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Join host John Rush as he dives deep into the intricacies of effective leadership in challenging times. Featuring insights from Richard Battle, this episode unpacks the attributes that distinguish great leaders from the rest. Discover how historical events like the Apollo 13 mission and memorable military stand-offs serve as timeless teaching tools for today’s leaders across all fields.
SPEAKER 10 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 19 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 10 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 05 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did.
SPEAKER 16 :
Get a job, sir. You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 11 :
Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 16 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 17 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hour two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Richard Battle joining us now. Richard, how are you, sir?
SPEAKER 06 :
Good afternoon, John. Thanks for having us. We’re doing great.
SPEAKER 09 :
Our last show together for 2025. We’ll do it again, of course, in 2026, but we’re winding things down. Christmas is next week, and then, of course, New Year’s after that. Real leaders respond rationally, I should say, to challenges, not emotionally. Talk to us about that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and it’s good to talk about that now because leaders in business want to have a great finish to their year and a great start to the next year. And so looking and examining how you respond to challenges can help in both those situations. And so core leaders… can be obscured during good times. And they can operate, and people will think things are going well because times are good. But when the fur flies, that’s when you separate the good leaders and the bad. And as I say, succeed or fail, it’s always the leadership.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, let’s talk about – start this on the poor side of the fence. We’ll cap it off on the good side. But what do poor leaders do that they shouldn’t?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I think the big thing they do is they react – They get emotional. They show fear. uh… a lack of confidence if you will uh… an example of that is in baseball the reason you do baseball plays infield grounders over and over and over is so you see a variety of balls and you do not panic when one bounces a different way than you expect and it’s the same way in business with experience uh… if things happen and if you’ve not experienced that before there’s a tendency to panic and react emotionally and make rash decisions and lead the team in an improper direction.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay. In other words, practice makes perfect, I guess what you’re trying to say?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, practice makes better. There you go. Vince Lombardi talked about pursuing perfection with his football team, and he said, we’re going to chase perfection. We will not attain perfection, but in the pursuit of perfection, we will attain excellence. And I think that’s a great quote that we can apply in every area of our lives.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well said. In my notes, challenging times, poor leadership skills are magnified exponentially, and yes, that is true.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, and that’s when the people below them see that, and the defeats pile up, and you start having team members that are not confident in the leadership of their teams. And I’ll give you an example on the other side as we move to talk about good leadership. Remember in the movie Apollo 13 about the space mission? Right. And when they had the problem, the leader said, failure is not an option. And he gave them instructions where they brought materials that were on the capsule together and said, we need to make this particular device out of these materials together. And the engineers had to create it, and then they had to teach the astronauts over a radio how to do it in space.
SPEAKER 09 :
Again, in my opinion, one of the greatest moments in a movie, for me being kind of a technical guy like I am, Richard, one of the greatest moments because they really had to figure out what do we do with what we have?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes. And they didn’t panic. They didn’t get emotional. They were very matter of fact and said, okay, here’s the problem. Here’s what we have. We’ve got to come up with a solution. And yes, they were under time pressure, but because they did not get emotional or overreact, the time pressure wasn’t magnified as if they were emotional.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. And had they been emotional and gotten all out of sorts, if you would, they wouldn’t have succeeded.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, and then the team members start blaming each other for shortcomings versus everybody being in the boat together, so to speak, and working for the same goal.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, talk to us about how defeat builds and teams – defeats build, I should say, and then teams spiral out of control.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, that’s part of what we just said, where as those defeats happen, you have people that start arguing and blaming each other. We see that on football sidelines when one team gets down and players start going after each other, and they’re divided. And everybody has to be pulling the same way for the same goal and realize that everyone wants to achieve the same goal. Because when you do that, you realize if somebody falls short, it’s not because they don’t want to achieve the goal. It’s just because they weren’t able to accomplish it at that particular time.
