Morning Run: Nursing Home Explosion, Russell Brand Charges,  Mom Murders Daughter, DOJ Epstein Files, Diddy Wants Out, Holiday Shopping Boom and Get Your Tickets!

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Speaker 1: Morning Run with Amy and TJ and iHeartRadio Podcast. Good morning everyone, Thanks for joining us for today's Morning Run. Happy Christmas Eve everyone. It is Wednesday, December twenty fourth. I'm Amy Robots and.

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Speaker 2: I'm TJ Holmes. I should have looked this up ahead of time. How many people in the country are one gift on Christmas Eve?

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Speaker 3: People?

00:00:22
Speaker 1: I don't know. My family always has been because us kids were persistent and relentless. Please please please can we have one gift on Christmas Eve?

00:00:31
Speaker 3: Nail out? So that's my tradition to dropt.

00:00:33
Speaker 1: It is it ISAs a lot of people do that.

00:00:35
Speaker 3: I have never done that growing up.

00:00:37
Speaker 1: I also think maybe when you go to different families or you have more like I remember that. Part of the tradition came about because we would go to one grandparents house on one night and then the next one on Christmas Day, so we would always get to open a couple presents on Christmas Eve, which was exciting.

00:00:52
Speaker 2: Well, it's going to be really exciting because the best present on this Christmas Eve somebody might open and around eleven o'clock because that's when the powerball drawing it. Ah, Yes, this is going to be sweet. It's going to be poetic, it's going to be awesome that actually we waited all this time and somebody is going to win one point seven billion dollars tonight. I'm predicting that this is going to be the one that's a sweet Christmas Eve store.

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Speaker 1: You think it's going to be the Christmas miracle that at least that one person needed, but maybe that we all need to see because it makes me smile. Just see sleetly transformed in all the good ways.

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Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that's going to be really cool. But a great Christmas Eve gift somebody possibly going to open tonight. We will get into what's happening with the powerball. A lot of things to get to, but I wanted to start with this. Look, a lot of people on the road, still, a lot of you have gotten to your destination already, but weather is still going to be kind of a big deal. And I saw this from the Weather Channel. I couldn't put this any better. I couldn't believe this was their headline. Excuse me. It was the first line in which you go to their page and they have a whole Christmas weather section and it says, by far, the biggest travel headaches will be in the West, but there could be a sneaky travel headache in parts of the West too. In short, you should not travel on Christmas Eve or Christmas in California.

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Speaker 1: Okay, should not. Well, that's not an option for a lot of folks they have to travel.

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Speaker 2: But I thought it was a serious enough warning. They're letting you know it's that bad. We know you don't have a choice to get to but you should not do it. And we're talking about torrential rains out there. They've been dealing with some weather for the past couple of days, but it is I think the worst of it is today, Christmas Eve and tomorrow.

00:02:27
Speaker 1: The entire coast that is so unfortunate.

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Speaker 2: It's getting torrential rains, flash flooding. That just sucks. The Northeast is going to be spared for the most part. Are going to get some light precipitation, some light snow. But they say there's some fog and some warmer air messing around up in the atmosphere. It is going to cause foggy conditions, so you could which is dangerous weather delays. So heads up there as far as flights go, that could cause some problems.

00:02:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they even said Friday because people a lot of people travel after Christmas the day after Christmas here in the Northeast. At least, we've got a big system that could bring snow and ice and sleet and all. We're traveling on Friday, so good luck to us as well.

00:03:05
Speaker 2: That's your update on weather. The update on spending. A lot of you maybe still have a couple of things to get, hopefully not and you're not stressed right now. But we have been spending more. Given all ropes we have seen this year, uncertainty about the economy, go back to tariffs and things going all this, Americans are still spending more money.

00:03:23
Speaker 1: We spent more. I definitely can say yes, that is true. In fact, we have a whole podcast in my potential guilt shopping. But yeah, but look, it's good for the economy. Hopefully people were smart about their spending and they can afford what they purchased. But that's always a problem after the fact when the bills come in. But hey, I'm sure retailers are happy because that's not maybe what we were expecting.

00:03:45
Speaker 2: And these numbers came to us from Visa through their survey, but they say yes, retail spending up four point two percent. Now, POD guess I don't know if I was surprised by this or not, but the split. As I'm talking to you all, you know the answer here, But I wonder, folks, what would you guess is the split of in store sales versus online sales?

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Speaker 3: Did that surprise you?

