KSEV Mornings · October 12, 2026 · Hour 2
Starbucks delivered to the studio, a pumpkin muffin on the air, and Wayne coming out of the closet as a big fan of the income tax.
The second hour of a manic Monday opened with Craig Coglianese already a little mentally stressed and grateful for a calm open. Wayne Dolcefino announced that there was nothing new on James Talarico, that he couldn’t prove anything so he wasn’t going to report it, and that he would be posting an AI video that night of Talarico in pink angel wings anyway.
What Democrats used to say about Iran
Craig said one of the more fascinating things in politics is how the left has convinced people that the fight with Iran was entirely Trump’s doing, as if he woke up one day and ruined everything. So he played a montage of Biden administration officials, one clip a year from 2021 through 2025, including Antony Blinken. Iran’s nuclear program was “galloping forward,” enriching to 60%, with its breakout time down from about a year “to just a few weeks or less.” Iran was “closer to the nuclear weapon than ever before.”
Wayne’s take: the only thing that changed is that Trump had the courage to act at a time when Iran was the weakest it had ever been. If you’re going to take the shot, he said, that’s when you take it. He also wants to know why nobody has seen the new supreme leader. “Why can’t they wheel him out in the chair and let us get a look at him?”
Then Wayne went full sarcasm. If the Democrats win, he proposed, they should withdraw every ship, plane and soldier from the Middle East the next day, and he invited Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico to call for it. Iran will surely reciprocate, Wayne said, and Yemen will turn into a country club. Craig admitted he was tempted the entire time to point out that Wayne was being sarcastic.
Diesel from Russia
On a Politico report that a bipartisan group of senators wants Trump to kill a deal for Russian diesel, the hosts agreed it isn’t as bad as everyone says. Wayne said he has never been a “Russia, Russia, Russia” guy. China and the Islamists scare him more. His summary of the critics: “They want cheaper diesel. But they don’t want you to get it from certain places.” Craig added that responding to a situation in the moment doesn’t mean buying diesel from Russia for the rest of time.
Coffee, muffins and Marcus Welby
There is one coffee machine in the building, and it is locked behind a door. So Wayne ordered Starbucks to the studio, a move Craig called classic Dolcefino, and got Craig a muffin. Producer Russell declined Wayne’s offer of his backwash and said he brings his own coffee.
Wayne, waiting on surgery for severe arthritis in his thumb, said Medicare approved it and scheduled it for December. Craig said under Medicare for All it would be next August. Wayne said it would be three years. Craig remembered a man in an MS infusion room who said he had waited two years in Canada and came to Houston instead. Wayne’s idea: a mental health version of Marcus Welby, the TV family doctor who made house calls, to go door to door teaching voters some logic.
The timeline, for a caller’s neighbor
A caller asked for a simple timeline she could give a leftist neighbor, a professor. Craig laid it out. A private jet flew from Austin into a small airport in Hamilton, Ohio, about 20 minutes from the facility people think Talarico was at, on October 8 and flew out on October 9. On October 10, an independent reporter called the facility asking for his cousin and was told he had checked out yesterday. Talarico appeared at Austin City Limits on October 10. Craig’s caveat: a reluctant person on the phone who says “yesterday” could easily mean two days ago. “Human beings are really bad sources,” Wayne said.
Wayne endorses the income tax
Wayne then came out of the closet: he wants an income tax. The logic, he explained, is flawless. If you’re frustrated with prices, elect the people who caused them. If Gina Hinojosa voted 40 times to raise taxes, she probably wants to do it again. So get rid of the Republicans trying to lower your property taxes and elect the people who will raise them, “because that’s the way you lower the cost of living.”
Craig said Wayne’s East Coast instinct is to pick the answer that will make someone mad, and Wayne didn’t argue. “I see weakness.” Wayne recalled walking through Flatbush with his father, Pascual, in the middle of the street, not under the trees, because people could jump out of them. Craig shared the time a New Yorker screamed at his wife, visiting from Mexico, for walking too slowly off the Staten Island Ferry.
Shane Gillis and the snowflakes
Craig said what’s most fun about Shane Gillis hosting SNL again isn’t the monologue, in which Gillis joked about how women dress at the gym, but the online meltdown afterward over a six-minute comedy bit on a show that isn’t as popular as it used to be. Wayne: “We have gotten so soft.”
Happy Columbus Day
The hosts closed on Columbus Day. Craig noted that most of the roughly 20 states that give the day off call it Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Wayne questioned the term “Native Americans” when it wasn’t America yet, and the conversation went all the way back to Pangaea. Wayne is having meatballs in Columbus’s honor, and to his staff: no, it’s not a holiday.
Also in this hour
- Wayne said that this week he will release stories on Fort Bend County District Attorney Brian Middleton.
- The Texans beat an 0-5 team. Wayne liked how they played, despite too many penalties, and still enjoys beating up somebody smaller.
Hear Craig and Wayne live weekdays from 7–9 AM Central on AM 700 KSEV, The Voice of Texas. Visit the KSEV Mornings show page for live-listening controls and more episodes.