SPEAKER 09 :
versus those leaders that are very rational and even football coaches and leaders and so on where they don’t get shook by the score or the clock or changing around what they want to do with their plays. I mean, they really understand exactly the direction that they’re headed. They stick to it. They don’t get super emotional. They just know this is what I’m going to have to do to win the game, and typically they do at the end of the day.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, and those leaders show up even in good times, and so people have confidence in them. But when the challenges arise, they’re calm. They show a command presence that they’re in control. They give confidence to the team members that if they follow that particular leader, they’ll have the best chance of winning. success going forward, as they get facts to make decisions before they rashly react to something. And two things that I think are extremely important in decision-making is they consider precedent. And if you don’t consider precedent and you make decisions, you may have to go back later and change them because they set a new precedent that you don’t want. And then the second one, which is being a good example. And we’re always examples to others in our behavior, and no more so than when we’re under stress and facing a challenge in a situation. The example we set will affect people for years beyond whenever that situation’s resolved.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, so let’s move on more again into the positive leaders. What do they do when challenges arise?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, they acknowledge that they’ve got a challenge. And go back to Apollo 13. I mean, they were very calm. Like, we’ve got this problem. They didn’t yell and scream about it. They retained their calmness and control and then methodically went out to say, okay, how can we possibly solve this situation? And started putting together a plan, if you will, to take certain items to create the instrument that they needed on the aircraft. then they inform the team members what they needed to do. And good communications is always very important, as you well know, so that people not only buy in on what you’re going to do but feel like that they know what’s going on and they’re part of the solution, not just being given tasks to do and they don’t understand what’s going on.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, that communication is key. And talk to my clients, my business clients that I coach a lot when it comes to that, Richard, because that whole communication thing is really key. And by the way, it’s correct communication. And what I mean by that, Richard, is you can over communicate sometimes and now you’re really not accomplishing what you need to or you’re divulging too many things maybe than what you need to. It’s key to have the right, concise communication.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, that’s exactly correct. And the minimum amount of communication to effectively communicate what you’re trying to do as well. Some people can communicate too much information, overload the people and confuse them by communicating more than is necessary or less effectively communicate, if you will.
SPEAKER 09 :
One thing, too, is in my notes is one thing that good leaders do is they really investigate the facts. They do that promptly, completely. In other words, they lay everything out. They know what’s in front of them. Here’s what we’re up against. They don’t assume anything at all. They know for sure this is exactly what’s in front of us. Now here’s what we need to deal with.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, yes, and that comes from the confidence, and I think that’s so important. You see it in the military when somebody’s being attacked, for example. Do they react irrationally in panic, or do they calmly try to ascertain what’s really going on right now in that situation? And in any environment, being able to do that calmly not only helps the leader, but that calmness passes along to the teammates and helps them to remain more calm as well.
SPEAKER 09 :
Exactly. Give us some examples of things that have happened along these lines in our history.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, one I want to mention is Joshua Chamberlain and Gettysburg at Little Round Top. And the story will take longer than we have, but the 20th Maine on the second day of July, they were asked to hold the left flank of the Union line. And rather than retreat or surrender, Chamberlain said, attacked and swept the hill, and not only saved the day, but probably saved the Union that day, and because he did not panic under the most serious duress you could be put under.
SPEAKER 09 :
Gotcha. So he is a really, you know, again, an example of a great leader, by the way, great place to go and visit and get all the history of. I’ve been there once, and I would love to go there again, Richard, because the history and some of the things that you learn, including some of these things, is just, it’s immense. If you’ve never been there, you need to go.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re exactly correct, and I suggest getting a private guide if you can. It’s wonderful. Not only is it historic, but to see how individuals acted and the heroism of so many people, it’s great examples that inspire us to do better things than we think we can.
SPEAKER 09 :
Battle of the Bulls. We’ve got time to cover that. Talk about that also.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, again, the Germans attacked December 16, 1944, their last offensive of the war, and overwhelmed the American Army and surrounded Bastogne. And when they demanded surrender from General McAuliffe, who was second in command there of the 101st Airborne, the commander was in Washington, and they demanded surrender from him, and his response was the single word, nuts. The Germans didn’t understand what he meant, but the way he said that, it relieved a lot of the pressure to the American troops because it conveyed confidence that he was confident they were going to be able to hold on as well and was just the perfect type response versus a panicky one or even one that might not have communicated that effectively.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, a lot of this, by the way, has come from Made in America by Americans, not Americants. That’s the 2022 version. Talk to us about your books that people can buy online at your website as we head down this Christmas stretch.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I appreciate that. RichardBattle.com is our website. All books are signed. All 12 are there. If you’d like something inscribed, we’re happy to do it. Email me, Richard, at RichardBattle.com after you order. They’re all on Amazon, including Kindle, and eight of the books are in audio as well.
SPEAKER 09 :
Awesome. Richard, as always, I appreciate it. Merry Christmas. We’ll talk to you after the first of the year.
SPEAKER 06 :
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to you as well as the audience.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you, Richard. Appreciate you very much. Golden Eagle Financial coming up next. Al did a great interview of late. We heard from Al, by the way, right at 3 o’clock. If you need anything at all, financially speaking, with your portfolio, your retirement, where you’re headed, you need some things changed by the end of the year, give Al a call. klzradio.com is where you find him.
SPEAKER 18 :
Hi, I’m Al Smith from Golden Eagle Financial. You may have heard my radio show or one of my ads here on KLZ. I’ve had the show for over five years. I really enjoy providing information and I try to make it interesting. You have a lot of choices when it comes to selecting an advisor. A few things about me. I’m a fiduciary. I’ve been in the business over 30 years. And if you call my office, depending on the day and time, you might reach me. If my office manager takes the call or if it goes to voicemail, you’ll be contacted very quickly. When we sit down to discuss your financial concerns, before we go over any statements of your accounts, we’ll take a deep dive into what you want your future to look like. Not just the financial component, but a little bit about your family, how you plan to spend your time. where you plan to live and any plans you have to give back or to volunteer. I want to learn about what makes you happy, what brings you joy. We can then craft a plan together that takes all these things into consideration. To learn more, contact me through the KLZ website.
