It's a thrill beyond any thrill you can imagine to be right here, right now, on the EIB network with you on Friday.
Live from the Southern Command in sunny South Florida, it's Open Line Friday!
That's it, folks.
We have one big, exciting broadcast hour to go before we speed into the weekend.
Okay, let's see.
Here it is.
I knew I had something I wanted to do here.
Telephone number 800-282-2882.
The email address is lrushbauteibnet.com.
You know, Open Line Friday is not just for you.
I just decided this.
You know, Open Line Friday, I say, you can talk about things that I don't care about.
Well, guess what?
On Open Line Friday, I can talk about things you don't care about.
You know, it works both ways.
Now, Monday through Thursday, when we take phone calls, it's got to be from people that care what I am interested in.
Otherwise, I'm going to sound bored.
And if I sound bored, nobody's going to listen.
We don't want that.
But on Friday, sweep all that aside, whatever you want to talk about is fine.
It's a concession to the belief that there may be things you would like to hear on this program or talk about that will never be discussed Monday through Thursday.
If you want to bring them up, you've got that chance.
But I just decided that I, as host, ought to have the same opportunity.
Monday through Thursday, in fact, Monday through Friday, not only do I talk about the things I'm passionate about, but there are a lot of things I'm interested in I never talk to you about because I think you won't care.
And I don't want you being bored, even though I know full well that I'm not boring.
When I'm talking about something I'm passionate about, you listen.
Anybody was.
That's the great thing about passion.
People who are passionate, you listen to them no matter what they're saying.
Either to be amused, mesmerized, shocked, whatever.
I figure, why should I leave myself out?
Why can't I talk about things you don't care about on Friday?
So I want to talk about the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference on Monday.
I realize a lot of you get ticked off when I mention Apple because you think they're a bunch of leftist libs and that I'm being hoodwinked by using their stuff, that I'm propping up leftist libs by buying and using their stuff.
And so you may be right.
And this guy, I don't care.
Because to me, Apple's not a political outfit.
They're high-tech, and I happen to think they're the best.
By the way, one of the things that's been happening with Apple in the, well, since September, it's actually been kind of noteworthy, in fact, and it's had lessons transferable to the things that we talk about on this program every day.
For whatever reason, the tech media, some of the mainstream media, and some of the investment houses in this country have been, how should I put it?
They've been ripping Apple to shreds.
In September, the stock price was $705.
It's now around $4.30, $4.25, $4.40, something.
I mean, they have really decimated the Apple stock price.
Short sellers have had a fun time.
But I mean, the tech media, you know, I read these blogs as a hobby.
They have just been ripping this country left and right.
Can't do anything right.
And they've been building up Samsung, Samsung's the greatest things in sliced bread.
And it turns out today that, you know, Samsung's new phone, the Galaxy S4, guess what?
It isn't selling.
There was all this talk about how Samsung has overtaken Apple.
Better phones, better features, faster service, more phones more often.
And it really has been a study in media bias.
It really has been.
I've commented on it a couple of times, but it's been fascinating to watch the media bias against Apple and trying to understand it.
Apple's a good leftist bunch.
Why in the world does it tech media hate them?
I don't have an answer.
Don't know.
But it was obvious for a while that not all, but in many of these places I read, there was a deep-seated animus.
Well, I too have some problems with Apple as a fanboy, as a customer.
And I wish they had more phones, and I wish they came out with more stuff more often, and I wish they upgraded their operating system more often, and I wish they'd put a lot more features into it than they do.
And I wish I think Android, in terms of features, has surpassed Apple.
I think there's more, but it's not going to make me switch by any stretch because the quality, Apple still owns it.
But I do still wonder why are they so slow?
Why are they so slow in upgrading phones, software, and this kind of thing?
And the reason that they say, the reason they put forth is that they're not going to do it until it's the best.
They're not going to put it out until it's ready.
They're not going to make any trade-offs.
They're not going to – the truth is Apple does not trailblaze.
Apple lets other people get into businesses.
And then when Apple thinks the time's right, they move in and do it better than anybody else has ever done.
Cell phones have been around long before the iPhone, but nobody had ever done it as well as they have.
Anyway, the Worldwide Developer Conference is coming up on Monday, and Apple hasn't had anything like this in 215 days.
