Hour two opens with Ann Schlafly of Eagle Forum arguing the country has gone too far in normalizing marijuana—calling out high-THC products, youth exposure, mental health concerns, and the marketing machine behind it. John pushes the conversation into the real-world effects states are seeing, especially in places like Colorado where legalization has been around long enough to show the tradeoffs.
Later, John tackles a listener question from Wyoming about teens crossing into Colorado dispensary towns and whether tips to law enforcement at the state line cross a constitutional line. From there, he shifts to another Colorado issue: drivers deliberately obscuring
SPEAKER 03 :
This is Rush to Reason.
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Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 15 :
Okay, welcome. Hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Ann Schlafly joining us now from Eagle Forum. Ann, welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER 15 :
I appreciate it, and talk to us. Recently, New York Times editorial talking about marijuana, we’ve gone too far in its acceptance and legalization. Number one, what are you guys’ thoughts, and have we gone too far?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, isn’t it exciting when the New York Times finally sees the light and agrees with a reasonable position? Yes, we’ve gone way too far on marijuana. I’m sure you know it in Colorado. We certainly know it in Missouri here, where We have legal marijuana in our Constitution, and the social consequences have been huge. We’ve got children who are addicted to marijuana. They’re getting cannabis use disorder, and they’re wrecking their lives because of the easy accessibility of this drug that is highly dangerous, but people have been taught by the big marijuana industry that it’s benign.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, I mean, I think, to your point, there’s been a lot of, how should I say this, and I would call it inaccurate information whereby those will, you know, because I heard it early on here in Colorado because, as you know, we were one of the first states to legalize it. And early on, you know, we were told, oh, you know, it’s better for you than, you know, anything else you could do, smoking, tobacco, so on and so forth. At the end of the day, it’s less harmful than a lot of the other things that folks are doing. And that’s just not true.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, tobacco does not give you schizophrenia, and that’s what people are getting from marijuana.
SPEAKER 15 :
Good point. And as you know, Anne, other things as well. In fact, there’s no doubt, I think, in a lot of cases, and I will be the first to say that no, it’s not this in every case, but it is, quote-unquote, a gateway drug that in some cases, not all, but in some cases can lead to other bad behavior along the lines of drug habits.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, there’s no doubt that if you have a marijuana dispensary in your community, your crime rate will go up. So it does lead to other bad behaviors. The evidence is quite clear on that.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, the correlation is there. And again, I think, and I do health and wellness a full hour on Wednesdays here on my program, and I’ve talked about this topic among others, and I think, Ann, and correct me if I’m wrong, I’m by no means a doctor or an expert in certain things. I talk to a lot of experts and interview a lot on this program. But any time you’re using something as some sort of a substitute, whether it be drugs, alcohol, whatever, even prescription drugs, at the end of the day, if you’re using something to make you feel better, you probably have something else you should be looking at.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, I’m sure you’re right about that. You always want to treat the underlying cause, not the unhappy symptom you have at the moment. But more importantly, you know, marijuana was sold as medicine, but no medicine can be smoked and still be medicine.
SPEAKER 15 :
True. No, that’s a very good point. And given the fact of what that does to, as you know, your lungs and so on, no, you are correct. And I get it. And for those of you listening, please, yes, I’ve interviewed many people where there are lotions and things along those lines that can just have CBD oil, in some cases maybe a little bit of THC, but at the end of the day, and be very effective for pain relief and things along those lines. That’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about the fact that the legalization of marijuana has got a lot of kids hooked to it. in this day and age?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, and that’s true. It’s something like 25% of teenagers have used marijuana in the last month. And marijuana, when used under the age of 25, has a much bigger effect on the brain. It kills brain cells. You’re going to have lower IQ if you use marijuana at a young age.
SPEAKER 15 :
I’m assuming because the brain isn’t fully developed, it’s in that developmental stage, and for some individuals, as you know, that can be all the way up to 24, 25, 26 years of age. So using that and probably other drugs, it’s stunting, quote-unquote, the growth of the brain. Am I thinking correctly?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, but just marijuana will do it. You don’t even have to use other drugs to have this effect.
SPEAKER 15 :
Got it. And again, these are things for all of you listening. I’ve covered this in many episodes in the past, many shows, I should say, in the past. And because in Colorado, as you know, we’ve been dealing with this for, oh, gosh, I’d have to go back and look. But if my memory serves me correctly, probably two decades now.
SPEAKER 14 :
I’m so sorry. I mean, Colorado is really lost now that you’ve got this pot smell everywhere, right?