SPEAKER 13 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive, this is John Rush.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Debra’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Several of you have texted me. I’m sorry it took me this long, but we had health and wellness during that first hour. And Richard Battle, of course, a moment ago. Xcel Energy and the power outages that are affecting a lot of folks, myself included. And frankly, this is what happens. When you sue a utility over something that they really didn’t have any part in for the Marshall Fire, what they’re now doing is just poking every customer in the eye saying, yep, here’s what you get for suing us. Sorry, folks. That’s what’s happening right now. Now, some will say, well, yeah, they’re just trying to make sure another fire doesn’t start and they’re trying to be preemptive and this and that and the other. Hogwash. Hogwash. This is a direct, I’m going to poke you in the eye because you sued us For the fire that happened in Marshall, which, by the way, I didn’t agree with. I don’t think they should have gotten sued. I don’t think it was their fault. It was just an act of nature, act of God, something that happened. It wasn’t anybody’s fault that it happened. And those people that sued them, you can blame them if you’re out of power right now. I’m sorry, folks. That’s how this works. So you really can’t even be mad at Xcel Energy because, frankly, if I were them, I wouldn’t be doing it any differently. I’d do the exact same thing. You’re going to sue us over something that we have no control over? Great. Click. Here’s a switch. You’re done. No power for you in a windstorm. The problem is the acts of just a few now are affecting tens of thousands of people that don’t have power because they were knuckleheads. Greedy knuckleheads. Let me put it that way. And again, I get it. Lawyers are the ones that typically are behind a lot of these lawsuits and rallying people around. And, you know, because, by the way, they make all the money. Not all, but they make a lot of money in those types of lawsuits. And they do. No secrets there, by the way. And this is nothing against attorneys. You know, they’re out to make a living. I get it. But some are better than others. Let’s just say that. So a lot of you have been asking, you know, am I personally out of power? Yes. I was actually in the middle of recording some promos for the upcoming shows. I was down to my very last one, and boom, there it went. They said 10 o’clock. Mine went out at 9.50 on the dot. So I was working, by the way, Xcel Energy, I was working towards the 10 o’clock knowing I had things to do, knowing I had until 10 o’clock because that’s what you told me, and then you screwed me. You don’t care. I get it. And again, I’m not blaming you because you’re just doing what you need to do because of the knuckleheads that are out there that sued you. Speaking directly to Xcel Energy, by the way, which I get it. It’s not just an individual. There’s an entire group of people there. But again, folks, I’m not blaming them. And if you are, shame on you. It’s not their fault. Blame the people that sued them if you don’t have power right now. That’s who caused this. Because they don’t want to get sued again. Frankly, I can’t blame them. This is where, by the way, politically speaking, the state should have came in and said, yeah, we’re not going to allow this. Sorry, you’re not going to be able to sue them. They’re providing a utility to you. Unless there’s some sort of gross negligence there, no, you can’t sue them. These are things that our legislature should do, which, by the way, then saves all of us money and keeps the lights on. But we have a bunch of stupid knuckleheads down at the Golden Dome that frankly don’t know diddly-squat about anything, and yes, I mean that sincerely. These are people that frankly haven’t ever run, they haven’t run a lemonade stand. They don’t have the foggiest idea of what’s going on in the business world, and yet they’re writing laws for all the rest of us. One of the biggest gripes I have when it comes to politicians, by the way.
SPEAKER 08 :
John, go ahead. John, I’m going to partially disagree with you. The judge that heard this case, if he had one ounce of backbone would have dismissed the case saying it was a 100-mile-an-hour win. That’s an act of God. We don’t sue over acts of God.
SPEAKER 09 :
Good point.
SPEAKER 08 :
And he could have dismissed this case outright. But I don’t know the full case history. Did they, you know, did it go all the way to the Colorado Supreme Court?
SPEAKER 09 :
You know what? I don’t know on that one. I didn’t follow that one. Good question, John. I didn’t follow it.
SPEAKER 08 :
You see, this is where The judges have to have a little backbone and stand up and say, 100 mile an hour wind is an act of God.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right.
SPEAKER 08 :
It’s not anything else.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right. Nobody caused this. No one did anything wrong here.
SPEAKER 08 :
No. And while they’re saying that XL didn’t do enough maintenance, you can’t do enough maintenance. and know enough on all these above-ground lines to not have one maybe go down in a bad windstorm.
SPEAKER 09 :
So now, like I said, because of that, John, and I’m not blaming Excel, they’re just going to turn the power off.