And people are bursting at the seams.
And Apple fans are like fans of a sports team.
They want it to win.
They don't want it to fall behind.
They want it to remain everything that it was simply because they have a fan attachment to it and a devotion.
So 210 days, no new products, no new announcements of any major importance.
Apple fans worried.
Is it over?
Is that it?
Is that the end of their innovation?
What's happened to them?
Don't they care what the competition is doing?
Aren't they worried about what's going on?
Various aspects.
So everybody's looking forward to this thing on Monday in greater anticipation than in a long, long time.
Because there's a bunch of some, a bunch of new stuff being announced, and people have great expectations and high hopes for it.
One of the things is a new operating system for the iPhone and the iPad.
The current one's iOS 6.
iOS 7 is coming up.
The design for iOS 7 has been taken over by a guy named Johnny Ivey.
Now, here's another, I'm not sure about the pronunciation of his last name.
It's IVE, and I've heard it pronounced IVE, but I've read in two different places, he's British, that it's pronounced Ivy.
And since I don't listen to much, because I'm actually here, I don't really know what the correct pronunciation is.
So I sometimes will say it both ways just to cover my bases.
Now, the tech community is all excited here because the tech community, the bloggers, and all of these snarky people that couldn't do what Apple does, will sit there and tell you everything in the world they're doing wrong.
And one of the things that these people hate is called skewmorphism.
And skewmorphism is making a digital or electronic item look like its real-world counterpart.
So the notes app on an iPhone or an iPad actually looks like a yellow legal pad.
Well, that's gone.
They're going to get rid of all those kinds of design that make digital devices look like real world.
And it's called flat and minimalist.
And Johnny Ivey is the guy who designs all the hardware, the iPhones, the iPads, the MacBooks, the MacBook Pros, and so forth.
And everybody is really excited to see what he does with the operating system for the iPhone and the iPad.
I am too.
I'm not so much concerned about the lack of skew morphism or what it looks like as the features they're going to put into it.
There haven't been some things updated in six years.
Hardware, people are looking forward to.
One of the things that there hasn't been an update on in three years is the top-of-the-line computer, the Mac Pro, which is the tower desktop used by video professionals in Hollywood and television.
It's still their fastest computer, but it's really not in real-world application.
Raw computing power it is, but in real-world application, it's a turtle.
It's a tortoise.
And they haven't upgraded in three years, and people don't understand why.
There's hope that there will be at least an indication of what they're going to do with that computer at this conference that they're having on Monday.
Nobody really knows, but there are rumors abound of a cheaper iPhone coming and a new Mac Pro that's going to be announced, Retina Screen, MacBook Pros, and this kind of thing.
They do a magnificent job of keeping their secrets, and they do a magnificent job of building up hype.
But I sent a friend of mine a note, and I was really frustrated.
I was really down on Apple when I was on vacation.
I sent a friend of mine a note about what I expected.
And it was basically just making fun of some of the true isms that happened.
So a guy was asking me what I thought about the new Mac Pro, which the moment they announced it, I'm going to buy one.
I got rid of the old Mac.
It's a snail.
So I had to go out and get a replacement for it just to modernize.
But I'd prefer to get a Mac Pro, but they haven't upgraded.
It made me mad.
So I think they will announce a few predictions.
They will announce the new Mac Pro, and they will say that it will be available later this fall.
They will not specify when later this fall means.
In September, they will announce a configuration of the new Mac Pro that nobody wants and that it will go on sale in mid-October.
The configuration that everybody wants will go on sale in November.
Then on the November date that Apple says the real configuration everybody wants, it'll go on sale with a shipping time of three to four weeks.
They will say that there are shortages due to unforeseen demand.
Units will actually ship in mid-December, but most deliveries will not happen until January.
iPhone, next iPhone 5S6, nobody knows they think it's going to be the 5S.
It'll be announced as available, not Monday, but at some point they'll announce it to be available in September with ship times in five to seven days.
The new operating system, iOS 7, will ship at the same time as the new iPhone in September.
In September, when it finally arrives, the iPhone 5S or 6, whatever they call it, will go on sale with ship times of five to seven days.
But you won't be able to get one for three months because of unforeseen demand.
iOS 7 will ship in November, not the promised September.
