In her latest episode, Kim Munson brings to light the controversial topics shaping our nation, from surveillance and defamation in the environmental sector to the implications of closing the Department of Education. As spring arrives, Kim shares personal insights on gardening while exploring legislative updates, the complexities of AI privacy protection, and her vision for a stronger political future in Colorado. Don’t miss this engaging conversation on freedom and governance.
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It’s the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
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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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The latest in politics and world affairs.
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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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Today’s current opinions and ideas.
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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.
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Indeed, let’s have a conversation. Welcome to the Kim Munson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You each are treasured, you’re valued, you have purpose today. Strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. And thank you to the team. That’s producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy first day of spring, Producer Joe. Happy spring, Kim. Yeah. I can’t believe it. It’s here. And boy, I can’t wait. I’m going to go get my pansies and get those. You know, there’s something about a pansy. They call them pansies, but those are one strong little flower. They’re one of my favorite flowers. They’re so happy. And so I’m going to go out and start searching for pansies out there.
SPEAKER 18 :
Very cool. You know, I’ve never really gardened much, but I’ve always wanted to try and like vegetable gardening or gardening or something.
SPEAKER 07 :
You know, you can do and I’ve done vegetables in pots and a lot of tomato plants. And so I normally will plant most of that around with plants around Memorial Day. So you might think about that. Start planning for that because it’s so wonderful to have all those fresh vegetables in the summer. So think about that.
SPEAKER 18 :
I definitely will. And also it will save a buck in the grocery store as it gets more expensive.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, that’s true too. So there’s that added benefit. So we’ve got a lot planned for you today, so I’ve got to get right into it. First of all, I wanted to say thank you to Laramie Energy for their gold sponsorship of the show. It’s reliable, efficient, affordable, and abundant energy that powers our lives and fuels our hopes and dreams. It empowers us to change our own personal climate. That has been under attack. And this is really a big piece of news that it was all over all of the different outlets yesterday. This is from The Guardian, which I think they lean pretty far left. Greenpeace must pay at least $660 million over the Dakota pipeline protests. says a jury. And of course, they say that Greenpeace is a nonprofit, but they bring in a lot of money. They, of course, will appeal the decision, saying that lawsuits like this are aimed at destroying the right to peaceful protest. Actually, no, they were destroying things, and they were destroying, it was more than peaceful protest. So it was a jury in North Dakota, And they decided that it must pay these millions of dollars to Energy Transfer, which is the company. And they’re liable for defamation and other claims over protests in the state nearly a decade ago. And it says Energy Transfer Partners, a Dallas-based oil and gas company worth almost $70 billion, sued Greenpeace, alleging defamation and orchestrating criminal behavior by protesters at the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 and 17, claiming the organization incited people to protest by using a misinformation campaign. My friends, this is huge because this reliable, efficient, affordable, and abundant energy that really has provided affordable things in our lives has been under attack. So this is huge. We will continue to watch that. Our word of the day. is chameleon and this was suggested to me by one of our listeners Janie thank you and it is a noun it’s spelled c-h-a-m-e-l-e-o-n first definition any of numerous old world lizards of the family of chameleon today characterized by the ability to change the color of their skin very slow locomotion and and a projectile tongue. Number two, any of several American lizards capable of changing the color of their skin, and they’re normally found in the southeastern United States, or a changeable, fickle, or inconstant person. And I think that sometimes this precipitated from this discussion that she and I had regarding some people that she cares deeply about that seems to be chameleons. And she said politics divides so many people. And I thought about it. This was on Saturday or Sunday this last week. And I thought, you know, it’s not politics. It’s values. And I think when we start to talk about values – I think we are probably more alike than different. And so instead of putting the R or the D or the I, you know, letter on your shirt, let’s talk about values. So I think it should be easy for you to use the word chameleon in a sentence today. That is your challenge for your word of the day. Our quote of the day, I was looking for spring quotes, and I found this from Laura Ingalls Wilder. She was born in 1867. She died in 1957. She was an American author who wrote a series of historical fiction books for children based on her childhood in a pioneer family. Her best-known book from the Little House series is generally regarded to be Little House on the Prairie. Her detailed writing style reflects the homespun entries from her own diaries written as a pioneer child. As I’m thinking about this, I need to go back and look at those books. Here’s a child that’s writing these diaries. She could read and write, and here she was in this little place out on the prairie. And those educations in those one-room and two-room schoolhouses was pretty amazing. But this is what she said about spring. She said, some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat. And that is Laura Ingalls Wilder. Another big headline that hit the news yesterday, and that is that Trump is scheduled to sign an order today to dismantle the education department. And it says several Republican governors, this is from Politico, including Greg Abbott of Texas, Mike Braun of Indiana, Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Mike DeWine of Ohio are expected to be at the signings. And it says that he’s expected to sign this directive after many weeks of steadily winnowing the agency staff and spending. It says Trump’s pending executive order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary steps to facilitate her department’s closure and return education authority to the states, according to a summary obtained by Politico. The upcoming order will also tell McMahon to ensure the department continues to deliver its services, programs, and benefits. So this is going to be very interesting. Of course, there’s going to be a lot of noise about this. I know that here in Colorado, having Colorado totally in charge of our education, our own education system, they need to be pushing that back down to the specific school districts. So what can be at the local level changed? should be at the local level. And centralizing power in entities that that’s not the proper role of government are the things that we need to fight back against. And so this is huge news as well. The show comes to you because of our sponsors, and Hooters Restaurants is one of those sponsors, and we are into March Madness. This is going to be a big weekend. Great place to watch the games is at Hooters Restaurants. They have five locations, Loveland, Aurora, Lone Tree, Westminster, and Colorado Springs. Great specials for lunch, Monday through Friday, and happy hour specials. So be sure and check that out. And we are continuing to go through this legislative session here in Colorado. We’re over halfway through. It began basically the second week of January. It goes through the second week of May. And even though we look forward to the legislature being out of session, they are pushing things into bureaucracies with politicians, bureaucrats, and interested parties that continue this overreaching stuff that they’re doing. Let me give you a quick report from Bill Track 50, which is the technology that we use. As of today, there’s been 550 bills and resolutions passed. that have been proposed down at the State House. Colorado Union of Taxpayers has taken positions on 212 of those, and we would love to have you join us. It’s $25. Go to coloradotaxpayer.org or just do a web search for Colorado Union of Taxpayers. And say thank you to my fellow board members when you see them. Steve Dorman, Greg Golianski, Russ Haas, Bill Hamill, Rob Knuth, John Nelson, Wendy Warner, Marty Nielsen, Ramey Johnson, Mary Jansen, Dave Evans, Corey Onizorg, Paula Beard, and Ray Beard. These are volunteers that are watching out for you, the taxpayer. Pleased to have on the line with me Mike. He has been a watchdog on a number of pieces of legislation. down at the state house a couple of them senate bill i think it’s 11 was this big surveillance of basically all of our rural and public lands and then also he was watching the smart meter particular bill and he says we need to talk about house bill 25 12 12 as well mike welcome to the show
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, Kim. Good morning. How are you?
SPEAKER 07 :
Good. And for our listeners that may not know, give us a quick report on, first of all, Senate Bill 11, which is this big surveillance bill under the guise of watching out for fires and fire mitigation. So where is that at?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, right now, Senate Bill 11 is going to be heard tomorrow by the Senate Appropriations Committee. You know, through the efforts of folks who have been involved, I think we’ve gotten two amendments in to help with privacy, including to talk about the fact that vendors have to hear about the criminal evasion of privacy law and they have to pixelate homes. However, you pointed out two times ago when we talked that the Griff Gantt gift grant donation section was added in. Basically, we don’t have a budget for this particular technology, so now we can take gift grant donations. What we found out is Aspen had gotten a donation from a private donor to put a single video camera in one spot, and I thought that was interesting. And then they were talking about that in the finance committee. Now it goes to appropriations. Beyond the privacy concerns, if people can write to the Senate Appropriations Committee and talk about the fact that, you know, not being able to fund a bill and asking for third parties to come in and fund the bill, I think is just inherently a bad idea because it extends third-party influence. You know, right now, Xcel Energy, nothing wrong with Xcel, but they have 21 cameras that covers a million and a half acres so far. If they cover more and more of their infrastructure and lines… Could they waylay other infrastructure improvements for fire safety by saying, now we monitor our lines? However, they also can now monitor quite a lot of stuff. So that’s definitely a concern.
