you're listening to the morning drip south georgia's number one morning show
for independent voices and liberated perspectives got a question or comment
you can text the show at 229-234-1307 229-234-1307
good morning south georgia it's time for the morning drip on wrto.fm radio tiff i'm donovan
bringing you the morning dose of caffeine conversation and common sense and we are still
in spooktober good morning everybody it is thursday october something or another
uh yeah it's october 16th hope you're doing well hope you've had a great week so far looking forward
to the weekend i think the weather is going to be okay for this weekend down here in south
central georgia uh basically just looking at the quick weather forecast here using the carrot app on
my phone today's high is going to be 83 um looks like we got a little bit of fog this morning
tomorrow's high is supposed to be 80 sunny saturday 82 sunny and sunday a little bit of rain
high of 81 and then we start dipping down into the high 70s and back into the low 80s and next week
looks like to be a roller coaster but honestly it's it's too far out to really know you get about four
past four days it's difficult to count on the weather forecast all right let's start off this morning
the 2025 georgia national fair drew a record 612 706 visitors during its run from october the 2nd through
the 12th marking the highest attendance in over a decade the event continues to play a major role in
boosting central georgia's economy estimated at 35 million dollars in 2024 as comparison you know we're
looking at 2025 as we've already said 612 706 last year was 545 382 2023 was 487 874 2019 was a
pre-covid peak of 565 533 attendees this year's theme was faradise in america 250 with governor
brian kemp serving as keynote speaker at the opening ceremony they had in attractions that included such
things as fair food carnival rides free concerts educational exhibits highlighting georgia's top
industry agriculture the georgia grown showcase and youth livestock shows gave local producers and
students a platform to exhibit their work organizers called this fair a cornerstone event that supports
youth development education and family traditions and the 2026 georgia national fair is already scheduled
for october 8th through the 18th at the georgia national fairgrounds in perry georgia i have never been
never been i'm just not a fair guy i just i don't know maybe when i was younger but definitely not
now i am not a fair guy i don't i don't relish the idea of walking around for a couple of hours
looking at stuff like that i don't know it's it's just me did you go let me know shoot me a text 229-234-1307
229-234-1307 or you can shoot an email email is morning drip at wrto.fm we do have a call in number
912-491-DRIP that is 912-491-3747 let me know your thoughts did you go to were you one of the 612,706
visitors that went to the georgia national fair 2025 moving on a climate central study confirms that every
u.s county has warmed since 1970 delaying the first fall freeze nationwide let me just throw this
out there if you are a climate change denier quit listening just quit listening i say this with all
the love and care that i can muster but you're just not smart enough to be listening to this show
if that's if you think that climate change and global warming and all of that and that
human beings are not contributing to the demise of this planet you don't believe that if you believe
it's a hoax stop listening out of 204 cities analyzed 88 percent now experience their first
freeze about two weeks later on average some regions like reno nevada and bend oregon see
freezes arrive more than a month later than in the 1970s examples of of delays toledo ohio 29 days
later that was almost a movie title philadelphia 20 days later nashville new york city about two weeks
later the later freeze extends allergy seasons which allows mosquitoes and pests to thrive longer
and reduces fruit and nut crop quality that rely on cold conditions it also disrupts fall foliage
farming cycles and local ecosystems which are dependent on seasonal temperature queues
since 1980 181 locations have lost significant chill time chill time crucial for healthy crop yields
warmer falls also affect migration and hibernation patterns for birds and animals
and the experts say the data make one thing clear climate change has made cool crisp autumns
a thing of the past forcing communities to adapt to a warmer longer fall season that's true that is true
i still have memories being a young lad here in south georgia and though we may have not had
snow on the ground for christmas day it was at least cold and sunny or cold and dreary and when i mean cold
we're talking low 40s maybe upper 30s but low low 40s enough that you could throw on like a hoodie
and go outside and play in the middle of the day and it not not be a problem nowadays i cannot recall the last
time we had a christmas day that was say below 75 or 76 degrees most days
was over 80 so climate change is real folks believe what you will but it is real all right talking
about some other issues georgia's housing market saw a surge in canceled home purchases in august of
2025 with 21 of contracts falling through before closing what are the reasons for these cancellations
inspection disputes buyers found unexpected issues and sellers refused to negotiate
unrealistic expectations some buyers wanted new construction quality and older homes
financing problems buyers hoped for lower mortgage rates but when the federal reserve held rates steady
they backed out aggressive renegotiation tactics some buyers used inspections
to demand steep discounts prompting sellers to just walk away sellers mistakes over pricing homes based
on last year's market and failing to disclose known issues up front buyers mistakes using inspections as
