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Join host John Rush as he sits down with Jeremy Portnoy to explore the intricate maze of government spending, uncovering billions in waste and imagining a future of fiscal responsibility. This episode shines a spotlight on the Doge initiative, explaining its intention to make government spending transparent and bipartisan. Whether it’s exploring improper payments that heighten national debt or questioning the needless expenses, this conversation promises to engage listeners interested in public policy and accountability.
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This is Rush to Reason.
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With your host, John Rush.
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My advice to you is to do what your parents did! Get a job, Turk! You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference.
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Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 14 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right, we’re back. Hour number three, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Andy had to head out, do some family things. I appreciate Andy helping me on Tuesdays. And Andy, if you’re listening, have a great rest of your night, and thanks for all that you do for us. Jeremy Portnoy joining us now. Open the books. Jeremy, I’ve been waiting, by the way, with a bated breath to have you on because of all that’s happening with the new administration and so on, and I’m glad you’re here.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m glad to be here, John. Thanks for inviting me back.
SPEAKER 15 :
You’re very welcome. Author of Open the Books, Waste of the Day column on Real Clear Politics. All right, let’s get into Doge. And this has got to be for you guys especially, because you guys are the, how should I say this, the tip of the spear when it comes to finding government waste. That’s what you guys are experts on. What are your thoughts on Doge?
SPEAKER 03 :
We’re very excited. I mean, yeah, like you said, we’ve essentially been dozed for over a decade now. We have 10 billion lines of data, every penny the government has spent at every level. We’re always calling out the waste that goes on, but now we’re really seeing it enter the national conversation in a way we haven’t seen previously. It’s really mainstream to be trying to, you know, find ways that the government can spend less money and get some cash back to taxpayers.
SPEAKER 15 :
What a concept, by the way. I mean, honestly, to your point, you guys have been doing this for decades. We finally, finally now have some folks in government looking at this saying, number one, this really is just an utter waste of tax dollars. Number two, if we don’t get something reined in, we’re not going to be able to recover from the national debt that we have right now. And then on top of that, we have got to get some confidence back from the American public by being more fiscally responsible.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. And I think what’s really cool about this department is their goal, if they can pull it off, is to have this be totally bipartisan, right? This is something that both parties can get behind. I mean, you’ve got even Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive, wants to work with them to monitor the Pentagon’s budget, try and get them to pass a financial audit, which they can never do. You’ve got Senator Joni Ernst, who’s usually more towards the middle. She wants to work with them to get federal employees back in the office. So there’s a lot of different initiatives that everyone across the political spectrum can really get behind.
SPEAKER 15 :
And Jeremy, I think all of us would admit, myself included, that where government needs money to provide the essential services that we as taxpayers and citizens want to have, you know what, Jeremy, I am all for. But also as a taxpayer, I am just dead set against all of the absolute waste, some of the things that we as a country spend money on, some of the things that happen overseas that, by the way, don’t benefit us here at home at all. The reality is, and I think part of what, by the way, won Donald Trump this last election is the fact that people are sick and tired of seeing their money wasted.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I mean, you have a right to be, right? It’s been since 2001. where we had even one single year where the federal budget was balanced. We had a deficit every single year. That includes Trump’s last term. Trump in his first term had a $6 trillion deficit. That was the most in history until Biden took over. So until we see some progress, it’s all talk, right? Now it’s time for the Trump administration to really put their money where their mouth is and show that they can get this budget under control.
