In this episode, we embark on a journey through the realms of music history and political controversies. Our hosts delve into Cat Stevens’ dual identity as Yusuf Islam and the impact of his decisions on his fans. As the conversation transitions, the hosts analyze current political standoffs, specifically focusing on ICE’s permanent presence at airports and the contentious debates surrounding these policies. The episode takes a sharp turn into the world of Project Hail Mary and its reception, providing listeners with spirited opinions and insights.
Cat Stevens, 1971. Peace Train. Everybody wants peace. Everybody wants peace. Love, are you still alive? Still around? Yusuf? Yes, Yusuf is. What’s funny, he’s peeled away from that. I just read a big autobiography he just wrote called On the Road to Find Out, which is one of his great songs. And he talks about what was attractive to him about the Muslim world. And he did indeed convert Yusuf Islam, but now tours as Cat Stevens slash Yusuf and is kind of sort of playing both sides against the middle. And he tours is both the billboards say both. The book says both. He’s kind of a they-them tour. Well, I don’t know. We’ll tell you, the hardliners don’t like it when you wobble. But what an amazing amount of talent there. And Peace Train is because, do you believe, do you believe we’re in day, what, day two or three of the five-day pause? The Iranians say, there’s no progress. We’re not talking. This is fake news. While President Trump seems to say that we’re on the verge of some big breakthrough.
SPEAKER 02 :
What do you think is going on? And the left wants to believe the Iranians. Of course. In other words, because they never lie. They always are truthful and very above board. We’re at a place right now where the Democrats are rooting against law enforcement in our airports. And this was a perfect, perfect move. I mean, you want to talk about game, set, match. Trump completely, Chuck Schumer just lost his leverage. Because Schumer shut down DHS funding in order to try to defang and neuter ICE. He just handed Trump a permanent ICE presence at every major airport in America. Trump’s saying they’re going to stay there indefinitely. So now TSA is going to be checking IDs. Here in Florida, there’s a whole big hubbub because Florida is always about four steps ahead of Trump on the national immigration stuff. DeSantis is real savvy in this area, and they’re going to make sure that driver’s licenses now going forward from 2027 and beyond reflect your citizenship status. Yeah. Because as Axios Tampa Bay points out this morning, and they’re cluck, cluck, clucking, it’s a real problem for them that you can be a non-citizen and get a driver’s license. You know, if you’re here on a green card, if you’re a legal immigrant, you can get a driver’s license. Now, if you’ve got to add on a layer of whether you’re a citizen or not, lefties are fretting. They’re worried that it’s going to be discriminatory against them to have something on the driver’s license that acknowledges that they’re not an American citizen.
SPEAKER 03 :
What horrible fate will befall someone, not being let into their club of choice on a Saturday night in Tampa?
SPEAKER 02 :
They’re claiming job applications that potential employers might view them differently if they’re not an actual citizen. They’re very concerned about being discriminated against, Mark, because, look, hey, to quote Chris Murphy, the people we care about the most are the undocumented Americans in this country. He said it. He said it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Sometimes they say the truth out loud. And this is, of course, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, my gosh. Talking to Chris Hayes at MSNOW. And he literally said the people we care about most, the undocumented Americans. I wonder what the family of that 18-year-old Loyola student who got shot in the head Thursday night thinks about that. Because that was a guy who never should have been here. He had been arrested after he had been already detained. And here we go again. It’s rinse, repeat. We see it over and over again.
SPEAKER 03 :
And this was in Chicago. And did you hear, did you see the comment from the Chicago, I guess, Alderwoman? Alderwoman. Sitting in her car and how she characterized it where this evil monster killed this sweet, sweet girl. And she just said, hey, sometimes it happens. I guess she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
SPEAKER 02 :
Not only that, but she suggested that maybe the victim startled the guy with the gun. Oh, yeah. Can’t have that. That might have startled him. He’s firing into a crowd. These poor kids are just walking along the lakefront, and he shoots at them. But the older woman, without any benefit, before the suspect was even identified. Yeah. She was brainstorming that maybe, just maybe, the victim startled the guy. Look, I cannot ever get over how wrong the Democrats continue to be on every common sense issue. I crave an intelligent debate with a Democrat who’s got an idea that I… Look, here, I’ll give you one. I’ll give you one. John Kennedy explained yesterday that Trump is in no mood to negotiate with the Democrats. Mm-hmm. And John Kennedy acknowledged on Will Kane’s show, your BFF.