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Okay, Mike, I have to stop you for just a moment. First of all, Excel and the big government are in bed with each other, and we continue to see our energy prices, our electricity prices go up. But you just said something, and I know it was a slip, but I think that I’m going to use that. And instead of gift grants and donations, I’m going to call it grift grants and donations. What do you think?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, as long as it’s tongue-in-cheek, but yeah, so yeah, that’s what happens at 6 a.m. But yeah, GRIFs, gifts, GRIFs, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 07 :
GRIFs, grants, and donations. Okay, next one, the smart meter. Give us an update on that, whereas it was a bill by a Democrat which would say that people had to opt into the smart meter program, right?
SPEAKER 08 :
It was, and then it got amended to be basically an opt-out with just some stronger language about communication. So it went from a freedom forward to a freedom last, in my view. So now what they’d have to do after September 1st and before December 20th, September 1st and before December, they’d have to give you a 90- and a 60-day notice that you have a right to opt out. But it doesn’t specify by email, by mail. Obviously, we know a lot of things can go to spam email folders. So I hope if there’s a Colorado group that can – know take up this charge you know kind of like a smart meter awareness group i know naperville had one and at least have their own information website as well and the other thing is on page four it talks about how it has to have the smart meters comply with the fcc limits on rf exposure unfortunately those are 1996 guidelines there’s been a lot of talk about trying to force a revision of those guidelines uh and then the last thing is with this with these smart meters in general there was a naperville case out in illinois where the judge found in a federal, I think a federal circuit court, had found that because you’re getting your information taken in 15-minute intervals versus a snapshot once a month, your energy consumption can therefore kind of be cataloged by time of day and your activity, so it can be considered to be a search under the Fourth Amendment. However, even though it’s a search, the judge had found that the public benefit, of course, outweighs the private risk. Because of efficiency.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, okay. That’s another discussion. And then we’ve got just a couple of minutes. House Bill 25-1212, Public Safety Protections on Artificial Intelligence. And you’re concerned about this. Why, Mike?
SPEAKER 08 :
Actually, I’m not really concerned as long as it goes through with maybe some quick modifications. I think the sponsors to bipartisan… sponsorship, I think it’s a really good idea because basically there’s going to be a de-identified or anonymous way for a worker or contractor to blow the whistle on a developer who might be doing something, you know, out of law or that could be a significant risk to public safety. Obviously, AI is like the latest kind of boogeyman, you know, but we really don’t understand all the time what could be going on with foundational models behind the scenes. So this is a way for a whistleblower to say, my developer is breaking a law or could pose a risk to public safety or security, even though there’s no specific law being broken, which I think could be very important because a lot of times I see situations, especially in land work and whatever, where no law is being broken, even though it’s a really bad idea. And so the idea has to continue by law. So I like the fact that you can blow a whistle on something that might not have been conceived yet. And then the third is a false statement concerning public safety. These are for foundational models, usually $10 to $100 million of development like Google BERT, GPT, Amazon Nova, big models like that. It’s not going to cover if you’re working on a second layer type of AI. But these are foundational models. So I think it’s a great start, you know, just kind of looking at the basic risks of AI in general.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Very good. And that’s going to be heard today on the House floor, 9 a.m. Mike, thank you so much. I appreciate your research on these things and keeping us up to speed. Let’s stay in touch.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you, Kim. Have a great day.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. And all this happens. We’re an independent voice and it’s because of you and our sponsors. And if you’re looking to buy a home, sell your home or look at a new build, you want to make sure that you have realtor Karen Levine on your side of the table.
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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. And I thank 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 something very important is happening in Colorado right now. There is a… an election for a new Colorado State GOP chair. And on the line with us is former state representative Richard Holthorff, who has thrown his hat in the ring. Representative Holthorff, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you, Kim, for the invitation this morning.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, absolutely. So this is a very important position. And why it it’s one of those things. It’s people love you. People hate you. It’s a very difficult job. Why have you decided to throw your hat in the ring?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I want to make Colorado Republicans win again. I’ve served in the statehouse in three different general assemblies. I served for two different House districts. I served for the House Republican whip. I was on the front lines watching the fight for republicanism, watching us on for defense and watching us lose election after election in three different election cycles that I participated in directly as the leader of the Republican Party. I’m currently serving as the Washington County committee chair. And I just got in this race. Here we go.
SPEAKER 07 :
Richard, you know what? I’m going to stop you for just a moment. I know that you’re in Washington County, and sometimes the cell phone service can be a little bit tricky out there. So I’m going to have Joe call you back on that and just make sure that you’re in a place where you’ve got good cell phone coverage because I want to hear every word that you have to say. So give us just a moment on that with former state representative Richard Holthorff, who has thrown his hat in the ring for Colorado State GOP chair. And it’s a really important position, some great candidates on this, so some great choices on that. But we want you to each have the opportunity to hear from each of them and know about them. And so we’re going to get him back on the line. And I know that sometimes you can move around and have a little bit better conversation. cell phone coverage. But what he was saying is that he has decided to put his hat in the ring because we want to have Republicans start to win again here in Colorado. And certainly with this radical activists that have taken over the Democrat Party. I just really don’t think that that is really the place where most Coloradans want to be. And, of course, our elections are so important as well. So, Representative Holtorf, let’s try this again. I was trying to give a synopsis of why you are running, but you said you want to help Republicans win again. How can you, you know, what’s your plan for that? How will that happen?
SPEAKER 09 :
So I don’t know if you checked your email box, but I sent you my platform. I don’t know if you had a chance to review that. It was published on Monday. And went out on my Facebook whole tour for Colorado. It’s a seven point plan. And there’s a pathway where we can win, but we have to have three things happen beginning. We have to have a period of reconciliation. We have to have a period of reconstruction and then we have to reunite our party. We are fractured, we’re divided, and we fight more amongst ourselves than we do those that are the progressive left, woke, socialist, Marxist Democrats that are ruining this state. Now, the state party chair is all about the state and electing statewide elected officials, including getting more Republicans in the House and the state chambers. I talked to Paul Lundin, the Senate Minority Leader, yesterday. And I talked, and I sent him the plan. I said, this is the way we win. This is the pathway forward. So it’s in the plan. But I’ll give you a quick summary. The first thing is we have to unite. If we can’t unite, we can’t win. We have to stop infighting and turn the guns outside our perimeter, not inside our perimeter. I’m a military man, so I’ve actually been in combat, and I know what it is when your guns aren’t pointed the right directions. The next thing we have to do is we have to reorganize. So I have a plan for that, and it’s a regional plan. In my plan, we are going to have three vice chairs. And this has to be approved because it’s a bottom-up process. So everything proposed to the state central committee has to be approved because now it’s a bottom-up process. The state central committee is a representation of the counties. We need to work for the counties. The State Executive Committee works for the Central Committee, and the State Party Chair works for everybody and has to answer to those counties and the State Central Committee. Right now, we have a top-down model, and it’s failing. It’s controversial, and it’s divisive. That changes on day one with me. But getting back to this regional model, the Western Slope will have their own vice chair under this model approved by the State Central Committee. The front range will have their first vice chair.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, Richard, and again, you’re cutting a little bit in and out on us.
SPEAKER 09 :
It will also be a regional coordinator that will be tied to that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 09 :
Next question, and again, Richard, you’re— Okay, I’m going to try to move over to this side of the house right there.
SPEAKER 07 :
yeah i know how that can work i get that okay next question and that is is we have this with prop 108 these open primaries here in colorado so one of the issues is where do candidates for state chair stand on opting out. I know there’s kind of two components to it. There’s the opting out and then also closing the primary. So opting out of the open primary, what’s your perspective on that, Richard Holthorff?
SPEAKER 09 :
Political realities that we have to face as Republicans. Colorado is a blue state. There are more unaffiliated than any other
SPEAKER 07 :
You know what, Richard? You know what we’re going to do? Because we’re having trouble with this. I think what let’s do is let’s, after the show, let’s actually do a prerecord on this, and I will get this broadcast then. I’ve got to figure out what tomorrow looks like. But then we’ll get that broadcast because I want people to be able to hear exactly what you have, and we’re going to have to work a little bit on that. that connection and so what we’ll do is I’ll have Joe see if you have some time this morning after we’re off the air to do a pre-record so that we’re sure that we have the quality the audio quality that we really want and I get it cell phones can be so goofy particularly you know when you’re calling in from the eastern plains it just and weather can make a difference so Richard Holthorff if you let’s see if we can try to get that website though again what is the website
SPEAKER 09 :
If you go to Holtorf, F-O-R, Colorado, and it’s a Facebook page. I put it on my Facebook post, Holtorf for Colorado. You can look at that seven-point plan, and you can see the pathway ahead. I’m really sorry that our self-service is so darn bad.
