Wednesday, Nov 11: Controversial MA Data Center

WBSM presents The Barry Richards Show, streaming live on WBSM.com and the WBSM app. Call 508-996-0500. Text us using App Chat on the WBSM app. Now, The Barry Richards Show. And welcome back, 108. On a Wednesday afternoon, 508-996-0500 is our time and phone number. And so as the city of New Bedford moves to distance itself from data centers, AI data centers, we don't want them here. Some of us don't want them here. The Kraft Group, which is owned by Bob Kraft, is looking to build what would be the country's fourth largest data center in the central Massachusetts town of Sutton. Boston Globe reports Sutton Select Board. held a hearing on the $16 billion project last night and said they plan to hold multiple public forums on the proposal. Every resident who spoke at last night's meeting was against the idea. According to proposal documents, as reviewed by WBUR, the public broadcasting station in Boston, the 10-building campus constructed on property that the Kraft Group already owns It would draw 900 megawatts of electricity when it is finished in 2033. To compare, that's more electricity than the recently completed Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm is capable of generating. At the same time, backers estimate it would generate nearly $28 million in annual tax revenue, which is nearly as much as Sutton currently collects in total property taxes in a year. Sutton's town manager said an application has yet to be filed, meaning important details on power, water, equipment, and site impacts are still to come. It would be a first for a region that currently doesn't have any large data centers. Probably could even use the industry, too. But imagine that $28 million in tax revenue in a town that collects about $28 million in tax revenue from its residents. So that would be like a doubling of your income each year. We'll draw 900 megawatts of electricity when it's finished. The Democrats in control of Congress are anti-AI, and the Chinese are full-throttle AI, AI, AI, very important stuff. And so apparently there are those who would like to see the Chinese dominate the AI industry, if you will, if that's the proper way to say it. I think if you're going to have AI... Campus is such as the one just described there that the craft group is looking at. You need to you need to make your own. You need to generate your own energy rather than draw down from the town or even take away from the state. I, you know, generate got to build a generator. It's got to be a part of it. We'll see where it goes. I'll keep you posted if I hear any more about it. Health care costs in the last hour, we talked about your oil tank. What is costing you to fill your oil tank? Talked a little bit about what it may cost you to meet your property tax commitment here in the city of New Bedford. Fall River City Council just voted for a new tax classification rate last night, I think it was. And there is going to be an increase in property taxes, no big surprise. And here in the city of New Bedford, where property values have increased again. And the city is looking down the barrel of a $32 million budget shortfall. A tax increase is pretty much a given, and it's just a matter of how much. City Council said to take that up on the 24th of this month. So that's your heating bill. That's your tax bill. How about your health care? How are you doing with your health care bill? How are you doing with your health care bill? Are you able to pay the bills? Average total health care costs for Massachusetts families last year topped $34,000. Due to rapidly rising premiums and deductibles, that according to top state health officials yesterday, Statehouse News Service reports on a Health Policy Commission meeting. Health Policy Commission Executive Director David Seltz, S-E-L-T-Z, Seltz, called that figure staggering as he kicked off the agency's annual cost trends hearing, which is dubbed of the Super Bowl of healthcare policy and brings together top industry players. Across hospitals, community health centers, insurers, state agencies, and consumer advocates and others. Average total health care costs for Massachusetts families last year, 34,000 bucks. We must also recognize that the status quo is not sustainable. We need to confront the underlying structural challenges driving health care spending, Seltz said. That includes rising price growth, rising utilization. Growth, pharmaceutical costs, administrative complexity, and the incentives that shape where and when health care is delivered. Family health insurance premiums in the Commonwealth have grown from $7,000 annually in 2000 to nearly $30,000 last year. Premiums increased by 38% between 2019 And are expected to hit $50,000. In 2032, 50,000 bucks for health care premiums for a family in Massachusetts. Cape Cod and the islands are the highest premiums in the state based on 2024 data. According to a new analysis, stealth shared health care costs also exceed housing costs in most regions of the state, but not Boston. Got