This is Rush To Reason.
You are gonna shut your damn yapper and listen for a change, because I got you begged, sweetheart. You wanna take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame.
Let me break this down for you. Life is scary, get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
With your host, John Rush.
My advice to you is to do what your parents did.
Get a job first.
You haven’t made everybody equal.
You’ve made them the same and there’s a big difference. Let me tell you why you’re here.
You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it.
You felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world.
You don’t know what it is, but it’s there.
It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Are you crazy?
Am I, or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
It’s Rush To Reason, with your host, John Rush. Presented by Hi-5 Plumbing, Heating and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
All right, happy Monday. Rush To Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, Klz560. Thanks for joining us today.
I am your host, John Rush. Charlie Grimes, your engineer, Dave from Veteran Windows and Doors, joining us today, getting us fired off. Dave, welcome.
Always a joy having you.
Yes, yes, good to be here.
I appreciate it very much. All right, so talk to us about Windows and Doors. We’re heading into that time of the year where if folks have thought about doing anything, so here’s a question for you.
If they thought about doing something before winter and knowing that we’re now entering into fall, the nights are now starting to get a little cooler, you can sort of smell that there’s a little change in the air. Is there enough time to still get things done before winter?
We can, if we order soon.
You get hustling?
Yes, yes. That’s one of the luxuries of the company that we use, Provia. They make a lot of their own glass, which is kind of a rarity in this industry.
But that affords us better quality control, but also expedites the orders.
So for those of you that have thought about doing something and you’ve sort of, I don’t know, for whatever reason, time, I get it, life happens. Time goes by, things are rolling along. You’ve thought about doing it, but for whatever reason, you didn’t get a chance to, well, now’s your chance.
In fact, and I want to make sure I’m always clear on this, the special right now is 40% off eight or more windows, and you get free labor to install those at stores, windows, the whole nine yards. So 40% off the whole nine yards is what Dave’s deal is right now. But Dave, I always have to make sure I’m clear on that.
That’s not installed this month. You just need to get with you and get the order going and get everything all dialed in. It might be a couple of months down the road before, it may be early November before you get things dialed in and installed, but the deal is still the deal, right?
Absolutely, yeah, no. Everything has a production time and we are running about four weeks production time. So, the promotion is just to, as long as we’re signed up by the end of the month.
Because you can then get your order in, you can get your side processed, you’re getting the ball rolling, away we go.
Yep, yep. We get you in the queue at the factory and then you’re off and running.
So, what is an estimated time right now? So, somebody’s trying to decide, it might take them a week or two to figure out exactly what they want. You’ve got the app to where they can kind of decide what look do I want and so on and so forth, especially for the door sides of things.
But once they decide to pull the trigger, what are we looking at on an install time, roughly?
You’re probably about six to eight weeks out in that realm. That’s including our production time. So, you have about four weeks, depending on how elaborate the build is.
And then we’re typically able to get in there a couple of weeks after that.
So, folks, again, if you’re thinking about doing this before the cold, really cold weather really sets in, and I say that because, hey, we can even in November have some 65, 70 degree days in November. It’s not uncommon, but we typically start getting colder and the days will be cooler, December, January, of course, even into February. We get warmer again as we get into that March, April time frame, Dave.
But point being, nobody likes to have their home all opened up when it’s zero degrees outside.
Exactly.
Like working in zero degree.
No, no, nor do we. Yeah, the guys complain a little bit. But we actually do.
We follow a cold weather protocol. So we do not, and I never allow this anyway, but my crew doesn’t come in and just tear everything out and cross their fingers that they get it put in in time. They actually have to do one opening at a time.
Yes. Yeah. Surgical extraction.
Don’t come in with a crowbar and start screaming. You can just do it.
So you’re not like breaking all the windows out and now the whole thing is open?
No. No. They’ll do one opening at a time, particularly in the cold weather.
And we lay the floor protection runners, the neoprene runners throughout the house, all of that as well, and make sure the site’s protected and you’re good to go.
The other thing I know that you do that a lot of other companies don’t do is just the whole installation process and even some of the upgrades that you do versus what may already be there. Talk about that for a moment.
Yeah, well, Colorado, we are considered high plain desert, and they are not overly concerned with water mitigation or insulation. So what we see a lot of are windows that have no sub-sill flashing, no head flashing. There’s not a mechanical flashing system involved.
