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Speaker 1: Good evening. I'm Bob Lonsbury. And from the banks of the mighty Genesee in Rochester, New York, this is Downtown Section 32. And as I sit speaking to you right now, I'm shirtless. No, it's not some new thing we're doing to attract ladies to the audience, though I can see how it would be highly effective. It's just hotter than hell up in here. At Broadcast Central, the HVAC thing is not what you would typically expect. Either that or in the overnight, we got a side business cooking rotisserie chickens up in here. One way or the other, it's a little toasty. And at any rate, I have diddle fritz with the thermometer. And I am wearing a flannel shirt because it's autumn and I'm a man. Duh. And at any rate, the flannel shirt plus the extra tons of fat hanging around my belly, it is toasty. So, no, I have taken off my shirt. And the door is locked. The lights are off. Everything is fine. And please don't try to imagine this in your head. Now, some people say, oh, don't worry, Bob, that's a dad bod. What you got there, Bob, is a dad bod. That's natural, Bob, it's natural. Well, a dad bod? Actually, I think that a D-cup would be more consistent with a mom bod, but whatever you say. It is funny what time does to you, okay? Time and a fondness for all you can eat buffets. Am I right? But there was a time, I remember years ago, I probably was 21, 22, 23, 21 or 22, I think. And there's this girl I was dating. She was the best. And at any rate, I would go see her on Wednesdays. I worked all the other days of the week. Wednesdays, I'd go down there. And I'd get there. She still lived with her parents. And it was about a four-hour drive away. And I'd go down and I'd get to her place just before she got off work. And anyway, they had a pool. And I get there. And she's not going to be off work for another hour. Hotter than blue blazes. And... You know, the kids are splashing around in the pool in the back. And the mother asks if I want to go swim in the pool. And I go, yeah, please, may I? Thanks. So at any rate, she gets me a swimsuit. And at any rate, in those days, see, nowadays swimsuits, at least the kinds, I don't know, people like me wear, They come up, cover your belly button. They get halfway down to your knee. It's baggy. Everything's good. You know what I'm saying? Got modesty covered here. Back then, it wasn't that way. The Speedo company was at its peak, okay? And Slingshot wasn't just for fighting off Goliath when you're David. Anyway, so I put on this swimming suit, and I go out there, and I'm standing by the pool. And I noticed that the mom comes in and just sits there and watches me. Oh, sure, creepy as hell. But at this stage, I look back and I go, you know what? There was a time when I was built okay. All right. Of course, that time was, yeah, not this century. And I sometimes like to run without a shirt. because I used to run without a shirt before I got my D cups. And, uh, I, I don't run without a shirt typically where people can see me. Right. Um, I have sometimes I've run in Rochester without a shirt. I've run through Mount Morris without a shirt. Uh, but mostly if I run without a shirt, it's out in the woods, right. Always going to see me. Um, and especially since I've gotten fat. Okay. Um, and, And the deal is when you're fat, you heat up faster. Okay. I'm sure that's an evolutionary benefit somehow. But so like it'll be March or something like that. And I'll go out on a Sunday afternoon after church. The family's all doing something. I'll have a little time on my hands. I say, I'm going to go run in the woods. And so I'll go out on the Finger Lakes Trail on the far side of Letchworth, and I'll just have the woods for miles all to myself. And I'll have some little headphones on there, listen to an audio book or some music or something. Maybe the dog will be running along beside me and I'll just set off on some trail. And it's March, but like I said, I'm pretty well insulated. So I'll take off my shirt and I'll be running through the woods. And here's the deal. Every other year or so, I'll be two or three or four miles from the trailhead, which means way back in the woods. And here will be like some young couple or some young family or some hiker out on a resolution or somebody on their bicycle through the mud. And here I am, you know what I'm saying? Like the Michelin man, boingo, boingo, boingo, boingo. I just kind of avert my eyes. How are you? Hi, hi. Keep running. Anyway, this is, forgive me. I think we've spoken more than enough about my various pendulous appendages. Monroe County, it's funny, Channel 10, Berkeley Breen, the great Berkeley Breen, did, you know what I love? Every now and again, he talks about his son, who he calls Little Burke. Now, whether he's like a junior or whether he's just a little like that or whatever, But every time I think about that name, I smile. What a great name. What a great, you know, anyway, have your little child there is my son, little Burke. Anyway, that's a tangent. But Berkeley Breen did a story talking about how Monroe County, over the last 20, 25 years, had gone from a Republican county to a Democrat county. And back then, the only Democrat bastion was, other than the city of Rochester, the town of Brighton. And listen, I remember when Brighton was Republican. I started covering Brighton when it was Republican and had been since the Civil War. And I remember when there was thunderstruck, there was a group called Brighton Neighbors United, and it really was a front for the Democrat Party, or it was a bunch of people who were Democrats, but they raised a stink very effectively. And they had an election, and they took over Brighton, and they've been running it ever since. and Brighton seems to be a pretty nice town. So I guess the world didn't end, but from that beachhead, uh, all of Monroe County, except for rush now and, uh, along the West side, the town supervisors are all, especially with Gates coming on on