to figure this out. You know, I mentioned it the other day after the election, Governor-elect Donaldson, you Florida said that the Republicans... Even have a half a chance of taking control of the key or maintaining control of the White House in or retaining control of the White House in 2028. They've got to have a health care plan, you know, for 16 years now. They haven't been able to do it. Obamacare is 16, 15, 16 years old now. It's a disaster, just as predicted. But the Republicans have not come up with any kind of alternatives. And if they run again. With the average family in Massachusetts paying $34,000 a year on the way to $50,000 a year for health care premiums, they're not going to get elected again. Nor will the Democrats. I mean, you know, somebody's got to come up with a health care plan. It's got to be a bipartisan health care plan that is going to, you've got to fix, you've got to fix the system. Every one of us is caught in the system. Every one of us that uses health care. Every one of us that has health care, and I guess under Massachusetts law, you've got to have health care, right? And it costs a lot. 508-996-0500 is our phone number. Thanks for hanging. You're next on WBSF. Yo, Barry, Don and Stoughton. Hey, Don and Stoughton. Well, thank you and good health to all our brother and sister veterans out there. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there. And not like one William Jefferson Clinton who enlisted and then deserted back in 1969. Everybody remember that. Then went overseas and bad-mouthed this country. Shame on him. Yeah, yeah. Shame, shame, shame. Yeah. I don't know what the mayor's problem is with President Trump, but I don't know of anything that Trump has done that has hurt the United States of America. I mean, he is looking 10, 15, 20 years down the road. And sometimes you have to take the bitter with the sweet. But as for being a bad president, I fully disagree. Well, you know, municipal leaders all across the Commonwealth and probably all across the country, you know, they build things and then they just let them rot and fall apart. And there is no foresight. You know, you're going to build something. You've got to be able to budget to, you know, do maintenance and, you know, upkeep and all that kind of stuff. And what's happened in our country is we haven't done that kind of maintenance or upkeep on things such as the military or such as our planning for. We're running for... You know, the future and and all that kind of stuff. So that's all being done now. And it's all being done all at once. And, you know, I think it's an amazing thing to see, you know, enrollment. I'm a volunteer. Volunteering enlistment is is reaching record highs. They have waiting lists for people to get into the army and stuff like that. Yeah. We've got the most powerful equipment ever. Yeah. Nobody else can even come close to us. So, you know, we've gotten Corporal Klinger out of the trenches and replaced him with, you know, with the... That's not diversity, Barry. Come on now. Please, you know? Yeah. So, I mean, I think the military has undergone an amazing rebirth in a very short period of time. Morale is way up. Look at what Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1934, he cut military spending 40%. Our military was out of fuel, out of ammunition, and everything else when World War II erupted. Harry Truman shut down the military, and the communists said, hey, it's time to invade Korea because America is weak under the Democrats again. Wonderful. We're going to get Jimmy Carter in the Gulf of Tonkin. Yeah, and Jimmy Carter, you know, had helicopters crashing in the desert and slamming into each other. They didn't even have spare parts. So each time you get rid of one of those Democrat presidents, we have to spend a fortune to upgrade our military. Yeah, absolutely. Don't go to Havana, Cuba. They have 1,000 buildings a year that collapse from lack of maintenance. I'm just reading the article right now on the Internet. But, two other quickies there, my friend. If you and your wife have a chance, jump down to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania during Christmas. The Moravian Christians settle down there. And on Christmas time, they've got candles in the windows. They decorate the graves. It's just beautiful and a lot of good places to eat down there. And, oh, quickly, the woman that called in on the oil tank. Most oil tanks are 275 gallons. And when I fill mine up, it's close to $800 to get, like, about 150 gallons or so. Wow. Yeah. How many times do you have to fill it? Twice, you know, I keep the temperature down, I'm, you know, healthy, and I'm raging around the house, outrage at Democrats, so that keeps me, anyways. See, I'm one of these people that don't, I will not be cold. I hate to be cold, to begin with, I hate to be cold, and, you know, I'm not going to sit in my house and put a cardigan on like Jimmy Carter and turn the thermostat down. You know, I'm going to keep myself comfortable, so I'll pay whatever it is I got to