John Rush opens the hour with author Richard Battle, who shares the remarkable story of his Revolutionary War ancestor Miller Bledsoe, a teenage patriot who fought through Valley Forge, survived brutal combat, and later became a pastor after the war. The conversation explores family heritage, sacrifice, and why Americans should learn more about the generations who secured their freedom.
Later, John delivers an extended, unscripted commentary on graduation advice and the modern obsession with “following your dreams.” Instead, he argues young people should focus on discovering what they are truly skilled at, building confidence, ignoring outside noise, and pursuing real-world
SPEAKER 10 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 09 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to 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.
SPEAKER 10 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 12 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did! Get a job, Turk! You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference!
SPEAKER 11 :
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’ve 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.
SPEAKER 08 :
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 Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 15 :
Okay, hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Richard Battle joining us now. Richard, how are you, sir?
SPEAKER 06 :
John, we’re doing great. Thanks so much for having us back with you.
SPEAKER 15 :
Staying cool enough in Dallas? Well, the pizza oven is showing up this week. It is here, too, so don’t feel bad. All right, talk to us about Miller Bledsoe.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, he is my patriot ancestor. And for those who don’t know, he’s my connection from a family standpoint to a person who fought in the Revolutionary War. And through that connection, it’s enabled me to be a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. But there’s much more to us talking about him today as that. And it’s trying to get people to appreciate what those people did for us people looking up their own families to see the sacrifices that have been made to give us this gift of freedom that we enjoy and have paid less cost than they did.
SPEAKER 15 :
In my notes, fifth great-grandfather.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, and so he was in Virginia, and he joined the second regiment in Virginia when he was 15 years old. And so that’s the first thing when I read this, and this material I sent you was out of the Baptist in Georgia book that was written in 1874, so this documentation’s over 150 years old.
SPEAKER 15 :
Wow, that’s amazing, and cool all at the same time, by the way. So give us some of the background, some of the things that he did.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, it was interesting. He joined Captain Dudley’s outfit, if you will, the 2nd Virginia Regiment. And Captain Dudley was a Baptist preacher who believed he needed to sacrifice and give evidence to his country that he loved his country, not just being a pastor, but being a soldier also. And so it was interesting. They went to Valley Forge. He fought in this battle at a place called The Hook, where he was wounded by a cannon shot that was so close to him it burned his face with powder burns and suffered bayonet wounds. And one of the things I liked about this write-up was talking about Colonel Lee and the language they used. So the person that tried to shoot Miller Bledsoe Colonel Lee went after him and quote-unquote transfixed him with his sword. Oh, boy. I think that language is pretty interesting.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, transfixed, meaning he probably didn’t last long.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, he took him out, and so that’s interesting. But Bledsoe was at the Battle of Camden. He was close enough at Guilford Courthouse he could hear the cannons. He ended up, before the war was over, when he was 20 years old, commanding a company. Hmm. So five years of service, and as we’ve read in other accounts, I mean, people were eating shoe leather and leaves and didn’t have clothes. So five years, he’s commanding a company by the time he’s 20 and was present at the surrender in Yorktown.
SPEAKER 1 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 06 :
Wow. Which is so cool.
SPEAKER 15 :
And I’m not, you know, by no means trying to throw, you know, you need generations or anything like that, you know, under the bus. But, you know, I had my other show I do on Saturday’s Drive Radio. We talked this past week about, you know, kids and just a simple fact. There’s a lot of 16-year-old kids that don’t want to get their driver’s license right now. And I can’t understand that, of course, because I wanted that freedom and wanted to drive as soon as possible. And I think for us it was freedom. But yet I also look at the story that you’re telling, and I think – Okay, and again, not to be judgmental, Richard, by any means, but I don’t know too many 15-year-olds that would do what Mr. Bledsoe did, and I don’t know too many 15-year-olds that after five years would be doing what he was doing at age 20 either.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, exactly, and that’s the point. I didn’t do it, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it as well, but the people back then were tougher and grew up faster than I think current generations do, and that to me is so important. And we see stories in movies a lot of times about people saying, God, if you’ll get me out of this, I promise I’ll serve you. Well, this was written over 150 years ago that he made promises somewhat similar to that. but he ended up going and becoming a pastor and serving, and that was one of the things I think is kind of interesting. He baptized over 1,200 people, and then all of a sudden he got to thinking that may have been too prideful, so he stopped counting, which I think is kind of a very interesting piece of information.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, it shows you, I think, where his true heart was.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, and to me, what I hope the audience will hear today is not just his story, but it will make them think, and hopefully some of them will say, I want to go back and check my ancestors. On Ancestry, FamilySearch, GeniaNet, you can go check it. If you think you’ve got an ancestor that fought in the Revolutionary War, you can go to local chapters in the Daughters or Sons of the American Revolution, and they’ll help you to process applications. And if someone’s your or my age and they’re saying, well, why should I do that now? Well, do it for your kids and grandkids and their grandkids because that’s once somebody’s in the organization, it’s easier to trace the bloodlines down and get those memberships in for younger people.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah. And it’s interesting you were saying that. I’ve not done this yet. I guess I should give it a whirl and just see how accurate it is, because I know my family tree fairly well and can trace it all the way back to Benjamin Rush, who signed the Declaration of Independence and did a lot of things at that time. And I’ll be interesting to see, Richard, and I will try this just for grins, to see how AI works when it comes to tracing your family heritage.