SPEAKER 15 :
When it comes to Doge itself, and I don’t know all of the legalities around what they can do. There’s been a lot of folks even on the left that have come out and said, well, yeah, it’s all great, fine and dandy. But these guys still have to get a certain amount of things done through Congress. They control the purse. Although there are some things that I believe, Jeremy, that even by executive action, you could clean up and get rid of. The question I have for you is, where is that separation? What can Donald Trump himself, through the recommendation of Doge, actually handle? And what things actually have to go through Congress to get taken care of?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of legal gray area there. I mean, in theory, Doge is only an advisory committee. Congress really has the power to control the purse, right? It’s going to be like Senator Susan Collins from Maine. She’s going to be leading the Senate Appropriations Committee now. But there is a lot of talk, like you mentioned. One thing is, you know, Trump’s talking about possibly impounding congressional funds and changing what they’re appropriated for. I mean, that would probably go to the Supreme Court to decide if that’s actually legal or not. So we’ll see how much Doge really tries to flex their muscle here. or how much they try to cooperate with Congress and try and do things the legislative way.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I think, if anything, and maybe this is pie in the sky, Jeremy, on my side. I mean, I’ve interviewed you guys now for a number of years, not quite the full decade, but quite some time we’ve been interviewing you guys and talking about some of the waste that’s there. And the reality is, again, the American public are tired of it. I think there’s a large voting bloc now that is finally being paid attention to that’s saying, listen, guys, enough is enough. We need to quit squandering. I’ve got some things in front of me that you guys have actually found. $26 million splurged on conference room furniture while most of these meetings are being held on Zoom. In other words, American public is looking at this thing, wait a minute, I’m having a hard time feeding my family, and you guys are spending $26 million on furniture nobody’s going to use.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. And it’s just common sense. Both parties can agree you’ve got to get rid of it. When you’re talking about that remote work, we just identified a federal office building 2 million square feet. The Department of Energy is paying for this building. On an average day, there’s eight people working there. Wow.
SPEAKER 15 :
And really quick, I’m glad you mentioned that. That’s the stuff where I’m looking at that saying, okay, time out here. Are these the sorts of things that, again, through executive cleanup, could the White House itself, Donald Trump and those around him, are these the sorts of things that could literally get cleaned up overnight where we’ve got – millions of square feet unused, by the way, buildings that could even be sold off and money collected. And not only would we not have to manage and handle the expense of those buildings, which, by the way, gets very expensive, we could collect some cash at the same time. Are those things that can be done, executively speaking, or does that have to go through Congress as well?
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s partially both ways, right? At the granular level, those can just say, okay, why are you paying for this building with nobody in it? Let’s send some people to work there. And that’s something the Department of Energy themselves can control. But it’s Congress deciding those top line numbers saying, okay, Department of Energy, here’s how much money we’re giving you to spend on your office space. And then the executive branch really has no say in that. They have to spend that money on offices.
SPEAKER 15 :
Okay, so this is where, and I can already see that there’s going to be some things that get a little bit dicey down the road. Question I have for you guys at Open the Books, how much or have you been tapped into by some folks at Doge? In other words, you guys have already done a lot of the heavy lifting. Can they just take some of what you have found, or how does that all work out, I guess, is my question.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we’ve been in touch with them. We’ve been texting back and forth as they call on me. He and Elon Musk have both been posting some of our articles online on Twitter. So we’ll see what comes out of that. We’re definitely here and willing to help. We always want to maintain a little distance because our job is to hold the government accountable, and that includes those. But we’re, of course, always here and ready to help and help them identify some of these areas.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, I was going to say, on the same token, Jeremy, facts are facts. I mean, the reality is if we’re spending X money on X thing, there’s nothing partisan about that. The reality is, guys, here’s what you’re spending it on. What are you going to do about it?
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. And that’s what we’re really going to be looking for. We want to see them reach across the aisle, get both parties involved in this, and have this be something that then is continued past their deadline of July 4th, 2026, When they say the OSHA is supposedly getting dissolved, it’s unlikely the federal budget is going to be completely balanced by then. So they need to have something in place that’s then going to be continued through the national conversation for years to come.
SPEAKER 15 :
You guys look at this stuff daily. I don’t. How much total waste? I mean, and I know it’s a hard number to probably come up with, but on any given year, what do you feel an average number is of just actual waste? Not restructuring and redoing some things and closing a particular department and so on, but just waste on things that you guys can’t identify. How much do you think the total is, or do you know?
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m not going to put a dollar figure on it just because a lot of objective. Right. We can go back and forth over what’s waste and what’s not. One thing I will tell you, we’ve been looking at improper payments. So that’s money that’s just objectively sent to the wrong person for the wrong amount. Someone made a mistake in the books under Biden. That’s cost nine hundred eighty billion dollars over the last four years.