SPEAKER 15 :
You know, it’s funny, as I drive home at night down I-70 West, yes, we have dispensaries and things along those lines and along that way that depending upon the temperature outside and what the wind’s doing and so on. Oh, yes, yeah, I get to smell that on a routine basis going to and from the station. Yes, I do, actually. So you’re 100% correct.
SPEAKER 14 :
And it can really make a neighborhood quite unpleasant.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, it can. And what’s shocking here in Colorado is that given what you just said, we have lots of outrage over all sorts of other things, but we don’t in what you just said.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, the outrage should be any time children are using marijuana and getting intoxicated on the THC. The shock should be any time a pregnant woman or nursing mother is using marijuana because of the effect on the developing fetus is so huge. The shock should be when children are addicted to marijuana and then they get a psychosis, 30% of children. of young men with cannabis use disorder will develop psychosis, and that is a lifelong damage to the body that then has to be treated. You know, this whole idea that we make this drug legal and we tax it and the government gets a benefit and the stoners can get stoned, the result is a much greater societal cost as we have to pay for the damage that is done to to these children who will never be fully developed human beings.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well said. Now, Colorado, really quick, I wasn’t too far off, and we did medical marijuana in 2000. It was a vote of the voters then in 2000. Recreation marijuana, it was approved in 2012. The market launch was 2014. So my two decades plus, I was right on the money.
SPEAKER 14 :
Congratulations.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, it just means because I remember in Colorado all of what we’ve been through along these lines of what you’re talking about.
SPEAKER 14 :
Sure, sure. And, of course, the medical marijuana is a fraud. There are no double-blind tests to actually test the efficacy. It’s only anecdotal whether there’s any efficacy to it. But there are a huge number of side effects. So when you buy any drug, you are always prescribed a drug. There always is this huge list of the side effects. Marijuana should come with the side effects that happen. And one of the side effects is uncontrollable vomiting. Millions of Americans get this uncontrollable vomiting after using marijuana.
SPEAKER 15 :
The other thing, too, that I was just reminded of in a text message is the marijuana of today, even here in Colorado that’s sold recreationally speaking, is not the same as what folks had even 30, 40 years ago. It’s a much different, in some cases, higher dosage strain than what we had even as you and I being kids.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, because the chemists, The chemistry is well known, and the marijuana companies know how to extract as much THC or have the synthetic THC in order to boost it. And the druggies, those addicted to it, they go for the highest THC. That’s what they want. So, I mean, you know, if you’re an alcoholic, maybe you want to drink Everclear. But most people, when they choose alcohol, they choose it based on flavor and style and taste. Well, that’s not the case with marijuana. They’re choosing solely for intoxication.
SPEAKER 15 :
Gotcha. All right, so what are you doing along these lines to combat that? I know you’ve got a book coming out in the near future along those lines, so tell us what you guys are doing.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, my book is Throwing Children Under the Cannabis, available at EagleForum.org, and what I’m suggesting is that the states that can can put limits on marijuana should be putting limits on it. We should have better age limits. We should have black box warning on any sale of marijuana. Think about the warnings that are on packets of cigarettes. And yet we don’t have any of this. Think about the advertising for tobacco doesn’t exist anymore because the advertising works. And now we have clever, cute, advertising for marijuana. And so the only thing that’s going to happen with this is that the kids will get addicted. And so we need to stop the advertising, the billboards, and really have municipal controls on the dispensaries and what they’re doing to our neighborhoods.
SPEAKER 15 :
Great point. Ann, how do folks find you at the Eagle Forum?
SPEAKER 14 :
Eagleforum.org. I’d love to talk to you about this subject because I think it really, as the New York Times said, this is bipartisan. We can all agree that we need less marijuana in our lives rather than more.