leverage instead of protection eroding trust and killing deals and here's the takeaway from an expert john
adams fox 5 real estate analyst transparency and preparation are key pre-listing inspections build trust
and prevent surprises i got a note about that buyers should approach inspections fairly not as negotiation tools
and renters aspiring to buy should stay patient focus on realistic pricing and work with experienced agents
who prioritize honesty over hype now to circle back around to the transparency there's a new trend of using ai
instead of going in and staging your home and spending the money that it would would cost to to to to stage the house or maybe do some minor upgrades or what have you
some folks are now using ai to present the things that they would love to be able to do with the home
there's an instance where um there was this real estate agent that was looking at what some folks were doing
and he had this one example of a house that everything about it all the pictures that you saw online were ai enhanced
he said to the tune of some of the changes and upgrades that were made in these artificial pictures
but were not actually done in real life could cost upwards of around a hundred thousand dollars
so i reached out to my local real estate contacts and asked have you guys seen this and one of them got back to me
and said yeah yep actually have have run into one house so far here in tifton
that had been on the market for an extreme amount of time
and the the issue was that when prospective buyers actually got to see the house in person
they were disappointed because it didn't look like what was online because it'd been artificially enhanced
using ai so keep that in mind dekabb county superintendent devin horton has been indicted on 17 federal charges
including wire fraud embezzlement and tax invasion tied to his time leading the
evanston skokie school district in illinois oh
clarification oh
it's tied to his time leading the evanston skokie school district in illinois
oh have i not had enough coffee this morning okay so prosecutors allege horton issued 280 000
in fake contracts to friends and received over 80 000 in kickbacks between 2020 and 2023
three others antonio ross samuel ross and alfonso lewis were also indicted for their roles in the scheme
horton is additionally accused of stealing 30 000 using his district purchasing card for personal meals gift cards and travel expenses
the dekabb county school board suspended horton with pay and appointed norman sauce
okay that's an i'm not laughing but come on norman sauce
as acting superintendent horton's attorney said the allegations are several years old and unrelated to his current work in georgia
where he's credited with improving attendance and graduation rates
if convicted horton could face more than 10 years in federal prison and prosecutors seek to forfeit the stolen funds
evanston skokie school board confirmed it had cooperated with investigators and said it was deeply troubled and angered by the allegations
okay so clarification apparently i had the second cup of coffee wasn't kicking in
so
the the indictment has to do with him his time at evanston skokie school district in illinois
but he was currently i say was currently he was the dekabb county superintendent which he was suspended and i think he's actually resigned at this point
if what i saw this morning was accurate so my apologies for the confusion apparently i can't freaking read
or follow context clues sometimes you know and with that note uh i think we're gonna take a break so we'll be back in a bit
good morning everybody this is the morning drip for thursday october 16th 2025 we'll be back
still here good choice the morning drip rolls on
hey everybody welcome back to the morning drip i am donovan today is thursday october 16th 2025
it's still spooktober
i can't help it i like it i like i like the fourth quarter i like all the holidays all right moving on
over half of the states that sent national guard troops to washington dc under president trump's federal law enforcement
initiative plan to withdraw them this fall according to officials plan withdrawal dates range from late
october through november signaling a likely drawdown of the month's long deployment
the initiative began in august when trump issued an emergency executive order citing crime concerns
temporarily placing the dc
police department under federal authority
side note and i'm going to editorialize here it was all made up it was complete and utter bullshit
everything every place that he has sent national guard saying that it's a hell hole it's a war-torn
and it's a war-torn zone complete fabricated lies but we got to be careful because this is exactly what he's trying to do he's trying to turn the lie into reality because if he can get enough people to push back then he can go see i was right
don't fall for it so anyway about 2300 guard members from eight states plus dc remain in the city alongside hundreds of federal law enforcement officers georgia mississippi south carolina ohio and west virginia have all announced exit
that time lines together they account for over 80 percent of the 1300 out of state troops and let me just say this again personal opinion here but i was very disappointed in our governor for kowtowing to the whims of a wannabe dictator
honestly i just i was i was very disappointed and i'm very very ashamed of our governor for doing that south carolina expects full withdrawal by end of october ohio georgia mississippi and west virginia plan to exit by november 30th
alabama louisiana and south dakota did not respond to inquiries about their plans
the dc national guard roughly 1 000 troops will remain deployed through at least december and the white house credited the operation with a reduction of crime
though data shows crime rates were already declining beforehand as we pointed out there was no there there
