BLOGApril 09, 2018

No permit, no problem? 2 men sick of waiting on government are fixing potholes themselves

Chris Lang and Mike Warren are two dedicated citizens who have decided to make Indiana’s problems their own. The two men launched Open Source Roads, a grassroots collective of volunteers, to help improve the streets of Indianapolis. Along with some friends, Lang and Warren fix potholes in their spare time.

The Department of Public Works has rated the streets of Indianapolis “poor” and says it will cost an estimated $732 million to make them “fair.”

“We want to fill a lot of potholes, and we want people to help out and see that we don’t need to rely on this monopoly for it, and I want that to be what starts the people in charge talking about change,” Lang told the Indy Star.

Glenn and Stu talked about this example of libertarian-inspired ingenuity on today’s show and if you want to help the group, they are accepting donations to 'Fix Muh Roads' on gofundme.com.

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: So let me show you how things are changing.

Now, I think these guys -- I want to talk to these guys in about a week. Because I have a feeling things are going to change for them now that they're getting national attention, which I would find really unfortunate.

There are two men in Indiana that were really tired of waiting for the city to repair potholes. So they started a grassroots organization called open source roads.

And they -- they started to make an Indianapolis pothole map. And where the really bad ones are. And then they were tired of sitting around, waiting for the city.

So Mike Warren and Chris language spent their own money. And they're not -- you know, they're not wealthy. And they bought asphalt.

And now they're going around and they're filling the potholes in the city. Now, they're fans of Ron Swanson from parks and recreation. And one of them said, I've got a poster on my wall of Ron.

STU: And he's basically a Libertarian on the show. In real life, he does not seem to be at all, the actor that portrays him. But, yes.

GLENN: Not at all.

But he said they have gathered about five different friends, these two. And Warren and language -- and sometimes others, they go out on their weekends in their spare time and they fix the worst potholes in the city. We want to fill a lot of potholes. We want people to help out and see that we don't need to rely on this monopoly of a government for it. I want that to be what starts the people taking charge about their own life and start talking about change.

The city is going to fail at their own monopoly. Why should they have that monopoly? The Department of Public Works rated the city's roads poor. Said it would take 200 -- sorry, $732 million, to upgrade them to fair condition. So they don't have a permit for what they're doing.

STU: This is awesome.

GLENN: I know. But they say the city and the police officers, they're not stopping them.

Betsy Whitmore, chief of communications for the Indianapolis Department of Public Works, said in an email, that obtaining a permit to work on city-owned streets and right-of-way is important. So the city knows what's going on.

What kind of answer is that? I mean, I love that answer. But that's like a Texan.

I mean, just let us know what you're doing in the streets.

(laughter)

Can you imagine doing this in New York?

STU: I can't -- that's also -- seems like a way that they're saying, you better get a permit, or this is going to stop, no?

GLENN: I don't know.

So far, Lang, one of the guys, estimates they spend between 800 and $1,000 for tools and for asphalt. Part of the money came from their own paychecks and donations for their GoFundMe page, campaign to Fix Muh Roads. M-U-H.

STU: I love these guys.

GLENN: I know.

The two started April 2017, after Warren saw a video of anarchists in Portland patching their city streets.

STU: This is hilarious.

GLENN: I love this. The anarchists in Oregon say that capitalism and government are not necessary for society to function, according to the Oregonian. Okay. So these guys don't necessarily have a lot in common, except, you know, capitalism -- all right. In Oregon doesn't work.

But they both believe, we don't need the government to do the things that they don't do well. We can do this.

Language and Warren say, they are not anarchists and do not want to replace the Department of Public Works. But they thought a similar grassroots repair effort would help solve some of the problems on side streets, and call on the city to provide better service.

STU: That's really interesting. Because one of the classic complaints against Libertarianism is, what are you -- private businesses to have -- to run all the roads? Yeah, that would be fantastic. We could see how it works, when you drive around, let's say a business.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: How many entrances to Walmart are in complete disrepair? They're not. Because they want people to drive on those roads and come into the store. So they make sure that they're kept up.

If you give private business an incentive to do these things and they will be done better, I love this though. This is a great idea. It's interesting, it's not -- there's a story we talked about with Toronto a few months ago.