SPEAKER 15 :
And thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it greatly. John, it was a pleasure. You bet. Have a great evening. And Veteran Windows and Doors coming up next. Make sure that you go right to the source saving money on Windows and Doors today. Veteran Windows and Doors. Find them at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 07 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 15 :
I had a good question that came in that I don’t really know the answer to. I’m going to talk about this because it’s a good question. Let me read the text message. This is Macy in Wyoming. Marijuana is illegal in Wyoming. Our kids say that the SRO and Drug Task Force folks who speak at schools tell the kids to not drive to Alter Wellington to the dispensaries or for anything else because they have informants down there to call back to Wyoming to get them at the state line. Isn’t that unconstitutional? I don’t know that it’s necessarily unconstitutional. And I’m not an attorney, but let me walk through this. It would be no different than if a drug task force knew that, I’ll use Charlie as an example. He doesn’t do this, but let’s just say Charlie made lots of trips to Mexico. And in going to Mexico, there was somebody there, an informant, that knew Charlie was buying drugs, either personally or to bring back to America to sell. It’s not unconstitutional for an informant to, quote-unquote, rat on Charlie to say, hey, check this guy out. He’s a mule. He’s running drugs, and he’s bringing them back into the country. Watch out for this particular person. Now, last time I checked, and Charlie, you can tell me if I’m right or wrong, but I don’t think there’s anything unconstitutional about that because you’re doing an illegal activity. Now, in this case, these kids aren’t in Colorado performing an illegal activity, but if they’re bringing it back to Wyoming, it now is. So, in a way, my example with these kids isn’t any different than what Charlie or I or any of you listening, if you were going to another country to bring back illegal drugs, how is it any different? Now, where it might get dicey with Wyoming and Colorado is you’re not coming and going from a country, but you are crossing state lines. whereby what you’re bringing in isn’t legal. In fact, folks, let me go as far as to say it’s no different than folks that carry concealed, and they go from one state to another, and that state may not oblige, may not be obligatory to the laws of the other state, and you may not be able to carry in that state, so you have to be careful when you you know drive across state lines when it comes to things along those lines this is where it gets really dicey and this is because we have states rights in the united states of america and not every state has exactly the same laws when it comes to certain things now transportation and so on yes you can drive from one place to the next to the next to the next and go coast to coast with no problems but that’s transportation that’s our highway system and we have federal law that Well, it doesn’t kind of. It manages our interstates and so on. And even though states can set their own driving laws as far as speed limits and things like that go, a state can’t keep you from coming into the state and driving. But that’s transportation. That’s not drugs. So in this case, to answer your question— I don’t think it’s necessarily unconstitutional. Again, I’m not a constitutional attorney, so I’m not an attorney, period. I don’t even play one on air. I interview folk from time to time along those lines, but I don’t think there’s anything illegally speaking when it comes to law enforcement and so on. If they get a tip that you’ve been in Colorado and you may be bringing drugs back into the state where it’s not legal, I don’t think there’s anything you can do about that. I don’t think that’s considered entrapment or anything along those lines. No, somebody ratted you out when you were down here buying things that you shouldn’t have been buying in the first place, trying to bring them back into Wyoming. So I, again, am I a fan of that? Well, of course not. You know me, I’m one of those that, you know, you do you and I’ll do me and I’m not worried about it, but… Again, I’m not the state of Wyoming, and I’m not law enforcement in Wyoming, and I’m not in charge, but I don’t think at the end of the day it’s necessarily unconstitutional to do so. In fact, I would venture to guess that it’s probably well within the law. Given the example I just gave a moment ago about if you’re in a foreign country bringing things back here, I don’t think there’s any difference in that. Before I bring Richard on here at the bottom of the hour, there was an interesting article that I read on 9 News, and this is happening in different places in Colorado. This happens to be Broomfield, as I talked about Broomfield and their RV ordinance a moment ago. or last hour, I should say. This is interesting, though, because what people are doing to get by with not paying tolls, this isn’t for, you know, I guess you could get by with not even paying other types of tickets, whether you might have a speed infraction by a speed cam or a red light cam or whatever, I guess that would apply as well. People are concealing their license plates. And what I mean by concealing is they are They are painting in some cases or making it look like paint spilled all over the license plate, or they’re taking a temp tag and tearing off the bottom portion, or they’re even going as far as putting up their own paper tag that says something like private purchase in transit. I’m looking at pictures of these, by the way, so I can say that’s exactly what they’re doing. And by doing that, of course, they’re evading tolls. Broomfield Police says it has stopped more than 150 drivers since the beginning of the year. Keep in mind, we’re only into the middle of February right now. 150 drivers for deliberately altering or obscuring their license plates. Sometimes, by the way, that