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Have we lost the essence of what it means to celebrate Independence Day? Join the hosts as they ponder the generational shifts in understanding and valuing freedom, and how modern educational practices might be failing to uphold the rich heritage of America. From the historical origins of the United States’ Christian roots to the modern struggle against revisionist history, the podcast seeks to unravel what needs to be done to remind young Americans of their country’s profound legacy.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the National Crawford Roundtable podcast, a view of culture, current events, and politics through a biblical lens brought to you by Preborn, saving babies and souls. Join us in the fight to save babies from abortion. Your gift provides a free ultrasound for a mother in need. 80% of the time she will choose life. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the Preborn logo to donate to save babies now. and by SunPower LED light therapy devices. Bring light to your pain. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the SunPower LED logo to get out of pain and improve your overall wellness. And now, here are your hosts, Neil Boron, Bob Duco, and John Rush.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, welcome to an Independence Day week edition of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. Just a couple of days away from celebrating the 249th version of the 4th of July, the celebration where we remember the signing of the Declaration of Independence, or at least the initial signers inking their names to the Declaration of Independence, 249 years ago. That’s kind of hard to believe. And since next year will be number 250, I want everyone to know in advance that Bob Duco out of Detroit, Michigan, is inviting everybody to his house for a barbecue. So we’ve got a whole year to plan for that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Plan, there we go.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, man, let’s go.
SPEAKER 02 :
Giddy up.
SPEAKER 06 :
Exactly. So anyway, my name is Neil Boron, and I work for WDCX Radio in Buffalo, New York, on a program called Neil Boron Live. Bob Duco is the host of The Bob Duco Show in Detroit, Michigan, and John Rush, host of Rush to Reason on KLZ in Denver. We make up the guys who do the National Crawford Roundtable podcast every week, and this one, obviously, leading into the 249th celebration. And it’s a meaningful day. I wonder how meaningful. I want to talk about that in just a little bit, like how much younger people really get the importance of freedom, et cetera. But I wanted to start out, guys, by kind of asking this question. I’ve seen actually even a couple articles in the newspaper about it, but it was already in my mind. you know with with the events of the last even 20 years let’s say and and really honestly probably 50 years but you know the us involved in the bombing in iran you know knocking out the nuclear sites um are unwavering support for israel or at least basically unwavering we’ve cracked down recently on anti-semitic student uprisings on college campuses There’s been a ramp up in the deportation of illegals, as President Trump promised when he came into office. People argue one way or the other about our foreign policy in Gaza and Ukraine, etc. I think of the killing of Qasem Soleimani. Our time spent in Afghanistan, people don’t necessarily like these things and they don’t always want the U.S. around it. And with a major date like this coming up, the 4th of July, you start to see articles about, you know, that people are warning, be wary of where you are in public. Know your surroundings because, you know, soft targets are. end up being targets for terror attacks, etc. And I’m just curious what you guys think. With all that’s gone on, and especially in the last six months, is it important that people be worried about 4th of July? And do you think terrorists would be actually planning something for the 4th of July when they could perhaps… be more stealthy about it by choosing a different date, one that is unexpected. But let me start with John real quick, if you don’t mind. Any thoughts about that? Has it crossed your mind? The state is coming. There’s a lot going on in the world. Should we be concerned here in the U.S., John?
SPEAKER 02 :
I think we should always be concerned, Neil, and it’s something that I cover on my program on a pretty routine basis. That’s situational awareness, be paying attention to everything going on around you, whether you’re just out to dinner, whether you’re going to a ball game, whether you’re at a concert, anything along those lines, any type of big gatherings especially. I think you need to be very diligent in just paying attention. Do things look normal? Is there something that looks abnormal? I think we live in a day and age now where it’s something we need to be vigilant on at all times i had several listeners yesterday you know ask am i changing you know my quote unquote safety protocol you know going to and from the station and so on and my answer was absolutely not i do the same thing every day i’ll continue to do the same thing every day am i worried about you know any kind of iranian You know, backlash no more today than I would have, you know, two months ago, three months ago, to be honest with you, Neil. So, you know, do I think anything major is going to come from Iran along these lines? And, you know, all of this talk of the sleeper cells awakening and this, that and the other. It’s ironic that the Democrats, of course, are the ones talking about that and they let them all in. But that’s probably another topic for another day.
SPEAKER 06 :
uh reality is no i’m not changing anything that i’m doing do people need to be vigilant absolutely but would i change my lifestyle around and do anything different today because of what’s going on over in the middle east i would not yeah you know interesting i want to zero in for one second real quick on when you said if you see something say something i think we all get that at the airport like if we see a bag sitting by itself we should probably alert security officer that bag you know is left unattended i’m not sure why that’s sitting there but i I think people are a little more nervous about it like in real life, in our own neighborhoods and stuff. A guy told me a story about a neighbor of his who had moved from a different state. He was from a different country. And at some point told this guy, hey, when I moved from the other state, I had a permit for all the guns I own in that state. But now that I live in New York state, I don’t have a permit for my guns. Do you think I should say anything to any about it? He was asking anyone about it. I’m not sure how the individual answered the question, but my point is that’s a see something, say something moment as far as I’m concerned, because when somebody is telling you that they have a bunch of guns in their home, um, And they’re probably not going to tell the authorities about it. I would feel compelled to say something. But I think that I wouldn’t.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m the opposite of you because I’m that guy. You’re the guy that wouldn’t tell anybody that I’ve got what I have because it’s nobody’s business. Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
but what i’m saying is if there’s somebody that seems to be acting suspiciously or suspiciously towards law enforcement or the government well that was the issue i mean there was some suspicious behavior with cars coming and going at two o’clock in the morning yeah that’s a little weird situations yeah that’s different and it was like should we say anything um Bob, I don’t know, just your thoughts.