Often no insulation, no shimming. It’s just kind of a symphony of errors that, although it’s not required, it’s the right thing to do because we still get some pretty serious weather. We can, yeah.
Yeah, some serious rain. And not only that, if water, you know, a lot of these builder frames are screwed together, water gets in on top of the frame, weeps into that frame, doesn’t get above the weep hole, freezes, cracks. Now you have water coming into your structure.
Gotcha.
So, and I actually see that quite a bit too in a lot of the newer builds.
I had a question the other day from a listener on the text line, and I think I answered this well. I believe I did. I’ve been around you long enough now to kind of know some of these answers, and I do my best to answer them.
And then if not, I’ll just have them call you directly. But somebody was asking the other day, well, how good of a window is Provia?
Yes.
And I think I answered that fairly well. I said, well, it’s one of the top of the line manufacturers that are out there. And, you know, they’re right up there with, you know, the Pellas and Andersons and anybody else that’s out there.
It’s one of the highest rated, best window companies around. Did I answer that correctly?
You did, absolutely. And that’s actually a good point because everyone claims to make the best window and door. Right.
But the truth is, and I tell all of our customers this, every window and door that’s manufactured has to be tested for how efficient it truly is. They measure how well it keeps heat in. Adversely, how well it keeps that solar radiation out.
And then also how much air passes through that product. That all has to be tested and clearly labeled. Okay.
So when people claim to have the best window, it’s just qualify that for me. There’s no reason they can’t tell you what the window is actually rated at. And I tell everyone the same thing.
Don’t believe a lot of these sales reps, it’s the best window, trust me, top of the line. But there are so many factors that go into the design of that window that matter.
I also know with Provia that you can choose from low end to high end, even inside of that line, correct?
Absolutely. Yeah, they have, pardon me, four different window lines to choose from.
For example, you can buy a BMW X1, or you can go all the way to the top and buy an X6. So there’s a vast difference, by the way, between, all still BMW, but there’s, not saying an X1 is a bad car either, not claiming that at all, but is an X1 an X6? Well, no.
Yes.
They’re not.
No, it’s like anything. Well, and that’s important to note, too, because we’re not the only Provia distributor. There are quite a few, actually easily, 80% of the companies out here sell Provia doors.
But that doesn’t mean that the door was designed correctly for Colorado either. And I have come behind many of these, Provia dealers, and they’ve put in the wrong door, does not meet energy code, does not qualify for tax credit, does not meet energy star criteria, and the customer is none the wiser because they were never taught what those values are. But as, you know, that’s my whole thing, is I don’t, doesn’t matter to me who someone chooses, as long as they make an educated choice and make the right choice for them.
Point I’m trying to make with folks is, yes, high quality window, also though, in the line, you know, in Provia itself, you have options, you can buy, you know, the Cadillac, or you can, you know, drop that down and still get a very high quality window, but it won’t be the Cadillac of windows. And Dave can explain what all that means, and some of it has to do with even the look and the feel and some of the features and so on, and I’m not gonna get into all that. Dave can explain that when you do a visit.
My point is, yes, it’s very high quality, and yes, you do have choices inside as to what you wanna do with that particular product.
Yeah, you can get as fancy or as, you know.
Or as basic as you want.
Absolutely, yep.
And everything in between.
And my only effort throughout that is to make sure that it does meet whatever codes are there for where you live.
And again, folks, 40% off, eight or more windows. That includes entry, patio doors, all of that. That’s the month of September.
I say it a lot, but really, best thing to do, just go to klzradio.com or rushtoreason.com. Either one of those will go to veteran windows and doors. Just click on the sponsor page.
You can find it that way. And again, folks, a lot of you are driving around right now. That’s the easiest way to do it.
If you ever forget, and I do get these messages from time to time, the text line, 307-282-22, which most of you memorize because I get tons of text messages, 307-282-22. I can give you Dave’s phone number directly if that ever comes up. But yeah, if you need anything at all, Dave’s your guy.
And you just did a great install for a listener that I was getting pictures of even.
So photo documentation, photo docs.
And thank you. Good job again. I saw the finished product looked beautiful.
So now they make a great product and you have great listeners.
Well, it came out. It came out wonderful. So, Dave, thank you as always.
Appreciate you, man.
Sir.
Have a great month. We’ll see you next month.
All right.
