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Thanks for joining us for Last Call this is where we brouch those topics we couldn't get to in the first segment Jessica uh it's been crazy uh at the St Louis Post Dispatch because some I think Russian organization has gotten into the files and uh demanded Ransom on March the 5th there was supposed to be a deadline either hand over the money or uh we're going to release all sorts of information but in the past couple of weeks I don't know if you get the print edition but it's been crazy with uh the sections caddy Wampus and the obituaries not alphabetized and what do you know about this yeah so I mean like everyone else I noticed that crazy line on the website uh just being like sorry we are uh disrupted um um you know we were all sort of looking today to see would there be a release of you know information that this ransomware um you know group had you know uh put out there but it seems like Lee has probably paid um there is no no dump and then on top of it at the end of the day Lee Enterprises put out an SEC filing pretty vague but did say that the uh the threat has been contained so we can assume that uh they paid up I mean I I I I know that you don't want the information out there but man giving into black mail I I'm sorry I just can't see it I I think actually what happened was was the uh ransomware people threatened to release all of the unpublished editorials I wrote for the post and Lee paid up real fast I I have no inside information whatsoever I know it's been a pain to our readers and I've apologized to a bunch of our readers and so bless their hearts for the ones who have stayed with us but uh we've put out a paper every day and sometimes it's been a struggle but it's it's a Brave New World and I mean this is this is just sort of it's it's part of doing business it's sad and it's I mean it's it's so repulsive why the post this batch I mean no it's happening everywhere it happened to the radio station I worked for and and it's 250 uh sister radio stations probably six years ago and everyone tries to keep it kind of quiet but now it's so ubiquitous it's it's really another case of ask Not For Whom the Bell tolds because the thing that gets me is just this past week it was announced that uh our federal government was going to stop the counter um counter efforts to Russia that we had a whole you know building of federal employees somewhere who would try and Greek havoc in Russia because Russians were doing that here and apparently we're going to stop that what the latest is now I don't know sometimes these Federal decisions change but like the like the FDA building in Downtown St Louis and uh Alvin I should ask you about that it was announced this week that the Trump Administration was going to shudder a laboratory on newstead that investigates medications for impurities and carcinogens call me crazy but I think that's a very good use of federal dollars okay right right uh and even though the decision was reversed maybe not too unexpectedly the next day or shortly thereafter I was surprised at the kind of the meek almost non-existent reaction um if there are people opposed to Donald Trump and his actions they weren't saying much of anything there was no clamor uh no lawsuits being filed I don't know maybe editorials were being written and they didn't weren't published yet but it just seemed to me that in that case and like many others those who are opposed to the president's official actions and policies are pretty weak these days well I I don't know what it is and it's it's a thing where like all right A lot of people dislike the president okay that could be said of a lot of presidents but this kind of like you know Eli musk Leed slash and burn and not know what you're doing and the whole National Institute of Health thing and no one really knows what's going on that's bad all right and I think you could be a Republican and stand up and say like now wait a minute we're I'm going to oppose this that's the missing voice Democrats could get up raised as much heck as as as they want to no one is going to listen you mean Republicans like Liz Cheney how about how about uh wag down how about an Wagner an Wagner is not going to cross Donald Trump somebody has got to say look I agree but we cannot stop researching cancer medications and things like that I mean come on I mean that's not that is not really taking a brave stand well I you know what I'm waiting for another Brave stand where a Democrat comes out and says man you know what the federal government has been wasting billions of dollars for decades upon decades but I don't hear anybody saying that either well I think I so I mean I mean you know this idea is we all everybody will agree if you say the federal government is wasteful and throws money down a drain everybody will agree and they say so we want to cut this well not this this is mine you go ahead and cut yours and so everybody who had an office being closed is going to protest their office being closed which means none of the offices get closed which means none of the inefficiency or waste ever gets fixed but when it comes when it comes to to safety and protecting the citizens of the United States of America then I don't want to see Corners cut and I don't want the slash and burn I want I want an efficient government as much as anybody else around this table but to you know if it's if it has to do with Planes Trains automobiles medication food whatever Water Supplies i' I'd rather a a much more thoughtful approach it first of all they haven't closed it so nothing happened the other one are you sure that that work could not have been done anywhere else and perhaps it could be they were saying that's all we're saying here take a look at it right but they were saying that to dismantle it that it that it took a lot to put it together and because of all of the the the biohazards and that kind of thing that they that they're working with that it's not just sort of a popup FDA site you know popup FDA analysis site um it's a lot more complex than yeah I mean yeah if I drove 100 miles an hour backwards from here to Kansas City and I didn't get in an accident that doesn't mean it was a good idea at any stage of the way so I mean this is just out of that's a I get you I bet you could though I bet you it's everybody wants to reduce waste unless it's in my hometown then we're okay with waste you can be okay with reducing waste I'm not saying that I think that this is the circumstance but um is uh someone saying Okay we're closing this building and then the next day turning around and saying it's open is that an efficient use of time I mean you get a feeling he's just going down the sheet being like we don't need that I I think Jessica we had four years of that before if anybody's surprised by Donald Trump's action did you forget about the first four years but this the man lives to create chaos right but Elon Musk is is is an additional I mean that's a new sidebar issue Sideshow and the military is the most wasteful thing we got going on I'm sorry but that's the one we said like hey I think what's happening Joe also you don't want in a an economy like ours to freak out the federal employees who are smart who are educated who are hardworking because then they're going to ditch their jobs and go to the federal government I've already seen this happen they're going to go to the private sector excuse me you you see this at the VA where doctors know hey this ship estate is kind of unsteady I better go to the Cornell School of Medicine and I use that example because I know someone who just did that you know and you start saying to um um federal employees who are investigating your drugs on Sunday your jobs are gone on Monday no you you got your jobs they're going to say this is nonsense we're out of here and that you know if you want decent smart employees working for you you have to treat them well yeah I want them to keep my plane in consistency of message yeah that'd be nice yeah exactly yeah please don't drive backwards little thing like that tariffs in tariffs out it's kind of like do remember we were kids and we did the Hokey Pokey in gym it's like yeah no yeah no so what you're saying is elections have consequences yeah but nonetheless stupid consequences don't have to be put up with because somebody got elect well there also might have been people who were elected because they thought they should cut the waist in government but we're ignoring that side of maybe that's why people voted a certain way okay all right I want it's okay to disagree I want I want to defend America let's go attack 17 countries tomorrow I mean okay we we're out of time unfortunately but tell you what we'll be back with another last call next week and of course another Donnybrook next Thursday and and forever uh on ninepbs.org well long after we're gone I'm sure they'll be watching this in outer space yeah okay thank you very much see you next week