It'll ship in November after numerous design delays because too many bloggers think there's still too much skew morphism in the revamped flat design.
The iPad 2 with retina display will be announced as delayed until March of 2014 because of yield issues on the new display.
The iPhone 5 will be on time, the only thing that will be.
OS 10.9, the new Mac operating system, will be in beta 19 in January with a promised ship date of February the 30th.
The iPhone 5S will be identical to the iPhone 5 except for a fingerprint sensor and a new color.
Everything else will be the same.
iOS 7 will look different.
We'll add integration of Flickr and Vimeo.
Big deal.
I don't use either.
But it will have no new features.
Tim Cook will say that there are too many trade-offs to modernize the OS right now.
iOS or the iPhone 6, not the 5S, the iPhone 6, they will announce that at a special event next February.
Tim Cook will say that its highlight is a new 4.1-inch screen, one-tenth of an inch bigger than the iPhone 5, but with four times the pixels and two additional hours of battery life.
Phone will be no thicker than the American Express black card.
When asked why Apple resists a five-inch screen, they will say that they refuse to make trade-offs necessary to do that.
Get over it.
They will announce the iWatch with a five-inch screen that'll be available in December of 2014.
Those are my predictions for what happens at Apple on Monday.
Yes, five-inch screen on the iWatch.
They'll manage the trade-offs for that, but not on the iPhone.
Back after this, folks.
Do not go away.
I told Catherine that we ought to do something with two if by T like Apple does.
Oh, we ought to announce a new flavor and then not make it available for signal.
We put it on sale and we say, you will accept orders, but sorry, we don't have it.
And you won't be able to get it for at least a month, maybe six weeks.
There's so much demand for our new flavor that nobody can get it.
There's so much demand.
We cannot fulfill demand.
And it creates the impression here that we can't manufacture enough to meet the demand.
And Catherine, she immediately rejected the idea.
I was just teasing, but she immediately rejected the idea.
She runs a tea company.
I mean, she runs it.
She is the CEO of it.
Greg in Chicago.
I'm glad you waited.
It's great to have you on the program.
Hello.
Thank you, Rush.
I'm a fourth-time caller since 1990, and I've not missed many of your shows in that time on behalf of my World War II dad, who was buried in 2010 in an honored white t-shirt and a rush thin ball tie.
Thank you so much for what you did.
Wow.
Thank you, sir.
I really appreciate that.
Great.
Rush, earlier in the show, you talked about not giving up your freedoms, and you're totally correct.
And the point of my call is to sharpen this argument for the conservative community and to make a distinction between the analysis process itself versus the inclusion of data volunteered by private companies that can be accessed on demand, seemingly by government without any safeguards, and then what safeguards are built into the process once the analysis process starts.
And the reason why I bring that up is in the 90s, I was a project manager for a company here in Chicago that played a formidable role in developing what is now known as advanced predictive modeling.
And to make that easy, that's taking anything and breaking it down to its attribute level, like your iced tea, its various sizes, flavors, its sweetened or non-sweetened kinds, and then taking all of that into a database, analyzing it and finding patterns and likely behaviors.
Okay, hold on.
Let me stop you right there because I've got to take an obscene profit time out here.
Don't lose your train of thought.
We'll come back and pick you up right there when we get back.
Yeah, let me just at the outset here.
Let's go back to Greg in Chicago.
This is not going to assist our low-information outreach.
I understand that.
It's got a different purpose.
Okay, Greg, pick up.
So you are into predictive modeling, and you think what the government ought to be doing is letting us have a say in the data that they grabbed?
Well, what I'm saying is that the first point I want to make is conservatives need to be clear between the advanced modeling process because it's here and it works.
We just saw it work in Boston and finding those two guys very quickly.
Yeah, but it did not stop.
No, wait a minute.
I reject that.
It didn't prevent it.
And that's what they tell us all this is about.
And it didn't stop it.
In fact, they rejected the data that they had.
They rejected the data they had on these two guys.
And that Boston box.
Rush, come on.
You're never going to be able to take all of humanity's predictive behaviors and be able to capture them all.
But this, believe me, does a better job of trying to prevent it.
What we need to do is we need to denigrate the process itself because it works.
Here, you want a good case in point of who I'm trying to get involved in it.
