This episode of The Kim Munson Show celebrates the 15th anniversary of Liberty Toastmasters while tackling pressing issues affecting Denver residents. In a detailed discussion with Wendy Warner, Kim examines the cost of living struggles and the controversial tax increases proposed in the latest ballot. Listen in as they explore the implications on the community, spotlighting the importance of voter awareness and civic duty.
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It’s the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
Kim Monson (Host) :
I find that it takes work to get your brain around these ideas, and it takes work to engage in these conversations.
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The latest in politics and world affairs.
Kim Monson (Host) :
With what is happening down at the Statehouse, I used to think that it was above my pay grade to read the legislation, and it’s not.
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Today’s current opinions and ideas.
Kim Monson (Host) :
I see big danger in as much as we will be giving an unelected bureaucrat the power to make rules about what we inject into our bodies.
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Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Indeed, let’s have a conversation. And welcome to The Kim Munson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You’re each treasured, you’re valued, you have purpose. Today’s drive for excellence, take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment. Thank you to the team. That’s Producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Thursday, Producer Joe. Happy Thursday, Kim. You know I appreciate you immensely.
Joseph Sherman (Host) :
I appreciate you, too, and I appreciate everything I get to do at this job.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Fasten your seatbelts. I’ve got some news today, so fasten your seatbelts. Check out the website. That is Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You’ll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. My voter’s guide is there as well. Because of all of you, we are staying in the algorithms on Google search, which is pretty darn cool. You can email me at kim at kimmunson.com. I would recommend that you take my voter’s guide, take that link, and send that out this weekend. I know that we’ve all been paying attention, and many have voted. I haven’t put my ballot in yet. But there’s a lot of people that this weekend, they’re going to be looking at it, they’re going to open up their ballot, they’re going to see 14 state issues, 12 issues in Denver, and they’re going to say, oh my gosh, what do I do? So I would recommend that you get my voter’s guide to them so that they can take a look at the question, they can see the actual text of the question, my recommendation, my reasoning, and then they can say, I agree, I disagree, and that’s just fine. But we want people to be informed voters, not influenced voters. And as you know, we look at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And I neglected to mention this. We rebroadcast, I think it was last weekend. Let me make sure, Joe. Wasn’t that Fred Weiss? I think it was. Okay. We rebroadcast one of the interviews with World War II… veteran Fred Weiss and I when we interviewed him three years ago he was 99 and so I sent his son a text message and said hey we’re gonna be rebroadcasting your father’s interview and he responded back he says dad’s 102 and going strong and so you can relisten to that this Sunday night 10 to 11 p.m. but it is such an honor to get to do America’s veteran stories let’s see let’s jump right in here Thank you, Dave. One of our listeners said our word of the day should be garbage.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Yes, it should be.
Kim Monson (Host) :
And it could be a refuse, worthless material, foolish discourse, nonsense. And, of course, this is quite the word of the day because for the Trump rally at Madison Square Gardens, There was a comedian who I didn’t know, but a young guy, and he’s an insult comedian. And he did a good job insulting people. And he said something about that Puerto Rico was garbage or something. Well, I had a friend of mine that texted me, and she was just really frustrated that Trump would have somebody like that on stage that would call – Puerto Rico garbage. I saw her yesterday. She said, Kim, I’ve done some more research and Puerto Rico actually has a garbage problem. There is garbage everywhere. And so that may have very easily been what he was referring to. And so then Joe Biden calls all Trump voters garbage. And it’s kind of like a deplorable moment when Hillary Clinton called everybody deplorable. And so Donald Trump, did you see this yesterday? Carol, I haven’t even said welcome. I’m talking to you. I’ve got Carol Baker in here, and she is my fellow Liberty Toastmaster. She is president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver. And we’ve got Liberty Toastmasters Day, which is going to be great. And we’ve got a great celebration this Saturday as well. So why don’t you jump in on that, and then I’ll talk a little bit more about Donald Trump.
Carol Baker :
Oh, that’s right. That’s it. Thank you, Kim. This Saturday is our 15th anniversary of being a club. We’ve been a club for 15 years. There was a purpose for getting started, and it’s evolving, and it’s meaningful to so many people on so many levels. It’s like adult speech class.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Yeah. And it is so valuable. It is. It really is. And so we’re going to have our meeting at 10 o’clock. Right.
Carol Baker :
Our regular scheduling meeting. But it’s going to be kind of special. We’re going to be highlighting. That’s going to be our theme is talking about the anniversary and kind of where we come from. Then the party. Well, the party is really it’s a potluck lunch. But, you know, I’ve noticed that we’ve had some pretty good potluck lunches there. But it’s going to be a chance to visit and recognize some folks who were there part of the beginning and still moving on.
Kim Monson (Host) :
And guests are welcome, yes? Oh, definitely. Guests are welcome. And so that will be great. And so we’ll get into that. So great to have you here. And so yesterday or the day before, Donald Trump, He puts on one of those vests that the trash men and women wear, and they had a trash truck, I guess, on the tarmac that’s on the side that said, Make America Great Again. The guy is at McDonald’s one week and in a trash truck the next. It is amazing. The Republican Party, they used to say the Republican Party was the party of… country club elites well it’s it’s flipped when you look at the billionaires that are supporting kamala harris and i i really don’t think she’s going to make billionaires pay their quote-unquote fair share because why would they support her if they were so So our challenge today is to use the word garbage in a sentence. And I think you can have some fun with that. I don’t know if anybody will have as much fun as Trump did yesterday. And OK, the next thing I’ve got to get, I’ve got so much news. We’ve got a big, big show planned for you today. Yesterday was a big day in Colorado. As many of you know, Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, she happened to have a whole bunch of passwords that were on her website for these voting machines. I think that’s a problem. And so yesterday I’ve been talking with some people and ended up sending some questions to to all, well, not all 64, 63 of the 64 county clerks. And a friend of mine, one of my neighbors, had gone through in the summer, and she said, and this is how the whole Colorado 2024 election project started. She was walking her dog in front of my house, and she said, Kim, I’m really good at data, and I’m so concerned about our country. And I want to do something. And I said, well, I tell you what, how about if you go through and research out all of the county clerks, their names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. And we sent a letter in June with some key questions about our elections. We heard back from 40 of those county clerks, and my neighbor logged all that information in. Well, here we have this security breach. And we thought, we need to send a letter to all 64 county clerks. So last night, my neighbors came over, and I was working on it. And my neighbor said, Kim, I’m a little concerned about you burning the can. Well, I’m paraphrasing. Burning the candle on both ends. And I said… If not now, when? So that is the quote that I came up with. And I added a little bit to it. But it’s attributed to Hillel the Elder, who was a Jewish religious leader in Babylonia. And he said this, if not now, when? If not me, who? and that is where we are so if not now my friends win if not me who and so i want to just let you know what these questions are that we sent to all of these county clerks so array county clerk would not give us their email address so we i don’t have that and we had four that got kicked back so i need to resend those tomorrow morning or not tomorrow when i get off the show here But this is what I sent to them. I said, clerk, as you may remember, I sent an email in the early summer with questions that Coloradans were asking about our elections. And I am so appreciative of the responses that we received from many of our county clerks. We’ve logged those into our database. I’m sure that you’ve seen the news that the election system passwords were exposed on the Colorado Secretary of State’s website. And then I cited the CBS report and the Yahoo report. Then I said, I, as are many Coloradans, very concerned about this security breach. Therefore, I would greatly appreciate your answers to these questions because time is of the essence. Please respond by 8 a.m. Mountain Time this Friday, November 1st. These are the questions. And I want to insert right here, all of us need to vote. Even though we have this going on, something is… important is going to happen. So get your votes in, check my voter’s guide. These are the questions. When did you become aware of the password leak? How did you become aware of this password leak? Was your county impacted by the recent password leak? If so, how many machines were compromised by the leak? And what functions do they perform? Have they been in use so far during this election? Number four, do you have replacement machines you can use instead of the compromised machines? Number five, if so, have you shifted to using them? If not, what steps are you taking to ensure the compromised machines are secure? 6. Has the Secretary of State’s office come to your office to change the passwords on the compromised machines? Did they do a new trusted build? If so, when? If not, do they have plans to do so?