SPEAKER 02 :
I want to just follow up really quick, too, Neil, because, you know, this is something that, you know, our family has encountered. And you guys didn’t we didn’t talk about this a lot on the podcast. But I had, you know, two cousins that were murdered in their own home, shot to death. And then the house was burned to the ground. That was that happened back in 2009. February, they still don’t know who did it. They’re still looking for suspects and so on. So my point is, is Neil, you know, is it the Iranians or is it just everyday America that we have to be concerned about? Because the reality is, in my opinion, nothing has really changed. We’ve got to be vigilant at all times, regardless.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and you’re right, and you’re raising a good nuance to the question, the overriding question. Because the articles we’re seeing right now are in the wake of what’s going on or has gone on with Iran recently, they’re saying we need to be vigilant, we need to be concerned. But across the board, if somebody means harm to the United States of America, is it reasonable to think that the 4th of July would be a date? Everyone would go in my mind. Yeah, sure. That would be a target date, but it’d be nice if they could pull it off. But I think it’s easier to pull it off if it’s not the 4th of July, because then nobody’s really paying attention. I agree. I don’t know, Bob, your thoughts.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I’m probably more along John with this in that I don’t think that much about it. I really don’t. I mean, be vigilant and pay attention. Yeah, I think we need to be aware all the time. Keep in mind, I live in Detroit, Michigan, where I’m broadcasting from right now, the studios of WMUZ in Detroit. We are literally on the border of Dearborn, Michigan. Three miles down the road from me is the largest mosque in in the country. And we have the largest population of Muslims in the United States here in, you know, three miles down the road from me. So there’s always that certain sense of, okay, is Islamic jihadism going to come to my backyard here? And so I tend to not live with it every day. It’s just like, okay, we’ll just do my day like normal. I don’t think July 4th is necessarily going to present anything different. I suppose it’s possible that some jihadists could be thinking, let’s target specifically July 4th. That is possible, although if they do something like this, usually it’s several years in the planning. 9-11 took six years. To plan and coordinate. So I think if there was something big and coordinated, they would have been working on it for several years at this point. And if they’re going to go several years into it, if anything else, I would tend to think next year on the 250th anniversary when the whole country is going to be making a much bigger July 4th deal than they would even this year.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I think it’s important to be vigilant, but I don’t worry as much about the 4th of July as the potential for some kind of operation coming to fruition on any other day. And I don’t know what else to do except be vigilant like other people, but I don’t want to live in fear. Bob, I’m with you on that. I don’t want to be the kind of person who’s looking around every corner expecting that there’s a problem going on. We are able to have these kind of conversations on the National Crawford Roundtable because of the support of our faithful partners, including our good friends at Preborn. Bob, what an incredible job they’re doing.
SPEAKER 05 :
They do a phenomenal job of saving babies’ lives. And they save babies’ lives by showing ultrasound images of unborn babies in pro-life centers to the moms who choose life when they see a picture of their baby. They don’t go across the street to Planned Parenthood. Problem is it takes money to pay for these ultrasound images. That’s where you folks in the audience come in. I know a lot of you have given to pre-born already. If you have, would you give again? OK, because there’s not enough ultrasound machines and enough ultrasound images being paid for across the country. So we need to increase it. Can you buy an ultrasound machine? They’re 15 grand. Nice tax write off for you. And you get to know that you’re stopping thousands and thousands of abortions year after year. And if you can’t buy a machine, can you pay for an individual number of images? Twenty eight dollars is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion to save one baby’s lifestyle. How many babies’ lives will you save? Take $28 times fill in the blank. And that’s all you do, folks. It’s that simple. So here’s how you give. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn, and you can give right there. And 100% of everything you give goes to fund ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead that’s covered by private donors. You can also call 833-850-BABY. They answer 24-7. So call right now, 833-850-BABY. Neil?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and I want to thank our friends at SunPowerLED. We use the word photobiomodulation sometimes, and that’s a big word. It’s a big technical word, but it just means light therapy. It means harnessing certain wavelengths of the very light God created and then training them on the cells inside the body, super high-frequency wavelengths of light that you can’t see with the human eye, but they literally penetrate your body. They go to those cells, they energize them to do what cells were created to do. And that’s to reduce pain, reduce swelling and promote healing. So for instance, after surgery, if you had like, let’s say a knee replacement, well, it’s going to take time to recover. The point is, that SunPower LED can help cut that time dramatically. There’s a gentleman who’s got a video on the SunPower LED site that talks about how his broken ribs were restored but healed quickly, much more quickly than they thought. Another individual who recovered from knee surgery and is running again, but much more quickly than the doctors expected. That’s made possible because of light therapy from SunPower LED. And by the way, if you happen to order a unit from SunPower, use the promo code ROUNDTABLE10 and you’ll save 10%. You can check it all out and find it on the CrawfordMediaGroup.net site. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on SunPower LED, use the promo code ROUNDTABLE10. Well, I wanted to start the conversation just at least addressing What I think we pretty much see every year and maybe more articles this year because of all that’s going on, etc., but in any given year, depending on what’s happening around the world and what U.S. foreign policy or military involvement of any kind happens to be, you know, it seems like we see more or less of these articles, but we see some of them every single year regarding the Fourth of July and Independence Day. But I wanted to just get your feel as to whether or not you think 21st century Americans, younger people, people born after 9-11, perhaps, or at least this century, if they really have much of an appreciation, if kids are really learning much about real U.S. history in schools anymore, that’s a huge concern of mine. But… if we really have a proper appreciation or is, I’ve read an article somewhere that the 4th of July is the number one hot dog eating day in America. I think it’s like 150 million pounds of hot dogs or some ridiculous number. So is it really just about, hey, we get a day off, man, 4th of July is coming. That’s really cool. Or do you think people really know and appreciate the 4th of July? And if we don’t, What do we need to do about it? So I guess maybe I’ll start with Bob this time since I threw it to John first before. But Bob, how are we doing on that front? Are we doing a good job explaining what freedom is about and helping to communicate that in our own words and deeds?