Axel Rodd's got somebody from the grocery business here in Chicago sitting down in the Aeon building using this.
That's the reason why the Republicans keep getting their butt kicked, and the Republicans don't have a clue that this exists.
That's the reason why after the election, there was the talk about the technology that Democrats got.
So what my point is, is what needs to be done by the conservative community is not denigrate the analysis process because it does work.
There are benefits to it.
But when the government gets their hands on this data, can they just go into Verizon and ask for all of that data without any buy-in on us?
I kind of feel violated as a Verizon customer, to be honest with you, right?
They did.
You don't have any say about this at all.
None of us do.
And then if their algorithms, and I use the term laughingly, I know what an algorithm is, and I hear all these intelligentsias.
Don't worry, Rush, the algorithms are going to have whatever.
After they algorithm this and they find their patterns that hopefully will tell them about the next set of Sinaya brothers that they're going to ignore, then they can go ask for content.
Then they can go ask for recordings of the phone calls.
And nobody's going to deny them that.
They go to the FISA courts.
Look, we suspect here that the guy that called Rush Limbaugh from Chicago, who was talking about predictive analysis and modeling of computer data, is actually working with somebody that might intend harm.
And bamo, they're going to go ask for a record of this call.
You're not going to know it.
I'm not going to know it.
And even if we did, we're not going to be able to stop it.
I'm using an extreme example.
You're talking about the Republicans learning how to identify voters and their patterns and reach them using high-tech.
And you're absolutely right.
The Republicans are clueless.
However, I saw the other day, yesterday, day before, that the Republicans have hired a former Google engineer to lead their effort to get up to speed on high-tech.
I think it's a former Google guy.
It might have been a former Apple guy.
It might have been a former Microsoft guy.
I forget what it's a former somebody high-tech guy who's going to work with them.
Now, my concern about that is: are they hiring a saboteur?
Are they going to give the guy an ideological test?
Are they going to find out that this guy's actually one of them?
I hate to say this, but my fear is that the Republicans are going out and hiring high-tech people to help them get up to speed what the Democrats are doing, which means get up to speed with Google, because that's who's running a Democrats operation.
You know, all this talk about how many times, what's his face, Shulman, the IRS guy, went to the White House.
I want to see how many times Eric Schmidt has been in there.
I'd like to know how many times Eric Schmidt of Google has been in there.
Because Google is, they deny this, of course.
They deny that they're working ideologically.
They admit that they offer their generic expertise, but they're fundraising.
Look at what Google does with their search results.
You know, search me or any conservative.
Find out what you get.
It's clear that Google has a political preference, and that's fine.
They're entitled to.
But I understand what you mean about the Republicans needing to use high-tech, but I don't think that's the same thing here as what we're talking about with the FISA Act.
Predictive modeling and so forth makes perfect sense for what the Republicans need to do.
And I know your grocery example, stocking shelves, and that it's brilliant what can be done with inventories and that kind of thing.
It is.
It really is.
And it could be brilliant in ascertaining where your votes are and how to get them.
But those are above-board, transparent uses of high-tech and databases in order to advance your organization, your company, or whatever.
This stuff that we're talking about is, I think, of a completely different nature.
But, Greg, you're a great guy.
I really appreciate your calling.
I thank you for your opening comments.
We move on to AJ in Atlanta.
You're next on the EIB network.
Hello.
How are you doing?
Pretty good today.
Pretty cool.
How about you?
Not bad.
Not bad.
It's Friday, so I can't complain.
I'm a first-time caller and the first time I've gotten through, so not too bad.
Well, good for you.
I had actually one comment or one question for you, but I wanted to make a comment on your Apple rant.
I totally support that.
I have dealt with a PC for years, and I cannot count how many times it's crashed.
And I've watched people with Macs just study on and keep right on plugging along with their work and getting it done without having it fail all the time.
Yeah, it's true.
I'm true.
I'm there.
My question for you is, in regards to the supposed video that caused the outbreak in Benghazi, everybody's forgotten about that.
Obama went to the U.N. and pronounced to the world that it was about this video.
Right.
Is there any repercussion to the administration, to Obama, whether it be defamation, slander, libel, whatever you may call it, for throwing this guy out there as the reason they knew?
Yeah, it would be really tough.
