Friday, Apr 3

WBSM presents The Very Richard Show, streaming live on WBSM.com and the WBSM app. Call 508-996-0500. Text us using AppChat on the WBSM app. Now, The Very Richard Show. And welcome to the program for a Friday afternoon, kind of a gloomy day out there. And it is cloudy and it is foggy and occasional mist and drizzle out there. But I think the weekend is going to improve. I haven't, you know me, I haven't studied the forecast. But I'll be looking forward to hearing it in great detail with you coming up in the 1 o'clock news break. So we'll see what's going to happen. Easter Sunday, of course, is upon us. I did hear there was a chance of some showers on Easter Sunday. So, again, we'll have that forecast for you from the WPRI TV 12 weather center coming up. So stay tuned for that. All right. President Trump has been briefed, we are told, on reports that a U.S. fighter jet, possibly an F-15, has been shot down over Iran. It appears from the maps that I've seen that the shoot down, if it did in fact occur, occurred near the Strait of Hormuz area. Is that correct? Don't know a whole lot at this point. Iranian media claims that a U.S. fighter jet has been shot down over the country's southwest. No confirmation of this yet from the White House that I'm aware of. I mean, I'm hearing, I'm getting conflicting information and that bothers the hell out of me. I hate when that happens. I don't know for certain if this has been confirmed yet. Fox, while I'm reading one thing from Newsmax, I'm seeing something different on Fox here. And it says Trump briefed on downed F-15 in Iran. And it was an F-15E Strike Eagle. Now, I don't know whether that means it's been confirmed or not. So that's a little bit frustrating. But we're going to continue to watch this and bring you the very latest as we get it right here on WBSN. Of course, ABC is monitoring it as well. You know what's really bugging me about this is that this will bring some in our country a great deal of glee and joy, if it is true. If we do have a service member that is down behind enemy lines, think about those who will be happy about this. And you know who they are. They will be happy about it. Because they'll be able to say to Trump, look, see, see, look what happens. You know, your illegal war, your war crimes and everything else. And now we've got an American service person being held. So we'll keep watching it anyway. Closer to home, as Chris told you, Full River State Representative Alan Sylvia, a Democrat, has confirmed to me that he has joined in the fight for the audit. Democrat State Representative Alan Sylvia, Full River, has joined in the fight for you, on behalf of you. Now, to my knowledge, this is the first Democrat state representative to do so. We know that the Republicans in the legislature have come out in support of the audit. We know that the Board of Selectmen in Reading have sent a letter to Senate President Spilka and House Speaker Mariano demanding that the audit be performed. Now, I've been calling on my program for weeks now, months actually, for members of our delegation. Tony Cabral, Chris Markey, Chris Hendricks, Mark Montigny, Michael Rodericks, Alan Sylvia, Carol Faiola, the whole gang of them. And I know I always leave somebody out. Because, to be honest with you, they're not all very memorable. To do this, to stand with the people, you know I have. When the Reading Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to fire off a letter to Spilka and Mariano to cooperate and allow the audit to happen, I sent a copy of their resolution to every member of the City Council here in New Bedford. And only heard back from three. Only one said that she would proceed to try to get the New Bedford City Council on record as supporting Reading. And that was Councilor Naomi Carney. But I've heard nothing more from any of the other council members as to whether they would support this. You know me. I'm a big mouth. I get paid to be a big mouth. I open up the microphone every day and I tell you what's on my mind. I'm like Sophia on the Golden Girls. I don't hold anything back. I don't have a filter. Boom, I put it out there. And you know that. Maybe that's why you love me. Maybe that's why you hate me. I don't know. I'm like Trump in that way. And that's why I love Trump. And that's why I identify with Trump. Because I don't like filters. I don't like people to BS me. I want to know how you feel. I can't deal with the drama and the, you know, all of the political head games and everything else. Tell me how you feel. Get cut to. My wife will tell you. My wife gets so pissed off at me because my wife is a storyteller. You know, she wants to give me every single detail of everything. She's telling me a story. She's got to tell me the color of the wallpaper and everything else. It's like get to the point. And she gets so mad at me when I do that. But, I mean, it's just my nature. I need to. I'm a bottom line guy. Hit me with the bottom line. Let me absorb that. And then fill in the details later on. That's just the way I am. That's my personality. And that's the way I put things to people. And, you know, I wish members of the New Bedford City Council would come out and stand with the people on