GLENN: I am -- I hate this story, and I simultaneously love this story.

STU: Yeah. Because the outcome is unfortunate. Toronto said, they needed stairs to go down this little hill. It's not even a hill.

GLENN: It's like a park.

STU: From one level of parking lot into the park. It was a very short -- I mean, it was ten stairs, 12 stairs.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: And it was going to be 55 to $60,000 for them to install these stairs. Well, a local guy -- this is like -- what? $55,000.

He spent $550 of his own money.

GLENN: He bought the lumber and the concrete.

STU: Yep. Built the stairs himself. Put them in. Perfectly fine stairs.

And problem solved. Until, of course, Toronto got wind of it and then came in and tore the stairs down because they didn't like the way it was done. Now, of course, you're always going to have issues.

GLENN: I think the point he was trying to make was, it doesn't take $60,000 to make stairs.

STU: Exactly. Of course it doesn't. We all know it doesn't. We even hear this with the wall, when they're talking about the wall on the southern border.

And they're like, well, it's going to cost $25 billion. You're just like, $25 billion for a wall? Like I understand that it's government and everything seems to cost more. But does that -- does that sound even remotely coherent?

GLENN: May I just say -- may I just say this, listen to what these two guys in Indiana said: They were asked, are you worried about getting hit?

While it seems like two people can actually fill potholes, there is a supporting group to protect the group from traffic. This can include an extra staff to hold warning signs for drivers and a driver of a blocker truck, to provide a barrier between pothole-filling workers and traffic.

Whitmore said, usually, the city uses five to six people. We pretty much get it done with two.

STU: That's great.

GLENN: It is. It is.

STU: Because there are -- obviously, like, if you had just guys coming around and building bridges across things, like you might have some issues. Maybe there's not engineering, necessarily. But if you have an understanding on how to do this and you can do it safely, and the other part is, with the exception of getting hit while you're filling in the pothole, it used to have nothing in it.

I mean, if they put marshmallows inside of it, it would probably be better than what it was. So it's hard to do damage when you're filling a pothole.

GLENN: It's remarkable. And now, who will be the first to stop these guys?

It's not going to -- can you imagine that? In New York City, I remember -- I remember when New York City began to change me. And it was -- I was standing at a subway or some place. And there was -- there was garbage blowing around everywhere.

Now, in some cities, I'm in towns and things, and I see garbage. I'll pick it up, and I'll put it in the trash can.

I don't do that in New York. You don't ever do that in New York. For multiple reasons, you don't do that.

STU: There's usually needles attached to each piece of garbage.

GLENN: Yeah, so you don't do that in New York. I remember seeing the trash blowing, and I remember thinking to myself, about a year and a half in New York, when the hell is the city going to do something about this?

And it just took me by surprise. I was like, what? And it was in front of our building. And I was complaining about the city. Here, go out and pick it up. Go out and sweep.

STU: Yeah. It's interesting.

GLENN: But you don't do that. And the city makes it impossible for you to want to do anything. They don't want you to do anything. No, no, no, no. Don't move that.

STU: I mean, a lot of that is people justifying their jobs and people --

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: But there's a longer term ideological reason for these things, which is to imprison you to govern. I mean, this is what they want you to believe. They like the idea that you're dependent on them.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: It gives them the control. It gives them the power. It gives them everything.

So when -- and, again, these are little examples of it. But it goes deeper than this. People used to be -- I lost my job. I need to get a job. Well, then there's people arguing for 99 weeks about employment. Right? Ninety-nine weeks. That was never something.

Look, there are reasons. There are reasons that these things pop up. But it's a change in mindset, in which we demand from the government, things that we used to demand of ourselves.

GLENN: It is remarkable that I think this is beginning to change. I really think this is beginning to change.

RADIO

Did Arizona register 98,000 ILLEGALS to vote? AZ Justice sets the record STRAIGHT

Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick joins Glenn Beck to set the record straight about a claim that Arizona registered 98,000 illegal immigrants to vote. Justice Bolick tells Glenn that this is NOT TRUE and there is NO indication that any of the voters in question were here illegally. So, what actually happened? Justice Bolick explains and also comments on what you should do if you’re concerned about the fairness of the 2024 election.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Welcome to the Glenn Beck Program.