SPEAKER 03 :
Where I think I will be this very afternoon.
SPEAKER 02 :
Of course you will. Of course. You’re home away from home. Mr. TV star. Hollywood mark. That’s right.
SPEAKER 03 :
I bet he liked Project Hail Mary.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, I guarantee. Well, everybody else did.
SPEAKER 03 :
More in a moment. More in a moment.
SPEAKER 02 :
More in a moment. I got into a big fight with some friends last night about Project Hail Mary. Oh, they think I’m crazy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Of course they did, because they’re humans with a heart.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. I’ve lost my heart. I’ve lost my soul. You’re insane. It wasn’t my cup of tea. But in any event, on Will Cain’s show yesterday, Senator John Kennedy explained how he and Ted Cruz put together a standalone bill that would have funded TSA, that would have funded ICE through reconciliation. So this gets a little bit in the weeds. And Thune presented it to Trump, and Trump said, no deal. Not going to negotiate with the Democrats. Now… Look, if you’re a Democrat, you could, I think in good faith, make the case that there was a plan put forth to try to fund TSA, but Trump doesn’t want to play ball with the Democrats. So John Kennedy told Will yesterday, so I got to go to my plan B. My plan B is to try to put everything through reconciliation so we don’t need a single Democrat vote. And that’s where we are. Now, you can judge that as you may. You may think that’s a bad move on President Trump’s part. I get it. I understand the debate. At least I understand that argument.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do, too. And I know what we can’t. Mind reading is impossible. But I think we’ve been able to channel him with some level of skill after watching him for a decade. I don’t think he trusts Democrats as far as he can throw them. Nope, of course not.
SPEAKER 01 :
Why would he?
SPEAKER 03 :
And as far as deals made, will they uphold their end of any bargain? You know, he’s dealing with two very, very crusty and immovable opponents, the Iranians and the American Democratic Party. Correct. And let’s say we have trust issues in both areas.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I’ll tell you where I don’t have a trust issue. I don’t have a lack of trust in him. I trust what he’s doing. I trust all the maneuvers he’s making. And I trust a guy who is so joyful that he went to Memphis yesterday and went and visited Elvis’ home. I love this. Trump at Graceland is just perfect. 79-year-old president with kids and grandkids, and there he is strolling around getting a tour of Graceland. I couldn’t – I mean, I was like, this was – it was just wonderful. And you could see – I got a hunch the folks who work at Graceland are Trump supporters. And a couple of them who greeted him looked elderly. So maybe they were around during Elvis’ era. I’m sure they are people of historical significance with the king.
SPEAKER 03 :
There are a ton of people still on staff. And Priscilla has made sure – I worked there from 85 – I did my show from Graceland on the 10th anniversary of his death in 1987. Yeah. And did Graceland a number of times. I envision him walking into Graceland going, nice, not enough gold, but nice.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, he did.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, he said that.
SPEAKER 02 :
He said it was old. It was. No, he said it. He was very surprised at how relatively, you know, austere it was. It is not as gaudy as you might think. It’s not gaudy. Not as gaudy as the White House.
SPEAKER 03 :
Jungle Room, though, is odd. The blue and yellow of the TV room, the three TVs there.
SPEAKER 02 :
The misspelled tombstone in the backyard. Right, right. The lore, the folklore behind that. Aaron was misspelled, right? Now, Mark, can we just take 30 seconds on that? How do you misspell a legendary entertainer’s name on his tombstone at his final resting place?
SPEAKER 03 :
There were birth record issues. He was born in 19, what, 35? And so, listen, the spelling.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, you’ve got to know how his name is spelled. I know. It’s Aaron with two A’s. You’re supposed to know this stuff, Mr. Memphis.
SPEAKER 03 :
I do. I lived there for five years and my brain was leaking out my ears.
SPEAKER 02 :
I think Aaron is really A-R-O-N in Elvis’ case, but it was spelled with two A’s or maybe it was the other way around. Well, the real one is two A’s. The real one is two A’s? Okay, it must be spelled well. Anyway, but it’s a wonderful experience to see it. The ceilings are real low. But there’s Trump walking around, getting a tour of Graceland. You’ve just got to love this guy on so many levels. Meanwhile, did you see the video of the Air Canada plane hitting the fire truck?