SPEAKER 06 :
I think that’s a great idea, and I hope to hear from you about that because I didn’t do that, but I wish I would have tried it.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, well, and in your case, given the fact that you know, I mean, you’ve traced it, you know it. I know mine from that being passed down. I had an uncle that did a lot of work on our family tree and so on. And so I haven’t seen every piece of documentation along those lines, but I’ve heard the story of all of that. And I, for one, want to not only have all of that in my hands, but I’d like to see how close AI is to actually tracing some of that back.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes. And in the SAR or the DAR chapters, there are people that can help with the genealogy as well and tell you what you need for proof. And it can be marriage certificates. It can be wills, transfer of property. There’s a lot of different things that people can use. You may find that you or your audience already have family members who’ve been acknowledged, and other relatives of yours may be distant or members they may have already gone through and traced things, so it may be much easier than you might think as well.
SPEAKER 15 :
And just really quick, on a side note, how long did it take you to do all of this? Just a question.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, what was interesting to me was I checked a couple of relatives out And I lost the paper trail, even though I knew that it was legitimate, when the people moved from Virginia or North Carolina or Georgia to Texas. And so thankfully, I had an uncle who did a great uncle who did a lot of work 40 years ago. and documented a lot of things, and that helped me bridge the gap on this particular ancestor. I think I probably have more, but I haven’t gone through the detail with them. Interesting. And it was a few months.
SPEAKER 15 :
Okay, so a few months, and okay, here’s the other question I have for you. How fun was all of that?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, it’s very interesting because this story, for example, is very interesting. And I learned some other things about my family that I did not know. And that was very interesting as well. And just life about life in those days. And so to me, that is so important because if we know and appreciate what those people did for us, and are we honoring what they did for us, and are we preparing the young people to follow us the best way we can as well, so they’ll know what their families did to give them this gift.
SPEAKER 15 :
Richard, as always, I appreciate it. Always a joy to have you. As we head down the stretch, kids are starting to graduate even next weekend as we head into Memorial Day weekend. If they want to get some great gifts, talk about your website and how they can do that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, in the Americans Who Made America series, which is what prompted this, is a great tool for students, teachers, leaders, and speakers, and it’s not history. I’m basically telling stories of people and their Americandu spirit, and the website’s richardbattle.com. All books are signed. If you want something inscribed and personalized, we’re happy to do that. Email me, richard at richardbattle.com, after you order. If you go on Amazon, all 12 books are there, including audio and Kindle versions as well.
SPEAKER 15 :
Awesome. Richard, as always, I appreciate it greatly. We’ll talk to you next week, sir. My pleasure. God bless America. God bless you, Richard. And Richard Battle, richardbattle.com, Golden Eagle Financial, Al Smith. I saw Al earlier as he was exiting his show. He has his own program from 2 to 2.30 right here on KLZ. And if you would like to talk to Al directly, just go to klzradio.com and find him there.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, we got Al Smith back with us on KLZ Radio. Al, I heard on a radio show the other day that people could replace their poor-performing annuities with new ones that earn 10% to 12% annually. Is that real?
SPEAKER 13 :
I think it’s an enormous exaggeration. I think there are some occasions where it might be in people’s best interest to replace an older annuity with a newer one, but to promise 10 or 12 percent returns, there’s only a very small percentage of annuities that have actually earned 10 or 12 percent. And sometimes unscrupulous returns People in the financial industry will use illustrations that are projected in the future, but have no clear examples of how it has actually occurred in the past.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s probably a big red flag when people give those guarantees, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, they don’t usually say it with guarantees, but they make it sound like, oh, for sure, if you have a poor-performing financial product, we can get you one that’s going to pay 10 or 12 percent, and it’s guaranteed against loss. Well, the guarantee against loss is true, but the 10 to 12 percent performance, there’s about, I would estimate, maybe a 5 percent chance of that actually occurring in the future.