SPEAKER 07 :
out here in eastern colorado yes but we will get this figured out we will we’re always problem solvers here at the kim munson show we will figure it out uh richard holthorff so we’ll be back to you and uh i know our listeners want to hear what you have to say as well so stay tuned we’ll get that figured out and we’ll get that onto the show i’d love to do it tomorrow if we can make that happen so we’ll go to work on that And, again, all this happens because of our sponsors. I mentioned it got a little mixed up on my nurtures, and that is Karen Levine for Everything Residential Real Estate.
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SPEAKER 16 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
You’d like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of The Kim Munson Show, but you can’t remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim’s website, kimmunson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 07 :
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. As you know, a nonprofit I dearly love is the USMC Memorial Foundation. And we have the official Marine Memorial right here in Colorado. And I can’t believe it. First day of spring. That means that Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is right around the corner. And a great gift would to be to buy a brick that will be on one of their pathways of service honoring your loved one’s military service. And so to do that, you can get more information. You can go to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. That is usmcmemorialfoundation.org. And then also very excited, I will be headed down to Pueblo a little bit later today, the Center for American Values, which they do a number of things. They’re nonpartisan. They’re nonpolitical. But they, first of all, honor our Medal of Honor recipients. The co-founders of the center are Brad Padula, who is an Emmy Award-winning documentary maker, and Drew Dix, who is a Medal of Honor recipient. And Pueblo is known as the home of heroes because there’s four Medal of Honor recipients that grew up there. And so they have a complete portraits of valor of over 160 of our Medal of Honor recipients, beautiful portraits with their quotes. But also they have educational programs for K through 12. And they do these on values presentations. And that is what is going to happen today at 4 o’clock. And Dr. Walt Larimore will be presenting on his book, At First Light, which is the story of his World War II father, hero father, Phil Larimore, who really an interesting story. And in fact, I have interviewed Dr. Larimore for America’s Veterans Stories. Colonel Bill Rutledge, who is a regular guest on the show, and Colonel Rutledge is 96 years young. had said, Kim, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read on World War II. And so there’s still time. You can join us. It begins at 4 o’clock down in Pueblo. Just let them know that you’re coming. But it will be a great event today with the Center for American Values. education of our children is so important. And an option that is typically an option that many people like is a publicly funded charter school. And there is a proposal for a charter school out in a new development here in Douglas County in Sterling Ranch. And there seems to be some pushback. And I thought, let’s get some of the people that are working on this on the show. And that is Kim Gilmartin and Ellie Reynolds. And Kim Gilmartin is the executive director of the Liberty Schools Initiative and part of the founding effort for this John Adams Academy Douglas County Charter School. Kim Gilmartin, welcome to the show. Hi. Thanks, Kim. Good to be here. Good to have you. And Ellie Reynolds is chair of the committee to form this new charter school. She’s a mom and a resident of Sterling Ranch, where the school will be located in Douglas County. Ellie, welcome to the show. Morning, Kim. Good to have you. So, Kim, let’s start with you. Not all people understand charter schools. Is it a private school? How does that work here in Colorado? So bring us up to speed on that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, sure. Charter schools are public schools. They are tuition-free. And a lot of people don’t understand that they think of charter schools as private schools, but they are not. We have to be held to all of the same standards as district-run public schools. We have to be approved by an authorizer. And typically that you go through the district to get authorized because all school districts have what’s called exclusive chartering authority. But you can also go to the state authorizer to be authorized. This is an organization that was put in place by the legislature in 2004. And you just need to have permission by the school district to apply directly to the state. And that is what we did in this case. We were released to the state. in December, and now we are putting our charter school application in next week.
SPEAKER 07 :
So why wasn’t the charter approved by the Douglas County School District? My perception has been that they’re very charter friendly.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, you know, they are. They have been in the past, and we could have applied directly to the district, but my background is I’m the co-founder of five other classical charter schools in Colorado. Four of them are The Ascent Classical Academy Charter Schools, your audience has probably heard of them. And all of those were either authorized by the Charter School Institute or at some point were transferred over. And we just know that they’re a great authorizer. They are not an elected body. They’re appointed. It is a bipartisan body. They exist truly to just authorize and manage charter schools. And We didn’t really want to deal with what might be coming down the pike this November. As you know, the Douglas County School Board has swung back and forth, and this was just a little bit more of a stable path to go.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. So, Ellie Reynolds, from what I’ve seen from many of these classical liberal charter schools, they focus on these key things. And I have a public education background. but it was a classical liberal public education where I learned how to read and write and do arithmetic and civics and history, all those things which have served me very well in my life. So it seems like you would have 100% support for this charter school in Sterling Ranch. Is that the case?
SPEAKER 04 :
It isn’t. We’ve received a lot of pushback. We’ve also received a lot of support. I think that’s important to know from, I would say, the larger Douglas County, where we really think this is going to be a destination school for. But ultimately, people are really pushing back at the idea of not having a neighborhood school out here first. That’s a big piece of it. There’s one set to be built because, as a lot of people know, Douglas County passed a bond for a neighborhood school out here. There’s a little bit contention about should the neighborhood school go first or should the charter school? And then there’s just the fact that a lot of people are against school choice and classical options like this that might focus, to your point, on really the basics and educating our children on, you know, whether it’s the founding fathers or the philosophers. That model is just not something that’s being accepted.
SPEAKER 07 :
I find that so interesting that, okay, if you don’t like a classical liberal education, okay, that can be your choice. But I find it so interesting, Ellie Reynolds, that there are people that want to prevent others from having that educational option.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I think what we’re seeing is there’s so much pushback of a school that is just providing an option for a place for children to go that currently right now, just for everyone on the phone, is that we actually in Sterling Ranch do not have a neighborhood school. So right now kids are throughout the district going to different schools. So ultimately, you can make the argument that parents in Sterling Ranch are already opting into choice by what schools are going into. But this one, there seems to be a lot of pushback. And so we’ve just received messages. I would say I probably get 80 messages or comments on my social media or through our platform every day really pushing back on this school and saying that it has something to do with right-wing indoctrination or They’ve used the word, you know, creating a Nazi camp. And I think it’s just very surprising that we’re seeing this, especially at Doug Coe.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. So one thing, Kim Gilmartin, about charter schools, they’re public schools, but there’s not the cost of a brick and mortar. And I remember that particular bond issue that did pass. Gosh, I think the amount that they had. indicated to build a new elementary school was millions and millions of dollars. And the taxpayer doesn’t face that with a charter school, do they? Yeah, that’s right.
SPEAKER 06 :
I think the bond that was passed in Douglas County was $480 million plus or so. And typically, when a district builds a a brick and mortar elementary, it’s, you know, it’s going to be around 35, 40 million. And then it’s even more than that when you go, when you start going into the high school. With charter schools, we are funded with state, we get per pupil revenue, just like the district school does. And that’s usually around 11,000, somewhere around 11 to 12,000 per child. And, but we have to make everything work. We have to pay everything with that because we don’t have bonds. We don’t, we don’t have the taxpayers funding the building. So we have to privately raise those funds. We have to work with charter developers that will build it and sort of become our bank. And then we lease it from them and we pay for the operating costs. We pay for all of that through our per pupil revenues. We have a little bit less, you know, to educate the students with, but we do, we cut corners, we make it work. And what we find is that we had a lot of teachers that are so excited to teach in this kind of environment. And to have a charter school where parents are really involved, where they can teach the way that they wanted to teach, the way that they were taught, you know, growing up. And that’s what we’re doing. But a lot more autonomy around that. But we make it work with less.
