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The dialogue gets spirited as our hosts navigate the potential elimination of the U.S. Department of Education, examining the idea of state-controlled versus federally mandated educational directives. As they dissect the role of parental rights within the schooling system and how they align with current legal frameworks, the conversation brings forth crucial insights into the complexities of educational policies. Through light-hearted banter and serious discussions, this episode offers listeners an informative, yet enjoyable look at today’s pressing cultural and political matters.
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 buy 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 03 :
Welcome to another edition of the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast. My name is Neil Boron, host of Neil Boron Live, heard on WDCX Radio in Buffalo, New York. Joining me today, Bob Duco, host of The Bob Duco Show on WMUZ in Detroit, and our good friend John Rush of Rush to Reason. KLZ in Denver is vacationing somewhere in the world today. It’s tough, but someone’s got to go on vacation like I did last week.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right, Bob? This is true. You know, you guys are the only ones that go on vacation. You know, I’m the one here with the work ethic. And you guys are like, oh, hey, it’s been two weeks since I’ve been in Fiji. So, you know, whatever. Thank you. As I talk trash until the next time I go on vacation.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. That’s how it works. Man, it’s kind of hard to get in the groove because I was like nine days unplugged from the real world. And for that reason, you know, I had to scramble to try to catch up with stuff. But what was this?
SPEAKER 02 :
Let me ask you about that real quick. I’m kind of curious, Neil, because. Are you able to completely do that, completely unplug? Because I got to tell you, I used to never be able to do that. And honestly, probably over the last maybe several years, maybe five or six years, when I go on a vacation, I literally have no clue what is going on in the world. Absolutely no clue. And I do not look at a single news headline at all. So I’ve been able to completely detach, but it’s only been a few years. Are you able to do that completely? Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
I used to never be able to just like you, but I think the difference is that Mary and I in November will be celebrating 40 year anniversary. That’s why we were away last week. But we wanted to get to Banff, Alberta, Canada, and do a little hiking before there’s 10 feet of snow and minus 50 degrees Celsius or whatever it is. But she was giving me the evil eye on this trip. If you try to plug into anything, we may not make it to 40 years in November. Well, she’s not wrong. She’s totally not wrong. Yeah. No, I mean, it was it is for some reason getting easier. And I think probably because, you know, the quality of the assistance we have at work and the people that are doing the work. in our stead either way and especially on the on the podcast when i was away knowing that you and john are handling it then i’m not really worried i know that you guys got it and you have every reason to be worried though don’t tell the listeners that bob what are you doing seriously um but you know one of the stories that i did pick up on the minute i booted my phone up was this thing about there was a big secret that you know was going on that trump maybe was dead actually some people on the internet was saying that trump wasn’t even alive anymore hadn’t made any public appearances and i guess he came out to play golf and That started to die down. But there was a big, big talk about maybe a health announcement yesterday. Turns out it had something to do with Space Force. But just real quick, any thoughts about all of that? I mean, are you worried in any way about Trump’s health, first of all?
SPEAKER 02 :
Not really. I mean, yeah, he’s got the bruises on his hand. And he says that it’s from the constant handshaking. And so that’s what’s producing the bruises, which, by the way, you shake people’s hands. That’s kind of where their thumbs would be. And you can imagine a lot of people that shake hands with Trump because Trump is such a strong, domineering person. I would imagine that a lot of people do not give the limp wrist thumbs. Kind of handshake with Trump. They probably do squeeze his hand hard. So I don’t have a problem with that. His ankles, you know, there’s some make an issue of his ankles that they seem to be pretty swollen. You know, he looks like a typical, you know, lady retaining water ankles type thing. And so I don’t have any reason to see this as a serious thing. Frankly, the guy’s pushing 80 years old and he’s out there playing golf all the time. And so I’m thinking overall his quote unquote health issues really seem to be minor as far as I go. And, you know, I don’t have a problem with him saying, hey, you know, we’re not going to have the Space Command in Colorado. We’re going to have it in Alabama. You know, I mean, if you think about it, he’s the president. Why put the Space Command, which is going to be a huge boon for economy, for tourism, for everything else? Why give this massive favor to a Democrat blue state who’s one of the most liberal states in the country? John Rush, where are you when we need you? One of the most liberal states in the country, constantly attacking and smearing Trump. You have Alabama, which is overwhelmingly born-again Christians, pro-lifers, conservatives, MAGA country, Trump supporters. You’ve got to imagine Trump going, wait a minute. I’m the president. I can decide where Space Command is going to be. Why shouldn’t we put it in a conservative Republican state? So to me, it just makes sense.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. On the health issue. He’s pushing 80, but he also is working, like, speaking about inability to unplug. Sometimes he’s tweeting stuff out at 2.30 in the morning. The guy’s a hard worker. Yeah, very hard worker. And so he deserves a round of golf here and there. But I think… for his age and remember when you know when obviously when biden was in office the whole concern was is he fit to be president and we were assured by the legacy media and the democrat party oh yeah you know biden is doing fine uh but what about trump i mean look at trump he’s he was forgetful the other day i forget what he you know he was a couple of short-term memory things where maybe he mispronounced something or whatever are you kidding me there’s no comparison there’s absolutely none how in the world that was ever an argument in the first place is unbelievable
SPEAKER 02 :
By the way, I don’t know if people remember this, but when Barack Obama was president, think about how young Barack Obama was. There were a lot of examples of Obama forgetting things, getting confused by things, misspeaking in certain areas. And believe it or not. I actually, Neil, I actually defended Obama back during those times. And I would say, look, as somebody who speaks for a living four hours a day on my own show, you take a president and they are constantly giving speeches, interviews, rallies. You know, you’re talking, talking, talking nonsense. There’s no way in the world you can’t have politics. brain fart moments as they’re called. That’s going to happen with anybody in the public eye who speaks constantly. 99% of everything that they say is accurate. 1% is going to be brain fart language. So everybody does it. Difference was Kamala Harris with her word salads was about half of what she said. And that’s what made the difference. So no, I don’t see Trump, who by the way, is not a skilled orator, not a skilled communicator at all. He’s a boardroom executive. And so he’s a fish out of water when he’s trying to do public speaking. And I got to say, for a fish out of water, he doesn’t do bad. He really doesn’t. So I don’t see any kind of comparison between this and Joe Biden’s dementia.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’d love to be a fly on a wall, and we literally need to belabor this because I know we need to hear from our sponsors in a second, but I’d love to be a fly on a wall at a gathering of journalists, particularly liberal journalists that don’t like Trump policy at all, but what they’re saying about his accessibility. Because Joe Biden, we make jokes about him sitting in a basement, but the Democrat Party hid him from the general public. if there was even a sound bite of him saying something about anything going on in the us it was maybe four or five seconds long like yes we really like this policy period that was it it’s all you heard he never was allowed to just speak off the cuff donald trump does that all day long every day which shows you how adept he really is