Kim Monson (Host) :
7.
Kim Monson (Host) :
In the event that the machines cannot be secured between now and Election Day, what happens? How will the ballots be counted?
Kim Monson (Host) :
8.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Will those ballots already counted by the compromised machines be recounted? Thank you so much. Any responses yet or too soon? I did hear from one. Yes. And he gave some answers and he said, I’ll be back to you tomorrow morning. And he’s actually been our star. So stay tuned on that. So we’ve got a lot going on here. And I have on the line with me when we come back, Wendy Warner. She is one of my fellow Liberty Toastmasters. No, excuse me. fellow CUT board members, Colorado Union of Taxpayers board members, and she lives in Denver. We’re gonna be talking about the Denver issues. Carol Baker, president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver is in studio with me. All this happens because we have amazing sponsors. One of those is Hooters Restaurants. They have five locations, Loveland, Aurora, Lone Tree, Westminster, and Colorado Springs. I got to know them. It’s an important story about freedom and free markets and capitalism. And you can find that on my website. And then the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance team is amazing. Like all of my sponsors, they strive for excellence. And so give them a call at 303-795-8855 for a complimentary appointment. They very possibly may be able to save you money on your insurance coverage. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
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Kim Monson (Host) :
And welcome back to the Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at Kim Munson dot com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice and we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. Coming in on the text line, the text line is 720-605-0647. Several of you are requesting information on the judges. As I mentioned, one of our listeners went through and he provided it for his family. Great research on the judges, and he shared it with us, said we can share it with you. But when you text me, text me your name. email address, and I will get that to you after the show. Carol Baker’s in studio. She is the president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver. I realize I have so much going on. I’m probably talking too fast. I need to slow down. So that’s why I’m so excited to have Wendy Warner on the line here. She is the secretary of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers. This is an amazing group of all volunteers that throughout the legislative session rate different pieces of legislation, Support, not support, don’t rate. And Wendy is, I would say she’s a prolific writer. She really can put things in great context. Wendy Warner, welcome to the show. Good morning, Kim and Carol, too. It’s great to have you. And I just want to say the names of our fellow board members, Steve Dorman, Greg Golanski, Russ Haas, Bill Hamill, Carl Honiger, Rob Knuth, John Nelson, Joseph O’Loughlin, Wendy Warner, you, Marty Nielsen, Ramey Johnson, and Mary Jansen. Wendy, thank you for being with us. These questions on the Denver ballot are very important. There’s 12 questions on the Denver ballot. And where do you want to start? Which one do you want to begin with? We’re not going to go through all 12. We’ll do the ones that affect taxes.
Caller :
I was about to say, let’s start with the tax issues. Well, let’s just start right with the first one, 2Q, which is the ballot measure that increases sales tax by 0.34% in support of Denver Health. This particular tax increase is coming at a time when when Denver residents have had such a cost of living increase. And it’s, to me, both this one and the next one, too, are that raises taxes for affordable housing, supposedly. I can’t believe the gall of the mayor and the city council to put this on the ballot at a time when we’ve had so many increases. We’ve had this terrible property tax increase. which is, I think, averaged around 25% to 30% in Denver. And that just hits everybody, and it’s really, really hard, which is why they did this as a sales tax. They knew they couldn’t get a property tax increase come through. But on top of that, we’ve got new fees for sidewalks that are just kicking in, mandatory fees, and those are over $200 for an average house. and trash fees um that they’ve implemented all of these kinds of things and all of us are facing the terrible inflation and the food cost increase and gas price increases and we just can’t take another increase in our cost of living that these taxes do and i think it’s clearly not recognizing what the residents of denver are going through to have this tax. Something like the hospital tax, we all appreciate what Denver Health does. And they do provide an important service, especially to those that are indigent. But there’s just so much that the rest of us can bear. And the very people that they say they’re helping with this and the affordable housing tax are the ones that are going to get hit with the sales tax because the sales tax is the most regressive of all. So I don’t understand it at all, the logic in doing this. I think when it comes to Denver Health, we’ve got to recognize that Denver Health is really providing a regional service Yet they’re asking the Denver residents to pay for this. People are referred into that hospital from all over. And, of course, we’re taking a big brunt of the new cost to Denver Health is all of the illegal aliens that have come in. And they’re using that as their health care source. Just because Denver and our mayor have declared this to be a sanctuary city and open the doors to all doesn’t mean that all of us, all of the residents had the money to pay for the health care for all of these people. Last year, the hospital. It’s estimated provided over $10.5 million in uncompensated care to over 8,500 undocumented immigrants. You know, that’s just an irresponsible policy of Denver to be in a sanctuary city and force these costs on us. Very good point.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Yeah, go ahead, Wendy.
Caller :
Also, a lot of people, one of the things we do in CUT is we read every single word and we read any backup documentation online. you know, that the governmental entity has on this. And one of the things you’ve got to look at is that they have automatically exempted themselves from the TABOR cap, which means that while they’re saying this tax for Denver Health will provide $70 million a year, if retail spending increases, this amount goes up and, you know, forever. And they never have to go back to the voters or demonstrate their need for this increased money. And that always bothers me. Seems greedy to me, Wendy. It sure does. It sure does. And while Denver Health has at least outlined a little bit about how the money would be used, when you look at ballot question 2R, which I think is the companion, because both of these are sales tax increases. 2Q is a sales tax of 0.34% for Denver Health. 2R is a sales tax increase of 0.5% for affordable housing. And the affordable housing doesn’t really detail how in the world they’re going to spend that money. It’s just another slush fund provided to our mayor and city council and Who knows how they’re really going to use that? And, again, they’ve exempted themselves from TABOR, and so the money, the original $100 million approved, we’ll anticipate it will grow if spending increases. But, you know, another problem is when you combine these two sales taxes, we’ve got one of the highest sales taxes in the nation. and in Colorado and getting there on the nation. And people will shop other places. I know I live only a mile and a half from Glendale. They’ve got a huge grocery store there. I can go there and get it for, you know, pay less sales tax. Not that it’s only, of course, groceries themselves are exempted from this, but anything that’s a non-grocery item. People are just going to, going to shop in the areas that are close by. And that’s true all around the edges of Denver. It’s very easy to just go right across the street to the other township and pay less taxes. And we’re going to pay more and more attention to that.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, and then what, Wendy, as you’re saying that, I’m thinking, though, about that single mom that is in a neighborhood that she might, she’s, you know, just trying to make ends meet. She’s got her kids there and she may not have the flexibility to go outside of Denver to do her shopping. And so she’s really going to get hit.
Caller :
Exactly. As I said, the very people that they think these measures help are actually hurting. And they’re doing that because these governmental entities recognize that people have had enough. they’ve seen that property tax increase, they’ve seen their cost of living increase, and they’re going to say no. And they think, well, sales tax is sort of a hidden way to do this, and people won’t respond.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Wow. We must vote no on these. We have one minute left. Is there one more that you’d like to mention?
