” I said, “No, ma’am, I carry two guns.” And she said, “You’re hired.” And so G- Gary, I picked her up every day on the Plaza. She lived in a $2,000 a month apartment on the Plaza in 1976. Yeah. That was a lot of money. That’s five today. And, yeah, and I took her to get her facial every Tuesday. I took her to the beauty shop every Thursday, and read about her in my book. She was 80 years old. The name of that chapter in my book is 80-Year-Old Hooker. She was 80, 80 years old, and she [00:09:00] ran it like a business. I had, I, she opened at 9:00 in the morning and closed at 5:00 at night, and ran it just five days a week, just like a business. And I wouldn’t be surprised she didn’t pay taxes. She was legit, man. Yeah. And I knew you can’t operate something like that for 12 years in Independence, Missouri, and not have the police know about it. No, they knew about it. Oh, yeah. It’s that upper echelon, they were, they just steered people away from each other. Oh, yeah. Don’t worry about that. Oh, yeah. That’s right. So that was- So Bill, y- you, you moved from that- Into the drug business now, how did you, how’d you even get started in that? Where like 1960s, ’60, by the late ’60s, drugs are starting to, become more popular and there becomes a real market for it that’s among- Yeah a much larger constituency than ever before. So now, how did you- I re- … move into that? I, oh, I really, for years and years, Gary, years, I didn’t have a partner [00:10:00] because I knew if I had to run, I didn’t want somebody… I didn’t know if my partner would tell on me, so I did everything by myself. I did one thing one time and I had to have a partner, and I stole a computer out of a crane at General Motors down in Leeds. And I, and my fence, the chapter in my book, They Killed My Fence, that was Saul Andy. Yeah. And when Saul got killed, like they killed my fence, because anything I took to Saul, he’d buy it. Didn’t matter if it was guns or it didn’t matter what it was. And I didn’t never keep anything except cash. If I had money, I’d keep it, but I’d never keep anything. I didn’t keep diamond rings or… I got rid of all that stuff, ’cause I never wanted anything to be able to identify me and tie me to a crime. And Saul, when he got killed, of course, then I started dealing with another guy. But Saul was taking all that and selling it to Junior Bradley, most of it, the stuff that Junior- And, and- … would be interested in. And guys- But, J- Junior Bradley, I gotta explain who Junior Bradley was. Junior Bradley was the mob fence in Kansas City. He was probably the biggest fence in Kansas City I got a [00:11:00] feeling. He, and what he started doing was trading Dilaudid especially for stolen property, and he had a little deli right across from police headquarters and City Hall, and everybody knew Junior. Everybody loved Junior. Everybody liked Junior. He’s always doing favors for people. If you went in the penitentiary, you’d go talk to Junior and say, “Okay, what, what’s gonna happen when I get here? Can you help me out?” And he’ll say, “I’ll make some calls.” Or I, we had, we overheard him on a wiretap once saying- a, a father called him and said, my son’s got to report up here to Leavenworth to the camp.” He said, “Okay, I’ll take care of it. I’ll be somebody there to meet him there.” And I’ve had many other reports but Junior was the main mob fence. So go ahead- Yeah … and we’ll talk what you were dealing with- Yeah Junior Bradley. Yeah be- let’s back up. So you asked me about how I got into drugs. So all those years when I was married, I didn’t drink and I didn’t do drugs. I thought if you did dope, you were a d- I thought that’s why they call it dope, ’cause you were a dope if you did it. Yeah. So I didn’t do it, and I didn’t drink because I knew I had to always be able to think and make [00:12:00] decisions and… ‘Cause I cheated on my wife every day for 10 years, and I did crime every day for 10 years, and she never knew it till I wrote this book. And I gave her the first book actually. And so- When I got divorced and started smoking pot and doing stuff, hanging out with those people, and I started smoking weed, then the first time I bought an ounce of weed it was 40 bucks. And I’m like, “Okay, how much is how much is more if you buy more? You can buy a half pound for this or you can buy…” So I said then I’ll… Give me a half a pound and I’m gonna sell,” yeah. So I started buying pounds and selling ounces, and man, all of a sudden I’m, now I’m smoking free and I’m making some money. Yeah. And then I started sell- And by the time I ended, even when I was selling cocaine, I was selling 100 pounds of pot a week. I had one guy that would buy 100 pounds of pot from me every week. Yeah. And I’d just take him 100 pounds and he’d just bring my… Every day he’d stop by my house [00:13:00] with sacks of money, and that was, the way I got started in the drug world then. And everything. It was from pot, it was, meth. We called it crank back then, not meth. And then I never did get real addicted to crank, but I got real addicted to cocaine. And of course, I was doing a drug class the other day. I teach a drug class, my wife and I, addictions class at our church. And I said, when I started, I was only gonna sell it and not do it.” And because one guy said I was only gonna do it and never sell it.” And I said, “No, not me. I was gonna sell it and never do it.” But that didn’t last very long. And once you start doing it you’re in there, and, Yeah, really … and then, when I got arrested September 5th of ’82 the guy that I beat up I put 100 stitches in the back of his head with a ball bat, and it was in an active enforcement really. But he turned states. He’s the one, when Kenny… You remember Kenny Weld? I remember the name. Was you still on the force when Kenny got busted in ’83? [00:14:00] Yeah. ’80- Yeah, I would’ve been. Okay. So- I have some vague memory, I don’t remember the, all the details. At the time it was the biggest drug bust, it was the biggest just drug bust in, I know in Kansas City, maybe. They caught him out there in Blue Springs with 29 pounds of cocaine, and we were selling- Yeah … cocaine to the people that were selling cocaine to Kenny. And so the guy that I beat up gave a 20-page, which is like reading a book, 20 typewritten pages. Yeah. 20 typewritten pages, and he named every name involved in the circle that he knew, and that implicated us as being some of the leading cocaine dealers in Kansas City. Yeah. Now, when I go speak in churches and a pastor gets up and says, “Folks, today we’ve got the biggest cocaine dealer that ever lived.” I get up and say, “You know what? I don’t mean to correct your pastor.” But I was implicated as being one of the leading cocaine- I was not the leading cocaine dealer. There was a lot of people bigger than me. But that’s that’s how it all started and [00:15:00] of course my case, I never did… the drugs never came in. The lawyers that I had, because when I got busted it was on a Sunday, and that’s part of my story. I always ask inmates, “How many of you have been arrested on a weekend?” And every hand goes up. Yeah. And I say, and then I say, “What happens when you get arrested on a weekend?” They all yell, “Nothing.” ‘Cause you’re not going anywhere till Monday morning, at the very least. I got arrested 2:00 Sunday afternoon. By that time, Gary, I had three goals. When I was about 30, I got nicknamed by one of the key mafia figures Crazy Bill, ’cause I did some crazy things. Like I ran through a bar. You know where the old Club Royal was on Main? Oh yeah. There was a bar right ac- I’ve drunk there many times. Okay. There was a bar across the street that I had a girlfriend working in, and we got in a fight, and I was gonna cut the bar in half with a chainsaw. And I had my buddy drop me at the back parking lot. I fired the chainsaw up, I opened the door, and when the door… When I stepped inside, the door [00:16:00] closed with the closer, and the dar- the bar was totally dark. It was not a bar where you could even buy a bag of potato chips. It was strictly alcohol. And when you get- Yeah … in a bar like that, they’re dark. And that door shut, and I thought, “I’m gonna bend over and start cutting this bar, and somebody just shoot me in the back.” So I just wa- I just walked through the bar with the chainsaw running and went out the front door, and Kenny picked me up in the front, and off we went. And so because of that, I got nicknamed Crazy Bill. Yeah. By 30 years old, I had three goals: money, power, and influence. Now, I told you as we were selling a lot of cocaine. So I stayed in $500 a night hotels. I ride in limousines. I bought $20,000 worth of cocaine for a one-night party. So I had money, and I had enough power to make a phone call and have somebody killed, so I had power. And I had enough influence that when I got arrested Sunday afternoon, now I love telling this to a police officer. I was on a show in Texas with a cop, and we called it the Con and the Cop. [00:17:00] But I love telling this story. I got arrested September 5th. 2:00, 2:00 PM is when they booked us into the jail, and I made a phone call back to Kansas City to somebody who was in politics, and I said, “You know who to call.” And that person called the judge we were selling cocaine to. And I ask this question in prisons, “How many of you know when you’re selling cocaine to a judge, he don’t want you in jail?” And I walked out of that jail, Gary, at 1:30 Monday morning. Wow. I got arrest- less than 12 hours after I got arrested on a weekend. And when I walked out of that jail, I said, “Bill Corum, you’ve arrived. You got money.” “You got power, and you got influence.” But the one thing I didn’t have was peace. Yeah. I didn’t have any peace, man. No peace. Yeah. If I was in a restaurant eating and a cop walked in, I’d put money on the table and go out the door. If I saw a UPS driver, I got nervous ’cause he had a uniform on. I didn’t have any peace. And then after I became a Christian, I was reading in the Bible [00:18:00] one day, and it said, “A wicked man runs when no one’s chasing him.” And I went, “Oh my gosh, I left a lot of steak dinners sitting on the table.” And wasn’t anybody chasing you. Nobody. That cop didn’t even know I was in there. He probably didn’t even know who I was. Really? He just come in… He just came in there to eat, and I thought he was after me. So Bill, I always like to go into the, the nuts and bolts of some of these things. And we kinda left one thing hanging, is the Saul Landy story. Now guys, Saul Landy was a big sports bettor. And Saul Landy had a, wasn’t it a metal- Square Deal Junk- Square Deal Junkyard. Square… He had a junkyard. Square Deal. He bought a lot of scrap metal and dealt in scrap metal, but he also would buy most anything from, from- Yeah … thieves, from boosters- Yeah … and burglars and people like that. That’s where Bill met him. But he’s a huge sports gambler, and they thought he might testify against our boss, Nick Civella, because he had been allowed to bet down at The Trap, down with Frankie Tusa, who was the underling [00:19:00] that handled all the sports gambling for Nick Civella. Isn’t that right? Isn’t that the way that went down? Oh, yeah, and Bobby Maroon was running The Trap at the time. And- yeah … so do you remember the guy that, that paid for his murder? Remember that guy, Johnny Franks, Johnny Frank Avella? That’s what they said, yep. Yeah. Yep. He had, he had- That’s what they said. He had some connections. But he got… But Johnny Franks got the order from somebody else. Yeah. Yeah … the bug, the buck stopped with Johnny Franks now, didn’t it? Yes. ‘Cause he hired another guy, who then he hired a Black guy, which was- That’s right … truly unusual. Who then- That’s right … hired a couple of young Black street kids and that was even more unusual, and they killed this Saul Landy and his wife. So they keep a f- And then they sang and then they sang like The Temptations. Exactly, yeah. That, and that’s that w- some claim that Johnny Franks did that just on his own, trying to impress Nick Civella. Some people say that somebody else told him to do it. I don’t… It never, he never talked, so it never came about. Yeah. [00:20:00] Did you ever hear anything about that? I never heard anything except what you just said, that he- Okay … he never talked, and Nick, Nick never got convicted. He never- Yeah … but here’s the thing that, what you said. The guys that they hired to do it, because back in those days as y- you’d go to… i’d go to the electric chair before somebody, before I’d tell on somebody. Yeah. I’m not gonna tell on anybody. Go ahead and put me in the gas chamber, I’m not telling on nobody. But those guys would, they’d sing like The Temptations. They weren’t gonna, they- Yeah … they wouldn’t- Those street kids If they offered them a day in jail, they wouldn’t take it. If you’ll tell us, we won’t, we’re only gonna put you in jail for a week if you’ll tell. Yeah. They wouldn’t tell. So how did that work with you and Saul Landy? You weren’t a sports bettor you didn’t have anything to do with that. You were a thief. Yeah, and I don’t know- And- I honestly, you know what? Gary, I don’t remember who even told me to go to Saul with stolen merchandise, ’cause I was hitting a lot of construction jobs back then. [00:21:00] Ah. I worked construction, and I was in the union, and I was stealing off these jobs all the time. Big- Ah, yeah … big amounts of stuff. Like they’d start a brand-new job, and they’d have all brand-new tools, and I’d go over there and take everything they had. And then I’d take it all to Saul. And matter of fact, one time I did a job over in, it was a eight-story high-rise over in Kansas City, Kansas, down around Argentine, in the Argentine area. And I was on the job, I was working on the job, and we just started. And we had all this trailer, a whole trailer load of tools. And I went over and got all the tools, and the last thing I took out was the cutting torch. I cut the lock off the door, ’cause I had a key to get in. And so when I got to work the next morning, I had everything in my truck. I had a tonneau cover over my truck and had all these tools in the back of my truck, and parked in the parking lot. I got there and I called Johnny Myers, who was running the job, and Johnny’s been dead for years. I said, “Hey, Johnny, somebody hit our job last night.” He’s “What?” I said, “Yeah, they cut the lock off. They got everything.” [00:22:00] And he said call the police and I’ll be out there in just a few minutes.” And so the cops come, couple detectives and he was telling what they, what was going on. I’m standing there listening to the whole thing. And there was a generator, a big generator, and I was real strong back then, Gary. I was 6’3″ and weighed 275 and I carried this generator down the steps and this… and Johnny said, or the cop said that, how much that generator weigh?” And he told him, and he said it had to be at least two guys, if not three. But no, no one guy could carry that down them steps.” And Johnny turned around and he said, “Except Superman,” ’cause that’s what they called me on the job. And they laughed, and he laughed, and I laughed. Yeah. And then that night after I got off work, I took it all down to Square Deal and sold it all to Saul. Yeah. Interesting. So- All right. Thanks so much … and I did that stuff all, yeah, I did that stuff all the time. But I honestly do not remember who introduced me to Saul Landy. Yeah. But I know that for years and years we were buddies. And when I first met him, I used a, I had an alias that I always went by. I had two a- two aliases. One of them was a guy I [00:23:00] was in prison with that was from East St. Louis, and I knew everything about him, ’cause we were real good friends. I knew his middle name, I knew his mom and dad’s name. I knew everything about him, so I’d use his name. So if anybody ever asked me a question, I knew. The other guy was a cousin of mine that I hadn’t seen for y- I used his name, ’cause I knew everything about him. So what, the, when I first met my wife, we went