John Rush teams up with Richard Battle to unpack the progressive takeover of our vocabulary—and why it matters more than ever. From weaponized words like “identify,” “cohort,” and “collective,” to the dangerous reframing of God-given rights and America’s founding values, John and Richard expose how the left is redefining reality. Why is “organizer” code for unaccountability? What happened to the rainbow as a symbol of God’s promise? And how is the term “democracy” being used to erode our republic?
Then, Sonny Joy Nelson joins to expose the consequences of this cultural corruption—from shoplifters celebrated as victims to Marxist policies parading
SPEAKER 15 :
This is Rush to Reason.
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SPEAKER 15 :
With your host, John Rush.
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SPEAKER 11 :
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 Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 16 :
And we are back. Hour two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Richard Battle joining us now. Richard, welcome. How are you today?
SPEAKER 08 :
Good afternoon, John. Thanks for having us. We’re doing fantastic. Thank you.
SPEAKER 16 :
Always a joy. All right. Something that all of us, I think, can use, and that is improving our vocabulary.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, yes, and your breakpoint segment a few minutes ago had a couple of the things that we’re going to discuss today. And the whole point of this is things that have been commonly accepted language and practice in the last several years have been turned and twisted to meet progressive needs. And so I think it’s important for us to see them as well as understand that there’s something bigger here than just the words.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, let’s get into it. You’ve got some great examples. Let’s roll through some of them.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, the first one’s the word identify. Somebody says they identify. And, of course, back when we were kids, we had a different word for that, and it was pretend. We’d pretend when we played cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers or whatever it was, we pretended. And that’s exactly what the identify movement is today.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay, so where we used to say pretend or pretend versus reality, the new term today is identify.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, I identify as a scholar and a gentleman.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, I wish I identified as somebody, or I’d like to identify as somebody with an IQ of about 150, Richard, but I’m afraid that’s not happening.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, and the second one is this word, and it really disturbs me because I think there’s a portion of it that has condescension in it. Because I think it’s an elitism type of word, and that is cohort. And we never heard that word until the last few years. And now instead of seeing a classroom or a group or a team, cohort is being used and abused and overused.
SPEAKER 16 :
And maybe I’m mistaken on this, Richard, but to your point, it didn’t get used, I don’t think, when we were kids. It hardly, if ever, got used. But even when I was younger, in other words, several decades ago, cohort just means that was somebody that was on your same team. In other words, they were familiar with you or they were there to back you up or something to that effect.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, you had a broader education on that than I did on that word.
SPEAKER 16 :
So, and by the way, in the previous term, it was, you know, team, class, meeting group. So make sure that I’m clear on that. In today’s world, where would somebody use that term cohort?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, they use it for a classroom of kids. They’ll call them a cohort now instead of a class. They’ll use it on a committee. They’ll call them a cohort. or a group, just any kind of a group at all, that word is almost exclusively used now instead of class, group, or team.
SPEAKER 16 :
Gotcha. Yeah, which when we were kids, you just called it what it was. It was a team, a class, a group, or whatever it was. Reimagine. Talk to us about that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, that’s one of the dangerous ones, I think, because every time I hear that, I guard my wallet and my freedom because people are saying, let’s reimagine police work, for example. And every time they do that, they’re throwing away something that might have worked for centuries to try something out that’s an unproven theory that some academic may have come up with.
SPEAKER 16 :
And as you know, you know my feelings, and it doesn’t mean that we don’t ever try new things but if something that we know is tried and true and it works we might be able to refine that we might be able to to you know uh how should i say uh you know re um i don’t want to say reimagine because that’s not that’s the that’s the wrong word but you know we can sometimes you know for example in business we can redo a process we can make something better we can make something more efficient that doesn’t mean we throw the whole process away though
SPEAKER 08 :
No, we test it, and we adapt and adjust and improve. But we have an idea of what we’re doing. I’ve told you before of a political campaign where I debated a former mayor of Austin on TV, and I said that their plan to spend money, they had no plan. They just asked the taxpayers for money, and the former mayor’s response was, quote-unquote, well, there’s a certain charm about a vague plan. And too often we get politicians without experience, for example… who do not have the knowledge they need to make the changes or the experience. And so when we hear re-imagine, I want to know what do they want to do and is it proven and
SPEAKER 16 :
give me some evidence why we should do this and normally we don’t hear that next one which we heard a lot during a campaign back in 2007 for the 2008 presidency of course or you know 2008 election i should say but that’s organizer yes and we’ve been hearing it more and more and we talked about it a few weeks ago but to me it’s an unaccountable
SPEAKER 08 :
participant in an activity, if you will, versus a leader who is accountable for something being accomplished. And we see this a lot at protests or even volunteer works. They’ll come up and say, we’re going to talk to Mary. She’s an organizer. Well, what’s that mean? She’s working on it, but she may not have any accountability.