Caller :
Yes, I’d like to remind people that the Denver public school bond is also a tax increase. It starts out saying the rate won’t increase, but they’ve been very sneaky what they’re doing. They’re extending past tax increases that would have expired. In other words, these taxes would have expired because the past bonds are paid off, and we would have gotten a property tax decrease. And instead, they’re extending it, saying, we’re just going to let these go on. And again, they’re removing it from the TAB or CAP. So that when your property value goes up, your taxes paid will go up from this measure. Please vote no. This is not the way to do it.
Kim Monson (Host) :
We need to be much more transparent with voters. Great points. And again, you do such great work as Secretary of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers. I’d recommend that people go to our website, coloradotaxpayer.org. We’re an all-volunteer group. Been doing this since 1976. Not you and me, but the group. And it’s $25 to join us. And we would really appreciate your support. Wendy Warner, thank you for all the great work that you do. I so appreciate you. Oh, thank you, Kim, for all your help. And Jenny, one of our listeners said it’s called tax gouging. You know how Kamala Harris talks about price gouging? This is tax gouging. And that is for sure. So let’s see here. Let’s get right on task here. We’re going to go to break. And for everything residential real estate, reach out to REMAX realtor Karen Levine.
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Kim Monson (Host) :
Welcome back to the Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter, and you can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice, and we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And again, my voter’s guide, I’d recommend that you… And take that link, copy it, send it out to your friends and family as they’re going to fill out their ballots. We could have what’s called ballot fatigue by people that are not paying attention when they open up their ballot. And they’re going to really appreciate some help. And then regarding the judges, I can email you some information. Just text me at 720-605-0600. Now I can’t, I say it every day, 0647. So 720-605-0647. Text me your email address and I will get that information emailed to you. Carol Baker, my friend, my fellow Liberty Toastmaster, president of Liberty Toastmaster Denver. We also have Liberty Toastmaster North in Longmont. And one of the perks of being president and Liberty Toastmasters as a sponsor of the show is that we rotate. One month, the president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver is in the studio. Then the next month, Liberty Toastmasters North. And people really like that perk.
Carol Baker :
I’m glad. Yes, I do like that perk. This is my second time around of being president of Liberty Toastmasters. The first time was about three or four years ago. And that was one of the perks was coming in here and being the one to introduce different members of our club as they get to call in. And you challenge us with getting to make the point we want to make in two to three minutes. I think many of us can make the point we want to make in 30 minutes. But can you do it in two or three? And it takes practice. And I appreciate the opportunity that you give us to do that. But it’s a challenge.
Kim Monson (Host) :
It is. And we do that also with table topics at our meetings. Yes. And which is so important. So we’re celebrating our 15th anniversary on Saturday. Congratulations to co-founder Brad Beck and all of those people that had that vision to do that. And so the suggested you and I were talking about the suggested subject. They don’t have to use it. would be wins, right?
Carol Baker :
To celebrate wins. That is our theme for our celebration of our 15th anniversary at Saturday’s meeting. But we wanted to go ahead and just extend that here to our Thursday morning show here. So, yes, I’d like to hear different members talk about how valuable it is to celebrate wins. And that’s the suggested topic. Sometimes others have something else they’ll want to bring up. And don’t forget, the word of the day, Toastmasters, is garbage.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Okay. So who’s our first guest?
Carol Baker :
Okay. First caller in, Rick Rome. Can you share with us what you have in mind about celebrating wins?
Kim Monson (Host) :
Rick Rome, thank you so much. I’ll see you on Saturday.
Carol Baker :
Thanks for calling, Rick. Our next speaker is Greg Morrissey. I enjoy hearing from him. And he’s on here pretty regularly on these Toastmasters days. He’s from our Toastmasters Club, Denver, north in Longmont. I’m picturing Longmont right on up I-25. And he has an accent, which makes it interesting to listen to. But he also has some very good observations that he shares with us. Greg, I’ve been looking forward to hearing from you. What’s going on today?
Caller (Guest) :
Oh, it’s great to be on your show, and thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak, especially to where you have an audience of a lot of people listening. And I’d like to encourage those people to come and join Toastmasters. And the reason I joined Toastmasters, I stay with it, it’s for personal growth. If you want to meet people, know how to talk to people, know how to communicate to people, just come and listen to one of our programs. Listen to our speakers and the different subjects they talk about. And then what I found myself, and I’ve said this before, in my age and where I’m at, I find myself a lifelong student. You keep going to Toastmasters, I keep learning. I keep hearing different ideas from different people. And the great thing about it is you hear the truth about some different circumstances too. It does a much better job than what the press does. You can meet these people, build a relationship, especially with this super important voting that we’re all going through. And The articles on the votes, like our ballot’s not the same as the Denver ballot or down there, but there are still some very critical issues there, especially to do with budget and to do with the correct people to do the correct job with the judges, with the people who are going to be elected. And a lot of the people in Liberty Toastmasters have those resources. They know where to go. You can communicate with them. And that communication is super critical. It’s far better than what you see in the news, far better than what you see in the press. And for people to come in and want to communicate with people at large, overcome some of those things you’re scared about, et cetera, and do it. And if it’s in your heart, run for office. We’ll help you.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Great point, Greg Morrissey. Thank you so much. And yes, I learn so much from you every time you’re on the show. So thank you, Greg Morrissey.
Caller (Guest) :
I do. Thank you. Appreciate it. Love it.
Carol Baker :
Right. We have another member from the Toastmasters North, and yet he’s become a member of Toastmasters in Denver as well. Toastmasters Denver meets on the 1st and 3rd. Saturdays of the month, North meets on the second and fourth. So Marshall Dawson is here with us. And Marshall, you have an opportunity to go to four meetings a month if you want to. What a busy guy.
Caller (Guest) :
Well, I wish that I had that opportunity, but I guess I’m going to continue the theme here and talk about running for office. And, you know, this is not necessarily something that where I can point to a win just yet. But I do want to talk about what Toastmasters has been able to do for me in this area. I really looked at running for office as the ultimate opportunity to refine my public speaking skills. We use all the different types of things that we learn in Toastmasters, like storytelling, like time management. Sometimes you get two minutes to put forward your idea, but sometimes you get 20. Carol, you mentioned maybe you can get your point across in 30 minutes. Do you know how to hold an audience for that long? Because if you don’t, it can be excruciating if you watch that audience kind of drifting away from you. But besides getting a win, look, this is the experience of a lifetime. It’s the people that you meet, the conversations that you’ll have, the relationships that you’ll make. And I do want to encourage people to check out Toastmasters. We will not require you to run for office. I promise you that.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, and Marshall Dawson, you are running for office. And so just to give us a little information about that.
Caller (Guest) :
Well, thanks, Kim. Yeah, I’m running for Congress and the second congressional district. This is sort of the north central part of Colorado. If you look at it, I’m sitting on the eastern end of that in Boulder County. But we go all the way past Steamboat Springs and past Vail. So Rowe County, Eagle County and everything in between. And it’s a fabulous district to drive through. And that’s I guess that’s another reason I encourage people to run for office. My website is dawsonforcongress.com.
Kim Monson (Host) :
So, Marshall, well, when I was up for Constitution Week in Grand Lake, and I get to be in the parade, which is so much fun, and I was right behind a float that had your name emblazoned all over it for Congress.
Caller (Guest) :
Yeah, the Rowe County GOP did that for me, and I was telling… David Buckley, just a day or two ago, who’s the chairman up there, I said, look, man, you guys are on fire. I brag on those guys all the time. And we have lots of county parties around the district that are just doing great things. So, I mean, kudos to all of them.
Kim Monson (Host) :
And what’s that website again, Marshall Dawson?