All right. That’s Veteran Windows and Doors up next. Golden Eagle Financial, which financial decisions are a big deal.
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God, Country, Reason. Now back to John Rush.
All right, question of the day. This comes from Joe, actually. What are the benefits of using a slotted or perforated spatula compared to a solid one?
That is the question of the day. It’s on our Facebook page. You can answer that there.
Okay, bye now. Unless you live in a cave or just haven’t paid a lick of attention to any news at all anywhere, there was a second attempt on President Donald Trump’s life yesterday, Sunday. And he was golfing.
And story goes, there was a guy at the golf course from about 2 a.m. until about 1:30 p.m. where Secret Service at that point saw, I’m guessing, a rifle scope, supposedly a barrel of a rifle, you know, poking out through a fence. They took some shots at that individual. That individual never fired a shot from what they’re saying.
again, this is all what I’ve read and what I’m reporting on as far as that goes. And by the way, this was an individual that was not supposed to own a gun. He’s a convicted felon.
And on top of that, he owned a gun where the serial number had been removed. From the weapon. Also, something that’s illegal.
So I ask all of those of you that are on the left, because a lot of you accuse me of lying on a regular basis, how do gun control laws work? How do they work? I’ve got other comments that I’ll make on that a little bit later in the show, but again, the re-answer is, they don’t work.
Paul and Denver, you’re next.
Hey, John.
How are you, sir?
Good. I’ve been following the shooting right from the, well, the assassination attempt right from the beginning and did a whole bunch of research on them. I sent you some stuff under my real name.
Yes, yes, yes. Got it.
Yep. But in any case, today, I watched the update at the presence conference, and it just made me more and more furious. I’ve communicated with Washington, some of the top legislators who are on the Investigation Committee already, as well as the Oversight Committee for the, what do they call it, the Homeland Security.
Yeah, Department of Homeland Security.
Overseas everything, including Secret Service.
That’s right.
And I am disgusted. It doesn’t take, even a middle schooler would know that that bush and that fence line was an area to be secured. And from the press conference, you got Roe up there, standing up there, patting them, everybody.
And really, for everybody listening, Roe is now the acting, I don’t think they have a permanent one, but he’s the acting director of the Secret Service, correct?
Right. He’s patting on himself. We succeed.
We have multiple layers, and all the big words that they use, which aren’t that big anymore.
Right.
But in any case, he says, he justifies this and saying, well, it wasn’t on the schedule. This is the last minute thing that he actually got on the course. Well, wonderful.
How long does it take? I mean, certainly they had an hour or more to get set up, I’m sure.
Or more. Yeah, to your point, or more.
Sure, or more. Or more, right. So, what’s the first thing?
Well, you know, among all the others, this isn’t the first time they’re down at that location. That bush and fence line was well known to the Secret Service and professional photographers, including media. The media would always come up to that bush and get in there to take photographs of Trump and other people.
The Secret Service had seen the media there in the past, and usually they don’t even approach them, or sometimes they’ll take a look at their credentials and say, have a nice day, great, go take your pictures. They wouldn’t bother them. So they knew that was a vulnerable area.
If you or I, who are not professionals in the protective security industry, would be assigned to this, you and I would both know one of the first things we do was send some folks down to clear that whole roadway along the golf course ahead of time, and then station some people there.
Make sure nobody else shows back up.
That’s right. Just like the roof line. How difficult is that?
To your point, Paul, just regular common sense steps in in some of this. You don’t need to be technical when it comes to security and things like that in these types. I get it, there’s areas that are probably above your head and mind, but in some of these things, it’s very common sense oriented.
It is absolutely common sense, and this guy, Rowe, comes up to the press conference and has the balls to say to the audience and all the press that, well, it was the last minute thing, and we did a great job. You know, they’re darn lucky. I hate Rowe, I hate the agent in charge.
This was a horrendous plan. They said, now, Rowe, during the investigation hearings for the first assassination, said that Biden has ordered top, top level security for Trump, great. By the looks of it, I didn’t know that that was actually in place.
Today, he said, we had all the resources we needed, and that was authorized. We’re very proud of it. We have great relationships with all the agencies, local, all the way up to the federal.
You know, there are things we need to do for funding, et cetera, which I agree on. But it is not the funding that’s at issue. It wouldn’t…
the budget wasn’t being broken because they didn’t send a couple of officers down the road. That was not the issue. We didn’t need drones.