it was smoke and mirrors just like it is in every city chicago portland la none of what they said was true
smoke and mirrors folks local officials and residents have criticized the prolonged military presence calling it not normal and unnecessary
he's trying to make it normal you know that's the whole point this this is out of a
a particular playbook you you do something that's like holy crap we've never done this before
and then as you continue to do said thing and people just finally like go back to their lives you know
they're trying to do their jobs make make their uh make their payments put food on the table all this other kind of stuff
this gets shoved to the back of their mind or they don't even think about it until somebody brings it up on on the news or
social media or something like that and then
12 months down the road let's just say you're all looking around going oh we've always had military patrolling the streets in the united states haven't we
no no we haven't so that's exactly what he's been trying to do a lawsuit by dc's attorney general is challenging the deployment with a court hearing set for october 24th
dc mayor muriel bowser has repeatedly argued that the out of state guard presence is an inefficient use of
resources and i agree i agree president donald trump on october 14th of this year posthumously awarded
conservative active activist charlie kirk the presidential medal of freedom the nation's
highest civilian honor ceremony took place in the white house rose garden on what would have been
kirk's 32nd birthday okay it's not a rose garden anymore it's a patio erica kirk charlie's widow
accepted the medal and delivered emotional remarks including a message from their three-year-old daughter
wishing her father a happy birthday trump praised kirk as a fearless warrior for liberty and a beloved
leader who galvanized the next generation calling him a true american hero and of course kirk was
fatally shot on september 10th 2025 while speaking at utah valley university during the american
comeback tour which encouraged debate among college students asterisks i'll come back to that
trump had announced kirk's death and immediately vowed to award him the medal of freedom calling him
a giant of his generation congress previously passed a resolution designating october 14th as a national
day of remembrance in kirk's honor trump returned from the middle east early tuesday
after helping broker an israel israel hamas ceasefire keeping the event on kirk's birthday despite
considering a postponement vice president jd vance and first lady erica um uh shit what's her name
of i can't even remind oh lord trump's wife anyway the first lady uh were among attendees with trump uh
commending erica's unbelievable strength and promising to support her and the couple's two
two young children don't believe it in a year from now he won't even remember who she is
kirk was the founder of turning point usa was a key ally of trump and a leading voice among young
conservatives though often a polarizing figure that's uh that's a nice way of saying it for his
controversial remarks on social and political issues trump concluded by saying kirk's name would be entered
forever into the eternal roster of true american heroes okay let me preface what i'm going to say here on this
this opinion hey i do not condone the murder of charlie kirk i don't however um he's not american hero he was a
he was someone with an agenda and that in itself is is not necessarily a negative thing but his agenda was
white christian nationalist basically white supremacy he you could go back and you can look at all of
his all of his little sound bites all of his quotes and a lot of people a lot of people look at charlie
kirk and they were they were like you know he was so inspirational to young people he just wanted to
debate he believed in free speech well he was not a very good debater because he set the debates up so
that he always came out the victor and the people that he to think about it he was 30 it was he turned
31 or whatever 30 no he turned 32 he was debating 19 and 20 year olds all right so they were already at
a disadvantage so to call him a a fair and and great debater is very misleading i i would say inaccurate
um and the irony here is his his widow is taking up his mantle she she became the the ceo of turning
point though he spewed the standard very archaic biblical viewpoint that her place should be by his
side or in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant all of that kind of stuff not i mean he he's a he's in that
same camp that doesn't believe that women should have the right to vote so not to shit all over
charlie kirk as a husband as a father i am saddened that his family will no longer have him around but
don't ever paint him as an a patriot or an american hero no and i strongly disagree with him getting
the highest civilian honor in this presidential medal of freedom there's other people much more
deserving than him okay i'm off my soapbox mit became the first university to reject the trump
administration's proposed com compact for academic excellence in higher education the compact offered
favorable federal funding and benefits in exchange exchange for universities agreeing to restrictions on
a little blackmail between friends these policies include capping international student enrollment
freezing tuition for five years adhering to federal definition of gender prohibiting speech or
activity that belittles conservative ideas so apparently it's okay to have
speech or activities that belittle liberal ideas mit president sally kornbluth is it bluth or bluth
said the agreement would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution
asserting that scientific funding must be based on merit not ideology a white house a white house
