Speaker 1: It's NIC's eyes, Dan Ray, I'm doing you easy, Boston's
Speaker 1: News Radio. Thank you very much, Madison. As we roll
Speaker 1: into a July first, Tuesday night edition of Nightside, we
Speaker 1: have sort of made the turn here where it's a
Speaker 1: halfway point, a little bit past the halfway point here
Speaker 1: on Nightside. So welcome on in everyone, and thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us. We have two guys in the booth.
Speaker 1: Let's see who we get back there tonight. Is it
Speaker 1: Sean and Shane and Shane? What am I saying? Sean,
Speaker 1: Shane and Rob Brooks? And we are We're in good
Speaker 1: shape here in that regard, we have a good show
Speaker 1: lined up for you. My name is Dan Ray. I'm
Speaker 1: the host of Nightside, and let us get rolling. We're
Speaker 1: going to start off by talking about a new tax
Speaker 1: here in Massachusetts. Very few things are taxed, as I'm
Speaker 1: sure all of you who are taxpayers in Massachusetts. No,
Speaker 1: the only two things that are actually taxed in Massachusetts
Speaker 1: are anything that moves and anything that doesn't move. So
Speaker 1: with that as a backdrop, let me introduce Colon Young.
Speaker 1: He is a State House news report Colin, how are
Speaker 1: you tonight?
Speaker 2: Welcome very well, Dan, thanks very much, for having me.
Speaker 1: So the folks up on Beacon Hill, we're not exactly
Speaker 1: sure who can claim credit for this, have decided that
Speaker 1: they want to add to our cable costs because they
Speaker 1: want to tax some of the cable boxes. Tell me
Speaker 1: about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was something that the Healy administration first floated
Speaker 2: back in February, and it was finalized in the middle
Speaker 2: of June, so it is now in effect. And essentially,
Speaker 2: what the Department of Revenue came out and said was
Speaker 2: that the last time they looked at this issue, back
Speaker 2: in two thousand and eight, cable boxes, or at least
Speaker 2: the ones they were reviewing, were mostly just to actually
Speaker 2: get cable TV into your house and watch it live.
Speaker 2: Since then, you know, cable boxes now you can record
Speaker 2: almost anything on TV. You can use your cable box
Speaker 2: to get into your internet based streaming platforms and to
Speaker 2: get to all kinds of other entertainment. And the Department
Speaker 2: of Revenue determined that back in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 2: they said cable boxes were not subject to the state's
Speaker 2: sales tax because there were a piece of equipment used
Speaker 2: exclusively for TV transmission, so they fit into an exemption.
Speaker 2: And now they're saying essentially, Hey, these boxes do a
Speaker 2: whole lot more than transmit TV. Now, so now they
Speaker 2: should be subject to the sales tax, and that'll add
Speaker 2: a six point two five percent at tax onto those
Speaker 2: monthly rentals or the yearly leases of those boxes.
Speaker 1: Okay, so so what's what's what is the monthly rental
Speaker 1: for a box? I should have reviewed my own cable
Speaker 1: bill here, what what are we talking about? Six point
Speaker 1: six point two five percent of what I guess would be.
Speaker 2: Those monthly rentals are usually in the fifteen dollars a
Speaker 2: month twenty dollars a month range. That you know, I
Speaker 2: shouldn't have pulled the exact number from my bill too.
Speaker 2: I'm a little afraid to actually go see if I'm
Speaker 2: now getting taxed on it. But usually they write about
Speaker 2: fifteen to twenty dollars a month. So if it's twenty
Speaker 2: dollars a.
Speaker 1: Month, yeah, let's say twenty dollars a month, that's two
Speaker 1: hundred and forty dollars of your cable bill per year
Speaker 1: deals with the cable box, and six point two five
Speaker 1: percent of that's going to be about another fifteen dollars
Speaker 1: a year that Governor Heally is sticking her hand in
Speaker 1: your pocket.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's right.
Speaker 1: Do they have no shame? I mean, it's like they're
Speaker 1: going to get everybody and the people who rely upon
Speaker 1: cable boxes off times, our folks who you know are older,
Speaker 1: and that is really their form of entertainment.
Speaker 2: Right, that's right. You think about the number of the
Speaker 2: just the sheer number of cable boxes I would be
Speaker 2: willing to bet has been on the decline in Massachusetts
Speaker 2: as people cut the cord, cut the cable and they say, nope,
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna use all the streaming apps instead. You're
Speaker 2: exactly right. It leaves the the remaining people who have
Speaker 2: cable boxes to foot the bill for something like this exactly.
Speaker 1: And was there any opposition up there or was everybody
Speaker 1: gleeful that they have found another way to uh, to
Speaker 1: get money from from from this from the stone.
Speaker 2: You know, I was a little bit surprised, Dan, there
Speaker 2: was really not much talk on Beacon Hill about this one,
Speaker 2: and you know, surprised, of course. I wrote about it
Speaker 2: back in February and then heard cricket and I was shocked.