SPEAKER 07 :
And Ellie Reynolds, it just seems like a win-win across the board. There is an educational option that isn’t costing the taxpayers tons of money. I think it’ll get a school up and running quickly in this rapidly growing area. It seems to me like it’s a real win.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, you would think that. I think ultimately what we’ve seen is out here in Douglas County, we’ve seen the teachers union really mobilize from the very beginning of this project and push back at the idea of a couple things. One, a classical charter, a charter school in general. And then the other piece of that would be that they’ve really pushed back on the idea that a school could come around the same time, if not before the neighborhood school that’s planned out here. And so those are really what people are rallying around on opposition for this school. I think what we’re trying to make sure that parents out here know is that ultimately it’s just providing another choice for your child and a different kind of education. Um, and, and really Kim and I worked hard and we know that there is demand out there for this type of education. It’s, I have a four year old I’m putting, you know, in the school and kindergarten and, um, I talk to moms every day who are looking for a different option besides the neighborhood schools.
SPEAKER 07 :
And I think options are always a good idea where people have the freedom to make the choices that are best for their children, for their families. No child is, everyone’s, every child is unique. And so having different options on all of this, I think is so important. Kim Gilmartin, your comments on that, we’ll go to break and then we’ll continue the discussion because education of our children is so important. Kim Gilmartin.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, that’s right. This is all about choice. And the false narrative of if we offer this, we take away some other option for children is just not true. It’s not true. It’s never been true. We need to come from this from a viewpoint of abundance. And Sterling Ranch at full build out will have 12,000 residents. It’s already been around for 10 years. No schools. There’s going to be enough Homes for four or five schools out there. So this is just another great choice for the community.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. We will continue the discussion with Kim Gilmartin and Ellie Reynolds regarding the John Adams Academy Charter School that’s proposed out in Douglas County. These are important discussions. I think we see so many things going on. in education. Of course, we saw the headline that Donald Trump looks like they’re going to dismantle the Department of Education today at the federal level. That’s going to be super interesting. So we’ll want to stay tuned on that. We have these important discussions. We’re an independent voice on an independent station, and it happens because of our sponsors. And inflation numbers are a little crazy right now. It seems like mortgage rates are staying right around the same level. But there might be some opportunities you don’t know. So give Lorne Levy a call and he’ll be able to help you navigate through all of that regarding mortgage rates.
SPEAKER 14 :
That’s 303-880-8881.
SPEAKER 16 :
Call now. 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.
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SPEAKER 07 :
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 as 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. I’m talking with Kim Gilmartin and Ellie Reynolds. Kim is the executive director of the Liberty Schools Initiative and part of the founding effort for this John Adams Academy in Douglas County. And Ellie is the chair of this committee to form this new charter school. She’s a mom of a four year old and a resident of Sterling Ranch. Kim Gilmartin, this is not your first rodeo as far as trying to get charter schools into communities. And you mentioned the teachers union. When I was working on my voter’s guide for this last election and was looking at all these different bond and mill levy override proposals by these school districts up and down the front range, I was looking at results up and down the front range of our kids being able to read and write and do arithmetic. And I’ll just suffice it to say that we’ve got a lot of improvement to make on that. And the teachers union has had a stronghold, or stranglehold, I might say, on many of these school districts. And while they’re doing that, our kids are being left behind, from what I can see. What do you see on this, Kim Gilmartin, from what the teachers unions are doing? And they’re trying to prevent educational choice.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, it’s absolutely true. I know it sounds a little cliche, like, oh, yeah, it’s the teacher’s union, but it really is. As you said, I mean, I’ve been to this rodeo before. I’ve been successful in working with groups of people to get five different classical charter schools open, but I’ve worked and tried to get them in eight different districts. The three that were unsuccessful were Boulder Valley, Durango, And Adams 12 actually in Montrose, they’re going to apply again. But in every single time, it’s the same group. It’s the same story. And what happens is it’s a group, the teachers union, many of them retired teachers. I’m not painting teachers with that brush, but some of them are there. So many of the people that oppose these schools don’t even have kids in the school. They’re not even going to put their kids in the school. They’re grown kids or they’ve never had them there. But it’s the same story of this takes money away from our public schools. This is going to hurt our teachers. This is a school. This is a religious school. This is a school that’s going to indoctrinate. This is, you know, going to hurt. This is a school that’s not accountable. They’re not going to teach children. Well, all of the same stories, but none of it’s true. It is a narrative that we have to fight against. And it truly because they’re a little bit nervous about the competition and the fact that it’s going to make some of these schools look worse that are that are district run.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, so what if they look worse? The truth is the truth. And you can’t get third grade back, Ellie Reynolds. And so if a child and by one of the markers for kids being successful in life is being able to read by age or by third grade. And so I find it selfish that we have those that want to prevent educational options for children, Ellie Reynolds.
SPEAKER 04 :
I think it really boils down to the fact that they believe that their way, the neighborhood schools and going back to what Kim said, you know, really ultimately the unions that have told them that this is the way is the only way. And what we’ve seen through test scores and what you’re talking about, Kim, is that’s just not true. and that our children learn at all different levels. And we need to make sure they have the best education possible. One of the amazing things I love about John Adams Academy is how much they do incorporate reading. Even when they start in kindergarten, they take home books and they have what they call the John Adams Library at the end of the time that goes through where they really mark up their books and have Socratic discussions with them and then they take them home and it’s something That’s a gift to them. So it was all those things that really drew me to the education. And I know there’s other parents out there that are looking for an alternative choice in the neighborhood school. So we’re happy to provide that option.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. So Kim Gilmartin, when you hear these things that you said are just not true, first thing that this is going to take students and resources from the neighborhood school. How do you answer that, Kim Gilmartin?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, you just have to keep putting facts out there on this. So think about a charter school that opens near a neighborhood school, or say one that’s already in existence. Every child, as I mentioned at the beginning of the show, every child carries a certain amount of money over his or her head. So it’s maybe $11,000. If that child chooses to leave the district school and go to the charter school, that money follows that student. So that is a true statement. However, now that district school does not have the expense of educating that student. So it’s not true when they say you’re taking money away. First of all, it belongs to the taxpayers. It belongs to the parents who are making the choice of where they want to send their child. And that is the way that money works. And so the charter school needs to figure out how to pay for the expense of operating that child. I’m sorry, of educating that child. And that is what we do. So It’s just not a true statement to say that we’re stealing it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, and Ellie Reynolds, if the per-pupil revenue is, let’s say it’s $11,000, and I look at that, a class of 20 students, that’s $220,000, and many times the class size might be more. But as I’ve looked at these numbers, I’m thinking for $220,000 for a class of 20, and I know there’s capital expenses, But you hear all these comments about teachers are underpaid. Guys, for $220,000, I think that I could probably make sure those 20 students could read and write and do arithmetic.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. I think, you know, ultimately we’re really excited about John Adams is that we have a private component to our charter school as well. We were able to get 25 acres of land dedicated to us. for the start the building of this so we’re also leveraging private and public dollars and then ultimately what we found is what the district has maybe went to bond for to build their facilities and to manage their facilities is really almost double what we plan to manage our facilities and so i think that also goes back to the fact of really how how bloated are the budgets um And how much overhead are they seeking versus what’s the reality of what can we actually educate our kids with?
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Well, this is fascinating. And you’re moving this over to try to get approval for this from the Charter School Institute, Kim Gilmartin. Can people help you? What’s an action step or what’s the next step on this?
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. We are accepting expressions of interest. That’s what we call them. They are non-binding and they are confidential. But if you have children that you think you would like to possibly put in the school, we have to show our authorizer, that’s the Charter School Institute, throughout this process before the vote that there is demand. We’ve gotten a huge amount of support, but we are still looking for more. So if you have children that are ages that are going to be in grades kindergarten through eighth next year, we’re accepting expressions of interest. for that. And that’s for fall 2026. So we would ask you to fill that out now. And then we’ll be a page 12 school. So each year, you know, we add a grade until we reach 12th grade, they can fill out the expression of interest by visiting our website, which is john Adams, Doug co.org. And it’s right there on the front page.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. And Ellie Reynolds, you’re you’re really the on the chair of this committee. Is this only for children in Sterling Ranch?
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s not. It is, we believe it’s a classical education that’s a destination school. So anyone who is any proximity to Sterling Ranch, and if you’re not familiar with Sterling Ranch, we’re in the northwest part of Douglas County. So pretty much anywhere feeding in Douglas County or South Jesco, Littleton area would still be very convenient and would offer your child a great education.
SPEAKER 07 :
And again, so an expression of interest is how they would let you know about that, Ellie Reynolds?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, expression of interest on our website, johnadams.co.org. And also, if you have any businesses or you’d like to just support us, we also are looking for letters of support that can be submitted through our info box.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. Well, just to wrap this up, Ellie Reynolds, let’s go to you first. We’ve got about 30 seconds. How would you like to wrap this up, your message to the listeners of Colorado?