this issue. They have not. I wish members of our state delegation, again our state reps and senators, would come out and stand with the people on this. They would not. Until now. We have one. One tin soldier. Representative Ellen Sylvia. Veteran of the Vietnam War. State police. Local police. City council. Not a city council, but a state representative. Good man. Moderate Democrat. And he has actually filed court documents. He told me in a statement earlier today, which I gave to Chris to read on the air. Yesterday, I filed a six-page amicus brief with the Supreme Judicial Court. The document is public. The legislature has been a poor role model for transparency. I won't be a part of it. The people want and voted for an audit. They deserve it. My constituents sent me to the House to be an independent voice. I have been that voice. The speaker is going to excommunicate me. I'm not sure if you wanted that part mentioned, but that's part of the statement from him. And I invited the representative to come on the air and talk with us today about this. He's been on the program with me. I was going to say unfortunately, but that would be a poor choice of words. Representative Sylvia is a devout Catholic. Okay, he is a very committed Catholic. Today is Good Friday. And he said, I'm not speaking aloud until next week. And we'll be happy to talk with you then. But he typed his thoughts. And what do you say about somebody like Alan Sylvia, who has the balls, has the guts to stand up and take on the leadership? You know what? Alan Sylvia knows what this means. This means he's going to move his office into a broom closet in the basement, probably lose any chairmanships that he's got. But that's leadership. That's what leadership is about. It's not how many perks do I get by serving in Boston on Beacon Hill and going along to get along and being fearful of challenging the leaders. It's about leadership. It's about bucking heads with leadership. When it comes to representing the people. This is an audit that 72% of you voted for. And yet Tony Cabral won't stand with you. Chris Markey won't stand with you. Chris Hendricks won't stand with you. Mike Rodericks will not stand with you. Montigny will not stand with you. I have not heard any member of the area delegate, Viola, won't stand with you. Alan Sylvia is standing with you. The legislature has been a poor role model for transparency. I won't be a part of it. The people want and voted for an audit. They deserve it. My constituents sent me to the House to be an independent voice. I have been that voice. Meanwhile, a political action committee supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Minogue is going to be flying a plane banner tomorrow over Fenway Park bashing Governor Healey. And what they say is her lack of support for the legislative audit. Red Sox are going to be taking on the San Diego Padres. Don Orsillo will be back in town calling the game for San Diego. And there will be a plane in the air pulling a banner. Minogue has even offered to pay for the lawyer to fight for the audit, if you remember. Massachusetts First PAC, which is going to fly the banner and pay for it, tells the Boston Herald that it will be flying a banner that reads, quote, 72% voted for audit. Healey said no. Now, Maura Healey and the Attorney General, Andrea Joy, can bull crap you all day long. Whoa, we voted for it. We think it's a good idea. But they won't fight for it. As a matter of fact, Andrea Joy Campbell is doing everything she can to halt it. And, you know, Governor Maura Healey could be influential in all of this. Because she is the governor of the Commonwealth. Right. And she's while she is a separate branch of government. She's the executive branch. Spoke of Mariano. They're the legislative branch. The governor can influence the governor. Can there's nothing stopping the governor from holding a news conference and saying the people voted for this. Let the people have what they want. It is completely legal. I did a piece on WBSM.com a while back that Andrea Campbell. If you look at WBSM.com and you do a do a search on it. I wrote a piece a long time ago, last year sometime. Andrea Campbell, Andrea Joy Campbell, of course, can't take the joy out of being Andrea. Right. Andrea Campbell approved the wording of the ballot question. And now she's trying to give us some crap that. We can't do it. I'm not going to defend you and the citizens of Massachusetts. I'm going to instead defend Mariano. She signed off on the ballot question in terms of its constitutionality and its legality. Yesterday, my friend Mike Sylvia wrote a piece for a new Bedford guide, really in-depth piece going through the law. Step by step by step, showing and proving once and for all that it is completely legal. And it is precedented that the auditor has every right under the law, under the Constitution to perform this audit. Yet the only Democrat beside Auditor Diana DeSaglio, who started this fight in the first place, that has the guts to stand up and demand the audit for the people is Alan Sylvia out of Fall River. And then there is this WBZ TV Channel 4 with a story on its website just a short time ago. MBTA consultant with no bid contract paid more than $710,000 to work from home in South Carolina. No bid contractor. Your money. WBZ I-team has uncovered a no bid contract for an MBTA consultant who collected nearly three quarters of a million dollars in public funds working almost exclusively from his home in South Carolina. James Rod Brooks was hired as a consultant for the T in 2023 under the Healy administration. At the time, he got a one year no bid contract. Nearly three years later, he is still getting paid. Business as usual in the most corrupt administration in the most corrupt state in the Commonwealth. In the country, I should say. Mary Connaughton is the director of government transparency with the Pioneer Institute, which is a government watchdog group. She told Channel 4, quote, if it's short term, there's an emergency. There's some type of issue that has to be resolved. Yes, no bid. Go out and find the person that can do it. But why continue to extend that? Dude was hired. No bid contract for a year. Still working. Three years later, MBTA records obtained by Channel 4 show that from July 2023 to January 2026, Brooks was paid more than $713,000 in public funds. It's a lot of money and it's a good gig if you can get it. But that's a lot of money and the public needs to know why and what's being done for that money. Connaughton said that's not chump change. It's a lot of money, she said. Timesheets filed by Brooks last list much of his time as remote working from his home in South Carolina. Spending an average of less than nine percent of his time in Massachusetts over three years. Some month record show Brooks never came to the Bay State at all. That doesn't accomplish a lot in terms of building a team in terms of getting things done. Connaughton said the public deserves to know what this job is all about. I want to know. Don't you want to know what was it? What is this charge? What was he hired for? Why was it so important that he gets a no bid contract that gets extended over three years? And yet he only gets to spend nine percent of his time in Massachusetts. Brooks LinkedIn page shows he was the senior vice president for operations for the Long Island Railroad, where he worked for Phil Eng. Oh, Phil Eng. Phil Eng is the MBTA general manager and is also the interim secretary of transportation. That position was handed to him when Monica Tibbet nuts was driven out of town because of her bad contract negotiations for the rest stop vending operation in Massachusetts. Another corrupt person is pushed out. There's the connection. Brooks worked for Philip Eng, who now runs the MBTA and is the interim transportation secretary. His contract with the T lists him as a senior advisor for capital operations slash safety. The MBTA said he has worked on projects that include the South Coast Rail and T speed restrictions. Well, that's encouraging. Some dude in South Carolina working on the MBTA South Coast Rail project. Eng did not respond to Channel 4's request for an on camera interview in a statement that did not address Brooks remote work. The MBTA said it was Eng's decision to hire Brooks. Of course it was. And you know what? General Manager Phil Eng's decision to bring on Mr. Brooks was based on his proven track record of delivering results under pressure at the Long Island Railroad. The busiest commuter rail system in North America, the MBTA said in a statement. He specialized. His specialized expertise has been invaluable for the T on a number of major projects, which have improved safety and reliability across the MBTA. I think we need to figure out what's going on with this contract. And is he achieving the real objectives of the contract? Connaughton said we don't know. Channel 4 reached out to Brooks. He did not respond to their request for an on camera interview. He is billing the T about twenty six thousand dollars a month under his current contract, which runs through the end of this year. What a freaking mess this state is. What a mess. 508-996-0500. Got to get the break in. We're coming right back. Every day you can make money talk. This is your chance to win a thousand dollars. Eight, nine, five, eight, nine, five. Enter it right now at WBSM dot com or on the WBSM app for your chance to win cash on WBSM. This portion of programming on WBSM is brought to you by these hot dogs in New Bedford, where you can get two hot dogs, chips and a soda for just six bucks. Back to Barry Richard on WBSM. Call 508-996-0500. All right. Welcome back. It is at twelve forty two now on a Friday afternoon. 