Speaker 2: I thought, for sure, oh this is going to get
Speaker 2: people's attention, This will get people talking, and it really
Speaker 2: didn't until it took effect last month. I will say
Speaker 2: the one politician I heard talk about this in either
Speaker 2: the House or the Senate was Senator Mark Montigny from
Speaker 2: New Bedford. He brought it up during the Senate's budget
Speaker 2: debate and tried to put a stop to it and
Speaker 2: basically said, you know, dr can call this whatever it wants.
Speaker 2: This is a new tax. This is raising the costs
Speaker 2: of living for people all across Massachusetts. And so he
Speaker 2: sort of planted his flag of opposition to it, and
Speaker 2: of course it still proceeded to take effect all the same.
Speaker 2: But there was at least one politician who you know,
Speaker 2: said hey, wait a minute, what are we doing here?
Speaker 1: And who was that? Which that was?
Speaker 2: That was Mark Montigny, as he's.
Speaker 1: A state center. If for not mistake, well, at least
Speaker 1: it's nice to know that there's one guy up there.
Speaker 1: I just it's just as frustrating to think that so
Speaker 1: many people are interested in, you know, just just getting
Speaker 1: every little bit of money that they can, you know,
Speaker 1: from from people here in Massachusetts. I don't know. It
Speaker 1: almost as if they have decided that, guess what, people
Speaker 1: in Massachusetts really don't care. We can just pick their
Speaker 1: pockets anytime we want. I mean, that's the impression I'm
Speaker 1: getting that that that there's no fight left is there's
Speaker 1: no Republican party up there that's having much of an impact.
Speaker 1: You're no one in the Democratic Party. There used to
Speaker 1: be a bunch of Democrats who were concerned about taxpayers, but.
Speaker 2: It's they all talk about the cost of living. That
Speaker 2: that's always they always talk about that as being one
Speaker 2: of their top concerns, you know, and this one, particularly,
Speaker 2: the way it came about, I think it might take
Speaker 2: people by surprise when they get their bill and go, hey, wait,
Speaker 2: that's a little bit higher than it has been because
Speaker 2: this wasn't something that needed to be voted on by
Speaker 2: the House in the Senate and get signed by the governor.
Speaker 2: This didn't happen by law. This is something where the
Speaker 2: Department of Revenue just issued this order, issued this directive
Speaker 2: and said here's our policy going forward. So, you know,
Speaker 2: there wasn't a lot of public There wasn't much chance
Speaker 2: for the public to weigh in. There was a very
Speaker 2: brief period back in the spring where do R took
Speaker 2: comments from the public.
Speaker 1: But the attention to those it's just interesting that that
Speaker 1: It's almost as if the fact that that Massachusetts will
Speaker 1: continue to tax and pick people's pockets, it's almost on
Speaker 1: automatic pilot. No one even has to fly the plane anymore.
Speaker 1: No politician has to get up and say it's my idea.
Speaker 1: And what that does is that immunizes the incumbents, and
Speaker 1: it is Oh boy, I'll tell you it's it's time
Speaker 1: for a lot of people to wake up in Massachusetts
Speaker 1: and realize again. You know you're gonna say, hey, fifteen
Speaker 1: dollars a year. Maybe fifteen dollars a year to you
Speaker 1: and me doesn't mean a whole art, but it might
Speaker 1: mean something to an older person or an older couple
Speaker 1: who run fixed income. Absolutely, aren't those the people that
Speaker 1: the Democrats say that they're concerned about.
Speaker 2: I don't know, even if it's only fifteen dollars, you
Speaker 2: know that's that's still fifteen dollars.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys are great watchdogs up there. State House
Speaker 1: News service the local TV stations used to have. When
Speaker 1: I was working at WBZ, we had state House reporters.
Speaker 1: John Henning was upgive for two four and different different
Speaker 1: reporters took times that their Walt Sanders would spend a
Speaker 1: lot of time at the people who perhaps you didn't
Speaker 1: grow up watching, but I got to tell you they
Speaker 1: kept the politicians more honest. And you guys are doing
Speaker 1: a great job. How can you subscribe to your service,
Speaker 1: state House News Reporter the average person just simply state
Speaker 1: House News dot com.
Speaker 2: I assume exactly state Housenews dot com. We are a
Speaker 2: subscription based service, but people can definitely go to the website,
Speaker 2: start checking it out, get a trial subscription to read
Speaker 2: more and to check out some of the other features
Speaker 2: on our website to try to keep them honest. And
Speaker 2: if we had more reporters up there, like you know,
Speaker 2: when all the TVs and all the local papers had
Speaker 2: reporters there, you know, powering numbers, and it would be
Speaker 2: good to get back to those numbers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it really would. But again, you're doing a
Speaker 1: great job as a State House news service, and thank
Speaker 1: you for what you do because you're about the only
Speaker 1: consistent line of communication we have. And I appreciate every
Speaker 1: time you guys come on the show at night.
Speaker 2: You always Walt, it's always a pleasure.
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks, callin we'll talk soon, Okay.