SPEAKER 16 :
In most cases, Richard, they have no accountability. In fact, in a lot of cases, they’re purposely never seen. You don’t even know who these people are. They’re definitely not the face. They’re not the leader of said event or said organization. They are doing everything, quote, unquote, behind the scenes and, to your point, in turn, have no accountability for that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, that’s exactly correct, and it’s very purposeful. And the higher up on the ladder someone is in that type of organization, the more they want to be unseen but yet pull the strings.
SPEAKER 16 :
That’s exactly right. This is another one. Now, this is a word that when we were kids I don’t think ever got used, collective.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, not at all, because our founders gave us individual liberty. And that’s what’s so great. We’re an individual, and we want to be treated as individuals, whereas now, especially on the more progressive side, they want everybody to fit in little boxes and to treat all men the same, the women the same. different races the same. And so they want all of us to identify with a group based on those boxes that we check. And so to me, when we do that, we give up our individual liberty, and we should fight against that every chance we get.
SPEAKER 16 :
The collective, they’ll say, right?
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s exactly correct.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yep, yep. Collective or the group? The collective. All right, the next one, this one’s a big one for me, because I think, you know, just share a little bit of, you know, my history, and of course, you know, I grew up in, you know, a Christian home and the church and all of that, but I think for me, you know, personally, Richard, the rainbow, and, you know, as I’m watching it storm outside, and there likely will be some rainbows even around this, you know, Denver metro area when this is all said and done. And I guess the way that I grew up and knowing what the meaning of a rainbow actually was and all the beautiful colors that are coming out of it, because there’s not just, you know, four or five, there’s a multitude, as we know, they continue to, you know, move from one color to another. And in turn, you’re getting literally all of the quote unquote colors of the rainbow. And you and I both know, growing up, that was God’s covenant, that He’ll never destroy the earth by water and flood. Again, it doesn’t mean there won’t be some floods, but He’ll never destroy the earth like He once did. That’s completely been changed today.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, absolutely, and again, I think that’s purposeful and it’s disrespectful. If someone went in and took something of the Muslim faith, for example, and twisted the meaning on it and tried to use it in some way that was against the Muslim religion, people would yell and scream about it. But in the Judeo-Christian faith, nobody is able to say anything, or they’re told that they’re haters.
SPEAKER 16 :
When we were kids even, and maybe you remember these, maybe not, Richard, but when we were kids, people would even take in the Christian community, there’d be little, you know, you’d take a little rainbow sticker, and it was, again, it was another sign of God’s promise, and it definitely didn’t mean at that time what it means today. Do you remember those stickers like I do?
SPEAKER 08 :
Vaguely, yes.
SPEAKER 16 :
Okay. So again, those were, to your point, completely changed from one end of the spectrum to the other, literally.
SPEAKER 08 :
Absolutely. And so the next, we get something that’s very similar, and we’re talking about rights. And our rights as enumerated in the Declaration of Independence as the founders did them, were God-given. And God-given rights are eternal and cannot be taken away by man. But what we see today are politicians, and it happens on both sides, some who want to talk about giving rights from politicians to people.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, and really quick, an example of that for a lot of folks listening, they’ll understand this. I know you will as well. I believe in the God-given rights, which, you know, we talk about those constantly during this particular segment with you, but I don’t believe that mankind has a right to to health care. Now, you have a right to be healthy, and that is, by the way, your own right. And what you do with it, as I talked during health and wellness the last hour, Richard, is up to us, not someone else. But the reality is, no, you don’t have a right to health care.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, yes, and that’s a man-made right. Correct. And a man-made right that’s given can be taken away. And during the last administration, they gave people different rights, if you will, that are now being overturned in the current administration. So that works both ways. The only rights we can count on are the God-given eternal rights. Yep. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
SPEAKER 16 :
One other one that I think a lot of people get mixed up even sometimes on our side, Richard, is, well, I have the right to drive. I have the right to have a car and a license and so on. Well, you have a right to move about and a right to, quote, unquote, travel, because to me that’s a God-given right, the ability to move from one place to another. But how it’s done, Richard, yeah, no, there’s no rights to that.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, driving is a privilege, and that’s the way it’s been defined for eons.
SPEAKER 16 :
Democracy. This is a big one for me, as you know. Let’s talk about it.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, it’s my pet peeve, because we’re not a democracy, we’re a republic, but yet all we hear from politicians and the media is the word democracy. And as we’ve quoted before, Aristotle said, golly, 2,500 years ago, republics decline into democracies, democracies degenerate into despotism. And when we give up our individual rights in a republic which protects minority rights… then we’re subject to mob rule with no respect for the minority whatsoever, and that just leaves us one step away from despotism.