SPEAKER 15 :
Geez. Yeah, that’s a big number. That one is pretty self-explanatory. And, again, I mean, I get it. Some of this stuff is subjective, although as I read through some of the list of things that I have in front of me that you guys have put out, some of this is like, okay, wait a minute, why are we spending – Again, $26 million on furniture we’re not going to use. Why are we spending money on employees that we’re not getting the full value out of? And on and on we go. I mean, all the way back during COVID, we put in solar-powered picnic tables, even though folks weren’t at work, and we spent almost $250,000 doing so. That’s the kind of stuff, Jeremy, we just have to stop doing. We can’t do as a government. We don’t have the money. We’re borrowing the money to do that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. And a lot of the money goes back the other way. We’re funding Chinese grants. There’s a report that came out from the House of Representatives claiming that a lot of our money is actually helping China research for their military and nuclear warheads. We’re borrowing from China just to send that money back to them.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yep. Makes no sense. Makes no sense. Well, it’ll be interesting to see how things go. We’ll continue to have you guys on. I’m excited. I mean, again, I have to be careful that I don’t get too excited because we don’t see what the outcome is. And I, like you, I want to see what we’re doing here and what Doge does continue on literally and definitely. I don’t want to see it end.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we’re hoping for the same thing. We’ll definitely be keeping tabs on it, and hopefully we’ll have some positive updates to share soon.
SPEAKER 15 :
Awesome. Jeremy, I appreciate it. You guys keep up the great work. Thank you again, sir.
SPEAKER 03 :
I appreciate it, too, John. Thanks for having me. You bet.
SPEAKER 15 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
We are back. Rush to Reason. Joe, what’s going on, sir?
SPEAKER 07 :
John, a couple things. I didn’t hear the first hour of the show, but did you talk about some of the reporting of the Madison school shooting?
SPEAKER 15 :
We haven’t talked about that at all. I mentioned it briefly yesterday because I didn’t know that much about what was even going on and kind of tabled that, so no, I did not.
SPEAKER 07 :
Would you like to talk about it now? Sure. Yeah, we’ve got time. Go ahead. All right, so last night I’m watching the CBS News, 11 o’clock news, and I almost spit out my drink. CBS News reports that there have been 323 school shootings in this country so far this year. So almost one a day. One a day. And I’m going, what the hell? Yeah, no.
SPEAKER 1 :
323.
SPEAKER 07 :
And, of course, where they got that number one from the Gun Violence Archive, who includes in school shootings things like in rural schools, if a stray hunter’s bullet hits a parked car in the school parking lot, they consider that a school shooting. Right. If a drug deal goes bad on a school playground at 10 o’clock at night on a Saturday night and one thug shoots the other thug, that’s a school shooting. If some kid breaks a school window with a BB gun during the Thanksgiving recess, that’s a school shooting. So they come up with that ridiculous number. So then I watch ABC News, and ABC News reported there have been 112 school shootings, but here’s their qualification numbers. where at least one victim was injured or killed so far this year. So what they did, they went to that same database, and they took out all the ones like the car getting hit by a stray bullet in a broken window, and said 112 school shootings where at least one victim was injured or killed.
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s still twice a week.
SPEAKER 07 :
Still twice a week. Well, yes, twice a week. So you know who got it right? Lester Holt on NBC News. He correctly reported that this made the fourth one this year.
SPEAKER 15 :
I was going to say, I can’t remember. Fortunately, Joe, we haven’t had a ton this year, which is a good thing. You know, count our blessings, because I was thinking back to the last one being quite some time ago.
SPEAKER 07 :
I think it was April, John, if I’m not mistaken.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, because we had some early in the year, I remember, because, again, we talk about these things, you know, here on air, Joe, and then I had to go back and think for a moment. I didn’t look it up, and I’m thinking, we haven’t had one in at least six months.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, so, you know, but… My question is, do these news reporters who are reporting these absurd numbers, are they really that stupid that they believe these numbers?
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Or do they—okay.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, they’re that stupid. I’m sorry, Joe. I hate to say that. But, yeah, I think they are. I mean, these are the same people that will— report on Denver local news that we don’t have a gang problem in Aurora, even though 15 of them were arrested today, and they had actually kidnapped and abducted two different people, pulled the fingernails out of the lady, pistol-whipped both of them, stuck a knife in the side of the guy, and yet we don’t have a problem, Joe. These are the same individuals.
SPEAKER 07 :
And where they get this from, the Gun Violence Archive is well-funded. They’ve got Bloomberg money. They have a mailing list, distribution list. Whenever something like this happens, they prepare these press releases with these ridiculous numbers. They send them out to NBC, CBS. I get them, Joe.
SPEAKER 15 :
I get the same things. They even come to people like me, believe it or not.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right, because they have both a national distribution list, you know, CNN, and then they have local news people.
SPEAKER 15 :
Their secondary list, right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Secondary list. So every, you know, Des Moines, Iowa.