includes the covers that you can put over your license plate whereby the readers won’t pick them up. Now, here’s what’s interesting. Several, I don’t know how many, I don’t know what the percentage is, but several of the drivers are repeat offenders. Now, here’s my thought on this. I’m all for it. Pull those people over and write them a ticket. I have to pay my tolls. I have to make sure my license plate is easily read. So to all of you that are listening, why do these knuckleheads get by with it and not have to pay? It’s sort of like the folks that run around and have expired tags and don’t get their stuff registered and so on. I’m not for that either. I think it’s a bunch of garbage. In fact, I don’t think we’ve come down near hard enough on those individuals that run around on expired tags, purposely. Purposely. This is not a forgetful thing. I get it. Every now and again, all of us, myself included, you may have a vehicle where it slips through the cracks, and you’re like, oh, geez, that had a 12 on it. It’s now the following year, and I need a 2 with a 27 sticker. Okay, I understand that. And I get some things can slip through the cracks, trailers, things like that especially. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the guy running around with a temp tag that’s expired a year ago. And I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that. In fact, I’ve done a thing numerous times on this program and Drive Radio both, whereby call in with the longest expired tag you’ve seen. Did a lot of that during COVID because people got spoiled during COVID because they felt like it was pretty much a free for all and they could go forever because it was hard to get plates during COVID, even though it wasn’t hard to get plates during COVID. But they made it seem like it was. So they use that excuse and have continued to use that excuse that, well, you know, it’s not open or I couldn’t do this or I couldn’t do that. And right now it’s 100% an excuse. And, again, this is a topic when it comes to expired tags I’ve talked about many times on both of my programs because, in my opinion, it’s just a load of crap. These people are getting by with something the rest of us can’t get by with. And they should be paying their fair share just like the rest of us do. If you can’t afford to have registered your vehicle properly, then don’t drive. Take mass transit, do whatever else you need to do. But the rest of us are paying, so should you. I have no sympathy. None. Zero. Especially given the large fleet that I own and operate and so on. Yeah, I more than pay my fair share. So should you. So go get your tag. There are times, and I don’t do this, but there are times where I’ll see somebody with an expired tag that’s way out. You know, not just a few days or even a few weeks, but I mean six months out. I just almost want to roll down the window and say, are you just that much of a cheapskate? You can’t go down and get your plates shipped? Literally, I want to say that. I don’t because I don’t want to stir anything up, but I so much want to roll my window down and really just ask the question, why are you running around with tags that aren’t current? The rest of us have to do it because here’s my other thought. If you’re doing that, you probably don’t have insurance either. Now, for me, the other thing I do when I see them that way, I stay as far away from them as I can because they most likely don’t have insurance. If they can’t get registration handled, I highly doubt they have insurance. They maybe did at one point, but I bet they don’t now. But in the Broomfield, keep this in mind, folks. If you have license plates that are somehow covered up, that you’ve done that purposely, you’ve got paper tags that are expired, or you’ve ripped half the tag off, and you’re trying to avoid the tolls and other law enforcement things we have out there because of doing so, City of Broomfield or the Broomfield cops, I should say, are most likely going to pull you over and give you a ticket. You can’t play dumb any longer. And by the way, the rest of us can’t, so why should you? So if you’re up in that area, and you’re especially driving on the tolls, and your license plate is not visible, properly visible, you’re probably going to get pulled over and end up with a ticket. Golden Eagle Financial coming up next. Make sure you’re dialed in when it comes to your finances and the risk that’s involved with them. Al can help you with all of that. Find him today by going to klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 07 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right, we are back. Richard Rush joining us now. Richard, welcome.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome. Can you have Charlie turn me up a little bit or not? I can’t hardly hear myself or hear you guys.
SPEAKER 15 :
Can you hear us now?
SPEAKER 03 :
I can hear you. It’s just really faint. So maybe it’s just me, though.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, it must be. We’ll do our best to try to turn. He says, yeah, he says we’re good on our end, so.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, well, I can hear you barely, so. But, yes, everything is good. We are middle of the Olympics here. By the way, post-football is always like the worst weekend because it finally sets in that we don’t have any football left. So I don’t know when.
SPEAKER 15 :
Daytona. Let’s start there. Let’s talk about Daytona for a minute for a lot of car folks that are listening. And I did not watch the race yesterday, folks. I will be the first to admit that I never do this. I honestly got so busy. I had so many things going on. I forgot. I forgot it was on.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and no offense to you, and partially this is because the Super Bowl was on a different network, because usually if it’s on Fox, right, they really run the promotions for it.
SPEAKER 15 :
Right, right.
SPEAKER 03 :
I just did not see any promotions on it. I didn’t either.
