Mississippi Happenings

Hello, my name is David Olds and welcome to Mississippi Happenings.

I'm your co-host and joining me is my co-host and friend, Jim Newman.

Jim, talk to me.

How are you, buddy?

I'm doing fine and I'm still trying to research your family because you told me your
family created the Oldsmobile automobile.

Well, as a matter of fact, ah I know that you are familiar with REO Speedwagon.

I know that music is a little bit after your time.

But as a matter of fact, REO's, Ransom E.

Olds, the inventor of the Oldsmobile is a distant, distant, distant uncle.

So there.

What do you think about that, big boy?

Well, I have to research it, but I believe you.

Okay, we're good, you should.

I wouldn't let...

I mean, isn't it great that your name's not Pontiac.

Well, I am upset that they kept the Buick and got rid of the Osmobile, but that's a whole
different thing.

But ah as you know, each week we talk about kitchen table issues and we, sometimes we have
a tendency to forget that what happens at the federal level affects here.

And what happens at the federal level affects our kitchen table.

ah

And we've got somebody with us today that's going to talk about uh HR1, Trump's big,
beautiful bill.

And I want to uh say hello and introduce you guys to Kathleen O'Byrne.

Kathleen, good to have you with us.

Thank you, David.

It's great to be here.

And just to be clear, there is not a relationship between your family and REO Speedwagon.

REO Speedwagon got their name from R.

E.

Olds because his first...

car was called the speed wagon.

Yeah.

So now that's a bunch of useless information that we all can forget about.

But let me tell you guys a little bit about Kathleen.

Kathleen is a Mississippi native.

She's a former lawyer.

And she...

I'm sorry.

I do not practice.

There you go.

There you go.

Thank you, Jim, for the interruption.

uh

want you to have her show up.

after you.

Oh, okay.

Alrighty.

Sounds good.

She received her BA in political science from Davidson College with a minor in Spanish,
and she got her uh law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

She also served her junior year in Spain and also in Chile.

Prior to working as a commercial litigator for 15 years, she worked in the nonprofit
sector with immigrant women.

in North Carolina and in community development in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.

She's also spent several years in various board positions with the Mississippi found with
the Women's Foundation of Mississippi.

These days, she spends most of her free time as an activist and organizer, and she is
committed to moving Mississippi forward because, and this is her words.

It's the only way she knows how to maintain her sanity.

So Kathleen, thank you so much.

And you're doing what a lot of people are doing and trying to keep our sanity.

So, amen.

And it's all about grassroots.

Jim and I have talked to Northeast Mississippi Indivisibles, oh Mary Jane

and Jamie, we've talked to them and we've talked to other several grassroots area.

And that's really where it's happening.

So let's jump right into this with, and we all know that Trump has such a command for the
English language oh and his big, beautiful bill.

which was HR, which is HR one, it was passed.

So Kathleen, how is this big, beautiful bill?

What's that going to do to all of us in Mississippi?

That's a great question, David.

And as you all know, this bill, I think is written as over 900 pages and it covers so much
different territory, so many different issues, different components of our federal

government.

and I think we could talk about it for days and days.

um But the specific issue, well, let me say this.

So there are a few major things.

One is tax policy.

um

changes to federal taxes that Mississippi families will owe is one thing that we should
discuss.

There also were pretty major cuts to Medicaid, which will have a big impact on healthcare
in Mississippi.

There's a huge

provision and allocation of funding for immigration enforcement, I think to the tune of
about $175 billion.

um which will have a big impact not just on our immigrant communities, but upon the
industries that depend on those on labor from immigrants in Mississippi.

So those are kind of the three big areas um that are top of mind for me.

And so, but what I wanted to talk to y'all about today really is um the tax policies and
how that is going to affect

Mississippi families.

And then about the effect, the combined effect of both tax policies under the big,
beautiful bill uh and also tariff policies, which our Mississippi GOP congressional

delegation has, you know, ceded all of its authority over to the president.

So that's where I'd like to start if that's fair for y'all.

Okay, so um what I've been digging into is data from the Congressional Budget Office,
which of course is a nonpartisan um branch of, or office within the legislative branch of

our federal government.

And they, m

they dig in and do the research and figure out what are gonna be kind the micro and macro
economic impacts of laws that Congress passes.

And so, um

They use data from the Census Bureau, the American Community Survey through the census,
and I'm sure all number of other information oh to determine the combined effect of all

facets of the big beautiful bill on um American households by income.