508-996-0500. Here's the latest I can tell you about the the what appears to be an F-15 shot down over Iran. This is from Newsmax. Newsmax has confirmed that a U.S. fighter jet has been shot down over Iran's southwest. A search and rescue operation is underway for two crew members believed to have been aboard the F-15 aircraft, with CBS News reporting that one has been recovered by U.S. forces. Newsmax confirmed that President Donald Trump has been briefed. A local Iranian state television channel reported that at least one U.S. pilot ejected from the jet after it was hit. The broadcast air message urging civilians to capture any surviving pilots and turn them over to authorities, offering what it described as a precious prize. An onscreen call went further, encouraging viewers to, quote, shoot them if you see them, referring to individuals allegedly seen in circulating social media footage. The message later changed to a bounty. Military forces have launched a search operation to find the American fighter pilot who was hit earlier today, Iran's Fars News Agency said. Dear and honorable people, if you capture the enemy pilot or pilots alive and hand them over to the police and military forces, you will receive a valuable reward and bonus, said an Iranian television reporter. Boy, they have media like we do, huh? Iranian state media also released images and video purportedly showing debris from the downed aircraft, including what appears to be an ejection seat. The footage suggests the aircraft may have been an F-15 fighter. We're going to go through this over and over again. Pentagon, U.S. Central Command and the White House did not immediately respond for requests for comment. And so that's that at the moment. And we'll continue to watch that and bring you updates on it as we as we can. My my question here is, how is Iranian television even still broadcasting with all of the bombs, all of the sorties, all of the targets? Why wasn't the propaganda machine hit? That kind of surprises me. Does this surprise you? I would think that the the government's ability to put out propaganda statements and in reporting and everything else, I would think that that would have been one of the first things that would have been hit. I mean, that's just my view. Maybe I'm naive. I don't know. But kind of leaves me scratching my head. You would think that that's something that Israel and the US or both or one or whatever would have would have thought to do right from the get go. But I don't know whether we will get any kind of word from Trump or anybody, maybe Caroline Leavitt or somebody, maybe Pete Hegseth. I don't know whether anybody will will come out and have a live statement. If so, I will do my best to grab it for you. I am connected to the White House here through my machinery and can bring you a live update if they make it available to us. Anyway, back to Massachusetts. Got another company. And policies Tim is going to be on with me right after the one o'clock news bring us up to date on what's going on here, filling in some of the details. The company is headquartered in Cambridge and has provided official notice of upcoming organizational change that will result in layoffs, according to an official filing. The company cites a new restructuring plan to cut down costs approved by its board of directors that calls for nearly 400 additional layoffs in other states, estimating one point three billion dollars in savings. Tim writes that some observers say the surge in companies implementing mass layoffs or moving operations out of the state is a symptom of Massachusetts unfriendly business environment. Massachusetts implementing a new firearm safety law that includes updated training requirements and a digital certification process. The new law, which took effect yesterday, mandates that all basic firearm safety courses, including instruction on suicide prevention. And the use of force and de-escalation techniques, military personnel and hunters are no longer exempt from the basic firearm safety course requirements and hunter safety certificates are no longer accepted for license to carry applications. New law takes effect took effect yesterday. Existing basic firearm safety certificates issued between August one of twenty twenty four and April one of twenty twenty six will still be accepted for application. Which it has the updated law mandates that all basic firearm safety courses include instructions on suicide prevention, the use of force and de-escalation techniques. These changes come as the state transitions to a digital certification process and removes several longstanding training exemptions. The licensing process has also transitioned to a digital format through the my mass gov portal. Firearms instructors will no longer provide physical certificates or paperwork to students upon completion of a course. Instead, instructors must upload the training records to the state website where students must download and print their own certificates. While the new law mandates live fire training, this requirement is not currently being enforced while state officials finalize the necessary regulations. So I'm just thinking, you know, what about places like well, like we talk all the time about based on Armament Corporation, right? One of the great sponsors that keeps this program on the air every day and they offer firearm safety classes. So now under the law, they are required to include instruction on suicide prevention. Does that come like in a little booklet and the firearm safety course instructor must lecture prospective gun permit holders on suicide prevention? Really? Or do they have to bring in counselors? Is there any liability involved in this? Let's just say a gun safety course instructor, I don't know, maybe delivers the suicide prevention information and then somebody goes out and commits suicide anyway. Is that instructor liable somehow? This is Massachusetts, folks. This is a state