SPEAKER 15 :
I didn’t see anything. I didn’t get anything even in my inbox talking about it. I totally blew it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and I did too, I’ll be honest. We were driving around, I had a run to Home Depot, you know, a typical weekend that way, and then kind of saw something on social media about it but they’re like okay and then honestly with the olympics being on that kind of took center stage and you kind of had that on in the background but it was so it was also so nice yesterday you know especially here i don’t i maybe i’m sure some of the car guys did but i i’m with you i did not turn it on and um but i guess sounds like we maybe missed a good race you know old michael jordan decided to, I guess, I think he’s got four cars now, which is crazy to me, Dad. I guess I didn’t realize he was that into racing, but he’s got four cars now. And he said winning the Daytona 500, Dad, was the equivalent, holding that trophy was the equivalent of winning an NBA championship, which is crazy.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I mean, for those that don’t understand how all that works, it takes a lot of time and effort and ingenuity and money and luck to By the way, in fact, if you watch the last lap of that race, which not last lap, the last several laps of the race, which I actually did, I went back and watched some of the replays of it, Richard. And the reality is, yeah, there’s a lot of luck that goes, especially winning one of the super speedways because of restrictor plates and so on, which I totally despise. I absolutely hate. hate nascar for it by the way michael jordan for those of you that don’t know has been a huge disruptor of nascar which by the way they need because it’s gotten to be too much in my opinion of the good old boys situation they need a disruptor like a michael jordan to come along and do some things so good for him by the way for doing so and yeah it takes a lot of of ingenuity and luck to win that race but on the same token michael jordan knows how to win
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, he does, and my guess is he’s put guys in place because I don’t know if Michael knows the first thing about racing. He knows about winning. And he knows about winning, and he knows that if you are not fully committed to it, and I think a lot of people, even when he was an owner in the National Basketball League, right, the NBA, and he sort of turned, I think, well, Not really turned him around, but he did turn a $300 million or $400 million investment into a $2 billion investment. So no matter how you slice winning, he won there even though he didn’t win a championship as an owner. But he does know about winning, and he does know what it takes and what the drive is, and that is the thing with him. I think that he strives to do that, and he strives to… constantly do it and it’s interesting dad because he you know and again speaking of NBC you know they’ve had the Olympics which we’ll get to in a second and they had the NBA all-star game and and they had a few things he he’s kind of brought back by them to do a little bit of coverage but he’s sort of been MIA and a lot of people have been like well you know he’s you know he made them come to him and do it and you can everyone kind of sits on whatever Michael has to say about basketball Well, I wonder if partly his apprehension, I know he doesn’t like where the game’s headed at this point, so maybe that’s his apprehension, but I wonder why he’s more involved if he does want to focus on racing and what that means.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, really quick, to his credit, this doesn’t happen very often, so his credit, which I didn’t even know until looking it up, not only did he win, but all of his cars, so he won, and three cars were in the top ten on race day. That’s an accomplishment all in and of itself.
SPEAKER 03 :
That is an accomplishment. And like you say, especially Daytona, which, again, honestly, we could probably spend a whole show talking about NASCAR and what they need to do to bring fans in. We briefly talked about it, you know, from sports segments, from sports segments. But they’ve got to do something, Dad. And, again, the issue is a prime example. And I’ll be honest, Dad, especially when you have Michael Jordan being a car owner, there’s a lot of Michael Jordan fans out there. Right. That they just like the guy because of who he is and what he’s done. and it’s a shame, and I hope they capitalize on it, but I haven’t seen much of anything about it either, to be honest. I don’t know what’s going on there. I would have thought there would be a little bit more publicity about Michael Jordan winning Daytona.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I think because, this is my opinion, because he’s not your typical car owner. He’s not a Roger Penske. He’s not a Hendrick. You know, he’s not some of the guys that typically are in that sport and then win that sport because, to your point, he’s really, I mean, he’s a car guy in that he owns some cars and exotics and so on. A lot of those professional guys do because they have billions of dollars and they can pretty much own whatever they want to. But he’s not a car guy like a Hendrick is.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, but Dan, I’ll be honest. Usually, most of these ESPN, for example, they like anything Michael Jordan, right? Again, there’s a reason he’s the greatest of all time. They like the debate that he causes and stuff. I’m just looking at the top headlines on ESPN. ESPN right now, and it’s not even one of those. I know the Olympics are going on and all of that, but it’s just like, you’ve got to think that there’s room for it, and I don’t know why it is. I don’t know because it’s not a mainstream ESPN sport. It’s been on Fox for years, and I just wish NASCAR would push it a little bit more, Dad. That’s just a personal thing, because I think that there is a market for it, and they’ve got to do something to change it up, and I know that’s going to upset the purists, and you and I have talked about that a little bit, but I feel like they’ve got to do something. Otherwise, it’s going to continue to get stale, and
SPEAKER 15 :
NASCAR needs to do what other sports have done, football being one where they have certain teams that are allowed to own so many cars, have salary caps, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. If they really want to keep that sport moving forward, in my opinion, that’s the direction. I mean, they need to go to a team ownership type model. I know that a lot of purists don’t want to hear me say that, Richard, because you sort of lock out the little guy at that point. But if they want the sport to continue on and be as good as it’s been, they’re going to have to do something along those lines, in my opinion.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and to your point, and it’s one thing that, you know, we’re Formula One. If you don’t understand, well, they need to do a Formula One thing, you know, like the dry or the race to whatever it is that Formula One did for Netflix, right? They’ve got to do something to kind of get people involved, pull people behind the curtain. I don’t know if they need to necessarily make races shorter, which, again, a lot of purists would make them upset, Dad. Make them faster. Do something, right? You’ve got to make it more exciting for people to tune in and watch. Because let’s just face it, right? That’s what gets people to tune in is excitement and the pageantry and all that, which I guess kind of leading to our next topic of the Olympics. And typically it’s interesting, right? Because I think we forget because we do so well as America in the Summer Olympics. And we tend to not do as well in the Winter Olympics. But I don’t think that has anything to do other than other countries. Norway, for example, you know, those countries, that’s what they do, right? That’s kind of all they have are these winter sports. They tend to not do well in the summer. And America kind of does well in both, although I would argue we are dominant in the Summer Olympics. But we’re holding our own. on the winter side of things, dad, I guess my question for you is, have you watched any of it?