We didn’t need the helicopter on top in terms of protecting that line. And he makes a big deal. Well, you know, Trump wasn’t in line of sight.
That was just a matter of another half hour. The guy was there for 12 hours, for gosh sakes. And he got darn lucky that it was a civilian outside that actually happened to see the guy run out and get into his car.
So Paul, really quick, here’s a question for you, because it’s something I was going to bring up a little later in the program. I might as well start with you, though, is given all of what you and I are talking about, and I can’t disagree with anything you’ve said, I guarantee you, you’ve got to be, if you’re Donald Trump, you have to be thinking the same things you and I are. Would you, between now, and I know how much he loves playing golf and so on, but would you, between now and election day, and depending upon what happens on election day, would you do this again?
Would you golf again?
Yes, but you know what I would do? I would have Bongino, Dan Bongino, right next to me, and I would say, Dan, did you take a look at that plan? You check out that plan off.
I want you, I would get rid of Roe. I would get rid of the agent in charge. I would make sure the agents in charge plan is reviewed by someone I trusted.
Yeah, I think, and I’m with you, by the way, knowing the net worth of Donald Trump and so on, I would have my own head security team with, you know, maybe half a dozen personnel that are kind of in charge of all of that. And I would have Secret Service reporting and or anybody else reporting to them.
That’s right. I think we don’t trust it. I don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist.
I don’t have to go down that road. Right now, after the second attempt, who could blame him? No one.
No one.
Well, you’re right. But whether it’s Pure and Co… First of all, the Secret Service at the highest level, ProtectE is supposed to have…
Those agents supposed to have 25% of their time put in for training. And they don’t. They have about 7%.
Right. It is such a… And this has been going on for decades.
It is such an incompetent agency. And they talk as if they’re a premier agency and they’re keystone cops at best. They go around patting themselves on the back as if they’re not.
Now, the one thing that succeeded is the communication wasn’t a catastrophe.
No, that was really good. In fact, you also give kudos to whatever citizen spotted the car license number, all of that, got all that reported in, and so on. I mean, all of that went about as good as you could have done it, Paul.
That’s right. Now, in my research, you know, because I sent it to you, they knew in 2002 that this guy was a wacko.
Right, that’s right.
He was a prohibitive person in terms of owning any firearms. And let alone in 2002, he had a machine gun that with the serial numbers scraped off, et cetera. So how they got to look at how he got this AK and AK-47, how he knew ahead of time, and he might not have known, but probably surmised that Trump, since he knew he was down there at Margo, that he was going to play golf, which he always does.
So he just set up ahead of time and waited. Why would anybody show up and look for him? He knows how incompetent they are.
So when I called the legislators, the top legislators, I said, look, all the hearings are great. I’m glad you’re doing it, but we need to do something now. We need to have some level of intellect in charge.
The agents on the field, thank God that agent was competent to see a barrel sticking out of some bushes.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
It’s scary. Can you imagine? I know I said to my wife after the first assassination attempt, said, I don’t know what I would do here from Denver if Trump was killed.
I would, my feeling is to go down to DC at that point and actually protect our government because there would be strife everywhere.
There would be. There would be. No, Paul, and that’s why the other day I had said that, that, you know, that, yeah, that wouldn’t, we don’t want that.
That would be an awful outcome for the country. And by the way, even those hardcore lefties that just hate the guy, if they’re looking at things correctly, they wouldn’t want that either because that’s just not a good place to be as a country at all.
Of course not. And this guy published his own publication, self publication with his wife that he did online a year ago, said, Asteron, please assassinate Trump. He said that.
And the FBI, another so-called premier organization, didn’t follow up on that. I don’t know where to go.
I know. I hear your frustration. Fully understand it.
We’re going to talk more about it. I’ll let you go for now. I fully understand where he’s coming from.
We’ll talk more about that as we get through the rest of the show today. I’ve got a few guests. One is going to join us here in just one moment.
Don’t go anywhere though, guys. We’re going to come right back. Hi-5 Plumbing is next.
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Now back to Rush To Reason, presented by Hi5 Plumbing Heating and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
And we are back. Thank you for joining us today. Daniel Idfrans joining us.
Daniel, welcome. How are you, sir?
I’m doing well. Thank you for having me.
I appreciate it. Campus correspondent for the Leadership Institute, Campus Reform and Young Voices contributor. Talk to us about social media and the role that it’s playing today.
