The Cats Roundtable NYC/Local Edition: First AUSA for NDNY John Sarcone, Bruce Blakeman and More

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This is the Cats Roundtable with John Katsimatidis.
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Everywhere around the world, they come to America. Every time
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that flag's unfurled, they come into America.
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Good morning, New York. This is the Cats Roundtable. John
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Katsimatidis here, Sunday morning. John Terrett, what's going on with
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the markets? George Borrello from upstate New York on the
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state of the state. Steve Phillip, New York City Partnership.
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And he's going to give us the state of the city.
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Bonnie Brady, well, those windmills. Let's see what Bonnie Brady
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has to say. Bruce Blakeman, running for governor in the
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state of New York. Steve Cates, Dr. Sky, New Jersey
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GOP chair. Christine Hanlon, Bernadette Castro. wants to put together
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women for Bruce Blakeman, Joseph Hernandez running for Comptroller of
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the State of New York, John Sarkone, the Assistant U.S.
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Attorney for the Northern District, and let's start off with
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Michael Stoller and the Real Estate Report.
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Good morning, this is Mike Stoller for the Stoller Real
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Estate Report. It's an unusual time when you would have
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a developer and his counsel together on a show. So
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today I have an interesting group of individuals. I have
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Eli Weiss, the developer, okay, and principal at Joy Construction.
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And then I also have the senior counsel, making him
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older than he is. I have the managing partner, at Goldberg, Webber, Finkel, Goldstein, LLP.
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Andy Obstein.
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Good morning.
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Good morning.
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So we were talking, it's interesting that the two of
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you work together and even own some properties together. So
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let's talk about the time today as compared to 40
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years ago, Andy, when you started in the business.
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All right.
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That's a very interesting question. First of all, thank you
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for having me this morning. I'm a fan of the show.
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I listen every week. It annoys my wife because of
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the early hour, but I've been married that long. I
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can get away with it.
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Right.
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I guess when I started, which was 40 years ago
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in real estate, maybe a little longer, the dream was
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always to own real estate for every American. Everybody either
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wanted to own a home. They wanted to own income-producing property.
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They always had some affinity or interest in real estate
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ownership as being satisfying the goals of growing up. And
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so people would come to me. They were buying a home.
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They would be buying a home in New York. They
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could be an out-of-state of buying a home in New York.
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They would come to me that they were buying rented property.
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Some came to me. They were developing property.
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I would.
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I would get a term sheet from a broker. I
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would call the lawyer for the seller if I was
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representing the buyer. I would go over to their office.
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We would have forms, fill it out, sign a contract
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in a matter of an hour or two hours. And
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the deal would happen usually without an issue. Now you
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go 40 years later and you have legislatures both at
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the city and the state that are attempting to do
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good good deeds. They're attempting to pass legislation that's going
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to help everyone. And there are unintended consequences.
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What do you mean unintended consequences?
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Every law, uh, the building still stands, but the economics
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of it, it changes the economics, changes development possibilities. It
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changes the income possibilities. Uh, it changes what an owner
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has to do in terms of ownership. And it becomes now, uh,
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a labyrinth of laws that have to be navigated and
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you can't just go and sign a contract. You have to,
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what we call due diligence. You have to look into
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the properties. You have to understand them, uh, very well,
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as well as the seller, if not much better. And
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you have to be prepared not only to deal with
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the new legislations, but you have to be prepared to
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deal with what may be new legislations. You have to
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consider it all. So I'm not only a contract lawyer, uh,
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I go through the economics, and at times I'm even
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a psychiatrist. I have to go through with the buyers
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all the possibilities, all the risks, and I have to
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try to get them in a state of comfort. Nothing
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is an easy transaction.
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Nothing is an easy transaction. Let's ask Eli his thoughts.
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You've been involved with the business over 25 years, okay,
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starting in the government. So let's talk from the perspective
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of the government coming through today. and then some of
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the work about the armory and others.
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Sure. So thanks again for having me.
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It's great to be here with Andy, his longtime friend, partner,
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trusted advisor, even surpasses my mother-in-law in terms of giving
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good advice. But to be very candid, I think Andy
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is 100% right. I think 40 or 50 years ago,
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real estate in general was a far less institutional business
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that seemed to be far less regulated and intertwined with legislations.
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I think you had a lot of people that just
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bought property, and there was only one direction that property
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only went up. People bought and held, and financing was
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far less complex. You went to a local bank, you
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shook somebody's hand, you went out for.
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A closing dinner, and that was the end of it.
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What's changed is, A, capital markets are far more sophisticated,
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and that makes capital stacks, raising money, the size of deals,
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the complexities of deals, infinitely more complicated than they were
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when I started. And I think Andy's 100% right. I
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think that today where capital is fungible, right? So when
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I grew up, people didn't really live in New York
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and do business overseas or live in New York and
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buy real estate in Arizona. It was very difficult to
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do that. Email, fax, all of that came much later.
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And so in today's world, local politics are a lot
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more important because back then, like I said, Things were
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much simpler, right? Capital stacks were simpler. Regulations were far
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less important. Now, in today's world, people are going out
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and buying assets all over, whether it be people from
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New York buying in the South, people in the.
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South looking to buy in New York.
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And as Andy said, when you have an environment like
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we do in New York that's highly regulated, and it's
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not just that it's highly regulated, it's also in flux, right?
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There have been big swings in policy.
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I think on some level, you have to just be
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honest and say that's going to impact the market. Not
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always adversely, but it's going to have much more of
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an impact than it did historically.
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So I'm going to have you back next week and
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we're going to continue this discussion.
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Thank you.
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Thanks for having us.
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Thanks very much.
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The Cats Roundtable.
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With us today is Bonnie Brady. You're representing a larger
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number of people now than ever before. Tell us who
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you represent.
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I am the policy director for the New England Fishermen's
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Stewardship Association. We represent commercial fishermen from New Jersey all
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the way up to Maine. In Washington right now, and
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what happened seven years ago, we lost a boat called
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the Mistress out of Rhode Island.
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And the guy doing the— he was on last week on
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our show last Sunday.
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Right, Mike Lombardi. He did the Green Oceans. They did
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a report, and they were able to find the— remains
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of the boat, the fishing vessel Mistress, 50 feet away
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from one of the jacket foundations.
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So it looks like that boat hit the windmill, and
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that's what crushed it and went down.
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You know, John, I'm not sure that that's the case.
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I happened to do the Freedom of Information Act call
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on the MISLA, it's called M-I-S-L-E, the Marine Report of
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the Coast Guard, when that boat went down in 2023.
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And what it did say in those documents, the search
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and rescue helicopter comes from Cape Cod, Air Station Cape Cod.
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It's an MH-60 Jayhawk. It went to the scene. And
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the only— they talked about low visibility. I think it was
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a ceiling of about 100 to 300 feet and wind.
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And the hazard they mentioned probably eight times in the report,
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wind turbines. Now, I went so far as to call
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a guy in Boston— After I got that report, someone
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who used to work as a helicopter pilot for the
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Coast Guard and did hundreds of search and rescue missions.
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And that person basically told me, we always fly when
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it's 1 to 300 visibility and the weather is crap.
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That's nothing new. That's standard operating procedure for us. You
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don't normally have problems in a bright, sunny day. Forget
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about that. The issue was very clearly the hazard of
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wind turbines. And John, you've heard me say this so
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many times, I'm sure you're ready to heave. Search and
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rescue doesn't work with wind turbines. You can't, the marine
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radar or any radar that would need to look into
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an area, especially at night when it's blowing 40 to
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50 miles an hour and you've got 10 to 15
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foot seas, you use something called your radar. And if
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your radar, which is a line of sight, just like
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an arrow pointing from wherever you are directly in front
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of you, hits a giant steel forest, or in this case, Five,
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only five turbines. and provides clutter or scatter so they
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can't just figure out what's what or where they're going.
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They aborted the mission, John. Now, what happened apparently when
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it started, because I read the report over and over again,
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They were taking on some water. They were heading back.
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The captain got both his son and his nephew down.
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got them in their Gumby suits, which are the orange suits,
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you know, for floating. They put out a mayday. He
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was below turbine two. He put out one more mayday,
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apparently closer to one. Now, remember, you've heard me say
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this too. When you have these giant turbines in the water,
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not only do they affect the wind because of the
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blades going across so that behind them there's less wind,
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but also in the water they create scour. Why? Because
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the water has current.