You know, our job is getting harder and harder.

I just gave permission to hire, you know, another researcher. This morning.

Because we are just overwhelmed in stories, that we don't know what the truth is.

You should see my -- my email, my -- my private messages.

And even my text messages from friends that I trust. That are like, Glenn, I don't know if this is true. I don't know either!

I don't know either.

And I know you're in that situation. And we are going to go off the cliff, if we can't verify some things.

That's one reason why I'm going to Asheville North Carolina today.

I need to know. Is this stuff happening?

Are there bodies in Chimney Rock, that are still there?

You know, what is happening on the ground?

And we're bringing, you know, a plane full of supplies for them. Through Mercury One.

But we have to -- this is what I said in the meeting today.

We have got to come. And even if we don't talk about them. We have to find out. Are these things true, so you know if they're true or not?

And we'll do our best. But it takes so much time. We have so much going on. I think it was like a week ago, or so.

Do you remember the story that Arizona added 98,000 illegals?

STU: I remember that being, yeah.

GLENN: And I think we talked about it, right?

STU: Yeah. I think we did at the time. And tried to give perspective.

So much stuff for people to sort through right now.

GLENN: Firm the story right, it was hard decipher.

I think that's why we didn't follow up on it, at all. Because I don't know what is right on this story.

STU: Let's lock it down.

GLENN: Well, good news, the head guy of the Arizona Supreme Court wrote to us. He's Justice Bolick. He, who joined the court in 2016. He previously cofounded the Institute for Justice and served as litigation director for the Goldwater Institute. So he's one of us.

He litigated constitutional cases from coast-to-coast, including the US Supreme Court.

He's not the Supreme Court. He's a Supreme Court I couldn't wait. But he's not the chief justice now, in Arizona.

But he says, that story is wrong.

And he would be the guy that knows. Clint, welcome to the program.

CLINT: Oh, thank you so much for having me, Glenn. And thanks for making the correction. My boss, the chief justice would have drawn and quartered me.
(laughter)

GLENN: You know, this story was everywhere. And I don't remember what we said. We might have said that yep. That's crazy.

And the Supreme Court is out of control.

I don't know what we said. But if we got it wrong, A, I apologize.

So let's correct it. And correct all of the stories that were out there. What happened?

CLINT: So, Glenn, thank you so much for that.

And, you know, usually, when a court issues controversial decisions, they know it.

And so for a couple of days after, we did not consider this to be a controversial decision at all.

But all of a sudden, we were hearing from people, and I was encountering people, who were saying, we were letting illegal immigrants vote.

And I looked at the headlines, that had come out, and just I've got one I'm reading in front of me, from Newsweek, that said Arizona court, says nearly 100,000 people with unconfirmed citizenship can vote.

And so I can well understand, why people got that impression.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah.

CLINT: But the headline should have read, court. Arizona court prevents disenfranchisement of 100,000 people over computer error.

And that's exactly what happened.

So Arizona is one of the few states, that requires proof of citizenship, before someone votes.

And when the law was passed, they assumed, that people who had registered by 2005, were -- were legal citizens. So they didn't require you to show proof of citizenship, unless you moved to a different county, or applied for a duplicate license. And due to a Department of Motor Vehicles glitch. And I know that's hard to believe.

GLENN: Oh, no. It's hard to believe that the government would do anything that had glitches in it.

CLINT: Yeah. So in any event, apparently, a large number of people, who were registered to -- to -- to vote, and who had driver's licenses before 1996, and who moved, or got duplicate licenses, were never asked to prove their citizenships.

Now, most of these people had been voting for decade.

And, you know, so -- so there's no indication that any of them are illegal who didn't notice. But once this problem was discovered, the county recorder of Maricopa County, went to court, and said, all of these people should be removed and required to prove their citizenship, between now and the election.

And, of course, the same people who made the mistake, would have been this charge of -- of making sure that those were shown by the election.

And just imagine, if we had gone to Election Day and thousands, possibly over 100,000 people who had been voting for decades. Were told, oh, no.