SPEAKER 16 :
I cannot tell you, Richard, over the past decade plus of being in this chair behind this microphone, how many different conservative interviews I’ve done. where somebody will use that word, and this is the one thing. I don’t normally correct guests. I very seldom ever do that because it’s a guest, and I try to be very respectful of those individuals. Don’t always agree with them, and I’ll make that known, and we’ll have some debate back and forth. But the one thing that I will correct a guest on is when they use that term versus republic.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, absolutely. And we need to assert our individual rights. We need to correct people, our political folks, whoever uses that word, we need to correct them so that we can stem the tide of that progress.
SPEAKER 16 :
Transition. Talk about that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, we hear about people transitioning from boy to girl or girl to boy or whatever role they want to have. And again, they’re taking self-definition versus whatever they were created as. And so I think that focus on self and being able to be whatever you want to be whenever you want to be it, that might sound good, but it’s not reality.
SPEAKER 16 :
Truth is another one. In fact, I’ve done in the past, there’s a series called The Truth Project. I’ve led that particular series in organizations before. By the way, if any of you out there listening have the ability to ever take that particular series of lessons, it’s well worth it because it literally is talking about what you’ve got in our notes today, Richard.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, good, because truth is the next one, and again, that’s self-defined versus objective truth. And for years, we lived in an objective truth, but all of a sudden, people wanted to come out and be able to define their own truth. And they’ll say, my truth is, or what is your truth? Well, truth is truth. And no matter how many times I say the sun’s going to rise in the west tomorrow, that’s not truth.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. That’s right. Exactly. Last one, neutralize and manage.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, this one has a little humor to it because when we hear the military talk and they say we neutralized Osama bin Laden, we’ve come to know that that meant they killed him. But when I was at Yellowstone National Park a few weeks ago, and the guide was talking about some of the animals and said that every once in a while, if they got out of control, they would have to, quote, unquote, manage them. And I said, well, what’s manage mean? In effect, it meant they killed them. But I just think it’s interesting that neutralize and manage are words to soften reality from what’s really going on. And that, to me, is very disrespectful of the public.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, it’s dumbing down the public, if you would. Am I right? Yes, absolutely. And that’s part of the disrespect. There you go. RichardBattle.com is the website. What can folks find there, Richard?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, we have all 12 books, including the latest, Americans Who Made America, 19th Century History. Growth Division and Reunification. They’re all signed there. If you want to inscribe, copy, email me, richard at richardbattle.com. We’re happy to do that. Everything is available at Amazon under Richard V. Battle, including Kindle and audio versions.
SPEAKER 16 :
As always, I appreciate it, Richard. Learn something every time you’re with us, and I’m very thankful for that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Always my pleasure. God bless America.
SPEAKER 16 :
God bless you. Have a great night, Richard Battle. Golden Eagle Financial coming up next. Al did a great interview here of late. Listen in. I’ll be back right after that.
SPEAKER 07 :
TJ here with KLZ Radio, and I’ve got Al Smith from Golden Eagle Financial. How are you, Al? Oh, I’m doing great, TJ. How are you? I’m doing well. I was talking to my wife recently about IRAs, and it came to mind. I wanted to ask you, is that something you deal in? And if so, what’s it all about?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I would say probably 80-90% of the people who come into my office and we sit down and have a conversation about their resources and so forth, I would say a very high percentage of them either have an IRA or they may be in the process of maybe moving their 401k to an IRA because they’re severing their employment. So IRAs come up a lot.
SPEAKER 07 :
What kind of questions do you get around IRAs typically?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, sometimes people ask me when do I have to start taking money out of my IRA, which are the required minimum distributions. Sometimes they ask questions about how much they can put into their IRA, which this year is $7,000 unless they’re over $50,000. then they can put in $8,000. I usually end up recommending a Roth IRA because if people are younger, then that can grow tax-free and ultimately pay tax-free income. And Roth IRAs, they don’t have required minimum distribution, so you can take the money out of a Roth IRA on your schedule rather than the Treasury Department’s schedule.
SPEAKER 07 :
And Al, where do people normally go wrong with their IRAs before getting your help?
SPEAKER 11 :
By not starting one. As soon as you have earned income, you can be working at Starbucks at a very young age. And if you want to, you can be putting money into an IRA.
SPEAKER 07 :
Don’t do the shoulda, coulda, woulda. Al, it’s been a pleasure. Thank you for coming in today. Go to klzradio.com slash advertisers to find Golden Eagle Financial.
SPEAKER 11 :
Very good. If you have a question about your IRA, give my office a call. 303-744-1128.
SPEAKER 13 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive.