SPEAKER 08 :
They call it the Public Safety Power Shutoff Program. Other utilities have it, too. And the utility up here that provides our church and the area there and the fire department that I’m part of, is in that area too. They didn’t get shut off yet today, but they’ve been notified that if it gets too bad or something happens. But here’s the other thing. Knowing the utility industry, there’s things that Excel could have done prior, less severe. That’s why I think you’re right when you say this is a poke in the eye. For people that don’t know, every circuit has a reclosure on it. You know what I’m talking about, John?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
They could take that. Usually it’s three strikes and you’re out on that. It’ll try to re-energize twice. And then if it can’t hold, it locks out. They can remotely put those all in a one-shot where if it trips, the power’s out until they can go and check the lines. And that might have been a help to keep it from, you know, having to shut everybody off. But like you said, and I heard you, you know, This is XL saying, you’re going to sue us.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep, we’re shutting you off.
SPEAKER 08 :
The results.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. I had a dumb texter just a moment ago say, yeah, it was an equipment failure on XL Energy. It’s their fault. BS, BS, BS, BS. Sorry, I don’t know how else to say it, John, to this particular individual. This is somebody, by the way, that doesn’t have the foggiest idea what they’re talking about. To your point, John, there’s no way in 100-mile-an-hour winds you can protect against all of that. So what Xcel Energy is doing in turn, so this doesn’t happen again, we’ll just turn your power off. So, folks, I’m asking you, would you rather have your power turned off or would you rather have it on? And if there’s a fire, deal with it. And I’m sorry, folks, that whole fire situation I talked about when it was happening, the Marshall Fire, if we didn’t have all these cities building everything so stinking close together – at the end of the day, you wouldn’t have had what you’ve had happen there. So I talked about that back in the day. It was a tragedy that people lost their homes. But at the end of the day, if you did more fire mitigation, handle things correctly on that end of things, it wouldn’t have been that big of a deal anyway. So, sorry, you’re not going to convince me that that was Xcel Energy’s fault because it wasn’t.
SPEAKER 08 :
And, John, how many of the Boulder County open spaces between the developments that burned – had never got touched and had no fire mitigation. All of them.
SPEAKER 09 :
All of them.
SPEAKER 08 :
Which was just more fuel for the brush fires.
SPEAKER 09 :
All of them, John. I lived in that area. Well, I grew up in that area, lived up there until 2016, and then moved over to Golden, and the answer is all of them.
SPEAKER 08 :
But then here’s the other thing. How many people, and you talked about this at that time, and I’ve been doing it ever since, were so far underinsured. Yep. that their only option was, well, I’ve got to sue somebody because I can’t afford to rebuild.
SPEAKER 09 :
Correct. Which, by the way, is not anybody’s fault but their own.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. I bet you a lot of the people that were part of that lawsuit were the ones that were well underinsured and were just looking to get made whole. Which, I mean, every year now since that happened, I ask my agent, do I have replacement value? Has it been adjusted to a price? Yeah, good point. To have that is not a big extra charge on your insurance, but to have people. So what I’m looking at, because where I live now, I have a generator, which I can fire up and turn on. I’m looking at a whole house battery that would hold the house for eight hours.
SPEAKER 09 :
I thought about doing something along those lines, which, by the way, is not a bad idea.
SPEAKER 08 :
Isn’t your Friday guy that does radio with you, an electrician?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep. We’ll talk to Bill more about that on Friday, by the way. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 08 :
I was going to ask you if you could talk to him about the whole battery. We will. I was going to say not attached to solar. That would recharge off the grid.
SPEAKER 09 :
Just standalone battery backup on its own. Yes. And that is available. Absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, yeah. I would just love to hear his input on what he thinks is something like that.
SPEAKER 09 :
We’ll handle that on Friday. Absolutely, John. Happy to do it.
SPEAKER 08 :
John, have a good day.
SPEAKER 09 :
You too, man. Appreciate you. Let me squeeze Del in here before we go to break. Del, go ahead.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, John. How are you doing?
SPEAKER 09 :
I’m good, sir. How are you?
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, not too bad. Hey, the other thing that I couldn’t believe that I heard on the news last night about this power problem was As Denver schools, you and I, you know, being natives, when did we ever get wind days?
SPEAKER 09 :
You didn’t.
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, they never closed the schools for a wind.
SPEAKER 09 :
You didn’t.
SPEAKER 05 :
What’s with this?
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s just, it’s an overreaction, Dale. I’m sorry, but it just is. It’s an overreaction.
SPEAKER 05 :
Another little tidbit, I was watching a documentary the other night in reference to World War II towards the end.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
They were talking about the… Japan having the issues they were and who was behind the kamikaze pilots and the manned torpedoes and that. You know what their name was? Toyota and Suzuki.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, I did not know that.
SPEAKER 05 :
I didn’t either until I saw it on that documentary. Interesting.
SPEAKER 09 :
I did not know that. Interesting, Dale.
SPEAKER 05 :
Toyota was a big high up in the Japanese government or Imperials.