Not only Daniel and politics, but all sorts of things, especially when it comes to young people.
Yeah. So I recently wrote an op-ed on the New York Post about how politics and politics in the classroom and social media is ruining young people. And while I cannot say, none of us can say what Thomas Kirk’s motive was on July 13th.
And now we have another attempt, attempt assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. I can’t tell all Americans what all 20-year-olds are dealing with when it comes to a political, wild political rhetoric in classrooms for almost half our lifetimes. And the way social media almost digs us down a rabbit hole, which we sometimes resort to methods that are not conducive to a healthy society.
And a lot of that comes in the form of online harassment for students my age, social ostracization. And in classrooms, we can’t speak up and talk about different political ideologies and different topics truthfully, because as we see college campuses today, there are a lot of protests, and particularly Jewish students are being threatened, sometimes physically, for being who they are.
And unrightfully so, as we all know, or at least this particular audience knows. So, Daniel, let’s break this down a little bit, because while a lot of this, or all of it, I do believe ties together, because the whole educational aspect, where we’re at with social media, I do believe it ties together. Let’s break it down.
Let’s start with the elementary, high school end of things, because I do believe some of what you’re talking about starts there. It goes to another level at a college campus, then of course social media is being wrapped into both of those areas. So the question I have for you, as there’s people listening to us, and I’ve got young people that listen all the way up to folks that are literally in their 90s.
We’ve got a really large gamut of listeners, and some folks have kids and grandkids as well. But for that young person that’s maybe in high school right now that’s listening to us, how do they combat some of what they know they’re hearing in the classroom that they just know is just flat out wrong? They can tell, listen, this is not correct in what I’m being taught.
How do they fight back is the question.
I think the first way to fight back, and I’ve talked about this in another app, that’s particularly my, I’m 17 and I’m immunized from world politics, I really do think it starts from the home, and I’m telling this to parents who are listening to the radio show today. For me personally, it started with my parents, and my parents were really firm in the beliefs that they gave me. And so, I was given a contrast in competing visions whenever I would listen to teachers to be more divisive rhetoric.
I knew that from really good parenting, that there is an alternative, and there is another side of thinking about things. And also looking for great teachers, who I had personally really good history teachers, who actually gave a neutral view on different topics. And that was sort of an oasis for me, and for my political development.
Okay, so in other words, look for those advantages, I guess you could say. I wanna ask though for a moment, Daniel, let’s say that there’s a student that’s in a particular situation where they find themselves stuck. I mean, maybe they’re in a particular, and I’ve had some of these listeners, Daniel, where maybe mom and dad at home aren’t as concerned about the same things that you and I and your folks were, by the way.
So you’ve got mom and dad who, by the way, may or may not be, in this case, they’re not much of a help when it comes to this. So the child kind of finds themselves, the student finds themselves sort of stuck in a way. And now they’re looking for some answers, some ways to push back and do it in a way that doesn’t end up sending them down some disciplinary rabbit hole they don’t wanna be.
How do they, in a nice way, push back in the classroom?
I would say first, choose your battles. I would say that in most cases, especially if the student is aware of what’s going on. I was personally in that situation a lot in high school, going to high school in New York City.
First, I would say choose your battles and find those outlets, you know? For me, it was the debate team, and it was, again, teachers who actually gave that relief and gave that comparison. There are also student groups on college campuses.
For example, if you find yourself in a position where you’re taking classes and all you’re hearing is one side, then it might be smart to attend clubs that may think the other way. And use the social media in a proper way as well.
Yep. Well, and really quick, too, for those of you listening, I’ll throw something else out to you, because I’ve had some students, Daniel, actually comment and tell me that, for example, they’ll listen to us on a daily basis. They can’t maybe get everything they want at school, or maybe they can’t do the clubs and things that you’re talking about.
So they find insight in programs like ours, or they listen to podcasts, or they do other things that enable them to have that other side, and in some cases even give them some ammunition, maybe is the way to say that, to where they actually have some factual things to stand on. So when they know they’re hearing something that isn’t, back to your point, choose your battle, but do it in a way that you know you can win the battle.
Exactly, and I actually want to expand on that point too. You know, I did rail on social media in my op-ed because of the way, I guess, political radicals in our age group would use it to ostracize students from their communities. But social media can be used in an informational way.
That’s right.