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Tuesday are all, all Democrat. Again, the sky doesn't seem to have fallen. It's time for me to shut up. This is downtown section third platoon on news radio. Wham 1180 section third platoon. They, uh, have, uh, finished counting votes over in Los Angeles, California, in that mayor's race out there. And on the good news side, that lady, Karen Bass, has been defeated. And on the other, maybe bad news side, the city council member challenger, Nithya Raman, has been elected. The deal is, though, that mayor-elect Raman is a member of Democratic Socialists of America. That, combined with an election a year ago and with some results that came out yesterday about Washington, D.C., leaves us in a situation where, right now, the two largest cities in America and our capital city all have mayors who are socialists. I don't mean commie-lib Democrats way over on the left. I mean folks who proudly proclaim, I am a democratic socialist, right? Which is interesting because you can't have democracy and socialism. They're mutually exclusive because for democracy, you must have liberty. You must have freedom. And freedom and socialism are mutually exclusive. You can't have them both. It's an interesting deal when you look at, among the political parties, thoughts and attitudes towards socialism. A majority of Democrats across America are in favor of socialism, which means, no offense intended, that they don't know what the hell they're talking about. Now, I don't say that critically, but I think that our education system, our commitment to explaining who we are as a country, what our values are, what the principles underlying our republic are, we have so poorly communicated what this nation is about that a large majority of us have no idea. And so not knowing the truth, we can be seduced by error. And socialism is error. Here's basically a thumbnail. Socialism is government control of the means of production. That's the little phrase they use. It's actually far more than that, and that phrase isn't a perfect one or all-inclusive, but that's the one they use. Government control of means of production. Okay. What is the only means of production of any product or service on planet Earth? You. Right? You are the only means of production of for any product or service anywhere on planet Earth. Right? If you're going to grow a cob of corn, you have to plow the ground. You have to plant the seed. You have to hoe the weeds. You have to harvest the crop. You are the means of production. Right? Work doesn't just happen. Humans do it. Goods don't just appear, humans make them. The means of production is always you and me. In socialism, the property, all of it, belongs to the collective. Oh, you may live in it, you may carry it in your pocket, But you do so only with the permission of the collective. Everything belongs to the collective. Who's the collective? It's the government. Okay? The government. And, for example, you may well work your job. And I applaud you for that. You
may, after working your 40 hours or whatever, you may well get a check, which is a thing long since forgotten. It preceded a direct deposit. But you may well get a check. In the tradition of America, where we hate socialism, where we believe in individual liberty, that check is yours, right? You earned that by the sweat of your brow, which is biblical. By the sweat of your brow, you shall eat your bread. Your labor rewards you. Socialism says, uh-uh. No, no, no, no, no. And that paycheck, that belongs to the collective, right? Right? That paycheck, that was done for all of us. Your labor was for all of us, for the common good. So give me that paycheck, and the collective will decide how much you need. Okay? But you have no right to that. Just as you have no right to that home for which you hold the paper deed, or that automobile for which you hold the pink slip. In socialism... All the goods, all the wealth, just like the means of production, are owned and controlled by the collective, the government. You may labor your whole life. You may go to all the school in the world. You may have highly specialized and important skills. You may start some grand enterprise that produces magnificently. But you have, under socialism, no claim to any particular reward, you'll get the same ration as anybody else. Right? Because the collective will assess your need, not your productivity. The collective, when it comes to passing out goods, doesn't give a damn about your productivity. In fact, he who produces nothing will get the same as he who produces much. That's socialism. Right? No, go ahead and go to college. Sure, go ahead. You know what? Go to grad school. Yeah, yeah. How about medical school? Yeah. And then residency? Yeah. Go be a medical doctor, okay? And your ration will be the same as the guy who dropped out in the 10th grade. Right? Yeah. You will produce far more than he. And the collective, I'm sure, will send you a thank you note or something. But any wealth you generate goes to the collective. I've gone on forever here and poorly. But the way to fight socialism is to explain what it is. It is modern servitude. It is slavery to government. It is anathema to freedom. It is the enemy of us all, no matter what public opinion polling says to the contrary. This is Downtown Section 3rd Platoon on NewsRadio WHAM 1180. Welcome back. This is Downtown Section 3rd Platoon. I, of course, grew up down in Canastillo, New York, a place I love and treasure. It's been my privilege the last almost 40 years to live in Mount Morris, where they have treated us like kin, and where