SPEAKER 16 :
This is John Rush. And we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Okay. Some things just never cease to amaze me, and I don’t know why. I mean, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised at this particular headline, although I am a little bit because I didn’t realize that Ireland was so anti-Jew. But there is a proposed boycott – this is coming from Ireland – of Israel – Israeli, I should say – businesses that is creating a dangerous legal trap for American investors. It’s an article in Fox News. Legal experts warn that companies to conduct compliance audits as IRS – or, sorry, Irish BDS law – conflicts with the US anti-boycott regulations. So Ireland has announced plans to pass a first-of-its-kind European law banning imports from Israeli businesses operating in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Like most boycotts, divestment, and sanctions efforts, the bill is unlikely to inflict measurable economic harm to Israel. However, it poses a very real and potentially devastating threat to American businesses and investors. Under US law, It is illegal for American companies to participate in or support foreign government-backed boycotts of Israel. The export administration regulations enforced by the Department of Commerce’s Office of Anti-Boycott Compliance and Internal Revenue Code 999, administered by the IRS, prohibit exactly the kind of conduct Ireland’s legislation seeks to compel. These statutes were enacted in response to the Arab League boycott and are grounded not only in economic self-interest but also in civil rights law. The boycotts of the Jewish state have always been about who Jews are, not what Israel does. More recent legislation like the 2016 Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act reaffirmed Americans’ bipartisan commitment to combating BDS. So Ireland… Which, again, am I shocked? Kind of. I mean, you would think a country that literally was, in fact, correct me if I’m wrong, Charlie, but when I was a kid growing up all the way up to just probably a couple of decades ago, they had so much fighting going on between the Catholics and the Protestants there. There was always these bombings. And what was the organization that was always doing? Yeah, the IRA. The IRA was always doing some bombing here. There’s been movies made about those things. I mean, you would think a country. that for so many years had so much conflict on its soil that it would understand why you don’t do this. I guess they don’t learn. So not that I or I’m not sure any of you have any plans to go to Ireland and visit, but I can tell you right now, I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. In fact, I think it should be very well known in America that Ireland, you’re a bunch of dopes. Don’t go there. In fact, I would be one to say I’m not a huge boycott guy, as you guys all know. It’s not something that I really ever initiate or talk about on air. I just feel like typically they don’t have as much meat or they don’t have as much teeth in them as what some folks would love them to have. In some cases, they might do a few things. You know, for example, when the NFL was doing some of its nonsense and a lot of people just stopped going, stopped watching and so on. Money talked. And yes, they did make some changes. But when it comes to Ireland, I’ll just tell you straight up, I wouldn’t go there. And I would encourage anybody else out there listening to not go there. What a bunch of knuckleheads. Now, I can’t speak for everybody that lives there, because I’m sure there’s a lot of great people in Ireland that would not agree with this, but I’m sorry. I would just tell you all, if that’s something you thought of doing, I would not do it. Brad in Lakewood, go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, from time to time I hear about this Project 2025, and you don’t know what to think of it. Now, last summer, Trump said he hadn’t read it, he didn’t support it, but I watched a video, and I don’t think it’s real accurate because the guy kept calling Trump the orange man, but he was analyzing part of it, and it concerned the veterans. And it actually does say this in the Heritage Foundation that if you’re in Category 7 or 8 of the VA, they want to throw you out of the VA. Now, if Trump seems to be on the side of the veterans, but why would he take these people that support Project 2025 and put them in his administration is what… video was saying, but half the stuff you read on the Internet, and anybody can make a video, you don’t know what to believe or what not to believe. Correct. In the Heritage Foundation, it does say, if you type in Project 2025 Heritage Foundation, kick veterans out of the VA if they’re Category 7 or 8, which concerns me because I’m Category 8, do you think they would actually go as far as to do that, or do you think that’s Internet sensationalism?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, I would have a hard time believing that they would actually do that. And I’ve read through some things of late when it talks to, you know, some of the things that Trump has been doing in regards to some of the policies and so on and how it really does coincide with Project 2025 and so on. By the way, Brad, I think that’s a huge stretch forward. to have any kind of correlation. There are things that Trump was going to do regardless of what Project 2025 said. I think it’s more coincidental than anything that some of the things that Project 2025 said versus what Trump has actually done now. when it comes to some of the people that he has put into positions, some of those people having some input into Project 2025, which I’ve said this before, even back when Project 2025 was a big deal and the left was talking about how you shouldn’t vote for Trump because Project 2025 will be enacted and this, that, and the other. I even went through some of the things back then, Brad, when it came to Project 2025. And I said right then that there are things in here that I agree with fully. And there are some things in here that I Don’t agree with Foley, and I would venture to guess that Trump looks at it exactly the same way.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, and then he mentioned the name Russ Vought was in favor of that, but I can’t pronounce his name.
SPEAKER 16 :
Vought, something like that, I would guess.
SPEAKER 09 :
But we’ve got to let Russ speak for himself, because just some guy on the Internet says Russ said this, that doesn’t mean he really said it.