SPEAKER 02 :
I mean, you know what? It’s the equivalency. Look, every Friday on my show, I don’t know if you have a day that you do this, but every Friday on my show, Neil, is what we call free-for-all Friday. And that’s where listeners can just call in for the last hour in a free-for-all, and they can take me on in anything that they want to, okay? Now, I still have a phone screener. I can still see what questions are going to be asked ahead of time. Donald Trump will sit there and take an hour, hour and a half with a hostile media with no screening whatsoever and say, go ahead, hit me with whatever you want. So say what you want about the man, but he’s, you know, I think he holds up pretty well. Totally.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, we’re able to do what we do and we hold up pretty well because of the generous support of our sponsors, including Bob, of course, Preborn.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. You know, Preborn really is a great organization. They’re the main pro-life group that shows ultrasound images in pro-life centers all across the country. And what this does is it saves babies’ lives. Because when a mom sees a picture of her baby, she very rarely goes across the street to Planned Parenthood. No, she usually lets the baby live. And by the way, commonly accepts Jesus Christ as Savior, too. So I’d love to say every single pro-life center has ultrasound machines in them and are operating them as often as they want to. But that’s just not the case. I mean, the truth is that the demand is higher than the supply. And so that’s why we ask you folks in the audience. I know a lot of you have given to Preborn already. Would you give again? Would you give some more? We’re trying to save as many babies’ lives as possible. We want you to pay to activate the ultrasound machines. Pay for the images. $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, to save one baby’s life. How many babies’ lives will you save? Just pray about it and say, look, take $28 times fill in the blank. And whatever that number is, You know, that’s the amount of babies’ lives you’re saving. Would you consider doing that right now? So here’s how you give. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. Or you can call them, 833-850-BABY. They answer the phones 24-7, 833-850-BABY. Give right over the phone. And don’t forget, 100% of what you give goes to ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So 833-850-BABY. Support our sponsors like Preborn, like SunPower LED, Neal.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and just before I talk about SunPower LED, I was thinking about what you were saying. $28 saves the life of one baby. That’s less than a dollar a day. Some of you might want to think about giving $28 a month, become a monthly donor to Preborn. But you can go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, learn more about that. It’s also where you can learn about SunPower LED. And SunPower LED, they make what’s called photobiomodulation devices, light therapy devices that harness certain wavelengths of red or near-infrared light and use them to help heal the human body you’re like wait what okay well listen sound waves have power you know a sonic boom can knock you out of bed in the middle of the night um and sonic toothbrushes you know can clean your teeth sound waves have power so do light waves light has power inherent within it it’s why we get vitamin d from the sun etc well red and near infrared light can be utilized to reduce pain and swelling in the human body and to promote healing without the use of any medication without surgical intervention and if you want to learn about how to free yourself of joint pain and promote wound care and learn how to live a happier healthier life simply using the light god created check out what sun power led can offer you and by the way use the promo code roundtable10 if you purchase one of their devices and you get a 10 discount learn all about light therapy by going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Sun Power LED. All right. Thank God for our sponsors. We get a chance to talk about some important stuff and several things I want to touch on today are sports, issues related to sports. And changes that were seen, especially in Little League sports and what used to be called amateur sports. Also back to school stuff. I mean, here we are now post Labor Day. So obviously school is in full swing and there’s a number of other things we could touch on if we have time. But let’s talk about the education thing for a second. There was a lot of noise, obviously, after Donald Trump became president about potentially eliminating the Department of Education. And liberals were all up in arms saying this is going to destroy the future of education in America. I think in many ways, I mean, you mentioned blue state Colorado being different from red state, Alabama, big change, big difference there, obviously. So how do current policies play out in individual states? I mean, New York state is way different than Tennessee or Florida. Bob, you live in Michigan, another blue state. Are there actually gonna be real changes felt at a local level in states where you’ve got largely democrat control i mean in some cases maybe funds have been cut for certain dei programs or something but how does that filter down when there’s a stranglehold on education by you know teacher unions and liberal educators and administrators that have been in positions of power for years uh in liberal districts or liberal school boards
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. I mean, you know what? The thing is, if you have a liberal left-wing blue state and you leave it to the states, then you’re going to have liberal left-wing blue policies in the schools. And as much as I hate the idea of that, what I hate even worse is top-down governmental control. People say on the left, well, eliminating the Department of Education would destroy education. No, I would say creating the Department of Education is what’s destroyed education for the last few decades. Having this one-size-fits-all template out of Washington, D.C. is not the way to do it. Look, I graduated high school in 1978. Do you know in 1978, there was no Department of Education, okay? It didn’t exist. And somehow, Neil, I got a diploma, okay? Somehow, I got through it. Somehow, I learned math and science, okay? So, no, you don’t need some national behemoth of a Department of Education to do a one-size-fits-all, top-down control program. over all the states. The fact is the needs of students in Alabama are not going to be the same as the needs of students in California. And so leave it to the states, leave it to the local districts, leave it to the school districts themselves. And you know something? If people have crazy wayward policies, then you vote them out of office. And if you have a crazy electorate in a school district who wants that kind of insanity in the schools, then parents can decide, hey, let’s pull our kids out of these schools and put them in private schools. So here’s where I’m channeling my inner John Rush libertarian DNA. Let the free market decide and let the parents decide where they’re going to get educated. Don’t give me some national template like the Department of Education. It needs to be abolished.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m trying to think back to 1978 and what it might have been like when they were saying, now, wait a minute. If we flunk Duco, it means he’s going to be back next year.