The guy's name is Nabullah Nabullah.
He's one of these guys with the same first and last name.
His parents had small minds.
Nabullah Nabullah.
And he did produce a video that is comically bad.
The idea that it would make anybody mad is ridiculous.
Nobody ever saw it.
But he is also guilty of bank fraud.
And the real reason he is in jail is bank fraud.
Now, the real reason he's got no bail is because of the video.
Jack-booted thugs, quote-unquote, showed up at this guy's house at midnight in the midst of the Benghazi aftermath.
And they had the camera crews there, and they were able to document it.
This guy's got a hood over his head or a coat, so he can't be identified.
He's ashamed, obviously.
They cart him off.
The sheriffs come and get him.
They cart him off and they book him.
And they throw away the key.
The guy's gone.
He's in jail with no bail.
Still there.
And Obama and Susan Rice and everybody in the Democrat Party has denigrated a guy and have blamed him for the death of four Americans.
They blamed him for the outbreak of violence in Benghazi.
They blamed him for the protests in Cairo.
So it's a legitimate question.
Can this guy sue these people?
A, you can't sue the government for one thing, but could this guy sue them for defamation and damage and so forth?
And it would be a real, real challenge because the guy has committed other crimes.
And I don't think where the guy is right now, he's even thinking like this.
My guess is that this guy has been totally silenced.
I think this guy's living in abject fear of authorities and government.
And the last thing he wants to do is make any more waves.
Nakula Basili Nakula is his name.
I said Nabullah Nabullah.
It's Nakula Basili Nakula.
And he's in prison in Latuna, Texas, released in September of this year.
But I don't think the poor guy would have a case.
We'll be back, folks.
Sit tight.
I got an interesting email during the break.
Summarizing the email.
Rush, you mentioned that Catherine, your lovely wife, is the CEO of 2FBT that she runs it.
What else does she do?
You never talk about her.
There's a reason for that, folks.
It's called privacy and security and any number of things.
But, you know, I'll tell you what.
Enough people inquire because I've purposely not just to avoid making her a target.
It's bad enough that I am.
Avoid it.
But she has led a fascinating life.
She's grown up all over.
Her parents, her mother was a State Department diplomat.
And her father was a Naval Academy grad for the same class as McCain.
But after that, it's mysterious.
It really is open for, there's a lot of teasing.
Was he a CIA spook?
She's had a fascinating life, and she's done, speaks a number of languages, and has been a number of places, and is a fascinating person.
But I'm just so obsessed now with privacy and not making her a target that that's why.
But maybe I'll prepare just a little bio at some point and give you the bare essentials.
Here's Bill in Riverton, Illinois.
Hello, sir.
Great to have you on Open Line Friday.
Hello, Mr. Limbaugh.
Thank you for taking my call and thank you for putting on a quality radio show year after year, day after day, et cetera.
Really appreciate it.
I was asked to go quickly, so I will.
I'll do my best.
I wondered if maybe you could help me sort this out.
And that is that the comment is that the administration has to be happy about the Verizon, the information that's out now about Verizon and the eight other carriers, et cetera, et cetera.
Because to me, that is a lot more defensible than the IRS of late, than the snooping on the media of late, than Benghazi that was becoming so indefensible.
Well, I understand this comes up every time there is a lot of attention focused on like the IRS scandal or Benghazi.
Something else happens and then, oh, oh, no, we're losing sight.
We're losing focus.
This is a distraction.
And I understand what you're saying.
I think in this case, the Tea Party people haven't forgotten about the IRS scandal.
And neither have we here.
I think this is just added on to it.
I don't think this is making people forget about this other stuff.
I think in the midst of all those other things, now we get this, and it's just added weight.
Believe me, I got two stories in the stack here I didn't get to today about how much trouble Obama is in.
One of them is Fred Barnes.
The other is a UK newspaper.
I didn't get to them because I frankly don't believe it.
But you know what?
I'll keep them for Monday.
I'll run them by you and see what you think.
There's some people that think that Obama's in really deep doo-doo over this.
Quick timeout, folks.
Don't go away.
Yeah, Fred Barnes believes, ladies and gentlemen, that where is it?
He doesn't think that it's scandal.
He thinks it's previous Obama decisions that are causing the demise of his administration.