Speaker 2: My pleasure. Dan, thanks very much.
Speaker 1: All right, we're gona take quick break. We come back.
Speaker 1: We're going to talk about cybercrime. Yeah, I'm going to
Speaker 1: talk with Eric O'Neill. He's a cyber security expert, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of this stuff going on. Spies, lies,
Speaker 1: and cyber crime coming up on the other side of
Speaker 1: the break. Here on Nightside, my name is Dan Ray
Speaker 1: and the host of the show. Been working with a
Speaker 1: couple of little technical issues here and Robie got everything
Speaker 1: squared away. While conducting the interv with Colin, I was
Speaker 1: doing some multitasking. Rob and Shane are back in the
Speaker 1: control room, so we have double duty tonight and we're
Speaker 1: in good shape. We'll be back right after this on Nightside.
Speaker 1: You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on wz Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio. Well, I am delighted to meet this next guest,
Speaker 1: Eric O'Neill. Eric's career began in the FBI's Counter Intelligent
Speaker 1: trenches as an undercover operative. And Eric, as I understand it,
Speaker 1: you spent some time rooting out I think one of
Speaker 1: the most heinous spies in f well, in US history,
Speaker 1: Robert Philip Hanson. I know a little bit about that case.
Speaker 1: You must know a lot about that case. Welcome to
Speaker 1: night Side.
Speaker 2: It's great to be on night Side Light. Thanks for
Speaker 2: having me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you worked that case, the Hanson case, if I.
Speaker 2: Was sent undercover, and probably what was the most unique
Speaker 2: case the FBI's ever run. They built a brand new
Speaker 2: department within FBI headquarters as a mouse trapped to catch Hanson,
Speaker 2: who was a spy for the Soviet Union and the
Speaker 2: Russian Federation for over twenty two years.
Speaker 1: He also went to the same church I think as
Speaker 1: the then director of the FBI he was. I had
Speaker 1: Liz Wheelon, who wrote the book A Spy in Playing
Speaker 1: Sight two or three years ago. Liz wrote a great
Speaker 1: book on that I have to go back and reread it.
Speaker 1: I want you to know that I spent a good
Speaker 1: portion of my time as a television reporter for CBS
Speaker 1: here in Boston investigating the totally corrupt Boston office of
Speaker 1: the FBI. You probably don't want to hear me say that,
Speaker 1: but instead of full disclosure, we had an office with
Speaker 1: people like Paul Rico, Dennis Condon, John Connelly and others
Speaker 1: up here, and we spent a lot of time going
Speaker 1: after the FBI. But you're one of the good guys.
Speaker 1: You went after the bad guys in the FBI. So
Speaker 1: I am honored to meet you, Eric, let's talk.
Speaker 2: That was definitely my job to go undercover and catch
Speaker 2: the spies and bad guys. And if you want to
Speaker 2: read the definitive book on the Hanson case, it's my
Speaker 2: book Great Day, which came out a few years ago,
Speaker 2: and tell us the story from my eyes of being
Speaker 2: inside the investigation.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what do you know? You must
Speaker 1: know Liz Wheel I.
Speaker 2: Assume right, I know of her and we don't know
Speaker 2: each other.
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, Well you know what I'm gonna do. I'm
Speaker 1: going to call you and I'll have you back on
Speaker 1: to talk about your book, and we'll do it for
Speaker 1: an hour some night.
Speaker 2: Okay, sounds great.
Speaker 1: I mean that's seriously because I'm fascinated by this case.
Speaker 1: This guy was a devout Roman Catholic as you as
Speaker 1: you well know. I don't need to tell you anything
Speaker 1: about him. Uh. And he's has he died in prisoners,
Speaker 1: he's still alive.
Speaker 2: He passed away in June of twenty twenty three, a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago, natural causes. Yeah, and he was
Speaker 2: in super max prison in Florence, Colorado, and probably one
Speaker 2: of the most horrible prisons on earth.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's out there with the Boston bomber and a
Speaker 1: lot of the other big name people. But what a
Speaker 1: what a creep. Anyway, great day is the book? Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll have you back. I problem. So let's talk about
Speaker 1: cyber attacks. What's going on now? We got to cease
Speaker 1: fire with Iron and Israel. I believe, and I don't
Speaker 1: know what information you have, but I believe that Iran's
Speaker 1: nuclear capacity and capability has been badly damaged. And the
Speaker 1: reason I believe that is not any inside information, Eric,
Speaker 1: but I believe you watch what people do as opposed
Speaker 1: to what they say, and I know what they're saying
Speaker 1: for domestic consumption in Iran, but I'm watching what they do,
Speaker 1: and for them to have engaged in this ceasefire now
Speaker 1: for over a week tells me that they're hurting right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with that assessment. I think that if
Speaker 2: nothing else there a nuclear weaponization program has been pushed back.
Speaker 2: I've said at least a decade. It takes quite some
Speaker 2: time to come back from this. Those centrifugures that would
Speaker 2: have all been destroyed take years to even build and
Speaker 2: set up and it's going to be very difficult for
Speaker 2: them to restart the program with all the scrutiny that's
Speaker 2: on the country.