certainly we feel the spirit of home. But when I go back and walk the streets of Canastillo, there's a special feeling there. There's a poignancy and emotion that will forever be precious to me. I went to Canastillo Central School, and I At Canastillo Central School in the day, football was big. Actually, all sports were big. You had football in the fall. You had basketball in the winter. You had baseball in the spring. And Canastillo, for boys' sports, was very, very into football, basketball, and baseball. And the exploits of the young men who were my classmates were legendary. And at any rate, the football team over years did well. And it became, I don't know, a representation, if you will, of the community. There was much community pride and identity wrapped up in the Redskins, Canistillo Redskins football team. And on game days, those young men who were on the team would walk through the school wearing the jersey tucked into their blue jeans. And I tell you what, you saw those guys and you sure wished you were one of them. You know what I'm saying? And over the years since, uh, Canistillo, uh, there's no like hall of fame or whatever for students or, uh, distinguished graduate or stuff like that. But, but there is a, a football hall of fame and, uh, it every year very happily has, uh, a, a new class of inductees and, uh, what joy, uh, folks get out of talking about the good old days and honoring their friends. And it's a sweet, sweet thing. Um, football. It's interesting. Um, and I, I, football, I like to watch. Okay. I think I understand the concept of football and its role in our culture. And I applaud its role in our culture. I think football in many ways, especially in years past has made America stronger and better. Um, I, I, I applaud those, uh, who are in football, but it's an interesting deal. Um, We, you know, recently there have been some new health stuff, uh, out about what happens to football players later in life. And again, uh, most of the data, almost all of the data, uh, involves a gentleman who had previously played in the NFL in terms of short-term injuries. Of course, we have this heartbreak from here just the other day, uh, uh, Detroit lions and they Jack Campbell, um, You know, makes a tackle of sorts and ends up with some sort of neck injury that has, he's got some mobility issues. I don't, we haven't been told the exact deal. He says he can move his lower body. He's working on trying to move his upper body. And we're wishing nothing but the best. But a profoundly fit and vigorous young man, really at the peak of his vitality, lying there motionless face down. on a football field with an injury which could have taken his life and may yet forever alter his life. And then you get to this thing called CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE, it's a phenomenon inside the brain which seems to occur as a result of repeated blows to the head. And it can have a all of them negative, can change so much about them. And it can also shorten life. Well, how many former NFL players have CTE? We don't know. One of the reasons being that there's no way to diagnose it beforehand. The only way you can identify CTE is to take out a deceased individual's brain and go through it looking for CTE. Well, not everybody has an autopsy. Not everybody, do they go through looking. And so there has been a hands-on study which
shows that about, check that, 25% of former NFL players who died within a certain window of time, 25% of them whose brains were examined 25% of them had CTE, right? They had sustained a lifelong and life-altering series of injuries while playing, presumably, in the NFL. And then it was, okay, but what's the percentage in the larger NFL population? And that's where they're kind of doing some mathematical extrapolation, which may be accurate and maybe not. But on the mathematical extrapolation, a recent assertion is that as many as three-quarters of of former NFL players may have CTE, that 75% is the rate of this, you know, lifelong and life-altering injury among men playing this sport. And so you end up asking yourself the question, the NFL, of course, is wonderful. And, you know, people love their teams and nowhere is that more evident than in, you know, the land of the Bills Mafia. And And it's delightful, brings so much entertainment and joy to people. And it brings incredible wealth to the gentlemen who play in the NFL if they're good at managing their money. But it also may bring lifelong disability or death. And that raises a moral question, right? For our entertainment, do we encourage and pay for an activity that may, again, leave someone with a lifelong injury? or lead to a premature death. And how much profit does a league have to make in order to justify the exposure of these men to this risk? Or do we say, hey, they're getting the money, it's their call. Of course, if I'm 21 and somebody's offering me gazillions of dollars and I'm supposed to worry about something that's going to happen when I'm 52, yeah, I don't think I'm looking that far down the road. At any rate, God bless the folks who play football. Let them learn the wonderful lessons. And for those who are really in it, let them somehow be protected from this calamity upon their vocation. This is Downtown Section 3rd Platoon on NewsRadio WHAM 1180. Welcome back. This is Downtown Section 3rd Platoon. Not to belabor the election issue, but you know, I'm a Republican and, uh, we got this year, 100% of our asses kicked. Um, in the state of New York, uh, it was the worst night for Republican candidates, uh, in 180 years, the New York state Senate has more Democrats right now than it, I mean, or will come January 1st than it has since 1846. Um, We had all those races where it had been since the 90s or the 80s or 90 years or whatever. Long, long