SPEAKER 16 :
Exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER 09 :
So you need to let… But I was in Heritage Foundation for a couple years, and I didn’t think there was conservatives I liked, so I went ahead and quit. But the bottom line is it probably never would happen, but why would they even write it to begin with?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, over the years, and everybody knows this because over the past decade plus, I have interviewed many a person that have been affiliated with the Heritage Foundation. Once again, Brad, I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say that every single thing that they do is bad. But are there things that the Heritage Foundation believes in and would do that I wouldn’t? Absolutely, and I think that’s true, by the way, Brad, with a lot of the different folk that I would have on. In fact, I would say that there’s a lot of folks that I interview on a pretty routine basis where I may very well agree with that particular thing being said by that particular interviewer, the interviewee, I should say, at that particular time, but do I believe in lock, stock, and barrel every single thing that they would say across the board? Of course not.
SPEAKER 09 :
And the problem is if you remain a member, you have some influence. If you just go ahead and quit… They’re going to say, well, why should I listen to you? You quit.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right.
SPEAKER 09 :
And I see yesterday that the Senate finally confirmed their first judge, but why did it take six months to confirm one judge? I believe there were 43 openings when we first took the Senate in January. But why would it—is Thune more the problem or is it Charles Grassley? And a lot of people seem to think Thune is deliberately slow-walking these appointments because he wants to hurt Trump.
SPEAKER 16 :
And I think I would have a hard time believing that as well. I think given that it’s the first six months since things have been rolling along, a lot of things that Trump’s even want to introduce, keep in mind they’ve been working on not only the big, beautiful bill, but there’s other things that have been. run through as well, Brad. So I think when you take a lot of things and combine it and realizing that there’s also a lot of other confirmations that have to happen with the cabinet and so on, reality is there’s a lot on their plate. And I think probably the way they look at it, I would as well if I was in their position. This is the low-hanging fruit we get done after we get the high stuff done.
SPEAKER 09 :
And there were some bad things in that big and beautiful bill.
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, yeah. And again, that’s another one of those where it’s like, you know, do you get everything you want? No. So you’ve got to take the good with the bad.
SPEAKER 09 :
And the important thing was the extent of the Trump tax cuts. And even though it doesn’t affect me directly. I like the fact that they raised the exemption on the debt tax to $15 million. Right. Personally, I think it should be eliminated.
SPEAKER 16 :
I think it should be zero. Yeah, thank you. I don’t think there should be any limit on it whatsoever. I’m with you on that one, Brad. You’re basically double-taxing people when it’s all said and done, which I don’t care for. I don’t care what level of income you’re at or where you are on that spectrum. I think death tax is completely nonsense. It shouldn’t exist.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I agree, and… I was listening to a talk show host a while back, it was a Sunday night, and he was talking about Social Security, and he seems to think the answer is to raise the age And if you’re rich, you shouldn’t get Social Security to begin with. And I disagree with that 100 percent. Yeah, because you’ve paid in.
SPEAKER 16 :
I disagree with him on that as well. If you’ve paid in, I think you have every right to have what you paid in coming back, no matter what level of income you’re at. Now, I will agree with him on I do think we’re at a point in time where Americans are healthier than they used to be. They’re living longer than they used to be. So I think two things need to happen on Social Security to help fix it. One, I think the age needs to be not for those that are currently in it. So if you’re already in it, you’re in it. It’s done. It’s handled. your grandfather did no matter what changes are made. But I do think that the age that you start taking it, which right now is 62, I think we need to bump that up to 63, maybe even 64 on the initial round, Brad. And then on top of that, I think the max, you know, right now it’s like 133,000, and once you make above that, there’s no longer any Social Security done by you or the employer. I think that probably needs raised to 150.
SPEAKER 09 :
I was listening to Dr. Shiva say, And he says life expectancy has actually gone down, and I did Google that. My philosophy is just because you’re living longer doesn’t mean you want to work longer. I think there’s better ways to fix the problem than raising the age or raising the tax.
SPEAKER 16 :
I know the problem, and I’m not going to disagree with you, and I’m at that age where I’m not that far away from some of this, Brad, so I’m even speaking to myself when it comes to some of these things, although I will tell you that if we don’t do something to fix it, It won’t be there for anyone, and we’re going to be in really bad shape. So the reality is I get what you’re saying, and I guess maybe even what Shiva is saying, but I’d like to know what are the ways are there to fix it? I mean, you could raise the percentage that we’re all paying in, and maybe, by the way, I’m not so sure, Brad, that you don’t have to do all three to really get things fixed. Maybe raise it by a year, raise things by a half a point on what we’re actually paying in, and on top of that, raise the limit from $130 to $150.
SPEAKER 09 :
Personally, I don’t think the program should be there to begin with. And if it was up to me and I could wave the magic wand, I would just… Well, yeah, now you’re well.