SPEAKER 15 :
Cause I know how busy you are and sometimes you don’t get to do as much, but have you tuned in a little bit of the curling, which people think maybe I’m weird for. I actually like watching curling.
SPEAKER 04 :
I love it.
SPEAKER 15 :
i understand you know from knowing some canadians i understand a little bit about the sport and how it works and the strategy behind and so on and was even sitting next to somebody this weekend and trying to explain how curling works and you know the strategy because at first this person was like that’s got to be the stupidest sport ever i’m like no there’s actually a lot more strategy to it and by the time we had watched a match this person was like oh okay and was actually cheering then toward you know the americans were playing of course was actually cheering at the end for our our team because started to understand how it actually worked and what they were doing and once you understand how it works it’s actually more of a sport than most people think the other one that i get fascinated by is the cross-country skiing where they have to shoot and do all the different things to me that one is just it’s amazing to me that you know you’re you’re skiing along and all of a sudden you got to stop get on this pad or stand up in some cases, depending upon what you’re doing at that point in time, and get your air rifle out and then hit the target. And I don’t think most people realize how difficult that is.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, they don’t. I mean, a biathlon, right, it really is. You have to get your heart rate slowed down and do that. Right. There are some – I’m with you, Dad. There are some really fun – Winter Olympic events, we don’t get very often. It kind of happened last time with curling. I kind of gained traction because the U.S. was good, the men’s team was, and they ended up winning gold, I believe. The mixed doubles happened similarly this year, where the mixed doubles team is doing better than a lot of people have anticipated. I’m with you, Dad. It’s just kind of fun. It does shine a light on it. Curling is one of those sports where, yes, don’t get me wrong, I think it takes a lot of practice and a lot of effort to do, but it is something. It feels like you could roll off the couch with your buddy and curl a stone, right? Maybe that’s how it started, it feels like. And I didn’t know this.
SPEAKER 15 :
Really quick, you just said that. I didn’t know this. Most people probably don’t either. Curling actually started in Ireland in the 1600s.
SPEAKER 03 :
And to me, it feels like a bunch of Irish guys just finished their stouts, and I know Guinness probably came after that. But they finished it, and we’re like, hey, let’s go slide this on the local pond. And they did that. I mean, it just kind of feels like that. But once you do get to know it, there’s so much more that goes into it. It really is fascinating to watch. And I’m actually been fascinated, Dad, and you don’t think about it this way, but a lot of these Olympians – Well, in some respects, you know, snowboarders and skiers, and they probably can do that, you know, full-time, you know, through different competitions. But curlers and even speed skaters and some of these guys and gals, they don’t have the ability to do that, right? They are kind of this is their time to shine. And they have other jobs. I think some of these women’s bobsledders even out there I’ve been hearing are even the Canadian, you know, some of the hockey players are moms. which I think is a really cool story. And it kind of just goes to show you that you can do both, right? You can go be a mom and then you can go play, you know, at a world-class thing. And the Olympics are such a funky event, right? Where it just, everything has to go right. And obviously I guess that we would be remiss here before we go to break. If we didn’t talk about the quad God, right? The, the figure skating guy last week, who does the four quads. This guy does backflips on skate stats. He is crazy. And he sort of pulled a Simone Biles or even our Colorado Dome, Michaela Schifrin, where Olympic pressure is a different pressure. These people, and they are people, they still have to perform it. And I think sometimes we talk about these things as if they’re a foregone conclusion. They’re going to happen. This guy’s going to win gold. Well, that guy was about as favorited as can be. He ends up falling on the ice. I know there’s some different speculation as to why he fell. Maybe the ice was soft or whatever it might be. But it’s really, you’ve got to perform. And for him, he kind of talked about it. He did own it to an extent. He talked about maybe if he had gone before and experienced the Olympic pressure. But that’s kind of what’s crazy to me about the Olympics. You may go one year, but you’re not guaranteed to go the next year. Not next year, but in four years, right? Who knows what happens at that point in time? Who knows what comes along? So it is crazy. I have enjoyed it, Dad. And actually, you’ll enjoy this. actually showed the older boys a miracle for the first time last night. And they just got the biggest kick out of that, just because obviously our men’s hockey team is doing well. And not that this year, if we win gold, we’ll be quite to that level. And, man, the Canadians, which are full of a bunch of Avalanche players, seem to be good. But I’m excited that kind of finished off. I know that I think we’ve got another, I think it’s like eight or ten days or something of it. I’m not sure if everything finishes off this weekend or not. But I’m excited to see how it finishes. And if the U.S. can pull golden hockey, I’ll be really happy.