We’re seeing a lot with this new generation that they’re using social media to listen to the news and get content that way. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and while I would say that some of it, if you’re using it mindlessly, especially short form content like TikTok, it may actually open up a rabbit hole. And on Instagram, you may be battling with virtue signaling peers, but other long form content, I would say, is really beneficial.
It’s a benefit for my development, listening to different podcasts and whatnot. And so that’s an outlet that students, people my age, Americans my age, can use to sort of get that briever from what’s going on in the classroom and what’s going on in these tight circles that follow you not only in the classroom, but outside the classroom in terms of cyber bullying and whatnot.
Daniel, Ed France is joining us right now. He’s a campus correspondent for Leadership Institutes, Campus Reform and a Young Voices Contributor. Let’s talk about the social media aspect, which I know you kind of started into there a moment ago, Daniel, and it’s hard.
I’ll be the first to admit, especially if you’re younger, I guess because of what I do here on Air Daniel, I’ve done it so long now, I’ve got pretty thick skin and I don’t worry too much about what gets said on social media. In my case, I’ll get emails and text messages from liberals and so on. And the reality is I learn, again, to your point, what battles to pick and in most cases, some of them are worth fighting, some are not.
But at the end of the day, I’ve got pretty thick skin. I will say though, Daniel, most 18 to probably 25 year olds, maybe even older, it takes a while to get that thick skin. You have to learn what to ignore and not let some of those things bother you.
So again, I don’t want to be in those shoes because that’d be a really rough spot to be in having all of these arrows shot at you. I know what that feels like from my end, but I’m almost 60. I can take it a lot easier than probably folks that are in their 20s can.
But your advice to those individuals, because you’re of that age, I am not. How do you get through some of that social media blasting that’s out there from the left? Because while our voice is pretty loud on the conservative right, the left is pretty loud as well.
And I guess maybe what I would say is you need to choose who to listen to or am I right or wrong in that?
That’s true. You do need to choose who you’re listening to. I’ll say this.
I’ll say that a lot of the political reinforcement, a lot of the, yes, political reinforcement within the Gen Z community is from friends, right? So you would have, let’s say, a dozen friends, they’re all on social media, they follow each other, you follow them and whatnot. And a few may post, let’s say like during the Black Lives Matter rights in 2020, they will post black squares.
And now, it’s not that you’re not listening to Joe Rogan or different heterodox views, it’s now that those who disagree with you have now seen you as the enemy because you did not fall in line. And so for a lot of young people, a lot of the arrows isn’t coming from some random person on X who’s replying to your political statement. There are people who share notes with you.
There are people who’s gonna invite you to a party later. And for a lot of younger people, that is our world. And so the advice I would give to people my age is refrain from, I guess, mindlessly sharing political content online because a lot of people use it as a sort of virtue signalling, like, hey, I’m part of the group, but it will turn against you once there’s something that you think is too far.
And you don’t want to participate in that. And your friends who saw you probably post a black square in 2020 but didn’t see you post a solidarity for Gaza post, because you probably thought it was too far, this year, or during the last academic year, you know, it creates a trap for you.
Gotcha, gotcha.
So don’t start to get into the habit of doing that.
You know what, and by the way, wise advice, I think that’s very wise. In fact, there are times where I have noted to different individuals, sometimes family members even, that you know, that particular message, wherever it came from, be it social media, email, whatever the case may be, sometimes Daniel, ignoring it is better than even trying to respond. As much as there’s times, and again, what I do in the talk show world, there’s times where you want to try to respond and get back and, you know, kind of show that person the error of their ways, but I’ve also learned through the years, Daniel, maybe a little bit of maturity here is, there are some people you’re just not going to change anyway, so why do I want to even go down that path?
That’s 100% correct, and I think that one of the failures of maybe, you know, older Americans is failing to teach younger Americans that politics and normal conversation was in ordinary life is sort of impolite, and we shouldn’t be talking about politics all day in the classroom and then on social media. Sometimes it’s just better to have a beer and just have fun with your friends. But as the world becomes more politicized, that becomes normal conversation, and that’s where a lot of the polarization is coming from.
Yeah, and that’s where I think, you know, to your point a moment ago, sometimes you gotta just sit back a little bit, smell the roses. Yes, there are still some out there, as bad as things may seem at times, Daniel. At the end, there are still some good things, you gotta focus on those.