Speaker 1: And as I tried to convince a caller of mine
Speaker 1: a week or so ago, without centrifuges, Iran doesn't.
Speaker 2: Build bombs, that's right. They can't weaponize the ranium, uh,
Speaker 2: to get it to the point where they can actually
Speaker 2: put indugular weapon on one of their ballistic missiles.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's talk what what are we looking at
Speaker 1: right now? How exposed are we to I don't worry
Speaker 1: about Israel cyber attacking us, but I sure worry about uh,
Speaker 1: you know, lone wolves, and I worry about Iranian operatives. Uh,
Speaker 1: they had operatives who are around the world killing people. Uh.
Speaker 1: I mean it's that they they play for keeps.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, and remember that not too long ago a
Speaker 2: plot was uncovered, an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump. Yes,
Speaker 2: so they certainly are not shy about launching terrorist attacks
Speaker 2: of all shapes and sizes, whether it's kinetic or cyber. Now.
Speaker 2: I think right now they're reeling. Uh. Their military has
Speaker 2: been decimated.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: They their regime is struggling internally with their population who uh,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe most people might not know. Most of
Speaker 2: the people in Iran really hate the regime. They're trapped,
Speaker 2: and so they have to deal with that unrest from
Speaker 2: the inside. But the one thing that Iron can continue
Speaker 2: to do is the eight symmetrical warfare that they have
Speaker 2: been waging against the US and the West in general
Speaker 2: for years, which is cyber.
Speaker 1: Attacks, which would include.
Speaker 2: Right, So, Iran has been attacking the United States in
Speaker 2: particular for years, and they've been launching what we call
Speaker 2: probe attacks against our critical infrastructure. These are attacks that
Speaker 2: are in preparation for any kind of future of war,
Speaker 2: which could be tomorrow, and these probe attacks are attempts
Speaker 2: to embed themselves within different systems in the US critical infrastructure.
Speaker 2: When I at lea say critical infrastructure, people normally think
Speaker 2: lights and power, but it also includes water, natural gas,
Speaker 2: waste water removal, you know, if you can't plush your
Speaker 2: toilet problem, and communications. China, you know, just attack our
Speaker 2: major telecom selth providers and was able to get into
Speaker 2: networks and read people's texts and listen to their voicemails.
Speaker 2: So critical infrastructure is sort of the holy grail for
Speaker 2: threat actors of all stripes and sizes, and Iran has
Speaker 2: been embedding themselves in our critical infrastructure for years now.
Speaker 2: The good news is that we do find them. You know, SIKA,
Speaker 2: who is the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency, and the FBI
Speaker 2: i C three, the Internet Crime Complaint Center, and the
Speaker 2: FBI's different cyber divisions are very good at rooting them out.
Speaker 2: But our critical infrastructure is old, it has poorly designed
Speaker 2: on patch systems, and so bad guys are constantly trying
Speaker 2: to worm their way in.
Speaker 1: You know, I'll tell you a funny story that I've
Speaker 1: told my callers online listeners. But several years ago, I
Speaker 1: was with my family in a foreign country I'm not
Speaker 1: going to say where, and we were having dinner in
Speaker 1: a at a resort where we were and my daughter,
Speaker 1: who for some reason checks every room where, every public
Speaker 1: room where we are located, and she said to me,
Speaker 1: don't turn around, don't look behind you. And of course,
Speaker 1: what's your impulse when your daughter or someone says that
Speaker 1: to you, You want to look around. Well, we were
Speaker 1: sitting at a table right behind the author Selmon Rushti,
Speaker 1: who at that point there had been a Fatois pointed.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not the room you want to be in, not.
Speaker 1: The room you want to be in. It was, you know,
Speaker 1: it was a nice area. So but but I remember
Speaker 1: talking to my daughter after the saying, thank god they
Speaker 1: didn't execute the fatois on him that night. Of course,
Speaker 1: he was stabbed and sadly and badly injured recently in Buffalo,
Speaker 1: New York by it looked like a lone wolf. But
Speaker 1: these folks on the other side, they play for keeps
Speaker 1: and eric. Guys like you, guys and women, men and
Speaker 1: women like you are the front line. And I truly
Speaker 1: appreciate everything that you do. The name of your book
Speaker 1: is Spies, Lies and Cybercrime, kind of like the sex,
Speaker 1: Lies and Videotape. But that's that's very well done, HarperCollins
Speaker 1: available everywhere, I'm sure, and it's a it's a book
Speaker 1: that everybody should read. I'm going to be back in
Speaker 1: touch with you, and we're going to get you in
Speaker 1: to talk about Gray Day and the pursuit of Hanson,
Speaker 1: because obviously we have to make sure that our own
Speaker 1: intelligence systems N S, A, C, I, A, FBI, et cetera.