pay. Okay, so a lot of people, You know, I like that. Unfortunately, some folks are on such tight budgets, particularly seniors, that they have to do that, you know. Oh, God, yeah. I weep for them. Yeah, and, you know, the poor old folks that have worked so hard their whole lives, and here they are freezing in order to try to save a couple of pennies, you know. Oh, but health care is going to be free, Barry, under Senator Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders. Everything's going to be free for health care. Yeah, free, free, free, except you're going to wait three years for an appointment to go get a hangnail cut off, right? Well, yeah, there are some setbacks, but one last quick point, my friend. Do not travel through New Jersey if you're going to Pennsylvania. They are going to enact a Sharia law. In other words, let's say you have a bumper sticker that says, Jesus is my savior. Uh, somebody in New Jersey who's Muslim can say that's Islamophobic and you can get arrested. They're trying to pass that bill now. It's, uh, 1146, New Jersey, 1146. Wow. And it's the anti-Islamophobic Sharia law that you cannot speak out against Islam. And I have it on my computer screen right now. And just don't get caught eating pork chops while you're driving down the highway. Oh my God, talk about beheadings. I mean, you know, the marriage of the prophet at the age of six, the little girl there, and honor killings, and beating your wife, and throwing homosexuals off the roofs. Yeah, no, you can't say any of that. When I go down to, my son lives in, well, he's in Washington right now, but he was in Virginia. When we go down that way, we always take the back way. It's a lot more enjoyable to drive to. And now I'm going to, is it 81 that goes through Connecticut? 81, and I've been down through Pennsylvania. 15. The little car path there, when I used to go down Pennsylvania quite a bit. Yeah, you go through the Poconos. I think it's Route 15, and you go right past Gettysburg. Well, you know, that's the only way I would have ever gotten to see Gettysburg because Gettysburg is not a place that has a major international airport. Yeah, you're not going to fly on a vacation to go to Gettysburg. You just have to be in the area or really go out of your way to get to it. So when we'd drive to, you know, my son would be in Virginia, we'd drive to visit him, we'd take the back way and we'd go drive right by Gettysburg. So perfect opportunity to stop. And I got to do one more on my... On my bucket list. Gettysburg, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg. Absolutely. Dunham Hall. The places where the Union soldiers in blue had to die, but now somehow the Democrat Party is blue. And I don't understand that. My son's a great tourism guide. Whenever we go to visit him, he makes sure we see everything. And, you know, we've been just all over that whole area. And I just absolutely love it. And I'm glad he's back. He moves around so damn much. I'm glad he's back in that area because I've still got some more things I want to see. We'll see. Anyway, Route 15 is a beautiful ride down through Pennsylvania. Do you get through Amish country? I go through Amish country. I don't think I've ever been to Amish country. You know what? Actually, I did. Bird in hand, Intercourse. Many, many years ago. It's a corner post. Where Three Mile Island is, right? That borders Amish country, right? It does, yeah. All right. Many years ago, probably the early 80s, I got a flat tire right near Three Mile Island. Okay. But I didn't, I wasn't there doing any tourism stuff. I was driving through and I got stuck there and I had to, I think I had to take the tire off and hitchhike with the tire to a gas station and get it filled. Oh, wow. Yeah, that was... If you're in Bethlehem, you can look across the Lehigh River and see the Bethlehem Steel Plant where I used to work or if you're down in Baltimore, you can see where they're rebuilding the Sparrows Point Plant into a shipyard. Baltimore is another great place. Loved Baltimore, too. Thank you, President Trump. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Don. Appreciate it. Thanks, sir. 508-996-0500 is the number. And we're going to take a break. We're going to come right back after this. Stay tuned. You are listening to WBSM. Back to Barry Richard on WBSM. Call 508-996-0500. All right, welcome back. It is 1:30 on a Wednesday afternoon. 