where they are. You know, they talk about the Nazis, right? You hear you hear Spilka all the time talking about Nazis and how Trump's a Nazi. And, you know, Trump is reminds her of, you know, the late 1930s in Poland where three point five million Polish Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis. These people sound more like Nazis than anything. I think Trump's doing by rounding up criminal illegal aliens, sending them home. That's not being a Nazi. That's doing his job under the Constitution. The Constitution requires I mean, it's the number one priority of the president of the United States is to protect and defend the borders and the people within those borders. Right. I mean, that's that's that's what the law says the president is supposed to do. All the rest of it is gravy. That's but that's what the president is supposed to do. Defend and protect the people and the Constitution. But here we have a state, Massachusetts, calling everybody else Nazis. But yet they are stripping you and making it more difficult for you to get a gun, which is guaranteed to you under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Not only than that, there's a higher authority who grants you permission to protect and defend yourself. You know, the founding fathers simply wrote it down. But you have a right to defend yourself and your family. You don't need more Healy's permission. You don't need Andrea Campbell's permission to defend yourself and your family. But yet more Healy and Andrea Campbell and the rest of the Democrats and liberals in the state are trying to strip you of your right. Make they can't outright ban guns. They would if they could. They can't do that because it's written in the Constitution. And the only way they can do that is to get all of the states to ratify an amendment. And then the public has to go and vote on. And neither of those things are going to happen. But what they do is they pass these laws that make it they restrict your ability to get weapons to be able to defend yourself and your family. But Chapter 135 is all about repealing more Healy's Nazi like gun law. It's coming up on the ballot this fall. Folks should pay attention to it. Are you going to do is look at what's going on to the poor suckers out in Iran, right? They had their guns taken away. Right now they are hiding in their basements from their own government, which is out doing mass slaughtering of people who oppose them. Tens of thousands, maybe more. We don't know because they're they're not telling us. But and the Internet is down. So folks, everyday folks, not only do they not have weapons to defend themselves, but they don't have the Internet to get messages out to the rest of us in the rest of the world. But, you know, when dictators try to start taking away your right to defend yourself, you better you better wake up fast and begin to understand what they're trying to do to you. If you thought if you thought that they violated your constitutional and human rights during the pandemic, you ain't seen nothing yet. Once they disarm you, they can do whatever they want to you. They can make you do anything they want. And this is what they're trying to do here in Massachusetts and in blue states in general, trying to take away your right to defend yourself and your family. Once they take away your weapons from you, they can do whatever they want to you and they'll keep trying. 508-996-0500, got to take a break. We're going to come right back up to this state broadcasting live from the Carefree Home Studios. This is WBSM Carefree Homes, your home improvement experts, roofing, siding, windows and more. Get a free quote at Carefree Homes Company dot com. Carefree Homes, trusted local family. She was black brown sugar. It was good. And welcome back to the program stories right there. And Brother Louie and that goes, oh, my God, way back. I want to say I'm going to guess 1974, maybe. And there you go. And all right. 508-996-0500 is our phone number. And we are monitoring things all over the place. Various things going on. But most importantly, at this moment, thoughts and prayers are with the pilot and copilot of that. Apparently, the F-15 that was we are now told was confirmed shot down in Iran today. It was CBS and Newsmax reporting that one of the two has been rescued and that they are looking for the second person. And Fox News is reporting it now, too. One crew member rescued from downed F-15 fighter over Iran. Don't have any word on the the other search and rescue efforts are underway. And let's hope that's quick and speedy and successful. Ryan, we've got a break. I sold my car in Carvana last night. Well, that's cool. No, you don't understand. It went perfectly. Real offer down to the penny. They're picking it up tomorrow. Nothing went wrong. So what's the problem? That is the problem. Nothing in my life goes smoothly. I'm waiting for the catch. Maybe there's no catch. That's exactly what a catch would want me to think. Wow. You need to relax. I need to knock on wood. Do we have wood? Is this table wood? I think it's laminate. OK. Yeah, that's good. That's close enough. Car selling without a catch. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up fees may apply.