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It moves.
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So if you're in a boat and you are heading
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past this large metal thing in a huge storm, if
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the current's going in the direction of where that tower is,
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guess where your boat's going to go? I don't know
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if they hit it or not. We'd have to be
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able to try to find out from what's left down
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on that ocean floor. But the reality is they could
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have gotten pulled into the area. And if someone tried
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to turn the wheel quickly to get away because they
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knew they were like a almost like a rapid river ride.
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I've been on boats and you've been on boats. And
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if a big swell comes up. It could push you
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300 feet into it.
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Exactly.
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It could push you, or if you're trying to get
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away from it, what do you do? You turn the
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wheel hard, and with the boat already having issues with water,
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it could have rolled over. We know that the son
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who was up in the rigging trying to get the
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raft off of the boat got thrown into the rigging
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when the boat rolled. He never saw his father again, apparently.
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He never saw, according to the Coast Guard report, he
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never saw his cousin again. And he held on to
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some part of the boat until I guess it sank.
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At that point, they had a raft, the rescue raft,
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released from the boat. They've got something called a hydrostatic release.
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It releases, it adds air, and then it floats to
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the top. And he got in it. And a boat
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called the Captain Bly, about 30 minutes racing to the scene,
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they picked him up.
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That was it.
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He's a very lucky kid.
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Oh, he's an incredibly lucky kid. But I mean, my God,
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he lost his dad and he lost his cousin. And
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here we find out now, seven years later, the boat's
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right at Turbine One. But here's the part.
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There's a bigger investigation and we only have a minute
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or so left. The bigger investigation is who did those companies,
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the original companies, which included one of the countries, pay
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off in campaign funds to create those windmills?
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Well, here's part of the problem, though, John. They did
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maintenance as soon as April of 2019. We saw in
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the pictures in that report that was in The Washington Times,
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if anyone wants to go and look at it, where
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you can see the spud marks right next to that boat.
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Somebody knew. What did they know, and when did they
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know it? And the people involved, it was Deepwater Wind
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that then became Orsted. Danish, Kingdom of Denmark, 51% owned.
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Do you know why they probably didn't say a darn word?
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Because you would have had to have had people down
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there looking, the radar, the divers. They don't just find
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up anywhere and just stick their.
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So you think the incident happened in 2019 and what... In.
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April and in August, apparently they did maintenance work on
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that turbine. In order to do it, they take something
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called a jack-up vessel that's just like a giant 350,
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400-foot boat that basically is kind of on stilts. And
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what they do is they plant the stilts on the
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ocean floor, and then they jack up the boat so
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they can work on the turbine. They had to have
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known when they were putting that up, if that was
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near the boat, they had to have seen it. But
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why wouldn't they have told anyone, John? Because it would
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have screwed up all of the federal offshore wind lease
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areas if they knew that search and rescue could not
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be completed when you have a wind farm. And this
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is not just for fishermen. This is for anybody on
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a boat, whether you're a tanker, whether you're a yacht,
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whether you're a pilot, anybody.
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Bonnie, to be continued. You know why? This is important,
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and it's affecting our cost of electricity. It's affecting our
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national defense. Thank you so much.
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And it cost these people possibly their lives, John.
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Yes, and this is going to be continued. Thank you
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so much.
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Thank you so much. Thank you.
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Thank you for listening to the Cats Roundtable. We'll be
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right back right after this break. Welcome back to the
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Cats Roundtable.
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Hi.
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Calling in today is Senator George Borrello, New York State
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Senator from Chautauqua County. Well, Senator, where do you want
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to start?
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Well, John, first of all, whether it's Chautauqua County or
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whether it's New York City or anywhere in between, we're
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realizing now how much New York State overtaxes its citizens.
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In fact, the nonpartisan watchdog group, the Citizens Budget Commission,
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just found that New.
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York State local governments collecting on.
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Average about $ 12, 500 per person per year, which is the
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highest in the nation. It's even 22% higher than the
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state of California, which has a reputation for being high
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in taxes. So when, whether it's Governor Hochul or it's
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Zoram Amdani talk about taxing the rich, we're taxing everyone
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and well beyond.
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Any other state in the nation.
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And it's why we lead the nation in out-migration. More
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people leave New York State for places like New Jersey,
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not just Florida and Texas, but New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
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which are the top two states that people.
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Leave New York for.
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We need to have change. We need to put more
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money into people's pockets and less into this massive government
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overspending machine.
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You are in the state Senate. How is the state
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Senate going? Because you have checks and balances if you
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have the right numbers.
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Well, that's really what it's about.
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If you have looked, the last time.
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We had divided government, balanced government, when the Republicans were
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in charge in the New York State Senate, which ended
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at the beginning of 2019, is the last time we saw,
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quite frankly, responsible spending. Since then, the budget back then
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was about $ 170 billion with a B. Now, fast forward here, basically,
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seven budget cycles, and it's $ 277 billion. So you went
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from $ 170 to $ 277 billion under one-party Democrat rule. And
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in that period of time, we've also had a huge
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increase in fraud and abuse, particularly in Medicaid. Medicaid now
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consumes about half of New York State's budget, and there's
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been no appetite to actually address the fraud, waste.
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And abuse.
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And this is what common-sense folks like Tom DiNopoli, who's
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a fellow Democrat, has said about the fraud, waste, and
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abuse in programs like Medicaid.
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So this is not about we.
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Don't tax enough and we have to tax more. This
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is about New York State spending too much and not
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addressing the wastefulness in those programs like Medicaid.
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You know, we talked about that Florida was like $ 25
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billion that has more people than New York. And how
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did we get to $ 125 billion in New York?
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Well, again, because we've allowed these programs to grow out
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of control. First and foremost, we don't address the fraudulent
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part of Medicaid. And I'm not just talking about people
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that aren't eligible that are on Medicaid.
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That's certainly a big.
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Part of it.
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But I'm talking about the billions of dollars in fraudulent billing.
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That just isn't real.
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That you have providers that are billing for services that
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they're not providing. We saw recently an exposure of a
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program in Queens where a group has billed over $ 200
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million for what was supposed to be senior dayhab programs.
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That was a total fraud.
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There were something like 77 senior dayhab programs in like
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a two-mile radius in Queens, most of which were fraudulent.
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And yet we have an attorney general here in New York.
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State that rates last 50th out of 50 for convicting
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people of Medicaid fraud. So it's a perfect storm of fraud, waste,
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and abuse that has resulted in New York State taxing
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its citizens more than any other state in the nation.
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So we have to draw that.
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Line between waste, fraud, and abuse and the fact that
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we overtax our citizens, which is driving businesses and families
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out of New York State at a record pace.
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Is there anybody doing any checks and balances at all?
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Well, look, we try to call this out in the
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New York State Senate, in particular in.
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The Republican Conference. We've called out the fraud, waste, and abuse.
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Like I said, we've even had bipartisan support from Tom DiNapoli.
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And there are others that have called this out. But
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you need to have the political will to not just
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call it out, but for people to actually take action.
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And that's where we need.
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A change in leadership. particularly at the executive level.
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We need a.
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Strong executive branch that is willing to root out the fraud, waste,
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and abuse. And you have a federal government right now
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that's basically saying, we're not going to fund this anymore.
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My Democrat colleagues and Governor Hochul are wringing.
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Their hands over federal cuts, but what the federal government
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is saying is we're no longer going to.
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Borrow money to fund your fraudulent programs in New York State.
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That's coming to an end. So now it comes down
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to what are we going to do? Are we going
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to root out the fraud, waste, and abuse, or are
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you going to cut legitimate taxes?
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Claims out?
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Are you going to kick people off of programs like
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Medicaid that truly deserve it and need it because you're
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unwilling to address the fraud in the program? That's where
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we are in New York State now, and it's very concerning.
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Senator George Borrello, let's pray for common sense to prevail.
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Amen.
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The Cats Roundtable.
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Calling in right now is Bruce Blakeman, and he's traveling
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the city. He's traveling the state. Well, Bruce, how is
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it going this weekend?
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It's going terrific. There's a tremendous amount of enthusiasm. People
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are fed up with Kathy Hochul and her failed policies
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that have made everybody miserable. And they're really excited about
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a candidate. Who's going to save the state? And that's
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what my job is, to save this state. We're losing jobs.