SPEAKER 15 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
Okay, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. It’s that time of the week where we do car reviews, and we’ve got a couple to catch up on because we were heavy on sports last week, Richard. So we’ve got two to do. Which one do you want to start with?
SPEAKER 03 :
Two to, yeah, let’s, well, kind of with the older of the two, I guess you could say, which is the 2026 Volkswagen Tiguan, Dad. And this is the trim we drove was the SEL R-Line Turbo, which is all new for 2026. But the Tiguan as a whole, Dad, is a compact SUV, right? That market is just exploding with lots of different options from lots of different manufacturers. And it’s kind of whatever flavor you want, you can get. I will say this. This vehicle, as equipped, was one of my most favorite cars that we’ve driven in the past year. And I’m talking this year, 2026, I’m talking in the past year. Just with some of the features that I’ll get into here in just a second and how the car drove and just everything about it and the value, which is, as you know, is big for you and I. It was really hard to beat. So let’s get into it. That R-Line Turbo, it’s got a new 268-horsepower turbocharged engine, which is a really big, I guess, horsepower bump.
SPEAKER 04 :
It is.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I guess I’ll tout that really quick. That car, it drove phenomenally. Sometimes when you get into turbo cars and, folks, when you get into as many cars as we drive, you can sense some lag at times. The tuning may not be up to par, especially at our altitude, Dad, right? And you and I have talked about this many times. It’s just different up here. However they have this car tuned is just phenomenal. It works amazingly well. There’s not a whole lot of lag, but it also doesn’t lurch you back into your seat and shock you. It just is really, really smooth and operates really, really well that way. You’ve got different trim levels, S, E, SE. Obviously, I mentioned the SEL R-Line Turbo. There still is a standard 2-liter turbo, Dad, which is about 201 horsepower on it. It does have an 8-speed automatic transmission across all the lines. Fuel economy, on a normal one, Dad, you’re about 26 and 34. Again, the SEL R-Line Turbo that we drove was 22 and 29. Mind you, Dad, that was also all-wheel drive, which I know is a big thing for a lot of people, even when it does snow. here in Colorado. Onto the interior, dad, this is probably my favorite part. This car had pretty much everything you would want on a car that you would think is twice the money. And what I mean by that is this has ambient lighting where you can change the color. You can change, it’s got different patterns that you can select as far as that goes. Our second row heated seats, it’s got heated and ventilated front row seats that it has massaging. front passenger and driver seats to it. And, folks, the tune of this car, I think the price tag, I don’t have the Monroney in front of me, it was about $45,000. And, Dad, to get a car like that with all of the interior features it did, not to mention, in my opinion, Volkswagen has one of the better infotainment systems because a lot of these companies, Dad, as you know, are going to, you know, most everything is controlled by the display, right? There’s not as many physical knobs. The Volkswagen system, for whatever reason, just seems to be a little bit easier to operate and it seems a little bit easier to maneuver, and you’re not lost in it, and you and I kind of use that as a good barometer of, okay, how can we, is this car, for you and I being pretty tech savvy, is this something that we can get into and not fiddle around with everything for so long, right? And this car has that. I’ll be honest, Ed, I could go on and on. It really was one of my more favorite cars. Just everything about it was able to fit two booster seats in the back, able to take the kids outside, was able to lay the seats flat and transfer some cargo you know kind of do a little bit of a spring clean here outside of that i really don’t have any negatives to be honest with you everything about this car was positive and i’m not just saying that because it’s a review it’s just i really enjoyed this vehicle so if you want to learn more about it head to your local volkswagen dealership test drive it by the way dad the looks that’s the last thing i’ll mention the exterior of this car people are going to be surprised because they really they redesigned it a little bit and i think people will really like the look of it so when you do that let them know that john and richard rush from rush to reason and drive radio sent you all right that is one down what is review number two yeah dad so it’s a car that we’ve driven um a few times and i think you’re not you’ve enjoyed so i know you can kind of uh chime in a little bit 2026 lexus nx 350h so this is their hybrid and this is kind of the same compact suv that although this is kind of considered the luxury compact suv market right um this is part of a um uh the the f sport uh handling trim level it’s got all wheel drive there’s also a front wheel drive version um that is now available for this year and then the f sport handling package what i have is also new for 2026 There’s a new color, which is the one that we’re