SPEAKER 02 :
Let’s get this kid a diploma. It was a mercy passing. Well, actually, Neil, I do got to say, I accepted the Lord at an altar call when I was 19. Prior to accepting that, just to give you an idea, I took all of my heavy courses in my junior year deliberately so that I could party my entire senior year. That’s who I was. I didn’t take any courses in my senior year. Everything was study hall, art class, drama, another study hall. I mean, that’s all it was, just so I could party and play. So that’s who I was my senior year. But so what? I still graduated. I got my diploma.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, praise God you came to Jesus and we get the benefit of that, you know, decision.
SPEAKER 02 :
Took a lot of blood. Jesus was like, that’s a disproportionate amount of blood that guy took. Exactly.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow. So, but wait a minute, because back in, you know, let’s see, I graduated in 78 as well. But in those years, 1980 to 88, I think is when Reagan served. You used to hear a lot about Reagan. his concerns regarding big government, and he made a lot of statements about how dangerous government is big government, and we want as little government involvement in the lives of people as possible. And so that was sort of a theme. You heard that a lot during the Reagan years. But then it seems like an all-out effort was made to help the American people begin to see or believe that what we really needed was more government oversight in every aspect of our lives. So when you when it came to stuff like COVID, the feeling was, well, the government will save us, right? The government is our savior. I mean, they’re the ones who do it. So they’re going to send us checks and they’re going to force vaccines upon us because the government knows best. Well, I think down deep, people don’t really believe that or don’t want to believe it. And in some you know, conservative bastions that exist on the planet. That was never the belief. But and some of our listeners are saying, well, I never believed the big government had all the answers. So I think that there’s a sense that we can do things better and more efficiently when there’s less red tape and bureaucracy. And that, like, for instance, parents do know what’s best for their kids. Yeah, we need teachers and we need educators and all of that. But you need parental involvement. And, you know, over the years, Parents have been pushed to the sidelines like, hey, who are you to tell us how to educate? We know how to educate your kids. And we saw that come up, especially with like the transgender issue. You know, look at get out of our way because we will decide what’s best for your kids. You don’t really even have a say in this. I don’t know. I I’m hopeful that. control is returning to local governments and local policymakers and educators, but with the massive teacher unions and just, you know, three generations now, or I’m sorry, 30 years, you know, three decades of, or even four decades of thought that leans towards big government has all the answers. I think it’s pretty hard to wrestle control away from, especially the dollars that flow out of Washington DC for things like education, when actually you can do a better job on a local level.