SPEAKER 09 :
Interesting. I did not know that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I thought it was kind of interesting.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, it is very interesting. I didn’t know that. Always something good for you, Del. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, man, you bet.
SPEAKER 09 :
Have a great night. And again, yeah, those of you that are without power, I’m sorry to say that is strictly Xcel Energy. You’re an Xcel customer, by the way, because they’re the only ones doing this. I don’t think any of the other United Power, REI, and others, I don’t think anybody else is doing this because they didn’t get sued like Xcel Energy did. So this is straight out a poke in the eye at the customers basically saying, see what happens when you sue us for something that we have no control over. Now here’s what’s going to happen. Anytime there’s a predicted large wind event, we’re just going to shut your power off. So we’ll talk more about that, Bill and I will, on Ready Radio on Friday. Up next, we have got Cub Creek heating and air conditioning. So make sure you’re dialed in when it comes to your heat, your AC, even in the summer months as well. Combination units, by the way. There’s going to be a change in furnaces coming January 1st. Make sure that you’re handled on that as well. Cub Creek can help you with all of that. Find them at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
All right, up next, Geno’s Auto Service. And don’t forget, Geno starts with a J. Get your vehicle all working well as you head down this holiday stretch. Genosautoservice.com. Geno starts with a J.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s the holiday season and a great time to take advantage of Geno’s Auto Service’s alignment and tire rotation special. Winter in Colorado can be tough on your car. Now, through the end of the month, save $30 and get your vehicle aligned and all four tires rotated. Geno’s can also check to see that your heater is working properly with the cold months ahead. Have you ever noticed how your tires have a way of finding holes in the pavement? With consistent alignments every 5,000 to 10,000 miles, your vehicle will get better gas mileage and longer tire life. At Geno’s, we offer loaner vehicles so you can drop your car off and pick up when ready. Geno’s is AAA approved and located at Bowles and Platt Canyon. Save $30 on an alignment and tire rotation. Geno’s Auto Services is celebrating our 43rd holiday season. Thank you to all our clients and longtime customers for your patronage and support. We truly appreciate it. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Stop in or visit us online at genosautoservice.com.
SPEAKER 10 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 09 :
And we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Sunny Kutcher, Young Americans Against Socialism. Welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER 15 :
Always an honor. I’m doing well. How are you?
SPEAKER 09 :
Very good. It is a, how should I say, winding things down as we head into Christmas. Trump’s going to speak tonight. Always lots going on, Sunny.
SPEAKER 14 :
Always.
SPEAKER 15 :
And it’s one of those things where, you know, I think as folks on, you know, the conservative side, Value side of things, as far as values go, when, you know, President Trump clinched that victory, it was something like, OK, where, you know, now the work really begins. And I feel like that’s kind of the phase that we’re going through now. And I I actually, you know, obviously send you a video of Trump. I believe it was during perhaps is a hundred percent, 100 days ago. were post-victory, pre-inauguration, where Trump was putting out all these videos kind of detailing his intentions and his essentially agenda, for lack of a better word, of what he was going to, how he was going to take action against the cartels and for legal immigration, all of these issues that were obviously all of the different things he discussed on the campaign trail. And he discussed how Venezuela, like the fact that… Do you want me to play that, Sonny? The drugs, it’s just that they’re killing our children, and I don’t think that that’s something that we can take lightly.
SPEAKER 09 :
You know what, really quick, I’m going to interrupt. You know what, we’ve got time. Let me just hit the play button here really quick. Let me play that, then we’ll come back and talk about it. How does that sound?
SPEAKER 03 :
Perfect. Our country is being poisoned from within by the drugs and by all of the other crime that’s taking place. The drug cartels are waging war in America. And it’s now time for America to wage war on the cartels. We will show no mercy on the cartels. Every day, drug traffickers are using the waters of our region to ship their lethal poisons to America, killing so many of our people. and ruining families. In addition to restoring strong border security, I will deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy, to impose the full naval embargo in the cartels. We will guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country. Furthermore, I will order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces, cyber warfare, and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations. I will designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, We will sever their access to global financial systems. I will also work to forge an unprecedented partnership with neighboring governments in our region. Either we will get the full cooperation of other governments to stop this menace, or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign. And it is indeed brutal. Finally, as I have said before, I will ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the death penalty. The drug cartels and their allies in the Biden administration have the blood of countless millions on their hands. Millions and millions of families and people are being destroyed. When I’m back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again. We did it once, and we did it better than anybody else. There’s never been a better border than we had just two years ago. It was strong, it was powerful, and it was respected all over the world. And now we’re laughed at all over the world. And we’re not going to let that happen much longer. We have to take over. We have to be tough. We have to be smart. We have to be fair. But if we don’t do something immediately, our country is gone.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well said, Mr. Trump. And the point there, Sonny, is just the simple fact that a lot of what even the left is complaining and whining about right now with what Donald Trump is doing, he already publicly stated early on he was going to do.