to a dance one night. We weren’t married yet, and we were walking up the steps, and this guy walking down said, “Hey, Jim. How you doing, Jim?” And I said, “Good.” We got in, sat down. My wife looked at me and she said, “I thought your name was Bill.” I s- said, “It is. It is Bill.” I said, “He probably just had me mixed up with somebody else.” ‘Cause there was a lot of people in the inner circles, yeah. So when I met Saul Andy, something inside of me told me to… Because I met Saul, and I told him my name was Jim Gardner. Yeah. And he’s we did a couple deals, and then something inside of me told me to b- be honest with Saul. And so I sat him down one day, I said, “I wanna tell you something. I use that name as an alias. My [00:24:00] real name is Bill Corum,” and da. And I was so glad I did, because later I would be in the River Key in a restaurant or a bar with Saul, and some of the guys were in there, and I thought if I’d have used the… If he’d introduced me as Jim Gardner- Yeah … and then later they find out who I am, I might not be here. Yeah. You know what I mean? You might- So I- They might think you’re undercover cop or a- Exactly. Exactly. So I just- Informant or something, yeah … it, a- and that, I think that’s in my book. I told that story because I just, I felt like being upfront with him, and I, because I trusted him, yeah. I actually, in, in the book I think I said if Nick Civella trusted him, I thought I could trust him. Yeah. But a- apparently, apparently- Bet he didn’t trust him all that much … no. Yeah. Because right there, out there on Pennsylvania, or let’s see, where’d they… They lived right off 75th, right behind the what was that restaurant on 75th? The Italian place? Yeah … I starts with a G, I think. Yeah, I know. Just north of Ward Parkway Shopping Center. Yeah. Yeah. I know the neighborhood, yeah. Oh, Cat- was it Cat? [00:25:00] No. C- it doesn’t matter. But he lived right down that str- he lived on Washington. Yeah. Right there. Yeah. About 77th or 8th and Washington, in Washington, yeah. I remember that. Yeah. But that’s how I met Saul. And what, and guys, what those guys did that night, they tried to make it look like a home invasion robbery, but ended up killing him and his w- and I think they raped his wife too. But, They didn’t kill her. They left her alive they, they left her alive. But- Yeah … they really m- tried to make it look like a home invasion robbery, not a hit, which was, at least they were that smart. They just weren’t- Yeah … couldn’t keep their mouth shut, and they couldn’t, weren’t smart enough to not tell their friends, so they got caught. Good, good thing there wasn’t no Facebook back then, Gary. Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s crazy. Crazy world you live in, so- these kids- Bill … yeah. What happened? What happened? You had all this going. You had money, power, influence. Yeah, I- You caught a cocaine case. Now the thing about that cocaine case, that you said, I thought you said Wells. It’s Kenny Weld, isn’t it? The race car driver? W-E-L-D. Kenny Weld. W-E-L-D. Yeah. He was a race [00:26:00] car driver at that time. I, I- Kinda well-known, and he had a whole set of… He had a big company that sold wheels … Weld Wheels … fancy wheels. He was really doing well, and then he got involved with a b- huge, big cocaine thing. I didn’t know, remember you were part of that, but I remember that. A multi-million dollar- Yeah … wheel business. Yeah. I still am a big… I was a dirt track guy. I grew up on dirt. Yeah. I love dirt. I actually took his brother, Greg, who actually owned the company, I took Greg to his first… the first race that Greg ever raced in, I drove him to the races. And then Kenny and I and Greg, and they won the Knoxville Nationals. Greg raced in the Indianapolis 500 four times. Yeah. They were a big name in the country, the Welds. And making millions of dollars, Gary. Even back then, they were making millions of dollars. Yeah. And then Kenny got caught up in the cocaine and started messing with it, and next thing you know… he was making a lot of money in the cocaine too, but- Yeah … he got caught with 29 pounds, which was a large amount. But that statement that guy [00:27:00] made on me, ’cause I always felt guilty because Kenny got busted because the statement that he made, he named Kenny Weld in that statement, and it wasn’t long after that they arrested Kenny. But I’m sure they were already watching him, for sure. But then I, and I don’t know, Kenny got eight year, Kenny got 25 years. He went to Sandstone first up in Minnesota. Yeah. And he only did 52 months, so I’m not sure, because back then a third would’ve been eight, eight and a half years or something, right? Yeah. And he only did 52 months, so I don’t know how that, maybe it was money or whatever. I don’t know. Yeah. But he turned his life around in prison, but then what’s the sad deal, when I turned my life around, I tried to get in touch with Kenny Weld, and he wouldn’t talk to me. He- Yeah … he was avoid- I think he was afraid that I was gonna come after him because the guy I beat up was the guy that was… We were all involved in the cocaine world together. Joker John, I don’t know if you knew who Joker John Agrusa was. I [00:28:00] don’t remember that n- I don’t remember that name now. Was he- They had a bar out on, they had a bar on, out on 23rd Street. No, I don’t, I don’t- Joker John’s. John, his last name was Agrusa. He had a brother- Agrusa, yeah … named Nick Agrus. New- Nick Agrusa’s brother. Yeah, I co- do kinda remember that. He went down- Yeah … with that whole thing. See, I was- That was ’83. I was I was off into something else during those years. Okay. No- That was early in the coke, crack cocaine thing … no, John, w- after I beat up Pink Mike, John Agrusa left town. He moved to Arizona, ’cause he was scared of me. A l- a lot of people- ’cause I was crazy. I did some crazy things, and people were scared. And so when I got arrested on that deal, he left town. He went to Arizona. And then Kenny got busted, Kenny Weld. And the, some of the people in that… My dad read that 20-page statement, and my dad said… And my dad was an old guy. He was born in 1909, but he read that statement, and he said, “This guy’s worth, life ain’t worth a nickel, is it?” And I [00:29:00] said, “No.” ‘Cause the guy that wrote the statement. Then I got arrest- you knew Jim Smart was a judge? Yeah, I remember the name. I didn’t know him. Okay. Jim… back then, Jim was a lawyer, and then later became appellate court judge. Yeah. And he’s retired now, but a real good friend of mine. So when I, that happened, I got… My case ended in May of ’84. Started September 5th of ’82, and ended in May of ’84. And in June of ’85, 13 months later, I got sued by the guy I beat up. Me and the other couple guy. One of the guys that was with me is dead, Charlie Elmer. I don’t know if you ever heard that name, but he was a- No, don’t know that name … cocaine dealer. But anyway I was just gonna forget about it, and I showed that to my dad, that indict- or not indictment, the notice that I need to appear in court. Statement. Yeah. Yeah, and my dad s- no, not the statement, when he sued me. [00:30:00] Oh, the oh, okay. Then they filed charges. Yeah, the counter-suit. And I showed it to my dad one day and I wasn’t even gonna go. I said, “Oh, God will take care of it.” And my dad read it, and he’s “Bill, you gotta get a lawyer.” Yeah. You’re being charged, and so I went and got a lawyer, and I got Jim Smart. And and Jim tried to go and do a deposition on that guy, on Pink Mike. Could never find him. Ah. And I di- I don’t know, I honestly don’t know. I know I didn’t have nothing to do with… But nobody’s ever been able to find him. But I’m suspecting, ’cause my dad said when he read that 20 pa- he said his life isn’t worth a nickel. Because he named judge in there, a judge in there. He named Kenny Weld in there. He named a lot of other big-name guys, and he’s disappeared, so nobody know. I haven’t seen him since the day in court in 1982. So who knows where he’s at. Yeah. If he’s around. I don’t know. But- Interesting. What did you finally cop? Did you have a full trial, or did you go ahead and cop a plea in the end? That’s interesting you’d [00:31:00] ask because when we first, when we got out of jail at 1:30 Monday morning, the 3rd of the 6th of September, he wal- the lawyer came and walked us out with, we… we had left, we were staying in the Embassy Suites downtown. You know where that was at? Oh, yeah. It was 500 bucks a night, and we had left two s- two s- brief- briefcases there with one had cocaine in it uncut, and the other one had about $60,000 in it. And so we went down. We actually called… he’s dead now, so I can tell you who it was. Jerry Schanzer that owned Napoleon Bakery. And Jerry was a big… i’m surprised that you didn’t, you talk about bookmakers. Jerry was a big bookmaker. Yeah. Exactly. And Schanzer- I remember him, yeah … Schanzer owned Mother’s down on 18th and Baltimore. Not Mother’s. Granny’s. Granny’s, yeah. He owned Granny’s at 18th and Baltimore. Yeah, a lot of mob guys used- And then he- … to go down there and eat. Oh, every time I went in there I saw [00:32:00] somebody. Yeah. And then later he opened up one over in Mission shopping center there on Mission Road. And then they then they ended up opening up Napoleon, him and his brother Larry. And then they’re both dead now. But we, this is how much we trusted Jerry. We told Jerry, “Go…” We called Jerry from the jail and said, “Go down to the Embassy and get our, get a briefcase.” And Jerry went down and he drove halfway to Warrensburg and ha- something told him to open it- Oh, wow … and he opened the one, he opened the one that had the cocaine in it. Oh, shit. And he called us and said, “I got the wrong briefcase.” And it… No, he said, “I can’t come and get you with this.” And so he went back to the Embassy and got the right one. Came down, and we made bond that night. Then the next morning was… Okay, that was we got busted on Sunday the 5th. Monday we got out. The lawyer [00:33:00] said, Mike, I don’t know if you ever knew Mike and what was his dad’s name? The Fi- it was Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald was the name of the firm in, down in Warrensburg. Warensburg, yeah. I don’t know them. Yeah. And Mike and Charlie Fitzgerald. So ’cause I called People’s Office and said, “Hey, this happened.” And they said, “Stick with those guys. Those guys are the best in the county. They know the county. They know the prosecutor, the judges and everything. Stick with them.” So we went in. He told us, “Don’t come in tomorrow morning,” ’cause it was 1:30 in the morning Monday morning. He said, “Come and see me Wednesday.” Yeah. And so we went… no, he said, “Come and see me Tuesday,” ’cause that was 1:30 in the morning. And we walked in there that morning and he said, “Come and see me tomorrow morning, Tuesday morning.” And bring me $10,000 apiece. And I wish I had a video of it, because it can be on America’s Funniest Home Videos. I walked into his office with a white bank bag and dumped out $30,000 on his desk in cash, and he opened [00:34:00] his drawer like this and scooped it into the drawer. And I said, “Mike, there’s a lot more where that came from.” He said, “Bill, I can’t. It’s… I gotta do everything legitimately.” Yeah. And I said, “Okay.” So the first meeting, his dad was in there and he was in there, and the three of us, and he said, “Guys, Dad and I have talked, and you guys might wanna think about getting separate attorneys.” And I said, “For what?” He said, “Because if one of you take a plea.” Yeah. I almost jumped over the desk. I said, “There’ll be no plea. There will be no plea. We’re not guilty. We’re not gonna admit we’re guilty. They can send us to the electric chair. We didn’t do it.” Now, Gary, they took us out of the house at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon in broad daylight. First, they s- we sent the guy out the back. He was totally naked when we got there. He was laying in bed. He’d been doing Dilaudids and Quaaludes all night, and he was [00:35:00] blood from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. His whole back was red. We walked him out the door in- totally naked in front of the whole world and told him, “Go out there and tell them there’s nobody else in the house.” We were so jacked up. And here’s the thing, I have to tell you this. All those years that I got away with stuff is because I was smart, and now I’m snow blind. There was a song years ago by Styx called Snow Blind- Yeah … and it’s about cocaine. It’s about… And I’d been up for 86 hours when we went down to Holden. I had not- Okay … closed my eyes for 86 hours, so I was in m- I wasn’t in my right mind. Anyway, that was… So when we we said, “No plea bargain. There’ll be no plea bargains.” And for seven months… No, I’m sorry, for four months. That was October, November, December, January, February, March, April. No, seven months. For seven months. For seven months [00:36:00] we went to court multiple times. The whole police department, I don’t know if we can- I guess we’ll say it, because it’s done. It’s history. But I had a, I had two grocery sacks, the old brown grocery sacks on the couch that I’d inventoried. I had $62,000 in cash. I had… Because it was in envelopes, and I- they were $10,000. I was throwing them in there. 62,000 in cash, about four pounds of pot, three gallon Ziploc bags full of precious jewels. Er emeralds, rubies, and stuff like that. Some hash- a 12-gauge shotgun. I think that was all. Maybe maybe it… Whatever. When they, when… The first time we ever went to court and my partner had, the one that’s dead, Charlie, he had a leather Gucci bag that we always had with us, and it had four or five grams of cocaine in it. He took his diamond rings off, put them in there. His watch, he had a Rolex [00:37:00] watch he put in there, and about 3,000 in cash. That was in the car. That was never mentioned in court. No guns were ever mentioned in court. No guns were ever mentioned in court. I had a brand new, I had a brand new fif- not- model 59 nine millimeter. That was never mentioned in court. That 12-gauge shotgun was never mentioned in court. They said that they found a couple envelopes of cash, and they found a gram. Now, there was about, I think there was about probably a half a, maybe eight, eight grams or no more than that. It was ounces. Four or five ounces of cocaine. Oh, yeah. They said they found one, they said they found one gram of a, approximately one gram of a substance believed to be cocaine. Yeah. And my lawyer said… And they said they’d send it to Jeff City for analysis. And my lawyer said, “And what were the analysis of that?” They said they haven’t come [00:38:00] back yet. This is two months after they arrested us. They did- And they found approximately one gram, and there was ounces of cocaine in there. They found a couple envelopes with approximately $2,000 in cash. There was $62,000. The car I was driving, so when I got arrested, I had the keys in my pocket. So when they booked us into jail, when we walked out at 1:30 Monday morning, they gave us back our property. I had the keys in my pocket. So the car’s… Now, this is a brand new ’80, this was a ’82. This was an ’81 Trans Am. The car’s in Holden. The police chi- And they said they were gonna confiscate the car because it had Kansas tags on it, that they wanted to go through the car da. The police chief changed the ignition and was driving that car for his personal car. It cost my buddy, because it was a friend of mine, T- Ronnie M- Ron McGee, it was his car. It cost him $10,000 and an attorney to get his car back from them. So bottom line, every time we [00:39:00] went to court, several ti- my lawyer would say, “I’d like to call Officer Gary Jenkins up.” Gary Jenkins is not on the force anymore. He moved to Arizona.” “I’d like to call so-and-so up next time we go in.” He’s not here anymore. He moved to wherever.” So all the money and all the guns and all the drugs, they split it up and no, nobody ever… So the thing was so