508-996-0500 is the number. And I mentioned that the Fall River... Property tax owners are going to be paying more in the new year. And there's a piece on Fall River Reporter that says Fall River City Council approves tax factor for fiscal year 27 by an eight to one vote as property values rise. And the story says the Fall River City Council approved the city's fiscal year 2027 tax classification factor at Tuesday's meeting after the Board of Assessors recommended. The maximum allowable shift of $1.75. We'll skip down a little bit here. Puts the residential tax rate at approximately $11.47 per $1,000 of assessed value. That's a one cent decrease. From the current fiscal year rate of $11.48, the commercial rate falls to roughly $23.46 per $1,000, And down from $23.58 the previous year. And... But residents are still going to pay more because values have gone up. Okay, values have gone up. So even though the council has trimmed a penny off, Or a couple of pennies off of the commercial rate, a penny off the residential rate, and I don't know, was it about a dime, did I say, off of the commercial per $1,000 valuation, the value of the property goes up. So you're going to pay more anyway. And the story says the median value of a single-family home in Fall River has increased to about $419,477, up from roughly $405,164 a year earlier. Even with a slightly lower residential rate, many homeowners are expected to see higher tax bills because of higher assessments. So the New Bedford City Council is set to vote on a tax rate for the city of New Bedford on the 24th of this month. And we have the same problem in New Bedford that Fall River has. The property values have gone up again, and that's with the rate. I mean, even if the city council cuts your tax rate, which I doubt they will, because we've got a $32 million budget deficit, the value of your property has increased. So you're still going to wind up paying more. I don't think the council will lower the rate. I may be wrong. I don't think they'll lower the rate. I think they're going to have to increase it. And then you get the increase in property values on top of that. New Bedford taxpayers, let me ask you, do you think you are getting what you were paying for paying a lot of money in property taxes? Are you getting your money's worth? Is it a value? Can you look at your property tax bill and say, wow, my taxes are high, but I get this, that and the other thing out of the city of New Bedford. And so therefore, I feel it's worth it still. It's still a worthwhile. It's still a worthwhile investment for me to pay the property taxes. I mean, New Bedford does have a lot going for it, right? We've got libraries all over the place. Um, We've got beaches. You've got parks. One of the things my wife first fell in love with with the city, she's from Pawtucket, Rhode Island. When I first brought her here, God, we've been living here now over 30 years. First thing she fell in love with was the parks, the number of beautiful parks. They've got a nice park in Pawtucket, Slater Park. It's a beautiful park. I don't know if you haven't been there, but it's beautiful. But it's one park. I mean, we have, you know, between Buttonwood Park and Brookland Park and Hazelwood Park and, you know, all of the smaller parks all over the city. Lots of park space, recreation space. You've got fire. You've got police. You've got sanitation. You've got. You know, you get a lot here in the city of New Bedford, but is it still a bargain for what you're paying in taxes and what you're expecting to pay in the new year for property taxes? Would you still say it's a bargain or has it become a situation where you are paying more than what you are getting back in return? We'll keep you posted, by the way, on the 24th and we'll. Let you know what the new rate's going to be and we'll pass it on to you and we'll get your thoughts of it there. So over the course of the last hour or so, we've been talking about the rising cost of oil and energy in general in Massachusetts, rising costs in healthcare premiums, up to $34,000 a year for a family plan in Massachusetts. It's a lot of money. Taxes, property taxes going up. On the issue of energy, got a piece on WBSM.com. And on Facebook and our other social media haunts that are material that gets posted to, got a piece up there, Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. It's calling on Governor Healey to, quote, immediately make public the results of taxpayer-funded climate studies that her administration has withheld or delayed. So, as you know, we're on this net zero plan, right? We're going to go net zero carbon footprint by 2050. Net zero by carbon 2050. That means getting rid of fossil fuels and going windmills and solar panels and, you know, all of these different things and alternative energy. Get rid of the nasty stuff. Natural gas. Get it out of here. Pipelines. We don't want pipelines, do we? We want windmills in order to reach net zero by 2050. So the state has paid for two major studies. The state, my ass. Well, excuse me. Pardon my French. Thank you very much. We paid for it. That was French, wasn't it? State doesn't. I always say this and people look at me weird, but the state doesn't have a job. State doesn't have a job. The state spends a lot of money, but it doesn't have an income. It takes your money and my money. We spent about a million dollars or more on studies about how to implement. The infrastructure needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050, and neither study has been made public. One of them is at least three years old. And the Mass Fiscal Alliance is saying, look, you people keep saying you're all about open