spokesperson liz uh huston houston criticized mit's decision accusing universities of bowing to radical
left-wing bureaucrats no that's nothing to do with that the compact was sent to nine universities
including brown dartmouth penn usc texas vanderbilt arizona and virginia which have mostly offered
non-committal or cautious responses some like uva formed committees to review the proposal while others
like brown and penn reaffirmed support for academic freedom and independent governance faculty groups
including the american association of university professors a aup praised mit's rejection calling the
the compact a loyalty oath and an attempted political intrusion into higher education again blackmail the
uva faculty senate passed a resolution urging its president to reject the compact citing potential legal
violations of free speech and institutional autonomy the university of texas system gave the most positive
response response response response saying it was honored to be selected and would review the compact
enthusiastically it would be texas it would be texas what happened to you texas the proposal has
complicated ongoing negotiations between the trump administration and several universities deepening
tensions over academic freedom federal influence and political interference in education funding yeah blackmail
that's it's it it's simple it is blackmail folks i don't know that this whole thing with the college is just
aggravates the crap out of me i mean our universities what today what they once were 25 35 45 years ago of course not
i mean you know back in the 80s and 90s you can actually afford to go to college now
good luck and you're better off going to a trade school and learning a skill truly you're better off going and learning a skill
at a trade school anyway let me know your thoughts text number is 229-234-1307
229-234-1307
call the number is 912-491-DRIP
912-491-3747 or email the show
morningdrip
at
wrto.fm
good morning everybody we'll be back
and we're back
this is the morning drip south george's morning show for independent voices and liberated
perspectives if you've got false grites or just want to test if your phone still works call 912-491-DRIP
or if you're shy text us at 229-234-1307 we all bite well not before coffee
and welcome back to the morning drip i am donovan today is thursday it is the 16th of october
again spooktober
oh i just can't get past that all right
going into our final segment the savannah bananas announced their biggest tour yet of 45 states 75 stadium
2026 banana ball championship league it's expected to draw about 3.2 million fans founded by jesse cole
in 2016 the banana started a small collegiate summer team before revolutionizing baseball with their banana ball entertainment style in 2022
the 2026 season will include 14 mlb stadiums and 10 football stadiums from texas a&m's kyle phill
which has 102 000 seats to tennessee's nayland stadium which has 101 000 plus smaller venues like
billings montana's deller park i guess that's how you pronounce that i'm not a sports guy
3 000 seats and uh the banana ball league features cole's teams the bananas party animals firefighters
and tailgaters with two new additions loco beach coconuts coached by shane victorino featuring a fun
beach theme vibe and uh let's see indianapolis clowns led by ryan howard a revival of the historic
negro league league's team wants home to hank aaron and satchel page in partnership with the negro league's
baseball museum cole says the goal is to bring banana ball to every corner of the u.s ensuring
anyone can drive to a game within a few hours the 2026 season will open in february with pre-season
games followed by a 50 game regular season april to september culminating in the banana bowl on october 10th
26 a new equalizer rule will award an extra point to the team with more trick plays through the first
eight innings keeping the competition lively despite the surge in popularity ticket prices will remain
the same though millions are expected to join the ticket lottery within 48 hours of the announcement cole says the
long-term vision is to make banana ball a global sport with youth leagues and the international teams though
no overseas games are planned for 2026 that you know i've seen their videos i've seen snippets of
some of their stuff on youtube it's it's pretty funny i mean that's the kind of baseball game i think i would
enjoy going and watching i don't care about regular baseball football basketball tennis none of that
don't care i'm a nerd i like tech stuff but the goofiness of the banana savannah bananas
yeah that's i find that enjoyable what about you have you ever been to one of their games let me know
gold prices have soared past four thousand dollars an ounce climbing nearly 60 percent since the start
of 2025 prompting a what they're calling a 21st century gold rush as americans sell heirlooms and jewelry
for cash jewelry stores and refineries report record traffic with sellers bringing in fairly family
heirlooms rather coins and broken jewelry to take advantage of the surge exclusive jewelers in manhattan
say it's buying twice as much gold as last year while cascading refining and we maury refining also
report major increases in incoming materials the surge reflects investor anxiety over a weakening us
dollar rising federal debt the ongoing government shutdown and economic slowdown fears these are all
pushing demand for gold as a safe haven asset high prices have made gold jewelry harder to sell
forcing designers to shrink sizes use lower carat gold or mix in cheaper materials to keep items
affordable retail gold sales are down about 20 as consumers balk at the prices small hoop earrings
now cost around 300 to 400 double their former price range refineries report a 25 to 75 increase in
gold and so on the price range of the sale of americans as the sale of americans are under the sale of