One thing that I’ve learned, doing this job daily, and it’s why I take vacations periodically, because if you don’t, this job will literally destroy you, Daniel, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that, because doing this day in and day out can literally put you in a mindset that, is there any good left in the world? And the answer is, yes, there is. And you have to find those things and enjoy those times.
And in my case, there are days like Sundays where I just don’t do much in this world at all on purpose, because it gives me at least one day of the week of some sort of release, if you would. And you have to do that to keep your head screwed on straight. And if there’s anything I can encourage young people to do, and I think even in their world, Daniel, they’ve got to do it even more than I.
In other words, you probably need to find something daily that’s good to look at, and the positives that are out there to offset all the negatives. Otherwise, you’ll go crazy.
Oh yeah, that’s a fantastic point. And I think my generation doesn’t hear it enough. When you combine being in the classroom and you’re hearing the doomsday politics every single day, where teachers or ideological teachers are telling you the political is personal, and some group, oppressive group, is out to get you as a press group, and then you go on social media, and now your social group or your social standing, what appears, is threatened every day.
You do not fall in line. It creates this doomsday mentality between the mindset and the friends that you have, and there is no relief, and that’s why a lot of Gen Zers today have mental health issues.
That’s right.
There is no optimistic, glass-half-full mentality with this hateful rhetoric referred for eight years and online.
You are 100% correct. Folks, again, those of you listening, you’re hearing this from a 20-year-old himself, political commentator, those of you that have young people in your lives, whether you have them direct and they’re a direct relative, niece, nephew, grandson, daughter, son, whatever the case may be, Daniel, my advice to people would be, number one, mentor those kids, get as close to them as you can, give them some of the advice that we’re talking about right now. Lastly, Daniel, we just saw in this last assassination attempt on Donald Trump, this wasn’t a 20-something, this is now a 58-year-old guy.
So the reality is, this stuff can affect everyone that doesn’t matter what age you are. If you focus on one thing too much, it will destroy you.
That is 100% true. That is 100% true. On July 13th, I was surprised, like every other American, but I was particularly shocked at a 20-year-old, somebody my age, and I’m friends with 20-year-olds, that’s my friend group.
We all don’t know a motive yet, but when I reflect on my life, and my friends reflect on their lives, we can’t tell you as a motive, Thomas Chris’ motive, we still don’t know, but we know the type of America he grew up in, he most likely grew up in, and that’s one where it’s pessimism, the political is personal, politics is 24-7, it will eliminate your friend group. And we got to get away from that, we got to change that.
That’s right.
For all these groups.
Daniel, it’s been a joy talking to you, you’re a wise man for only being 20 years old, keep up what you’re doing, keep being an influence, not only in your friend group, but expand that worldwide as you are right now, and I appreciate what you’re doing, just keep doing it, keep your head up, and you are welcome back here anytime, man, I appreciate it very much.
Thank you so much for having me.
You’re very welcome, Daniel. Appreciate you, have a great rest of your day, and again, that’s Daniel DeFrance, and I appreciate him joining us very much, or EdFrance, I should say. Great gentleman, enjoyed having him.
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Now back to Rush To Reason on Klz560.
We are back. Gary in Denver. You’re next.
Go ahead, sir.
Oh, hi John.
Hey Gary.
Hey, you know the city of Denver is asking for an increase in the sales tax of a half percent, so that it will generate $100 million a year for the next 40 years, beginning next year. And I wanted to explain to some of your listeners that we should vote that down. The most recent reason is not only because the way they put that together was fire-ready aim.
But today, they started their budget discussions in 2025, and the mayor thinks we’re idiots. He said, our budget is only going up 0.6 percent. It’s the lowest in 10 years.
But you know what? The budget has to be balanced. So basically, they’re going to spend every nickel that comes in.
That’s right.
And it really doesn’t matter.
And to hit your point a moment ago, yes, they think we’re idiots. Yes, they do.
And a lot of people don’t, you know, don’t have the financial awareness to figure it out.
Okay, so let’s back up for a moment, Gary. So this particular 100 million dollars, I assume you’re talking about the affordable housing sales tax increase, because there’s several measures out there right now.
Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about the hospital or the other one.
So this one’s just affordable housing. It would raise, to your point, it’s going to be a half a percent on the sales tax. And it is to fund the creation and preservation of affordable housing in Denver.