SPEAKER 04 :
My message is we’re really excited to bring John Adams Academy to Sterling Ranch to provide choice for parents like myself.
SPEAKER 07 :
And again, what’s that website, Ellie Reynolds? The website is johnadamsdugco.org. Okay. And Kim Gilmartin, I know you well. You are in this fight for our children. I so appreciate it. Your final thought for our listeners?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, thanks for having us on again, Kim, and being in this fight with us. We’re just asking everybody to support us so that we can show the opposition out there and the people trying to prevent this that they’re not going to win.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and whenever there are those that want to prevent options, particularly in education, I think that we really need to take a look at that. So Kim Gilmartin and Ellie Reynolds, I really appreciate that they were with us on this today. And again, we need to support. We have a duty on the education of our children, not only if we’re parents, but grandparents and community members. So again, I thank both of them for their great work on this. The quote for the end of the show, I went to Laura Ingalls Weiler, and this is the first day of spring, and she said this. She said, the real things haven’t changed. It’s still best to be honest and truthful, to make the most of what we have, to be happy with simple pleasures, and have courage when things go wrong. So my friends today, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate endless and 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. And stay tuned for our number two.
SPEAKER 19 :
I will fight.
SPEAKER 12 :
The 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.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
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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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The latest in politics and world affairs.
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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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Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 07 :
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 07 :
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 each are treasured, you’re valued, you have purpose. Today, strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. And thank you to the team. That’s Producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy first day of spring, Producer Joe.
SPEAKER 18 :
Happy Thursday, Kim.
SPEAKER 07 :
It is Thursday. Can’t believe it. My gosh, time goes by so fast. 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’ll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com. I am behind on those, but I’m going to be working on those this weekend. And text me 720-605-0647. That reminds me. One of you had had this question regarding what Dr. Jack had mentioned yesterday. I want to get right to this because he had sent this over. He had talked about this, and you can find it at Popular Rationalism. And the ingredient in the flu vaccine that he’s concerned about was thimerosal, T-H-I-M-E-R-O-S-A-L. And he said he’s going to publish something on that at his Substack, which is Popular Rationalism. rationalism, but I know that came in on the text line yesterday. That ingredient is thimerosal. And so again, you can text me 720-605-0647. And I really do appreciate all of you who support us, because we are an independent voice on an independent station, searching 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 shouldn’t have to force people to do it. And it’s not compassionate to take and just think about you could insert the word steal. It’s not compassionate to steal other people’s rights, their property, freedom, livelihoods, opportunities, the childhoods through this whole activist transgender thing. or people’s lives via force. Force can be a weapon, but we’re seeing policy, unpredictable and excessive taxation. Fear, coercion, government-induced inflation, this agenda by the World Economic Forum, and that’s playing out in our local governments. And that’s why we need to be watching that. Globalist elites agenda, United Nations, this Colorado state legislature, radical activists, extremists are controlling that. And the Colorado governor, even though he’s trying to portray himself as a… Gosh, now I’m forgetting the term. Libertarian. There we go. He’s not. And his name is being bantered around as potentially running for president in 2028. And so we need to shed light on exactly what he stands for. But land use codes, zoning regulations, force fees, conservation easements, national monument designations, all these things are designed to take away our property and to take away our lives and all that. So that’s why we do this show is to shed light on all of that. Our word of the day is chameleon. It’s spelled C-H-A-M-E-L-E-O-N. And it could be, number one, any of the numerous old world lizards of the family of Camellia tidae, characterized by the ability to change the color of their skin, very slow locomotion, and a projectile tongue. Number two, it could be an American lizard, same thing, capable of changing the color of their skin. And they’re primarily found in the southeastern United States. Or this, a changeable, fickle, or inconstant person. And I actually, I was talking with someone the other day. They had an issue that was being presented at their town council. They’d reached out to all of their town council members. And one of the members was truly a chameleon in what she said and what she actually did when she got to the town council meeting. And that happens a lot in politics. But you’re Your challenge is to use the word chameleon. Again, spell C-H-A-M-E-L-E-O-N in a sentence today. That should not be too difficult. Our quote of the day, I was looking for quotes about spring. And I found this from Laura Ingalls Wilder. She was born in 1867. She died in 1957. She was an American author. She’s best known for her book, Little House on the Prairie. And these are from diaries that she had written as a child. So here we have a pioneer child that is able to read and write and have a diary where we fast forward to 2025 and our third graders being able to read and write it and do arithmetic in most school districts in the front range is less than 50 percent that’s not okay so let’s just think about what happened in those one and two room school houses you’re shaking your head uh producer joe did you want to comment on that
SPEAKER 18 :
I just think that’s crazy that it’s only 50 percent that are less than 50 percent that generally can read or write. That’s kind of sad because I remember fifth grade and reading all the time.
SPEAKER 07 :
Question. Did you learn because you’re 26? Did you learn cursive?
SPEAKER 18 :
I actually learned cursive on my own behalf at like second grade and I still practice it today.
SPEAKER 07 :
OK, but you didn’t learn it in school.
SPEAKER 18 :
I did actually learn it in school about fourth grade after the fact.
SPEAKER 07 :
Did you? Okay. That’s good to know. I think the fact that many of our kids are not learning cursive is, first of all, how are they going to read our founding documents? But second of all, I think there’s something between the writing and the connection between the brain and writing itself. And practicing. I think it’s an important thing for kids to know how to do. We need to bring that back. We need to be radical and bring back cursive to education.
SPEAKER 18 :
I absolutely agree. And, you know, I like to draw and it helped me so much with drawing and just artistic creativity and allowing me to express myself.
SPEAKER 07 :
So you think about Laura Ingalls Weiler, a pioneer. It’s amazing that she has written those books. But she said this, and I was looking for quotes about spring. She said, some old-fashioned things like fresh air and sunshine are hard to beat. And that is for sure. Our bill of the day, we talked with Mike Rolick. He liked this. And this was regarding House Bill 25-1212, and that’s public safety protections regarding AI. And that’s being heard today, 9 o’clock, down at the Statehouse. And I appreciate him giving us that information on that. Let’s see. Some of the headlines. that we wanted to mention. First, this is huge, and this is from The Guardian. It says, a jury in North Dakota has decided that the environmental group Greenpeace must pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the pipeline company Energy Transfer and is liable for defamation and other claims over protests in the state nearly a decade ago. What we have seen is these radical activist environmental groups have sued in the past. Many times the energy companies have settled instead of going to trial, and so ended up paying them a bunch of money. Then these radical activist environmentalist groups take that money to go out and protest against the companies that they just got all this money from. Well, the tide is turning on this particular group. case and it says energy transfer partners a dallas-based oil and gas company worth almost 70 billion sued greenpeace alleging defamation and orchestrating criminal behavior by protesters at the dakota access pipeline in 2016 and 17 claiming the organization incited people to protest by using a misinformation campaign Well, even there, freedom of speech, you can probably do that. But what they did is they destroyed the right to peaceful protest. Oh, I guess Greenpeace said that they destroyed the right to peaceful protest, but they weren’t peaceful. that actually they were doing things that were more than just protesting, but they were doing other things. So this is going to be appealed, but it’s super interesting, and it looks like the tide turned on Greenpeace. So stay tuned on that. Next thing, Trump, this is from Politico, is expected to sign a long-awaited directive to officially wind down the Education Department following weeks of steadily winnowing the agency’s staff and spending. He goes on to say that the Secretary, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, said that they want to make sure, though they ensure, to deliver services, programs, and benefits, but it looks like they’re going to try to push that down to the state level. And, of course, then I hope the state pushes that down to the local level because things that can be local should be local. It should be closest to the people. The federal government has limited things that it’s supposed to do. It has a proper role. It’s way out of their lane. And, of course, the Donald Trump administration is working to get that turned around. Next thing, this I think is also a very important headline. And that is that going out the door, the Biden-Harris administration squirreled away about $20 billion to – that they had not – determined where that money was going to go exactly, to my understanding, had not really granted it out. And so they squirreled it away in some of the banks and got that out to some different organizations. Stacey Abrams in Georgia, apparently her organization got $2 billion. And so this is from Animal Planet. And it says that the EPA demands investigation and how this $20 billion climate fund is being used. Thank you, Lee Zeldin. And it says this fund was intended to promote clean energy projects. And again, words are important. There’s not anything really clean about solar panels and wind turbines because how you recycle those things, the manufacturing of them. Actually, with solar panels, a bunch of rare earth minerals, the mining on that a lot of times is in Africa by children, slave labor, strip mining. So anyway, we’ll just say – I’ll say this, that this investigation – uh reps represents a bid to get the money back from this this uh 20 billion dollars out there and so this is really important to be shedding light on all of that we have these discussions because of our sponsors and for everything regarding insurance reach out to the roger mangan state farm insurance team you want to understand your coverage know what you have maybe you can save some money You won’t know unless you set up a complimentary appointment with them. You can do that by calling 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
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SPEAKER 07 :
Welcome back to the Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That’s 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. If something’s a good idea, you shouldn’t have to force people to do it. Text line is 720-605-0647. I want to hear from you. And thank you to Laramie Energy for their goal sponsorship of the show. Because it is reliable, efficient, affordable, and abundant energy from oil, natural gas, and coal that powers our lives, fuels our hopes and dreams, and empowers us to change our own personal climate to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Pleased to have on the line with me Pam Long. She is a regular author at the Kim Munson Show as well as Children’s Health Defense, which is the organization founded by RFK Jr., who is now the Secretary of Health and Human Services. And I want to talk with her about the flu shot and our military. But she is a former captain in the Army Medical Service Corps. She attended West Point and just really, really an important voice here in Colorado and in the nation. Pam Long, welcome to the show. Thank you, Kim. Thank you. Hey, you know what? I never really asked you this. West Point. That’s a pretty amazing thing that you attended West Point. Just tell us a little bit about what it was like for you at West Point.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, well, I’m a class of 1997 graduate. So women had been at the academy for a while since the class of 1980. But there were still some, you know, nuances to women being at the academy. And with that, I would say it was like having a thousand brothers. In my experience, it was very positive. And then I went on to serve after all the opportunities at the academy, which they send you out into the army every summer to before you’re commissioned as an officer, the second lieutenant. And then I served as a medical service corps officer for the United States Army and deployed to various places and in some missions here in the United States to protect our own people here, being with the medevac unit. And then I became a very important member of a special unit called the family and ultimately left the military when I had my first child.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, that’s pretty cool. And what was it like to be on the grounds of West Point, thinking about the history of Alexander Hamilton and George Washington? Was it pretty amazing?