And so what they do is they take, this gets a little bit wonky, but y'all bear with me for
a little bit.

So they basically look at a spread of American household income from lowest all the way to
the highest, and then they divide those groups into deciles.

So for example,

the lowest decile of American households makes about $23,000 a year.

And then say the one, two, three, four, let's look at the fifth decile of household income
in America is about $85,000 a year.

And then the highest decile is about $692,000 a year.

And so,

So with that information, they then look at, you know, different components of the big,
beautiful bill, um work their magic.

I mean, these are like nerdy nerd, nerd, PhD, number crunchers.

um You know, this is what they do.

This is what they've always done.

um And so they look at the net effect in dollars of changes to federal taxes and cash
transfers.

um and then also federal and state in kind transfers and I can go into kind of what that
is um by decile.

So um to me, the first place I wanna look to figure out um the effect on Mississippi
households is I wanna look at the median, um median Mississippi household income.

So that is to say that's the number

that um half of Mississippi households make more than that amount and half of Mississippi
households make less than that amount.

it's different, is different than average.

I'm sure you guys know this, but just in case some of your listeners um don't quite
understand, median is different than average because average would be skewed by like,

the couple of billionaires that live in Mississippi, for example.

So looking at median kind of leaves out the furthest, very richest and the very poorest.

All right, so median household income is about 55, $56,000 for Mississippi.

So if you go and look at the congressional and that's based on that census data.

So if you go and look at the congressional budget office, it tells you that these people
are gonna be negatively impacted by the big beautiful bill to the tune of negative $156 a

year.

Okay.

So that is the median income household in Mississippi.

So the very middle list of the middle income, literally they are like the definition of
middle income in Mississippi.

They make $56,000 a year.

The net effect of the big beautiful bill on their pocketbook is negative $156.

And so what that includes is tax policy changes, reductions in ACA premium subsidies.

I'm sure y'all have heard that like not only are people gonna be kicked off of Medicaid,
but people who aren't on Medicaid, but get their health insurance through the ACA

marketplace, their premiums are gonna go way up some of them.

because of cuts to the premium subsidies in the Big Beautiful bill.

So you've got tax policy changes, reductions in ACA premium subsidies, changes in student
loan programs, um reductions in...

Let make sure I get this right.

reductions in federal spending on Medicaid and SNAP, reductions in federal dollars to
healthcare providers and insurers, and reductions in state spending on SNAP and Medicaid.

So those are all the changes because of the big beautiful bill that the Congressional
Budget Office is looking at to determine that median household incomes in Mississippi are

gonna see a loss of $156 per year as a result of the big beautiful bill.

So that's a problem.

But it is a much, the even bigger problem to me is that our GOP elected officials have
been selling this terrible bill to Mississippians by saying that they are going to put

more money back in the pockets of hardworking Mississippians.

And nothing could be further than the truth.

Well, how do they, ah I guess they justify that by saying that the grocery tax was reduced
ah and the state taxes are all going away.

Well, no, I mean, this is I'm talking specifically about Senator Wicker and Senator
Hyde-Smith and their comments specifically on the big, beautiful bill.

So what the state legislature is doing um is not not being considered um by Wicker and
Hyde-Smith when they make these statements.

I mean, I'll tell you exactly, because I wanted to look at their websites and see what
they said.

I mean, it makes me really angry.

So here's what Cindy has, what Cindy had Smith's website says, the one big beautiful bill
good for Mississippi, good for America, the one big beautiful bill act makes Mississippi

and the United States safer, stronger and more prosperous.

um This new law stopped Mississippians from being hit with the largest tax increase in
American history.

If, oh, this is what she says.

If the 2017 tax cuts had expired, the average Mississippi household's taxes would increase
by $1,570 in 2026.

It's not what the data says.

As usual, they just make numbers up.

I don't know.

mean, I, you know, I would love to know where the numbers come from.

But, you know, to date, nobody has explained to me what's wrong with the numbers from the
non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.

And then what are some of the things Wicker has said?

Let's see.

So stimulate the economy and benefit job creators across the country.

uh The reconciliation bill delivers the largest tax cut for the middle class in American
history.

That's just not true.

I mean.

You

you're gonna talk about tax cuts for the middle class, like I hope you're talking about,
you know, the middle class of your own constituents, but.

um

Yeah, I don't know where the numbers come from.