Caller (Guest) :
Yeah, Dawsonforcongress.com.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Thank you for caring about our state and our country. Thank you.
Caller (Guest) :
Well, I appreciate it, and I may see you Saturday. I don’t know where I’m going to be until I look at my calendar on any given day.
Kim Monson (Host) :
You might be a little busy since it’s right before the election. Marshall Dawson, thank you.
Caller (Guest) :
Thanks.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Bye. Take care, Marshall.
Carol Baker :
Our next speaker is Ross Klopp, and it’s been interesting to watch his personal growth just in this past year or so. Ross, welcome to the show.
Caller (Guest) :
Oh, hi. Happy Halloween, everybody. And where Toastmasters held me a lot was in my impromptu and shorter speeches, which is crucial for testifying at public hearings. That could be either local or state. And one win that not only I had, but the whole state of Colorado had, was, if you remember, a really scary bill earlier this year And that was the proposal to ban about 80% of the firearms on the market. And that was extremely scary. It would have completely decimated the Colorado economy, including the hunting and the firearm industries both. And what I did for that, because I only had two minutes to speak, but I focused on the costs. And I was able to do that in the two minutes, just focusing on one thing. and doing it well. And what I was able to do, it was really hard to find accurate cost information out there. I think certain people were trying to hide it, but there was a sort of similar ban that the city and county of Denver did back in the 1980s where they banned a couple of dog breeds. And luckily there was a really detailed study done by DU where it calculated that that dog breed ban cost over $100 million to the city and county of Denver. And what that means is, I was able to calculate what that would mean if an assault weapon ban was passed, and that cost at a minimum would be $300 million per year of enforcement of that ban, and probably higher. And luckily, we actually had some help from Nine News, which was amazing. That’s how bad that ban would have been as even Nine News was coming out against it. And that ended up being a big win because that would have really hurt the entire Colorado economy if that got through. Plus, it violates our rights. So I completely agree with that angle as well. So we avoided a very scary bill, and that was with the help of Toastmasters.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Ross, thank you. And I always find your speeches so interesting. So, Ross, thank you so much. Thanks. And I wanted to mention the USMC Memorial Foundation. It’s one of the nonprofits that I really highlight on the show on a regular basis. And the Marine Memorial is located right here in Golden, Colorado. And Paula Sarles and her team, she’s the president, are working to raise the money for the remodel. And right now they have a Brick Challenge. And that is if you buy a brick that will be on their pathways of service, they have a match. And so now are matching funds on that. And now is a great time to do that. You’ll receive a beautiful certificate to honor your military service or your loved one’s military service. Great gift for Christmas and Hanukkah. More information, go to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. That is usmcmemorialfoundation.org. And I know each and every one of my sponsors personally and highly recommend them. They all strive for excellence. And one of those great sponsors is Lorne Levy for Everything Mortgages.
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SPEAKER 23 :
All of Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Munson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That’s Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
Kim Monson (Host) :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Something’s a good idea. You shouldn’t have to force people to do it. And thank you to Laramie Energy for their gold sponsorship of this show. It is reliable, efficient, affordable, and abundant energy. that powers our lives and fuels our hopes and dreams. And I also wanted to mention the Center for American Values, which is the other nonprofit that I highlight on a regular basis. On the show, they’re located in Pueblo, Colorado. I’ve come to just love Pueblo, and it may be because I just love all the people I’ve met, the Center for American Values. But Drew Dix and Brad Padula are the co-founders. Drew Dix, Medal of Honor recipient for actions he took during the Vietnam War. And and then Brad Padula is an Emmy award winning documentary maker. And they wanted to put the center together to put to just instill these values of honor, integrity and patriotism. And they have the beautiful portraits of valor of our Medal of Honor recipients. Check it out. It’s American Value Center dot org. That is American Value Center dot org. Carol Baker is in studio with me. She is the president of Liberty Toastmasters Denver. And robust discussions, my friend. Oh, yes.
Carol Baker :
There are some. Some are, yes, robust discussions about the topic, about the content. And then sometimes they are robust in how we can learn to express them in a variety of ways. Yes.
Kim Monson (Host) :
So we’re talking. So our anniversary celebration is this Saturday for Liberty Toastmasters at the Denver meeting. And there’s we love guests. We’re going to have a potluck. I’m trying to figure out exactly what it is I’m going to make. You said I need to bring a side dish, a side dish.
Carol Baker :
And I’m not holding you to anything. You can decide. Up until time for the lunch, what side dish you’re bringing. I don’t need to know ahead of time what side dish you’re bringing.
Kim Monson (Host) :
I’m kicking around. I have this crock pot potato with all kinds of stuff that is just maybe not good for you, but it tastes really good. All right. Well, the main dish is going to be barbecue, so I think that’s a good idea. Okay. So I have to work on that. Well, if you bring something warm, I’ll bring something cold. Okay. Sounds good. Okay. So next, let’s talk about wins that we have with being a Liberty Toastmaster.
Carol Baker :
Well, it’s an election time when we can think about wins, but also I believe with Toastmasters, sometimes we have a little competition for ribbons just of the day. And I want to share with you, I want to introduce Bennett Rutledge. Bennett Rutledge is an Asset for me in this club and an inspiration because he’s been part of Toastmasters many years ago. Toastmasters has been around for so long. So he can come and he’s been there, done that. There’s things that just don’t ruffle his feathers. So, Bennett, I appreciate your experience. earlier in your life and then you’re coming back into Toastmasters with us and letting us draw on some of that experience and kind of finding out what’s important and what isn’t. So as we talk about celebrating wins, do you have something you can share with us that is worth celebrating?
Caller (Guest) :
Oh, yes. I started out in Toastmasters back in the Washington, D.C. area. And one of the things I was doing is talking to people in public for permission to have a particular name put on the ballot. And I was part of an effort to get hundreds, thousands, sometimes even tens of thousands of signatures just so a name could be appearing on a ballot. And I had to drop Toastmasters and then left the Washington area to come to Colorado and Nowadays, what I’m doing is running for Colorado Legislature from Senate District 16. And one of the breakthroughs that Toastmasters made available is having my campaign not be about me, but about the voters. And so the material I’ve been passing out is how to find the hidden challengers in this election. And the emphasis is on letting people know that when there is a write-in box on your ballot, and that doesn’t always happen here in Colorado, there is an opportunity to vote for someone who was not able to get their name on the ballot. And to find the master list prepared by those already in power of people you are allowed to vote for, You should get on the internet and go to colorado.gov. Click on Elections and Voting. Click on Candidates. And then click on Official General Election Candidate List. And there you will find a number of people who are marked Y in the write-in column. And one of them should match the write-in box you find on your ballot. And that means you can vote for someone that you might not otherwise know exists. Okay. And I’ve been able to speak to people. Sometimes I only get to say, I’ve got some rating information for you here. And that’s it before they blow on through past the stop sign and go to where the ballot box is. And I’ve also talked to people who have been called to get me off the property of the organization which is hosting that ballot box, even though I very carefully paced off 100 feet. And I’ve been able to negotiate with those folks. who have badges and uniforms and guns, and here all I’ve got is a name tag, to continue my electioneering. Well, Bennett, I would say… The good thing is that not only can I win and they win, but the public can win. And it is possible for 100% of the voters to win in an election.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, Bennett, thank you so much. And it sounds like probably your Liberty Toastmasters skills are coming in handy when you’re having those conversations, Bennett. Thank you so much. Carol Baker, it goes so quickly. It’s so great to have you here. How would you like to wrap this up? Sure.