SPEAKER 05 :
Some of us do. Most of us don’t, I would say. Unfortunately, kids growing up today, they don’t really… they’re not really being taught the true history of America. When you look at the things like critical race theory and the anti-Americanism that is so much a part of the liberal left today, our kids in school are basically being taught to look at America through a negative lens. And so I think they see the worst in America instead of the best in America. Same thing with law enforcement, the worst in law enforcement, not the best in law enforcement. So We have ugly parts of our history, of course. Every country does. But by and large, I do believe America is the greatest nation on earth. We contribute more good to the earth, I think, than any other country in the world does. But there’s just a wave of anti-Americanism that’s on the left. And so, unfortunately, that’s influencing our kids. Not to mention the fact the Christian heritage of America… has been swept under the rug. There is so much information that’s censored from American history books that our kids aren’t learning. Most people don’t even know that when this country was founded and the Constitution was ratified, the largest church, not just in Washington, D.C., The largest church in the entire United States was the United States Capitol building converted to a church every Sunday morning. And the overflow churches were the War Department building, the Treasury Department building, and the Supreme Court chambers. And the United States Marine Corps band served as the worship team. I mean, this is woven into the history of our country. Thomas Jefferson, when he was president, ordered that the Bible is to be a required reading textbook in the public schools. And as a matter of fact, before there was ever a Zondervan or InterVarsity Press, the United States government was the printer of the Bibles and distributed them to the schools. That’s actually part of our history. After the Constitution was ratified, this is all the kind of stuff that’s censored from our American history books. So yeah, I think… I think our kids are not being taught the true history of America, number one, that it’s a Christian heritage, and number two, that we have been, by and large, when you weigh everything out, a force for good and not a force for evil for humanity.
SPEAKER 06 :
Real quick before I go to John, do you think it’s possible that we would ever return to a time where that was required to be taught in the schools? Because what you’re talking about is not… It’s not coming from a place of desiring theocracy in our country. It’s fact. This is how we were founded. And what if people understood that? I think if you stopped 100 kids right now on the street and asked them, maybe one would know because their dad is a big history buff or because they were homeschooled for a period of time or something like that. But is it possible to turn that ship around in any way?
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s possible in the same way that it’s possible that a meteor could land in my backyard today. But I don’t think it’s probable because, frankly, I don’t see getting this toothpaste back in the tube. I really don’t. And not to mention the fact that as we get closer to Jesus’ return, things are supposed to be actually getting worse and more ungodly. Jesus said, when the Son of Man returns, will he even find faith? And he said, it’ll be as it was in the days of Lot, as it was in the days of Noah. And so it does seem like things are supposed to get worse. We may have waves of revivals, temporary setbacks, but ultimately, I think the wavy chart line runs in an overall downward trend. I’m not trying to be a pessimist. I’m just thinking realistically, plus scripturally, I would argue.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. John, I know you’re a fan of teaching civics in the public schools, or you say we should return to that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, yeah, we should, although… Can we add this to it, is my point. Well, and I agree with Bob. You know, good luck. I think that’s why so many folks, since even COVID, and COVID pushed a lot of this, have turned to either homeschooling or private schooling or things along those lines, because they realized what their kids were actually… being taught in the public school system is really struggling right now to keep attendance. I don’t know what it’s like where you guys are at, but here in Denver, we have schools that they’re literally closing. There’s just not enough attendance at that particular school. It’s funny. There’s not as many kids attending, but they always want more money out of your property taxes. That’s a podcast in and of itself. But anyways… Um, I’m with Bob, the chance of a meteor, you know, dropping in my backyard versus what we’re talking about happening inside the public school. I think the meteors might be a higher chance. And it’s interesting too, because guys, I read some, some things yesterday. I didn’t get a chance to talk about it. I made today on my program, but talking about how, how Gen Z right now is so scared and nervous and, you know, they, they don’t know what to do. They don’t know what, you know, they don’t think they should leave their house. I mean, all these different fears that they have over what’s going on.
SPEAKER 06 :
in the world and i just think to myself holy cow who’s led these people you know these kids especially you know down the wrong path to where they’re now afraid to leave their home i mean what have we entered into here guys yeah it’s disconcerting it’s disturbing i think one thing you’re probably right you know i would i would tend to agree that i think it’s impossible to put the toothpaste back in the tube but there are whole organizations out there that fight for things like religious freedom etc and i I would love to see the day when somebody turns their attention to trying to eliminate DEI, eliminate revisionist history. Let’s teach the actual history. I’m sure that there are congressional Bibles printed by the U.S. government somewhere in the Smithsonian or somewhere else. You can pull those out and say, look, this is the U.S. government printing the Bible. This is part of our history, and we’re going to tell people this. But, again, if it doesn’t happen – Neil, I’m sorry.