And the other thing is, I'm sure you all have heard a lot of talk about how this bill is
basically the largest wealth transfer from poor Americans to wealthy Americans.

Well, being one of the poorest states in the nation, if not the poorest, what that means
is the detrimental impact of this bill

is bigger for a poor state like ours than it is for any other state.

If you are making life harder on more poor Americans and giving tax cuts to really wealthy
Americans, then the impact is gonna be far worse in a poor state like ours, right?

Well, absolutely.

ah The government transfer payments, whether it be for SNAP or Medicaid or any of the
other social programs, they're all been cut.

yeah, you want to hear those numbers?

No, and I don't have in front of me specific numbers about how much uh Medicaid funding is
going to be cut in Mississippi.

That's something I need to dig into.

um

going to be something like 230,000 people are going to lose their Medicaid.

However, that transfer is in the money.

I don't know, but I'm more concerned about people and their health and their lives.

Yeah, so folks, that first decile that we talked about, so the lowest income people making
$25,000 and less.

And in Mississippi, it looks like there are about 200, 350,000 of those people.

The net effect.

of this bill for them.

So these are folks who are already only making $25,000.

The net effect is negative $1,357.

Yeah.

Those who can't afford it the least.

That's right.

And then the folks, the top decile of American income earners, households, those folks
make on average $692,000 a year and they're gonna get a boost of $13,000.

Wow.

Talk about just the opposite needs to affect.

We had a conversation with Kara Roby, who's a political analyst.

not to, I mean, we still want to stay on the big, beautiful bill, but she was talking
about the state, the elimination of the state income tax.

And, you know, she was talking about the same group that you were talking about.

You know, ah they're going to, they will save four.

dollars, you know, a year.

One, two, three, four.

But, you know, you go back up to the other, the high, the wealthy, you know, like you
talked about the 600,000, they're going to save $40,000 in state income tax.

it's

inequality is sickening but the

One of the messages I'm trying to get people to understand is that yes, the inequality is
sickening, but some people just don't care about inequality.

It doesn't hurt their feelings.

They don't care.

They don't think about it.

But when you think about, what did I say, 250,000 Mississippians and they've lost $1,300 a
piece.

So do the math and think about what that is going to do to our local economy.

in the state because I promise you um people making such with such a low income that
$1,300 would be spent in their communities.

It would be spent at their grocery stores at Walmart at the totes.

at the gas station out of, know, um, any number of places and they don't, they're not
going to have that money anymore.

You know, and so what does that do um to small businesses, for example?

You know, and then you play that out through these other deciles of income.

It's gonna have a really horrible impact, not just on families who are gonna have a hard
time affording the things that they need to get by.

but it's gonna have a terrible impact on businesses that supply those goods and services
that these families would be paying for, but now they can't afford anymore.

Well, if you're making $24,000 a year and you've got a child and you are a single mother,
it's going to cost you $12,000 for child care during the day, which leaves you $12,000.

And then you lose $1,000 of that, which leaves you with $11,000.

I don't know many families

that can live on $11,000.

I mean, between groceries and keeping an automobile up and doctors and it's just
physically impossible.

And it's no wonder that we have homeless and we have people that cannot afford health care
and end up in the emergency rooms and hospitals are going broke.

It's just a vicious, vicious cycle.

And our governor, frankly, doesn't give a damn.

No.

I mean, my theory is, I don't know any logical reason to be against Medicaid expansion.

So put aside how you feel about poor people having healthcare, because what I've realized
over the last couple years is there are a lot of people,

who don't care.

They don't care if poor people are able to go see a doctor or go to the hospital.

They just don't care.

And that's a really sad um conclusion to reach, but I don't know what other conclusion to
come to.

Even if you don't care about poor people having healthcare, surely if you are a
Mississippian and you have your own private health insurance or you have Medicare or

coverage through the ACA, surely you care about there being a doctor to treat you or your
loved one when you need it.

And surely you care about um

you know, that hospital down the street or 20 miles away, you know, whatever hospital you
depend on being open when you need it.

Surely you care about um if your loved one shows up in the emergency room and they're
told, I'm sorry, we don't have a bed available.

which just means it's not that we don't have a bed, it's that we don't have the staff to
treat your loved one.

Surely you care if your own healthcare costs and premiums go up.

um

Surely you care if you need to see a neurologist and you can get in to see a neurologist
in three months as opposed to having to wait a year.