Speaker 1: All the alphabet soup agencies are you know, purer than
Speaker 1: the driven snow and Hanson. Hanson was able to live
Speaker 1: it a complete double life. And the work that you
Speaker 1: did to to you know, secure his arrest and conviction,
Speaker 1: it was the service of this country. So I'm honored
Speaker 1: to meet you, Eric, and I hope we will have
Speaker 1: you back. I promise, Okay, Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2: It was great to talk to you, and I'm looking
Speaker 2: forward to coming back on the show and diving into
Speaker 2: that handsOn case. It was incredibly unique and important because
Speaker 2: Hanson blue holes and counter intelligence and fixing. It was
Speaker 2: critical for the entire intelligence apparatus here in the United States.
Speaker 1: But despite with some of the old FBI agents might
Speaker 1: tell you in Bosson, I'm not a bad guy. I'm
Speaker 1: on the right team.
Speaker 2: I haven't heard anything negative, So don't worry about that.
Speaker 1: Thanks Eric. We'll talk soon, all right, right when we
Speaker 1: get back. When we get back, we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about a new tax, well other tax. It's a tip.
Speaker 1: It's a tip. It's a charge that you might see
Speaker 1: when you go to a restaurant. Believe me, you want
Speaker 1: to know about this one. My name's Dan Ray. This
Speaker 1: is night Side. It's called a three percent kitchen appreciation. Oh,
Speaker 1: it's a tax, but it's really, it's a surch arts.
Speaker 1: Let's put it like that. We'll be back at Nightside
Speaker 1: right after this. You're on night Side, well Boston's news radio.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get right back at it. When look,
Speaker 1: you walt to restaurants and you run it's restaurants are
Speaker 1: expensive no matter where you go. Uh, and you certainly
Speaker 1: want to leave a tip for the waiter or waitress
Speaker 1: that served you and your party at that restaurant. And
Speaker 1: there's there's a new charge which is showing up kind
Speaker 1: of unannounced at some restaurants. It's a kitchen appreciation charge
Speaker 1: with us as Sharif Mityas, he's the CEO of Bricks Holdings,
Speaker 1: a multi brand franchising company specializing in food service chain,
Speaker 1: so he knows a lot about this. He's been a
Speaker 1: guest before. Sharif, welcome back to.
Speaker 3: Night Side, Thanks for having me back on.
Speaker 1: So I've heard of this, I've yet to experience it.
Speaker 1: But how common is this this new charge? You know,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of restaurants that when you do
Speaker 1: takeout now they you know, all you do is you
Speaker 1: walk up, you drive to the restaurant, you've called the
Speaker 1: order in. They tell you when you get there, you
Speaker 1: drive there, you walk in, and you pay for your meal,
Speaker 1: and they hand you your bag or whatever, and then
Speaker 1: they're like asking you for a tip, which to me is.
Speaker 3: Ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Well, it's very common. I mean it's very common. How
Speaker 1: common is this kitchen appreciation charge? So they kind of
Speaker 1: call it a tax because it doesn't go to the government,
Speaker 1: that theoretically goes to the folks who work in the kitchen.
Speaker 3: That's right. Well, luckily it's not very prevalent, but you're
Speaker 3: seeing it, to your point, in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 3: Some people call it the server benefits tax. Some people
Speaker 3: call it the living wage tax. Some people call it
Speaker 3: the kitchen appreciation tax. So yeah, you can call it
Speaker 3: a lot of different things. But whatever you call it,
Speaker 3: it's a problem. First of all, you're being deceptive, right,
Speaker 3: You're not being upfront that this is going to show
Speaker 3: up on your bill, right, all you get at the
Speaker 3: end of the meal that that's that's not right. And
Speaker 3: restaurants that would would do that and are doing that
Speaker 3: are are probably going to lose a lot of guests
Speaker 3: very quickly.
Speaker 1: So let's just break it down for people. So you
Speaker 1: go to a restaurant with your family, let us say
Speaker 1: your your wife, your husband, and a couple of kids.
Speaker 1: And when the bill comes the food and the drinks,
Speaker 1: let's say keep it simple, one hundred dollars. Okay, so
Speaker 1: it would it would have one hundred dollars. You're going
Speaker 1: to assume that you're going to pay it. You're going
Speaker 1: to add a tip. But on the one hundred dollars
Speaker 1: right away, you're getting whacked for another three bucks on
Speaker 1: this again as charge or kitchen appreciation dex whatever you
Speaker 1: want to call it. So then you say, okay, I
Speaker 1: want to you know, twenty percent is what you should
Speaker 1: if you've had nice service from a wai or a waitress.
Speaker 1: I think that's what should be should be done. So now,
Speaker 1: so instead of costing you one hundred and twenty bucks,
Speaker 1: have cost one hundred and twenty three bucks. So you're
Speaker 1: getting nickeled and dined a little bit. I'd rather have
Speaker 1: them say to me, there's a twenty five dollars charge
Speaker 1: for the cooks in the kitchen, as opposed to they
Speaker 1: nickel and dime you. It's it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a problem. And to your point, they shouldn't
Speaker 3: even they shouldn't even come up with any type of charge,
Speaker 3: even if they tell you up in front. If and
Speaker 3: we know wages gone up, right, people get it. Food
Speaker 3: has gone up. Everyone who's gone to the grocery store
Speaker 3: to restaurants, we all know it, right. So it's not
Speaker 3: some big surprise. Raise your prices a bit, right, we
Speaker 3: all know we're paying more. So if the burger has
Speaker 3: to be eleven dollars versus ten and a quarter, then
Speaker 3: just raise the price of the menu item, right, Be upfront,
Speaker 3: Be transparent with your customers.