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Speaker 1: Yes, this is surprising to me. So according to Visa, seventy three percent of sales are still in store sales, twenty seven percent were online sales. I would have thought the online was greater, namely because I guess I'm looking at our shopping habits. I was even talking to my mom yesterday, who said, yeah, I just pretty much did everything online versus years past, where look, there is something fun. We like going into the brick and mortars. We like having the experience of holiday shopping. There was something festive and fun. Even if it's frenetic and busy, it still kind of creates an atmosphere. So maybe that's why people this time of year kind of like to be a part of things.

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Speaker 2: It surprised me as well that, well, I shouldn't surprise me. Half of the folks they surveyed so they are using AI to shop. What it's a We should be surprised. We use it for everything else. But folks are trying to are asking AI about the perfect gift, are asking for suggestions about gifts for their loved ones, and they say have are using it to shop?

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Speaker 1: Does that include a Google search or is this specifically using a chatbot?

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Speaker 2: This is the only way they put it. But yeah, I mean even if you put in a Google search and you see the answer uptop is an AI answer.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, people are well, okay, then I used that. Then I did use that.

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Speaker 3: To get a gift suggestion.

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Speaker 1: Yes, oh my, I absolutely did.

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Speaker 2: We got an AI Christmas happening here at the Robot Holmes House.

00:05:21
Speaker 1: Huh, yes it was. It was not for you.

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Speaker 3: Well, folks, those are your Christmas at least updates.

00:05:28
Speaker 2: We got a couple of other things we need to get out this morning, certainly about Epstein. There's a nursing home explosion, a tragedy, a catastrophe is how they're putting it there to update your about happening in Pennsylvania. Also, Diddy is trying to get out of prison again, and the Supreme Court gave Donald Trump a loss yesterday.

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Speaker 3: We will explain.

00:05:48
Speaker 1: All right, But next up on the run, we want to talk about so many other issues that are going on here, including that Epstein dump that we talked about as well, So we'll get into all of that, all.

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Speaker 2: Right, But first here, folks, tragedy we want to tell you about here now is an awful, awful story, but everybody's talking about it. And we're talking about a nine year old girl who has been missing the past couple of months, has now been Her mother has now been charged in the girl's death. We're talking about Melanie Buzzard, nine years old. You might have seen her if you don't recognize the name, Her face and her hair is just the one. The picture that's going around is just of a delightful, sweet little girl. But her body was found two months after went missing from southern California. But now her mom has been charged. The body was found in rural Utah, of all places, but Ashley Buzzard is the mom's name. She has now been arrested and she is being held without bail as we speak. The body was found December six, but they are finally yesterday they were able to link evidence from the home and a search warned and the vehicle to finally piece this all together. The sheriff here talked about just how hainus this crime is that involved sophisticated premeditation, he said, and a lot of planning went into this. I was debated about sharing. We didn't even want to put this story in the rundown, to be honest with you, but just wanted to give the update because folks have been looking for this little girl and to find out her mom is now response when they say, yes, the girl was shocked.

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Speaker 1: Yes, this beautiful little girl. Her picture has been everywhere if you go anywhere online, it's a constant story. So it is a tragic ending that everyone was hoping wouldn't be the case. Unfortunately, just a sad, terrible story with literally no explanation. There's no motive behind this tragedy. But next up on the run. At least two people are dead, five others are unaccounted for at this hour. This all happened after an explosion at a nursing home in Pennsylvania.

00:07:43
Speaker 2: And this place is about twenty miles northeast of Philadelphia, one hundred and seventy four bed facility. It's called the Bristol Health and Rehab Center. But the governor there said, this is just a catastrophic event. There was, they say, a gas company checking out a gas leak next door to the place when the explosion happened. There was a follow up, a smaller explosion after authorities got to the scene as well. But they described a harrowing scene in which firefighters were literally carrying people on their backs and handing them off to police officers trying to save. Another awful event is that the floors collapsed down into the basement. Apparently there was a water leak, and they said, actually people were drowning in the damn building.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god.

00:08:25
Speaker 2: So this was an awful scene. But two dead, another five unaccounted for. They don't know for sheer ropes. Those five maybe they left with they're hoping that maybe we just don't know where.

00:08:36
Speaker 3: They are and maybe they're not in there.