SPEAKER 15 :
If you’re in media, you’re getting it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Omaha, Nebraska. So these people, stupid, lazy, they just get these press releases. and they just read them. No fact-checking. They just read them.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, and I get – for all of you listening, you may not know this, but I get all of those same things and more, and some of these things will even come in to me, Joe. I just read – I don’t even have to read the headline. I mean, I might read the first paragraph depending upon what the headline says, but typically I’ll read these things, and I’ll look at it and say – you want me to interview you about what? I mean, and some of it’s just a press release where they want me to talk about it and there’s no interview needed, but I read some of these at times, Joe, and I just think to myself, you’re kidding, right? I mean, this is a blatant lie. Sometimes I’ll even respond knowing that it’s probably going to a general mailbox that nobody’s going to read, but sometimes I’ll even respond and say something to the effect of, you really want me to go on air and lie?
SPEAKER 07 :
Mm-hmm. Yep. Oh, and let me add that ABC… even though they cut their number down from 323 to 112. Then they added, but they had to do, hold my beer, watch this. Then they added, however, there have been 487 mass shootings in 2024 as of December 16, which is one and a half a day. So, John, did we have 10 mass shootings in this country last week?
SPEAKER 15 :
No, we did not.
SPEAKER 07 :
We didn’t?
SPEAKER 15 :
No.
SPEAKER 07 :
We didn’t have 10 mass shootings? Okay. Well, anyway, so your listeners hear these numbers.
SPEAKER 15 :
And Joe, really quick, Charlie and I were talking about this at the top of the hour. We weren’t on air talking about this, but this fits because Van Jones himself has finally admitted that this was when, Charlie, this week, right? Last week, Charlie said on CNN, he’s even admitted, Joe, that I guess mainstream media really isn’t mainstream. It’s become fringe media. And what we all in mainstream media consider to be fringe media has now become mainstream and partly due, Joe, to what you’re talking about.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. And by the way, did you see where the Food Network has now surpassed CNN in the ratings?
SPEAKER 15 :
Yep. People are tired of listening to the nonsense. Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
And let me go back, by the way, to the Madison shooting. A 15-year-old girl with a handgun, which she couldn’t legally buy or even possess.
SPEAKER 15 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 07 :
So they’re saying, we need stronger gun laws. And I checked, by the way, Wisconsin already has a safe storage law, which means if you have a
SPEAKER 15 :
And really quick, too, the one part I did read about that whole situation was either in the manifesto or some of the conversation between her and the online boyfriend. I’m not sure exactly how all that’s working, and I’m sure we’ll learn more in the days ahead. She said something to the effect of, I got my gun or the gun by manipulating my dumb dad, basically. I know I’m paraphrasing that, Joe, but basically that’s what she said.
SPEAKER 07 :
I hadn’t seen that, John, but thank you. So my question is, what new, quote, stronger gun law would have prevented this shooting? I’ve asked this question to a dozen idiot liberals who are saying, well, this is why we need more stronger gun laws. So I said, great. What new law, constitutional law, would have prevented this shooting? John, I’m still waiting 24 hours later.
SPEAKER 15 :
There aren’t any, because she’s not supposed to be able to own one anyways. The reality is, again, and I don’t know if it’s true. I’m sure some of these things will be verified here in the days ahead. But if, in fact, what was said is true, that she manipulated her father into acquiring this in the first place, well, Joe, there’s not a gun law out there that would change that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right.
SPEAKER 15 :
So it’s this— Other than confiscation, I guess if he didn’t have one at all, which, by the way, is ultimately what the left wants. They just want them all gone, Joe. Even though there’s no such thing, that’s what they want.
SPEAKER 07 :
They want 400 million—you’re not going to confiscate 400 million guns. That’s never going to happen.
SPEAKER 15 :
No, that is—let’s make sure that you know I’m right and so are you. That is their ultimate goal, though. If you ask any hardcore lefty, their goal is just take them all away, period.
SPEAKER 07 :
They want to turn us into Australia, John.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 07 :
By the way, Australia confiscated something like 20 million guns—this is back in 1997— 20 million guns in a country with a population the size of the state of Texas. So, I mean, it was just massive. And to buy a new gun in Australia these days, almost impossible. If you jump through a lot of hoops, you might be able to buy a shotgun to go duck hunting or something. But you want to buy a pistol? Never going to happen. Not in Australia. All right.