dirty. So what happens is we’d been going to court for that seven months, And then I become a Christian. I walk into his offi- and we’re adamant, we’re not plea bargain. We don’t want separate lawyers. We want you two guys to represent us. We’re gonna beat this thing. And, oh, and I told, because when that guy gave that 20-page statement after he got out of the hospital, this was a month later or something, he called us all in. We went in. He sh- hands each one of us 20-page statement. He said, “Guys, let me tell you something. I’m defending you on an assault with intent to kill charge. I’m gonna get that reduced, but if you get busted [00:40:00] dealing cocaine, you’ve got to stop dealing cocaine, ’cause if you get busted dealing cocaine while I’m on this case, it’s gonna complicate the case.” Yeah. “You gotta stop.” And I said, “Mike, I don’t tell you how to practice law, and you don’t tell me how to make money. You just keep doing what you do, and I’ll keep doing what I do, and I’ll keep bringing you money.” And he never said another word. Three or four months later, I become a Christian. I walk into his office by myself. And when I walked in the door, he said, “What happened to you?” If you look at that book on the picture of my, on the back of my book, that was four months before I became a Christian. And the Bible says the eyes are the windows of the soul. I had a very dark soul. Yeah, I can see. I had a very dark soul. Yeah. And so he goes, “What happened to you?” And I said, “What do you mean?” And he said, “You don’t look the same.” And I said, “I’m not the same.” And I told him what happened. And he said… And I said, “We’ve got a problem.” And he goes, “What’s our [00:41:00] problem, Bill?” I said, “I can’t lie anymore.” He said, “You’re right. We’ve got a problem.” ‘Cause we’d been lying for seven months. We told… He knew the story. He said, “I just need to know this. I’ll defend you guys. I’ll beat this case, but I need to know.” So we told… And at this point now, seven months later, he said, “There’s no way out of this thing. You guys are going to prison.” He said, “I can help you figure out a way to get to the good prison, but you’re going to prison.” So when I go in that day and he goes, “What’s wrong? What what happened?” And I told him, and he said, “You don’t look the same.” I said, “I’m not the same.” I said, “We got a problem.” He goes, “What?” I said, “We can’t lie. I can’t lie anymore.” And he said I’ve got an idea.” And I said, “What?” He said if I enter a plea bargain, I think we can do this.” And he said, “You guys won’t go to prison.” And he said, “Talk to Mike and Charlie and see what they say.” So I called them. We went down, met with him. And this time they looked at me and said, “What do you think we should do, Bill?” [00:42:00] I said, “I think we ought to take the plea bargain.” We got five years’ probation and a $5,000 fine. Now, the crazy thing- that was on the assault. Yeah, they- That was on the assault. But you still got a cocaine case out here pending with the feds. No. No. No. That, if, that, that- 20-page statement that implicated me was never, he never got it out of his office. It never went out of Fitzgerald’s office. So it, he didn’t tell it to… He told it to whoever he told it to, but to the police, and the police were all crooks anyway . Yeah. So I don’t know who he told. I just know that our lawyer said if this cocaine thing comes up, it’s gonna complicate our case. It never came up. Oh. And so maybe it was the mercy of God, I don’t know. Because it was a 20-page typewritten statement naming judges, Kenny Weld, all these guys, and all these people started falling after that. And so anyway, we ended up getting a $5,000 fine and five-year probation. Now, the crazy thing, if you read my book, Charlie and Mike both went, they got called and they [00:43:00] went and reported. I never got a call. 13 months later, I had a nephew getting married up in in Wisconsin, and I wanted to go to that wedding, and I knew I couldn’t leave without permission, but I didn’t have anybody to ask permission from. And when that guy sued me, G- Gary, when that guy sued me and I went and got the lawyer that I told you I went and got, I said, “By the way…” He said, “I wanna take this case.” I said, “Great.” I said, “By the way, I got arrested September 5th of ’82. The case ended in May. I was placed on five-year probation, a $5,000 fine. I’ve never heard from anybody. What do you think I sh- should do?” He said, “Bill, you need to write a letter.” And I put the letter in the book. I wrote a letter and said da. I’d like to be supervised. Please contact me.” 13 months, and they, within two days they were knocking on my front door. And that’s when I started reporting. And Kay King was my first pr- [00:44:00] probation officer, and she asked me all the whole story, and I had sat with her for two hours and told her the whole story. She asked me how many drugs I did, what I did. I said, “I’ve done everything there is, from, marijuana to heroin to… I’ve done it all.” And I did massive amounts of everything. And I was drinking two quarts of whiskey at the end every day. And people are like, “You can’t drink two quarts of whiskey.” I said, “You never did cocaine, did you?” ‘Cause when you’re doing, ’cause when you’re doing cocaine, you can’t get drunk. And so anyway that… And I asked her when I left her office, I said, “So does my probation start now, or does it start back then?” She said, “No, Bill, it starts today.” Oh, really? I said- Wow. I said, “For 13 months I’ve been going to churches and schools and telling people how bad drugs are and how bad alcohol is and how bad this is.” And I said, “I’ve not had a traffic ticket. I haven’t had a traffic ticket.” The only ticket I’ve got in the last 43 years, I had a bad car wreck where I got T-boned at 70 miles an [00:45:00] hour. I pulled out in front of a guy. It was my fault. And that’s the only ticket I’ve had in 43 years. I haven’t been stopped by the police. And she said, “I’m sorry, Bill, it starts today.” Guess what? I did the whole five year. I went from then, I got off in ’89 or something, I th- it was almost five years I did. My partners, they only did a year and a half, and they let them off. And they were still dealing cocaine. They were still dealing. They were still dealing. Matter of fact, one of them’s brother his mama died, and the funeral was at Passantino Brothers over there on the avenue. And I went to the funeral, and I was sorry, and we were hugging. And me and him sat down and were talking, and he had a little leather Gucci bag. And he said, “Hey, I’m go- now listen.” He said, “I’m going to the bathroom. You wanna go with me?” I said, “No, brother.” Yeah. And I got up and left. He wanted to go do some cocaine. Damn. And that was years after, he’d been… Anyway. Yeah. But I’m glad I had to do the whole five years because I got to speak [00:46:00] in some… She called me once and said, “I got a friend that teaches a criminal justice class at a college, and they’ve had detectives and they’ve had police officers, they’ve had lawyers, they’ve had parole officers, but they’ve never had a criminal. Would you come and speak?” And I said, “I’d be glad to.” And I f- and then I called the professor and I said, “I’ve been asked to come.” And he said, “Yeah, we’re looking forward.” And I said I have to tell you one thing. I cannot come in there and speak and not tell your class that my life was radically changed April 15th, 1983, when I came into encounter with God through his son, Jesus Christ.” He said, “That’s okay.” And I went and told them, so I was glad I got to stay on parole for five years. So- So Bill what are you doing now? I know you- I’m just- you’ve got a prison ministry. Do you speak- Yeah … at prisons and, and- That’s all I do, Garrett. 40 years just- How does one get into that? Do you have an agent that booked you into different prisons- No … or how does that work? No. No. I started going in 1986 with [00:47:00] a guy named Bill Glass, who was a NFL player. Played for the Cleveland Browns. He was an All-Pro. Actually started… He got, he retired from football in 1968, so that’s how old he was. Started the ministry in ’72, and was the biggest prison ministry in the nation, had 30,000 volunteers. And I started going in as just a volunteer, and then he asked me to be a platform speaker, and I was a platform speaker for him for 30 years. And went to, I’ve been in over 500 different prisons in my life, and I do prisons almost every day, a prison or a jail almost every day. We’re getting ready to do, this will be our 17th car show up at Crossroads in Cameron, and this will be the biggest car show ever in a US prison, in history. Last year was the biggest. We had 80 cars last year, but this year we’re planning on- by car sh- car show, what do you mean? Like guys bring their classic cars up and…? And drive them in on the prison yard. Oh, wow. And the inmates get to come out, walk around and look at them. And last year we had 80 cars and bikes. [00:48:00] This year we’re gonna have 250 motorcycles and cars. Wow. And we’re gonna feed 2,000 people. We’ve got… W- we’re gonna have 2,000 meals that day for the inmates and the staff, all the staff. So that’s what I’ve been doing for all these years, and will keep doing it as long as I can, wow. But as far as… I was gonna ask you about old Joey Rags. I knew Joe Ragusa. Did you ever deal with that guy? Did you? Not directly. I followed him a lot and almo- we almost caught him too, in a hit one time. And then they saw us and they had boogied on out. But I know one story- That would have been a- … about him. He was, He needed to go… I heard this later. He needed to go to a meeting downtown, down to City Market with the other mob guys, ’cause, he was right next to Charlie Martina, and he went on several hits with these guys during the Spiro-Savella war. So he’s out at the plumbing place where he was working, so he… Guy comes in- Where was he at? Was he at St. John Plumbing? I don’t remember the name of it. It was over there by N- Jackson, Ninth and Jackson, or Truman and Jackson, somewhere over there [00:49:00] on the east side. I can’t remember the name of it now. And so he need… said… told this guy, he said, “Hey,” he said, “I need to go down to the market.” He said, “Can you give me a ride down there?” And the guy said you got your car here.” He said no, you give me a ride.” So he gets in, lays down in the back seat. So the guy takes him down there, then he gets out. No, he was a real deal. Boy, that old market was something, wasn’t it? Yeah. That old City Market. Oh, man. Yeah, heard mob guys out there. Yeah they had a pretty big… Hey, what about, I was gonna ask you about a couple guys that were big heroin kingpins, Sam Haley and Aaron Gant. Was you involved when they were really big in Kansas City? Y- I was a young policeman, ’72, ’73, ’74, and Aaron Gant and Sam Haley were like the big ducks. And they had this war going between the two little heroin organizations. And Gant was, he was in with some guys, and Aaron Gant called him Junebug. He was in with the God, there was a whole family, the Denmans. He was in with [00:50:00] these guys. And so they… And Sam Haley was… I never did understand the difference, but they had two different organizations and they hated each other is my understanding. Oh, they did. Yeah. How about Ramseys? Did you know who the Ramseys were? I don’t see. The Ramsey brothers? I remember that na- Huh? I know that name. I think one of those crime families that, that stole- they were- … money in the neighborhood and- They were the- … everyone else … they were killers, all of them. Yeah. I think there was eight boys, and at one time seven or eight of them were in Missouri for murder. And I was seeing… I was in Potosi. And Rambo, R- Roy Rambo Ramsey they called him, and he’s the one that they got a… Remember when the la- what’d they call them that you put on the roof of your car? Oh, Landau top. Landau top, yeah. Yeah. That wasn’t the word I’m looking for, though. Whatever it was, th- you could have them tops put on. Yeah. They got one put on in a poster shop over on Prospect. Oh. And [00:51:00] when they called and said, “Your car’s ready,” they went up there and killed everybody in the shop and took their car and left. And then they went out to Belton or Grandview, and there was an old couple that had a bunch of old coins and stuff, and they knew one of the people. They knew one of the brothers, and I think it was Roy. And they went out there and knocked on the door, and of course, they let them in. They told their girlfriend to stay in the car, and they went in and they shot them They were 65 and 66 years old. The little old lady was 65 and the old man was… They shot each one of them three times, and just for a few dollars worth of coins, man. They were murderers. They were killers. But I was up in Potosi and Roy asked me, he said, “Would you go see my dad?” And I was… I said… He said, “He’s in a nursing home.” And Gary, his father, was a hardworking man, had never committed a crime in his life, and he was in this nursing home. And I went and saw him and prayed for him and stuff. But here are these… He [00:52:00] had these eight sons that were murderers. They were killers. And the old man was in a nursing home dying. And, Roy asked me if I’d go see him, so I went and saw him, prayed for him. But yeah, they were something else, them guys. Interesting. You you mentioned Sam Haley. There w- we had, here just in your area, was a guy named Michael Cantu, who used to be a fire captain. Had… Was a, a big time cocaine dealer. During those years, he got into- Yeah … cocaine. He and his brother Joe and Joe Maggio, and they had a cocaine deal going, and he got back out. He had a body shop over on Independence Avenue, and two Black guys came in and executed him, basically. Left the employee there. There wasn’t anything to steal, and executed him. And the drawings, one of them we… There was a lot of speculation it looked like Sam Haley. So I think he was- Might’ve been … I think he was supplying Black dealers with cocaine I believe. I saw him meeting with some guys once that that- Yeah, they were- … I didn’t know who they were, but they all looked like Black cocaine dealers they were killers, all them guys. Haley and Gant and those guys. Did you, I asked you about, Yeah, heavy idea. [00:53:00] I- here’s a question. I just got an inquiry from one of Gant’s relatives of… They were wanting to know more about Aaron Gant getting killed. See, he got out of the joint. He went to Missouri State Penitentiary, I think it was for drugs. Yep. And he went to a club that night, and somebody walked in, was walked in, shot him, and walked out right away. Another Black dude. So this relative was asking me if I knew any more about it. I didn’t know any more about it. You remember that deal at all? I don’t remember that. Okay. I di- I actually, I was thinking that Aaron Gant and Sam Haley had been dead for years, but, that was- this was years ago. This was quite a while ago. Okay. This was probably- Yeah, I thought he might have died in prison or something, ’cause I knew they both had a lot of time. They did a lot of- Yeah … time in Missouri. Yeah. Yeah, they did. So did you- But they were kingpins. Their names are really well-known, feared names on the East Side in Kansas City. Oh, yeah. Really feared names. Absolutely. Did you ever go around Vic Fontana’s place when he opened up Fanny’s? Oh, yeah. I went in and out of several. He had several different places. He had Fanny’s. [00:54:00] He had one down on the Southwest Trafficway a little bit after your time, I think oh, God, I forgot the name of it. But yeah, the, all the mob guys went into his joints. He was mob friendly. Yeah. I was really s- I met him when he had when he had the one up on Main next to Butch’s, next to Mother’s. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He had that place yeah what was, Walter Midy. Must have been Walter Midy’s. Walter Midy. Yeah, that’s where I met Vic. And then I actually plumbed that Fanny’s when he opened up Fa