It would bring the city current 8.81 percent tax to 9.31, generating 100 million annually for affordable housing efforts. The other thing, Gary, that always bothers me about this is, what do those efforts consist of? Can someone define that for me?
Yeah, the other thing, John, is even if it doesn’t pass, is they’ve already got close to 40 million dollars in there to build affordable housing. And you know what they’ll do if they pass this, they’ll backfill it. They’ll basically reduce the current amount to zero and use that 40 million for other things.
Yeah, and I hate to keep poking folks in the eye, but that’ll go towards homelessness or all sorts of other things. It frankly is just out of control as well, Gary, as you know.
It is, and we can’t do much about it because the mayor and the city council are idiots and they’re not good shepherds of our money. All we can do is vote down.
Yep, good point. No, you’re exactly right. And by the way, if you combine that with some of the other measures, it will push Denver’s sales tax to almost 10%.
Yeah, and yes.
And the flip side of that, which I’ve talked about a lot too, Gary, is eventually, buyers, they will start, and some things I get, they have no choice, they got to buy it in Denver, they don’t have any choice. But some will just choose to go across the line and buy that product elsewhere.
Yeah, especially, I don’t know, I don’t know if you can get away with that so much anymore, because a lot of times the tax is based on where you live.
Well, if it’s a, the way that works, and I’m glad you mentioned that, because for folks that are out there listening, you need to know how this works. If it’s delivered to your home, it’s your home tax. So in this case, if you live in Denver, it would be whatever your Denver City sales tax is.
But if you go pick it up outside of Denver, it’s whatever that locales tax is. You buy a car, Gary, yep, you’re gonna pay that Denver City tax. In this case, if it ends up being raised to almost 10%, you’re gonna pay 10% sales tax on a new car, or a used car.
But if you buy a car in Centennial, you would pay Centennial.
Nope, nope, not on a car. Cars are all different. Cars, the tax is all based upon where you live, not where you buy it.
I gotcha.
That is the one exception to cars that gets confusing for people, because they think, I’ll buy it out of state. I’ll go up to Wyoming, go to Cheyenne, buy a car and I’ll just drive it home and not pay any sales tax, yeah? Until you go to register that at DMV in the city of Denver, then you’re gonna pay it all right then.
There you go.
So, vote no on that.
Absolutely. Gary, thank you for the reminder. I appreciate that greatly.
For those of you that don’t know what that is, just go look it up. You can do a quick Google search on literally just the housing, the affordable housing sales tax would be the way to Google that. That’s coming up here in November.
City Council, to Gary’s point, is working, I did read that, they’re working on their budget as we speak. And to Gary’s point, these politicians make it sound like they’re going to pull the wool over our eyes. Gary just hit that nail on the head.
And the reality is not only will they raise the 100 million, the 40 million that’s already in that particular fund will go someplace else to backfill some other pet project they may have as either the mayor or the city council. And at the end of the day, it’s all going to cost or it’s just going to end up costing taxpayers that much more money. And remember too, and Charlie, if I’m not mistaken, there’s like 12 measures.
I want to say that Denverites are going to vote on when it comes to things along these lines, things that you will actually be voting on. There’s 12 proposals. I’m reading this right now at a westward.
12 proposals. Some of these don’t have anything to do with raising taxes. For example, one of them, I haven’t talked about this yet, a slaughterhouse ban.
Which by the way, still at the end of the day, does nothing but hurt Denver itself. You’re not going to help the city of Denver by banning things along those lines. Keep in mind that those particular businesses employ people in Denver.
They’re there. They’re spending money. They’re paying taxes.
They’re doing some of the things that it takes to have a city make money. At the end of the day, you’re not gaining anything by doing that. There’s a fur ban.
That’s another one I haven’t talked much about. There’s the one we just talked about with Gary. There’s other multiple proposals, 12 of them by the way, when it comes to proposals inside of Denver, that those of you that live inside the city of Denver, like Charlie, will have the ability to vote on.
And you need to do some research on that. I’ll talk more about some of those as we get closer and closer to November. And we have some of those ballot initiatives and things that a lot of you will be voting on around the city.
I can never cover every single one of those because every city and county will have different things that will be voted on. But I’ll do my best to highlight those. Gary, thank you for highlighting at least one of those that folks need to vote no on.
Hour number two is next on this Monday. Don’t go anywhere. Rush To Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, Klz560.