SPEAKER 14 :
Absolutely. And even the conservatives are, you know… Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you, Sunny, for pointing that out. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. The whiny conservatives that don’t like what he’s doing. Yeah, you voted for this, you knuckleheads.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, and I think there’s a distinction between being an isolationist and taking action against a regime that has, as President Trump explicitly said, killed and destroyed so many lives and families. And that’s just… You know, then you have another factor that I was kind of looking into, which is all of the American oil companies that were kicked out of Venezuela when Maduro decided to nationalize the oil industry.
SPEAKER 09 :
And really quick, too, I want to make a statement there. Not only were a lot of those companies kicked out. of Venezuela, but he seized all of their assets as well. So those companies literally lost millions upon millions of dollars of hard assets that they had put in there to actually generate the oil that they were making money off of, by the way, not only the oil company, but Venezuela themselves. So at the end of the day, yeah, he sent them packing and took all their stuff.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, I mean, that was absolute theft, you know, and that’s not how contracts work. That’s not how negotiations work. It’s one thing for You know, obviously, in a situation for that to say, OK, now we’re going to nationalize the industry. But for him to seize all those assets, I mean, I think that at the end of the day just shows, you know, the length that these authoritarian dictators will go. And I think that President Trump is trying to, as he always does, show strength. you know, not necessarily, I mean, strength through peace, but I also think that, you know, when you are taking all of these scenarios and situations into context, I think that there is not necessarily, I’m not saying I’m condoning war against Venezuela, but what is the consequence? Is there a consequence? I mean, what are we talking about here? And if we are talking about the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed from addiction and overdose of fentanyl and all of these things that have come through our southern border, that have come, all the illegals that they’ve sent over here, all of this criminality, this crime, because of the way and the quality of life in Venezuela and places like this where it’s socialist and communist regimes, that’s going to have an effect on our nation. And what do we do about that? Are we just going to sit down and take it? And I don’t think President Trump is going to take that course of action.
SPEAKER 09 :
And by the way, I’m glad he’s not. And for those that would rather, I don’t think he’s ever going to invade, by the way. I think he’s doing a lot of saber rattling. He’s taking care of things out in the water, which he needs to be doing. At the end of the day, I think he’s doing this correctly, by the way, Sonny, and he is really taking a big dent out of a lot of money going into Venezuela and, by the way, through Venezuela cartels and other terrorist organizations. So he’s really cracking down on that, and it’s really hurting them. And at the end of the day, he’s doing exactly what I, as a citizen, want him doing.
SPEAKER 15 :
Absolutely. And that’s why I do think it’s important to go back and listen to what did he say. There are so many families who are aching today because of kids who have died from fentanyl overdose, you know, murders by illegal aliens, excuse me. I think President Trump is trying to think about that, and I don’t think that this is about regime change. I don’t think President Trump actually cares about regime change. This is the time in politics where you just actually are able to sling words at things and label it something, and then everyone’s going to go and scream, oh, he’s announcing war tonight. He said he was the peace president. Now he’s doing war. And it’s like, again, remember we talked about this with Russia and Ukraine when he – I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I meant to say with Iran when he went in and bombed the nuclear facilities. It’s like that’s not necessarily war, but that doesn’t mean that President Trump will not take action just like any other president. I mean, at the end of the day, this is a geopolitical stage and he wants America to be the superpower. He doesn’t want to be taken advantage of anymore. And we’ve been laying down while this has happened.
SPEAKER 09 :
No. And again, I’m one where I don’t think that he’s going to invade Venezuela. I think he is looking at everything possible to get a regime change, put as much pressure on Maduro as he possibly can. I don’t think Donald Trump has any intentions of actually invading the country, despite what a lot of other or in spite of what a lot are. other folks might say, including some folks on the right. I don’t think he’s going to do that, Sonny. But is he going to do every single thing he possibly can to, A, inflict pain, B, through that pain, cause peace, which, by the way, that peace in Venezuela will amount to them getting much wealthier again, because if Venezuela can get back to good leadership and some sound policies and and frankly a government that actually works, the people will then become wealthier because there’s so much oil in Venezuela that folks like us and other countries will buy it, therefore making them very wealthy again, something they haven’t seen for quite some time.