SPEAKER 04 :
Wow. So you heard it here, guys. If you really want to know the answer, give Al a call here. And Al, how do folks get in touch with you?
SPEAKER 13 :
You can reach me at my office at 303-744-1128.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. You can also find him on klzradio.com slash money. Al, thanks for coming in today.
SPEAKER 17 :
You’re welcome. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management, LLC. A registered investment advisor. BCM and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
SPEAKER 02 :
putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 15 :
Okay, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush. Somebody sent a text message, and very kind, by the way. Has John ever given a commencement speech? Number one answer, no. I’ve never been asked. I don’t know why. I just have never been asked to give a graduation commencement speech. I think he should write a small speech every year and read it on the radio for all graduates and also us old folks. Well, You know what? Not a bad idea. I can probably come up with one, and most of you probably would know right away what I’m going to say to most graduates. And just really quick as an ad lib here, what I would tell most graduates is you’ve been told your whole life, follow your dreams. And I’m going to tell you that’s the dumbest piece of advice you’ll ever hear. Because sometimes following your dreams means you end up broke and destitute and homeless. Because unless you’re really good at what your dream is, it won’t pan out. So my commencement speech, by the way, wouldn’t be very long because I would then add to that. I would say, find what you’re good at. And once you do, build on that as much as you possibly can. Excel in the things that you’re actually good at. Don’t worry about the things that you’re not good at. Don’t worry about fixing things that you’re not good at. I’m not talking about personality. I’m talking about talents. If there’s something that you’re not good at, there is no sense in trying to make yourself good at it. For example, I’m not good at music. I can sing, I can carry a tune, but I am not somebody that can write music, read music, play an instrument and so on. It’s just, it’s not my wheelhouse. And so for me to try to force that upon myself and do that would actually be maddening in my world. It’s just not something that I’m good at. And frankly, I’m not good at woodworking, and I know that. That is not my forte. I watch people that work with wood and do things and so on, and I’m amazed at some of the things that they can create. That’s not me. Give me a piece of metal and a welder, and yeah, I can go to town on that. But I am not somebody that can work with wood. It’s just not in my wheelhouse. And so, again, what I would tell graduates especially would be, you know, quit worrying about what everybody says your dream is. In fact, you might have a really great dream. And if the dream fits with what you’re good at, okay, you know what? I get that. that. If you’re a great musician and your dream is to be in a band and do really well at that, or if you’re really good with your hands and you want to be an auto technician or you want to do something along those lines when it comes to building and fixing and so on, then you know what? Be my guest. If you’re really good at math and you think you’d like to be an accountant or you want to work in that math end of things some way, somehow, you want to work in somebody’s company where you might do budgeting and things along those lines, great. You know what? Go for it. My point is, I think far too many kids are forced into things that, number one, they’re not good at. And if they’re not good at it, frankly, you’re not going to enjoy it because you’ll be frustrated when it’s all said and done. You may have a dream to do that because you think it’s something that you’re good at. And by the way, great example of this. I’ve used this in the years past. I’ll add this right now. We’ve all seen American Idol or the shows like that, whereby anybody can audition to be on American Idol. And you watch some of the behind the scenes. I haven’t seen it for years and years, but I’ve seen enough of them to where you see these people behind the scenes and man, they’re surrounded by people that love these people. And you’re going to do great. You’re going to go on stage and you’re going to you’re going to knock their socks off. And man, the people around this particular individual, male, female, young, old, doesn’t matter. They are all rooting for this particular individual to do well on American Idol. And they go to where the little audition room is, and the judges are sitting there, and they’re watching. And pretty soon, the person gets up there, and they start to perform. In most cases, it’s singing. And they’re awful. I mean, not awful, but God-awful. To where you wonder, why have all of the people in this person’s circle been lying to them? I mean, they have ears. They have to be able to hear the same thing everybody else is hearing. Why has everybody close to this person been lying to them? And by the way, it’s not fair to lie to somebody along those lines. Oh, man, that was a really great performance. No, it wasn’t. It sucked. It was awful. They can’t carry a tune. But their entire life, somebody has told them that they can. So their big chance happens. They get the audition. They get on American Idol. I was going to say voted off the island. But they get on American Idol. And before you know it, they’re done. They might not even get 10 seconds of fame when it’s all said and done because they’re that bad. In fact, they only get on TV because they are that bad. Because I’m sure there’s a lot of people that kind of sing mediocre that never make it into the final cut that you actually get to see what happens. Because hundreds of people, in fact, Charlie White, probably