So mean the point is that even if you literally do not want poor people to have
healthcare,

there still is so much argument for all of the rest of us in favor of expanding Medicaid.

Because if those people don't have healthcare and they don't have a way to pay for the
care that they are entitled to get in our hospitals, the effects of that are gonna reach

us as well.

It's gonna be terrible for that person who doesn't have health insurance, but it's gonna
be terrible for all of the rest of us too.

And I think so many people just don't understand that.

think people, especially in Mississippi, have this misconception that Medicaid is just
another government handout of cash to welfare queens, which like couldn't be further from

the truth.

It is literally health insurance.

Nobody, no Medicaid recipient gets a cash handout that is called Medicaid.

Literally, it is payment to the providers for providing care to the insured.

And so it's like, what do you think?

So a doctor should or shouldn't get paid depending on how wealthy his or her patient is?

That's ridiculous.

You hit one of the main points ah is that we, or people don't realize, people that have
health insurance, that have Medicare, our costs go up.

And that's where the focus, we need to let people know that yes, you're paying for it and
your costs are going up when, you know,

with Mississippi would simply accept the federal funds to expand the Medicaid.

It would help everybody.

But I think like you said, a lot of people look at it as a handout.

And that's sad because one of the things, you have to have a healthy workforce.

And right now, I don't think Mississippi

has a very healthy workforce because of not accepting uh Medicaid funds.

absolutely.

And just to be clear, um there still is an opportunity to expand Medicaid in Mississippi.

So in spite of the cuts to Medicaid that are part of the big, beautiful bill, our state
legislature still could oh expand Medicaid and help offset some of the negative impacts of

the federal Medicaid cuts in Mississippi.

That would make a big difference.

Yes.

Well, we have one we have the highest rate of baby deaths before one year of age at 10 per
thousand of any state in the union.

And that's got to be attributed to lack of prenatal health care and postnatal health care.

All right, and there's no way for those stats to improve by cutting access to care and
cutting funding.

No, it's not.

And if you live in the Delta, in certain parts of the Delta, if you have a heart attack,
everybody, all the doctors and everybody say that the first hour is so critical.

Well, there are parts of the Delta that that first hour, you can't get to a hospital or to
a critical care facility within an hour.

That's exactly right.

Another one of the really stupid things about this bill is, so we haven't even discussed
the fact that these cuts to Medicaid, cuts to SNAP are intended to offset um huge tax

breaks for the really wealthy.

So I can't remember what the final number is.

Maybe it's like $3 trillion um that's being added to the federal debt.

because of these huge tax cuts to the super wealthy, to the tune of $13,000 for a family
that makes $700,000 a year.

So that adds up.

And so they're trying to offset that amount by reducing spending on things like Medicaid
and SNAP, which is again, like if that inequality doesn't just blow your mind, I don't

know what will, but.

So they have these cuts to Medicaid and the way they're cutting Medicaid.

expenses is by making the um hoops that folks have to jump through to get Medicaid more
cumbersome.

So they're just, they're not changing like the substantive requirements to my
understanding.

They're just making you have to jump through more hoops to prove that you meet those
requirements.

And so if you miss a hoop, if you miss jumping through a hoop, you lose your coverage.

So that's how they're kicking you off.

And so the amount of Medicaid cuts that they're uh anticipating, I'm using real round
numbers right now.

I wanna say it's around $150 billion.

To help offset that, what the Republicans who crafted this bill decided to do was to
provide

$50 billion in relief to rural hospitals.

So it's like, we're gonna take all this money away from you rural hospitals because we're
not gonna pay for your Medicaid patients anymore.

We're not gonna pay you to treat your Medicaid patients.

So the patients won't have coverage.

They're not gonna get care.

They're not gonna come in.

But we'll just give you $50 billion dollars

that is the dumbest thing like why would you give them $50 billion when you could use the
$50 billion to provide Medicaid coverage?

I mean, that's bananas.

You want to talk about like a really crummy return on your investment?

Ha m

Right?

Like, where are the adults in the room?

That's what I keep asking.

It's like, where are the adults in the room?

Who comes up with this garbage?

And on what planet did they live that like, it makes sense to them?

Well, you need to change your saying.

Where are the adults in Washington?

Yeah.

because the adults in the room are out here.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, well, and you know, I mean, on that note, like the adults in the room are the
constituents.

They are the grassroots folks who are figuring things out, who are realizing we ain't that
stupid.