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We're losing people. And our taxes are too high. Our
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utility bills are too high. And Kathy Hochul is the
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most pro-criminal governor in the whole United States of America.
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Well, you know, that I'm disturbed about, too, because the
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pension board, the pension board has let out, I forget
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how many.
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I guess, police killers. And that pension board, I'm very
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concerned about.
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You mean the parole board?
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The parole board.
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Yep.
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So what do you think?
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The parole board, appointed by Kathy Hochul, is letting out
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cop killers back into our communities. It's a disgrace. Everything
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Kathy Hochul does makes us less safe.
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Well, I'm concerned about it for our city and our
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state and the And it's just we want a safe
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city and a safe state for our kids and our grandkids. Well,
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you're traveling far and wide. Anything else you want to
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tell people on a Sunday morning?
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John, I just want to tell people that New York
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State deserves a governor that cares about them, that puts
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New Yorkers first. I'm not going to spend billions of
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dollars of your money on illegal migrants who claim asylum.
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And they just come into the state and they get
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free food, free housing, free transportation, their free cell phone.
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They haven't earned a thing. They get more benefits than
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New Yorkers. Think about this, John. If one of your
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listeners out there loses their job and they're a New Yorker,
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they get less benefits than somebody who comes into the state,
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claims asylum. Kathy Hochul gives them $ 81, 000 of free stuff.
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It's insane. And I'm going to stop it.
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Bruce Blakeman, good luck, and thank you for briefing all
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our listeners. We'll catch up with you again real soon.
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Thanks, John. God bless you, and God bless America.
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What is today is Joseph Hernandez, and he's a Republican
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candidate for New York State Comptroller. I just happened to
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see the debate a couple of days ago between Tom
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DiNapoli and Joseph Hernandez, and Tell us the differences between
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you and Tom and what you stand for and what
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he stands for and why you think you could do
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a better job.
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Well, thank you for having me, John. I really appreciate
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the opportunity. But I think, you know, we had a
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great discussion and debate earlier with Tom, and I think
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the things were very clear. We differentiated ourselves. I mean,
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I think he is... Somebody who's been there for 20
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years has been, in my opinion, institutionalized. Tom has never
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really had a real job in his life. He's been
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a career politician, has been a consulate for 20 years.
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So he's institutionalized. I bring a different perspective. I bring
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a business perspective. I bring somebody who's been on Wall Street.
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I built 12 companies. I brought a number of them public.
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I know about accountability. I know about rooting out inefficiencies
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and processes.
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And I know how to do audits.
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And I think the story is very different.
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We come from different worlds.
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And, you know, I think I highlighted my differences compared
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to his. And I would argue that I think I
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won the debate.
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I really do.
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And I think that's the consistent message here across the board.
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So I guess now the voters have to make a decision.
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I mean, a lot of people know Tom DiNapoli for
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a long time. He's been there for like 20 years.
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And you're very qualified, too. So how do the voters decide?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Look, I mean, look, I think you have to look
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at the numbers. The numbers never lie. Look, I come
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from a financial scientific world. You know, I have a
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degree in biostatistics. Numbers are the truth tellers in the process.
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And I think if you look at Tom's record, you know,
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he's been there. You know, our state budget when he
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when he came into power was one hundred and. $ 120,
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$ 140 billion. Now it's $ 277 billion, John. I mean, if
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we were a country, we would be number 13th on
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the expenditure ranks. We spend more money than Israel, more
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money than Sweden, more money than Poland, more money than Greece.
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And we're a state. We don't even have armies and
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navies around the world or embassies to support. You know, look,
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he's overseeing a government that's been bloated. You know, we
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have a debt obligation at the state level of $ 210 billion.
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Most people don't even know this. We pay $ 1. 3 billion
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in principal and interest a month. before we pay a
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police officer, before we pay a teacher, before we pay Vero.
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And I think we're in a fiscal crisis. And Tom
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has been... It's been on his watch that we're in
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this situation. And the comptroller has an obligation to make
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sure that we hold government accountable. We have crazy fraud
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and abuse in our system. Our Medicaid is one of
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the largest in the nation, $ 124 billion. 35% of the
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people in this state are on Medicaid. This is Tom's watch.
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And I think people are ready for No.
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I understand that. Joseph, I understand that. But I saw
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the debate and and he I thought his responsibility is
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just to control his responsibilities to make the most you
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can on return on investment for your for your portfolio.
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Well, look, he's got.
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Two major roles. The comptroller has two major roles. One
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is audit to make sure the government is being run
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efficiently and effectively and honest. I think he's failed that miserably.
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Last year, we only had nine cases being prosecuted on
485
00:26:01.930 --> 00:26:02.630
Medicaid fraud.
486
00:26:02.910 --> 00:26:03.190
Why?
487
00:26:03.490 --> 00:26:05.630
We have the largest budget in the nation on Medicaid.
488
00:26:05.650 --> 00:26:08.450
That doesn't sound realistic to me. That's the one thing.
489
00:26:08.470 --> 00:26:10.579
But in terms of returns, if you look at the
490
00:26:10.619 --> 00:26:14.039
pension funds, The pension fund, where he claims that last
491
00:26:14.099 --> 00:26:18.480
quarter the fund did really well, it did 6.2% return, which.
492
00:26:18.440 --> 00:26:19.640
Is not mediocre, by the way.
493
00:26:19.940 --> 00:26:21.819
But when you look at how the S & P did,
494
00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:23.990
when you look at how NASDAQ did, you know, NASDAQ
495
00:26:24.009 --> 00:26:27.390
performed 21% return. The S & P was 15% return.
496
00:26:27.990 --> 00:26:30.630
You know, the reality is the fund did not perform
497
00:26:30.670 --> 00:26:32.829
to where it should be, at the levels it should be.
498
00:26:33.390 --> 00:26:35.950
And for every dollar we pay out in pension benefits,
499
00:26:35.970 --> 00:26:37.500
which last year we paid about $ 17. 5 billion, 75 cents
500
00:26:37.539 --> 00:26:42.559
of that dollar comes in return. The rest of that
501
00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:46.240
money comes from taxpayers. So, look, he hasn't done a
502
00:26:46.259 --> 00:26:48.380
great job. I could do a better job. I think
503
00:26:48.420 --> 00:26:50.799
it's time for a change. Trump has been there for
504
00:26:50.839 --> 00:26:52.960
a long time. He's been furniture in Albany. We need
505
00:26:52.980 --> 00:26:55.039
somebody who's going to stand up for the taxpayers, and
506
00:26:55.079 --> 00:26:55.599
I'm that guy.
507
00:26:56.460 --> 00:26:59.220
Joseph Hernandez, thank you for coming on this Sunday morning,
508
00:26:59.299 --> 00:27:03.690
and good luck in what you do. We always wanted
509
00:27:03.829 --> 00:27:06.890
taxpayers to do a great job. Thank you so much.
510
00:27:07.769 --> 00:27:09.869
Thank you, John. I appreciate the opportunity. God bless.
511
00:27:10.089 --> 00:27:13.380
Cheers. Thank you for listening to the Catch Roundtable. We'll
512
00:27:13.420 --> 00:27:17.160
be right back right after this break. Welcome back to
513
00:27:17.180 --> 00:27:31.250
the Catch Roundtable. What is today is from the Department
514
00:27:31.269 --> 00:27:35.220
of Justice. The first assistant United States attorney, John Sarkone,
515
00:27:35.559 --> 00:27:39.420
from the Northern District of New York. John Sarkone, you
516
00:27:39.460 --> 00:27:45.269
had a great press conference on Friday afternoon, and you're
517
00:27:45.329 --> 00:27:48.210
trying to cut down on fraud going on in our country.
518
00:27:48.769 --> 00:27:49.390
Tell us about it.
519
00:27:50.069 --> 00:27:52.259
Yes, thank you, John, and thanks for having me on.
520
00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:54.319
It's always a pleasure to be with.
521
00:27:54.220 --> 00:27:55.160
You and your audience.
522
00:27:55.960 --> 00:28:00.960
We had the Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald came in
523
00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:05.430
from Washington, D.C. today to do this press conference with us.