Carol Baker :
I appreciated how there was a set of instructions he gave that were simple and direct. I appreciated that. And yet there was the passion about why, too, all woven through there. I’d like to wrap this up is please know that. Within a Toastmasters club, we encourage each other. And many times we don’t evaluate. We do give evaluations, careful evaluations. But we don’t evaluate the content of what you had to say. So it’s okay if we disagree on an issue. But we talk about how did we deliver it and what were our goals and things like this. But now we have a little friendly competition with ribbons, like who was the best speaker of the day? Who was the best evaluator of the day? And that’s just kind of for fun. But I think the wins that we see are the little wins that come along the way when we have seen somebody over a year or two or three and how they have improved their delivery, improved on the things they claim they wanted to improve on, find out from them what is important to them. And I’ve seen that growth and that’s really been valuable as those wins.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, it really has been. And we’d love to have people join us this Saturday for our 15th anniversary.
Carol Baker :
15th anniversary. And this month is the 100th anniversary of Toastmasters International. So there’s been a lot of celebrating going on this fall with all these levels.
Kim Monson (Host) :
And I will just quickly share my win. And that is I crashed and burned in front of about a thousand people. And I lost my confidence. And I always say to Brad Beck, I said, thank you for Liberty Toastmasters because you helped me get my voice back. And it’s been a process. And I’ll tell you, Carol, the first time I sat behind the microphone for the radio show, I could hardly get my name out. So I’ve improved. I still have lots to improve upon. But thank you to Liberty Toastmasters, Brad Beck as a co-founder for helping me get my voice back.
Carol Baker :
Well, thank you. And thank you for your encouragement. I’ve seen you encourage me along my little milestones.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Thank you. Thanks, Carol Baker. Great to have you here. And our quote for the end of the show, I actually went to hold on here. Isaiah 6, 8 says, Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? And I said, here I am. Send me. So today, be grateful. Read great books. Think good thoughts. Listen to beautiful music. Communicate and listen well. Live honestly and authentically. Strive for high ideals. And like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. My friends, you are not alone. God bless you. God bless America. Stay tuned for hour number two. Freedom.
SPEAKER 22 :
Views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
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I find that it takes work to get your brain around these ideas and it takes work to engage in these conversations.
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With what is happening down at the statehouse, I used to think that it was above my pay grade to read the legislation. And it’s not.
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I see big danger in as much as we will be giving an unelected bureaucrat the power to make rules about what we inject into our bodies.
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Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Indeed, let’s have a conversation and welcome to our number two of the Kim Munson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You’re each treasured, you’re valued, you have purpose. Today’s drive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. Thank you to the team. That’s producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Thursday. Happy Halloween. And actually, well, happy Halloween, producer Joe.
Joseph Sherman (Host) :
Happy Halloween, Kim.
Kim Monson (Host) :
And one of our listeners, Sandra, thank you for sending this in. She said, a reminder that at sunset this evening, it is All Saints Eve, a holy day. It is time to remember our loved ones who have passed on. My father passed on last December. And tomorrow is All Saints Day. When the children knock on her door, instead of saying, Happy Halloween, she says, Happy All Saints Eve. Thank you, Sondra, for sharing that. Okay, let’s see. Let’s jump in here. Check out the website, Kim Munson. That’s M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You’ll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. And my voter’s guide is there. And copy that link. Send that out to friends and family. They just put in their name and their email. And they will receive the links for the one-pager, the online version, which is beautiful. Zach put in all these vintage and renaissance paintings. They’re beautiful. And then also a printable version, although if you’re going to print it, you have to print it one page at a time because… of all of the paintings on that. But it is really fabulous. And thank you to all of you for supporting it. We really appreciate it. And I thank Laramie Energy for their gold sponsorship of the show because it is reliable, efficient, affordable, and abundant energy. that powers our lives and fuels our hopes and dreams. And America’s Veterans Stories will be broadcast this Sunday, 3 to 4 p.m. On Sunday night, 10 to 11 p.m., we’ll rebroadcast last week’s, which was an interview that we had done with Fred Weiss, he’s 102 years old. He was a pilot serving in World War II. It is a fascinating interview, so be sure and check that out. Our word of the day is garbage because that is the word of the day because Joe Biden called half of America at least garbage. And the definition, it could be refuse, a trash. It could be worthless material or foolish discourse. nonsense. So your challenge will be to use the word garbage in a sentence today. Our quote of the day is from Hillel, who is Hillel the elder of Babylonia, and he was a Jewish religious leader so many years ago, and this is attributed to him, and then I added on a little bit. He said, if not now, when? If not me, who? And so that is our challenge right now. As many of you know, apparently there’s been a security breach with passwords that have been on the Secretary of State’s website. And we’ve got to get some answers to that. And in the first hour, I shared the questions that we have sent out to the county clerks in Colorado regarding this election breach. What does that mean exactly? I encourage all of you to vote. Make sure those that are like-minded vote. Don’t know what this means exactly on how we can get through all this, but something very exciting is going to be happening. I don’t know what it is exactly. It may be that we hopefully are going to get our second lawsuit filed today against the Secretary of State regarding the fact that our voter rolls are not clean. And so Peter Bernager with Wisconsin Center for Election Justice is working on that big time. So there’s a lot of news out there. And we get to have these discussions because of our sponsors. On the line with me is Karen Levine. You know her for everything residential real estate, buying a home, selling a home, a new build. And Karen Levine, welcome.
Kim Monson :
Good morning, Kim. Good morning.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Hey, Karen, there’s an election going on. How’s that affecting the residential real estate market?
Kim Monson :
Well, it is interesting. A lot of people are on hold because of uncertainty. They don’t want to make life decisions, which buying or selling a home are. More people are open to selling. I have some amazing new properties on the market for sale. They span from Thornton down to Centennial and Arvada. So great. I mean, some great opportunities. These sellers have prepared their homes well and they’re priced well. And so I’m optimistic that after next Tuesday, people will have hopefully some resolve and feel more confident about moving ahead with these big decisions.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, and so I think there’s opportunity. There’s always opportunity when there’s uncertainty. When I was in the investment business, when everybody was buying was probably not the best time to buy. When things were uncertain, that seemed like that’s when there was real opportunity. And I think that’s probably the same for the residential real estate market, yes?
Kim Monson :
Most definitely. Most definitely. And so buyers that are in the market, I think, are… negotiating some very, very good transactions for the benefit of the buyer. And the seller is still doing well because they experienced so much abundant appreciation over the last three to five years that they’re sitting with a nice nest egg that they can be able to take on to the next property or use in their retirement. You know, if they’re leaving the state, they can maybe move down and So there is definitely opportunity out there. And I continue to be surprised that there are homes that have multiple offers on them because they are offering something, I would say, unique in the marketplace that’s not readily available each and every day in real estate. And I say that because of a property… one of my clients tried to purchase that had a ADU that created some nice passive income. And those, you know, are, we don’t have a lot of those, even though some of our policies are tending towards adding those type of things to single family properties.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Interesting. Okay, yeah. Well, Karen Levine, I so appreciate what you do to protect property rights, and you are very active at the local, the county, the state, and the national level, and I appreciate all that you’ve done. You and I have been on this journey together, and you and I have both learned a lot together.
Kim Monson :
We certainly have, and I think what is reassuring that despite uncertainty, when it comes down to the values of the American people, homeownership, still rises to the top. And so I’m here to help those who are looking to make a move or those who are looking to buy a home. And I service the whole front range. So, you know, I will go where the people want to live.
Kim Monson (Host) :
And what’s the best way for people to reach you?
Kim Monson :
They can reach me at 303-877-7516. Karen Levine, that number is 303-877-7516. We’ll talk again next week. And I wish you a very happy All Saints Day. You got it. Thank you. And same to you. Bye-bye.