SPEAKER 05 :
Let me just jump in real quick. This is – the frustrating thing here is the act of censorship that takes place. For example, when you go to Washington, D.C. in the Visitor Center – now, I don’t know if it’s still this way, but I know it was a few years ago. They have in the Visitor Center a replica of the capstone of the Washington Monument, okay, a little pyramid capstone there, okay? Well, the actual Washington Monument, at the top of it, on one of the four sides, it has etched into it, Laus Deo, praise be to God. But in the visitor’s center, the actual exact replica of the capstone is under glass against the wall. Three sides are visible. One side’s against the wall that can’t be seen. Guess which side is against the wall? So it’s just stupid little stuff like that that just makes my eye twitch.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. And I don’t even know how to say what I’m trying to say here. But one of the things that I think is a reality, let me give you, for instance, in New York State, you know, we’ve had abortion since 1970. Then by 1973, Roe happened. And the feeling was abortion is legal everywhere, etc. But that never prevented any believer who loves life and knows that God created human beings in his image, never prevented any of them from having a conversation over coffee or at lunch or in a homeschool setting or in a church venue or somewhere else to take the opportunity to talk about the value of life and the tragedy of abortion and to be able to address those things. People have tried to make it illegal or hoped in the future somehow they’d pass laws trying to shut down that kind of speech, but the point is nothing could stop pro-lifers from being pro-life, or at least nothing was preventing pro-lifers from continuing to be pro-life even though abortion was illegal everywhere. in that particular in the same way i just kind of think that even though the country might be somewhat hostile to the idea of teaching actual history and is much more in favor of some revisionist version of history that it doesn’t prevent us from talking to our own kids about it creating documentaries talking about it on the radio you know doing whatever we can to bring the issue out without fear of reprisal right now but who knows what the future holds depending on you know what administration is running our country i’m just saying i don’t think we need to be defeatist about it either maybe we can’t get the toothpaste back in the tube but it doesn’t mean we can’t teach what actually happened and i hope that we will you know with vigor that we won’t shy away from those kind of things We’ve got a lot to talk about in the second half of the roundtable. We’re actually going to spend some time touching on what one website referred to as 20 fun facts about the 4th of July. We’ll touch on that a little bit. Also, just in a personal way, we’d love to talk about some 4th of July memories or, you know, fireworks kind of memories. I’m sure that we have some stories to tell about that. So we’re going to kind of go… to the homespun kind of feel on the second half of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. But the ability we have to talk about biblical truth, and I thank God for it, is not only provided in our Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, ultimately, and the opportunity we have for freedom of speech and freedom of peaceful assembly, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, we have some tremendous freedom in this country And one of the things that we can do right now is use our money to support organizations like Preborn that no matter what the law might be in any given state. I mean, New York is a very liberal state, probably the most liberal abortion laws on the planet. But here we still have the opportunity to support an organization like Preborn that’s using ultrasound technology to tell the truth about what’s happening inside a woman’s body, how that baby is developing and shows full well that it’s a human being we’re talking about. Bob, I thank God for Preborn.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, you know, I do too. And I just want to remind everybody that if you haven’t given a pre-born, please do now. And if you haven’t given in a while, well, maybe please give again. You’re paying for ultrasound images to save babies’ lives because moms choose life when they see a picture of their baby. Problem is that we don’t have enough ultrasound images being shown in pro-life centers across the country because it takes money. So will you either buy an ultrasound machine Or to a lesser degree, pay for an individual number of ultrasound images. If you can buy an ultrasound machine, they’re 15 grand a piece. Nice tax write-off for you. If you can pay for an individual number of ultrasound images, $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, to save one baby’s life. So pray about a number of baby’s lives you’ll save. Take $28 times fill in the blank. And anything you give to pre-born, 100% goes to the ultrasounds because overhead’s covered by private donors. So here’s how you give. Go online right now to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. Or just give them a call at 833-850-BABY. 833-850-BABY. They answer the phones 24-7. You can give right there. And support our sponsors. Support Preborn. Support SunPowerLED, Neal.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, SunPower LED is an incredible organization. They have developed a product that’s affordable that involves the use of what’s called photobiomodulation. That’s harnessing light waves. Sound waves, you know, can be harnessed and used. in powerful ways and often are light waves can be harnessed as well and think about you know the vitamin d that we get from light photosynthesis that helps grow plants light provides energy it matters and it can help heal the human body and if you want to learn about how the light god created can be used to reduce pain and swelling and promote healing in your body then go to crawfordmediagroup.net click on sun power led and find out for yourself and there’s videos there there’s all kinds of information about how the natural way of simply using light to reduce pain and swelling and promote healing is being effectively used and by the way use the promo code roundtable10 when you visit and you’ll save 10 just because you’re a national crawford roundtable podcast listener again the website for pre-born and sun power led is crawfordmediagroup.net All right, so in the second half we’re going to touch on a variety of things. I think I mentioned that we would touch on the – the 20 fun facts about the 4th of July, I’m just going to throw out that there actually is a 21st. Bob, I don’t know if you know this, but that’s the one day each year that John opens up the bunker in his home there in the foothills outside Denver.
SPEAKER 05 :
He’s safer than the Fordow people. I’m just letting you know.
SPEAKER 06 :
No bunker busters in John’s bunker. No way. It’s not going to happen. Anyway, yeah, so we’ve got some fun things to talk about in the second half of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. But this is the week of the 4th of July Independence Day. We certainly hope you’ll join us in giving thanks to God for the freedom that we enjoy here in the United States of America. All right, we’re going to wrap it up here. We’ll be back with more in just a moment. Second half of the National Roundtable podcast coming up.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is a Crawford Media Group production.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. is what you’re listening to right here. My name is Neil Boron of Neil Boron Live on WDCX Radio in Buffalo, New York. Bob Duco of the Bob Duco Show on WMUZ in Denver is also with us. And John Rush, host of Rush to Reason, KLZ in Denver, colleagues that I join together with each week here on the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. we’re talking about the 4th of July independence day. And in some ways I’m looking forward to talking about some personal memories we may have of this day. Um, you know, they might just be lighthearted and fun, or they may be something that were life changing, but either way, I hope we get a chance to touch on some of that in just a little bit. But first I want to touch on a couple of things related to the actual holiday itself. Um, Declaration of Independence was actually approved on July 2nd, 1776. And if you guys were aware of that, I was not. But the reason the fourth is credited is because there were two individuals who signed the declaration on that day and a number of others signed it in August at some point. So, you know, we know for sure that John Hancock was one who signed the Declaration of Independence. Does anybody know the name of the other? I’m just curious. Anybody know that name?