00:08:38
Speaker 1: As terrible as that all sounds, it could have been worse than one hundred and seventy four bed facilities. So there were quite a number of folks in there. And this is about twenty miles northeast of Philly. So obviously this is a developing story and we'll keep our eye on that. Next up on the run, something we've been keeping our eye on for well, you could say years now, but specifically in the last couple of days, we've been awaiting those Epstein files released. They were all supposed to be out by last Friday. That did not happen. But we've been getting some file dumps, and certainly there was a big one yesterday, and one of the documents caused a lot of stir, raised a lot of eyebrows. A letter purportedly from Jeffrey Epstein to another very famous pedophile, a convicted pedophile, Larry Nasser. And now the FBI is saying that that letter is fake, and we will go ahead and read the letter for you because you'll see why it's caused such a stir. This is again signed by Jay Epstein. As you will know by now, I have taken the short route home. Good luck. We shared one thing, our love and caring for young ladies and the hope they reached their full potential. Our president also shares our love of young new bile girls. When a young beauty walked by, he loved to grab snatch, whereas we ended up snatched grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair. Yours Jay Epstein, and.

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Speaker 2: The Department of Justice has come out now said that is fake. They give reasons for the postmark. It was after Epstein actually die. They even say the handwriting doesn't match. But they have now gone about several things that come out and possibly don't look good on President Trump. They have said these things are fake. So the line here is, yes, all the stuff has come out, and they're telling us not to believe what we're seeing or seeding.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So the purpose of the Epstein Files Transparency Act is muddled, at least in the fact that now the documents we are getting, when they are unflattering or perhaps something they don't want to get out, we're just being told it's fake, and it's hard to know what's real and what's not. But we'll continue to monitor what continues to be dumped out at a very opportune time where folks are busy doing other things rather than focused on the Epstein files. But we'll keep our eye on that developing story as well, because there are more files to come, according to the Department of Justice. Next up on the run, Russell Brand facing additional charges after two more women have come forward to accuse the British comedian of rape and sexual assault.

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Speaker 2: He had already been facing chargers back in April. He has pled not guilty, but several counts of rape and assault were already held against him. These are new charges and they say new victims have stepped forward, and so he's facing two more charges involving rape and sexual assault.

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Speaker 3: All of these allegedly.

00:11:27
Speaker 2: Happened back between nineteen ninety nine and two thousand and five. He has I've been putting stuff out on social media, made a couple of lines. It sound almost like apologies, if you will, admissions of some kind. But he did say he wants the truth of his situation and scenario is how he put it to come out. Also said pray anyone I've harmed or hurt to be healed again. He has pled not guilty. Expected to be in court in January.

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Speaker 3: We'll stay with us.

00:11:52
Speaker 2: On this Christmas Eve run Diddy, hoping to be home sooner than his sentence allows, will explain his new appeal and how he's trying to get out of prison. Also, the Supreme Court a rare loss. They hand it for President Trump yesterday, and of course one point seven billion dollars up for grabs tonight. How man, how much of that can I get if I take the cash options to it.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back everyone to our Christmas Eve morning, Ron and next up on the run, Well, Sean Diddy. Coombs apparently is still trying to get out of prison. Attorneys for Shawn Combs filed an expedited appeal yesterday. They are asking for his immediate release, or they want the court to grant a judgment of acquittal, or they would like the court to vacate his convictions altogether.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Love, as we know, he is serving the fifty year sentence, excuse me, fifty month fifty month sentence on those two convictions for transportation to engage in prostitution. Now, their argument one of them is out and the government didn't prove his case. That's one thing. The other one, though, I find interesting robes. They say the judge in the case aired when he tried or when he did hold against Diddy the crimes he was acquitted of in doing his sentence, and the judge was, yes, you were only convicted of these two things. But I've seen a pattern and all these others, and they're saying he did not have the right to consider that stuff and when I saw him, is there some legal validity.

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Speaker 3: To that I wanted?

00:13:34
Speaker 1: So they filed this on yesterday, So clearly they're not expecting anyone to take a look at this until after the new year. Correct, So they're just trying to get ahead of things. I guess officially get that in before the new year. But yes, this has been a constant chirp and chatter from his attorneys. They are doing their job. They we are seeing them exhausting every single option they could possibly find or create to get him out of jail before he's due. What is it twenty twenty an exact nay? Eight? I believe some it's been shifted, it's been moved around a little bit based on good behavior bad behavior. But we'll have more to come, I'm sure in the new year. Next up on the Run, the Supreme Court has handed President Trump a loss. It happened yesterday. They turned down his emergency request to deploy the National Guard in Chicago. They say the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the law in Illinois. So who is the authority? Apparently not the US government but the local officials, and they certainly don't want the National Guard there. They've made that clear.