driving, infrared, which is a really pretty red. It sounds exactly, I don’t know what’s kind of referred to as an inferno, but it’s an infrared. That way you can get this vehicle, dad, combined however you want to, right? You’ve got different trim levels to choose from. And if you want to go all the way up to the luxury level, price point, dad, starts around 45 or so and can go all the way up to over 70, depending on what you outfit this car with the one that we are driving. Again, we’re driving the three 50 H with the F sports handling package on it at 58 to 64 fuel economy for us was 48 and 37 average of 39. And we were right around there that I think it was right about 41 for most of my driving and quite a bit, quite a bit of city driving that way. As you would add with the Lexus and Toyota platform, their hybrid technology is second to none. It just works flawlessly, right? It interchanges from the gasoline to that. You don’t have the clunky fires up and kind of turns on. It just feels nice, right? And you’ve driven a lot of hybrid vehicles, and we always kind of come back to this. It’s really hard to beat that Lexus-Toyota system.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, no, their system, I say it all the time. I’ve talked about this even on… Drive radio on a routine basis people even calling in and asking you know, what vehicle do you buy? Especially when it comes to the hybrid and things nothing against other manufacturers But Toyota set the tone all the way back initially with the Prius They’ve advanced that on into a lot of their other product lineup and yes Lexus is a division of of Toyota and their hybrid system literally Richard is second to none the NX being smaller for those of you listening smaller than the RX which the RX has grown over time so for those of you listening and where you might have owned an RX at one time and liked that size, but don’t like the fact that it’s sort of grown and nothing against Toyota. They’ve had to compete in that market segment, which they started, by the way. That was Toyota’s, you know, they started the whole RX lineup in the Lexus end of things. But the NX, and I don’t think I’m far off on this. I’d have to do some measurements and look at the specs. But I’m guessing that the NX is like an older RX size-wise because it’s smaller than the current RX substantially.
SPEAKER 03 :
I would tend to agree with you, Dad. And like you said, this NX, it’s kind of like in between. It’s probably not as big as the original RXs were, but it’s also maybe not as small as you think. But again, it still is a compact SUV. Looking at it right now, it is designed to kind of fit in some tighter spaces. But like you said, Dad, For a lot of folks, that may be what you’re looking for, right? You don’t want a big vehicle to go to the grocery store and whatever you might need to do. One thing I will say, Dad.
SPEAKER 15 :
And by the way, really quick, just to throw this in really quick. I know we’re running out of time here, but I did just look it up as you were talking. The modern NX is fairly close in size to the older generation RX. So for some of you that like the old size of the RX in the past, go look at an NX instead.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, no, you are 100% correct. And like I said, last thing I’ll say, lots of creature comforts on the inside, Dad. Works really well. If you haven’t been in a new Lexus in a while, Dad, they’ve kind of simplified the platform, the infotainment system, everything about it. Lots of them are very similar in that regard. I would encourage people to check them out. And like you say, this is a car maybe people haven’t noticed or maybe they haven’t seen. in a while. I would encourage people to check it out. Head to the local Lexus dealers because you can get it kind of apportioned however you want to. And when you do that, let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent you.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right, Richard. Have a great evening. Thanks for that. And I appreciate it. Thanks. See you. All right. Sounds great. Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning. Again, don’t forget, Hunter called in earlier in the 3 o’clock hour. Their $56 off tune-up special for your furnace. If you’ve put that off because you maybe haven’t been running your furnace as much this winter as you typically would, we’re not out of winter yet. So if that’s something you need done, give Hunter a call today. You can actually make an appointment online. Find Cub Creek at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 07 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right, we’re back for just a moment here. We’re ending out this hour. Ammon Blair is going to join us next hour and talk about the New Mexico and Texas airspace being shut down last week. Why was that? What was going on? I think Ammon’s got some good insight into that. He was a Border Patrol agent for a long time, former military, understands that world really well. He’s one of our best guests when it comes to that. And I always enjoy talking to him. So we’ll talk to him here in just a few minutes. So don’t go anywhere. We’re going to be right back. Hour number three is next. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. We’ll be right back.
SPEAKER 1 :
Rich guy.