SPEAKER 02 :
I can’t remember.
SPEAKER 06 :
We got some crickets. All right, well, I’m just going to leave it hanging out there right now. Maybe, John, you can Google it in a minute. I’m going to leave it out there. Maybe we’ll come back to that in a minute because that’s kind of an interesting tidbit. Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey. Apparently he wanted the turkey as America’s national bird. I have to say, I’m glad he didn’t win that vote. He called it. He said the bald eagle was a bird of bad moral character. How does anybody have a clue? How do you arrive at that? John, if you live out there in Colorado, you got bald eagles.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, they’re pretty I mean, they’re they’re they’re vicious. I’ll give them that. I mean, the bald eagle doesn’t. How should I say this? It holds no, you know, prisoners, I guess you could say. In other words, it is out for death only. And it is, you know, survival and it does whatever it takes to make all of that happen. And yeah, the turkey is not very vicious. I mean, they can be, I guess, wild turkeys can be a little bit mean per se, but not like what an eagle does and can do. So they’re not even in comparison, in my opinion.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. I’m trying to imagine what we would have done on Thanksgiving Day if you couldn’t sit down and eat turkey and watch.
SPEAKER 05 :
We’d eat eagle. Yeah, exactly. And we’d say they taste like chicken. It does make you wonder, though. Let’s pretend Ben Franklin had his way and it was a turkey this whole time. And the turkey had been woven into our brains as the symbol of America. uh would we would we suddenly be seeing every time we saw an image of a turkey we’d put out our chest because we would think majestic thoughts uh in some way or would we still see it as the goofy you know kind of thing i mean how would we so i do wonder about that would we look at an eagle and go oh look how ugly that thing is man i’m glad that didn’t end up being the bird so who knows
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, it’s interesting how these things come about, but in any case, there was at least a possibility that our national bird would not have been the eagle. It could have been the turkey, and I’m just grateful. We didn’t move in that direction. But yeah, on Thanksgiving Day, my whole thing is I love turkey and I love watching the Detroit Lions play at noon. I don’t know why. It’s just a thing. I’m not a huge Lions fan, but they’re on every day. So it would have been the Lions while we’re eating Eagle. No, no.
SPEAKER 05 :
That seems so. By the way, can I say something, Neil, about July 2nd, as you mentioned it? Please. Here’s something else that’s. censored from the American history books uh July 2nd 1776 when the vote they were taking a vote to declare independence Samuel Adams is on record as stating quote we have this day restored the sovereign to whom alone men ought to be obedient he reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun may his kingdom come Uh, that’s the stuff again, censored from American history books. It’s such a shame, but every, every bit of this I share is public information and you can look it up yourself in the national archives and the library of Congress in Washington, DC, but you’re never going to see it in American history books. It’s really unfortunate.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Um, That’s why we’re talking about this kind of thing. And grateful that we have an opportunity. I did not know that Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States, was born on the 4th of July. So his birthday, I believe, is the only president to ever have had a birthday on the 4th of July. But two different founding fathers died on the 4th of July, hours apart. Until I started looking into the history, never knew that. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on the 4th of July, 1826, literally just hours apart. John, do I smell a conspiracy here? What happened? what was that about?
SPEAKER 02 :
Some probably would say so on our side, but yeah, no, things just sort of, you know, work out that way. And it’s, you know, it’s interesting. I’m, I’m one of those where I don’t put a lot of stake in, you know, certain dates and meanings around them and so on. And, you know, maybe I should, but I’ve just never been one of those individuals that, that does. I don’t read too much into anything, especially conspiratorial thinking. Now, is it, is it, you know, coincidence and things like this happen where you end up with, you know, two presidents dying on the same day and, Yeah. Yeah. It’s coincidence. Is it, is it an impossible thing? The odds are pretty low that it would ever happen again. Uh, but yeah, yeah. I’m one of those guys, Neil, where I just, I, I don’t know. I’m just not superstitious. I’m not a conspiracy kind of a guy. I do my best to really try to end those and try to even push those aside when I hear about them and try to figure out, okay, wait a minute. Yeah, no, the earth is round guys. It is in fact round.
SPEAKER 06 :
A couple more fun facts here. I don’t know if they’re fun, but I’ll ask you guys a question. Did the Liberty Bell ring on the 4th of July, 1776? The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, did it ring on the 4th of July?
SPEAKER 02 :
John, yes or no? Did the Liberty Bell ring on the 4th of July? I doubt it. Okay, Bob?
SPEAKER 05 :
I have no idea whatsoever. The only thing I do know about the Liberty Bell, because you know how I am about all of my little history stuff, I do know that the Liberty Bell has inscribed on it Leviticus 2510, but I do not know if it rang on the 4th of July.
SPEAKER 06 :
What I’m looking at says no, it did not, because it was already cracked at that time. And I was disappointed to see that, because if that’s true… then when did that thing ever ring? I mean, the Liberty Bell was there.
SPEAKER 02 :
The day it cracked. There you go.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s the greatest response I’ve heard yet. That’s really good. All right, I wanna tell you about SunPower LED. I got a couple more of those, we’ll just touch on a couple more when we come back, talking about 20 fun facts. I don’t think we’ll get to all of them by any means, but SunPower LED makes this program possible. They’re one of our major sponsors and we’re grateful for all that they do. In 2021, when I came down with COVID, I’ve told this story before, but I couldn’t breathe. I could take a deep breath, but I was getting no value out of it. My blood oxygen content was dangerously low. Three times we called the paramedics and they gave me breathing treatments, but begged me not to go to the hospital because they said I would sit in a hallway and not be cared for at all. My wife is a nurse. I wasn’t delirious, but my blood oxygen was at 79%. It’s supposed to be like 99%. A friend of mine found out about it, sent me a SunPower LED light therapy unit. I started using it on my lungs, and in a matter of a week, my lungs had tremendously turned around. In 10 days, I was 100% better. So it was absolutely amazing how quickly the healing came once I started using the light God created. to heal my body, reduce pain and swelling and get my lungs back to where they needed to be. You can learn about that kind of technology for yourself by going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on SunPowerLED and find out for yourself what the light God created can do to help heal your body. By the way, if you purchase a unit, use the promo code ROUNDTABLE10 to save $10. Bob, Preborn is also listed there at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. They’re a faithful sponsor, and what an incredible job they’re doing helping women choose life for their babies.