SPEAKER 16 :
Don’t get me started on that one, because absolutely, if you could make everybody go out and do their own private thing and do away with it altogether, I’m all for it. But unfortunately, Brad, this is one of those, like, church committees that once it gets started, you’re never going to get rid of it. So we’re stuck with it. It’s not going anywhere.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, they could just say, after such and such a date, you will no longer pay into the system after such and such a date. you’ll no longer collect benefits, and they can pay off the people that are in it. But what’s really infuriating is they make you… I still had to join Medicare at 65 and pay a penalty. Now, if I can’t collect my Social Security until 66, they need to raise that. You don’t need to collect Medicare until you’re… You don’t have to sign up for Medicare until you’re 66 because… I had the VA. There was no need for me to be in Medicare at 65. I agree, and I agree with you on that one.
SPEAKER 16 :
That’s another one where we’re spending far too much money as a country when we shouldn’t have to. People that are, again, you get to be 65 and you’re nice and healthy and you want to stay on a plan or you’ve got your own plan, you’re an employer, whatever the case may be, let them. There should not be any mandate you have to go on Medicare, period.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, if I were to stay at work until I was 70, then I went ahead of joining Medicare because that’s what’s known as credible insurance. But the VA is not credible insurance, so if you tell them, I got the VA, I don’t want to join Medicare, and then the VA decides they don’t want to cover you in, say, four or five years, then you’ve got to pay the penalty. But if you keep working in your private job and have insurance in your private job, then you don’t have to join the penalty.
SPEAKER 16 :
All of that’s wrong, Brad, across the board, as you know. All of it’s wrong.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, that’s what they were telling me.
SPEAKER 16 :
No, what I mean is it’s correct, but it’s wrong in the fact that that’s the way it is. It shouldn’t be that way. That’s my point.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, and one of the advantages I have in… being a Humana Advantage plan is I don’t have to join Part D because Humana and the VA have a deal worked out where I don’t get my drugs from Humana, but I get them from the VA, so I’m paying $110 instead of $185. Gotcha. And that’s Part D, I think, is a bigger ripoff than Medicare itself because it costs more to buy by the prescription than it does to pay for the pills.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, yeah. Many, many things need changed on that, by the way.
SPEAKER 09 :
Do you think the government penalizes us for turning 65?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 09 :
I thought the same thing.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, I think so, Brad. Yes, I would agree with that. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 09 :
And you know how you can solve this problem overnight is Make all members of Congress join Social Security.
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely. Join Medicare, and the problem will be solved overnight.
SPEAKER 16 :
I’ll leave it at that. Brad, that’s a great conversation. Thank you always. I appreciate your call. Sonny, hang tight. We’ll come right back to you and end this hour with Sonny Kutcher, Young Americans Against Socialism. Cub Creek Heat and Air Conditioning is next. Problems with your A.C. Give them a call today. Even if you’ve had somebody look at it already, they’ll give you a second opinion. Find them at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 15 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Sonny, welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER 04 :
Doing great. How are you?
SPEAKER 16 :
I’m doing great. A lot of stuff always going on, but hey, it is what it is, but doing great. If we think about all of the bad things going on, we’d never get out of bed, Sonny.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, that’s the truth, and I was talking to my dad earlier, and he’s like, you know, Sonny, when I was your age, I was just living my life. The world was not like this, or you wake up every day and some crazy situation has happened.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yep, and again, it is what it is. Okay, I think we’ll start in reverse, because you sent me something just a moment ago, which I had not seen yet, and that was a… A worker in – I guess a manager, store manager in San Francisco, Walgreens store manager that has been convicted for fighting a shoplifter. Again, Sonny, what in the world is wrong? I mean, basically the person leaves with who knows what. I don’t have that in front of me. I can’t watch the video. I can only see the – i can only see it i can’t hear what’s going on i don’t know exactly what was stolen but that is the problem and i talked to a lot of folk that work inside of stores i was in home depot not long ago and i was talking to a couple of people that were working in there about this very you know issue to whereby if somebody leaves with something they just they can almost wave and wish them wish them i mean sunny they can almost help them load in the car because they’re not allowed to do anything which is a bunch of nonsense absolutely and uh
SPEAKER 04 :
especially in California, you know, Gavin Newsom going around, you know, talking about, oh, all the accomplishments that he’s touting. But here we are. And of course, this will never get any coverage because that’s this is exactly this is the direction that they want our country to go in, where the criminals and criminality is emboldened and encouraged and and just essentially ignored. where the law-abiding citizen, the business owner who is providing value to his community, is being convicted for, I mean, I’m not exactly sure what these charges are, obviously.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, and as I’m watching the video, and again, I can’t hear it, and maybe I couldn’t hear anything anyways because it’s a street cam, but from what I can see, there’s the store manager and either an officer of the law or a security officer, I can’t tell which, that’s walking out with this particular store manager, and I’m just being, I’m looking, I mean… It’s very apparent the police officer or security, the law, whatever you want to call it, Sonny, is basically doing nothing to try to get this these items back that this guy basically has walked out with. And the store manager starts to engage with the said individual to the point where he’s not going to take no for an answer. He’s getting his stuff back no matter what. And all the while, the security guard is really just kind of sitting there. I’m sorry to say twiddling his thumbs.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. And probably because he, in his own mind, he’s like, well, shoot, I could get in trouble for, you know, intervening here. And that’s essentially exactly what happened. I think it’s a security guard. And I guess they followed the shoplifter out into the street. And then the store manager began to, you know, kind of go after the guy.