Kim Monson (Host) :
And, again, I’m so blessed to work with amazing people. Another set of wonderful people is the team at the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Agency. And give them a call at 303-795-8855 to make a complimentary appointment to go over your insurance coverage. If you bundle things together, you might save a lot of money.
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Kim Monson (Host) :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. Pleased to have on the line with me my friend Helen Raleigh. She is a chartered financial analyst and an American entrepreneur, a writer, speaker, a senior contributor at The Federalist. And her writings have appeared in the national media, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News. She’s on national television on a regular basis. She’s the author of several books, including Confucius Never Said and Backlash, How Communist China’s Aggression Has Backfired. And her latest book is the second edition of The Broken Welcome Mat, America’s Un-American Immigration Policy Initiative. and how we should fix it. You can follow her on Parler and Twitter at H. Raleigh. That’s R-A-L-E-I-G-H speaks. So H. Raleigh speaks. Helen Raleigh, welcome to the show. Good morning, Kim. Good to have you. And I wanted to talk with you about one of your most recent pieces that you’ve written, Long Live Liberty, Dammit. So tell us about this, Helen Raleigh.
Caller :
Well, first of all, that title was a quote, so I did not say it. The title was a quote from Argentine libertarian President Mali. I don’t know if I say his name correctly, but I’m just a big fan of him. So this Substack newsletter is really about two people, Elon Musk and Mali, basically about how they were able to accomplish extraordinary things with the support of free market and how in America we need more of it. And we need to celebrate capitalism and liberty. We need more of it rather than less of it.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, and you are an entrepreneur as well. And you came to America from China. It’s an amazing story. And so you can really relate to, for example, Elon Musk and Milley, right?
Caller :
Oh, yeah, especially Elon Musk. I mean, of course, Elon Musk has accomplished way more than 99.9% of the people on Earth. But he’s an immigrant. I can relate to a fellow immigrant. He came from a relatively well-to-do family, but still he founded several businesses successfully when he came to America, especially now with SpaceX. And I am always fascinated with sports. space exploration. And his most recent accomplishment, I don’t know if you saw the video, that giant starship is about the size of a 40-story building and landed and get captured, caught by two giant so-called chopstick steel arms. I cannot stop watching that video for like hundreds of times because there’s so many things needs to go right in order for that to happen. That is an amazing human achievement. And he’s able to accomplish something many governments, including U.S. governments, even including his competitor like Boeing, haven’t been able to accomplish. And that all because Free market. And he’s able to accomplish those amazing things much cheaper than anyone else. So his accomplishment is really exemplified when people are free to pursue, free to take a risk, how much they can they can do. That’s just amazing.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, Helen, the creativity of the mind, we talk about that a lot. It’s unlimited of what we can accomplish if we have, as you say, liberty of people being able to be free to look at these problems, these challenges, and be creative. We can solve these problems, but we have something occurring in our world right now where we have elites that really want to control things and take away everyday people’s freedom and liberty and creativity. And so that’s the big fight that we have going on in this battle of ideas that’s raging right now, Helen Raleigh.
Caller :
Yes, that’s why I think I really appreciate your show always emphasizing liberty and property rights. I specifically talk about property rights in my piece because we always assume property rights just refer to stuff, the car, the house, whatever you own. But from a classical liberal sense, property rights mainly refers to our brain power, our ideas, our thoughts. That’s why when you see those illiberal tactics and tyrannies, always go first to try to control people’s minds, control what you can see, what you can say, what you’re supposed to think, the invented thought crimes. Because that’s how they can get you. Even if they take everything away from you, but if you feel free to think, to believe in ideas, to have faith in God, you still have your liberty. But once they punish you for thinking the wrong thing, for speaking the wrong thing, then they strip away your humanity. That is why liberty, the freedom, liberty and the property rights There are really two sides of the same coin. So really, we should emphasize both of them at the same time. So protect your property rights is the same, is equivalent as defend your liberty.
Kim Monson (Host) :
So, Helen, there’s a quote that’s been attributed to Stalin that he said that ideas are more powerful than guns. We wouldn’t let our enemies have guns. So why would we let them have ideas? And we are in this epic battle of ideas right now in America and across the globe. That’s why Malay, it’s been so refreshing to see what he’s been doing in Argentina.
Caller :
Oh, excuse me. He’s amazing. I’ve become a big fan of him, and he’s such a character. He’s very entertaining. But look at his policy. Everything we as free market believers love and would like to see more happen in America here, he’s implementing them. For example, or he’s removing the bad policies. For example, Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, They used to have rent control. They have the world’s most strict rent control. As a result of rent control, basically the price control, the government imposed to forbid landlord to increase rent or to adjust rent according to the market. So it’s very difficult. Before he came to office, it’s very difficult to get apartments in the city. And the rent is extremely high. When he came to office, he flashed. removed most of the rent control policies, including the city. And guess what happened? Within a year, the property market in the city was flourishing. Landowners put more properties out on the market, and people are able to compete and get the apartment they need. And that’s just one example. Another example is he slashed government spending and encouraged production, and the inflation Argentina used to have this chronical high inflation problem. Now inflation was way down. And that’s why when he was announced, so the quote I used for my piece, that’s a quote from him when he announced the inflation was way down, and he was telling the doubters who doubted his policy to say, long live liberty, and then he added damage, because he’s such a colorful person. I just love it. Like, nobody speak… free market with the kind of conviction. I should say no world leaders speak free market with the kind of conviction that the melee has.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, and I want to segue over to your story. We’ve shared it several times on the air, but it’s such an important story. You grew up in China. And first of all, tell us the story about your family and the fact that the government thought that you were a boy and what happened with that.
Caller :
Oh, this is a well-told story. So I grew up with food ration because back then in China there was a widespread shortage. It’s due to the government’s economical policy, including price control. So I always tell people it doesn’t matter how much the price, you know, the government said a loaf of bread will cost. It could be zero, but if the shelves empty, you can’t get the bread, so it doesn’t matter. Anyway, so in order to control food distribution, due to the shortage, the government imposed a very strict food rationing system. The food, basically everybody will receive food coupons based on your age and gender. The food coupon will limit how many pounds of rice, how many ounces of cooking oil, how many ounces of meat each person gets to have. Believe me, it was measured by ounces for like meat and the sugars, things like that. So girls and boys and women and men have received different numbers of food coupons. But my name happens to be a boy’s name in Chinese. So for a period of time, the government bureau has made a mistake. So I received a food ration that meant for a boy, even with those extra few pounds of rice each month. I was still hungry. I had dreams, always dreamed about food. Like I always had a big feast in my dream. But one day, you know, a police showed up at our house and just do random household check. And he realized that the government made a mistake, but he would not admit it. So he accused my family of cheating the government out of food rations. And he made us to pay the government back. But of course, we didn’t have those food coupons that were used. So my entire family of five, my parents, my sister, my brother, they all have to squeeze and save from their food coupons to give it to me so I could pay the government back. And that just showed you what a tyrannical government could do to a person. You are not even allowed to determine
Kim Monson (Host) :
how much food you get to have well and then the other story that I love that you’ve shared with me I know we’ve shared it on the air but it’s worth hearing again and that is the story about the chocolate bar oh yeah so
Caller :
As I mentioned earlier, the food extraction system, like sugar, those commodities are considered a very valuable commodity, and there’s an extreme shortage of food, like sugar, cooking oil. So sugar, we used to get coupons for ounces of sugar. So as a little kid, you always want something sweet. And even when I grew up, went to college, You know, China’s food rationing system did not end until well into the 90s. So in my college, we had an American professor. Back then, it was very rare to have any foreigners on a Chinese campus. So, yeah, he brought a Hershey chocolate bar. And, you know, it was a speech competition in English, and I won. And he gave it to me as a prize. I can tell you, Kim, I never had anything taste so good. I savored every bite of it. And of course, I shared it with my classmates. Everybody had a little, you know, little pieces of it. And, you know, that’s when the American dream, I planted seeds of American dream. I didn’t come here for liberty, Kim. I came here for Hershey’s chocolate bar, but I found both.