thousands of people actually go to those auditions, right? He says, yes, thousands. And my point is this. There’s a lot of people that will even surround you, and I would tell a young person this. There will be a lot of people around you that love you dearly. In fact, they love you so much that they don’t even want to be honest with you because they love you to the point they don’t want to hurt your feelings, and they’re not going to tell you what you’re good at and not good at, especially when it comes to things involving arts and things like that. They may tell you that, oh, yeah, that picture is the most beautiful thing ever, and it could just be a pile of poop. But they’re not going to tell that person that because they love them. And they have a soft spot for that particular individual. And maybe they think by encouraging them to continue to do better that somehow that work will get better. But it won’t because there’s no talent there. And so I would tell a graduate, number one, go look in the mirror. Be honest with yourself. And you know yourself better than anyone. What are you good at? What is it you excel at? Not necessarily by grades, but what is it that you really do well at? Do you have a mathematical type brain or do you have a more of an art type brain? What do you really fit into and what do you excel at? Some of the jobs that you may have done over the years, what do you do really well at and not so well at? And then I would add to this, be assertive. I see so many young people today, they have no idea what being assertive means. And it drives me crazy. I’ll be straight up honest. If there’s anything about young people today that drive me crazy is the lack of assertiveness. They all cower and they’re afraid of their own shadow. Not all, but a lot are. And I’m always excited when I meet a young person that doesn’t act that way. I’ve got a young man that I know very well that is the son of my best friend and very assertive individual. And to the point where maybe too assertive sometimes, but a very assertive individual, which I love seeing. There’s nothing better than watching somebody that’s young and be assertive at the same time because that person will go places. I’m not saying that unassertive people won’t, but you have to assert yourself and be confident. Maybe that’s the word I’m looking for as much as anything is confidence. I would tell young people that are graduating, have some confidence. And by the way, that confidence comes from knowing what you want to do in life. Having a goal, having the ability to know what’s next for you. And I get it. Nobody knows the future. Nobody’s got a crystal ball. But the reality is, you know what you’re good at. Go do that. And ignore the noise. That’s the other thing I would tell somebody in a commencement speech is ignore the noise. And there’s lots of noise out there. There’s noise from parents and grandparents and siblings and friends and even some coworkers that you might run into and, and, and. There’s tons of noise that always comes your way. And by the way, I think this is advice for all people, including adults. Ignore the noise. Push that out. Get rid of it. And it’s always there, by the way. All of us, myself included, I get lots of noise that comes my way. In fact, some of it comes from the text line itself or emails or phone calls that come in and so on. And by the way, I’m not saying I ignore any of those and that I’m not appreciative of what comes in. But, man, guys, I get a lot of noise even from liberals or even some hardcore conservatives that don’t agree with the particular position I might take on something. That’s noise. And while I listen to it and I pay attention to it and might even use it as material on the show, it’s not in my mind. I don’t go home at night thinking about what that person said. Sorry, you don’t live in my head. You don’t get a space in my brain. I may talk about it momentarily on air because you just texted something in, but I don’t dwell on that and I don’t go to bed at night thinking about what somebody texted me that’s just off the wall. In fact, what I do is I think about all the good things that have been texted, like the one that just came in. So again, I would have lots of things that I would tell in a commencement speech. I would try to make it as short as possible because nobody likes sitting there listening to them. I would condense it down to probably be one of the shortest ones they’ve ever heard. But I would make it nice and sweet and concise to where they could get something out of that and use that for the rest of their life. Am I ever asked to do those? No. Guys, I’m not an eloquent speaker. You guys all know that. I’m just an old redneck that’s on air. And I mean that sincerely. I’m literally, I’m an old redneck on air. English and spelling and my best friends will tell you right off the bat that I have to ask to have certain things spelled. Ask Charlie constantly how certain things be spelled and pronounced and so on because that was not my forte. I am not, quote unquote, a gifted speaker. I can talk. I can get up in front of a crowd. I am not stage fright. I have no stage fright at all. That doesn’t bother me. I can speak to 10 or 10,000 or 100,000. I don’t care. That part doesn’t bother me. And I wouldn’t be in front of this microphone if it did. But no, I’ve never been asked to give a commencement speech because probably I’m a little brash. I’m a little harsh. I’m probably going to say some things that even some parents and leaders in a school would not want me to say, i.e. what I just said a moment ago, because I would say things opposite of what a guidance counselor would say, somebody that a student would sit down with, because I’m going to be real and tell somebody how they can actually make it in life. As somebody that’s been self-employed their entire life, yes, I’ve learned what to do and not do. And I can