Speaker 1: I found out sunday. I have a friend of mine
Speaker 1: who's dealing with a pretty tough medical diagnosis. So I
Speaker 1: take them to brunch. I go to the gym on
Speaker 1: Sunday morning and I got some time, and so we
Speaker 1: had men to This was a local restaurant, it's a chain.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to mention the name of it. And
Speaker 1: we ordered. We had identical orders, like three pancakes and coffee.
Speaker 1: Hadn't been in there in a couple of months and normally,
Speaker 1: well one thing. I guess what that costs one order
Speaker 1: of pancakes and a coffee. Two orders of pancakes and
Speaker 1: two coffees. What do you think you would expect to
Speaker 1: pay for that?
Speaker 3: Well, it shouldn't have been more than twenty dollars, but
Speaker 3: I'm guessing it was a.
Speaker 1: Lot more thirty eight dollars.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's a problem.
Speaker 1: It was unbelievable. It was like, first of all, if
Speaker 1: we've gone to the ritz or to force size, I
Speaker 1: get it. It's going to cost me sixty bucks for breakfast,
Speaker 1: I get it, okay, and if I want to it's
Speaker 1: like three pancakes. And by the way, this was not
Speaker 1: We was seated next to a poor, homeless woman who
Speaker 1: had all of her wife's possession sitting there with us.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, well you know she had to have
Speaker 1: breakfast somewhere too, so it wasn't what you'd call an
Speaker 1: elegant dining experience.
Speaker 3: Reef right, But you paid for one.
Speaker 1: Well, but by time you know, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: show change the waiter he got, it's like forty eight
Speaker 1: dollars for two vaters of three pan cakes. Now they
Speaker 1: were trying to ship pancakes, so let me be honest
Speaker 1: with you. There at the coat the coffees were three
Speaker 1: ninety nine, which is a little exhabited. But I think
Speaker 1: that what's going to happen is that people are going
Speaker 1: to say, you know, and I can. I can scramble
Speaker 1: some eggs at home and read the Sunday newspaper. This
Speaker 1: easily they will kill the golden goose. I think, I
Speaker 1: don't know, maybe maybe I'm just quanky, but I think
Speaker 1: that all that concern in April about the tariffs, right,
Speaker 1: that a lot of people, a lot of companies have
Speaker 1: raised their prices, not because the prices went up, but
Speaker 1: because they saw it as an opportunity.
Speaker 3: And I think that's right.
Speaker 1: Those companies are going to pay for it in the
Speaker 1: long run. I mean, what is your own thing? How
Speaker 1: quickly of the economy right now? The stock market seems
Speaker 1: to be humming. I know that the tax the so
Speaker 1: called big beautiful bill, which is not necessarily going to
Speaker 1: be big and beautiful for everyone, that's for sure, just
Speaker 1: survived in the in the Senate, and I think they
Speaker 1: have lots of problems in the House. What is your
Speaker 1: sense as to where the where the economy is going
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 3: Yeah? I think the issue, I think and everyone feels
Speaker 3: it is just the uncertainty. Right we just don't know
Speaker 3: what's going to happen three months, six months from now,
Speaker 3: and so when people are uncertain, people pull back, right,
Speaker 3: they don't go out as much. They kind of hoard
Speaker 3: a little bit of the money, right, discretionary spending, So
Speaker 3: restaurants do get hit. Other kind of discretionary spending out there,
Speaker 3: retail gets hit because people are just they're not concerned
Speaker 3: as much as just uncertain and so that uncertainty creates pullback,
Speaker 3: and that's what you're seeing. And so yes, more people
Speaker 3: are going to eat at home, more people are going
Speaker 3: to hold back on that one extra purchase. And that's
Speaker 3: what I think we're going to see for at least
Speaker 3: the next few months, until we kind of see where
Speaker 3: interest rates are headed. People see where this bill is headed,
Speaker 3: and the impact in the economy. We'll see if trade
Speaker 3: deals get resolved. All these things just create uncertainty, and
Speaker 3: so once they get resolved, people should be happy to
Speaker 3: go back out and spend a little bit more money.
Speaker 3: They kind of know what they have to spend. But
Speaker 3: until that point, then it's going to be tight and
Speaker 3: it's going to be tough.