SPEAKER 05 :
They do a phenomenal job. And we’re just asking everybody in the audience right now, will you give to Preborn so that you can save babies’ lives? See, what you’re doing is you’re paying for ultrasound images. Ultrasounds are the best way to convince women not to abort their baby because in pro-life centers, they look at a image of their baby and they choose life almost all the time. By the way, these women usually end up accepting Jesus Christ as savior too. But it does take money to show these ultrasound images and we don’t have enough being shown. So that’s where you folks come in. Can you pay for an individual number of ultrasound images? $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, save one baby’s life. So take $28 times fill in the blank. Whatever that amount is, that’s what you give to pre-born. And if you can buy an ultrasound machine, they’re 15 grand a piece. Buy one, please, if you can. But if not, pay for an individual number of them. And 100% of what you give goes to ultrasounds. Overhead’s covered by private donors. So go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on pre-born. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on pre-born. Or just call 833-850-BABY. They answer the phones 24-7. So call 833-850-BABY. Neil?
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you. I mentioned earlier that there were two individuals who signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. Some signers didn’t actually sign until August of that same year. So we all know the name John Hancock, and I think it’s pretty amazing how much attention he’s gotten the other signer was charles thompson irish-born founding father secretary of the continental congress uh as secretary he prepared the journals of the continental congress and uh his and john hancock’s names were the only two that appear on the first printing of the United States Declaration of Independence, which I think is kind of interesting because he was probably like, hey, what about me? Does anybody know me? Like the little kid sitting in the first row in the classroom holding their hand up, oop, oop.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, John Hancock took half the bottom of the page.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, he signed it so big. Big old signature.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s like in the office when it’s like, hey, it’s somebody’s birthday. Everybody signed the card. And the first guy that signs it writes it right across the middle of the card. Really big.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Well, that’s probably what happened. Poor Charles Thompson faded into oblivion in history. But anyway, yeah, it was Charles Thompson and John Hancock. One or two more real quick. Fun facts about… you know, the 4th of July. Americans purchase over 200 million pounds of fireworks annually for the 4th. That’s a lot. The largest firework display happens in New York City. The Star-Spangled Banner was written during the War of 1812, not the Revolution. The Pledge of Allegiance wasn’t written until 1892. Those are all some things that go along with it. And here it is. Americans consume 150 million hot dogs, not pounds of hot dogs, 150 million hot dogs on the 4th. I’m not a hot dog guy anymore. I’m kind of a burger guy now, or sausage, but I don’t know. Are you guys going to have any hot dogs on the 4th? I love hot dogs.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I love them too.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. You’re part of the 150 million hot dogs that we’ll be eating. All right. Well, I wanted to ask you this since we’re just having a casual conversation about Independence Day. We were talking about, you know, whether – especially young people really grasp the importance of it of all the freedoms that we enjoy. Cause you know, this was, this was the, the earliest Americans essentially, you know, from the colonies saying, look at, we want freedom. We don’t want taxation without representation. Um, we want to be able to worship freely, um, We need freedom. We need independence. And they fought for it and they won it. And there’s a lot of freedom that we enjoy. Freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to peaceably assemble and redress grievances that we can actually criticize government if we don’t like what it’s doing, but we can do so in a peaceful way. The Second Amendment provides the freedom to keep and bear arms. Just a personal question, but… You know, Bob, maybe I’ll start with you. Which freedom of all the freedoms we enjoy here in the United States do you most deeply appreciate?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I would say it’s probably an equal tie for me within the First Amendment. The freedom to practice your religious belief where it says, you know, Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. So the freedom to not be prohibited from practicing our religious beliefs and certainly that as Christians. And I would put that right up there in a secular sense with freedom of speech. I think that those are critical, fundamental freedoms. I suppose in the 14th Amendment also, freedom where we have a freedom of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Freedom of life is certainly a big one. We talk about that with pre-borns. These are freedoms that I believe are inalienable rights, as our founders believed. In other words, they come from God, not from man. The problem is that the liberal left in this country has redefined what these freedoms mean and are now claiming that they mean something entirely different, especially the freedom to practice our religious beliefs as we do. And so they’ve turned it into somehow a freedom from religion now. In America, it’s not. So I think we need to correct the record as far as the twisted nature of what the Constitution actually really says.
SPEAKER 06 :
John, what about you?
SPEAKER 02 :
I know it’s going to sound odd, but the second, because without it, none of the rest of them last. So mine is the second. I agree with Bob and everything that he said. There’s a lot of amendments and rights that, you know, inalienable rights that really come from our creator, not from, you know, men. But honestly, guys, and I don’t think I’m wrong in saying this. If we don’t have the second, whether you’re somebody that believes in guns or not, the reality is without that, we lose all the others.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m not going to disagree with you. I don’t take a chance of getting shot. Say that again. I’m not going to disagree. I got it. I don’t want to take the chance of getting shot. OK.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, I was thinking about it while John was talking. I was thinking if he was around during the Battle of Bunker Hill that he probably would have been there. But more for the hill. I’m sorry. Not so much for the hill, but more for the bunker. You know what I’m saying?
SPEAKER 02 :
Or for the bunker and the guns.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, I’ll tell you what. John is the guy that I want with me if I’m on the battlefield.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, absolutely. It’s why we have him on the podcast.