tell you right now, do what you’re good at. If you do what you’re good at, you will be much better off when it’s all said and done. And frankly, you’ll make some money doing so. You have the ability to not only feed your family but probably get ahead in life in many ways because here’s what happens. When you’re good at something and you start understanding the benefits of and you get to see the fruits of your labor, i.e. cash coming in, it changes your perspective and you like it even more. And again, I would tell young people this to get them energized. And I get it. Some people say, well, there’s more to life than money. Really? I mean, I get it. Yes, there is. There’s love and happiness and relationships and so on. But folks, let me tell you what. If you don’t have money, you don’t pay the bills. You don’t feed a family. You don’t raise kids. You don’t do the things necessary to make really our country work. You have to make money. There’s no option there. I would tell young people that same thing as well. Don’t listen to all those people that tell you that money isn’t everything. Yeah, it is. Actually, it is. Sorry. Newsflash. Yes, it is. Because without it, you don’t do anything. And without it, by the way, you have no influence. zero and some would say oh yeah you do you can do a lot no not really you need you need funds to have influence because without it you have none so again folks i would give a lot of things that probably would be opposite of what most commencement speeches would would uh how they would be written and what they what would be said in them and so on and i’m not sure most would like to hear that some of you listening probably would but that’s that’s just not me so anyways I love all you guys. Thank you so much for that and for the advice. And I may very well just write an actual former commencement speech here. But by the time we get through next week, I’ll see if I have time to do that. Up next, Cub Creek Keating and Air Conditioning. It’s warm, folks. 87 degrees right now. And yes, you’re using your AC. And I’m sure that if you’ve got any issues at all, you know who to call. If not, though, that’s Cub Creek Keating and Air Conditioning. Call Hunter today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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Geno’s Auto Service, yes, they’re there to take care of your vehicle. Full bumper-to-bumper service. Reach out to them today. Find them at klzradio.com, or you can go to genosautoservice.com, and Geno starts with a J.
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Ironworks Realty, and you may have inherited a home that you know needs flipped. You know it needs flipped. Otherwise, you’re not going to maximize your price on that particular home. And you may need that, by the way, to even get it sold in the first place. If that’s you and you need help, we have an answer. Ironworks Realty, Jeff Paquette, that’s exactly what he does. He’ll help you through the whole process. 303-489-5569.
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SPEAKER 10 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 15 :
Okay, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Sunny Kutcher joining us now, Young Americans Against Socialism. Sunny, welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER 16 :
Doing great. How are you?
SPEAKER 15 :
I’m good. Always a joy. I’m warming up here in Colorado. I don’t know what it’s like for you guys out in California, but, yeah, we’re finally warming up here. It’s like, what is it right now, 86? It was 86. It was 87 a moment ago, so cooling off just a tad.
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolutely, yeah. It’s getting a little warmer here, too. It’s been a little overcast, so we are L.A. in May gray, you know, so we’re going to get into our summertime soon.
SPEAKER 15 :
All right, so talk to us about what’s going on, Young Americans Against Socialism. Lots to talk about, never a dull moment. What do you want to cover first?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, I think what just came out with Vice President J.D. Vance and the fraud task force led by Dr. Oz, they supposedly kicked off 800 fraudulent health care providers off of the Medicare system. And it’s just absolutely, you know, wild. We’re really seeing the depths of this fraud in Medicaid, especially, you know, in states like California and whatnot. We’ve talked about that before. But, you know, they’re going to have to really, you know, show proof that these entities are actually legal subsidies.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, and to your point, I think what’s happening right now is, thankfully, I guess is the way for me to say this, thankfully, there’s some digging into a lot of, frankly, and this is where it’s crazy, Sonny, you have to wonder how long, how long has some of this stuff been going on? My gut feeling is I think some of this fraud has been going on for decades.
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Especially, you know, within the Medicare, Medicaid program. Right. Definitely. You know, I would even go so far as to say that, you know, a lot of what motivated the government to start these programs is to direct and conduct fraud through these programs. Right. Because that is sort of, you know, a side quest, if you will, of the communist socialist agenda. And a lot of these programs were… you know, started from the New Deal. And, you know, that timeframe kind of in the, you know, 40s through 60s. And I mean, of course, that also coincides with the McCarthy era. So communism was very much alive and well. And I really feel that that is, you know, people who are studying this socialism, communism, these, you know, government forms and their their evolution. I think in America, that is probably a very pivotal moment, in my opinion, where communists began to really infiltrate. Yep.