government. Show us the reports. Let us read the reports on these studies. But so far, the Healy administration has refused to release them, make them public. If Governor Healey believes Massachusetts taxpayers deserve greater transparency from the government, she has an opportunity to prove it right now, said Mass Fiscal Alliance Executive Director Paul Diego Craney. Her administration can start by making public the taxpayer-funded studies examining the enormous costs and infrastructure demands associated with net zero policies, he said. That's open government, right? That's public records, but they won't release them. Healy insists that she supports the voter-approved audit. The legislature and the recently approved ballot question one, which mandates that the governor and the legislature adhere to open records laws. Mass fiscal reported, quote, one study conducted by Electric Power Research Institute cost three hundred seventy nine thousand dollars. And submitted to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in 2023, estimated that between $27 billion and $47 billion in electric infrastructure investments would be needed through 2050 in order to reach that goal of net zero. $27 to $50 billion. Where's that going to come from? Despite being finished three years ago, the report was never publicly released, according to MassFiscal. Commonwealth Beacon, by the way, has done extensive research on that study, and I've included a link in my story. So if you want to click on my story, you can click on their link and you can read more about it. Another study costing $650,000 on the economic costs of the transition to net zero is said to be in use, informing policy. The mass fiscal said the public has still not been allowed to see it. Mass Fiscal says the studies deal directly with policies that are already affecting what Massachusetts families pay to heat their homes and keep the lights on. Keeping this information out of public view is indefensible, he said. 508-996-0500 is the number. Thanks for hanging on. You're up next on WBSN. Hey, good afternoon, Barry. Hi. And happy Veterans Day to all our veterans, for sure. I appreciate everything they've done, and they do. That being said, Barry, this whole thing with this initiative is the most foolish thing I've ever heard. You know, it's like we live in a bubble here in Massachusetts where we've got this big plastic dome over us. So if we do away with all the emissions and all the carbon footprints, we're going to be in this great spot where you've got other countries and other states, for that matter, that are polluting the environment anyway. Anyway, maybe that's a strong word, but they're emitting, you know, using Fossil fuels and things like that. We can't survive with electric heat pumps. We're not there yet. And to think that in 24 million years we should be net zero is the most foolish thing because you and I both know 24 years will fly by and we will never get to where they want to go. But you know what? They're going to kill us in the meantime because we're going to financially get screwed paying for all this stuff. Well, again, I mean, this first study. It's going to cost $27 to $47 billion just to lay the infrastructure down for this to become a reality. And that's without them even sharing the information. That's on good guesstimates. And, you know, again, go back to what I've been talking about since I came on today, the cost of health care. $34,000 a year for a family plan. You know, your utility bills that you're paying, property taxes going up through the roof. And add to that, you know, $27 to $47 billion to achieve net zero. Who's going to pay for that? You know we're going to pay for that. Yeah. They're going to try to squeeze it out of us. But, you know, Barry, you think about how far we've come with keeping the air clean. When you and I were kids, it wasn't uncommon to see a car going down the road, blowing smoke out. As a kid, you kind of, you know, you waved your hand in front of your face like, oh, my gosh. And the mills. The mills, too. Yeah, pouring. Yeah. We don't have that. We've cut back so far. I think it's to be commended that, okay, we've done a big part here. Once again, I've traveled to the Philippines. You can't walk the streets without a mask on. It's that bad. I've got pictures of it. China. Yeah, look at China. Same thing. This guy looks like brown leather. Do we have a wall between us and the rest of the world? No, we don't. That air is the same air. And I'm all about let's try this. But if they're not doing it, why the hell should we be sacrificing financially in our lives? Really, we're sacrificing everything that we have because we all worry about paying these damn bills that are coming this winter. Part of that is paying for these initiatives and for other people to get heat pumps and things like that. And yet we're getting screwed for it. It's just... I swear to God, I sit here sometimes thinking, man, there are stupid people in charge telling me what to do. And I think I could do a hell of a lot