SPEAKER 02 :
You can. And I understand that some people that support – even conservatives who support the Department of Education staying in place might say, well, yeah, then so you’re just going to give up on kids in some local school district that’s pushing transgender stuff and – on the kids and keeping the parents in the dark about this and whatever, and that’s wrong. Okay. That’s where Congress steps in and they can pass a bill that hopefully gets signed into law that bans the psychological abuse of children that way in the public schools. But that’s the way to handle it through Congress and our elected officials, not having the government dictate this from the top.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And even as you say that, I mean, look at what what the Trump administration was able to do in shutting down the borders, utilizing laws that were already on the books, right? So when this came up the other day in a conversation I was having about education and somebody was like, well, what about all the civil rights abuses that are gonna occur? And then the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Far as I understand, it bans racial discrimination in any kind of, yeah, in any federally funded program. And that includes public schools, of course. And the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment guarantees that all individuals get equal protection under the law. So my point is there’s already laws on the books to guarantee the rights and freedoms of the American people. And when you start pushing DEI in education programs across the country from the top down, from the former Department of Education, pre-Trump, etc., you’re completely ignoring the laws that are already on the books. And it’s unnecessary. And you’re giving the impression that what you’re now advocating in order to protect, you know, transgender children and people struggling with this ideology, whatever, is actually harmful. and big government needs to stay out of it. Parents at a local level know what’s best for their kids. No question about it. So I don’t know, that’s one of the issues that I wanted to look at was this whole return to school thing. And I don’t know, do you suspect at some point, Bob, that the Department of Education will be completely eliminated? That was the talk early on. Where do we see all that going in your estimation?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I think it’s a pipe dream that probably is not going to happen because it’s way easier to create a government monstrosity than it is to disassemble and eliminate a government monstrosity once it’s created. And so I don’t know that the Republicans in Congress have enough of a spine and enough votes to actually vote to dismantle the Department of Education because it would take Congress to have to pass the House, have to pass the Senate. And the margin of lead for the Republicans is just too narrow. You’ve got too many rhinos that would stick with the establishment. So I don’t see Congress doing this. And one of the best arguments to say that I don’t see Congress doing this is you don’t see them taking action right now. Bills aren’t being introduced. I guarantee you behind the scenes, Trump has already talked with Mike Johnson and the leadership, John Thune and such, to say, look, can we get some congressional action on this? Because, you know, courts are going to shoot down my attempt to dismantle the Department of Education just through executive fiat. So can we get something like this through Congress? If there was any chance, I’m telling you, this would be hotly debated in Congress right now. It’s not because you got every Democrat saying no and you have enough spineless, wimpy, jellyfish Republicans that are also saying no. And I imagine the leadership of Santa Trump, it’s a dead issue in Congress, man. I don’t know what to tell you. So based on that. I think no, unless sometime in the future the Republicans actually get a good 25, 30, 35 seat lead in the House, a good six, seven, eight seat lead in the Senate. And we have a true conservative Republican who’s bold like Donald Trump. If you get that perfect storm, then maybe. Otherwise, I doubt it, Neal.
SPEAKER 03 :
About a minute here before our break, and we talk about our sponsors, Bob, but real quick, New York State, I think you should applaud a liberal when they come up with a good idea. Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, I’m not a huge fan, but New York just instituted a cell phone ban in all public schools across the state. It went into effect this week. Individual districts have a chance to decide how it’s going to play out and how it’s going to be administered. But bell to bell, from the beginning of the day to the end of the day, students have no access to cell phones, but under very limited circumstances, like testing for sugar levels for diabetics and that kind of thing. But I’m in favor of it, Bob, with about 45 seconds here. What do you think?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, I’m in favor of it too. And I’ll tell you something, for Kathy Hochul, you know the old saying, broken clock is right twice a day, all right? But those two times it’s right, you got to acknowledge it and say, hey, it’s right. So in that moment, there’s 1,440 minutes in a day, all right? She’s wrong about 1,438 of them. But this one that she’s right on. And so we’ll take it. I support it. You’re full of compliments, Bob. Aren’t I, though? Exactly. Sorry, Kathy Hochulz, I’m just not a fan. I’m just not. I’m not either.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, of the policies, for sure. Jesus died for her, but I’m not a fan of her policies. Bob, tell us about Preborn, one of our big sponsors here.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, we so much appreciate you folks giving to Preborn. Remember, you’re saving babies’ lives when you do. You’re paying for ultrasound images. $28 is the average ultrasound expense to save one baby’s life. And when a mom in a pro-life center sees an ultrasound image, thank you. through pre-born, she usually chooses life and commonly accepts Jesus Christ as Savior. So we’re asking you in the audience, how many babies’ lives will you save? If you’ve given a pre-born already, would you do it again? If you’ve given three times, would you give a fourth time? This is about stopping abortions, folks, plain and simple. So take $28 times fill in the blank. Pray about a number. Whatever that is, that’s your forever legacy of the number of abortions that you’re stopping. Now, some of you, we need you to buy ultrasound machines. Some of you heavy hitters. They’re 15 grand apiece. Nice tax write-off for you. But your forever legacy is you’re stopping thousands and thousands of abortions every year. For everybody else, pray about an individual number of them that you’d stop. And 100% of what you give to Preborn goes to ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. So here’s how you give. Give them a call right now at 833-850-BABY. They answer the phones 24-7. You can give right over the phone, 833-850-BABY. Or just go online to CrawfordMediaGroup.net. That’s CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on Preborn. Why are you there? And 100% of what you give goes to fund ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on Preborn. Why are you there? Click on SunPowerLED, Neil.
SPEAKER 03 :
SunPower LED, they offer devices that utilize what’s called light therapy or photobiomodulation, simply using the very light God created to heal our bodies. And let me give you a personal story here. I’ve had four knee surgeries in my life, played college football. Two on each knee. And I don’t know, I played in a pickleball tournament in like January of this year. By mid February, I wasn’t able to walk. March and April, I was just dragging my right leg behind me and things were not looking good. Pretty much bone on bone. But I began using SunPower LED more consistently and began to realize it was having a powerful impact on my knee joint and that I was able to walk more freely. So this past week, the reason I missed the roundtable last week, Mary and I were vacationing in Northwestern Canada, and we were hiking around the mountains. Now, I wasn’t running up and down the mountains, but I was walking pain-free. It’s unbelievable how light can energize the mitochondria and the cells to do what cells were created to do, and that’s to reduce pain, reduce inflammation, reduce swelling, and promote healing. And all of a sudden, you see some really positive changes in your body. So I thank God for light therapy, photobiomodulation made affordable and available by SunPower LED. And you can learn about them, watch videos, learn how light therapy can be used to heal your body. by going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on SunPowerLED. By the way, use the promo code ROUNDTABLE10 and save yourself 10% on any purchase. So when we come back, we’re going to continue our conversation on this week’s edition of the National Crawford Roundtable. I want to talk about sports, particularly youth sports and what used to be referred to as amateur sports. That’s coming up on the second half of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast, and we’ll get to it next.