SPEAKER 03 :
It is very inspiring, and you just don’t feel like when you’re a cadet. You don’t feel like you even deserve to be among such greatness and such history. Kim, you would absolutely love it. I know how much you love Monticello. And I mean, it is so rich in history and beautiful. West Point was a strategic location on the Hudson River for our defenses and our history. It’s beautiful. It’s rich in history. And you will see if you visit there today, these cadets who will become officers and be commissioned into the Army, just it will renew your hope in our young Americans. I know we’ve talked even this morning about some of the discouraging things in our education system. But at West Point, you will see young people who are living lives of excellence that want to serve their country, who are the top in their class across from every state. It’s a great cross-country sample of the best we have to offer in our young people, both educationally and in fitness and their military skills. They are the best of America, and we should be very proud of them in supporting them.
SPEAKER 07 :
I totally agree. With the Trump II administration now in full force, and I don’t want to use the word force, in what they are doing right now, I’m starting to see that there’s a resurgence of people, individuals that are signing up for the military. You really have your eyes on that. What do you see with that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, the Trump administration and the Secretary of Defense, they are stating that there is an improvement in what was historical lows, all-time historical lows in retention and recruitment for armed forces. I have not seen that preliminary data. You know, we’re only three months barely into this new administration to see if that can be sustained. I will say there is a public misperception about President Trump’s executive order in February, which offered reinstatement and back pay to service members who were separated under the COVID-19 vaccine mandates. that just fixed everything in our military with that one executive order. That executive order has very good intent identifying a problem, but today I think we’re gonna talk about what needs to be done to fully restore those service members and correct what went wrong during the COVID vaccine mandate.
SPEAKER 07 :
So let’s jump into it. And we will publish this this weekend. And it’s punishment and discharge for military members who refuse the flu shot. So that’s a step in the right direction. But you said there’s a lot more that needs to be done regarding this whole thing, our military and the emergency youth authorization on COVID-19.
SPEAKER 03 :
Correct. So the public heard a version from the media that we lost 8,000 members from our armed forces for the COVID mandates, people that were forced out because they would not take an experimental vaccine. In actuality, the Department of Defense numbers show that we lost 100,000. It’s about 96,000 service members who left involuntarily to avoid punishment under UCMJ, the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And it could be even far worse than that. We know it is by the retention and recruitment numbers at historical lows that people left the military to avoid punishment under an illegal mandate. And then people are not recommending service to their families. The military is a very multi-generational recruitment process where people serve and then their children serve. And that is Because of this problem with the vaccine mandates that people do not want to go back to a chain of command who did not support their legal rights, their constitutional rights, their medical rights to request an accommodation for an experimental drug. And the whole that’s the reinstatement side. Um, the back pay side is anyone who left the military under that mandate who were forced out if they went and got a civilian job, which most of them did to pay their bills. They’re not eligible for back pay. So these are the nuances that have not been explained to the public. And we very much need the public advocating for our military for what we’re talking about today, which is. Service members are still being involuntarily enforced out of the military for refusal for the influenza vaccine. So Children’s Health Defense Military Chapter, which I am the director of, we conducted a survey in February to kind of get a measure of how much this is influencing our military. And these claims that the accommodation process for both medical and religious accommodations, that entire process is not functioning as intended to protect the medical and religious rights of service members. In the survey results, we had 80 respondents. found that this system is completely non-functioning across the force, across branches, across active and reserve components. Service members report being denied religious accommodations without any transparency, with fully redacted responses, so they cannot write an appeal. They report that in many cases, the request did not get an approval or disapproval for sometimes years, if ever. Some of these people have been in this process for up to four years. And the service members can resubmit this request year after year. And during this entire time, which could be taking years, Service members are being punished with denial for training that is needed for their career progression, letters of reprimand, multiple letters of reprimand, denial to deploy, which is career-ending, scrutiny of their security clearances, delays to promotion, loss of pay, and boards ultimately recommending involuntary separation. And some of these service members have near 20 years of experience. They also report on the medical side that physicians will not approve medical accommodations, even if the service member has has contraindications, has had a prior adverse reaction to a certain vaccine or during pregnancy. And so out of the 80 people who responded, only two people were actually authorized an approval for an accommodation for a vaccine. One was a person who hired an attorney at his own expense and he was approved for all vaccines except for the influenza vaccine. And then the other was a whistleblower who was only approved for the influenza vaccine. So we can make the case when we have to the secretary of health that the accommodation process is broken in the Department of Defense.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it certainly sounds like it’s broken, but first thing, you attended West Point. I didn’t. I’m not a military strategist. However, it seems to me like in military, if you can take 100,000 soldiers, Marines, sailors from your opposition and move them out of the military, That seems like, from an enemy standpoint, that’s a great strategic move.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and Kim, not only that, right, what type of people are we eliminating? And many of these service members would tell you that it seems to be anyone who has any religious beliefs is being purged out of the military, especially during the COVID mandates. Many of the people with objections had deeply held personal beliefs, which we call religious beliefs. And they would say that they also had a moral obligation not to follow an unlawful order for an experimental drug, which is prohibited and has been clearly since Doe v. Rumsfeld in 2003 with the anthrax mandate was deemed illegal because it was an EUA or experimental vaccine. And they would also tell you they took an oath to the Constitution that says they would not follow unlawful orders and they would not promote them amongst their subordinates as leaders. So we technically are purging people who have religious beliefs. and people who will not follow unethical or unconstitutional or unlawful orders. Those are statements service members would tell you in this situation.
SPEAKER 07 :
Goodness. Well, let’s continue this discussion. I really, well, let’s go to break because I have so many different things I want to ask Pam Long about. And we will be rolling out her essay, very important one, Punishment and Discharge for Military Members Who Refused the Flu Shot. That’ll be in our newsletter this Sunday. Make sure you’re signed up for that. And I want to just mention Lavaca Meat Company. It is located on the corner of Main and Nevada in Old Littleton. And it really is a premium product. So their hamburger, their steaks, they really are like the steakhouse experience at home. So be sure and check them out.