Herm Feissner is a lifer climber based in Fort Collins, CO. We talked about doing the FA of The Practitioner V11 in Leavenworth, WA, in the early 2000s, his training philosophy at 53 years old, how his relationship with climbing has improved, balancing an engineering career with traveling and climbing, discovering and understanding moves, the boulder he is most psyched to complete, and much more. Free Masterclass (Unlock Your Full Potential in Climbing)

SlapperCast Episode 377: "Sevenworth" This one was recorded in several bits: two segments recorded immediately after our show at the Cascade Celtic Festival in Leavenworth, Washington (which includes us bickering about whether or not Safeway was open), and the main episode segment recorded the next morning as we drove to Portland, Oregon. We talk about the amazing time we had at the festival, the wonderful reception we got, and also a bit about music gear we've coveted, and the favorite gear we've ever owned. Show dates Blaggards.com Facebook Bandsintown Follow us on social media YouTube Facebook Twitter Instagram Become a Patron Join Blaggards on Patreon for bonus podcast content, live tracks, rough mixes, and other exclusives. Rate us Rate and review SlapperCast on iTunes Questions? If you have questions for a future Q&A episode, leave a comment on Patreon, or tweet them to us with the hashtag #slappercast.

You know, it really feels like THIS WEEKEND is the first REAL weekend of Spring... Let’s get out & enjoy it! LINKS: Seattle International Film Festival Seattle Beer Week Maifest - Leavenworth Washington Get Intimate with the Shrub-Steppe | KEEN World Migratory Bird Day Celebration! · Seward Park Audubon Center Beat the Bridge for Breakthrough T1D Spring Walk n Wag Penn Cove Water Festival 18th Annual Flower Festival - Pike Place Market BonsaiFEST! | Pacific Bonsai Museum Sounders vs San Diego FC Seattle Reign vs Washington Spirit - MOTHER’S DAY Thank you to the supporters of KUOW, you help make this show possible! If you want to help out, go to kuow.org/donate/soundsidenotes Soundside is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SlapperCast Episode 374: O-LIMP-ia This one was recorded on a break during rehearsal out at the Huntsvegas Woodshed. We talk about good venues, bad venue deals, pay-to-play nonsense, what makes a band worth seeing, and what "tribute" band would we want to be in? https://www.cascadecelticfestival.com/ https://blaggards.com/shows/ Topics discussed: Upcoming shows at Home Sweet Farm in Brenham, TX, and Whispering Grove Renaissance Faire in Kountze, TX The band's upcoming Pacific Northwest run: Bend, Leavenworth, and Portland Why certain venues and local businesses do a great job supporting live music Touring logistics on the West Coast, including cost, distance, and travel headaches The downside of pay-to-play clubs and exploitative venue practices Why some bands stand out by actually putting fire into songs Working on originals versus just coasting through material Memories of old Houston club culture, including Fitzgerald's and grassroots promotion What kind of tribute bands would we play in Thoughts on what makes a great cover song and why covers still matter Show dates Blaggards.com Facebook Bandsintown Follow us on social media YouTube Facebook Twitter Instagram Become a Patron Join Blaggards on Patreon for bonus podcast content, live tracks, rough mixes, and other exclusives. Rate us Rate and review SlapperCast on iTunes Questions? If you have questions for a future Q&A episode, leave a comment on Patreon, or tweet them to us with the hashtag #slappercast.

Conservation Coalition members Dane Czarnecki and Jerry Lowdermilk join Zack live on location in Leavenworth, Wa during the BHA led black bear bonanza to talk about ALL the hot button items happening within the Game Commission of Washington State. There is a big meeting coming up this week in Olympia, Wa. The main days are Friday April 17th and Saturday April 18th. You can and should sign up to speak if you have the chance. Zack will be down there on Friday to be in person and take part in our fight to keep our hunting way of life as protected in this state as we can and to let the commission know that we will not be silent and let the Fanatical Four set hunting regulations based on feeling and emotion. The Knoll memo is out (please go read that) and the investigation into those commissioners is wrapping up but the fight continues! PLEASE go check out the Conservation Coalition of Washington's website, stay informed, and get involved. https://ccofwashington.com/ LINKS: KUIU GEAR - https://kuiu.sjv.io/GK1o7m EXO MOUNTAIN GEAR - https://exomtngear.com?ref=4 VORTEX OPTICS - https://alnk.to/cSJYlok MARSUPIAL GEAR - https://alnk.to/5FcU7YA ZOLEO - https://tinyurl.com/428ydbua PNWILD - https://www.pnwild.com/store-snytH DEVOS OUTDOOR LIGHTING - https://rstr.co/devosoutdoor/15643 COUPON CODES: GOHUNT STORE & MAPS & INSIDER - PNW OLLIN DIGISCOPE - PNWILD CANYON COOLERS - PNWILD10 VORTEX CLOTHING - PNW20 ZOLEO SATELLITE - PNWILD (Free Activation) VELOTRIC E-BIKES - PNWildN2X01 PNWILD - YOUTUBE If you want to learn more about PNWild visit https://pnwild.com/ INSTAGRAM: @pnwild_ https://www.instagram.com/pnwild_/?hl=en FACEBOOK: / pnwild TIKTOK: @pnwild_ / pnwild_ Got questions? Send us an email! Email: contact@pnwild.com Find all PNWild Partners and Codes here: https://www.pnwild.com/partners

The Complicated Romance of Fannie Brice and Notorious Nicky Arnstein Jump to the AD-FREE Safe House EditionIn Episode 60, we take a little break from murderous mayhem for a love story with a different kind of mayhem. The world of Broadway was quite aghast when Fannie Brice, a star of the Ziegfield Follies, took up with New York gambler Julius Wilford Arnstein, better known as Nicky, whose story was adapted into the musical “Funny Girl.” The first act is a Sunday magazine article that was published while Nicky was serving time in the Leavenworth prison, and act two is a telling of the conclusion of the romance by Brooklyn Daily Eagle's star reporter Alice Cogan.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support.You can pay more if you want to, but rent at the Safe House is still just a buck a week, and you can get access to over 400 ad-free episodes from the dusty vault, Safe House Exclusives, direct access to the Boss, and whatever personal services you require.We invite you to our other PULPULAR MEDIA podcasts:If disaster is more your jam, check out CATASTROPHIC CALAMITIES, telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries. What could go wrong? Everything!For brand-new tales in the old clothes from the golden era of popular literature, give your ears a treat with PULP MAGAZINES with two new stories every week.