SPEAKER 01 :
This is a Crawford Media Group production.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, let’s continue here. The National Crawford Roundtable Podcast Part Two. And we’re going to shift gears instead of talking about the return to school and the National Education, the Department of Education and national education issues. I want to talk about sports. And they’ve been on my mind more recently, especially because of this college football season. And Bob, I don’t know how big of a college football fan you are, except living in Michigan, I think it’s required that you cheer for the Wolverines. I’m not 100% sure about that, unless you’re a Michigan State guy. Yeah, it’s required. Your life depends on it. I thought so. OK. But, you know, college athletics used to be referred to as, you know, amateur athletics. Not so much anymore with this whole NIL name, image and likeness thing. And the institution of what was referred to is referred to as a transfer portal, allowing people to switch schools. Really at the drop of a hat. I mean, back in the day, if you wanted to switch schools and say, go from Michigan to Ohio State, you had to sit out an entire year. Now, somebody like a Boise State or University of Nevada or something has a great year. All of a sudden they want to transfer to Alabama. be on the starting team of a national championship caliber kind of program, just drop everything and go, and you’re able to move. And so college coaches are having a really hard time finding any kind of consistency on their teams and amongst their players. But on top of that, there’s always been the argument, look at these colleges, especially the big ones like Michigan, and ohio state and alabama all the big ones they’re making multi-millions of dollars with television contracts and the students playing at these schools aren’t able to make any money so not long ago they instituted a name image and likeness policy that gives amateurs an opportunity to to make money while they’re in college, some of this has even filtered down to high school, Bob, maybe we’ll get to that a little bit later on, but it’s unbelievable. And the, the advent of social media, the ability to get likes to, to endorse brands, you know, like Adidas or Nike, those kinds of things is lucrative business. And all of a sudden student athletes are now student employees, essentially, and able to make big bucks. Some people have made over a million dollars in college. I don’t, On the one hand, let me say this is really the focus of my argument. On the one hand, I’m not comfortable with it. I like the idea of amateur sports. But on the other hand, to say that, I mean, because a kid could quit school and go open a painting business and paint, you know, barns and make money. How can we say that a kid in school can’t make money if his greatest skill is playing a particular sport, a Division I sport? I don’t know, there’s that, is this socialism or free market kind of argument that has to be woven into this? But what are your thoughts in general about this whole, you know, goodbye to amateur athletics thing?
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, I do actually have some thoughts on that. And as I lead into that, bear with me. I got to tell you my little college football anecdote story, if I could. First of all, one of the biggest football rivalries in all of America is Michigan, Ohio State. Sure. So in Columbus, Ohio versus Ann Arbor, Michigan, ultra, ultra enemies, right? And as a matter of fact, common sayings in Columbus are bumper stickers that say directions to Ann Arbor, north till you smell it, west till you step in it, okay? So that’s how heavy the rivalry is. I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, okay? Diehard Buckeye fan. And now I live up Ann Arbor’s in my listening area in Michigan now. So what a difference. But Jim Trestle, used to be the head football coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, led them to a national championship. Jim Trestle, also a very outspoken, born-again evangelical Christian, brother in Christ, wears his faith on his sleeve. He would have people put out at the games tracts on people’s windshield cars with his name and a message about accepting Jesus Christ. He was very controversial in that area. And there was one week in Columbus, Ohio, when it was Michigan week, and there was a big rally, 20,000 people in the big stadium there, a different stadium, where they all had the, hey, we’re going to beat Michigan this week. And Jim Trestle gets up on the stage and everybody’s cheering him. And Trestle said, you’re probably thinking I’m going to talk to you about how we’re going to beat Michigan this week. He said, but I want to talk with you about something else. And he pulled out his Bible, and he started quoting Scripture, and he actually invited people to accept Jesus Christ as Savior. The next day— The newspaper ran a big, we want a football coach, not a proselytizing preacher, you know, that kind of thing. But he won the national championship. So here’s what that brings me to. Students not being allowed to make money off of being students because you know why he got fired from Ohio State? Because one of his players got a tattoo. Rather than paying cash to the guy who did the tattoo, the guy said, I’ll tell you what, why don’t you give me a signed jersey and we’ll just call it even. So he’s like, sure. So he went ahead and signed a jersey and gave it to him. That broke the rules. Okay. Jim Trestle found out about it and just Jim Trestle decided to handle it internally and not report him to the NCAA and just punished him internally. So we’re going to handle this in-house. Don’t do that anymore. Well, the NCAA, well, what do you know? You didn’t turn him in like you should have. you’re fired and scandalized and whatever. And I think it’s because he’s an evangelical Christian that they came down so hard. So what has Jim Trestle got to be thinking now that you have college students that are getting multi-million dollar endorsement contracts and such? So I feel bad for Jim Trestle, But at the same time, I feel bad for these players that they are generating millions, hundreds of millions of dollars for their universities, and they’re not able to join in. They’re not able to belly up to the trough and take some of that money for themselves. So here’s where I’m probably going to be a good John Rush libertarian and say, if they’re generating the money, they ought to have a right to partake in some of the profits of that money. Does it sully the idea of the purity of the college education? Yes. But quite frankly, I think college educations are far from a sign of purity right now. They cloud kids’ minds so much anyway. So I say, so what? Let them make some money.