SPEAKER 15 :
Absolutely. I mean, it would be really beautiful to see that for the people of Venezuela. I hope that that’s something that can happen because I do think that they’re hardworking people in the country. As we’ve seen, we’ve interviewed survivors of Venezuela, specifically in Olympic… shooter and she describes her her experience as the country started to decline because of the nationalization of these industries and she was actually an olympic shooter and you know she was not able to continue like at a certain point it became very challenging as you had you know you had to give in your firearms and then you had to get your firearms from the government and all of these things and they started to slowly but surely strip away those freedoms and so You know, I’m of the belief where I think that we need to put our best interests in mind. I know that you would agree with this, but President Trump, I’m hoping to hear what he has to say. And, you know, I really do have the faith that he wants the best for this country, that he’s not looking to invade another country and that he wants justice and action based on the things that have happened. You know, as we’ve discussed in this segment. But I yeah, I mean, we’ll see what happens. But I definitely I think that it’s not our job or responsibility to say, OK, well, let’s make it so that, you know, the government of Venezuela provides the best for the people. I mean, you know, who’s to say that? But I do think that, you know, action does need to be taken and there needs to be kind of. A standard set. I mean, listen, like these things are no joke. Like many people have been like people have literally died from these things that have. taking place and the millions of illegals that have flooded in from these countries.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. No, that’s exactly right. And some of us, Denver included, have been the victims of the cartels that have come here. By the way, just vile, filthy cartels that showed up here with the open border, Sonny. So yeah, at the end of the day, Trump’s trying to get all that taken care of. That’s what he’s doing.
SPEAKER 15 :
Absolutely. Think about that apartment building that was You know, taking over and all of these things.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s exactly right.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah. And I think it’s an opportunity for people to really go back and actually learn, you know, what we’re talking about, the fact that the oil industry was nationalized, the fact that we had relationships with Venezuela, that people were making money, that it was actually kind of a renaissance at that time.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s exactly right.
SPEAKER 15 :
And then they wanted to cripple the economy and basically pillage the economy. They’re pillaging the money for themselves and rich themselves. But, you know, the oil, like you said, is so much oil in Venezuela. And I think that’s very unfortunate.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep, absolutely.
SPEAKER 15 :
And that’s why we have to share these stories so people can understand the history of it. Absolutely. Because you don’t really know the context of what’s going on now if you don’t know the history.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s exactly right. Young Americans Against Socialism, Sonny, how do folks find you guys and help you at the same time?
SPEAKER 15 :
Absolutely. Well, it’s yas.org is the website, y-a-a-s.org. And there you can check out our resources, our interviews with our survivors, videos, and all of this information that you can share. And you can absolutely delve into the history of places like Venezuela that show the decline of their society and their economy because of the socialist policies and these socialist dictators. And this has happened all over the world. And I think We are now kind of seeing that aftermath of all of these things and President Trump trying to take swift action to kind of bolster our economy as, you know, a free market and show how that actually does create the prosperity and success that has built the American way of life. So you can go there, yes.org or on social media. And we’d love to be supported by you. So feel free to, you know, send us a donation if you’re so inclined. But we really appreciate your support and this opportunity always chatting with you on Wednesdays.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, we appreciate it greatly. We won’t talk to you until first of the year now with the holidays coming up. So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you guys, to you specifically, and everybody at Young Americans Against Socialism. Thank you for all you guys are doing, and keep up the great work, Sonny.
SPEAKER 15 :
It’s our pleasure. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to you and your family, your team, and your audience as well. Thank you so much, and it was a very eventful year, and I look forward to seeing you, or talking to you, I guess, in the new year.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right. No, both see and talk to you both, Sunny. Thank you very much. Have a great night.
SPEAKER 14 :
Bye-bye.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, take care. And we saw her this last year because she actually came in the studio live one day. So when she said, see us again, yeah, we’ll see if we can’t get her back out here live on another time. Mile High Coin, again, if you’re thinking, hey, I’ve got a bunch of things that I have accumulated, not necessarily collected. Maybe you were a collector at one time, but you’ve accumulated a lot of things over the years whereby, hey, you might want to turn that into cash right now. Mile High Coin will give you, by the way, a free appraisal. For KLZ listeners, if you want to turn them into cash, they can do that on the spot if you’d like. 720-370-3400.
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SPEAKER 09 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 09 :
And we are back, Rush to Reason. Joe, you’re next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 07 :
John, I want to go back to Xcel Energy and the shutting off the power and their liability for the fire. Pacific Gas and Electric went through the same thing about three years ago with the California wildfires. I don’t know if you remember that.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, I do.