And we're not gonna be deceived anymore.

Yeah, I've come to the point that we're not constituents anymore, we're victims.

Yeah, absolutely.

And it irritates just irritates the hell out of me that we're coming up on shutting down
the government.

And a lot of people are going to get laid off.

And some people are going to be required to work even though they don't get paid.

And the 430 some legislators and

100 senators will continue to receive their health care and their paychecks while
everybody else in the government that gets laid off and furloughed is going to suffer

tremendously.

That's right.

That's right.

What about ah let me ask you about education?

ah If he does away, if they're successful doing away the Department of Education and I
think the number was 800 billion that they were cutting out of education.

What is that going to do to Mississippi?

ah Since it is always.

I've always understood that we get roughly $2 back for every tax dollar we send to
Washington.

Yeah, it's gonna be devastating.

There's no question about it.

um I don't have, I'm trying to think, where do I have that information?

I'm have to go find it.

does federal funding make up like a third of our spending on education in the state?

I can't remember the number, but it is significant.

Hmm

And if that funding goes away, it's gonna have a devastating effect on so many families.

I mean, I think about, I had a friend who early on in this administration um lost his job
as a counselor at a local public school.

And as a parent, I got to thinking about, I mean, obviously it's terrible for him that he
lost his job.

But I got to thinking about the families who depend on the services that he provides to
their children and what that disruption looks like for them.

I mean, if you've ever had a child who needs special behavioral therapy or interventions
in school for dyslexia or ADHD or

you know, has an, what is it, an individual education plan, IEP.

um You know, any of that, it's really hard as a parent um first to figure out what's going
on with your child and then to figure out...

um

how to get your child the most effective services to deal with whatever that issue is.

And I think about a counselor in the school, mean, how huge is that?

Let's think about if you're a two-parent, two-working parent family, your kids are in
public school, you've got a kid who's got some behavioral struggles, let's say, and you

need that child to have therapy.

So you've got to

um You've got to have a therapist nearby, which in some rural communities is probably
difficult to come by.

You need, um if there is a therapist, you need that therapist to accept whatever insurance
you have, assuming you have insurance.

You have to figure out how to get your child to that therapist probably once a week.

um

you know, there are all these steps that you have to go through to make sure that your
child is getting the best care that you can get for him or her.

And so how lucky were these families um in public schools here um whose children were able
to go see my friend for free.

during the school day, you know, he's right there.

He knows the children, he knows their environment, he knows their teachers.

um Nobody has to leave work to go pick up the kid from school to get her to therapy and
then get her back to school and then get back to work.

And all of a sudden, all of that is ripped out from under those families.

For what?

But that's...

um

That's what the Trump administration is doing um in schools all over the country,
industries all over the country.

uh Again, for what?

What about this is making things better for us Americans?

uh I'm looking at an article from Mississippi Today and it's from July the 24th and it
talks about some of the things that the big beautiful bill and it talks about uh federal

money uh for workforce training uh will be eliminated but also the main thing is free
school meals will be affected.

ah It says it would create more work requirements for parents to qualify for the SNAP
program, which may decrease the number of students available for the free meal program.

And of course it talks about a domino effect and that there's a lot of paperwork to fill
out and it just makes it harder.

uh And we do in Mississippi, there's a...

food insecurity issue.

uh And a lot of the kids, you know, oh they do go to school hungry.

Yeah, mean, look, David Jim, I was a free lunch kid at Oxford Public Schools in 1985, six,
six, seven, 87, 88.

Is that right?

I've got, no, I'm off a year, 86, 87, 87, 88, 88, 89.

I was a free lunch kid because my family and my father had died.

We lost our primary breadwinner and we moved to Oxford and my mom went back to school and
we had federally subsidized free lunch at Oxford Public Schools.

I'm about 95 % sure our health insurance was through Medicaid.

Our housing was 100 % subsidized for three years by family members who had an extra
apartment for us to live in and and I promise you the return on the federal government's

investment in my family for those three years has been repaid.

I don't know a thousandfold.

You know, I mean

It's just so short-sighted to me to think that somehow it's gonna, it'll be better for us
to not feed these children during the school day than it would be to feed them in the long

run, right?

But you know, I mean, here's what I've come to.

Here's what I've come to about, um

particularly our GOP leadership in the state of Mississippi, is that for some reason,
their disdain for poor people and people of color is stronger than their love for

Mississippi.

Excellent point.