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And we’re going to talk about our sponsors here, but let me just say in response to what you were saying, there have been real heavy duty limitations on what college or amateur athletes were able to accept from any kind of donor or alumni, you know, representatives at a school. And so even on recruiting, you know, weekends where they come to the school to check it out to see if they want to play football there or basketball or whatever, you know, there were limits on the ability to give autographs or what you might receive in return for an autograph or You know, who can pay for your meal at the local restaurant, those kind of things. And people were literally dismissed from school and coaches lost their jobs over the very kind of thing you just described. Today, it’s an entirely different atmosphere. And it isn’t that the money isn’t just flowing without some degree of limitation, but it’s The entire landscape has changed now that these NIL deals are in there, and also because of the growth of the bedding industry, which maybe we can bring up in just a minute. But I want to talk about our sponsors, the people who make this podcast possible, including our friends at SunPowerLED. I’m a big believer. I know Bob is as well. He’s utilized photobiomodulation in the past, which means essentially light therapy. It’s taking… wavelengths of the light god created it’s that natural nothing else to it and by the way these aren’t you know uv rays that are going to give you cancer or something it’s it’s harnessing certain wavelengths of red and near infrared light to heal the human body and there are unbelievable stories available if you go to crawfordmediagroup.net click on sun power led you can watch videos of the testimonies of people who’ve experienced the benefits of light therapy. Caleb is a guy that I’ve talked about a number of times. His story is told there. He recovered from a pickaxe accident where he literally severed his ankle tendon. Doctors said it was going to be six to eight months before he could walk. He was walking in four weeks and he didn’t need any pain medication. How’s that possible? Because light wavelengths, the right wavelengths at the right power can can get inside the human body get to the mitochondria in the cell excite the mitochondria to wake up and get the the cell to do what it’s designed to do and that’s to reduce pain and swelling and promote healing use the promo code roundtable10 and you get a 10 discount if you utilize that discount uh the promo code when you purchase any of those products go to crawfordmediagroup.net click on sun power led and when you’re there check out pre-born incredible sponsor that’s been with us for a long time, helping to save babies’ lives, Bob.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. And they save babies’ lives by showing ultrasound images of unborn babies to expectant moms in pro-life centers across the country. When a mom sees a picture of her baby, usually it’s the first time she’s ever seen what her baby looks like. It is very rare for that mom to go across the street and get an abortion at Planned Parenthood. So We want to show as many ultrasound images as we can, but the truth is it costs money. It just does, all right? $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, to save one baby’s life. So we’re asking you in the audience, will you pay for a number of abortions to be stopped? Take $28 times fill in the blank, and that’s your gift to pre-born. If you’ve given already, please consider giving again. We need people to give as often as they can. Make it part of your budget to save babies’ lives. You can also buy an ultrasound machine for $15,000 apiece. It’s a nice tax write-off for you, and you’re stopping thousands of abortions year after year. But for everybody else, take $28.00, fill in the blank, pray about a number today, and then just give by going to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. And don’t forget, All overhead is covered by private donors. So 100% of what you give goes right to the ultrasounds. So CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on pre-born. Or they answer the phones 24-7. So just give over the phone. 833-850-BABY. That’s 833-850-BABY. Just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, so we’re talking about the… I’m sort of lamenting the loss of amateur athletics at the college level. You do still see amateur athletics, true amateurs, playing at Division II and Division III schools. But D1, Division I, has been infiltrated by this name, image, and likeness policy that allows amateurs to begin to collect pay for endorsing products, etc. Now… who’s eligible any d1 athlete is eligible uh former division one athletes retroactive to 2016 so you might say well hey i you know i don’t know exactly how that policy works but if you’re gonna say hey it was a great athlete i won the heisman in 2018 or something, and I endorse Nike or Adidas or some other brand name product, they can make money from the NIL policy. Current pros, even people playing in professional sports right now can retroactively collect back to 2016. Individual competitors in sports where you compete as an individual, maybe such as golf, let’s say, or supporting players. So somebody who says, look, there’s no we in the word team. There’s no I in team. These are sports where we contributed as well to your success. And so supporting players are able to collect some. The whole landscape has changed. And then, Bob, I don’t really want to get into it because I’m not a fan of betting. I don’t know much about betting in general, but I’m also concerned about the number of uh organizations that are promoting betting all around sports i mean for crying out loud pete rose who who by the way got 4 000 plus hits in the major leagues you don’t have to you can’t you can’t throw a hit what i’m saying is in order to get a hit you’ve got to hit a pitcher you can’t strike out and you know that’s not the same thing you’ve got to get the hit anyway incredible baseball player banned you know lifetime ban maybe that’s going to be overturned now i think there’s talk about that then maybe he’ll be instated in the Hall of Fame at some point. Anyway, the whole concept of betting around sports, all of a sudden this whole thing has become about money. you can see where that’s going the commercialization of sports in general i don’t think it’s good for quote amateur sports and yet on the other hand i share your thought bob that you know athletes who are bringing a benefit to a college or university have should have an opportunity to make money i mean if they can make money cleaning bathrooms on campus why can’t they make money putting fans in the stands
SPEAKER 02 :