SPEAKER 16 :
They want to get his stuff back, basically. An altercation, a physical altercation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. It’s one thing for fighting the shoplifter, but then it’s like, okay, well, he did steal something from the store, so what about that? Of course, like I said, we don’t have all the information, but it’s just a signal as to how degraded our society has become. store managers and businesses are being penalized for trying to protect their property.
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. And again, I guess some would probably look at it and say, why does it matter? It’s Walgreens. It’s not his. It’s, you know, he’s just the manager. You know, I think for a lot of us, myself included, because I probably shouldn’t say this publicly, but I have been known on more than one occasion that to follow somebody walking out of a store, Home Depot in this particular case, where I know somebody is stealing something, walking out the door. And yes, I am one of those customers where I will follow that person out. I will go after that person. I have. I actually chased a guy down in the street and didn’t recover the things. He was faster than I was getting in the car, and I actually chased him in the car, tried to get his license number and all that. Not that it matters, but to me, this is my take on it as a consumer. Every time something leaves that store without being paid for, my price of the next item goes up because Home Depot is not going to lose money. They’re going to raise prices on me, the good consumer that’s paying for those things. So for me, I take it personal.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right, and it’s just a complete upside down of how our society is supposed to function. And what you said is a really important fact, which is about – uh the free market and what happens when you know what happens with transactions between producers and consumers which is that when you buy something or you don’t buy something or something is stolen or you know or they run out of the item things like that those are all uh you know points of data information that has been processed to the store where they say okay well this is how we need to adjust our prices or how we need to adjust what we’re selling or maybe we need to drop a product or we need to add a product And when you allow things like this to persist and you let this imbalance that’s happening where people feel that they are entitled to go into a store and just steal things. Because they’re, you know, they may be poor, they may be down and out. And that’s a whole another issue in and of itself. But when you allow that to happen, it completely throws things out of balance. Like you said, and now they’re going to start raising the prices. They’re going to start locking up their goods, which is what we deal with in California. I’m surprised this person was even able to steal something because everything’s locked up usually when you go into a Walgreens or CVS.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah. No. And then again, once again, we as consumers end up paying the price for those things. I guess that’s for me where I take it so personal because, A, I’ve been a business owner most of my adult life. I’ve ran retail stores. I know what it’s like to have things leave without being paid for. And I guess that side of me, Sonny, still takes this stuff personal. And I guess I was taught also, if it doesn’t belong to you locked up or not, it could be sitting on the side. It could be sitting on the curb. It doesn’t make any difference. If it doesn’t belong to you, don’t take it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. And I think, uh, You know, young people kind of segue into the other topic of Mamdani and just, you know, the things that he is, you know, that he’s proposing. And, you know, what the leftist agenda really is all about, which is essentially socialism, socialist style policies. They’ll never say that it’s socialism. You know, they’ll never he will never say that. Oh, yeah, I would love to do socialism. So that way we can become a communist society. or a communist city or whatnot. But that’s essentially what’s happening because people do, they have this moral entitlement and arrogance, these young people who believe that the government should give people rights. what they need to survive and to give them goods. And then the fact that it’s not happening is what has allowed people to feel so emboldened to go into stores and steal things brazenly because they’ve emboldened the underclass of the underbelly of society, which is called It’s a term, there’s a term for it that Marx used to talk about, which is called the lumpenproletariat, which is basically under the working class. And what they do, this type of rhetoric and these policies, this propaganda is meant to whip up those people so that they feel emboldened to go out and commit crimes and steal and do all these things, which essentially… puts the working class and everybody else into a position where they actually want the government to come in and intervene because they have zero control of what’s happening.