SPEAKER 07 :
Here’s the deal. Electric utilities are regulated monopolies that are guaranteed a profit in every dollar they spend. Correct. Both Xcel Energy and Pacific Gas and Electric would have loved to have spent… billions burying those power lines because they would have made a profit on every dollar they spent. But at $5 million per mile to bury power lines through a forested or mountainous area, the PUC, of course, said no. I mean, they would love nothing better than to bury every overhead power line they have. The Public Utilities Commission won’t allow it because that would have to be passed on to the rate payers. So it’s kind of a pay me now, pay me later. Okay, you won’t allow us to bury our power lines because you don’t want to put the cost into the rate. Well, then blame the PUC or be willing to give up or be willing to pay a lot more for your electricity. But it’s not their fault they have overhead power lines. through forested areas. It’s, you know, blame the PUC.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right. Yeah. Back in the day when they were doing that, that was the cheapest form of, you know, cheapest way to run power. It still is, by the way, still the cheapest way to run power. A lot of new neighborhoods are put in with buried lines, of course, Joe, but a lot of the older neighborhoods, myself included, you know, we have overhead lines. It’s just the way things were back in the day. And to your point, unless somebody’s willing to pay the dollars to bury them, they stay above ground.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep. Five million. Now, by the way, John, in your neighborhood, you’re talking low voltage. You’re talking 220, maybe 480. It’s a whole lot less expensive to run a single phase 220 power up a neighborhood street than to run a 50,000 or even 150,000 volt high tension line and bury those. You’ve got to have three separate cables spaced apart because current would jump from one to the other, even though they’re insulated. So that’s why it’s so expensive. But It’s kind of a conundrum. All right, do you want to pay now to have your power lines buried, or do you want to live with the risk of a wildfire, or do you want to have your power shut off? Pick one. One of the three. You pick one of the three. Risk of wildfire, power shut off, or see your electric rates go through the roof because you’re going to pay to have all those power lines buried. Which one do you want? Pick your poison.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, and somebody’s also mentioning that all the FM stations are offline. Yeah, Lookout Mountain is down because the power is down up on the mountain, the tower. So, yeah, they are down. When will that come back? Folks, I have no idea. Exxon Energy was saying around 6 o’clock possibly. They think the winds will die down enough. at that point but it’s hard to say at this point and no i’m not in charge but yes that is why a lot of fm stations including ours at crawford broadcasting are down is because they come out of lookout mountain because fm signal travels differently than am signal does joe as you know so at the end of the day yes fm is down right now i’m just wondering uh what the what the payback would be john on a nice diesel generator with eight hours worth of run time Well, up there, the problem you got to look out mountain, if any of you listening have ever driven up there to see, everything isn’t really that consolidated. It would be multiple, multiple generators on each individual tower, most likely because of the way the mountain is configured. And my gut feeling is, Joe, most of those stations and or the owners that lease those back out just haven’t invested in that infrastructure to do so because of what I just said.
SPEAKER 07 :
And you’re probably right. It’s a question of how often would we need it versus being off the air for six hours. But at the same time, John, four small generators or six small generators are a lot cheaper to put in than two massive generators. So you’ve got that. I mean, AT&T and Verizon are putting in uh, gen sets now at their, Oh yeah, they’re all done that way.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. I have a cell tower on my site and yeah, they’re all run off of not gen sets or run off of big, huge, um, you know, industrial type, uh, generators because they keep those cell towers operating no matter what.
SPEAKER 07 :
Exactly. So, yeah. So if you can put, um, generators at, at, and John, there are literally millions of cell towers, millions of cell sites. Uh, and by the way, for numbers, I used to be in the business at the base of every cell tower, uh, You have one or more little brown huts that have air conditioners on them, electric feed, and generators. And there’s hundreds of thousands worth of two-way radio equipment and rectifiers and even battery banks inside those little brown buildings. And virtually every one of those little brown buildings these days have a generator outside. Now, it doesn’t have to be a big generator because your typical –
SPEAKER 09 :
cell tower probably only needs about 15 to 20 kilowatts so it doesn’t have to yeah it depends on as you know depends on the the tower and some of you that are in the cell tower end of things know this even better than i depends on the tower uh is it one of their main main main towers is it an auxiliary tower in other words is it signaling off of some of the other local towers around they kind of like a master tower if you would joe so it just kind of depends on where that towers located and so on. But yeah, no, at the end of the day, they’ve done that very well. Why isn’t Lookout Mountain that way? You know, again, I don’t own the towers. I don’t know, Joe.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah. And by the way, John, a little more trivia, probably more you want to know. Most of the cell phone towers in this country are not owned by the cell phone companies. They’re owned by publicly traded companies like American Tower Corporation that rent space If you look up a cell phone tower, you might see three, four, five.
SPEAKER 09 :
It depends. Each one of those towers is different. Mine actually is owned by Verizon itself. But yes, that is true, Joe. Yes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and many of them. And on some of them, the tower owner will put one large building that’s called co-location. Right. In addition to renting space on the tower. to the AT&T for their antennas. That’s right. They co-locate. We’ll rent you space in our big building so you don’t have to provide your own building. That’s exactly right. Exactly right.
SPEAKER 09 :
Joe, as always, man, I appreciate it. Always good info. You’re welcome, John. I appreciate you. Have a great night. We’ll talk again tomorrow. Roof Savers of Colorado. Yes, the wind can damage roofs. Absolutely. You’re better off with a roof in the wind with a roof max treatment, by the way. So find out how that would work for you with Dave today. 303-710-6916.
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SPEAKER 10 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 09 :
All right, really quick, in closing, some of the permitting sides of things with Jefferson County and Lookout Mountain might be part of why there’s not generation facilities up there as well. Somebody texted that in and said that, so thank you, by the way, for that reminder. All right, that’s it for Hour 2. Hour 3 is next. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Ordinary average guy Ordinary average guy