We don't know whether you're a citizen or not.

GLENN: Right.

CLINT: And how this is not -- so, in any event, it was a very easy legal issue for us.

And it was the only election case, Glenn.

That I can remember, where the Arizona Republican party, and the ACLU were on the same side.

They hoped that please don't throw these people off the ballot.

You know, we discovered.

We determined that we had no authority to take that many people off the ballot.

You can challenge individual voters, at -- if you think that they are not citizens. And after the election, though, there will be an effort to verify citizenship.

But most of these people would have had no idea what was going on.

You know, given that they voted without a problem for -- for decades. And so it just -- it was one of those stories, that the headlines. One of those cases, that the headlines turned into a controversy.

But it really wasn't a controversy at all.

GLENN: Right. So with an election coming up, and you guys -- are you guys voted on, in the Supreme Court?

CLINT: So, yes. We are subject to retention every six years.

GLENN: Oh.

CLINT: And yours truly is one of those justices up for retention this year, with a very spirited campaign against me from self-described progressive groups.

GLENN: Oh, great. Well, all you had to say -- you had me at Goldwater Institute.

So, you know, I'm -- I'm for you, Glenn.

How -- how confident are you, that we can have a fair election this time in Arizona?

CLINT: Well, you know, I'm not on the ground. I'm not involved.

GLENN: Okay.

CLINT: You know, in the day-to-day.

And, you know, one of the things that I've been doing is encouraging people to volunteer as poll workers.

You know, and other jobs that take place on Election Day. The best -- the best place to be on Election Day, if you have concerns about election integrity, is on the inside.

And I've been very heartened that both political parties. Both major and political parties have really been encouraging volunteers to do that.

And when I hear that sort of thing, it gives me. It gives me confidence that, you know -- that --

GLENN: At least that step has been taken.

CLINT: Yes.

Yeah.

GLENN: Yeah. Well, thanks for clearing this up. I appreciate it.

And, you know, if -- if there's anybody who is on the right, that has misunderstood this, which I think probably a lot of people. Because it was everywhere.

And I -- I apologize.

Again, I don't know exactly what we said. But let's just assume, we were one of those who believed the headlines.

Apology to -- to our audience. And to everybody in Arizona. I'm glad you reached out to us, so we can set the record straight.

Thank you.

CLINT: Glenn, I am so -- you know, I am so glad that you gave me the opportunity. I'm sure it's not every day, that the judge contacts you. And says, hey.

GLENN: Yeah.

CLINT: This is not correct.

GLENN: Yeah. No. I agree. I invite anyone.

If we get something wrong, I'm not afraid of correcting it and saying, we were wrong. So I appreciate that you reached out to us.

Because we will correct it. We will correct it. Thanks.

CLINT: Well, and I am so grateful for that. If everyone did that, we would be in a much better place in our society right now.

GLENN: Yeah. Yeah. We would. We would. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

Clint Bolick, he's Arizona Supreme Court justice. And apparently, running for reaffirment.

And let me just say, Goldwater Institute.

I don't think I need to say anymore.

RADIO

Israel stopped a SECOND Iranian strike. Will Netanyahu retaliate?

Iran has retaliated against Israel with a massive missile barrage, mostly targeting Tel Aviv. But "miraculously," no Israelis were injured and the missiles did no serious damage. But where will Israel go from here? Former IDF spokesman and Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Fellow Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Conricus joins Glenn to discuss. Conricus, who was in a bomb shelter with his family during the attack, debunks some claims made by Iran and online and also explains why he believes "something special happened AGAIN yesterday." This is now the second time, he explains that Israel, with help from the United States, has neutralized a massive Iranian attack. So, will Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strike Iran in retaliation? And what are the odds that a larger war will break out?

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: The other thing that happened yesterday, that is so important is Israel. Israel is going to respond. I believe we have lieutenant colonel retired.

Jonathan Conricus. He's been on with us before. He's the former Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson, and now senior fellow of Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

And we wanted to get you on, Jonathan, first of all, assuming you're in Israel.

You're safe. And that's good. Tell us what happened yesterday, and what it means going forward.