time Republican strongholds got blown to smithereens by the election of Tuesday. And I don't argue with the will of the people. I believe in our system. I believe in our country. I believe in the judgment of my neighbors. I believe that our votes taken together provide the best path forward for our country. I look at the Republican Party in Monroe County, and I think that it's essentially non-existent. I look at Republican parties in our regional counties, and they look okay. I appreciate them. I look at the Republican Party for New York State, where Elise Stefanik and others have called for you know, we need new leadership, we need to rebuild the party. Mark Molinaro ran for governor in 2018, I think. He said this afternoon that the New York State Republican Party needs a giant enema. Maybe not the imagery I'd go for, but so the New York State Republican Party is not functional at this point. The 20-point beatdown of Bruce Blakeman by Kathy Hochul was about as big a wake-up call as you're going to get. The extinction event for the New York Republican Party was not Tuesday night. Realistically, we have to acknowledge that it probably happened some years ago. Some folks point to the war. Some folks point to affordability. Other folks point to Trump. You know, I can't fix the world, neither can you. But here's what I would say. to people around here. I happen to be a Republican. Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. Maybe you're an independent who votes Republican most of the time, or maybe you like Democrats or are a Democrat or whatever. We're all Americans. I'm good with you. I hope that you're good with me. If you do happen to be a Republican, though, I would say this. Nothing has changed. I mean, that might seem counterintuitive, but Nothing has changed. I believe what I believe. You believe what you believe. I will cast one vote next election day, as I have cast at all the prior election days. I will support things that support the things in which I believe. I will oppose the things which oppose the things in which I believe. I will look at new policies and proposals, be they from whichever party. based on the values I have relative to what government should or shouldn't do in our lives. I believe that government should be small. The people should be free. I believe that the Declaration of the Constitution should be held sacred and that there should be no deviation from either one. I believe that government should tax less, regulate less, and in most situations, simply get the hell out of the way. I love this country. I believe we are incredibly blessed to be here. I love its history and heritage and its founders and famous names. And people who would have us condemn this nation or its history, I think are full of crap. Right? I've had these same attitudes and opinions all of my life since I was a teenager. Nothing's changed. And I imagine that your beliefs are similar or at least similarly held probably likewise also for most of your life. We believe what we believe. We do what we do. We live how we live. And, you know, the world of politics is going to happen. I'm not in charge of that. You're not in charge of that. So, you know, we go forward and do what we can. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to try to stand for freedom as I understand it where I can. I think if we're to come up with a to-do list, we ought to more clearly and passionately and frequently understand remind the world what socialism is, what it means. You know, not just tell them about what was happening back in Cuba in the day or how many tens or hundreds of millions of people Chairman Mao starved or the incredible Holocaust, if you will, imposed by Stalin after World War II. I don't know if those stories work all so well. We've been telling them for quite a while, and there have just been more socialists all around us Maybe we ought to explain what socialism is and explain the impact it'll have on people living here and now about the things that they will have to surrender, the rights they will have to abandon, the property which will no longer be their own, the concept of you work to make your money which will no longer apply in their lives. We need to make more clear the fact that socialism is impossible without oppression. And that there is no true liberty in a socialist environment. Got to have those conversations, not condemningly, not mockingly, but seeking for the best ways to communicate effectively and understandably to people so that they might look at the circumstance and make a choice that I believe will end up being better for them and for our country. So, you know, I've been around a long time. They have elections where you win. They have elections where you lose. And You know, I like to think it's important that my guys win, but here's what I've noticed. When the other guys have won, the world didn't end. When my guys won, the world didn't end either. The world didn't end either way, right? And so we should always have hope. We should always have good cheer. We should always have gratitude. We're citizens of the United States of America, and we're free to believe what we believe, and we're free to cast our vote any way we will. And so are our neighbors. And to those who cast votes for these many Democrat candidates, I congratulate you. You had a great week. I hope you're still celebrating. And I pray that the people you put in office will be successful and that all of us will be better off as a result. And I hope that my friends, the Republicans, can get their ducks in a row and their house in order and all that other stuff and maybe get back in the game some of these elections sometime. From the banks of the mighty Genesee in Rochester, New York, this is downtown section 3rd platoon, and we are 10-7 on the night.