Speaker 1: Well, there's a lot of the bill, the no tax
Speaker 1: on tips for weight staff, which I think is going
Speaker 1: to help help people. At the same time, I read
Speaker 1: today the gasoline prices are down lowest in the last
Speaker 1: for maybe five years, which is a good print. And
Speaker 1: I also I follow the oil markets very closely. Oil
Speaker 1: despite everything that's been going on in the Middle East,
Speaker 1: is still down in the you know, sixty four sixty
Speaker 1: five dollars range for the various oil, all of which
Speaker 1: is a good indicator. Now, you know, apps in something
Speaker 1: crazy happening, maybe we're on a on a good flight
Speaker 1: path here. I don't know. We'll keep our fingers crossed,
Speaker 1: that's for sure.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: I so appreciate you you coming back because I know
Speaker 1: that you really do understand this industry, and we've talked
Speaker 1: about different aspects of it and what percentage real quickly,
Speaker 1: what percentage And I'm sure there's no study on this,
Speaker 1: but what percentage of the restaurants around the country do
Speaker 1: you think of doing the on takeouts? Handing you when
Speaker 1: you give me a credit card, you know you want
Speaker 1: to do an eighteen percent twenty percent tip. I got
Speaker 1: hit with that and an ice cream joint a few
Speaker 1: couple of months ago. It was like a ice cream
Speaker 1: goal from my grandson and myself and it was expense.
Speaker 1: It was sixteen bucks and they wouldn't take cash. They
Speaker 1: said oh no, you got to go credit card and
Speaker 1: do create cash when I left nothing as a tip
Speaker 1: on the credit card, and then I took a couple
Speaker 1: of bucks out of my pocket and I said, now
Speaker 1: do you take cash for tip? Oh? Yeah, yeah, I
Speaker 1: take cash for tip. I believe. Yeah. I got to
Speaker 1: do something on the direction, and maybe I'll have you
Speaker 1: on for this. I want to do something on we
Speaker 1: moving towards a cashless society. I had a oh, ar,
Speaker 1: well that I'm worried. Are you concerned about that or no?
Speaker 1: Or am I paranoid? Well?
Speaker 3: I think it's I think there's always going to be
Speaker 3: a place for cash. Just to be very clear, but yeah,
Speaker 3: we're definitely moving towards more of a cashless society, especially
Speaker 3: as more digital payments occur. Right, people are paying on
Speaker 3: their front to keep up, not even pulling out the
Speaker 3: credit card. Right, So it's easy to tap a button
Speaker 3: without even pulling your wallet out. And so especially the
Speaker 3: younger generation Dan, right, so a little be younger than
Speaker 3: you and.
Speaker 1: I I should have you back and we should talk
Speaker 1: about that. I was sure at a store on Sunday,
Speaker 1: just buying scallops, and I went to pay in cash,
Speaker 1: and the guy said to me, he says, you're the exception.
Speaker 1: So what are you talking about. It was a nice
Speaker 1: scallop store, very very nice story. He said. Only about
Speaker 1: two percent of our customers now pay cash. Everybody's got
Speaker 1: the plastic. Everybody's got the plastic. And I mean, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you this, the one place cash is always going
Speaker 1: to work. If you're in Vegas and you want to
Speaker 1: get front row seat at one of those shows, just
Speaker 1: tell them mister.
Speaker 3: There you go, bes as you go always in Vegas.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on again, Dan, Thanks talk soon.
Speaker 1: Okay, when we get back, we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: chat GPT, which is great. We'll explain what it is.
Speaker 1: But there's not something called chat gp psychosis. People are
Speaker 1: actually being involuntarily committed because they're spiraling downward into chat
Speaker 1: GPT psychosis. We're gonna talk with doctor Lee Richardson. She's
Speaker 1: a professional counselor and founder of the Brain Performance Center.
Speaker 1: You won't believe this stuff. This is scary. Back on
Speaker 1: Night Side after this Night Side with Dan Ray on
Speaker 1: Boston's news Radio, we're delighted to be joined by doctor
Speaker 1: Lee Richardson, a licensed professional councilor, founder of the Brain
Speaker 1: Performance Center, Doctor Richardson. I know we're a little crammed
Speaker 1: on time here. I apologize for that, but we're talking
Speaker 1: about people who are being involuntarily committed because they are
Speaker 1: somehow spiraling into chat GPT psychosis. You and I both
Speaker 1: know what chat GPT is, but tell us for those
Speaker 1: who don't tell us exactly what it is quickly and
Speaker 1: and what is going on. People are getting hooked on
Speaker 1: this stuff.
Speaker 4: Well, people are getting hooked on it because what's going
Speaker 4: on is people are finding their best friend on a computer,
Speaker 4: someone that they can talk to in the middle of
Speaker 4: the night and they can in their darkest moment, sure
Speaker 4: what they're feeling and what they're thinking. And the problem
Speaker 4: is is chat GBT can't tell what's reality and what's delusional.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they could talk to me in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night, at least until midnight. I'm better than chat GPT.
Speaker 1: Chat GPT basically is this this little website or this website, Well,
Speaker 1: you pretty much can put anything in there and it'll
Speaker 1: spit back a whole bunch of stuff to you.