SPEAKER 05 :
And just so you know, John, if we ever go into battle together, I just want you to know I’ll be right behind you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, that’s fine. 100% of the way. I got enough scares. We’ll gun up and be good.
SPEAKER 06 :
OK, that’s fabulous. It’s so good. I I’m going to say and I don’t really know how to separate the value of each of these freedoms that we enjoy. Obviously, freedom of religion is an amazing thing. And I think it’s entirely scriptural. God doesn’t force himself on anybody. So I think probably realistically, that’s the best one overall. But, you know, it’s an arguable point. But personally, I really appreciate what I call the freedom of opportunity, which means that I can wake up in the to worship God or not. I can go to work or not. I can love my wife or not. I can speak what’s on my mind or not. Just the idea that the United States has been a place historically, and we’ve seen, obviously, we’ve seen some rights taken away. We’ve seen a clampdown on certain freedoms, and we need to fight against that. But just the idea that it’s a place of opportunity, which is why people still flock to this country. And yes, sometimes illegally, and we need to put a clamp on that. But the United States has been a place of opportunity. And as a result, it’s been a shining light, a bastion of freedom in the world. And that’s why people don’t leave the United States on floating devices trying to get to other places. They come here because there’s something really special here. And I think that that freedom of opportunity in some ways encompasses it all. I’m not trying to make the big umbrella statement here. I’m just saying it’s a pretty special place because it includes so many of these freedoms. And Where else are you going to go to get that?
SPEAKER 02 :
Really quick, Neil, you said something I think was really important a moment ago where there’s nobody on put-together rafts and things along those lines that are trying to leave our borders and go someplace else. It’s the opposite that’s happening. In fact, even people that whine and complain, oh, if this guy gets elected, if Trump gets elected, I’m leaving. Well, very few of them actually do, and even the ones that do are miserable once they do. So the reality is it is still the best place on earth.
SPEAKER 06 :
100% agree with you on that. And the idea that we even get to do our radio shows on a regular basis and hear competing points of view. And I and Bob both serve in a situation where we have callers from both sides of the border, maybe more to my program. Because it’s a better shot. No, no. Because Toronto is sitting right across the border and it’s basically New York City to the north. I think there’s a smaller population base across from, you know, in Windsor, Ontario, across from Detroit. But either way, we not only talk about competing views in this country, but. from across the pond, so to speak. And I had plenty of calls recently on my program when talking about foreign policy right now and how things are playing out in the Middle East with competing viewpoints on both sides of the border. And I just think that makes us all better in the sense that iron sharpens iron. So we sharpen one another. Nowhere, including the body of Christ, will everyone always agree on everything. But the idea that you can talk it out and sometimes even fight it out, I mean verbally, not physically. We don’t want to condone violence, but I’m just saying the idea that we can wrestle with one another, so to speak. and be better for it is just a wonderful thing so i’m very grateful for the united states and we get to celebrate the 249th birthday of the united states just like pentecost was the birth of the church july 4th 1776 was officially the birth of the united states of america um i didn’t really necessarily plan to ask this question but i’m going to throw it out since since we’re a year away from the celebration of the 250th, I’m wondering if we need to do something to commemorate that. And I don’t necessarily mean here on the podcast. I’m just saying, what would be the proper way? Because I’m sure there’s going to be parades and all kinds of other things. But given the rich history of our country and the opportunity that exists here, the freedoms we enjoy, does anything come to mind? Is there some way that you think we could properly celebrate the 250th anniversary. Anything? Anybody?
SPEAKER 02 :
I thought, and Bob, correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought there’s already some plans and I think Trump is really behind. Isn’t there going to be some big deal in Iowa, like a world’s type fair to celebrate the 250th birthday? Did I miss that or am I thinking, did I dream that?
SPEAKER 05 :
I really don’t know. I’ve got to imagine that long before now, especially with Trump, That they’re probably working out and planning at least the vision of what they’re going to do. You know, they’ll do something, I think, super big. And I mean, let’s face it, Trump does everything really big. And so I think it’s going to be something major. I think it’s going to be it’s probably going to be like a big Ronald Reagan moment when the bicentennial kind of stuff.
SPEAKER 02 :
uh which would be good and then actually i did just look it up i was correct so i will be will be participating in a nationwide celebration of america’s 250th anniversary with a focus on the iowa state fair in other words i think everything i’ve read that’s going to be like the big shebang if there’s one you really want to go to and travel to i believe that’s going to be the one to go to yeah but if trump does it it’s only going to be to celebrate calvin coolidge’s birthday Unbelievable. A little inside.
SPEAKER 05 :
Some of you know what that means.
SPEAKER 02 :
And actually, Trump will be, they’re saying here that Trump will actually be at the Iowa State Fair to talk to the crowd. So if that’s one of those events that people want to plan for now, probably ought to get going on that now. It’s a year away. It seems like a long way off. It goes by really fast. Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right, last question here. Let me just kind of throw it out there. Do either of you have a favorite 4th of July memory of any kind and or a firework story of any kind? Good, bad, or otherwise?
SPEAKER 05 :
I do have a firework story. We were up north a few years ago and we bought a whole bunch of fireworks. You know, and you know, you buy the, here in Michigan, I don’t know if you’re allowed to buy these in New York or Colorado, but here you can buy pretty close to the municipal level mortars and fill up the whole sky and stuff. Okay. So I bought several of these and there were these, call them cakes. They’re big rectangular boxes.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
And they’ll shoot off like 20 or 30 or 40 of them, you know, or whatever. Sometimes 100 of them. Well, anyway, as soon as we finished the whole fireworks thing, then I stupidly, I take some of the boxes that are empty now and I throw them into the big fire pit. Okay. Well, the problem is sometimes there’s some that didn’t fire. And sure enough, there was one big cake that had about 10 or 12 that did not fire. And I toss it into the bonfire and it’s laying sideways. And boom! They just start firing out at all the neighbors and all the women are like running and screaming. People taking for cover, neighbors on both sides of us at the lake. And it was like an insane thing. And so the screaming of people hitting the ground and ducking. So once the screaming, I affected like two or three neighbors all surrounding us on the lake, right? And so once it finally settled down and people are done screaming or whatever, and they sit up, there’s this moment of silence. And then my wife yells out, sorry, ladies, he’s all mine.