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SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
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 and 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 should not have to force people to do it. I’m talking with Pam Long. She is a former captain in the Army Medical Service Corps. a graduate of West Point. She’s the director of the military chapter for Children’s Health Defense, an author there, an author at the Kim Munson Show. And Pam Long, great to have you. Before we get back into the discussion, I’m going to be down in Pueblo this afternoon at the Center for American Values for one of their On Values presentations. It’s going to be Dr. Walt Larimore, who has written a book about his father, who’s a World War II hero, It’s called At First Light. And Colonel Bill Rutledge, 96 years young, who’s on the show regularly, said it’s one of the best books he’s ever read about World War II. And it’s the whole story. But one of the things that Phil Larimore did was he helped save the Lipasson horses from the Nazis in World War II. So it’s going to be a fascinating presentation.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it’s so important, Kim, to preserve that history. And I’m so glad all you do for our veterans and our military in just letting people know of all these opportunities to connect with these heroes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and people can get more information on that, Pam. from Center for American Values. So moving from those heroes to the heroes of today, our military, as I’ve learned from you, and we’ve got one of our young people here at the studio is in the reserves. And I didn’t realize this, but it sure seems like our military has been pin cushions for vaccines.
SPEAKER 03 :
They absolutely have. And there’s a misconception in the public that when the military members, especially during COVID, were advocating for their right to not be forced to take an experimental drug or vaccine, you see on social media often people say, well, you’re in the military, you don’t have any rights. And it is absolutely urgent, urban myth, urban legend that Service members do have rights. They are the defenders of our Constitution, and to defend our Constitution, they do not forfeit their own constitutional rights. It looks differently in the military under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. It’s different from our civilian due process and judicial oversight, but it is an equal system. They still have legal, medical, and religious rights. And those are found in the Department of Defense regulations and some court decisions and ultimately our Constitution.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and so next thing, and this is such an important piece that you’ve written, and again, we’ll roll that out this weekend, is that that. That there are avenues where military members could pursue them to refuse to have a vaccine. But if I’m just one of the newly new people, I’m on the low levels and I want to refuse a vaccine. And you’ve seen even at the higher levels that there’s been coercion. There’s been refusal to maybe put people up for promotions or training. That’s a pretty difficult thing for one of those on the lower rungs of the military ladder to do that, I think. What do you think about that, Pam Long?
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely. And we have seen this. It’s ultimately discrimination for people from the lowest rank, from a private to a cadet at West Point to officers up to the rank of colonel promotable, meaning they could have been pinned on a star, but instead they were forced out. of the military, that’s two of my classmates from West Point, should be pinning on a star after over 25 years of stellar service who were forced to leave the military and retire involuntarily. They were told, submit your paperwork for retirement or you will be charged with failure to obey a lawful order for not taking an experimental drug during COVID. So if a potential general officer is under this type of coercion and threat of punishment, UCMJ, you know, I’ve had anthrax refusers tell me they were, you know, the death penalty was on the table during their discharge. Yes, absolutely, 100%. It’s documented in Tom Renfer’s book, Unyielding, that those are what they’re faced with. And most people during COVID weren’t faced with the death penalty. They were forced with involuntary separation. Most of them were given a less than honorable discharge, which means that that will affect their ability to get a job in the civilian world and access benefits. The characterization of their discharge is not honorable. It is similar to what some service members who would be discharged per se, sexual assault, you know, it’s less than honorable. And they, so there has this Trump CEO did not change that, did not automatically correct their discharge paperwork. And they are still, which it should have, it should have said, you don’t need to go through a year long process of proving that you had honorable service, that you were wrongly discharged and automatically your discharge paper will be corrected. That’s another some item that we are advocating for. Don’t make people spend years trying to correct their discharge paperwork. So yes, absolutely the coercion in the chain of command affects a private all the way to a general officer. And I might, dare I say that this is the pharmaceutical industry’s capture of what we saw during COVID, not just on the civilian world, but on the Department of Defense of the United States of America, right? Think about how powerful the pharmaceutical industry has, that it has convinced, in what we’re talking about today, the influenza vaccine, that every member of the force must be vaccinated for the flu vaccine every year. This is a vaccine that has a 19 to 48% chance efficacy rating per the CDC when a 51% efficacy rating is required for vaccine approval. So this vaccine does not even meet like approval, minimal approval guidelines. And yet we’re mandating it for every service member, regardless of contraindications, regardless of prior adverse reaction. These are healthy and fit service members who are highly medically screened, especially our pilots. who are screened all the time, continuously, um that are not at a risk for influenza vaccine fatality um the people at risk for influenza fatalities are generally elderly people who usually have a comorbid comorbid condition with pneumonia people with infants can be at risk but our military members that for their fitness level in their health monitoring in their age they are not at risk for an influenza fatality so If we were to conduct a cost-benefit analysis, should we risk service members having a few days of mild influenza and potentially keep, we’re talking pilots with 20 years of experience, tens of thousands of dollars have been dumped into their into their training for their experience and we right now there’s a major in the air force with 17 years of experience he’s pending separation with a single letter of reprimand in his entire career for flu shot refusal this does not make sense in a cost benefit analysis
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and one other thing you had mentioned in your piece that many times military pilots become commercial pilots. And if you get discharged, I think the way you’re describing, then these particular pilots could not become commercial pilots, which I think that’s crazy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Correct, the impact on the civilian world, it overflows into our civilian world, this retention with pilots, is that most of your commercial pilots are, military veterans. They were trained to a high level of training. That’s why we have a stellar safety record in the United States for commercial airlines. Most of them are veterans. And we lost so many pilots during COVID for the civilian COVID-19 vaccine mandate. We’ve had many pilots injured and disqualified from flying because of myocarditis. Again, even civilian pilots are scrutinized heavily with their health in order to fly on a regular basis. And so we’re already at a pilot deficit and we continue to lose pilots. And then on the recruitment aspect, I have a survey. We have a ROTC cadet who’s been denied a religious accommodation for vaccines. And in her security clearance application, the investigate, which is required to be commissioned as an officer, told her that her former commander, she denied her religious accommodation for a vaccine, that she was disloyal to the United States for her religious beliefs. So you can see where now we’re losing potential recruits, pilots, military members, because we won’t even let them into service, even if they’ve had an excellent training experience in ROTC for officers or the equivalent for our enlisted personnel, because they just don’t want to take a flu shot.
SPEAKER 07 :
So next thing then in your piece, and this stopped me in my tracks, if this is the way I read it, was that our veterans would be forced to take this flu shot in order to access their medical benefits. Did I read that correctly? Almost. So to clarify, yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
And they might well be coerced to take the flu shot. I did not investigate that. What the VA’s policy right now in writing is that they are still required and mandated veterans to take the COVID-19 vaccine to receive health care. And the COVID-19 vaccine is no longer mandated for anyone in the Department of Defense. And it’s very well established, does not prevent infection or prevent transmission. So the VA is well behind the Department of Defense, and we are advocating for the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Veteran Affairs to stop that, that it should not be a requirement to receive health care from the VA to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
SPEAKER 07 :
Wow. This is such an important piece on this. Pam Long, you are in the sphere of RFK Jr., who is the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Typically, government moves slowly, although with Trump, too, we’re seeing things move quickly. You’re ear to the ground with RFK Jr. What should people know?