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Speaker 2: And this only applies to Chicago, only applies to Illinois. But they're saying this is a big deal for the other jurisdictions who want to push back or fight Trump on this. They look and see what Illinois did, and it worked on Supreme Court has so far at least sided with maybe some of those localities.

00:15:00
Speaker 1: All Right, well, finally, and we say finally because maybe finally we can put an end to this. Well, who wants to put an end to a rising jackpot but the people who are reporting on it three days a week. But yes, Powerball at one point seven billion dollars, it's pretty cool that the drawing is tonight on Christmas Eve at eleven pm. It just feels it just feels right that they would actually get a jackpot winner tonight.

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Speaker 2: And most people are not going to stay up late and watch and wait for the numbers. I think most people don't do that. So that means you're actually somebody's going to wake up on Christmas morning, sweetheart. That is awesome. Somebody's gonna wake up tomorrow with one point seven billion dollars. I just I love that. Yes, of course I would wish wish it on all of us, to be honest, but man, that's one about the lottery. I got many problems with lottery and roll my eyes about a lot of stuff that is poetic.

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Speaker 1: I know when you just said that, I got chills imagining someone. Look, look I have every every morning we've had the drawing, I look at the numbers. I'm like, man, not even closed. But hey, we won four dollars, so I'll take it. And it's exciting to think someone is literally going to be holding that lottery ticket looking at the numbers and realizing, oh my.

00:16:17
Speaker 3: That's gonna be.

00:16:17
Speaker 2: God, that's gonna be so good luck to you all in all you're doing today. Really, this is a special time, and we're making a commitment not to work as hard today and take a little give ourselves a little beat, give a little graces. It's Christmas Eve, folks, and so all the chaos that we've gone through and all the stress, it finally has felt like it came off today. It sucks that today I I'll take credit. I have finally started focusing on the real reason behind the season kind of a thing, and I'm ready to finally spread some Christmas year.

00:16:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think with look always, news headlines tend to be dark and heavy, and it's a tough thing to do day in, day out, and to absorb it all and to listen and receive all that negative information. But I do take it with me in the sense that it reminds me this is the time where we get to hug the ones we love, We get to put our phones down and actually spend time with our family. And so we plan on doing that tonight and tomorrow, and we hope you can do the same.

00:17:14
Speaker 2: And before we let you go, as always, we'll give you a quote of the day, something to take with you. Hope you'll consider this is one of my favorites. Robes quote. We are so quick to judge others by their worst actions, yet we judge ourselves by our best intentions. I would love for people to write that down and just look at that, keep it on your phone, look at it when you're having that moment. We do that all the time. We look at when somebody else did say, ooh, look how bad that person is, and then you look at ourselves and well, I meant to well, I was going to well, I know I did that, But really what my intention was. We can soften the blow when it's us, but we look at somebody else and immediately a look at what you did? You terrible person, that's who you are.

00:17:54
Speaker 3: Stop.

00:17:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, if we can maybe look at people through the lens we look at ourselves, where we could give them a little bit of grace and understand that maybe we don't know what was in their head, or what was in their heart, or what they've been going through. A lot of people's actions are because they're dealing with pain. Everyone's got some sort of trauma, some sort of pain. If we can give each other that grace, it'll go a long way.

00:18:15
Speaker 2: Certainly on this holiday, consider that, folks, we are so quick to judge others by their worst actions, yet we judge ourselves by our best intentions. Wherever you are, hope you are having a good holiday. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve. We are still working a little bit. What are the We got a couple of things you might be interested in going to be posted here to our feed later in today. One of them is probably the biggest fight we have in this house every year.

00:18:41
Speaker 1: That's right.

00:18:42
Speaker 3: The Christmas movie to watch yeah.

00:18:44
Speaker 1: What are you watching as a family on this Christmas Eve. Well, we will get into our debate. We have a lot of fun with it. So look forward to hopefully as seeing that episode. I know I was okay, you're okay.

00:18:54
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, we're going to post this.

00:18:56
Speaker 2: Yes, folks, Elf versus Diehard is what we're talking about.

00:19:00
Speaker 3: Yes, we're having that fight. Look for that. We're gonna be posting that a little late.

00:19:05
Speaker 1: Very exciting stuff. But until then, thank you all for listening to us on this morning run and running with us I May be Robots

00:19:11
Speaker 2: And on TJ Holmes Merry Christmas Eve,