524
00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:12.559
It is a stunning, stunning revelation of rampant fraud that
525
00:28:12.630 --> 00:28:17.279
was taking money away from impoverished people, from people in
526
00:28:17.339 --> 00:28:23.380
housing districts, from veterans, from homeless people, and into the
527
00:28:23.420 --> 00:28:29.690
tune of $ 13 million. And it spanned California, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland,
528
00:28:29.730 --> 00:28:35.450
North Carolina, Tennessee, New York, Texas, Wisconsin, Washington, Michigan, Massachusetts, Florida,
529
00:28:35.549 --> 00:28:36.230
and Ohio.
530
00:28:37.670 --> 00:28:38.599
And how were they doing it?
531
00:28:40.099 --> 00:28:46.750
They were stealing identities of people and applying for benefits
532
00:28:47.269 --> 00:28:55.599
under the federal programs, benefit plans. And they planned that
533
00:28:55.630 --> 00:29:01.559
they were transporting homeless people to shelters and transporting people
534
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:06.529
from the housing districts and HUD to their doctor's appointments.
535
00:29:07.269 --> 00:29:09.890
And they weren't doing any of that. They were bilking
536
00:29:09.910 --> 00:29:16.480
the system. They did collect almost $ 2 million. Of the
537
00:29:16.480 --> 00:29:19.500
$ 13 million, many of the banks realized there was some
538
00:29:19.539 --> 00:29:24.740
scam going on and didn't release the funds. But they
539
00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:29.869
got away with it, $ 1. 9 million, and they spent it lavishly.
540
00:29:31.509 --> 00:29:34.930
Understood. And how much of this is going on in
541
00:29:35.009 --> 00:29:35.490
our country?
542
00:29:37.250 --> 00:29:38.990
John, it's going on everywhere.
543
00:29:39.450 --> 00:29:39.829
This is where.
544
00:29:40.130 --> 00:29:45.880
I call the revolving door of public money fraud. This
545
00:29:45.910 --> 00:29:48.880
has been going on since the prior administration when they
546
00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:53.220
let loose and we had the invasion that came in.
547
00:29:53.539 --> 00:29:55.799
There was no money for any of that. So it
548
00:29:55.839 --> 00:29:57.480
just became a free for all. I mean, look what's
549
00:29:57.500 --> 00:30:01.940
going on in Minnesota, California, here in New York. There's
550
00:30:02.529 --> 00:30:05.990
It's now we have a president and an attorney general
551
00:30:06.289 --> 00:30:07.599
who are determined to stop it.
552
00:30:08.710 --> 00:30:14.710
Understood. I understood that because is the state attorney general's
553
00:30:14.769 --> 00:30:18.490
not doing anything or is the local DA's not doing anything?
554
00:30:20.190 --> 00:30:26.450
Well, let's say this. If these two individuals, now convicted felons,
555
00:30:27.369 --> 00:30:30.319
if this case was referred to the state and one
556
00:30:30.339 --> 00:30:33.000
of them is a Colombian citizen, they will have likely
557
00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:36.059
fled to Colombia. We'll probably never see them again.
558
00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:36.740
All right.
559
00:30:36.900 --> 00:30:39.029
And we don't have that here in the federal system.
560
00:30:39.049 --> 00:30:42.710
But New York, with its no bail, is it's the
561
00:30:42.750 --> 00:30:44.789
revolving door of crime. That's what I call it here
562
00:30:44.809 --> 00:30:46.990
in New York. So I'm glad that, by the way,
563
00:30:47.049 --> 00:30:50.990
I have to credit the state comptroller, Tom DiNapoli, and
564
00:30:51.029 --> 00:30:54.099
his office and his team for referring this to us.
565
00:30:54.920 --> 00:30:57.579
And we're going to continue to do great work together.
566
00:30:58.420 --> 00:31:02.990
Well, John Sarkone, thank you for getting this thing done
567
00:31:03.049 --> 00:31:06.150
and reducing the fraud in our country. And we'll talk
568
00:31:06.190 --> 00:31:06.950
to you again real soon.
569
00:31:07.589 --> 00:31:08.250
Thank you, John.
570
00:31:08.690 --> 00:31:11.910
Always a pleasure.
571
00:31:13.430 --> 00:31:17.769
New York City Partnership. And Steve Phillip is the CEO.
572
00:31:17.869 --> 00:31:21.990
And Steve, we're all very concerned about what's going on
573
00:31:22.029 --> 00:31:25.750
in our city and our state. And give us an update.
574
00:31:26.599 --> 00:31:29.559
Well, it's been a busy week, to say the least.
575
00:31:30.140 --> 00:31:33.240
You know, earlier in this week, Morgan Stanley announced that
576
00:31:33.339 --> 00:31:38.960
they have 3,800 jobs scaling up in Texas and talking
577
00:31:38.980 --> 00:31:41.900
about Dallas. Every job that's not in New York City
578
00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:44.799
is obviously a lost opportunity for us. So that's pretty
579
00:31:44.839 --> 00:31:47.099
significant because we've seen in the last couple of months,
580
00:31:47.460 --> 00:31:52.660
you know, Citadel, Goldman, JP Morgan, Apollo, all talking about
581
00:31:53.240 --> 00:31:56.619
the attraction in Texas. So bad for New York. got
582
00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:01.920
to fix that. Also this week, we saw a huge
583
00:32:02.019 --> 00:32:06.029
gift to Miami from Ken Griffin from Citadel, $ 3 billion.
584
00:32:06.329 --> 00:32:10.829
And what I like to people is that when people
585
00:32:10.890 --> 00:32:15.960
have second headquarters or second offices, the philanthropy doesn't double.
586
00:32:16.339 --> 00:32:19.210
It gets shared between different places. So You know, when
587
00:32:19.259 --> 00:32:21.279
Ken Griffin, who had a presence in New York City
588
00:32:21.299 --> 00:32:23.940
and a presence in Chicago, goes to Miami and gives
589
00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:26.039
that money, it's a loss for us. And then, of course,
590
00:32:26.079 --> 00:32:28.099
we have some news around the DSA and some stuff
591
00:32:28.119 --> 00:32:29.019
that The Post reported.
592
00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:33.690
Understood. Now, I understand you spoke to the mayor the
593
00:32:33.730 --> 00:32:36.809
other day. There was concerns that you had and your
594
00:32:36.849 --> 00:32:43.490
members had that they're going to target certain executives with
595
00:32:43.539 --> 00:32:46.660
social media. And you had a good conversation, I understand,
596
00:32:46.680 --> 00:32:47.099
with the mayor.
597
00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:52.859
Yeah, I mean, look, the Post reported that there's a
598
00:32:53.059 --> 00:32:59.609
deliberate effort of the DSA, so the Democratic Socialists, to
599
00:33:00.170 --> 00:33:05.670
single out individual CEOs by name and start disparaging campaigns
600
00:33:05.730 --> 00:33:11.779
about them. And it sounded like a very extraordinary step
601
00:33:11.920 --> 00:33:15.359
in a negative way. especially when you think about the
602
00:33:15.380 --> 00:33:19.319
assassination of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. We're in an environment
603
00:33:19.339 --> 00:33:23.019
with a lot of mental illness. And, of course, there's
604
00:33:23.059 --> 00:33:25.940
more political violence. So I reached out to the mayor,
605
00:33:26.130 --> 00:33:32.309
to his political director, to his comms director, and we
606
00:33:32.329 --> 00:33:36.109
all connected. And they said it wasn't true. And so
607
00:33:36.150 --> 00:33:39.519
you take him at his word. And you stay vigilant
608
00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:42.339
and watchful, but you've got to take him at his
609
00:33:42.380 --> 00:33:45.240
word because nothing happened yet. Just the Post reported that
610
00:33:45.259 --> 00:33:46.039
that was his intention.
611
00:33:46.769 --> 00:33:49.200
Well, I'm happy that you got the truth out because, hey,
612
00:33:50.170 --> 00:33:52.089
some of us have to get the truth out versus
613
00:33:52.190 --> 00:33:54.109
just fake news and rumors.
614
00:33:55.329 --> 00:33:58.990
Yeah, I mean, look, I think that any time that
615
00:33:59.029 --> 00:34:01.970
you would single out an executive by name, it goes
616
00:34:02.049 --> 00:34:07.140
beyond the pale of disagreement about a policy. In many ways,
617
00:34:07.180 --> 00:34:10.480
you'd be inciting violence and actions that could be really
618
00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:13.110
harmful and scary. So, you know, I thought it was
619
00:34:13.139 --> 00:34:17.329
appropriate to reach out directly. And they said that there's
620
00:34:17.369 --> 00:34:20.110
no validity to that. So, you know, let's take them
621
00:34:20.130 --> 00:34:20.510
at his word.