better than they could. Between the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, we have never been cleaner in our country. Public awareness, too. I mean, people still litter. There's no question about it. And people still dump. There's no question about it. But it's nothing like... The mentality, like you say, when we grew up, people would dump ashtrays outside of their car in the parking lots and just throw things all over the place. But we've become aware, and I think we are doing a fabulous job of reducing, whether it be pollution or dumping or whatever in our country. And we are doing our part, but we cannot strangle ourselves economically, and we can't strangle our citizens. To outdo the rest of the world. I mean, we've got to do our part, absolutely. But there's a limit to when it then becomes too expensive for the people to live. I agree. And Barry, thank you for the time. As far as the electric goes, like, let's face it, last year when we had that cold snap, it got cold. It's kind of like back once again when we were kids. Seemed like winters were cold all winter long and somehow we got through it. But, you know, there was nothing like coming in and putting on that gas heater and getting that house warm because you needed that. You know, in last year when we, you know, the windmills there, for instance, down in Texas, I think that was a couple of years ago, they were suffering. They thought they could get through. You know, winter and use electric and man, did they, did people die? People froze. We're just not even close to there yet, to being there yet. I just wish we could inch our way instead of, I feel like the politicians have a head on a chopping block and they're like, no, you're going to do this now and we're not going to phase into it. It's now or never or now or whatever. Well, you've got to wonder where the corruption is in all of this. You know, how much money is being made by, you know, people that are really pushing this stuff? And who's making the money? You remember Solyndra, right? All the shovel-ready jobs and things that Obama gave us. You know, all of these environmentally friendly companies and all that. They've got government subsidies and, you know, off of the taxpayers. And they went belly up, went bankrupt. I mean, it was just corrupt right to the core. You remember under Jimmy Carter, when Jimmy Carter was throwing solar panels on roofs back in the 70s and everything, that whole thing went bust. It didn't work. Look, I'm as much for... Um, future solutions as anybody, if we, you know, someday, you know, I won't see it, you won't see it, but our grandkids will probably see it, you know, have a little itty bitty tiny, uh, you know, square thing that'll sit on your roof and that'll provide, uh, all of your, your heat and your electricity, everything will come through it or whatever, you know, some, some kind of thing, but we're not close to that yet. And we, it's one thing to study and experiment and it's great. Um, but you can't throw out. fossil fuels and say, well, we don't like this stuff anymore. We want to experiment with the new stuff. You can't throw out the old stuff until you know the new stuff is going to work. I mean, that's crazy. Right, right. Perry, thank you. One last thing, if I may, real quick. Dr. Thoppelman, you know, it's great. I'm all about people, if they want to get solar panels on it, that's fantastic. But look at, you know, how quick the technology is moving. So the people that are getting them today, in 10 years from now, when you have to either replace or whatever the case, it's going to get expensive. And it's really, the costs are not going to, so what are we doing for it? For the sake of a carbon footprint? Well, it's going to cost you a ton of money. So if you're ready, go for it, you know. And like I say, I'm all about it. To each his own. I'm not there yet. I'm kind of where you're at. Maybe this little panel that's very easy to replace down the road that feeds your house with amperage and whatever you need. But right now, putting those monsters on the roof is not what I want to do. And I don't want to pay for it either. No. And, you know, that technology is going to be there. And, you know, if you and I pass away and we came back from the dead, we'd probably be shocked at, you know, the way that energy was collected and used. You know, but. We're not at that point, and we can't say we're going to shut off the heat and we're going to freeze and we're going to do all of this kind of stuff until we are certain this stuff's going to win. Look what they did in Europe. They got rid of... You know, they got rid of all of their power plants and everything else. They went solar, and then the wind stopped blowing. And then they went back. They were hurrying to get back to nuclear and other things in order to keep people warm. Ciao. We'll see how it works. Thank you, my friend. Appreciate it. 508-996-0500. Break time. And we're going to come right back on the other side. Stay with us on WBS. There she goes, our baby. Are