Kim Monson (Host) :
oh helen raleigh i love that story and it’s just so inspiring and so we’re going to continue the discussion with helen raleigh and check out the federalist check out her substack that is helen raleigh at substack as well You’re an amazing communicator and I really appreciate all that you’re doing. So we’re going to go to break. We have these important discussions because of our great sponsors. And when you hear Helen Raleigh talk about food rationing, And then we realize we have this abundant food supply. We’re taking it for granted. And it’s under attack. Our cattle industry is under attack. Our lamb processing, with this question on the ballot here in Denver, our meat industry is under attack. And meat is such a great protein source for us to be strong and to be able to go and do the things that we want to do. We need to keep our choices. What people want to choose to eat, that should be their choices. We shouldn’t have them go away. But for a great tasting protein source like that steakhouse experience at home, check out Lavaca Meat Company.
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SPEAKER 24 :
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Kim Monson (Host) :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. Do check out my website. I have the voter’s guide link there. Just… You can take that, copy it, send it out to friends and family. And because there’s a lot of people that’s going to be working on their ballots this weekend, it’s long, it’s complicated. And we hope that my ballot guide is a good tool for you. And then if you want information. regarding the judges. One of our listeners put together an excellent analysis of judges, and he said that we can share that with all of you. So if you want that, text me at our text line 720-605-0647. Text me your email address, and I will get that over to you as well. On the line with me is my friend Helen Raleigh. And she is an entrepreneur and writer, speaker, a contributor at The Federalist. She has a great Substack connection as well. So she just does an excellent job. We’ve been talking about her piece, Long Live Liberty, Dammit, which is a quote by Millay from Argentina. And just a quick thing, Helen, you mentioned the chocolate bar. that was really, you said, I want to go to a place where they have that. And we take for granted all of this so much. So tonight, children will be going to different doors, knocking on the door, saying trick or treat, and just receiving candy. And I think kids in China could not even conceive what will happen tonight. And we don’t know how blessed we are here in America.
Caller :
Absolutely, Kim. And, you know, sometimes I say you really have to experience darkness to appreciate light. If you live under light for too long, you have no, not you, but people have no conception of what darkness will be like. Let me tell you a little interesting story. So my niece, Joanna, who you know, when she came to attend our wedding and stayed over for a few months, She was our flower girl and it was Halloween. And so I told her, I said, well, if you just dress up, you can go knock on people’s doors asking for candy. And her eye was as big as a light bulb. She said, really? I can just knock on the door and people will ask and people will give me candy? And so, yes, so it’s a fun tradition we have here in America, but really it’s a reminder how blessed we are because people, A lot of people outside of the United States do not live like what we have here. That’s why it really bothers me and puzzles me why nowadays we’re trying to throw away all the good things we have, especially like the commercial you had earlier about controlling people to eat meat. That just reminds me of the food ration I lived in. It gave me nightmares. That’s the food ration I lived in when I grew up in China. Why should we limit how much meat people can consume? You know, Chinese people lived longer after price control of meat and food ration of meat was lifted. Like you said, it’s a good source of protein.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, and so Joanna, as your flower girl, she came over from China, right? And so she had never experienced. So one thing, though, I think, Helen, I’ve always I love Halloween as far as the kids coming to the door and seeing their costumes. I love all that. But I have thought it’s a bit of a socialist holiday where kids and I’m not sure the message should be that, hey, you knock on the door and ask for candy and people give it to you. I think it’s kind of socialist.
Caller :
It is kind of that, but it’s also trick or treat, right? So you give the candy to buy peace. Otherwise, they’re going to put toilet paper all over your front lawn. So there is that. I agree, but I don’t want to overemphasize the socialist part. I think it’s a fun holiday. You know, I like you. I love to see kids all dressed up in costumes. Oh, speaking of dressed up costumes, you know, I’m never big in Halloween, but I think I will dress up this Halloween just to protest because in China, the Chinese government are arresting people, adults who are celebrating Halloween in Shanghai for dressing up.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Unbelievable. But you know, Helen, in a way, we’ve had the same thing happen here in America with the leftist elites or the leftists say that you cannot dress up somebody from a different culture because that’s cultural appropriation. In a way, it’s happening here, too.
Caller :
I know. Kim, that’s something that really bothers me, is the trend, the cultural, social, and economic trend we’re going. It’s almost like they look at what’s happening in China back in 1960s, and the Democrats just decided, oh, we want to do the same thing. Because they never learned the historical lesson at all.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Or maybe they did. And it’s an important point to make, though, Helen, this Democrat Party of 2024 is not the Democrat Party of JFK.
Caller :
Oh, I agree. And speaking of a sub-stack, so I wrote a sub-stack newsletter. I told you I lost some very good friends who unsubscribed my sub-stack newsletter. So basically I wrote a newsletter after the Democrat Party did a magic switch Just one day they, you know, after they told us for years, Joe Biden was lucid. He’s the sharpest guy ever lived. And then after the debate, presidential debate, then they replaced Joe Biden. Suddenly he’s not the most lucid person. They just magically switched that and put a Kamala Harris as their nominee. And I could not believe it. Like, there was no explanation, and all the mainstream media just went along with it as if this is the most natural thing that ever happened. And so I wrote a newsletter. I said, the Democrat Party now reminds me of the CCP. I know it sounds like hyperbole, but it’s really not, because that’s how the CCP does their internal power struggle. One day you have this leader, the next day you have somebody different, and everybody’s going to pretend nothing, you know, extraordinary ever happened. It just seems just like pretend everything’s normal. And that’s not a democratic process. So, yeah, I couldn’t believe what’s happening here. And what’s even more shocking is how the Democrat Party supporters and the mainstream media just went along with it as if this is the most natural thing that ever happened. And then they calling Republicans, Trump supporters, Nazis, the threat to democracy is just unbelievable.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, it is really unbelievable. And I highly recommend that people subscribe to your Substack because the amount of articles, the writings that you do are so, so important. And then also at The Federalist, the articles that you write there are really amazing, Helen Raleigh.
Caller :
Thank you, Kim. I’m a big admirer of your work, too. I admire everything you’ve been doing and just being out there defending liberty and property rights. day in and day out, especially at such early hours. You know, I’ve been doing so long. And you’ve got amazing guests on your show. So I’m a big fan of yours.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, I didn’t really mean for us to have a love fest here, Helen Raleigh, but I guess that we can.
Caller :
Why not?
Kim Monson (Host) :
Yeah, I guess.
Caller :
Why not?
Kim Monson (Host) :
So we’ve got about five minutes.
Caller :
We need to encourage each other. You and I both get hate mails and, you know, people try to demean us. There are those people out there. So sometimes We need to support each other, and we need all of the people who are supporting us to keep fighting this good fight.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, we really do. We’ve got about five minutes left, Helen. And I thought I would ask you about this piece that you’d written regarding these economists that are supporting Kamala Harris. So what do you want people to know about that? And that’s a piece that you had in The Federalist, right?