SPEAKER 15 :
So while I got you, and we’ve got a little bit of time here, because you sent me this, and the reason why I agreed with you earlier on journalists is you sent me an article talking about the brain function of a journalist.
SPEAKER 07 :
Mm-hmm. And I got it right here. Would you like me to quote it? Yeah, please. And this was from a study. I believe it was 80 journalists, and they took them. They did everything from giving them psychological tests. They gave them functional tests. Like sometimes you get these tests where they say – In the next six minutes, you need to do this task and this task, and they switch you back and forth. So it was like switching tasks. So here’s the results of all these testing. Journalist brains show a lower than average level of executive functioning, according to a new study, which means they have below average ability to regulate their emotions, suppress biases, solve complex problems, switch between tasks, and show creative and flexible thinking. Interesting. Then it goes on to say, the results also show that journalist brains were operating at a lower level than the average population, particularly because of dehydration and the tendency of journalists to self-medicate with alcohol, caffeine, and high-sugar foods.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, I can see that. Makes total sense. To me, that makes total sense, Joe.
SPEAKER 07 :
And this thing about inability to regulate their emotions, you expect that from some of these liberals, these screaming liberals, particularly like in The View. They’re all out there. But they talk about executive functioning. And, John, I know you’re one and you know many. An executive can handle, do multitask. They can keep their emotions. They don’t let their emotions take control. They control their emotions. They don’t let their emotions control themselves. They can multitask. They can solve complicated problems. They can suppress their biases. They can do critical thinking. So that’s what executive functioning is. And they tested these journalists, and they all overwhelmingly failed. They couldn’t function at, quote, an executive level. And I think to be an effective journalist, you need to be able to handle, you know. You would think so.
SPEAKER 15 :
You would think so. But what’s happened, Joe, I think, in my opinion, in mainstream media especially, and I think Van Jones actually got it right the other night, they’re not mainstream anymore. They really have become fringe. This last election really showed that and woke a lot of people up in that industry, by the way, I believe. And the reality, Joe, is these guys have become non-journalists. They are a mouthpiece for the network that reads what’s coming off the teleprompter, to your point earlier. They don’t fact-check anything. They read what’s put in front of them, no matter what. Even if it says there’s been a mass shooting literally every day of the year, they’ll repeat that nonsense without thinking, well, wait a minute, I didn’t report on that yesterday. In fact, I didn’t report on it the day before, and I didn’t even report on it last week. But that’s what it says in front of me.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, to me, that’s mind-boggling. How can you read that off a press release or a teleprompter when you say, wait a minute, I’m in the business of news, and I don’t recall reporting one of these in the past month. So how could there possibly have been one a day for the past 11 months?
SPEAKER 15 :
Joe, I’m not sure that some of them even realize there’s 365 days a year, and we’re going to report that there’s 300 and what was the number, 323 school shootings. I don’t think they even fathom that, okay, wait a minute, we are about 340-ish days or so, 45 days into the year. That means, yeah, we would have almost had to have had one – per day, at least one per weekday for sure, plus some weekends. Six per week. We take Sunday off, I guess, when it comes to school shootings, but other than that, we’ve had one every single day. You would think in their mind that would register, but evidently it doesn’t.
SPEAKER 07 :
No. So again, John, they’re either incredibly stupid, or they know it’s a lie, but they’re choosing to repeat it anyway. And quite frankly, I don’t know which is worse, John. When it comes to being a journalist, would you rather have a journalist that Is that stupid that they don’t understand it’s a lie? Or would you rather be listening to a journalist that knows it’s a lie but reports it anyway? Which is worse?
SPEAKER 15 :
Probably the second, and what I will tell you is being a part of the automotive journalist world that I am, and I go to different events at different times and so on, and I used to even get flown out to some of the different, you know, before I was doing this daily, I’d go to some of the launches where they would launch a new vehicle and so on, and I’d rub elbows with some of the bigwigs even, Joe, guys that write for, you know, Car and Driver, and they’re on this TV show or that TV show, and you’d meet these people off of those, you know, outside of those particular arenas, and literally I would come home, And I would tell my family and I would say, boy, I’ve learned a lot. These guys are as dumb as rocks. And I mean that in all sincerity, Joe. They’re not as smart as they appear to be on stage or in their writings or whatever. The reality is they’re just doing what they know the audience and or who’s telling them to do it beyond that. They’re literally dumb as rocks.