SPEAKER 03 :
I have. Did you see stories that said it was about 20 or 25 miles an hour?
SPEAKER 02 :
They won 22 miles an hour. No, no, no. They were landing. They were landing. Now, if I’m driving a fire truck and they say, okay, cross the runway, do you think he didn’t look right? I mean, do you think he just plowed into the driveway? And the air traffic controller is going to have to live with this the rest of his life because he admitted on tape.
SPEAKER 03 :
He admitted, yeah, he said, I messed up. And then another pilot said, no, man, you did the best you could.
SPEAKER 02 :
The New York Post is reporting that pilots have reported concerns. Of all the airports I fly in and out of, and I fly a lot, as you know, and I’m not a nervous flyer in any way, shape, or form, but LaGuardia has always made me nervous. LaGuardia is that narrow strip, that narrow space. It’s not like DFW. I mean, there’s not a lot of space in LaGuardia.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re also coming in over like Hudson Bay or something. It’s like water, water, water, water, water, boom, runway. It’s like, all right, here it is. It was supposedly to mirror his stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, G-A-R-O-N. So he had used A-R-O-N for most of his life on documents like his marriage license. His birth certificate is Aaron with one A. And then the doctor who delivered him actually recorded it as Aaron with two A’s, creating a discrepancy that lasted three days.
SPEAKER 02 :
There we go.
SPEAKER 03 :
And speaking of discrepancies, Rhonda came in and had a theory. She said, Mike is punking us. We’re being pranked. There’s no way he disliked them. I said, we got to know my buddy from Mrs. Maisel to Project Hail Mary. If Mike says he doesn’t like something, he doesn’t like something. And I just want to tell people, I can’t do anything that gives anything away. Because I do think you’re totally crazy. But you were on such comic fire yesterday as I was talking about just how much I loved it. And you said, what was the budget for Rocky?
SPEAKER 1 :
$47?
SPEAKER 03 :
I could have put my hand in a paper sack and made it look more believable. And I said, look, I was hoping you would die early so I could…
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, when I bag on it and use the examples to my friends who’ve seen it about what I bag on, everybody admits it. Everybody agrees with me. I mean, and I don’t want to give anything away. But the things I make fun of, the people who love it were like, well, that’s true. You got a point there. Or the last scene, when I make fun of the last scene. Well, that’s true. You got a point there. Mark, I’m not kidding you.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’ll give you another. Go ahead. No.
SPEAKER 02 :
No go, no go.
SPEAKER 03 :
But here’s the one, because first of all, having bagged on especially the design of Rocky the alien, I went to AI and formulated a little reply from Rocky. It’s Rocky flipping Mike the bird. I felt posting it, and I thought, no, no. That’s not a good idea. And then you said, oh, that’s okay. I can have a touching moment and just hug the plastic pod that was built using parts from Home Depot and lean my head into it, hugging the pod with Rocky inside it. A moment right up there with Casablanca.
SPEAKER 02 :
You’re quoting me on my text. Now, you’re giving too much away. We’re just the best. But don’t give too much away. I’m not kidding you. I will say this, and people can be mad at me and hate on me all you want. It’s one of the stupidest movies I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m not kidding you. And I went there with the popcorn and the Milk Duds and the Diet Coke. I was ready. I was excited. I thought, this is going to change my life. All it did was make me want to change my depends. It was awful. It was awful. It’s stupid. Everything’s a matter of taste. Everything’s a matter of taste. Hey, but you know what may not be awful? Have you heard about the Yellowstone spinoff, Dutton Ranch?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. Here come Beth and Rip on May 15th. Mark, Beth and Rip. Annette Bening is in it, and Ed Harris is in it. You’re kidding me. Oh, my gosh.
SPEAKER 02 :
I didn’t know that. May 15th premiere. Everybody needs a Beth Dutton in their lives, and I guarantee you Beth Dutton hated Hail Mary. I guarantee you she had no time for that movie.
SPEAKER 03 :
I can promise you. Your heart is colder than hers. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 02 :
Everybody’s got to have a little Beth Dutton in their life. We all got to send somebody to the train station.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, amen. All right, happy Tuesday. Fantastic day. It is a happy Tuesday. And here comes Mike with his actual show, ready to roll it out for you at 10 as soon as we’re done on 660 AM.
SPEAKER 01 :
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Project Hail Mary: Masterpieces or Not?