Because how else can you explain it?

And to Trump talk this morning at the United Nations and say that Christianity is the
world's most persecuted religion.

ah

That just doesn't fit with what you said just a few minutes ago.

And I don't know of, actually I don't know of any religion that thinks it's okay for
people to starve to death.

or be killed at random.

just because of their religious philosophy or political views.

ah I just don't.

And yet he thinks Christianity is...

It may be the most persecuted, but it's probably because nobody's practicing it.

Yeah, I mean, I think absolutely Christians are criticized uh a whole lot, but as far as I
can tell, the reason so many people are skeptical and maybe even antagonistic towards

Christianity is because so many people who profess that faith, uh

their actions wholeheartedly contradict the golden rule, which is supposed to be the
essence of Christianity, right?

Like, it's not Christianity that's being persecuted, it's hypocrisy that is being called
out, and there is a huge difference.

My dad always told me that your actions speak louder than your words.

And it's very true.

I think there's, there should be, uh, and I, and I preach this and I don't mind saying I
preach this.

There is a difference between, uh, Christian nationalism and Christianity.

I like to tell people I'm a, you know, I'll tell people upfront, I'm not a Christian.

And then watch the jaw drop and they know me.

They know that I'm, uh,

a good old Methodist boy, but then what I tell people, I am not a Christian, but I am a
follower of Christ.

I don't want to get oh off on a tangent, but there is a difference.

Evangelical Christians have turned this into Christian nationalism, and that scares the

the hell out of me, oh literally, oh because there is a separation of church and state.

And the separation of church and state is for protection of the church.

oh And it's all about the Ten Commandments.

That's what they want to preach.

Well, what about the Beatitudes?

Let's talk about that.

Let's put the Beatitudes wherever you want to put them.

instead of the Ten Commandments.

Yeah.

You know, and those beatitudes, I mean, as best I understand it, those beatitudes are for
sure the golden rule is uh near universal in terms of the world's major religions.

Like, you know, and uh anyway.

Yeah, we need to do uh a podcast, just on religion, and really how close, you you look at
all the denominations or even the major uh religions, and they have so much in common.

Absolutely.

eh

If you say so, go for it.

Go Jim.

What do you anticipate as far as them getting a budget before the end of the

I don't know, but I will say I think there is more support for shutting down the
government now than there was when was that?

What back in March?

Because of the way the federal government is being weaponized against the American people.

Yeah, I mean I think I think there are a lot more people now who say Sure shutting down
the government is gonna hurt It's gonna hurt those folks who are gonna lose their jobs or

those folks who have to keep working but don't get their full paycheck But maybe right now
the alternative is far worse than that

It almost seems to me, and I hate to say this because I don't want it to happen, but I'm
willing to bet that if they shut down the government and included...

No more social security checks.

I can almost guarantee that a lot of Republicans are not going to be re-elected next year.

Because older people will not take kindly to that.

And they will get out and they will go vote.

And they won't.

so.

then also, Jim, if you think about, you know, the older people, and I confess, I don't
know if there's a government shutdown.

Is that true that social security checks won't be issued?

No, they will continue to be issued.

What I'm saying is if they cease issuing, they will have hell to pay next year.

Right, I mean, because if you think about it, like not only um does that impact, I don't
know how many millions of older adults, but if older adults aren't getting their social

security anymore, then that has a trickle down impact on their children and grandchildren.

You know, because who's gonna be taking care of them?

Precisely.

ah

mean, I think, I hope and I think that um there is gonna be a reckoning in 2026.

I ah mean, especially if you look at like, you the other thing, the other numbers I've
looked at are the impact of tariff policies, which our Republican congressional delegation

has wholeheartedly endorsed.

um

If you combine the effects of the Big Beautiful bill and tariff policy on Mississippians,
it's way worse than just the impact of the Big Beautiful bill.

mean, major, a major dent in Mississippians' pocketbooks.

Or, you know, for the next hour and a half.

What's that?

and its effect on the farmers.

Yeah.

sure.

um know, tariffs affect on farmers.

um The loss of immigrant labor's effect on farmers.

It's effect on the manufacturing industry, know, construction, um any number of industries
in Mississippi.

um

folks are gonna really gonna be hurting.

Jim, you had something.