Dave Thompson is a 5.14 and V14 first ascentionist, alpinist, and coach for Evoke Endurance. We talked about his early climbing in the North Cascade mountains of Washington State, doing the first ascent of some of the best hard boulders in Leavenworth (Beautification, God is in the Details, The Teacup), how he got so strong, how to apply your strength on the wall, the challenges of endurance training in climbing, and more. Free Masterclass (Unlock Your Full Potential in Climbing)

What does true generosity look like in the life of a preacher?In this conversation, Mike Neglia sits down with Ted Leavenworth of Reliance Church to talk about a culture of generosity in preaching ministry. Rather than guarding the pulpit or building ministry around a single voice, Ted describes a different approach: raising up Bible teachers, sharing opportunities, and intentionally creating space for others to grow.Ted explains how Reliance Church has developed preaching teams that allow emerging communicators to learn, practise, and serve the church while still maintaining clarity and faithfulness in the teaching ministry. The conversation explores what it looks like to mentor new preachers, release gifted leaders into church planting and missionary work, and cultivate a church culture where the pulpit is not a platform to protect but a stewardship to share.This episode also highlights the practical realities behind that vision. Mike and Ted discuss the structure of preaching teams, the benefits and challenges of multiple voices in a teaching rotation, and how generosity in leadership can multiply gospel impact far beyond one congregation.Ted has consistently lived out what he describes here, investing deeply in younger communicators and opening doors for many preachers to grow in their calling. His example offers both encouragement and practical guidance for pastors who want to strengthen their churches by developing others rather than doing everything themselves.If you are a pastor, ministry leader, or Bible teacher wondering how to cultivate a healthier preaching culture in your church, this conversation will give you both inspiration and practical ideas to begin.If you like this episode, then you're going to love this interview with his wife Brenda: https://goodlion.io/podcast/expositors-collective/episode/women-deserve-good-theology-brenda-leavenworthor this older interview with Ted from 2018: https://goodlion.io/podcast/expositors-collective/episode/mistakes-new-preachers-often-make-ted-leavenworthUpcoming Training WeekendMay 15th-16th, 2026 at Reliance Church in Temecula, CaliforniaTake advantage of early bird pricing until April 26th – only $120 per person!Register Today!The Expositors Collective is a network of pastors, leaders, and laypeople which exists to equip, encourage, and mentor the next generation of Christ-centered preachers. What to expect:In this interactive training weekend, attendees will hear insightful lectures, participate in Q&A panels, meet in small groups with a seasoned mentor, build ongoing relationships, and participate in a studying/teaching practicum.Who should attend:Christ-following men and women of all ages, ministry experience, and church backgrounds who are students of Scripture and desire to grow as teachers of the Word. Whether you're a regular Bible teacher or have never taught the Bible in a public setting before, this training weekend offers invaluable tools to equip you in your journey.ConnectJoin our private Facebook group to continue the conversation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExpositorsCollective

We're heading to the heart of Leavenworth this week as Sean chats with Janet Mano and Kevin Rieke.   Janet is a professional alphorn artist and the President of the Leavenworth Alphorns, while Kevin—a career entrepreneur and second-generation Leavenworth native—serves as an officer for the group. We dive into the rich culture of their community and what it takes to lead such a vibrant musical organization.   Speaking of leadership, the Leavenworth Alphorns were honored as AANA's 2025 Organization of the Year!

Cheyenne Fletcher - Tulsa, Oklahoma Looking for College Wrestling, Bad Movies, and Modern Pop MusicLuc Leavenworth - Gurnee, IllinoisLooking for Nickelodeon and Nintendo#######JOIN THE DISCORD!!!The best way to get the latest updates about the podcast and the Tuesday Sunday night Twitch stream is to join the Discord server. It's easy to do by clicking this link: https://discord.gg/z95CZGQrKQWant to build your own game of Tangents?All you have to do is pick a date that works for you: https://calendly.com/triviaworkshop/And be sure to check out the other Trivia Workshop links here:https://linktr.ee/TriviaWorkshopThank You Patreon Crew!This podcast wouldn't be possible without your support. Thank you all - and welcome to our newest member, Sara Callori! If you'd like to join, it's easy! Just go to https://www.patreon.com/TriviaWorkshop for your options.And as always, thanks to the entire Patreon Crew - Adam Wendell, Andrew Buxbaum, Anne Putnam, Asha Ouseph, Brandon Fellows, Brian Irving, Brock Kwiatkowsky, Bryan Nash, cheyenne fletcher, Chris Collins, Christian Hernandez, Claire Bancroft, Dalton McGhiey, Danielle Fields, Ian Schulze, Jane Hansen, Jay Borsom, Jeff Clear, Jillian Hawkins, JJaz, John Liu, Kevin Kuschel, Leslie Hyman, Luc Leavenworth, Madeleine Garvey, Martin Ebert, Matt Lamia, Marc Poland, Nabeel Bader, Nanci Skinner, Nicole Bates-Rush, Paul Paquet, Quizmaster Caleb, Samantha Kuchar, Sara Callori, Sarah Collins, Scott Anglemyer, Scott Barber, Shaun Bernstein, Skilletbrew, Steven Beningo, StitchinStacey, Tamara Morgan, The Professional Left, Tim Robert Gomez, Tony Schmit, Wendy Curtis, and Will Gilbert

Artspeak Radio, Wednesday, March 18, 2026, 9am -10am CST, 90.1fm KKFI Kansas City Community Radio, streaming live audio www.kkfi.org Producer/host Maria Vasquez Boyd talks with writer Linzi Garcia and Robert Honan, Chief CIL Services Officer, The Whole Person. ROBERT HONAN, Chief CIL Services Officer The Whole Person (TWP) is a non-profit, consumer-controlled Center for Independent Living (CIL), led and supported by individuals with significant disabilities, including board members, staff, and volunteers. Founded in 1978, with widespread grass-roots support, strong consumer control, and a diverse, professional staff. We are a passionate voice of empowerment and advocacy for all persons with disabilities. For 45+ years, we have been a leader in representing people with disabilities in the greater Kansas City area. TWP connects people with disabilities to resources, supports independent choice, and advocates for community change. For 45+ years, TWP's advocacy, alongside local partners, has led to: • More curb ramps across the metro area • Increased accessibility in businesses, programs, and facilities • Greater visibility of people with disabilities in the community • Improved transportation options • Enhanced media coverage and attitudes toward disability issues We support individuals with physical, sensory, and mental disabilities through free programs for those with significant disabilities. We serve the following counties in Missouri: Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte. We serve the following counties in Kansas: Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte. Social Media profiles:  www.facebook.com/TheWholePerson www.instagram.com/thewholeperson www.threads.com/@thewholeperson www.linkedin.com/company/the-whole-person/ www.youtube.com/TheWholePersonVideos www.tiktok.com/@thewholeperson The Whole Podcast (Spotify) LINZI GARCIA comes from a beautiful family of Rocky Mountain artists. She moved to Kansas a decade ago to earn degrees from Bethany College and Emporia State University. She stayed in Emporia and now serves as the publicist and poetry editor for Meadowlark Press, and the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for House of Morrow. She is the author of Thank You (Spartan Press, 2018) and Cravings (Meadowlark Press, 2025) and the co-author of Live a Great Story (Analog Submission Press, 2019) and While Away: Travel Poems (Spartan Press, 2022). Linzi is a recipient of a NextGen Under 30 Kansas Award.  Pay attention: Linzi Garcia knows the recipe for a good poem—honesty, longing, and a bit of blood. In Cravings, Garcia boldly embraces the messiness of life, love, and growing older, day by day. The characters in Garcia's poems are all flawed, and the better for it. They swallow their sins, break bread together, and toast to creation. Some of these poems are as sweet and warm as fresh-baked cookies at 2 a.m., while others turn up the heat. But never enough to burn you. Just enough to leave you hungry for more. What readers are saying: Cravings is a book of many hungers—of the foods desired at 2:00 a.m., of the places that are rich with memories, of the loves that are a holiday and of the loves that last and become a home. Linzi is talented at distilling so many moments to their most intimate details. She witnesses and listens at intersections, in bars, to police scanners and offers tender snapshots of moments that might otherwise have been overlooked. The world asks us to pay attention and these poems say yes. —Traci Brimhall, Poet Laureate of Kansas (2023-26), Love Prodigal

The Leavenworth City Commission voted to grant CoreCivic a special use permit to operate an ICE detention center, which will be central to President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts. The vote came despite intense community opposition and a yearlong legal battle.

Jackson Kurtz, KMBC Reporter, On Leavenworth Council Meeting Craziness | 3-11-26See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kansas/Chiefs Deal Gets Worse, ICE to Leavenworth and BIG School Wins Locally | 3-11-26See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On March 10, the Leavenworth City Commission is about to give permission for the Core Civic private prison there to reopen as an ICE jail, giving the government over 1000 beds to fill. This week on the Heartland Labor Forum we'll talk about Core Civic's shameful record of both prisoner and guard abuse when the prison operated before 2022. We'll talk to former guards and a former detainee or two and with Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation. Our features is Safety First with Mary Erio.  It's still PLEDGE DRIVE and we sure could use your support please call or text “winter 26” to 50155 or go to kkfi.org  and DONATE.

Comedy on a FridayFirst, a look at the events of the day.Then, Jack Benny, originally broadcast February 20, 1949, 77 years ago, Jack wants to appear on the Ford Theater.  Guests Fletcher Markle and Jack Warner try to talk Jack out of doing, "The Horn Blows At Midnight" on "The Ford Theatre."Followed by The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, originally broadcast February 20, 1949, 77 years ago, Invitation to Dinner.  Ozzie accepts a dinner invitation from a man whose name he can't remember. Then, Lum and Abner, originally broadcast February 20, 1949, 77 years ago, Raising Money to go to Convention.   The boys try to attend a convention in Leavenworth, Kansas, by borrowing $200 from a finance company. Followed by The Charlie McCarthy Show, originally broadcast February 20, 1944, 82 years ago,  Edgar's Birthday.  . A classic routine with Charlie and guest W.C. Fields. A confrontation in a barbershop. Finally, Claudia, originally broadcast February 20, 1948, 78 years ago, Bluff's Homecoming.  Bluff returns from the hospital.  Kathryn Bard and Paul Crabtree star. Thanks to Debbie B. for supporting our podcast by using the Buy Me a Coffee function at http://classicradio.streamCheck out Professor Bees Digestive Aid at profbees.com and use my promo code WYATT to save 10% when you order! 

In this episode of the Expositors Collective Podcast, we are joined by Brenda Leavenworth for a thoughtful and encouraging conversation about theology, leadership, and faithful service in the local church. Brenda is the founder and Director of When She Leads, a global ministry devoted to equipping women who lead and serve through conferences, leadership cohorts, and a podcast focused on Scripture-shaped ministry.Brenda shares about her own journey of growing in theological confidence and teaching clarity, emphasising that strong theology is not reserved for specialists but is essential for anyone serving God's people. She reflects on the formative role of careful study, patience, and faithful practice over time, and explains why editing and restraint are acts of love in ministry communication.The conversation also explores the state of women's ministry today, including the need for biblically grounded leadership and the danger of treating women's discipleship as an afterthought. Brenda speaks candidly about leadership transitions, age, and the wisdom of building multigenerational teams that strengthen the church rather than centre it on personalities.Throughout the episode, Brenda's heart for Scripture is clear. Her commitment to verse-by-verse teaching, doctrinal depth, and practical application shapes everything from her writing to the vision behind When She Leads. The result is a conversation that challenges listeners to pursue theological depth, steward influence wisely, and serve Christ's church with humility and faithfulness.About Brenda LeavenworthBrenda Leavenworth is a Bible teacher, author, and speaker who has written more than thirty Bible studies, including Far Above Rubies and her most recent collaboration, The Ologies. She holds a Master's degree in Biblical Studies with an emphasis in Christian Leadership and serves as Department Head of Women's Ministry and Strategic Leadership at Reliance Church in Temecula, California.She is also a devoted pastor's wife, mother of three, and grandmother of ten. Brenda's life and ministry reflect a steady passion to see women rooted in the Word of God, strengthened by sound doctrine, and equipped to lead and serve faithfully in the context God has placed them.Resources MentionedWhen She Leadshttps://whensheleads.orgWSL: Spiritual Gifts https://goodlion.io/podcast/when-she-leads/episode/spiritual-gifts-part-1 WSL : Rachel Neglia https://goodlion.io/podcast/when-she-leads/episode/wsl-ireland-conference-2023-rachel-neglia-insecurity-in-ministryHaddon Robinson, Biblical Preachinghttps://www.amazon.com/Biblical-Preaching-Haddon-Robinson/dp/0310244173Tim Keller, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Scepticismhttps://www.amazon.com/Preaching-Communicating-Skepticism-Timothy-Keller/dp/1596385537ConnectFor information about our upcoming training events visit ExpositorsCollective.com Join our private Facebook group to continue the conversation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExpositorsCollective

Independence, Missouri, officials are considering tax breaks for a massive AI data center, but many residents don't even want it built in the first place. Plus: After almost a year of conflict, a private prison operator is finally playing nice with the city of Leavenworth to get a permit for an ICE detention facility.