SPEAKER 15 :
Again, I can’t disagree with that. In fact, I just was reading, I didn’t know this, and thank you for bringing it up. J.D. Vance, they have set a six-month pause on new Medicare enrollments for up-and-coming home health care and hospice providers due to the rampant fraud that they have uncovered, like you’re saying.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, what was… Sorry, I’m so sorry. I cut out a little bit. Could you repeat that?
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, they have put a six-month pause on new Medicare enrollments for up-and-coming home health care and hospice providers due to the rampant fraud, much to what you’re talking about.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think they supposedly cut off $1.4 billion.
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s what I saw. Yes, that’s a lot.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, so, I mean, this is a very good step in the right direction. And, you know… we’ll see how far we can get. I lost a little hope after Doge kind of fell off the train, kind of fell off the tracks. But I do understand, again, when you study these things and when you look into the American government and how it has been infiltrated, you kind of have a little bit more grace for the fact that it will take time to unravel the what’s been done. And I think that, you know, President Trump in his first administration may not have realized the depths of it.
SPEAKER 15 :
No, I don’t think so.
SPEAKER 16 :
And yeah, and probably went about things maybe a different way than he is now.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, you know, you learn and you grow and you start learning more of how the internal end of things work. And while I, like you, somewhat disappointed in Doge, although I want to make sure I’m clear on this, I think… to Dozier’s credit, it started a lot of what we’re seeing and it uncovered a lot of things as to what we’re seeing. And it rattled the hornet’s nest, I guess you could say, Sonny. So, I mean, it really got the left sort of amped up, if you would. Nobody ever thought that it was going to be an easy thing for them to go in and wipe out some of this fraud and overspending and waste that’s there. But I will say that, and by the way, I think this is going to continue to happen for the entire time that this administration is there. And if we win office again it’ll continue on they’re going to continue to uncover this fraud and i do believe that the the sort of the the tipping point if you would was doge and they got all of that started and it’s just continued on do i wish doge still existed in the way that it was and it would have continued on most definitely uh unfortunately I think what Elon Musk especially learned is, oh, man, can Washington, D.C., and the entire country, when it comes to one side of the aisle, be very vicious? When you start messing with their money and their wallet, can they be extremely vicious? Oh, yes, they can be.
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, absolutely. This is exactly what they – this is the pain point that the left will – I mean, I think it’s kind of, you know, the Trojan horse almost in a way, you know, in a weird analogical way, because I think that that’s the serious pain point that will, that exposes them, that really does expose them because they can have their talking points and people who aren’t paying attention can listen to, you know, the conferences, the press conferences and the debates and, you know, this and the State of the Union and all these things in here, the hear politicians talk out of both sides of their mouth and say nice things that, you know, oh, we’re helping people and this and that, like the classic Democrat talking points. But once they are actually exposed for like what they’ve done, for what they’ve, you know, orchestrated, especially because like that $1.4 billion was cut off from, you know, states like California, Michigan, et cetera. So, it’s very clear that, you know, doesn’t mean that there’s not fraud in Republican or conservative states, but it’s just that it’s so rampant in those areas because that’s literally their entire undercover agenda.
SPEAKER 15 :
Good point. No, you are 100% correct. And again, do we want to continue to see this take place? Do we want to continue to see this grow and get to be, I guess I should say, dig deeper and deeper as time goes by? Absolutely, Sonny. And I think to J.D. Vance’s credit, they’re doing that. I think the one obstacle, and get your opinion on this, but here’s what I think they’re doing. They know there’s a lot. they know it’s probably in every department out there. They know it’s on the federal level. They know it’s on the state level. I think what they’re doing, to your point a moment ago, $1.4 billion, they’re going after the biggest fish they can to start with. They’ll start trickling down, I think, into some of the other areas as time goes by. But I think what they’re doing is focusing on the things that are the most blatant things that are right there in front of them that they can try to start cleaning up, knowing that, hey, we’re going to send a message that we’re here, we’re going to look. And by the way, in doing so, It’s sort of like, let me explain it this way. It’s sort of like when you know there’s an upcoming speed trap, you’ll automatically slow down and not drive over the speed limit. You won’t speed anymore if you know that’s there. And I think this is a similar situation, Sonny, as a lot of these organizations where they know they’re doing things illegal and they know that now we’ve got different task forces that are out looking at things. I think some of that stuff may clean itself up just because they know people are going to be watching them.
SPEAKER 16 :
Definitely. Definitely. I mean, I couldn’t agree with you more.