You mentioned the farmers and I heard an interview the other day that in Mississippi, if
the farmers don't get help, the family farms ah are going to be approaching 50 to 75 %

bankruptcy, which will mean that the larger corporate farmers will take over and

There'll be fewer people needed to work the farms.

ah

And the proof of that is that Caterpillar has already lost 300,000 in this last quarter
and they expect to lose that again.

I don't know how we're going to get out of this without a real change in our legislation
or legislators.

And that's going to require.

is.

The impacts are already devastating and they're only gonna get worse.

I've got a friend who's a bank president down here and he um told me, he's got a lot of
bank customers who are farmers and they've been calling him since March and saying like, I

don't know what we're gonna do.

And these are fifth, sixth, seventh generation farmers.

And I mean, that is a segment of the population that is...

you know, what, 90 % Republican?

I don't know.

I mean, and they are being squeezed.

um And again, it's for nothing.

we, you know, it would be one thing if we were getting something out of this.

I read somewhere or heard a podcast maybe, I don't know, talking about, you know, that
authoritarian regimes, if they succeed,

they succeed because the people believe that there's gonna be a benefit that offsets the
detriment.

So the detriment is like we're losing our freedoms, we're, you know, our first amendment
rights, you know, due process rights.

Freedom of speech.

maybe go away, there's redistricting and that sort of thing, but we benefit in some way.

our, um you know, we're more prosperous or we're safer or we have better healthcare or we
have, you know, better something.

And that is absolutely not.

what is happening in our country.

We are losing all of our freedoms.

We are losing our democracy.

And we are also losing, excuse me, our asses financially because of these policies.

And like I keep saying, Mississippians ain't that stupid.

Like we are waking up.

and paying attention.

And we're not going to stand for it.

I mean, look, I think the pitchforks are coming in 2026.

And they should people should be mad as hell.

Yes.

I love that Mississippians ain't that stupid.

ah Tell us about Cat O'Shea.

Tell us about her.

that's my alter ego on social media.

I have an Instagram account and a Facebook account and who knows if it's uh helpful or
not, but I give myself a little bit of anonymity with uh a alter ego.

um

Because I have a big mouth and I'm not very good at biting my tongue and I don't I don't
want everybody else to go down with me But yeah, you know I um I want one of the things

that I Want to do most is to help

Mississippians understand how different policies affect us because we certainly aren't
getting that information from our elected officials.

mean, the information they are giving us is garbage.

It's not true.

um And so,

ah One of the ways to do that, to help educate people is on social media, which is really
bizarre.

mean, you know, like we're used to writing letters to the editor and, um you know, I don't
know how else you do that.

um But these days, a lot of people are getting their information on social media and there
is so much garbage out there that I just...

kind of feel like I can't be quiet anymore.

And I get curious about these issues.

I mean, with the big, beautiful bill, I'm like, there's no, there's no way Cindy Hyde
Smith is telling the truth when she says, you know, middle income Americans are going to

get back $1,500 a year.

That's not true.

And so I go digging into it and sure enough, it ain't true.

And it makes me mad.

mean, I get, I have one child who's very, very stubborn and, you know, if he sees anything
that he perceives as remotely unfair, particularly if it's unfair to him, he just throws a

fit and I wonder where he gets it from.

You know, like I just, and I tell you when it started, it was back during COVID and

where we used to go to church, priest made a, long story short, the priest made a comment
on Facebook.

It was a post on Facebook about how um they were, you know.

doing the best they could and as much as they could to help make sure that our teachers
were taken care of during COVID.

And I knew for a fact, because I was on the PA board, that that wasn't true.

And we had a lot of elderly teachers who we just adored and we were worried for their
health during COVID.

And he put that on Facebook and I was like, hell no, uh-uh.

Hahaha!

I commented on his post.

I mean, it just made me so mad to see like somebody in a position of authority speaking
out to his followers about something and it's not true.

And he later said to me like, you know, shouldn't have put that in the comments on my
Facebook post.

I said, no, no, no, father, uh-uh.

you shouldn't have made that Facebook post that was not true.

And kind of ever since then, I just like, I'm sorry, I'm not gonna sit here and sit back
and be quiet and watch people be lied to.

We don't hold our authority figures or our leaders, we don't hold them accountable.

And we let them get away with crap.

ah

I don't know if you saw, I uh had a video rant um several weeks ago.

was after um after Wicker made those public comments on video down at the Gulf Coast
Chamber of Commerce event.

said, uh he was, don't, did y'all see this video?

Do know what I'm talking about?

Yeah.