Nick Haines, Savannah Hawley-Bates, Brian Ellison, Eric Wesson and Dave Helling discuss the response from the public in Olathe and Wyandotte County on the Chiefs stadium deal , plans for an ICE detention center in Leavenworth, the push for ICE restrictions, KCMO budget problems, placing restrictions on some liquor sales, adding citizenship status to driver's license and England's World Cup team.

On today's episode of Mundo in the Morning on KCMO, we're diving into the latest news on the proposed ICE detention facility in Leavenworth and the Chiefs' stadium deal in Kansas City. We'll break down the drama that went down at the Leavenworth City Council meeting, where a proposal to reopen a prison as an immigration detention center was met with both support and opposition. We'll also discuss the Chiefs' push to build a new stadium and practice facility in Leavenworth, and what it means for the community. Plus, we'll touch on the NFL's halftime show controversy and the latest on the Democratic party's demographic shifts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Six at Six: We're kicking off the week with the top six stories from around the KC area. First up, a city council meeting in Alatha is happening tonight, where the public can weigh in on a proposed practice facility near K-10 and Ridgeview. In Blue Springs, a shooting at an apartment complex left one person dead. A Taekwondo academy owner is facing felony sex charges after allegations surfaced in Jackson County Circuit Court. Wyandotte High School is closed today due to a small fire in a stairwell. Leavenworth residents are discussing whether a prison can reopen as an immigration detention center. And, bitcoin took a hit over the weekend, with stocks and gold also experiencing losses.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joseph Aguilar, of Leavenworth, Kansas, set out on a personal journey to find a life philosophy that met three specific conditions. Through that process, they uncovered their true self and found the courage to undo years of repression. Watch today's episode on our YouTube channel References: “Reply to Kyo'o,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, vol. 1, p. 412.

Did the new Seattle City Attorney picks abolitionist ally to run prosecutions? Blue states lob frivolous lawsuits against ICE. Guest: Fox News commentator and stand-up comedian Jimmy Faila on the plight of big cities and cancel culture. // Big Local: A former Olympia public schools teacher blows the whistle on how schools try to conceal material from parents. A Washington fire chief is charged with disturbing allegations against children. Leavenworth is dealing with the economic impacts of Highway 2 being closed. // You Pick the Topic: Lindsay Graham unloaded on DNC Chairman Ken Martin for comparing the Trump Administration to the Iranian regime.

We're coming back! No guarantees about being better than ever or anything but we are nonetheless podcasting once more. We discuss what went wrong, what was great that you missed, and what we're hoping 2026 might be like.Talking points: 2026 revel in the weirdness! PEACE. Clay's health journey, Jamie's actual journey, earthshattering opinions we didn't share, the new Leavenworth digs, a new truck (a Ford named Tanya!) and the wild windstorm that damaged our house and rigThanks for listening! Please let us know what you think! You can find LFTR at http://lettersfromtheroadpod.com, and you can email us at lettersfromtheroadpod@gmail.com.If you feel like kicking us a few bucks you can Become a PenPal and chat with us and others in the PenPals Discord. Get full access to Letters From the Road at lettersfromtheroad.substack.com/subscribe

In 1903, a man arrived at Leavenworth Prison claiming he'd never been there before — but the staff found his exact double already serving a life sentence inside.READ MY DEEP-DIVE ARTICLE ON THIS STORY: https://weirddarkness.com/williamwest/In May 1903, a convict named Will West arrived at Leavenworth Prison in Kansas. The intake clerk was certain he'd seen this man before — and a search of prison records turned up a card for William West, a convicted murderer whose measurements and photograph were a near-perfect match. The problem? William West was already locked up inside Leavenworth, serving a life sentence. The two men had never met, weren't related, and had no idea the other existed. Their extraordinary resemblance would expose a fatal flaw in the world's leading criminal identification system — and help launch the forensic technique we still rely on today.IN THIS EPISODE: How do you convince people you are innocent of a crime committed by someone who looks exactly like you and even shares your name? It's the strange story of William West and… William West. (Will The Real William West Please Step Forward) *** In November 1638, Dorothy Talby killed her three-year-old daughter. She admitted so when first arrested. But then she refused to say anything when brought before a judge. But then, what would you expect from a woman, which we all know is more easily persuaded by Satan to sin – and women were much more likely to be seduced by witchcraft. At least, that's what people believed in the 17th century. (The Case of Dorothy Talbye) *** It's understood and agreed to by most that while it is a lot of fun to think about, time travel is simply not possible – and will probably never be seeing as we've never met any time travelers. Or… maybe we have? (True Time-Travel Moments) *** Stories of shapeshifters seem to be told worldwide – and the Celtic nations are no different. We'll look at a few shape-changing creatures from Ireland, Wales and Scotland. (Shape-Shifters Of The Celts)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = The Leavenworth Lookalikes00:01:59.171 = Show Intro00:04:01.126 = Two Strangers, One Face: Will The Real William West Please Step Forward00:18:16.969 = ***A Mother, A Murder, A Mental Illness, and Justice in 17th-Century New England00:25:32.536 = Who Sent Messages Dated Decades Ahead of Time? And How Did They Send Them?00:35:00.004 = Cold Hands00:39:21.083 = *** When Gods Became Beasts: Shapeshifting in Celtic Myth00:47:59.748 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakSOURCES and RESOURCES – and/or --- PRINT VERSION to READ or SHARE:“Will The Real William West Please Step Forward?” by Dean Jobb for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5y8wybsa), Martin Chalakoski for The Vintage News (https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/th4ujesh), and Lee Ferran for ABC News (https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/sa66vcwf)“A Mother, A Murder, A Mental Illness, and Justice in 17th-Century New England” by Romeo Vitelli for Providentia: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yu54cyn8“Who Sent Messages Dated Decades Ahead of Time? And How Did They Send Them?” posted at Earth-Chronicles.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/hh8tbwcr“When Gods Became Beasts: Shapeshifting in Celtic Myth” by Zteve T. Evans for FolkloreThursday.com:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3m53e2h8=====(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)= = = = ="I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46= = = = =WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.=====Originally aired: May 12, 2021EPISODE PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/TwoMenOneFaceABOUT WEIRD DARKNESS: Weird Darkness is a true crime and paranormal podcast narrated by professional award-winning voice actor, Darren Marlar. Seven days per week, Weird Darkness focuses on all things strange and macabre such as haunted locations, unsolved mysteries, true ghost stories, supernatural manifestations, urban legends, unsolved or cold cases, conspiracy theories, and more. Weird Darkness has been named one of the “20 Best Storytellers in Podcasting” by Podcast Business Journal. Listeners have described the show as a blend of “Coast to Coast AM”, “The Twilight Zone”, “Unsolved Mysteries”, and “In Search Of”.DISCLAIMER: Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised.#WeirdDarkness, #TrueCrime, #ForensicScience, #CriminalHistory, #Doppelganger, #Fingerprints, #MysteryStory, #HistoricalMystery, #ColdCase, #TrueCrimeStory