622
00:34:21.550 --> 00:34:23.650
I agree with you. Anything else you want to tell
623
00:34:23.690 --> 00:34:24.289
all New Yorkers?
624
00:34:25.369 --> 00:34:28.909
No, I think it's been another busy week here. Every
625
00:34:28.949 --> 00:34:33.010
week is an eventful week. This one was particularly eventful.
626
00:34:33.610 --> 00:34:35.389
But we'll see what the new week brings.
627
00:34:36.030 --> 00:34:38.530
Well, we have elections coming up in a few weeks.
628
00:34:39.309 --> 00:34:42.809
And I guess the truth is, I don't know what
629
00:34:42.829 --> 00:34:45.929
the pulse of things are. But all I want is
630
00:34:45.969 --> 00:34:48.610
common sense in our city, in our state. And all
631
00:34:48.650 --> 00:34:51.429
I want is safety for our kids and our grandkids.
632
00:34:52.489 --> 00:34:52.969
I agree.
633
00:34:52.989 --> 00:34:53.769
I agree.
634
00:34:54.230 --> 00:34:54.949
Thank you so much.
635
00:34:55.570 --> 00:34:57.340
Thanks.
636
00:34:58.139 --> 00:35:03.050
Calling in Bernadette Castro. She worked for Governor Pataki. for
637
00:35:03.050 --> 00:35:07.219
12 years. Well, Bernadette Castro, I still remember the day
638
00:35:07.239 --> 00:35:09.760
you were pulling out that Castro convertible.
639
00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:11.880
I love it, John. And I grew up with a
640
00:35:11.980 --> 00:35:15.199
lot of New Yorkers. And listen, I did work for
641
00:35:15.239 --> 00:35:18.139
Pataki for 12 years, day in and day out. And
642
00:35:18.179 --> 00:35:21.340
I know what a good governor looks like. Bruce Blakeman
643
00:35:21.449 --> 00:35:24.650
will be that kind of governor. We need that desperately.
644
00:35:25.650 --> 00:35:29.699
He knows that pocketbooks are hurting. Budgets are hurting. He's
645
00:35:29.739 --> 00:35:33.880
going to lower utility bills. What he did in Nassau County,
646
00:35:34.340 --> 00:35:37.139
as county exec for five years, he's in year five,
647
00:35:37.780 --> 00:35:42.360
he not only didn't raise taxes, he killed $ 150 million
648
00:35:42.519 --> 00:35:47.130
of planned new taxes. He killed them. You know, this
649
00:35:47.210 --> 00:35:50.150
is a governor who gets it. You know, of course he's,
650
00:35:50.289 --> 00:35:53.510
you know, for women's rights. You know, he's a moderate Republican.
651
00:35:53.570 --> 00:35:58.800
He's pro-choice. He's fiscally conservative, but he's socially inclusive. He's
652
00:35:58.900 --> 00:36:02.929
exactly the kind of governor Pataki was. He will be that.
653
00:36:03.469 --> 00:36:07.250
And we need that desperately. He believes in law enforcement.
654
00:36:07.389 --> 00:36:09.670
He hired more cops in Nassau County.
655
00:36:10.230 --> 00:36:10.530
Why?
656
00:36:10.909 --> 00:36:14.489
Because he was on the Port Authority board when we
657
00:36:14.530 --> 00:36:18.510
were attacked on 9-11. All right? He's ready to be governor.
658
00:36:19.269 --> 00:36:21.230
You know, I just want people to do one thing
659
00:36:21.269 --> 00:36:22.889
for me. Get to the polls.
660
00:36:23.550 --> 00:36:24.659
Take other people.
661
00:36:25.320 --> 00:36:29.170
He's going to win this race. because of unlikely voters
662
00:36:29.849 --> 00:36:32.300
getting their butts out of the House and going to
663
00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:32.699
the polls.
664
00:36:33.079 --> 00:36:38.059
So, Bernadette Castro, you're looking at Bruce Blakeman as another
665
00:36:38.380 --> 00:36:42.079
George Pataki, and George Pataki did a great job for
666
00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:42.599
12 years.
667
00:36:43.579 --> 00:36:46.449
He was a moderate Republican. He was perfect.
668
00:36:47.150 --> 00:36:50.530
He did so much for so many different entities in
669
00:36:50.570 --> 00:36:53.329
New York, whether it was the environment, whether it was
670
00:36:53.409 --> 00:36:56.000
law enforcement, and he was governor during 9-11.
671
00:36:57.409 --> 00:37:00.090
And you did a great job taking care of the
672
00:37:00.150 --> 00:37:02.269
parks departments for 12 years.
673
00:37:03.289 --> 00:37:05.949
Right, because I had the support of a green Republican,
674
00:37:06.309 --> 00:37:09.409
which Bruce Blakeman is. But let me tell you something
675
00:37:09.429 --> 00:37:12.650
about early voting. Get out and early vote and then
676
00:37:12.829 --> 00:37:19.389
start taking friends, senior citizens, people to vote. If we
677
00:37:19.429 --> 00:37:21.650
get out the vote, Blakeman's going to win this thing.
678
00:37:22.369 --> 00:37:24.659
We're not going to win it by us talking about it.
679
00:37:24.670 --> 00:37:27.750
We're going to win it by getting out starting October 24th,
680
00:37:27.849 --> 00:37:31.570
a Saturday. You can early vote. So there's no excuse.
681
00:37:31.809 --> 00:37:35.070
You've got eight days to vote. And that's really important.
682
00:37:36.050 --> 00:37:38.789
What has he done for women, girls' sports, women's sports
683
00:37:38.869 --> 00:37:41.590
in Nassau County? What he said is if you're going
684
00:37:41.610 --> 00:37:47.000
to compete on a Nassau County athletic field or facility
685
00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:50.599
in a girls' or women's sports, you have to be
686
00:37:50.699 --> 00:37:55.239
born a female. No transgender. I have a daughter and
687
00:37:55.280 --> 00:37:58.820
granddaughters that played ice hockey in college. They would never
688
00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:03.840
have been able to compete against transgender players. So what
689
00:38:03.880 --> 00:38:07.940
he did for women's sports, he will continue that fight.
690
00:38:08.900 --> 00:38:13.880
In addition, he founded the first breast cancer resource center
691
00:38:13.980 --> 00:38:17.079
in Nassau County. So this is a governor who gets
692
00:38:17.159 --> 00:38:21.139
the economy. He gets the rights of women, the rights
693
00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:22.780
of people that want to say, I don't want to
694
00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:25.880
pay these utility bills. I don't want to move to
695
00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:29.159
Florida when I retire. I want to stay near my grandchildren.
696
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:33.480
Bruce Blakeman gets it. So, John, I'm telling you, I'm
697
00:38:33.500 --> 00:38:37.760
working hard for him. And everyone listening, you don't have
698
00:38:37.800 --> 00:38:41.050
to give big money. Little money is fine, but you
699
00:38:41.090 --> 00:38:41.730
need to vote.
700
00:38:42.920 --> 00:38:45.539
And what's the website to go to on that?
701
00:38:46.460 --> 00:38:50.360
It's just Blakeman for New York, Blakeman for governor. You
702
00:38:50.380 --> 00:38:53.389
can Google anything you want with Bruce Blakeman's name and
703
00:38:53.429 --> 00:38:56.070
you'll get to the website and you'll be able to
704
00:38:56.150 --> 00:38:59.469
donate and you'll be able to read about his policies,
705
00:38:59.510 --> 00:39:02.110
which you're going to love. So this is a guy
706
00:39:02.190 --> 00:39:05.349
with a good track record. I have known him for
707
00:39:05.530 --> 00:39:09.769
decades as a person and I have been impressed. And
708
00:39:09.829 --> 00:39:14.139
Governor Pataki has endorsed him. I really hope your listeners
709
00:39:14.480 --> 00:39:18.039
will just motivate themselves, give a little if they can,
710
00:39:18.619 --> 00:39:21.739
for sure get out and vote. Take others to vote.