JONATHAN: Yes. Hi, Glenn. Thank you for having me again. A pleasure. What happened yesterday was the biggest missile attack in Israeli history. About 200 ballistic missiles were fired from about 800, 900 miles away, in Iran. At Israel.

The Iranians claimed that they were aiming for military targets. But most of the impacts were actually civilian neighborhoods. And luckily, and quite ironically, some might say, the only casualty in life, was a Palestinian in Jericho. No Israeli citizens were killed.

And while there were some impacted as an Israeli Air Force base, nothing of substance, and no real damage. Neither to infrastructure, or to military capacities.

GLENN: Wait a minute. Hang on.

I heard that several F-35s were taken out. That's not true?

JONATHAN: That is absolutely categorically not true.

There wasn't a single plane hit. Not a single hangar or bunker, and not a single runway.

There were some -- one of the Air Force bases. I'm not going to say the name.

But one of the Air Force bases was hit.

It's only been -- no damage to the Israeli Air Force's capability to continue to operate.

And as our enemies know. The Israeli Air Force continues to operate, in Beirut. In other parts of the Middle East.

In southern Lebanon, over Gaza.

And so the Iranian propaganda, of having 90 percent of their targets, were hit.

Absolutely false. And not -- again, proved the enduring return on investment here.

Many years of investing. US and Israel. Doing that together.

And for the second time in the -- the moment of truth. Air defenses were almost airtight.

And they saved lots and lots and lots of lives in Israel.

GLENN: I have to tell you. I don't know if you're a religious man or not.

But I am

200 missiles being launched. Ballistic missiles.

Coming in and going into Israel.

And for no one to be killed, and you're -- and your Air Force and your military bases. Not to be destroyed.

Is an extraordinary miracle, I think.

JONATHAN: I would agree. And you don't have to be fearing in every way, to recognize that something special happened again, yesterday.

This is the second time that the Iranians unleashed massive firepower.

And it appeared to be able to understand what we're talking about. The missiles are as big as school buses. And they fired 200 of them. Each one of them with hundreds of pounds, about half a ton of explosives in the warheads.

We're talking about very serious weapons.

Large explosives.

My family, we were in the bomb shelter.

My son, he was on the bus. And then ran to a shelter.

And it was really a scene out of a movie. With explosions.

And interceptions, in Tel Aviv. And as you said, the fact that no substantial damage. And no loss of life. Yeah, many would say. And probably I would agree, that this was a miracle.

Air defenses, IDF, and a miracle.

GLENN: I have to tell you, I watched those missiles come in live. But, you know, obviously, from the other side of the planet. And I thought, what must that be like?

You know, I thought of missile launches here, going outbound, or coming in.

Something very few people in the world have seen what happened yesterday.

It must have been terrifying for the average person.

Seeing everything. The sky just lit up with fire.

JONATHAN: Yes. The sky lit up with fire.

And each of you the -- in the air. You know, that they're attached to hundreds of pounds of explosives.

They're lethal. And that they're aimed at the Israeli cities.

And there are explosions all around.

Lots of noise.

You know, we have. Just like in the US.

You have the Amber Alerts. System on your phones.

Israeli defense establishment did the same thing.

And issued like a push notification on all the phones.

Even those who didn't have an app. Download it. And millions of Israelis.

Very strong alarms on their phones.

Call them to immediately go to shelter.

And that's what millions of Israelis did.
And that's also what thankfully led to the fact that even though, some of the missiles exploded in populated areas in Israel, nobody was hurt. Because Israelis were disciplined. And went into bomb shelters.

And nobody was caught out in the open.

GLENN: So is Benjamin Netanyahu, do you think going to respond to this?

Will he strike Iran? And is there any fear that they are going to cut off the oil pathways? Are you there? Go ahead.

JONATHAN: Yeah. When we look forward -- can you hear me? Can you hear me?

GLENN: Yes.

JONATHAN: All right. So when we look forward here, I think two things will determine what will happen next. One is Israel's endgame. Seek to achieve. Because there are a lot of things when it comes to the Iranian regime. And I will clarify. And the second thing that is very important, is how well will Israel coordinate with the United States of America, and what will the level of support be in a global repeat.