No, look, I agree with that. I do. And I mean, I get what you’re saying about the gambling thing. It does just create that much more of an opportunity for the gambling, which is not a healthy thing, certainly. But I don’t think you could deny people the freedoms to engage in the NIL opportunities that they have. Can I just, you know, I want to say something, though. I know we’re talking college sports, but I got to say something about professional sports if I could, and specifically the NFL. You know, it’s been such a shame, at least in my opinion, that… Sports is being ruined by interjecting left-wing politics, and they’re dividing sports fans in ways that should not be divided. The NFL again this year has ordered all 32 teams to put left-wing slogans in their end zones. The teams have a choice. You can either print end racism, stop hate, choose love, or inspire change. And then in the opposing team’s end zone, everybody has to put it takes all of us. Now, let me just say, I know some people are going to look at that and go, but wait a minute here. And racism, isn’t that a positive universal statement? We should all share that sentiment. Stop hate. Shouldn’t we all stop hate? Choose love. Shouldn’t we all choose love? Here’s the problem. In a vacuum, I would agree. You know, if somebody if there was no politics involved and somebody’s like, hey, do you agree with the statement and racism? I say, of course, I’d love that. OK, but the problem is that these phrases have been co-opted and adopted by the left wing of this country that they use as bumper sticker slogans. to sell a particular agenda. So end racism isn’t just about a generalized end racism. It’s pushing the critical race theory belief that America is intrinsically racist and it’s white oppressors versus black oppressed and whatever. These are left-wing bumper sticker slogans. Stop hate, choose love. These are left-wing LGBT and transgender slogans that they commonly use. Inspire change is a kind of DEI liberal kind of. So in other words, they’re using left-wing slogans. So for somebody who says, well, yeah, but everybody should agree with choose love and stop hate. Then I say, let’s turn it around. Would everybody agree that life is better than death? So since that’s universal, can you imagine the NFL mandating that you have to put in your end zone, choose life? Everybody would go, wait a minute here, choose life. That’s clearly a bumper sticker slogan adopted by the pro-life movement. And by the way, intellectually honest, that’s true. So those words, choose life, That’s more than just, hey, life is better than death. That’s specifically a conservative right-wing slogan. But you would never see the NFL instruct teams, you have to put choose life or back the blue, okay, sticking up for police or all lives matter. Don’t all lives matter? Well, yes. But let’s be honest. That’s a conservative slogan that’s used to counteract the left-wing black lives matter. Or for that matter, how about putting MAGA on the end of the end zones or USA or the U.S. flag or thank a vet? See, those are all things that are associated with conservative politics. And the NFL would never even allow, let alone force, teams to put any of those messages. They’re only using left-wing slogans and bumper sticker cliches. And for that reason, I think the NFL is exposing itself as consistently divisive and woke. I go to a football game. I should be able to cheer with the stranger next to me when my team scores a touchdown and not have to look at him out of the corner of my eye wondering, is this guy a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a liberal? Is he pro-life or pro-choice? Is he an atheist or a Christian? Those are discussions for a different time. It’s the left, Neil, who says, can’t we all just get along and stop the division? Well, guess what? When you politicize of football and the rest of sports. It is the left here that’s creating the division in this country, and I guarantee you they would never put up with any of those right-wing slogans being put on the end zones. That’s just my rant.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, well, no, and you are… You’re making some really strong points. I almost quit watching football. In fact, I did for a short time during the – kneeling during the national anthem. You just don’t like the Bills. Well, it was pretty bad back then. But, yeah, things have turned around. And, by the way, I’m calling Bills-Lyons Super Bowl this year right now.
SPEAKER 02 :
Are you?
SPEAKER 03 :
We tried that last year and it didn’t work, did it? Yeah, it didn’t work out so well. But I think this is the year.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m just hoping for Scott Norwood Jr. wide right. Just saying.
SPEAKER 03 :
Please don’t do it to us. It’s the cruelest thing you’ve ever said, Bob. You know, but like the kneeling during the national anthem thing was a major turnoff to me. Thankfully, it was short lived. But I can’t watch the NBA anymore for all the reasons you just mentioned. The NBA is notorious for making political statements and you’re 100% correct.
SPEAKER 02 :
Left wing political statements. Left wing. Not even 50-50, not even 90-10. 100% to 0% liberal messages.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And you know what? It’s not those kind of messages aren’t working in other places. I mean, look what happened with the whole Bud Light thing. and Target, and Cracker Barrel, and you wonder, how are they getting away with this in the NFL? At what point are they going to feel the hurt? Because I don’t think that the vast majority of American people embrace that ideology, or are they veiling it just well enough? Because the term choose love, if you’re a Christian, you would say, oh, choose love? Of course we have to. It’s biblical, right? You’re basically saying, choose God, if you’re saying choose love. But It’s the ideology behind it. It’s the narrative that goes with it. And I don’t know. I think at some point people would begin to push back like this is not right. We don’t want this. We just want to watch a football game. Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. I mean, look, do I believe that Christians and Jews and atheists and Muslims and should we all exist with each other? Of course we should. We shouldn’t try to kill each other. We should let each other exist. Of course we believe in it. But do you think there’s any chance I’m going to put a coexist bumper sticker on my car? No, because that’s a bumper sticker slogan and cliche that’s used to drive a particular agenda. And that’s what I say about the stop hate, choose love, end racism. These are bumper sticker slogans that are used to push a left wing or LGBT or or racial division agenda. And it’s all left wing. So I say the NFL, if they want to put messaging, give the colleges a choice between conservative messages or liberal messages. What I say is don’t put any messages either way. Let them play football and quit dividing people politically as they do on the left while accusing conservatives of being divisive people.