SPEAKER 07 :
John, I spent, as you know, I spent 20 years working for a Fortune 50 company. And an observation I developed after 20 years, you know, looking at the company I work for and our competitors, I developed this theory that the company that’s in any given industry, the company that succeeds is not the smartest and the brightest. It’s the one that screws up the least.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yep. And markets the best.
SPEAKER 07 :
And markets the best and screws up the least because it was all about just not, you know, just don’t screw up and you’ll be miles ahead of your closest. Now, there’s a few exceptions to that, like Apple and whatnot. Right. But generally, you look at these companies and it’s, you know, who’s screwing up the least? It comes out on top.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yep. No, Joe, you are 1,000% correct. And it was a real eye-opener for me because, you know, before getting into all of that, I’m like, okay, you know, I’ve done a radio show for a long time, but I’ve never rubbed elbows with some of these big wigs. In some cases, Joe, you’re tag-teaming when you test drive the car on these different launches, and I’d be sitting next to some of these people that, frankly, you’d listen to, and you’d listen to their resume and what all they’ve done and who they’ve written for or what TV show they’ve been on or what have you. And by the time you’re done spending, in some cases, you’d spend an entire day or two with these folks, and you’d get partnered up for the entire event. And by the time you’re done, you’re thinking to yourself, how does this guy even get out of bed in the mornings by themselves? Yeah.
SPEAKER 07 :
And by the way, talking about stupid, you got time? I got a couple of, you know, I do a podcast every week, and I normally include the stupidest thing I heard all week. This week I had five things that were so stupid. I don’t know which one was the winner. Do you have time to listen? Yeah, go ahead. No, you’re fine.
SPEAKER 15 :
Go ahead. We got a few minutes. Go for it.
SPEAKER 07 :
So one, Ohio-Michigan game. The Michigan fans, Ohio hosted the game. Michigan won. Some of the Michigan fans came out on the field. Then the fans flood the field at the end. And they planted the Michigan College flag on the Ohio 50-yard line. And Ohio State Center has introduced a law to make that a felony. Not a misdemeanor, a felony for planting a flag on the 50-yard line. Oh, my word. So that’s nominee number one.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
Number two, let’s see. Oh, the National Labor Relations. You know these shows like Dancing with the Stars?
SPEAKER 08 :
Reality shows.
SPEAKER 07 :
Real Housewives, Survivor. The Biden’s NLRB said, no, no, they’re not independent contractors. They’re now employees. You have to deduct Social Security, FICA. You have to cover them with workers’ comp. You have to pay unemployment insurance. And unionize on top of it. And they can be unionized and they can strike. That was my second nominee. Good grief.
SPEAKER 15 :
For reality TV stars.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Normally it was, okay, hey, we’ll give you so much an episode if you want to work on this.
SPEAKER 15 :
If you want to participate, great. If not, don’t.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, don’t – and if you work, here’s how much we pay you for this week’s episode. And if you’re busy, you’re going on vacation or giving birth or whatever.
SPEAKER 15 :
And really quick, too, Joe, along those lines, because this also happens, and you’ve seen it. One of the first reality shows to be really successful – I was watching a little documentary on them the other day. It’s funny you – You talk about this, but I was watching a little documentary on Orange County Choppers. So, you know, that was the Tuttle’s back in New York. I’m sure you’re familiar with those guys. You know, they had one of the first real reality shows that became a success. They became a brand name, if you would. In fact, they became such a brand name that the actual name of the show they had to somehow incorporate back in. into the show because originally Discovery didn’t do that correctly. The rights weren’t correct. And they had to come back in and say, OK, wait a minute, time out. We need to get our own show name doing well. My point is, Joe, that a lot of these reality stores or reality stars, I should say, become their own brand, meaning they are their own business. They should be treated as a contractor because that’s what they are.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep. But no, NLRB says, no, they’re employees, and you have to give them a paycheck.
SPEAKER 15 :
Shows you how stupid they are, by the way.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. All right, here comes my third one. The Scripps organization that runs a spelling bee contest. Right. They have different groups. They’ve got the third grade group, the sixth grade group, the ninth grade. Anyway, for the third grade group, they’ve now announced that they will accept… For the third grade group, the spelling of woman— Oh, talked about that yesterday some.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, W-O-M-Y-N, because some feminist mothers have taught their kids that spelling woman, W-O-M-E-N, has men in it. So some of these mothers are teaching their children that way. Unbelievable.