711
00:39:22.260 --> 00:39:25.150
Take two people to the polls one day. Take another
712
00:39:25.250 --> 00:39:25.889
one another day.
713
00:39:25.929 --> 00:39:26.710
You've got eight days.
714
00:39:26.769 --> 00:39:30.730
Understood. Bernadette Castro, Women for Black Lives Matter. thank you
715
00:39:30.750 --> 00:39:33.070
for coming on, and we'll catch up with you again
716
00:39:33.110 --> 00:39:34.369
real soon. Thank you so much.
717
00:39:34.409 --> 00:39:34.909
Thank you.
718
00:39:35.369 --> 00:39:35.769
Bye-bye.
719
00:39:35.869 --> 00:39:36.329
Thank you.
720
00:39:36.530 --> 00:39:39.409
Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Catch Roundtable.
721
00:39:39.750 --> 00:39:43.489
We'll be right back right after this break. Welcome back
722
00:39:43.530 --> 00:39:44.579
to the Catch Roundtable.
723
00:39:44.599 --> 00:39:45.739
We'll be right back.
724
00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:57.980
Well, this is our good friend, Steve Cates, also known
725
00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:02.460
as Dr. Sky. He's on every Friday night of Saturday
726
00:40:02.539 --> 00:40:06.699
morning from 12 midnight to 2 and Saturday night, Sunday
727
00:40:06.780 --> 00:40:11.050
morning from 12 to 2. Well, Steve Cates, tell us
728
00:40:11.090 --> 00:40:13.170
what's going on in outer space.
729
00:40:14.030 --> 00:40:16.409
Well, good morning, John, and to the listeners, happy October.
730
00:40:17.079 --> 00:40:19.980
One big news story, John, that starts our conversation on
731
00:40:20.059 --> 00:40:24.440
Sunday is strange signals coming from a star some 69
732
00:40:24.440 --> 00:40:27.860
light years away. And what's so unusual about this, John,
733
00:40:28.429 --> 00:40:32.010
is that we have never detected this particular story. And
734
00:40:32.070 --> 00:40:36.670
what is the story? We know now there are about 6,000 exoplanets.
735
00:40:36.809 --> 00:40:40.949
These are planets discovered about other stars. And one in particular,
736
00:40:41.150 --> 00:40:45.190
it's a constellation called Pictoris in the southern hemisphere. The
737
00:40:45.210 --> 00:40:49.960
star Beta Pictoris is has a strange exoplanet, how creative,
738
00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:54.659
Beta Pictoris B. And radio astronomers, John, have detected some
739
00:40:54.699 --> 00:40:58.130
sort of radio transmission coming from it. What makes it unusual?
740
00:40:58.849 --> 00:41:02.969
No exoplanet has ever sent radio signals. So the astronomers
741
00:41:03.050 --> 00:41:06.090
put their thinking caps on, and they believe that the
742
00:41:06.130 --> 00:41:10.030
causation of this, like Jupiter, like the Earth, we have
743
00:41:10.070 --> 00:41:13.929
auroras that are created by powerful radiation storms. And they
744
00:41:13.989 --> 00:41:17.909
simply think, may not be aliens per se, obviously, but
745
00:41:17.929 --> 00:41:21.769
that out there in the distant universe, 69 light years away,
746
00:41:22.449 --> 00:41:25.679
we're first detecting a tiny little object that far away,
747
00:41:26.199 --> 00:41:29.599
and we separated the star's energy from that of the planet.
748
00:41:30.280 --> 00:41:32.659
I give kudos to the astronomers who've been able to
749
00:41:32.960 --> 00:41:36.480
slice the pie, as they say, and detect these strange signals.
750
00:41:36.619 --> 00:41:37.179
It's amazing.
751
00:41:37.969 --> 00:41:40.710
Why all of a sudden they come up with these strange...
752
00:41:40.429 --> 00:41:43.750
I mean, it's... Is there a reason? Who did it?
753
00:41:43.889 --> 00:41:45.190
NASA did it? Who did it?
754
00:41:45.969 --> 00:41:49.039
No, it's actually a radio telescope, John, in South Africa.
755
00:41:49.539 --> 00:41:52.719
And they have 64 of these big, gigantic dishes. You know,
756
00:41:52.739 --> 00:41:55.780
the days when people, well, some still do depend on
757
00:41:55.820 --> 00:41:59.320
their satellite transmissions, but from the ground to space. What
758
00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:02.019
makes this unusual, and I find it very, very strange,
759
00:42:02.579 --> 00:42:05.369
is that when we look at a star that far away,
760
00:42:05.989 --> 00:42:08.090
and that we're now able to determine that it's not
761
00:42:08.150 --> 00:42:11.590
the star, so precision, it's like looking under the microscope,
762
00:42:12.250 --> 00:42:15.989
We've detected these strange signals, but obviously many people believe
763
00:42:16.010 --> 00:42:19.150
that it could be extraterrestrial life. But in this case,
764
00:42:19.409 --> 00:42:22.170
the Great Mirror Telescope, they call it in South Africa,
765
00:42:22.849 --> 00:42:26.179
has done something I find very, very unusual, John. So
766
00:42:26.219 --> 00:42:28.820
it means that many of these planets that are bound
767
00:42:28.880 --> 00:42:31.400
out in the solar system and out into the universe,
768
00:42:32.059 --> 00:42:36.280
they may also have similarities to even closer planets. The
769
00:42:36.300 --> 00:42:38.500
beat goes on. The discovery is interesting.
770
00:42:38.920 --> 00:42:39.340
Understood.
771
00:42:40.159 --> 00:42:42.519
We talk about something else, John. This is fascinating. On
772
00:42:42.559 --> 00:42:47.800
this date, 69 years ago, we began the space program. Now,
773
00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:50.670
I was just a one-year-old running around, I guess, in Jamaica,
774
00:42:50.710 --> 00:42:53.550
New York, and this was the Sputnik launch. But let's
775
00:42:53.590 --> 00:42:55.610
talk about one of the great things that just happened
776
00:42:55.630 --> 00:43:00.010
last week. SpaceX launched Starship 14. This is the most
777
00:43:00.070 --> 00:43:03.570
powerful rocket, John, in the entire world, 16 million pounds
778
00:43:03.610 --> 00:43:06.780
of thrust. This time, they wanted to put the spacecraft
779
00:43:06.880 --> 00:43:09.380
on top which is the craft that hopefully will go
780
00:43:09.400 --> 00:43:12.199
to the moon and Mars, to go into orbit around
781
00:43:12.219 --> 00:43:14.739
the Earth. It's a very difficult thing to do. One
782
00:43:14.760 --> 00:43:17.099
of the engines on the Starship failed, so they didn't
783
00:43:17.119 --> 00:43:19.800
get to do 10 orbits. But they deployed, get a
784
00:43:19.820 --> 00:43:24.860
look at this, brand-new, much larger Starlink satellites called V3s.
785
00:43:25.360 --> 00:43:27.699
So they succeeded in that, but they have a long
786
00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:30.239
way to go, John. I think you would agree, before
787
00:43:30.300 --> 00:43:32.940
we can now determine that we can send astronauts on
788
00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:36.050
that particular craft. This is the 14th time that they've
789
00:43:36.090 --> 00:43:39.920
launched it. Great success that they've had. But all these
790
00:43:39.980 --> 00:43:42.780
things in space can be very dangerous, and they simply
791
00:43:42.800 --> 00:43:43.280
take a lot.
792
00:43:43.340 --> 00:43:46.510
So it's the 14th time. How many cases did they
793
00:43:46.550 --> 00:43:47.280
have a problem?
794
00:43:48.469 --> 00:43:51.530
Well, they had engine problem on the Starship rocket. So
795
00:43:51.550 --> 00:43:53.570
they were going to orbit 10 times, as I said,
796
00:43:53.610 --> 00:43:56.909
the Earth. But no, they decided they would shorten the mission.
797
00:43:57.489 --> 00:44:00.309
But the goal was to get that spacecraft into orbit.