SPEAKER 03 :
Wow. OK, so let me just throw this at you because we don’t have a lot of time. But how far how far should you go with the NIL thing? Like it’s trickled down to high school and where this is coming into play now is like like if we could have wound the clock back and said, well, LeBron James went straight from high school to the. to the NBA, so did Kobe Bryant and some others. I mean, you can see athletes emerging that may be able to do those kinds of things. So when you get somebody that right now, one of the top prospects thought to be the number one draft choice in the upcoming Major League Baseball draft, now making NIL funds as a high school player. Like, should there be any limit on this? How far do you go back? Or just don’t worry about it.
SPEAKER 02 :
If they’re adults, if they’re 18 or above, okay, if they’re able to go into the military and shoot people on a battlefield, then they ought to be willing to decide for themselves what’s more important to them, a multimillion-dollar contract that they’re able to get or spending four years and going $100,000 in debt to get a So, you know, let people make the money. I mean, I don’t have a problem with that. If your name, image and likeness is able to generate millions of dollars for other people, I see no problem with tapping into that vein for yourself and letting some of that money go to your own bank account. It’s your name, image and likeness. So I… How can I say to a 20-year-old, you’re not allowed to do this, but as soon as you turn 21, now suddenly it’s clean for you to sign a $5 million endorsement contract. Let him do it at 20. Let him do it at 18. He can serve in a battlefield. He can vote for who the next president’s going to be. He ought to be allowed to make a decision on whether he wants to make money off his name, image, and likeness if other people are willing to pay him for that.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, you crazy libertarian, let me ask you one more question. Real quick, real quick. Okay, when I was going to school at Boston University, I would ride the subway trains. And I remember sitting on a subway train talking to a guy who was working at the Shriners Burns Institute at Mass General Hospital, and he was working on inhalation burns. So he was a graduate student, and they were studying children who inhaled superheated air in a fire, and it burns the inside of their lungs. He was making minimum wage. doing that kind of thing. The guy driving the subway was making about 10 times that amount because he’s a union employee. Tom Brady made $67,700 for every completed pass he ever threw in the NFL, $809,000 for a touchdown pass. Should there be any limit whatsoever on what an athlete can make? Are we out of our minds paying first responders close to minimum wage, paying professional athletes like it’s off the rails? And the free market says they have a right to this, right? I mean, you got about 40 seconds here.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s socialism and Marxism to say no, okay? You want something that’s worth? Something that’s worth what people are willing to pay for it, okay? If the money is going to be generated, somebody’s going to get the money. So why not let the people that generate it go ahead and make that money? I have no problem with a Hollywood celebrity making $40 million a movie when the key grip is making minimum wage. I got no problem with that because it’s his name, image, and likeness that’s drawing the box office dollars in. So let somebody make what they earn. This is the free market system. And if they’re going to be greedy with it and not share their wealth, that’s between them and God.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, well, this is why, and I’m going to light a firestorm here, but why I’m against funding for things like the National Endowment for the Arts. You’re taking my tax dollars and paying for something I don’t really care for.
SPEAKER 02 :
I am too. I don’t think we ought to fund the National Institute of Arts. I don’t think we ought to be funding any of that nonsense. NPR, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, no. Let them make money. Let them earn their money by competition in free market.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let me tell you something about something that I am willing to fund, and that is light therapy from SunPower LED. It literally harnesses the very light God created to reduce pain and swelling and promote healing in our body. Now, there’s a lot of people excited right now about what RFK Jr. has been able to do and what Make America Healthy, again, the Maha movement is all about. It’s saying no to big pharma. which has every desire to make money while you remain sick. They wanna get you on medication and keep you on medication, putting you on drugs to help you manage the drugs you’re already on, but you’re not getting better. Light therapy is designed to heal your body. It literally just utilizes certain wavelengths of light that God created to penetrate your body and excite the mitochondria in the cell to reduce pain and swelling and promote healing in your body. It’s an incredible thing. I urge you, you know, don’t jump. Look at it. You go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on SunPowerLED and find out. how photobiomodulation, or light therapy as it’s called, is reducing pain and swelling and promote healing in our bodies. You can learn all about it. And by the way, if you purchase a product, use the promo code ROUNDTABLE10 for a 10% discount at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on SunPowerLED. And while you’re there, find out about the incredible work that Preborn is doing when you visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net, Bob.
SPEAKER 02 :
Absolutely. You can click on pre-born and you can give right there. And you know, when you give to pre-born, you’re paying for ultrasound images. Those ultrasound images save babies’ lives. They convince moms not to get an abortion. And so $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, to save one baby’s life. So we ask you in the audience, save as many babies’ lives as you possibly can. If you’ve given a pre-born multiple times, would you give again? right now. What you do is take $28 times fill in the blank, pray about a number. Whatever that number is, that’s how many abortions you know that that gift is responsible for stopping, how many babies’ lives you’re saving. And if you can buy an ultrasound machine, we need some of you heavy hitters to do that. They’re 15 grand a piece, nice tax write-off for you, and you get to know you’re stopping thousands and thousands of abortions year after year. Remember, Preborn places these in pro-life centers across the country. But it takes money to activate them. So everything you give to Preborn, 100%, goes to the ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That’s all covered by private donors. So here’s how you give. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. Or just call 833-850-BABY. They answer 24-7. You can give over the phone. 833-850-BABY. Just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. And Neil, I love our listeners supporting SunPowerLED and Preborn, but supporting them voluntarily. I would not support the government stepping in and requiring by law people having to do this.
SPEAKER 03 :
So well said and a great conversation today. I want to thank you all for listening. We invite you back next week when John Rush will be here as well for the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. It’s Neil Boron saying good night and God bless. We’ll see you again next time right here.
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 station’s 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.
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