SPEAKER 03 :
He has done so much in just the last month. I could spend probably a whole other segment on just what he has accomplished and addressed in the last month and decades in the works concerning drugs, concerning Ozempic. The solution to our obesity is not another drug for millions of Americans. I think he made the point that for the price that Congress wants to fund Ozempic, that we could give every man, woman, and child in America $3. you know organic meals a day and gym membership he’s addressed other contaminants in our food he’s addressing our military he he has responded to me and he is collaborating and working on a plan to address this issue with the secretary of defense and the secretary of veterans affairs that is in motion i wish i had more to tell service members But really, my point today is to inform the public that the military needs your voice. They need you to put public pressure on our elected officials. And even at the cabinet level on social media, wherever you have access to influence that you need to be educated and advocating for our military as we currently have. people like this pilot i mentioned people with 17 years of experience excellent service record love this country they just want a religious accommodation for maybe the flu shot and we are um persecuting them under this mandate and it needs to stop okay last thing pam long young person considering getting uh to signing up for the military what would you say to them If you love this country and you want to serve this country, please help us. I would full-heartedly support you, but you do need to be informed of your rights and your religious rights, your medical rights, your constitutional rights, and you need to be prepared to defend them, even if, you know, as young as, you know, an E-0, you know, E-1 private, that there are people out there you can network with, you can find them that will be your ally and will help you through this process. Your chain of command might not tell you about, inform you about your rights for a medical accommodation or religious accommodation, but it’s all well documented at the Children’s Health Defense Military Chapter website.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and also you highlight several of these things in this essay that we will be sending out, or we’ll publish this on Sunday, sending out in our email, and then that will be on the website. Pam Long, I so appreciate you and all that you do and these pieces that you write. I’m reading and I’m thinking, how does she do this? This is something very special, and I’m honored to get to work with you on this. Thank you so much, Kim, on behalf of our military. And again, that’s Pam Long. And be sure and be signed up at our website for our email newsletter that goes out on Sundays. And you’ll get first look at this very important essay. All of this happens because of our sponsors. And if you’ve been injured, be sure and reach out to John Bozen with Bozen Law.
SPEAKER 10 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
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.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
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, shouldn’t have to force people to do it. And do check out the USMC Memorial Foundation. That website is usmcmemorialfoundation.org. And you can see all that they’re going to be doing regarding the remodel of the Marine Memorial. It’s a very special place. And the official Marine Memorial is located right here in Colorado. And so, again, I think we as Coloradans need to remember those that have given their lives or been willing to give their lives for our freedom. And speaking of our military, a former captain in the Army is on the line with us, and that is Yvonne Paez. She’s also the co-founder of Perspectives 101. Yvonne, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much for having me this morning, Kim. And it was great to hear my colleague, Pam Long, also a military captain, and the important topic she just covered. So it seems like it’s a military day.
SPEAKER 07 :
It is a military day. And you’re going to join me, I think, to go down to the Center for American Values today, Teresa, and I think her daughter and you and I. I bet Lucy’s going to be down there. It’s going to be a great afternoon. So I’m very excited about that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Listen to more military things. And actually, I am also a horse woman. So even as a child, I used to read the books about the saving of the lip of honors and everything because I wanted to know everything about every breed of horse. So this is important to me. It’ll be great.
SPEAKER 07 :
This is going to be exciting. And people can get more information. We’d love to have you join us. It begins at 4 o’clock down in Pueblo. Just let them know that you’re going to be attending. And that website is AmericanValueCenter.org. But let’s move over to the civilian side, and that is you’ve been on this forced Fort Collins trash thing, trash fee. So I think something’s happening tonight or tomorrow night, yes? That would be yes tonight.
SPEAKER 05 :
So I just wanted to let people know. Well, first of all, I want to start by, because yesterday your show was talking about some bills. This is what reminded me of all of this. where they’re, again, trying to put fees on people. Remember that one that you were talking about? And through the legislative process, that’s all they do is put fees, fees, fees, especially in Colorado. And what those are are taxes. Don’t let anybody fool you one of these days you need to do a show on all the synonyms for the word tax or fee, because it just means somebody’s going into your pocket and taking your money and finding some justification to do it. So the issue here in Fort Collins was that basically people People are being charged for a fee for trash service if you don’t want to have the trash service. So basically you’re having to pay to not have a trash service. So then there’s a lot more to it than that that I can’t get into right now. But I just wanted to let people know that tonight is the third meeting discussing this, and you’re invited to continue a conversation regarding these Fort Collin residents being forced to pay for trash services they do not want or need. And we’re in the process of identifying ways that the city can help reverse some of this harm. I do want to give them some grace because I think by now they’ve realized that when they put this thing together, they did not think this thing through. And there are scores and scores of people who have been harmed through this and who also kind of do have a case about their harm. So I know they’re trying to work with us, but maybe this will also dissuade them from just jumping into things as quickly as When it wasn’t quick, but without thinking things all the way through because there are harmful elements to this. So it is tonight at the Fort Collins Downtown Library from 5.30 to 7 p.m. And it is an open public meeting so people who have been harmed can come. and let us know so we can add to the list of different ways in which white people have been harmed. But also we will be discussing, we have somebody coming to speak and then there will also be some discussion on brainstorming on how the city can, we can join with the city to try and fix some of these things.
SPEAKER 07 :
So you mentioned something, this fee, that people, even though they don’t want to use this service, they would be forced to pay this fee. And, of course, they call it a fee because if they called it a tax, individual citizens would vote on it because under Tabor, Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights, we vote on taxes. But your point that a fee and a tax are the same thing. Government comes in and takes money out of your pocket. They’re just calling it something different.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, it’s semantics. I mean, anybody can play the work game. I’m a linguist, so, you know, bring it on.
SPEAKER 07 :
You are good at that.
SPEAKER 05 :
But the thing is, you know, I’ll give you three examples so people really understand. So there are Republic became the city’s chosen, you know, hauler. And those who had Republic would never know any difference. And there’s people out there going, I don’t see the problem, blah, blah, blah. So, yes, of course, if you are always a Republic customer, you don’t see the problem. And that’s OK. So but if somebody had another trash hauler, which they still have and still want to stay with. they have to pay a certain amount of money to Republic for the privilege of being able to choose the hauler they want if they want somebody else. So to me, that sounds kind of like, you know, going on in Aurora where, you know, these thugs would come and bang at the door. and say, you know, pay me some money. And they’re like, no, no, no, I already paid the landlord. And you’re like, oh, no, that’s the landlord. You’ve got to pay me, too. So how do you have to pay for trash twice? I mean, or at least, you know, pay a fee for the right to have your chosen hauler. It’s crazy. And, yeah, they justify it under all these different terms. But, no, it doesn’t make sense. And then others who simply don’t need a trash service. At all. Maybe there’s a little old lady there who makes one tiny little bag and she takes it to her daughter’s house and they put it in their trash and, you know, she doesn’t, you know, they have the money or want to pay for extra, you know, service and stuff. They’re taking care of trash properly. And so now that person is being forced to pay for a trash service they don’t even receive. And then there’s people who have rental properties who aren’t rented because they’re maybe still fixing them or whatever. And there’s nobody living there and they have to pay for a trash service they don’t receive. And there’s people with property that don’t even have a building on it who have to pay for trash service they don’t receive. And it goes on and on and on.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, so third meeting, when you say third meeting again, where is that at? And is this the city or who’s doing this exactly?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, this is the group, we call it the Trash Review Group, and it’s just a group of citizens who haven’t been affected by these blanket policies that were supposed to work for everybody, and they don’t. And the people are getting together to find out just how everybody has been harmed and how to try and repair that harm. and so you know it is with a post positive focus it’s not just you know going to to um oh god okay i can’t say the word i was thinking about but to do a lot of hand-wringing and things like that and uh it’s it really is to find out the harm that’s been done and to look for solutions and it will be today at the fort collins downtown library from 5 30 to 7 pm in fort collins because this is a fort collins issue okay so if you live in fort collins
SPEAKER 07 :
And you want to talk trash, right? You can do that today, 530 to 7 at the Fort Collins Downtown Library. And this is a bigger issue than just trash. This is about force. And we need to shed light on this when we’ve got municipalities, districts, counties, when they want to use force instead of making the case for, And I think competition, ultimately, I think this will run competition away. And so whenever you see that force word, that’s something that we need to stand up against. And so I thank you for what you’re doing. And then just a quick shout out to tell people just a little bit about Perspectives 101.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure. Also, Perspectives 101 is a northern Colorado civic group that brings a lot of topics with people from Speaking on all, you know, the authorities on a bunch of different topics come and speak to keep people properly informed. And you can reach out to be on our guest list if you’re interested at perspectives101.info at gmail.com. And just for the record, tonight’s meeting is not a perspectives meeting. The first trash one was. This is now the spinoff group that is just really the trash review group who is having this meeting. But I just wanted to bring it up because it is it is one of those four things. So it’s trash today and other things tomorrow. So it’s about the force.
SPEAKER 07 :
You got it. So Yvonne Paez, thank you so much. And our quote for the end of the show is from Laura Ingalls Wilder. She said this, the real things haven’t changed. It’s so best to be honest and truthful, to make the most of what we have, to be happy with simple pleasures and have courage when things go wrong. So my friends, thank you. 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’re not alone. God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 12 :
The 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.