798
00:44:00.829 --> 00:44:04.210
And they released, as I said, these new satellites. Starship
799
00:44:04.210 --> 00:44:07.630
14 is a great success. It's amazing, John. Just think
800
00:44:07.670 --> 00:44:10.010
about 50 years ago when we started to talk about
801
00:44:10.050 --> 00:44:13.469
the beginning of the space program 69 years ago. We
802
00:44:13.489 --> 00:44:15.840
still have a long way to go. And obviously, let's
803
00:44:15.880 --> 00:44:18.199
not rush landing on the moon and going to Mars
804
00:44:18.719 --> 00:44:21.840
until we can perfect this particular spacecraft. But they have
805
00:44:22.019 --> 00:44:22.760
a long.
806
00:44:22.579 --> 00:44:25.179
Way to go before we go to warp speed. I understand.
807
00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:28.539
Absolutely, John. And speaking of that, here's something interesting in
808
00:44:28.579 --> 00:44:30.900
my mind. The mystery of the week. What is the
809
00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:34.469
Stirling engine? And why is it called by some the
810
00:44:34.510 --> 00:44:39.159
Star Drive? This is amazing. In 1816, a British clergyman,
811
00:44:39.260 --> 00:44:43.579
Robert Stirling, developed this engine called the closed cycle external
812
00:44:43.639 --> 00:44:46.409
combustion engine. Sounds like a lot of words. What is it?
813
00:44:47.079 --> 00:44:49.699
It's a fixed amount of gas which expands when hot
814
00:44:49.760 --> 00:44:53.699
and contracts when cold and pushes a piston, much different
815
00:44:53.719 --> 00:44:56.860
than this type of gas engines that we use today.
816
00:44:57.619 --> 00:45:00.570
And it's now used, John, on some nuclear submarines around
817
00:45:00.590 --> 00:45:03.650
the world. And this technology that NASA is working on
818
00:45:03.690 --> 00:45:06.480
and other space agencies is They're going to deploy the
819
00:45:06.539 --> 00:45:12.739
Sterling engine concept to rocket propulsion, nuclear rocket propulsion, and
820
00:45:12.760 --> 00:45:16.110
maybe then, John, we'll get closer to the warp drive
821
00:45:16.150 --> 00:45:19.510
concept that we watch and see on so many science
822
00:45:19.550 --> 00:45:22.650
fiction shows. And, John, we wish everybody the best for
823
00:45:22.690 --> 00:45:25.590
a happy Sunday. Always remind them to keep their eyes
824
00:45:25.650 --> 00:45:29.150
to the skies and appreciate them tuning in to the Dr.
825
00:45:29.170 --> 00:45:32.409
Sky experience, as you mentioned at the top of this broadcast.
826
00:45:32.880 --> 00:45:34.860
Thank you so much, and we'll catch up again real soon.
827
00:45:35.489 --> 00:45:36.090
Thank you, Joe.
828
00:45:37.150 --> 00:45:38.389
The Cats Roundtable.
829
00:45:39.590 --> 00:45:44.750
With us today is Christine Hanlon, the New Jersey GOP chair. Well, Christine,
830
00:45:45.050 --> 00:45:47.230
so many things are happening in New Jersey. You had
831
00:45:47.269 --> 00:45:51.929
the resignation of your lieutenant governor. Would you give us
832
00:45:51.989 --> 00:45:53.510
an update what the heck is going on?
833
00:45:54.150 --> 00:45:58.730
Yes, it's quite unbelievable that we already have a major
834
00:45:58.789 --> 00:46:04.070
failure of the Sherrill administration with the resignation of our governor.
835
00:46:04.619 --> 00:46:08.239
Lieutenant Governor, who just took office not that long ago,
836
00:46:08.260 --> 00:46:12.480
this is a debacle, one of many messes that has
837
00:46:12.659 --> 00:46:16.289
been going on in the Sherrill administration, and this is
838
00:46:16.369 --> 00:46:17.389
the latest example.
839
00:46:18.190 --> 00:46:22.929
There was rumors that he mishandled certain things. Then there's
840
00:46:23.750 --> 00:46:27.670
other rumors that they didn't want him around because he
841
00:46:27.710 --> 00:46:30.400
had certain allegations that he was making. Do you know
842
00:46:30.420 --> 00:46:31.460
anything about any of that?
843
00:46:31.519 --> 00:46:35.400
Yeah, I mean, this has been really lately looking like
844
00:46:35.460 --> 00:46:39.329
a he said, she said. We got wind a couple
845
00:46:39.349 --> 00:46:41.929
of weeks ago. It was reported in the New Jersey
846
00:46:41.969 --> 00:46:47.469
Globe that there was a month-long investigation behind closed doors,
847
00:46:47.530 --> 00:46:50.389
hidden from the public, of the lieutenant governor for certain
848
00:46:50.989 --> 00:46:58.719
ethics violations and inappropriate behavior with women. That was being
849
00:46:58.760 --> 00:47:05.449
investigated by the administration. This is all being done in secret.
850
00:47:05.750 --> 00:47:08.570
The public was not aware. And while this was going on,
851
00:47:08.610 --> 00:47:12.630
the governor left the state to go campaign for democratic
852
00:47:13.010 --> 00:47:16.730
congressional candidates all over the country. And here we had
853
00:47:16.809 --> 00:47:21.070
somebody who was under investigation without the public being aware
854
00:47:21.610 --> 00:47:27.300
without people in the workplace being aware. of allegations of
855
00:47:27.559 --> 00:47:33.320
misconduct toward women and these ethics type violations. Once it
856
00:47:33.360 --> 00:47:36.699
was leaked to the public, all of a sudden things changed.
857
00:47:36.780 --> 00:47:38.539
You know, the governor was like, oh, I'm going to
858
00:47:38.579 --> 00:47:42.360
take this seriously and I'm not going to travel. But meanwhile,
859
00:47:42.820 --> 00:47:46.000
for months she was traveling and leaving the lieutenant governor
860
00:47:46.619 --> 00:47:51.820
in charge. He has been fighting these accusations saying, you know,
861
00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:56.300
it's not accurate. But the other day she said, oh, hey,
862
00:47:56.349 --> 00:47:59.550
we have this court and I want you to resign. Now,
863
00:47:59.570 --> 00:48:03.639
mind you, the NJGOP two weeks ago called on him
864
00:48:03.699 --> 00:48:06.980
to resign. And then I guess the governor followed suit
865
00:48:07.059 --> 00:48:10.699
just the other day, demanding that he resign. And within
866
00:48:10.699 --> 00:48:14.699
24 hours, even though he said he wasn't going to resign,
867
00:48:15.039 --> 00:48:17.519
he then resigned last Friday.
868
00:48:17.579 --> 00:48:20.639
Are you saying that the New Jersey GOP was calling
869
00:48:20.699 --> 00:48:21.530
on him to resign, too?
870
00:48:22.369 --> 00:48:25.030
We did several weeks ago, as soon as we found
871
00:48:25.170 --> 00:48:29.010
out about the investigation and the allegation. Now, mind you,
872
00:48:29.030 --> 00:48:34.599
this whole thing was a failure of the governor's office because,
873
00:48:34.760 --> 00:48:38.699
you know, they picked him as the candidate, perhaps didn't
874
00:48:38.780 --> 00:48:44.019
vet adequately enough. But once we heard the seriousness of
875
00:48:44.059 --> 00:48:48.159
the allegations, we called on him to resign and The
876
00:48:48.199 --> 00:48:51.750
governor at that time was like, I can't speak about
877
00:48:51.929 --> 00:48:56.789
ongoing investigations, etc. And then two weeks later, she then
878
00:48:57.130 --> 00:48:58.090
asked him to resign.
879
00:48:59.429 --> 00:49:02.349
What else is happening in New Jersey? Anything else? Anything good?
880
00:49:02.909 --> 00:49:06.650
Well, we are fighting really hard to keep control of Congress,
881
00:49:06.730 --> 00:49:09.650
as you know. We have some really big races here
882
00:49:09.670 --> 00:49:14.000
in New Jersey. Biggest race is congressional district seven, which
883
00:49:14.079 --> 00:49:17.360
is Congressman Tom King Jr. We are fighting to keep
884
00:49:17.429 --> 00:49:21.599
that seat in Republican hands. The road to keeping control
885
00:49:21.880 --> 00:49:26.059
in Congress runs right through Congressional District 7 in New Jersey.
886
00:49:26.360 --> 00:49:28.579
I know there's some really important races in New York
887
00:49:28.739 --> 00:49:34.159
that we're fighting to keep our Republican congressional members in office.