SPEAKER 15 :
So to J.D.’ ‘s credit and those that are around him, they’re going after the big fish, I guess I should say. And so those of you listening, please, I know there’s a lot of pet projects, Sonny, people have that they want to see this cleaned up and that cleaned up. And believe me, folks, I think as time goes by, you’ll see more and more of that get done. Are we going to clean up every ounce of fraud that’s out there, governmentally speaking? Sonny, the answer is no. Things are too big, even on a state level. You look at the budget that California has and where they’re at. And I know that there’s even some politicians here in Colorado that are running on, I’m going to go in and clean up the budget. Well, number one, that’s a really big thing to say. And depending upon what power you may end up with, even as governor, that’s a hard thing to actually get done because of all the state agencies and what’s going on. But can you go after some of these big ticket items? Yes, Sonny, I think you can. And in doing so, that helps out greatly.
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolutely. And yeah, I mean, I agree, like these big programs, kind of getting them cleaned up is probably, I mean, to me is the most important part, I would say, because it’s just, you know, happening on such a mass scale that that is really going to make a difference. I think, I mean, I think that, you know, the administration sent out letters to all 50 states basically saying like, hey, like we’re we’re cracking down. You need to be on top of, you know, the entities in your state and, you know, do investigations, like figure out what’s really going on here. And so, you know, we’ll have to see what comes of it. and we’ll have to just keep a close eye. But, yeah, unfortunately, we’re not going to be able to get everything.
SPEAKER 15 :
Nope, we’ll get as much done as we possibly can. Okay, Young Americans Against Socialism, you guys put out some really great material that help not just young people, but really anybody can read the material and benefit from, and it really talks about literally, Sonny, the Marxist agenda, what it does, how it’s infiltrated things, and then what you guys do is you counter that as well. Talk about the material. How can folks get a hold of it?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, you can go to our website, yass.org, and our Instagram, our TikTok, Twitter, yass underscore America or yass America. You can find us under one of those names. And, you know, we focus on sharing information. real-life stories of survivors of socialist and communist countries. We create resources from their stories, from what we’ve learned from their experiences and how these regimes function and work and the destruction that they bring to the society that is being oppressed by the regime. And so we’ve created resources. You can watch our interviews online. Check out our social media where we talk about, you know, the current times in America and in Europe and everywhere else that is, you know, reeks of socialism, if you will. So that’s our mission, and you can help support us there at our website, yass.org.
SPEAKER 15 :
Sunny, as always, I appreciate it. Have a great rest of your day.
SPEAKER 16 :
Thanks. You too. Have a great one.
SPEAKER 15 :
You’re very welcome, Sonny Kutcher. Again, Young Americans Against Socialism. Michael Bailey, he was on with me at 3 o’clock. And make sure that your estate is in order. It’s so important to the folks that you will leave behind. In some cases, even while you may still be alive, but you need things done, legally speaking, to make sure that things can get handled on your behalf as well. Talk to Michael today. He’s mobile. He’ll come to you. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
Okay, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. A friend sent me an article today, which, by the way, coincides very well with what I was just talking about with Sonny. In other words, when you start implementing certain things, the ramifications follow. In other words… Between January of 2025 and March of 2026, immigration judges issued more than 80,000 voluntary departure orders. In other words, deportation orders, according to the Vera Institute, marking a dramatic increase from 11,400 issued during the first or during the final 15 months, I should say, of the Biden administration. In other words, as you start enforcing laws, And some know that, oh, wow, I might actually get caught. I guess I should just self-deport, go home, maybe start this process all over again and do it on the legal basis, do it in a legal way. It starts to clean things up. And by the way, 80,000, that’s not chump change. That’s more people than fit in our stadium, our football stadium here in town, which seats about 77,000 or so roughly. What is it, Invesco Field? I always get that wrong. Or Empower Field. Sorry, I always get it wrong because it changes. So it’s Empower Field. So keep in mind, you could barely fill up Empower Field. Sorry, you’d overfill Empower Field. Granted, you get all the workers and everything behind the scenes. It’s probably around 80,000 people. But that basically fills up our football stadium in just that amount of time. And these are not people that we’ve actually gone and deported on our own. These are people that have self-deported. So my point with Sonny was as you start going in and cleaning up in the case of J.D. Vance and you’re going to go in and do audits and investigations and find fraud and so on, wow, as soon as other people start realizing, oh, wow, you know what? We might end up in jail if we keep going down this path. Maybe we should switch gears. Maybe we ought not do this. And pretty soon things start to clean up on their own just because of some of the enforcement that you’re doing. Same is true on the immigration side. I guess that’s why I was trying to go with this particular article that was sent to me. These people are literally doing these things on their own. They’re not waiting for ICE to show up. They’re doing it on their own. On top of that, by the way, ICE – has found and identified the F-1 visa program, which allows foreign students into the country to study and work at the same time. Well, they have found massive, massive fraud in that area as well. Fraud as in fake companies that these kids work for and so on, and over 10,000 of them. So, again, just uncovering more and more fraud all the time. Dan in Blackhawk, go ahead. Go ahead, Dan.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, so another article, not that I’m on Facebook much, but I’ve been trying to sell stuff.