Caller :
Right. Yes. And I reprinted in my Substack newsletter so people can find it both. The title of the piece is called The Woke Economist. So, Kim, I think since COVID, one thing that we all realize as ordinary Americans, one thing we all realize is we cannot trust our expert class. our elite expert class, because they have been exposed that they prioritize ideology, their leftist ideology, over truth, logic, and reason. So this piece is about more than the dozens of Nobel Prize-winning economists writing a public letter endorsing Harris. And many of the same ECONOMISTS ALSO TWO YEARS AGO WHEN JOE BIDEN HAD THIS I don’t know if you remember this, over a trillion dollars, supposedly, called the Build Back Better infrastructure plan. Many of the same economists also endorsed that plan and dismissed any concerns about the cause of inflation. Of course, the reality proved they were all wrong. So why would those know? It’s like economics 101. Those economists should have known better. When you increase money supply, you are going to run the risk of hyperinflation. They all should have known better. But why do they do that? Because they prioritize ideology over logic, reason, and the truth. And that’s what they’re doing here. As voters, as American people, we must learn to trust our own eyes and ears and our own learnings and our own experiences. Because if you go to a grocery store, the prices ain’t coming down. So we know the inflation is still there. So this is why we need to vote with our conscience, our faith, our own experiences, and our own what we see and what we hear. not from the experts because they cannot be trusted.
Kim Monson (Host) :
I think that is important. And we did really learn that through COVID, as you said. Your final thought you’d like to leave with listeners, Helen Raleigh, as we’re coming into this very important election here in 2024, people are in some ways kind of on pins and needles. I think there is anxiety out there regarding this. What would you say to the American people?
Caller :
Well, I actually just finished writing. I will have a Substack newsletter coming out tomorrow. Basically, you know, obviously I want to encourage everybody to go exercise their right to vote. You know, make sure your voice gets heard. Do not ever think your vote doesn’t matter. Every vote matters. That’s one thing. And the second thing is after the election, it doesn’t matter which way the result is, whether you like it or you dislike it, just believe this. In America, we believe this rugged individualism, that ultimately we should not pin our hope on any individual person or individual party. It’s all on our own effort. So it doesn’t matter what the outcome is. We, each one of us, can still fight for liberty and make our family better, make our community better. That’s all rest of our individual efforts. So go vote, but never give up individual effort to make your, you know, today’s better than yesterday and tomorrow’s better than today.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Helen Raleigh, thank you so much. You can find her at The Federalist under Helen Raleigh. That’s spelled R-A-L-E-I-G-H. And she also has her own sub stack as well. And you’ll see her on television, The Wall Street Journal. Just pretty amazing. Helen Raleigh, thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Kim. She’s a real hero to me. And another great hero is Drew Dix and all that he’s done as far as Medal of Honor recipient. And he and Brad Padula founded the Center for American Values in Pueblo. And I’d recommend that you check out their website to see all that they’re doing regarding instilling in us these foundational principles of honor, integrity, and patriotism. The Center for American Values is nonpartisan, and it’s nonpolitical. They just focus on these big ideas. And you can get more information by going to AmericanValuesCenter.org. That is AmericanValuesCenter.org. And, again, the show comes to you because I work with amazing people. And one of those is John Boson with Boson Law.
SPEAKER 23 :
All of Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Munson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That’s kimmunson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
Kim Monson (Host) :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. Text line is 720-605-0647. I want to hear from you. And also, Election Day is next week, but then Saturday the 9th, the USMC Memorial Foundation will be hosting a Veterans Day event at the memorial in the afternoon. You can get more information about all those details by going to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. I plan on being there. I’d love to have you join us. So again, that’s usmcmemorialfoundation.org. Regarding the judges, if you text me your email address, I will send you this analysis that one of our listeners put together. It’s really fantastic. Janice texted me and said, I would like the info about the judges, but I was thinking that maybe we should keep them all because Polis will probably select even worse ones. What do you think about that idea? Janice, people have voiced that concern. I get that. However, I think there are those that say that we need to send a message. So for sure, Supreme Court Justice Marquez is a no because she ruled to keep Trump off the ballot. That was unconstitutional, I think. But that’s a definite no. But if you want that information regarding the analysis, just text me your email address and I’ll get that to you. Very pleased to have on the line with me. We have some amazing candidates, people that have stepped forward because they never thought they’d run for office before. That’s exactly what I want to hear. if they say i want to be a career politician i probably don’t want to want to have them representing me but we have amazing people that are stepping forward and we have on the line with us corey onasorg he’s running for house district 23 corey welcome oh joe will have him pleasure to be your tail gunner today okay i appreciate it and i got you the pronunciation of your name right right we’re close I think so.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Okay. Corey, so you’re running for House District 23. Tell us why. Hold on. I think we’re having some… I’m running Krause District 23. Okay. Hang with me just a second. Joe’s got a couple of different things going on with the phone lines. I want to make sure that we hear everything that Corey Onusorg has to say. So, Corey, you… We just lost him. Hold on here. So, we’ll… I’ll tell you a little bit about Corey while… We’re getting him back on the line here. We jinxed it. We had everything that had been just going so well with all these different phone lines. And so hang with us here. Corey is running for House District 23. And interestingly enough, he was a punter, I think it was, in the NFL. And he has had just a whole bunch of different life experiences. And I’m gonna read this from his website. He said, since the dawn of history, human progress has been driven by the pursuit of personal freedom, economic, spiritual, social, and temporal. My commitment to you is to champion and expand your personal freedoms. I urge you voters of Colorado House District 23, which is Lakewood, Wheat Ridge, Lakeside, and Mountain View to join me in this crucial fight a battle that resonates not only in Colorado but globally. Even if you’re Coloradan and aren’t in House District 23, know that I will advocate for your freedom as if it were my own. Wow. So, Corey Onizorg, I just read from your website. That is Corey, C-O-R-Y, the number four, colorado.com. Love the fact that you are stepping forward to stand for liberty. Thank you.
Kim Monson (Host) :
No.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, and what I’ve seen, Corey, as the president of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, that it is radical activists that are in control of our statehouse and our governor’s office at this particular point in time. And as I see these onerous policies that are being pushed, again, by leadership, it’s really important the fact that you’ve decided to step forward and run for office.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Our quote for the end of the show is certainly going to be it’s so it just happens this way. And so you’re going to love that at the end of the show. What do you want people to know? We’ve got about four minutes. So what what do you want people to know?
Kim Monson (Host) :
Well, Corey, I moved to Colorado a long time ago, and this state and city that I love, it’s really in a terrible position now. Denver is dirty, it’s dangerous, and we need to reclaim this state. And the reason that it’s dirty and dangerous… is because of this radical Democrat control, but also because we have some Republicans that don’t stand up and stand on principle. And so that’s why it is so important that you have stepped forward to run for office. So what is the best way to help you to get more information about you?
Kim Monson (Host) :
Okay. And again, that’s Corey Onusorg. And that website is Corey, C-O-R-Y, the number for colorado.com. Corey, thank you so much.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Boy, quite the show. And Joe, you were shaking your head yes on X. Do you get a lot of your information from X as well?
Joseph Sherman (Host) :
Generally. I just really don’t like Facebook, though I am in agreeance with Facebook being a problem.
Kim Monson (Host) :
Okay. And so that’s good to know. And our quote for the end of the show I really think is something probably that has happened with a number of our candidates. And I think from what Corey said regarding him deciding to run for office, I think it’s very appropriate. And it is from Isaiah 6-8. And it’s this. He said, Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said, Here I… Here am I, send me. My friends, I think that we need to, each of us, say, here am I, send me. And we need to reclaim our state and our country, and we need to do that at the ballot box. So today, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. My friends, you are not alone. God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 22 :
Views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