SPEAKER 15 :
And we’re just going to change the spelling of a word because of that. That’s just being an idiot. Sorry, it is.
SPEAKER 07 :
They’ll accept either one. Michigan now has a law they’re being proposed to ban the sailor ownership of colored guns. As she got older, she had a little pink gun, and she wanted pink, she said, because in the middle of the night, if I had to open my drawer, I’m not going to find a black gun in a dark drawer. And, you know, pink colored gun, turquoise and purple.
SPEAKER 15 :
By the way, it’s very popular. It’s a way to personalize even the gun that you own. You can do a Cerakote and make them in all sorts of different colors and so on to, you know, suit your fancy.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. Well, Michigan is proposing a law to ban the sale or ownership of a colored gun. That’s another law we don’t need. And finally, John, Texas is a little sensitive. I hope there’s no little kids. Texas is not proposed, has passed a law limiting the ownership of dildos to five per person. If you have six dildos, you’ve broken the law in Texas. We have nothing better to do. Do we need that law? And how are they going to enforce it? Are they going to have background checks at the register?
SPEAKER 15 :
How stupid.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, wait a minute. You already own five. You can’t buy the six. You can’t have another one. Dumb. So, John, so those are my five nominees for the stupidest thing. I’ve never had a week where I’ve had five things so stupid I couldn’t pick a winner.
SPEAKER 15 :
Unbelievable. Do you want to give your vote for those five, the stupidest one you’ve heard? The last one probably. Well, they’re all dumb, but the last one probably takes the cake.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, limiting your ownership. And by the way, if you’re a couple, does that mean you can have ten in the house, five each?
SPEAKER 15 :
Good question. Joe, if we couldn’t laugh at these things, it would drive you crazy.
SPEAKER 07 :
It would. But, you know, that’s why I put it. By the way, so I’ve asked my listeners, if any of your listeners are listening to the Jersey Joe podcast, we’d love your vote on which of those five things is the stupidest thing you’ve heard all week. All right.
SPEAKER 15 :
Joe, thanks, man. Appreciate you. Have a great night. Up next, Hi-Fi Plumbing and Electrical. If you’ve got any needs as we head down this stretch into Christmas, please give them a call as we talked to them even yesterday at 3 o’clock. If you want to add an outlet, if you’ve got a drain cleaning issue, you want to take care of whatever it is prior to Christmas, get that done now. 877-WE-HI-5.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
Now, back to Rush to Reason, presented by Hi-5 Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right. Somebody texted a moment ago because I briefly, with Joe, talked about the 14, it’s not 15, 14 people being detained in Aurora. It’s the same gang that we’ve talked about numerous times. It’s been all over the news, all over the country. In fact, Donald Trump was accused of talking about it and it being basically utter nonsense. It’s a nothing burger. Basically what the left said. Even our own governor, Polis, has said numerous times, local news agencies have said the same thing, that, oh, it’s a nothing burger. There’s nothing going on out there in Aurora. Even though the building owners themselves have said, oh, yeah, there’s a lot going on there. A lot. Well, today, today, there was a home invasion that occurred at the edge at Lowry Apartments, where basically about 14 suspects in this case, Went in, or sorry, took a couple. This was early in the morning, 2.30 a.m., before 2.30 a.m. Actually, I’m probably getting the story a little bit wrong. I think that’s actually when this couple finally got loose and were able to go somewhere else and call the police. Am I right, Charlie? Okay, then maybe I’m correct on it being early morning hours. They basically kidnapped these two people, took them to another place, essentially held them, you know, kidnapped them, pistol whipped them, stabbed the gentleman, tore the fingernails off of the woman. These are Venezuelans, both of these individuals that were kidnapped. There was 13 to 15 people, 14 have been detained, mostly males, but there were some females involved in this. It’s all gang-related, Venezuelan gang-related. Nobody understands exactly why these two were captured. That hasn’t come out yet, and frankly, we may never know. But my whole point is two things. One, even Donald Trump himself was criticized for talking about this. Again, it was a nothing burger. There’s nothing here. This isn’t going on in Aurora, Colorado. And did I mention that they were both pistol-whipped? I want to make sure I mention that because, again, this is like something out of a movie where you see two people kidnapped, stuck in a room, basically, tortured, which is exactly what happened here. I mean, this is something out of a Reacher movie. I’m not exaggerating. It’s exactly what happened here in Aurora. And, again, this is the TDA gang, the Trendy Aragua, or however you say their last name, Aragua. I can never say it correctly. But yeah, that happened today. And fortunately, these individuals were brave enough to finally go someplace and ask for help. Now, here’s my whole point with this. It even says in the article, and we all know, these are people that are all here illegally. Period. Nobody invited them here. They’re not here on visas or anything along those lines. They’re all here illegally. So now… We’ve got tax dollars not only being spent to house them and do all the things necessary along those lines. Now we’ve got medical bills that we all as taxpayers are now going to pay for. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t, because I’m all for taking care of a fellow human that have been tortured. So I’m not against that. What I’m saying, though, is we’re now spending tax dollars on this because we’ve allowed this to happen in the first place. And yet we’ve got Democrats, our own Governor Polis, basically ignoring this, saying it’s not happening. Governor Polis, are you going to pay attention now? Are you actually going to check out what’s going on in Aurora? Are you guys actually going to pay attention to what’s going on and quit denying that this is happening? And those of you that are on the left, which just as a side note, I don’t hear much from you guys anymore. Since the election and Donald Trump literally won in a landslide, you guys are like quiet as a church mouse. I hardly hear from you. I know you’re listening. But I barely hear from you. Is it because you just don’t know what to say? Or you’re waiting to see how things shake out and what you can poke fun at with Donald Trump once he actually becomes president? Or what? This sort of thing, for those of you that are on the left, can’t bode very well because this proves what’s been going on in Aurora. We’ve talked about it on this show many times. A lot of other places in town like me have talked about it. Our regular media, the Kyle Clarks of the world, won’t talk about it. He denies it. He’s such a schmuck. He won’t admit that this stuff goes on. Can’t stand that guy, by the way. I’d love to debate him someday. That’d be an easy one. Because the guy never has the right facts. He’s so on the left, he can’t see straight. Be interesting to see if he comes around with any of this, especially with this particular article coming out today. And by the way, these are things that the police have reported to the news media and has become national. I’m reading this out of Fox News, the national Fox News, not local. There’s lots of local stories about it now as well. So, Kyle, where are you? Kyle Clark, are you around? Are you going to admit that these things actually are happening now? Are you going to go back to your old ways of saying that, no, this isn’t happening? It’s just a lot of hype by the right. All those hardcore conservatives are just hyping it up. That’s what we’ve been told up to this point, by the way. These two people, by the way, I would highly doubt would agree with you that it’s hype. When you’re pistol whipped, a knife stuck in your side, and your fingernails are pulled off, I don’t think they’re going to say that’s hype. So if you hadn’t heard about that, go look it up. It’s national news now. Once again, proving Donald Trump was correct in what he was talking about when he came to Aurora in the first place, and again, got poo-pooed for that, literally. Oh, you know, that’s a nothing burger. I don’t know why you’re there even looking at that. The left really chastised him for coming here because they said all of this was hype. It’s not. It’s a problem. The open borders, and in this case, the Venezuelan gangs that have come in, are a real problem. And all I can say is those of you that are out in that particular area of Aurora or in Aurora period, watch your back because there’s a lot more of these than just those 14 or 15 that they’ve apprehended. I’ll leave it at that. We’ll be right back. Golden Eagle Financial is coming up next. Make sure you’re dialed in with your financial future as we head down 24 into 2025. Call Al today. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
It’s time to leave your safe space. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560. Okay, yeah, back to that story.
SPEAKER 15 :
A lot of people with egg on their face. Our local news, our governor. Aurora, a lot of the council members, Kaufman himself, police chiefs and so on that said none of this. Nothing to see here. Nothing going on. Egg on their face. I forgot one cost, by the way, because in the article that I read, the police themselves said that they will relocate. These two individuals, because, again, if they hang around, they’re probably going to be dead because they did, in fact, finally call the police. So reality is now you guys as taxpayers have one more expense in all of this. And I’m not saying we shouldn’t. I’m all for making sure that, you know, humans stay alive. It’s why we continue to talk about abortion and all those things, because we believe in life and every human life. And, yes, I do. But this comes with a cost. And it’s something that, by the way, the left won’t tell you. And once again, total denial from a lot of the local news, national news, and so on. An entire party called the left denied this. Egg on their face is all I’m going to say. We’ll be back tomorrow. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. We’ll be right back.