888
00:49:34.769 --> 00:49:37.349
And we're doing that here, too, in New Jersey. It's
889
00:49:37.489 --> 00:49:40.820
an important election cycle. We need everyone to get out
890
00:49:40.889 --> 00:49:43.869
and vote, keep Tom King Jr. in office. He's a
891
00:49:43.929 --> 00:49:47.769
great congressman, really has served his district well, and we
892
00:49:47.809 --> 00:49:51.070
are fighting and putting a lot of resources into that
893
00:49:51.150 --> 00:49:52.969
race to make sure we keep that seat.
894
00:49:53.530 --> 00:49:55.449
Thank you so much for coming on this Sunday morning.
895
00:49:56.170 --> 00:49:56.960
Thanks for having me.
896
00:50:04.800 --> 00:50:07.800
This is John Terry to tell us how the markets
897
00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:10.400
have done and what they're going to do. What do
898
00:50:10.420 --> 00:50:13.210
we have to look forward to? John Terry, give us
899
00:50:13.269 --> 00:50:13.710
a report.
900
00:50:14.539 --> 00:50:16.500
Well, you know, Joel, it's really funny because actually the
901
00:50:16.539 --> 00:50:19.019
markets were on a bit of a wild ride last week.
902
00:50:19.119 --> 00:50:20.980
But if you look at the NASDAQ and the S
903
00:50:20.980 --> 00:50:23.619
& P 500, even if they're down, they're actually not
904
00:50:23.699 --> 00:50:26.219
that far away from their all-time highs.
905
00:50:26.239 --> 00:50:27.260
Of course, the big.
906
00:50:27.159 --> 00:50:29.000
Story of last week came on Friday when we had
907
00:50:29.019 --> 00:50:30.929
the government jobs report for the month of September, the
908
00:50:30.969 --> 00:50:35.769
so-called non-farms. Only 29,000 jobs added in the month of September.
909
00:50:35.829 --> 00:50:40.090
Not the 90,000 economists have been expecting. Unemployment rate up
910
00:50:40.130 --> 00:50:44.809
to 4.2% from 4.1%. Average hourly earnings up just one-tenth
911
00:50:45.030 --> 00:50:47.750
of 1%. Now, the thing is, the markets rose on
912
00:50:47.789 --> 00:50:50.250
that news because when you combine it with other data
913
00:50:50.289 --> 00:50:53.010
that's been coming in, it's all looking pretty good when
914
00:50:53.050 --> 00:50:56.190
it comes to the next Fed meeting. For example, yesterday,
915
00:50:56.230 --> 00:50:59.070
the weekly jobless, or rather on Thursday, the weekly jobless numbers,
916
00:50:59.369 --> 00:51:01.909
they came in about 1,000 lower than had been anticipated.
917
00:51:02.300 --> 00:51:05.139
And PCE, which is the Fed's preferred measure of inflation,
918
00:51:05.239 --> 00:51:08.440
personal consumption, and expenditure, the core, which you get when
919
00:51:08.460 --> 00:51:11.360
you take out food and energy of that, was 3%.
920
00:51:11.360 --> 00:51:13.260
And all of this takes the pressure off the Fed
921
00:51:13.300 --> 00:51:15.159
to raise rates when they meet again on the 27th
922
00:51:15.920 --> 00:51:18.900
and the 28th of this month. Company news this week,
923
00:51:18.920 --> 00:51:20.619
a couple of stories that really stood out to me.
924
00:51:21.139 --> 00:51:23.829
The Walt Disney Company cutting hundreds of jobs at its
925
00:51:23.889 --> 00:51:27.130
TV stations, its network, and I think at ESPN as well.
926
00:51:27.389 --> 00:51:30.269
And what's interesting about this is that Disney makes regular
927
00:51:30.329 --> 00:51:33.610
cuts to its television divisions as well and other divisions.
928
00:51:33.650 --> 00:51:35.840
They've been laying off a lot of people in recent history.
929
00:51:36.159 --> 00:51:38.340
The Disney shares were more or less unchanged, but they
930
00:51:38.380 --> 00:51:40.840
were up a bit. And then Mattel, the giant toy
931
00:51:40.880 --> 00:51:44.119
company in California responsible for Barbie and American Girl and
932
00:51:44.199 --> 00:51:47.340
Hot Wheels. It was said by the Wall Street Journal
933
00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:49.980
midweek that Mattel is the subject of a takeover bid
934
00:51:50.019 --> 00:51:53.730
by authentic brands. Well, Mattel stock rose by about 18
935
00:51:53.730 --> 00:51:56.070
to 20 percent on this news. But what's interesting to
936
00:51:56.110 --> 00:51:59.150
me is authentic brands. They don't really make anything. What
937
00:51:59.170 --> 00:52:02.030
they do is they go around buying premium brands. And
938
00:52:02.050 --> 00:52:03.679
I thought it might interest you to know that among
939
00:52:03.699 --> 00:52:06.199
the brands, they have about 50 of them. Among the
940
00:52:06.260 --> 00:52:08.860
brands that they own these days, the name and therefore
941
00:52:08.940 --> 00:52:13.909
everything about Elvis Presley. And Marilyn Monroe. The crypto story
942
00:52:13.989 --> 00:52:15.389
of the week was that the man that wrote the
943
00:52:15.409 --> 00:52:17.469
Clarity Act, which failed in the Senate a couple of
944
00:52:17.510 --> 00:52:19.429
weeks ago, had a victory this week because he wrote
945
00:52:19.469 --> 00:52:21.880
a new bill and it's passed. They're going to scrap
946
00:52:21.920 --> 00:52:25.139
the penny. That's the one cent, of course. They're going
947
00:52:25.239 --> 00:52:29.059
to allow retailers to round up bills, particularly in restaurants,
948
00:52:29.159 --> 00:52:32.329
by five cents. This gets around a legal problem that
949
00:52:32.369 --> 00:52:35.230
has been looming. And they're also putting cheaper materials into
950
00:52:35.250 --> 00:52:37.150
the nickel, the five cent in future, to make it
951
00:52:37.170 --> 00:52:39.789
cheaper to make those. It has passed the Senate now.
952
00:52:39.889 --> 00:52:42.280
It will go to President Trump for signing. And in
953
00:52:42.320 --> 00:52:44.619
the week ahead, quite a quiet week coming up. We've
954
00:52:44.639 --> 00:52:46.840
got third quarter earnings getting underway, though. At the end
955
00:52:46.860 --> 00:52:48.739
of the week, we'll hear from PepsiCo, based in New
956
00:52:48.780 --> 00:52:52.300
York State, and Delta Airlines, based in Georgia. And the
957
00:52:52.320 --> 00:52:55.909
big bank earnings start a week on Tuesday, the 13th
958
00:52:55.929 --> 00:52:56.889
of October, with J.P.
959
00:52:56.929 --> 00:52:57.230
Morgan.
960
00:52:57.570 --> 00:53:02.369
John. pretty fast. I mean, some of the bank stocks
961
00:53:02.469 --> 00:53:05.889
are way down. Bank of America is way down. And,
962
00:53:05.929 --> 00:53:09.670
you know, they should all be doing well.
963
00:53:11.170 --> 00:53:14.190
Well, the bank earnings usually kick off the quarterly earnings season.
964
00:53:14.670 --> 00:53:17.530
It's usually the first big news of it. So we'll
965
00:53:17.570 --> 00:53:20.139
see what happens when we get to that in just
966
00:53:20.239 --> 00:53:21.380
over a week's time, John.
967
00:53:22.000 --> 00:53:24.400
Thank you so much. And we'll catch up with you
968
00:53:24.420 --> 00:53:24.940
again real soon.
969
00:53:25.619 --> 00:53:25.840
Yep.
970
00:53:25.860 --> 00:53:27.179
See you next Sunday. Thank you so much.
971
00:53:27.239 --> 00:53:27.440
Bye.
972
00:53:31.429 --> 00:53:33.869
Thank you for being with us for the Cats Roundtable
973
00:53:33.949 --> 00:53:37.519
Local Edition, the number one show on Sunday mornings in
974
00:53:37.559 --> 00:53:40.280
New York. Keep listening to us for the Cats Roundtable
975
00:53:40.420 --> 00:53:43.989
National Edition between 9 o'clock and 10 o'clock. So we'll
976
00:53:44.010 --> 00:53:45.829
be back to you in a few minutes after the news.