SPEAKER 15 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 05 :
And there was a thing saying that Madami had balanced the budget.
SPEAKER 15 :
Not hardly.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, so I went and did a little bit of research, and this was on Google, so you’ve got to be very careful.
SPEAKER 15 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 05 :
But one of the New York papers said it’s a, what do they call it, a shell game?
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Where they take one from another. So basically how he quote-unquote did it was the state gave him some money, a billion dollars or something like that, and then they kicked the can down the road. for payments to make the budget balance. So in other words, the payments won’t come due until 2040. Gotcha.
SPEAKER 15 :
So funky math.
SPEAKER 05 :
So it’s funky math, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to, because, you know, they were saying, oh, Republicans couldn’t figure it out and everything. Oh, yeah, they could, and I was going to post that on their post and say, please do your research before you post something that agrees with your your paradigm, you know, make sure your paradigm is correct. Cause if it isn’t, it’s not, you know, but what people just grab that stuff and they just automatically post stuff about verified. And that’s, and that’s on both.
SPEAKER 15 :
And that happens on our side too.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 15 :
Thank you, Dan, for saying so. Yes, that happens on both sides of the aisle. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. So it’s not, I’m tired of the political, I don’t know what it is, uh, political gyrations to make themselves look good when actuality is just affecting everybody.
SPEAKER 15 :
Agree. Can’t argue that.
SPEAKER 1 :
100%.
SPEAKER 05 :
Dan, great.
SPEAKER 15 :
No, thank you. That’s a great tip. No, thank you. I did not know that. I hadn’t read any of that. So appreciate you informing us of that. This same friend of mine that sent me that article on the 80,000 that have self-deported, on top of that, don’t forget, and this was sent to me, multiply that by the amount that we’re giving each one of those individuals and think about the savings when it’s all said and done. Yeah. Yeah, I can’t disagree. And those are the things that we have to continue to look at because in those cases, not all, I get some of those people will come here and actually work and be a contributing individual. They’re not a citizen because they’re here illegally, but can they contribute? Yeah. On the same token, though, that’s not normally the case. Typically speaking, they’re pulling away from something else. They’re taking something from someone else. In some cases, we’re giving them even free schooling, free health care. There’s a cost to having that individual here. And depending upon how they’re paid and what they’re actually doing work-wise, they may not be contributing anything. If they’re getting paid all cash under the table, for example, they’re not contributing a thing. In fact, in those cases, and this is something most people don’t realize, most of that cash doesn’t stay here. And Charlie and I have talked about this in the past. Western Union, who is the largest cross – how do you want to say this? Cross-continent, cross-country funding institution where you can wire money, send money, I guess I should say. It’s huge. There is billions upon billions of dollars sent out of the country annually. And they’re based in Inglewood, Charlie just reminded me of. Yeah, thank you, Charlie, for that. So, yeah, folks, keep that in mind as well. When you hear the left talk about, well, these people contribute, well, they may contribute work-wise. But remember, the majority of the money they make is not staying in America. It’s going on outside of the walls of our country back to their country. Home country. Roof Savers of Colorado coming up next, folks. And again, get your roof inspected, especially if you had any storm damage that happened or potential storm damage that happened last week with all the snow that we had. Talk to Dave today. He can extend the life of your roof up to 15 years or replace your roof as well. 303-710-6916.
SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 15 :
Hey, you know, one thing that was sent to me, too, by the same friend. I didn’t realize this. When somebody self-deports, we give them $2,600 as an exit bonus to leave. Now, some would say, well, man, that’s costing us a fortune. Actually, that’s saving us money. Guaranteed, that individual over an annual time frame is costing us far more than $2,600. In fact, in some cases, it could easily be $2,600 a month. that they’re costing us. So I’m okay with that. I’m fine with giving them the $2,600 each to self-deport. That’s a nice exit bonus they get to actually leave. And these individuals know who they are and whether they should or shouldn’t be here. So thank you, by the way, for sending me that. I appreciate that greatly. I did not know that. So that is great information, and I appreciate all the help that you all give me, especially you. I do mean that sincerely. So we’ll be back. Hour number three is next. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you. I’m a rich guy.