we ready for this? You added her to your AAA auto policy. With 24-7 claim support, she's covered. Our AAA agent, you're here too? We're always here for you. Visit AAA.com slash insurance to get a quote today. Back to Barry Richard on WBSM. Call 508-996-0500. All righty, welcome back. It is 1-51, a shock poll out today on this Veterans Day. Shock survey revealing more than one in five college students say the U.S. deserved the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack that killed nearly 3,000 people while targeting the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The stunning findings don't stop there, with nearly half of the respondents saying they would rather live under socialism and a plurality reporting that Palestine would be a better ally of the United States than Israel. This is what they're teaching in college. It's college kids. As the New York Post put it in a report on the poll today, Hassan Piker has lots of company, a reference to the radical left podcaster who played a far-left part in Tuesday's midterm elections by promoting and supporting successful socialist candidates. Some 22% of participants surveyed by the Buckley Institute agreed that America deserved September 11th, while another 72% disagreed with the statement. 6% unsure. According to the poll, which surveyed American undergraduates, ironically, those students were not even born in 2001 to witness the devastating attacks credited to the Islamic terror group al-Qaeda 25 years ago. Still, their views were in line with caustic U.S. bashers such as Piker, who reportedly said back in 2019 that America deserved 9-11 and more recently alleged that the U.S. forces have committed more terrorism than al-Qaeda. Hostility toward Israel has grown in the past year as well. The survey confirming the anecdotal evidence of frequent pro-Palestine demonstrations seen on campuses throughout the USA. When asked which country is a better ally for the U.S., 38% said Palestine, which is not even a country, and 25% Israel, a nine-point shift away from the Jewish state compared to last year. When it came to economic systems, those students echoed Piker, who generated headlines campaigning with successful Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. They were asked, if you had to choose which economic system would you prefer to live under? The post reported the result, 42% of students said they would rather live under a socialist system versus just 28% preferring a capitalist system, and the remaining 30% with no opinion. That's probably the most dangerous point right there, that 30% would have no opinion. That percentage in favor of socialism is the highest in the five years the survey questions have been posted. Nearly half the students, 47%, said they agreed with the statement. While socialist countries like Cuba and the Soviet Union have not been perfect, they offer a better economic model than capitalist countries like the United States, according to the tabloid. Yeah, Cuba with no lights. I think the newest model car is a 1957 Chevy. Don just told us, he was just reading online, what did he say, 100 buildings a day or 1,000 buildings a month or whatever totally collapse in Cuba? This is what our bonehead kids are being taught in college. That's what you're paying for. That's what you're paying for when you're sending the kids off to college. Hey. Only a third favored U.S. capitalism as a better model. The poll reflects the kind of trend being reported to or responded to by Young Americans Foundation, which is launching a multi-year nationwide initiative to counter the growing appeal of socialism among young Americans, according to Breitbart News. All right. All right. 5-3-8-9-9-6-0-5-100. We'll be coming right back after this. All righty, welcome back. It is 1:58. We're going to head into the newsroom in just a couple of moments. And so it's happening, and they are successful. Our enemies are defeating us from within. They've destroyed our faith and our history, our constitutional values, and our education system. And, uh... It's working and they've infiltrated our education system and they're training our kids to think this is a horrible place. And our... Political heroes from yesteryear are no good and our values, our priorities all warped and socialism is better and, you know, their country sucks and their economic system sucks and, you know, so this is what we've got. I mean, this is the education system and this is what the Internet is doing. And so we're in a world of hurt right now. We really are. And we're moving in the wrong direction. We're allowing these people into our government now. And before long, they will have a real influence on this country. See where it goes. Got to fight back because we're starting to lose. The enemy is making great strides right here in this country. Entering the workforce these days can feel uncertain at best. Give yourself a head start and make sure you have the skills employers are looking for with Codecademy. 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