Now, regarding the first part. Israel can go for regime targets, leaders, and personnel. Infrastructure that is part of the Islamic regime.

Israel can go for military and economic targets. But this is the places whereby the Iranian regime, the export of oil. And whereby, they make money.

Which is used to fund their activities. All of the terror organizations, in Israel.

And the third option, which, of course, many are eyeing and thinking about is Iran's nuclear military facility.

The research facility, the storage facilities, and many others. These are three distinctly different types of -- and what Israel wants to achieve.

Does Israel want to bring down the regime? Does it only want to hurt the Iranians from attacking Israel again?

Will Israel be told not to do anything significant by the Americans?

And, of course, remind everybody, last time that Iran attacked on the 13th or 14th of April, Israel wanted to retaliate in a much stronger way.

But refrained from doing so under America first. And instead, Israel attempted in continuing in finishing the job in Gaza and Hamas.

I don't think that we're going to see that today. And I think we are going to see in the coming days, a strong Israeli response. It may be aimed at the regime. It may be aimed at their nuclear facilities.

But I think it's absolutely important, is that Israel and the United States of America are coordinated, and I hope American leaders will see this current situation, a threat to Israel. And an opportunity to really do more in a week, than what has been accomplished in ten years of failed diplomacy. When it comes to stopping Iran from going nuclear.

I really think there will be an opportunity.

GLENN: Yeah. I think that will be good. As long as there are calls from both sides, yesterday.

That America needs to send more troops over. I think we already have 40,000 that we've sent over.

We don't want to be in another war.

This one could go global.

I think Israel is showing the world, don't screw with us.

You guys are doing a great job.

And I support that.

I just -- I just don't want to see us, enflame things by including ourself, in the actual strikes.

But support --

JONATHAN: I agree with you. And I wouldn't want -- I wouldn't want the single American service men in harm's way. And I don't think that anybody needs to be fighting Israel's war.

And I think that Israel, in its history, has many times, done the heavy lifting for the rest of the Western world. Whether it's been keeling with Iraqi dictators, or with Syria, or with many others.

And Israel is -- the only thing Israel has is military support. Supplies. And, of course, political and diplomatic support. I don't think that Israel's needs or wants. Any American service members to be in harm's way. And I would just say a tremendous gratitude to American service men.

Against them. Deployed in the Red Sea. Among the -- on the US Navy ships.

And in the air.

Done tremendous work in intercepting Israeli missiles. Very professional.

And super important.

And I hope they remain safe. And I hope that they can have the diplomatic -- and military to help them to do what they need to do in order to defend itself.

GLENN: Well, we here support you on whatever you have to do to defend yourself.

I support you, I should say.

And I think there are millions of Americans that are listening, that feel the same way.

Jonathan. Thank you so much.

I really appreciate it.

You bet. Lieutenant colonel, Jonathan Conricus. Former Israeli defense spokesperson. The only thing that you should be really looking for is escalation.

But most importantly, as he was talking about. Red Sea. When you get into the straits over there, just off the shores of Iran.

If they start going after our Navy ships, or they try to close those straits down.

That is the world's flow of oil. And we will get involved in that.

And that will become very, very -- very, very dangerous.

Because this one will -- this one will not be a partial war.

This one will include, I believe bombings in our streets.

I believe we are close to terrorist activity. Foreign terrorist activity. In our own streets.

Orchestrated by Iran.

And a lot of others, who are here, and want to destroy us.

So we -- especially during this election season, we all need to be good Americans, together.

Not Republicans. Democrats, but good Americans.

And start paying attention to these issues. So we can start taking care of our own self first. So we survive this time period.

Glenn's Show Prep

No permit, no problem? 2 men sick of waiting on government are fixing potholes themselves

Did Arizona register 98,000 ILLEGALS to vote? AZ Justice sets the record STRAIGHT

Transcript

FEMA is RUNNING OUT of money for hurricane victims, but gave BILLIONS to ILLEGALS?!

Transcript

Israel stopped a SECOND Iranian strike. Will Netanyahu retaliate?

Transcript

Glenn Beck's Live REACTION: How JD Vance CRUSHED Tim Walz in the VP Debate