SPEAKER 16 :
You’re right, Sunny. This is kind of dovetailing into what we were going to talk about initially, which is this whole idea that we’re going to soften things up. We’ve got somebody running in New York City that is a true, well, He’s a Marxist communist, but he’s running on a quote unquote socialist platform because that’s easier. That’s a little more palatable to the average American to talk about socialism versus communism. They are one in the same. It’s just the beginning phase of total communism when it’s all said and done. But it softens the blow, Sonny. My point is all of this, you know, nonsense of socialism. of us not going after people that are stealing and theft and looting and all these different things, that is by design inside of Marxism itself, and it’s a part of the major plan to take over the country, period.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely, and that is the cultural aspect, and then you have the political, economic aspects of it that is really pulling in these young people. It’s all over TikTok. People are just… I actually posted a video a couple of days ago of a mom who in the caption was saying it was obviously her daughter that had been taking the video. And it’s like a whole page about it. And she basically was like my, my former Republican mom who is now basically a communist. And she’s like going into this whole thing about why communism is so amazing and all this stuff. And I’m like, These people, I mean, they’re seriously delusional. Because if you think about it, in the video I posted today that I sent you, she talked about how socialism, which I always say is the economic backbone to communism, because you have to take control of the resources. And it’s really interesting to me because, you know, talk to any conservative today, and they’re not too happy with the government, right? And so I find this really interesting thing. juxtaposition where you have conservatives and leftists that are not happy with the government. But conservatives are saying, you know, we’re on the side of the free market capitalism, if you want to call it that, which, you know, that’s like a whole nother question, whether it’s really capitalism and all of those things. But the free market, really, when you boil it down and that’s what creates these natural supply and demand, the information which controls the pricing. When you take that away, when you take the invisible hand of the free market away and you have someone like Mom Donnie, for example, you know, who would come in and say, we’re going to freeze rent and we’re going to put. government owned grocery stores and bus fares are one dollar for everybody. And, you know, these these these caps on things like that, you basically take away that process of information going into the market, which just it just basically eliminates The natural flow and the supply and demand. That’s right. Well, there’s no incentive.
SPEAKER 16 :
I mean, what you’re saying is you’re eliminating the incentive to do more, be better, put a better product out and so on. The reality is when you eliminate that, you end up with, this is the way it works, Sonny, as you know, go to any communist run country and, you know, we have, you know, we go to the bread aisle here in America. And again, I know it depends upon what store you go to, but typically, Sonny, you’ll go in there and be able to pick. Oh, I don’t know. I don’t shop for bread a lot. So this is probably not a great example. But, you know, there’ll be probably one of at least 30 choices. I don’t think I’m exaggerating, Sonny, depending upon what type of bread you’re trying to buy. Go to any communist country. And in some cases, I’m guessing you’ll be lucky to get one, maybe two or three choices when it’s all said and done. You’re not going to get 30 choices.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. And that leads to my next point, which is what happens when the government decides, well, actually, instead of the bus fare being $1, we actually want it to be $20 because we, you know, actually we need more revenue, you know, and oh, actually, you know, we only want to do electrics. Like they were trying to do in California, or like you said, we only want one, you know, two choices of bread and not 30, because that’s actually too expensive. So sorry. And if you have this weird juxtaposition of the leftist thing, well, we want it to be, you know, free and fair for everybody. And they’re mad at the government. Right. And it’s like, OK, but what happens when now you’re actually giving. all of the mean the production to the government you think they’re gonna do a great job with it and then for more when you go from socialism to communism they all know what so communism is actually when you know when it’s a communal thing and the workers are you know the way everybody the same and actually You know, the workers are controlling. It’s illogical. It makes no sense. It’s not reality. It doesn’t happen because when you actually give the government the control, you no longer have control. You can’t tell them, well, actually, we don’t like that. You know, you lose control.
SPEAKER 16 :
You lose all of that representation of being able to make changes, have choices, give incentive for that particular, not only the merchant, but the worker or the person that’s inventing and so on. I’ve said it many, many times in this particular program. The amount of things that we have as a country that have benefited the entire world is because of the very things that we’re talking about. All right. I’m getting close on time here. Sonny, how do folks find you?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yas.org, Y-A-A-S.org. You can learn more about socialism and communism. Please, please talk to your children about this. There has never been a more important time than now. You know, people like Mamdani, Omar Fateh, these Somali people, you know, that want to come in and change the fabric of our nation. We cannot allow this to happen. And the only way… to, to, to, to do that is to educate our children, our friends and our family. So go to our website, you know, check out our Instagram, our TikTok, post videos all the time that you can share with your friends and family, because like I said, never been a more important time and we must save our country. So thank you so much and happy to be here.
SPEAKER 16 :
Awesome. Always a joy. We’ll talk to you next week, Sonny. Have a great rest of your day. Mile High Coin is next. Make sure you get that appraisal done. It’s free for KLZ listeners for all of the items you have kicking around the house. If you want to turn into cash, he’ll help you with that as well. 720-370-3400.
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SPEAKER 15 :
We inform you. Now, back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 16 :
That’s it for Hour 2. We’ll be back in another full hour. Scott Garlis will join us at 5.30. We’ll talk about a lot of scuttlebutt going on in regards to the Fed chair and Donald Trump and so on. But we’ll do that here shortly. Otherwise, we’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
I’m a rich guy.