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Click On Picture To See Larger Picture[CB] around the world are dumping the Fed note, they just aren’t taking on anymore, everything is about to change. Trump’s GDP outshines Biden’s. China is now going to restrict silver, silver is used in electronics, batteries,solar panels etc. Silver prices are going to move. [CB] fraud is now exposed. The Tariff system is the future. The [DS] criminal syndicate is being exposed, it’s not just in DC it is world wide. As people learn how corrupt the system is and most of the taxes and borrowing goes to support the criminal system the people will be with Trump to remove the Fed. Trump is in the process of bringing down the entire corrupt temple on the [DS]. Trump moves closer to peace with Ukraine, 2026 is going to change everything. Economy Status of the US Dollar as Global Reserve Currency: USD Share Drops to Lowest since 1994  Central Banks diversify their holdings into dozens of smaller “non-traditional reserve currencies.”  The share of USD-denominated assets held by other central banks dropped to 56.9% of total foreign exchange reserves in Q3, the lowest since 1994, from 57.1% in Q2 and 58.5% in Q1, according to the IMF's new data on Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves. USD-denominated foreign exchange reserves include US Treasury securities, US mortgage-backed securities (MBS), US agency securities, US corporate bonds, and other USD-denominated assets held by central banks other than the Fed. Excluded are any central bank's assets denominated in its own currency, such as the Fed's Treasury securities or the ECB's euro-denominated securities. It's not that foreign central banks dumped US-dollar-denominated assets, such as Treasury securities. They did not. They added a little to their holdings. But they added more assets denominated in other currencies, particularly a gaggle of smaller currencies whose combined share has surged, while central banks' holdings of USD-denominated assets haven't changed much for a decade, and so the percentage share of those USD assets continued to decline.   Central banks' holdings of foreign exchange reserves in all currencies, and expressed in USD, rose to $13.0 trillion in Q3. Top holdings, expressed in USD: USD assets: $7.41 trillion Euro assets (EUR): $2.65 trillion Yen assets (YEN): $0.76 trillion British pound assets (GBP): $0.58 trillion Canadian dollar assets (CAD): $0.35 trillion Australian dollar assets (AUD): $0.27 trillion Chinese renminbi (RMB) assets: $0.25 trillion Source: wolfstreet.com (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");  https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/2004750391435755846?s=20 https://twitter.com/ElectionWiz/status/2004928015172821228?s=20 https://twitter.com/ElectionWiz/status/2004946780216328590?s=20  Political/Rights https://twitter.com/Patri0tContr0l/status/2004590513182367845?s=20  https://twitter.com/Geiger_Capital/status/2005107085865103608?s=20 ICE: 70% Arrested Had Criminal Ties Roughly 70% of illegal migrants arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the second Trump administration reportedly had been convicted of or faced charges for criminal offenses. New data provided to the Washington Examiner shows the Trump administration arrested about 595,000 illegal immigrants between Jan. 20 and Dec. 11, according to the Department of Homeland Security. ICE said 70%, roughly 416,000, had “criminal convictions or pending criminal charges” in the United States, underscoring President Donald Trump’s promise to prioritize the “worst of the worst” in immigration enforcement. ICE officials stressed that even those without U.S. criminal records can still pose major public safety threats, the agency said, noting many are wanted abroad for violent crimes or have ties to gangs, terrorism, or other serious offenses. “This statistic doesn’t account for those wanted for violent crimes in their home country or another country, INTERPOL notices, human rights abusers, gang members, terrorists, etc. The list goes on,” an ICE spokesperson told the Examiner. Source: newsmax.com   New Files Show Epstein Was ‘Too Useful' for Banks to Drop — Trump Was ‘Too Politically Dangerous' to Keep  The newest Epstein disclosures include deposition testimony that illustrates, in unusually concrete detail, how major financial institutions assessed risk, value, and accountability. The transcript does not add new allegations about Epstein. Instead, it explains why he remained bankable long after his 2008 conviction and why his relationship with major banks survived despite generating almost no traditional revenue. That institutional logic is the same logic that later drove JPMorgan to end its ties with Trump Media, and the contrast between the two cases shows how selectively these standards are applied. In the deposition, Paul Morris—a private banker who handled Epstein's accounts at JPMorgan Chase and later Deutsche Bank—described Epstein's financial profile with unusual precision. Epstein's trading was minimal. His accounts produced limited fees. He was not a high-activity client and did not utilize the investment tools that banks rely on to generate consistent revenue. By every conventional benchmark, he was a low-value account. And yet, the relationship continued. The deposition shows why. Epstein was not retained for his financial performance but for his institutional usefulness. Morris acknowledged that Epstein facilitated introductions to ultra-wealthy individuals that the bank viewed as essential prospects. One example was Leon Black, whom Morris identified as a “priority prospect” because of Black's significant net worth and influence in the investment sector. Epstein introduced the bank to real-estate investor Andrew Farkas and discussed a potential connection involving biotech investor Boris Nikolic, who had ties to Bill Gates. These introductions were specific, documented, and initiated by Epstein, not the bank. This is the key element that many public accounts overlook. Epstein was not being managed as a traditional client. He functioned as a relationship broker inside a system where introductions to power carry more internal value than account-level returns. Source: thegatewaypundit.com  DOGE Geopolitical The EU Leaders Shouting About Visa Bans Are the Same EU Leaders Who Sent Political Operatives Into the U.S. to Support Kamala Harris  EU leaders from across the spectrum of their collective assembly, are furious with the administration of President Donald Trump for restricting their entry into the United States by blocking their visa permissions.  However, these same EU leaders are the people who sent operatives into the United States in order to interfere in our 2024 election. The Vice President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, sums up the European position: “The decision by the U.S. to impose travel restrictions on European citizens and officials is unacceptable and an attempt to challenge our sovereignty. Europe will keep defending its values — freedom of expression, fair digital rules, and the right to regulate our own space.” The “attempt to challenge our sovereignty” statement is a particular type of hubris when we consider THIS: GREAT BRITAIN (October 2024) – The British Labour Party is sending approximately 100 current and former staff members to the United States to work for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign in key swing states. [SOURCE – LINKEDIN] Not only did the U.K attempt to challenge our sovereignty, but they also actively worked to influence the outcome of our national election in 2024. It is worth remembering the British intelligence operation, (Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6), was at the center of the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy in 2016. The first EU political group to be targeted with the visa bans includes French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, who was one of the architects of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA). Also: Imran Ahmed, the British CEO of the U.S.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate, Anna-Lena von Hodenberg and Josephine Ballon of the German non-profit HateAid, and Clare Melford, co-founder of the Global Disinformation Index. https://twitter.com/GeneHamilton/status/2004656229684224393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2004656229684224393%7Ctwgr%5E91706d63d41394916634b106fbd2268d7711e121%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconservativetreehouse.com%2Fblog%2F2025%2F12%2F27%2Fthe-eu-leaders-shouting-about-visa-bans-are-the-same-eu-leaders-who-sent-political-operatives-into-the-u-s-to-support-kamala-harris%2F https://twitter.com/GeneHamilton/status/2004656234910433405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2004656234910433405%7Ctwgr%5E91706d63d41394916634b106fbd2268d7711e121%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheconservativetreehouse.com%2Fblog%2F2025%2F12%2F27%2Fthe-eu-leaders-shouting-about-visa-bans-are-the-same-eu-leaders-who-sent-political-operatives-into-the-u-s-to-support-kamala-harris%2F Source: theconservativetreehouse.com https://twitter.com/michaelgwaltz/status/2005058695647166898?s=20 https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/2005035840934723894?s=20 War/Peace   EIGHT, perhaps the United States has become the REAL United Nations, which has been of very little assistance or help in any of them, including the disaster currently going on between Russia and Ukraine. The United Nations must start getting active and involved in WORLD PEACE!   the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.   DONALD J. TRUMP PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Trump Tasks Military With an ‘Oil Quarantine' Against Venezuela, as Economic Pressure Is Chosen for Now Over Military Action Venezuela's oil industry under maximum pressure.   And now that the extended holidays are over, the socialist regime will have to deal with the veritable siege imposed by the US and its unprecedented armada. Venezuela is running out of storage space for its oil production since some ships are being seized and many others turned around and left.  Now, it arises that Donald J. Trump has directed US forces to enforce ‘an oil quarantine' against Venezuela for at least the next two months. These moves lead many to think that the Trump team will focus on economic rather than military means to pressure Caracas into ousting Maduro. Reuters reported:   Read  more: Source: thegatewaypundit.com Trump Blockade Leaves $1 Billion Of Venezuelan Crude Stranded On Tankers  With a two-month “quarantine” placed on Venezuelan oil by the Trump administration in a foreign policy move called “gunboat diplomacy,” new data estimate that roughly $900 million worth of crude is currently loaded on tankers, unable to depart Venezuela due to the U.S. blockade. “Based on our visual analysis from both shore and space, we estimate that there are around 17.5 million barrels of crude oil floating onboard tankers in Venezuela which are unable to depart due to the ongoing US blockade,” independent research Tanker Trackers wrote on X. “That’s around $900M of oil.” https://twitter.com/TankerTrackers/status/2004713684871078162?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2004713684871078162%7Ctwgr%5E016cd45f97095edcd74bb159f40c4e93caf9794d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fcommodities%2Ftrump-blockade-leaves-1-billion-venezuelan-crude-stranded-tankers Source: zerohedge.com Trump to POLITICO: Zelenskyy ‘doesn't have anything until I approve it' Trump's comments come ahead of his Sunday meeting with Zelenskyy, who will bring with him a new 20-point plan to end the war President Donald Trump on Friday cast himself as the ultimate arbiter of any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, in an exclusive conversation with POLITICO. “He doesn't have anything until I approve it,” Trump said. “So we'll see what he's got.” Source: politico.com https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/2005352028365848993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2005352028365848993%7Ctwgr%5E1588e24fb392689513bf7b2f064c646c1bf5f470%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F12%2Ftrump-says-russia-ukraine-peace-talks-entering-final%2F  Medical/False Flags 19 Blue States Sue Trump Admin to Preserve Right to Perform Child Sex Changes Last week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would cut off Medicare and Medicaid funding to any provider that offers so-called gender-affirming treatment to minors. “Under my leadership, and answering President Trump's call to action, the federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk,” Kennedy said at the time. The Oregon-led lawsuit claims that the decision “exceeds the Secretary's authority and violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Medicare and Medicaid statutes.” A total of nineteen blue states are suing the Trump administration in a bid to protect the right to perform child sex changes. His office said in a press release: Source: thegatewaypundit.com [DS] Agenda  https://twitter.com/nickshirleyy/status/2004642794862961123?s=20   work way too hard and pay too much in taxes for this to be happening, the fraud must be stopped. https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/2005011311756017964?s=20 https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/2005158623442600391?s=20 https://twitter.com/DataRepublican/status/2005292438114738555?s=20  diabolical. And it’s going to work until we understand that primaries will be more important than generals from here out on. https://twitter.com/C_3C_3/status/2005016429687701811?s=20 https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/2005351086115405986?s=20 https://twitter.com/CynicalPublius/status/2005030256382464493?s=20  and your tribe. I spent a lot of my life in the Middle East and Central Asia, working closely with foreign contractors and foreign governments to provide support to American military operations. As a US Army officer with a big checkbook courtesy of Uncle Sam, I can't really count the sheer number of times I was offered bribes to award a contract, or falsify records to do things like create larger (fake) headcounts at places like dining facilities, or to just simply be on the take for future illegal requests. Of course I had enough sense to never comply with such requests. Moreover, they were never explicitly structured as “bribes”; instead it was usually along the lines of “Here I have these Rolexes as gifts for you and your wife to show our friendship.” (Unfortunately, too many US officers and NCOs succumbed to this siren song and ended up breaking rocks in Leavenworth.) The weird thing about this to me was that whenever I turned down such an offering, it was treated as a grave insult. I was the one in the wrong, and not the fraudster trying to bribe me. They considered it rude that I was in their country and refused to accept how things got done. After all, why did I not want to help my tribe by helping their tribe? Let me repeat: in these cultures, FRAUD IS NOT EVEN A CONCEPT. There is only what helps your tribe. Such thought processes are so alien to Americans and much of the West. We are raised on the presumption that our institutions are valid, that the rule of law always prevails, and that integrity is universal. We need these presumptions to have working governments and economies, and without those presumptions—without the mental barrier that causes us not to accept outright fraud—our nation would quickly descend into the economic and social hellscape of countries like…. ummm… you know…. SOMALIA! So when we import people en masse from cultures that accept bribery and fraud as routine, acceptable ways to advance one's tribe, we should not be surprised that things like the $8 BILLION fraud schemes of the Somali population in Minnesota happen so easily. Introducing a fraud-based culture based on tribalism into America is like introducing some sort of lethal virus into a population that has no natural immunity. The virus will spread and grow, unchecked, because it is so alien to the host. Similarly, a culture of fraud is anathema to American thinking, and it must be cut out before it consumes the host. So when you see and hear patriotic Americans decrying what is happening in Minnesota or elsewhere, and when they seek deportation of the offenders, it is not “racism,” it is not “bigotry,” it is not “xenophobia”; instead, it is preserving the American tradition of responsible institutions and national integrity. https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/2005262465190223928?s=20 https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/2005305530651189719?s=20   exploiting federal programs. Fraud that steals from taxpayers and robs vulnerable children will remain a top FBI priority in Minnesota and nationwide. To date, the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during COVID. The investigation exposed sham vendors, shell companies, and large-scale money laundering tied to the Feeding Our Future network. The case led to 78 indictments and 57 convictions. Defendants included Abdiwahab Ahmed Mohamud, Ahmed Ali, Hussein Farah, Abdullahe Nur Jesow, Asha Farhan Hassan, Ousman Camara, and Abdirashid Bixi Dool, each charged for roles ranging from wire fraud to money laundering and conspiracy. These criminals didn't just engaged in historic fraud, but tried to subvert justice as well. Abdimajid Mohamed Nur and others were charged for attempting to bribe a juror with $120,000 in cash. Those responsible pleaded guilty and were sentenced, including a 10-year prison term and nearly $48 million in restitution in related cases. The FBI believes this is just the tip of a very large iceberg. We will continue to follow the money and protect children, and this investigation very much remains ongoing. Furthermore, many are also being referred to immigrations officials for possible further denaturalization and deportation proceedings where eligible. https://twitter.com/ScottPresler/status/2004932316926193933?s=20 https://twitter.com/HarmeetKDhillon/status/2004976287270731981?s=20 https://twitter.com/rising_serpent/status/2005080344610177489?s=20  https://twitter.com/amuse/status/2005092720927232198?s=20  “skeptical jurors” in federal cases involving President Trump. Co-founder Alex Dodds said jurors have “enormous power” to judge the administration itself. Critics report the sessions encourage rigging trials against the administration, conduct plainly barred under 8 USC §1503. President Trump's Plan https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/2004653262491058216?s=20 accomplished what no one else could. When we arrived, taxpayers were about to be on the hook for nearly $5 billion for a new headquarters that wouldn't open until 2035. We scrapped that plan. Instead, we selected the already-existing Reagan Building, saving billions and allowing the transition to begin immediately with required safety and infrastructure upgrades already underway. Once complete, most of the HQ FBI workforce will move in, and the rest are continuing in our ongoing push to put more manpower in the field, where they will remain. This decision puts resources where they belong: defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and protecting national security. It delivers better tools for today's FBI workforce at a fraction of the cost. The Hoover Building will be shut down permanently.  They Got Her: FBI Caught Hillary Clinton Talking Donations with Foreign Felon on Tape As Hillary Clinton closed in on the presidential nomination in the spring of 2016, FBI field officers advised colleagues at headquarters to press her on the foreign donations flowing to the Clinton Foundation while she steered American foreign policy and whether she had used the charity as a campaign piggy bank. But the FBI HQ in Washington — a city in which the former secretary of state and first lady wields enormous influence — let the trail go cold. FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge Diego Rodriguez advised agents in Washington to ask Clinton several questions about the foundation, which are reproduced in full in documents released to the Senate Judiciary Committee by the FBI and published on Dec. 15. The questions reveal the concerns about foreign bribery that the Clinton Foundation case — codenamed “Cracked Foundation” — had uncovered. Among the evidence available to investigators, according to their questions: A recorded conversation between Clinton and Indian hotel magnate Sant Singh Chatwal in which Clinton discussed donations to the foundation and her remaining 2008 campaign debt. The new documents confirm that the FBI had at one time been “intercepting individuals associated with the Clinton Foundation.” Source: westernjournal.com  John Brennan's Lawfare Lawyers are Revealing More Than They Intend   former CIA Director John Brennan are sending proactive letters to the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida {SEE HERE}.  However, some of the information included in the letters intended to be exculpatory is actually damning against their defense position. You have to go deep in the weeds to see it but if you understand the details of the events, the information being revealed by Brennan's lawyers is the opposite of helpful to his case.  As an example, there is a citation included in a footnote of the December 22, 2025, [fn #20 page 6] letter that links to a March 31, 2022, letter sent to John Durham. Here's page 6 of the 2025 letter. Compare the underlined section to the 2022 letter sent to John Durham. In 2025 Brennan is telling the Florida court the Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) conclusion was confirmed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in a “very serious review.”  However, in 2022 Brennan told John Durham that Robert Mueller never interviewed him or offered an assessment of the ICA; Mueller just regurgitated it. So, which is it? These contradictions are throughout both of the letters when you compare them side-by-side.  In 2022 former CIA Director John Brennan was trying to escape the Durham review.  In 2025 Brennan is trying to escape a grand jury review. [We are aware that the U.S Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Jason Reding Quiñones, has access to the CTH public library of research into all of these historic events.] There are other citations in the 2022 letter that are certainly worth reviewing because the legally binding statements made by John Brennan at the time have been shown to be false in 2025. Another of the claims in the 2022 letter to John Durham highlights why it was critical for the CIA to assist in the capture and arrest of Julian Assange in 2019. Source: thegatewaypundit.com  Trump: Upcoming Midterms Will Be ‘About Pricing’ The 2026 midterm elections will be “about pricing,” according to President Donald Trump, who said that his administration is restoring the nation’s economy after the condition in which former President Joe Biden left it. “I think it’s going to be about the success of our country,” Trump said in an interview with Politico, the outlet reported Saturday. “They gave us high pricing, and we’re bringing it down. Energy’s way down. Gasoline is way down.” Over the past two weeks, a series of positive economic reports has shown that inflation is decreasing, with the White House highlighting the latest data while addressing cost-of-living concerns nationwide. According to a Politico poll conducted last month, Americans say they are finding that the costs of groceries, utilities, healthcare, housing, and transportation are too expensive. Trump has been fighting to reframe that, however, blaming Democrats under Biden for driving prices up. He said in the interview, conducted Friday, that “electricity is down. It’s way down.” “When the gasoline goes down, and when the oil and gas go down, the electricity comes down naturally,” he said. “But it’s all coming down. It’s all coming down. It’s coming beautifully.” Source: newsmax.com https://twitter.com/WarClandestine/status/2004696380531503505?s=20   the NG will have quick response troops on standby in every state, the FBI building is being moved to a new location, the war between Russia and Ukraine is coming to an end, and all of Trump's pieces will be in place. There seems to be a shift in attitude. I think we are passing into a different phase of the operation. The shadow war will eventually have to come to the surface. 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Today - Leavenworth’s lights are back on, but behind the glow is a story of grit, generosity, and a holiday season like no other.Support the show: https://www.wenatcheeworld.com/site/forms/subscription_services/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