So he was asked, um

if he receives the messages when people, constituents call and email his office and he
said two things that were appalling and all the rest of it was like mumbo jumbo.

have no idea.

was like words weren't even coming out of his mouth.

It was just grunting.

But he said, um, surely people have better things to do.

And he said, people need to get a life.

Yes.

What struck me was that that is exactly our problem is that?

for I don't know decades now at least the last I'd say 15 years people

are going on about their lives without paying attention to what's going on in government
and politics.

And people are oh finding better things to do.

And that's how we got into this mess is because we're having better things to do, we're
getting a life, and we're just going on about our day and our lives and assuming that our

elected officials are doing right by us.

and they're not.

Yeah, we're with you.

to tell that they're not.

Right.

When Wicker says Mississippians ought to get a life, send the money and maybe some of them
will be able to get a life.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, stop making our lives harder.

That's what government is doing is it is our federal government and our state government
too is making life harder for the vast majority of Mississippians.

And it's time to stop.

Well Kathleen, this has been so much fun.

uh We admire your passion.

We admire your candid comments and that's quite all right with us.

We like that.

So thank you for being with us.

Jim?

I want to have Kathleen back.

Yes, we do.

eh Well, I've sure enjoyed it.

I'll be glad to come back anytime.

we can pick another subject and have a go at it and tear into them.

ah

Give me a topic.

I'll dive into it.

Yeah

it.

It's all about the deep dive and you're right.

We have got to communicate what's going on and the real news and the real facts and know,
you know, and this is what we found.

This is where we found it.

And Cindy Smith is lying her off.

Yeah.

And let me just say this right.

I know y'all are trying to wrap up, but not only do we have to, do we have to educate
people about the what's really going on, but we have to, um as Mississippians have to

speak up.

We cannot sit idly by.

cannot sit in our, um what am I trying to say?

recliner, I don't know.

Say hello.

our echo chambers, you know, you and I can't, the three of us can't just sit here and talk
amongst ourselves.

Like we have to share with other people what's really happening.

We have to be in community with other people um and we have to do something.

We've got to call our elected officials.

We've got to write to them.

We've got to show up to protest.

October 18th is No Kings Day 2.0.

They're going to be protesting Gulfport at the federal courthouse in um Jackson at the
state capitol and in Tupelo in front of Trent Kelly's office, I believe.

So October 18th is a great time for people literally to show up with their bodies and um
do something.

Jim, let's talk about your favorite subject, Jim.

Oh, money?

I love money.

Yes, you do.

it comes in and we don't have to continue paying for this.

Hahaha

But it's worth it.

But yes, these broadcasts do cost.

They're not terribly expensive, but they are somewhat expensive.

And if you'd like to ah to continue seeing topics of interest to Mississippians and what
David calls kitchen table issues.

ah

We sure would appreciate it if you would consider making a donation one time or on a
monthly basis, even if it's five or $10, everything helps.

We've got some great, great people coming up.

One of the ones I'm really looking forward to is with retired Admiral Jamie Burnett.

ah And hopefully he will have a JAG officer, which is a justice, naval justice advocate ah
with him.

And ah we're gonna talk about

blowing up boats in the Gulf of Mexico without any justification.

And I think a retired admiral and a retired JAG officer might have some opinions about
that.

So that's one really great one that's coming up and I can hardly wait to see it.

But like I said, it all costs money.

ah The good thing is

It's not like the grocery store.

Our costs have stayed the same.

Trump says grocery bills are going down.

Well, ours isn't going down, but it's not going up.

So if you got a little change, send it our way.

We'd appreciate it.

If not, continue to listen in, get educated and take some action.

Don't sit on the log doing nothing.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Thank you, Jim.

And if you want to contribute, uh your cash app is at Mississippi Happenings.

PayPal is dollar sign Mississippi Happenings.

And also you can check us out at mshappenings.org and you can also contribute there.

So we do appreciate it.

We appreciate you listening.

We do want you to subscribe.

It is free.

We do need more sponsors, ah and yes, we do need donations to keep us going like this, but
we do appreciate it.

Also, our email address is mshappeningsofone.com.

That's mshappeningsofone.com.

We do want to hear from you.

We do want to talk about the that you want to talk about, the things that you want to hear
about.

And this helps us get great interviews like we just had with Kathleen.

So we do appreciate that.

ah And in closing, may we never become indifferent to the suffering of others.

Thanks.

Y'all take care.

Be safe.