analysts warns that the boom has already led to an uptick in counterfeit goods so sellers and buyers
alike must exercise caution and for some americans the rush to sell gold isn't just profit driven it's a
it's a financial lifeline amid a tough job market and economic uncertainty it's a it's interesting for sure
all right we're going to end today's show on this note and a question that i have for you which you can answer
by emailing morning drip at wrto.fm or you can text 229-234-1307 229-234-1307 have you purchased a vehicle this year or did you purchase one in 2024 i'm curious to know i haven't purchased a vehicle since 2013 so we
we have a 2003 ford explorer we have a 2013 ford focus and my son a couple of years ago bought a 2003
ford ranger which still sits here because he lives in seattle and he couldn't take it with him but when
he comes to visit vacation whatever it's still here for him to drive well the reason why i'm asking this
is because a new report over at road and track says that the average new price of vehicle price rather
the average new vehicle price also known as atp in the u.s hit a record fifty thousand eighty dollars in
september of 2025 surpassing the fifty thousand dollar mark for the first time per kelly blue book the atp
rose 2.1 percent from august and 3.6 percent year over year despite rising dealer incentives
averaging 7.4 percent thirty seven hundred dollars per vehicle the highest this year the average msrp
also climbed to fifty two thousand one hundred eighty three dollars which is up four point two percent from
september of 2024 luxury vehicles and electric vehicles evs are driving the price increases
evs now make up eleven point six percent of new car sales with an average price of fifty eight thousand
one hundred twenty four dollars that's up three point five percent from just a month earlier in august
over sixty luxury models priced above seventy five thousand dollars sold ninety four thousand units
representing seven point four percent of the market that's up from six percent a year ago porsche
and of course it'd be porsche had the highest atp at one hundred nineteen thousand eight hundred and
fifty three dollars while mitsubishi had the lowest at thirty four thousand three hundred and fifty six
interestingly enough though mitsubishi's prices jumped thirty four point four percent year over year that is the
largest gain in this study ev sales hit a record four hundred and thirty seven thousand four hundred and eighty seven
units in q3 2025 and this was partly from buyers rushing to use the expiring federal tax credits
analysts cite tariffs rising ev adoption luxury demand those are the major cost drivers
ford's sixty five thousand dollar plus pickup trucks symbolizing the new market norm so basically if you're going to go buy a
truck expect to expect to expect to expect to expect to spend about sixty five thousand dollars
now i know this is not comparing apples to apples
but when we we bought our first
two thousand square foot double wide mobile home
in nineteen ninety six
it was fifty five thousand six hundred dollars
so here we are in twenty twenty five
having to pay more than my first home that my wife and i ever purchased together costing more
a vehicle a truck and i know inflation and all of that but this is absurd this is absurd i mean
my ford focus i believe was eighteen thousand dollars in 2013 i haven't checked the prices
recently but i'm pretty sure if you can get a ford focus if they still make it i'm not sure
but something in that same category is going to run you over thirty thousand it's ridiculous tesla and
hyundai have begun offering lower price models in their evs but experts say new car prices are likely to
persist into twenty twenty six ultimately the days of the twenty thousand dollar car they're gone
they're absolutely gone not not for brand new not for brand new and i mean there was a while there
that used cars the the pricing on those went absolutely nuts i mean so did the housing market
all during the covid pandemic and all of that but man
and i'd said i'd said i think last week
one of the best pieces of advice i think i've read anywhere is about around 60 years of age if you
can swing it buy yourself a brand new vehicle hopefully with cash hopefully you don't have to
finance it but if you do you do and then that way when you do retire you have a vehicle that's probably
going to last as long as you do it'll probably outlast you unless you're william shatner or somebody
or betty white that's you know gonna betty white almost made it to 100
there's a chance for shatner
how can you tell i'm a nerd
all right folks that is it for the thursday edition of the morning drip here on wrto.fm radio tift
i hope you uh enjoyed this morning's show i hope you joined us live if not
you can always go to wrto.fm click on the morning drip link at the top and you will have
these episodes in podcast form usually the same day that they're recorded but you know might be a day
after but anyway join us every tuesday and thursday morning around 7 a.m and i say around
for the morning drip live and again if you've got any comments or questions critiques uh you just
want to bitch at me about my opinions that you don't agree with because i'm a little left of center
politically you can email the show the morning that email address is the morning drip not the but
morning drip at wrtf dot fm dot wrto i swear man coffee come on morning drip at wrt o dot f m and
the text number is 229-234-1307 229-234-1307 the call-in number which is only active during the show is
nine one two four nine one drip nine one two four nine one three seven four seven all right
everybody i hope you have a wonderful thursday and a friday and a fantastic weekend we'll see you
next tuesday for the morning drip i'm donovan everybody take care
so