Speaker 4: Well, it's a large language model and absolutely you can
Speaker 4: ask you can ask chat I mean, I have a
Speaker 4: good friend that calls Chat instead of AI, she calls
Speaker 4: him Al, her boyfriend. Yeah, I've got to go talk
Speaker 4: to Al, my boyfriend. I'll tell you because you can
Speaker 4: say anything and ask questions and you'll get an answer.
Speaker 4: The problem is is Al will talk back to you
Speaker 4: the same way you talk to him. And I think
Speaker 4: that's where people are getting They're getting hooked. They are
Speaker 4: I mean they're lonely. I mean, loneliness still continues to
Speaker 4: be a huge, a substantial global problem. And we're lonely,
Speaker 4: and we turn to something that we think can give
Speaker 4: us good answers and it can't. The platforms for a
Speaker 4: thirteen year old.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this question. I know that there's
Speaker 1: no number that you can cite from me here, but
Speaker 1: just from your experience, what percentage of the people in
Speaker 1: America do you think are clinically what you would call lonely,
Speaker 1: meaning you know, have such a small circle of friends
Speaker 1: or don't reach out to people. Are we talking like
Speaker 1: two or three percent? Are we talking twenty twenty five percent?
Speaker 4: Oh no, we're talking twenty twenty five percent. And if
Speaker 4: you think back till a couple of years ago, our
Speaker 4: Surgeon General declared it an epidemic. And then there's research
Speaker 4: that shows that the loneliest population are the young males
Speaker 4: age fifteen to thirty four, and one out of five
Speaker 4: of us has depression or anxiety, and with that comes
Speaker 4: some loneliness.
Speaker 1: So how do we here? We have like four minutes left,
Speaker 1: so let's solve the problem. How do we solve this problem?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, there's no quick and easy answer.
Speaker 1: I know that. But what can people do to turn
Speaker 1: this this horrific set of circumstances or state of mind around?
Speaker 4: Well, I think we all have to take responsibility and
Speaker 4: pay attention, use your situation aware. If you see friends,
Speaker 4: if you see family or colleague, and you see big
Speaker 4: behavioral changes, they're isolating, they're shutting down, or they're not
Speaker 4: sleeping at all, they're up all night, they stopped eating.
Speaker 4: All of these are red flags that they're struggling with something.
Speaker 4: And you know, so many times people say, I don't
Speaker 4: know what to say. If you say nothing more than
Speaker 4: I since you're having a bad day, and if there's
Speaker 4: anything I can do to make it your day a
Speaker 4: little bit better, please tell me. You know what's going
Speaker 4: to make a difference.
Speaker 1: It's funny you talk about these males between fifteen and
Speaker 1: thirty four. I think about the kid that took the
Speaker 1: shot at President Trump or then candidate Trump, twenty year
Speaker 1: old kid out in Butler, Pennsylvania, and I still have
Speaker 1: read very little about his background in terms of how
Speaker 1: the heck do you get to that point where you're
Speaker 1: going to climb up on a roof? Or this guy
Speaker 1: in Idaho the other day who set the fire and
Speaker 1: then decided to take potshots as a sniper at firefighters,
Speaker 1: how do you ever get to that point? I mean, it's.
Speaker 4: This is scary you get to that, You get to
Speaker 4: that point because you get no attention, You get not
Speaker 4: everybody has access to mental health counseling. If you don't
Speaker 4: have insurance, you probably don't. And even if you have insurance,
Speaker 4: connecting with the right therapist is very, very difficult because
Speaker 4: the demand is so high. So I think that we
Speaker 4: as society have got to recognize that brain health instead
Speaker 4: of saying those two ugly words mental health. Brain health
Speaker 4: is everybody's responsibility. And when you see somebody struggling, just
Speaker 4: say how can I help you? Dr Richard, I don't feel.
Speaker 1: Like you, Doctor Richard, don't mean to interrupt but and
Speaker 1: I've short changed your time, and you've been always a
Speaker 1: great guy. I apologize for that. Give us the website.
Speaker 1: How do folks get in touch with you or the
Speaker 1: Brain Performance Center?
Speaker 4: Well absolutely, we've got that good old fashioned thee Brain
Speaker 4: Performance Center dot com and they can find doctor Lee
Speaker 4: Richardson on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1: Doctor Richardson, We'll have you back, and I owe you
Speaker 1: some time here. You're a great guest. No, no, no,
Speaker 1: I know that, and I do appreciate that. But I
Speaker 1: got some guilt fields here, doctor Richardson. I got to
Speaker 1: work them out. Okay, thanks so much. You're welcome by
Speaker 1: doctor Lee Richardson. We come back. We're going to talk
Speaker 1: about a situation that probably I could talk to doctor
Speaker 1: Richardson about, and that is the guy out in Idaho,
Speaker 1: not the guy that took the shots of the firefighters,
Speaker 1: but the guy that killed four college students. He now
Speaker 1: is going to be able to plead guilty and avoid
Speaker 1: the death penalty. Is that really justice? We'll be back
Speaker 1: right after the nine o'clock news on night sid