SPEAKER 04 :
So it’s like, okay, well, there we go.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s hilarious. I’ll never think of you.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s hilarious. That’s right.
SPEAKER 06 :
We had the cops called on us many times as kids for having fireworks. They were illegal in New York state, but Pennsylvania, you could get them and definitely crossing the border. And it was like 20 minutes to get into Canada with no ID. So a lot of my friends, you know, would get their fireworks there. And I didn’t have a car at the time, so I relied on them to get whatever we were using. But we would start setting them off and eventually the town of Tonawanda police would show up. Never got arrested, but got scolded a couple of times by cops. John, anything come to mind for you?
SPEAKER 02 :
One in particular, because of Colorado, we haven’t had the type of fireworks you guys have had for a long time. But when I was a. young boy in eighties, which were, you know, people know what those are. I’m sure, you know, we were setting those off and, you know, it was my dad and my grandfather and, you know, family and everybody was around and we decided that we were going to put one on top of a fence post just to see, you know, what it would do and, you know, the loudness of it and so on. Well, it happened to split the entire, it was for one of the gates, by the way, split the entire fence post all the way down, ended up having to, you know, you’ll participate in the repair of that afterwards. And, you know, it was one of those dumb moves like Bob was talking about earlier. It’s like, who thought that was a great idea? But anyways, it was fun.
SPEAKER 06 :
Note to self, do not invite John or Bob to 4th of July. Hey, you know what?
SPEAKER 05 :
Real quick. My next-door neighbor, I kid you not, about five, six years ago, he was curious. He had an actual stick of dynamite. It’s illegal. He shouldn’t have done it. A stick of dynamite. So here’s what he did. Out in the street, he takes his wheelbarrow, metal wheelbarrow, takes it out on the street, puts it upside down, and puts a stick of dynamite under the wheelbarrow, just kind of curious what would happen, okay? Okay. It was incredible. The wheelbarrow shot up at least 30 to 40 feet in the air from the explosion. To the moon, Alice. I know. And then it came down. We’re all running for cover. And it almost landed on my car. I’m like, are you crazy?
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s hilarious. Wheelbarrow shrapnel in your skin.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, man. The wheelbarrow stayed intact. That’s what’s incredible. It just shot straight up like a rocket.
SPEAKER 06 :
speaking of dumb stuff there was a guy named caleb i don’t know how this happened but he accidentally put a pickaxe into his ankle tendon it severed it literally settled it severed it which is why i’m going to tell you about sun power led because when crazy stuff happens and god forbid i hope nobody gets injured on the 4th of july but if you know there’s an injury and you need healing you need to know about sun power led because the light god created can be used to help promote that healing reduce pain and swelling well doctors told poor caleb that he wasn’t going to walk for six to eight months and in four weeks he was walking again how is that possible because it promotes the reduction of pain and swelling it promotes healing you need to learn about sun power led and light therapy what it can do for you by the way use the promo code roundtable10 to save 10 on any purchase when you go to crawfordmediagroup.net that’s also where you’ll find our good friends at Preborn, Bob.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. Preborn saves babies’ lives by showing ultrasound images of these babies to the moms in pro-life centers. But we need you folks in the audience to pay for these ultrasound images because we want to save as many babies’ lives as we can. So here’s how you give. You can either buy an ultrasound machine or you can pay for an individual number of them, of images. Buying an ultrasound machine, they’re 15 grand a piece, nice tax write-off for you, but you’re saving thousands of babies’ lives year after year. Or can you pay for an individual number of ultrasound images? $28 saves one baby’s life. So how many babies’ lives will you save? Take $28 times fill in the blank. And that’s your forever legacy. Maybe you’ve given to pre-born already. Would you give again? All right. Don’t forget, every dime you give to pre-born goes to fund ultrasounds. Not a penny for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So just go right now online to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. Or just give them a call at 833-850-BABY. That’s 833-850-BABY. The answer to the phone is 24-7. Give right there and just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. Neil?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, exactly. CrawfordMediaGroup.net. And wherever you get your podcasts, give us a five-star review. We’d love that. I just want to say thanks to John and Bob for all that you guys do to make this thing possible. I’ve learned so much from each of you. And thank you, our listeners. Thank you for listening and for supporting our sponsors in making all of this possible because of that support. That’s going to do it for today. We certainly hope you have an incredible 4th of July celebration, that you embrace the freedom that we have here in the United States, and that God gave us because of Jesus, the freedom that can be found in him because of what he accomplished at Calvary. God bless all of you. Lord willing, we’ll see you again next time here on the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast.
SPEAKER 01 :
You’ve been listening to the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast, a view of today’s culture through a biblical lens, brought to you by Preborn, saving babies and souls. Join us in the fight to save babies from abortion. Your gift provides a free ultrasound for a mother in need. 80% of the time she will choose life. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on their logo to donate. And by SunPower LED light therapy devices. Bring light to your pain. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the SunPower LED logo to get out of pain and improve your overall wellness. You can download this podcast from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and more from your local Crawford Media Group stations website or at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. And please give this podcast a five-star rating on your Apple app. Look for the notification on your app for when the next weekly edition of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast is ready for you to download. This is a Crawford Media Group production.
Episode 304- L.A. Riots, The Trump/Newsome War, The Trump/Musk War and Father’s Day 2025