King County crews working to shore up damaged levees, Highway 2 closure has Leavenworth businesses worried about tourism, and Rep. Dan Newhouse to retire. It’s our daily roundup of top stories from the KUOW newsroom, with host Patricia Murphy. We can only make Seattle Now because listeners support us. Tap here to make a gift and keep Seattle Now in your feed. Got questions about local news or story ideas to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at seattlenow@kuow.org, leave us a voicemail at (206) 616-6746 or leave us feedback online.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In late May 2025, three young sisters—Paityn Decker (9), Evelyn Decker (8), and Olivia Decker (5)—disappeared during a scheduled visit with their father, Travis Caleb Decker. Days later, their bodies were discovered in a wooded area near Rock Island Campground in the Cascade Mountains. Investigators uncovered forensic evidence, including DNA, linking their father to the killings, prompting a massive months-long manhunt across rugged mountain terrain.In mid-September, human remains identified as Travis Decker's were located in a remote forested area, officially ending the manhunt and criminal proceedings. Yet significant questions remain—about motive, the final weeks of Decker's life, and the systemic factors that may have contributed to this tragedy. The case has left a lasting impact on the Wenatchee and Leavenworth communities and continues to shape discussions about child safety, mental‑health intervention, and parental visitation procedures and safeguards.For resources to report abuse or neglect visit Washington State DCYF or the National Childhelp Hotline. Visit our website! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Patreon, & more! There are so many ways that you can support the show: BuyMeACoffee, Spreaker, or by leaving a rating & review on Apple Podcasts.

The episode where we share our recent investigation at the Leavenworth Masonic Lodge in Leavenworth, KS. We love secret societies and taking pictures with random statues in small towns. We know we're cool. We encounter a dead bell (super cool), a creepy staircase, and secretive hazing initiations that we still have so many questions about. And who can forget our new goat friend, Billy Stan?! Shenanigans of course, ensued.Come say hi on our socials! Facebook- The Tipsy GhostInstagram- @thetipsyghostpodcastTikTok @thetipsyghost_podEmail us your stories at thetipsyghost@gmail.comShow your support when you subscribe, leave a great review & give us a 5 star rating—it really helps!

Send us a textBuckle up, Ones Ready fam—Aaron and Trent dive headfirst into the clown show of Democratic lawmakers (all ex-military or intel vets) dropping a cringy, scripted video urging service members to ditch "illegal orders." Spoiler: They're gaslighting the ranks with zero specifics, just vibes. Trump fires back calling it sedition punishable by death (he got the penalty wrong, but the charge? Spot on). We break down the real deal—sedition's 20 years, treason's the death penalty stuff like Milley's China stunt. Hot takes fly on media narratives, the Tweedledee-Tweedledum incitement defense, and why defying orders could land you in Leavenworth if you're wrong. No sugarcoating: Politicians are trash, oaths matter, and this is how civil wars brew. If you're in uniform, listen up—we're calling out the hypocrisy from Jason Crow's Jan 6 cowardice to Biden's vaccine mandates. Truth bombs only, no BS.⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 - Sedition 101: Clearing Up the Death Penalty Mix-Up02:23 - Vet Hosts Spill: Leaving Politics at the Door (Kinda)03:59 - Dem Lawmakers' Cringy Video Breakdown: Scripted AF06:59 - Illegal Orders? Pin That Thought, Baby Bird09:04 - Trump's Maximalist Truth: Art of the Deal Style12:27 - Governor's Dumb Take: Trump's Always Talked Tough13:47 - Treason vs. Sedition: Milley's Pardon Says It All15:59 - Tweedledee Defense: Inciting Without Saying It18:39 - Media Gaslighting: Conditioning Troops for Chaos20:52 - Oaths Over Feelings: Defy at Your Own Risk22:49 - Historical Violence: Presidents Have Always Been Brutal24:07 - Crying Victim While Striking: Classic Dem Move26:40 - Sedition Act History: Used to Jail Opponents28:31 - Turning Down the Rhetoric? Yeah, Right30:01 - Political Violence Myth: Words Ain't Bullets32:37 - UCMJ Reality: Article 92 Saves (or Sinks) You33:56 - Vaccine Mandate Hypocrisy: Where Was the Outrage?37:34 - Spy Ops on Congress: Crossfire Hurricane Exposed39:37 - Rangers Shoutout: Love Y'all (Minus Crow)42:55 - Civil War Warning: Factions Shooting Each Other45:13 - Accountability Dream: Hold Everyone to the Oath48:45 - Buyer Beware: Defy Orders, Face the Music

Steve Moss is a high-level boulderer and the co-founder of a brewery and pizzeria in Spokane, WA. We talked about finding climbing at age 24, his breakthrough season climbing three V12s in less than two weeks at age 40, why discomfort helps us grow, his training routine for the past year, building a successful brewery and pizzeria from the ground up, what matters most in climbing, gratitude for life, the connections we make through climbing, and much more.The Nugget Training App | 14 Day Free Trialtraining.thenuggetclimbing.comThe GRINDS Program | FREE Finger Training PDFthenuggetclimbing.com/grindsThe NUG | Portable Hangboardfrictitiousclimbing.com/products/the-nugRúngne (Chalk & Apparel)rungne.info/nuggetUse code “NUGGET" for 10% off and "SHIPPINGNUGGETS" for free shipping.Mad Rock (Shoes & Crash Pads)madrock.comUse code “NUGGET10” at checkout for 10% off your next order.Become a Patron:patreon.com/thenuggetclimbingShow Notes:  thenuggetclimbing.com/episodes/steve-mossNuggets:(00:00:00) – Intro(00:02:21) – Steve's climbing origin story(00:07:30) – Life before climbing(00:09:58) – His wife(00:14:27) – Leavenworth(00:18:41) – A resurgence of stoke(00:23:37) – Passion & challenge(00:26:36) – Why discomfort is beneficial(00:34:21) – Building the brewery(00:52:31) – Brewing beer(00:56:56) – Steve's nephew(01:04:11) – Double V12 day(01:11:46) – Gratitude(01:14:37) – Protein & breakthroughs(01:20:51) – Bodyweight(01:24:17) – Crimping(01:27:42) – The hardest part of training(01:36:39) – Steve's training(02:03:30) – 455 V-point day(02:20:31) – Century bike ride(02:21:49) – Advice for a young Steve Moss(02:27:48) – Baseball(02:29:19) – The people(02:36:21) – What's next

Dan Carr is the Co-Owner of Visconti's Hospitality Group. The original Visconti's was opened in 1985 in Wenatchee, WA. Dan moved to Wenatchee from the midwest in 1991 and started working in Visconti's in 1993 after meeting the President and Owner, Candy Mecham. Dan and candy then opened a second Visconti's in Leavenworth, WA and since then they have opened 6 concepts across 9 locations in Washington. Join RULibrary: www.restaurantunstoppable.com/RULibrary Join RULive: www.restaurantunstoppable.com/live Set Up your RUEvolve 1:1: www.restaurantunstoppable.com/evolve Subscribe on YouTube: https://youtube.com/restaurantunstoppable Subscribe to our email newsletter: https://www.restaurantunstoppable.com/ Today's sponsors: Meez: Are you a chef, owner, operator, or manage recipes in professional kitchens? meez is built just for you. Organize, share, prep, and scale recipes like never before. Plus, engineer your menu in real-time and get accurate food costs. Sign up for free today and get 2 FREE months of invoice processing as a listener of the Restaurant Unstoppable Podcast. Visit getmeez.com/unstoppable to learn more. Cerboni - Cerboni is an all-in-one financial solution for restaurants. Reliable tax preparation & Business incorporation. Seamless Payroll and compliance report. Strategic CFO Services That Drive Business Growth. Detailed, custom reporting for complete financial clarity. Dedicated support for restaurants & Multi-location businesses. End-to-end financial management under one roof. Restaurant Systems Pro - Join the 60-day Restaurant Systems Pro FREE TRAINING. This is something that has never been done before. This 60-day event is at no cost to you, but it is not for everyone. Fred Langley, CEO of Restaurant Systems Pro, will lead a group of restaurateurs through the Restaurant Systems Pro software and set up the systems for your restaurant. During the 60 days, Fred will walk you through the Restaurant Systems Pro Process and help you crush the following goals: Recipe Costing Cards; Guidance in your books for accounting; Cash controls; Sales Forecasting(With Accuracy); Checklists; Budgeting for the entire year; Scheduling for profit; More butts in seats and more… Click Here to learn more. Let's make 2025 the year your restaurant thrives. Guest contact info: Email: dancarr@viscontis.com Thanks for listening! Rate the podcast, subscribe, and share!

In 1909, a young convicted train robber named Frank Grigware began a life sentence at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Leavenworth was the nation's first federal penitentiary, touted as a state-of-the-art facility. But in the early 20th century, its prisoners endured bleak conditions, rigid routines, and harsh punishments.In the spring of 1910, Grigware and five fellow inmates hijacked a supply train and rammed it through the prison's heavy iron gates. The audacious breakout set off one of the longest-running manhunts in American history.Be the first to know about Wondery's newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterListen to American History Tellers on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Experience all episodes ad-free and be the first to binge the newest season. Unlock exclusive early access by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial today by visiting wondery.com/links/american-history-tellers/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode #338 | BCC perform live in Leavenworth, KS where ether uncover some unbelievable Bigfoot and UFO encounters in the heart of the midwest. Plus: Michael delivers on a promise. Huge thanks to everyone at Paracon KC for assembling audio and video for this episode. Special thanks to Sarah G for her spooky L-Files story . Listen Ad Free at BCC.Supercast.com BCC is Brought to You By... Mosh - Head to http://moshlife.com/BCCto save 20% off plus FREE shipping on the Best Sellers Trial Pack. SHOW INFORMATION Bigfoot Collectors Club is produced by Riley Bray.  BCC Clubhouse on Supercast: https://bcc.supercast.com YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@bigfootcollectorsclub Merch:https://bigfoot-collectors-club-podcast-shop.fourthwall.com/collections/all Listener-Files Submissions: BigfootCollectorsClub@gmail.com. Instagram: https://bit.ly/3W7izlL | Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/bccpodcast.bsky.social Our theme song is “Come Alone,” by Suneaters, courtesy of Lotuspool Records. Follow Suneaters on Spotify https://bit.ly/3XnD4vS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices