In this riveting episode of Rush to Reason, host John Rush explores the complexities of identity and self-definition with guest Richard Battle. The conversation delves into the pitfalls of pigeonholing and how societal perceptions often constrain individuals to limited roles. Richard shares personal anecdotes and narratives like that of Michael Adkins, emphasizing the potential of rewriting personal stories despite societal expectations. Listen as they unpack the importance of lifelong learning and volunteerism as avenues for self-discovery and skill expansion. The episode not only challenges the status quo but also inspires listeners to see beyond conventional labels to foster deeper
SPEAKER 14 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 03 :
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 14 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did. Get a job, sir. You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 05 :
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 03 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 13 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electric, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 10 :
And we are back. Hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Richard Battle joining us now. Richard, welcome. How are you today? Good afternoon, John. We’re doing great. Thanks for having us again. Don’t allow yourself to be pigeonholed.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, one of the things that I noticed years ago, and you may have experienced it as well, is people, all of us, me included, we have a tendency to see people as they are, not as they completely are or can be. And so we pigeonhole people in those places. And for example, I was a corporate guy for many years and did some of the things I’m doing now, but not as many. And when I left the corporate world, people who saw me in the corporate world had a hard time seeing me as an author and a speaker and commentator, et cetera, and vice versa. People here have a hard time seeing me as a corporate guy. You may have experienced that with the auto business you’ve been in as well as radio.
SPEAKER 10 :
I can tell you on numerous occasions, especially when I was younger, business for myself, when you’d go to some dinner party or whatever and people would ask what you do and then you’d tell them and they’d get this look on their face like, ooh, you do what? So I finally got to the point, Richard, and this is not a joke. I finally got to the point where they’d say, what do you do for a living? I’d say, I’m into oil. Which I wasn’t lying, Richard.
SPEAKER 15 :
Now you can say you’re a land man.
SPEAKER 10 :
Exactly. And the funny thing about that was when you would say that, they’d never ask anything else. You just kind of move along and it wasn’t any big deal. Back to your whole point of the pigeonholeness.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, yes. And they ask what you do versus who you are. Right. And who you are, I think, gives us an ability to define ourselves in a broader context and And that to me is more complete and better because myself, I need to know who people are so I can understand not only what they do now, but look for potential for the future as well.
SPEAKER 10 :
And I understand that there are, in some cases, when you find out what somebody does, you can dovetail into who they are and what they do outside of that and so on. And if you ask follow-up questions to, hey, what do you do for a living, or what is it you do back in such and such, or whatever the case may be, I’m one where I’m always asking more I guess because I’m self-employed as well, Richard, I know what it’s like to be on the other end of the stick. I don’t ever just say, what do you do? I always like to ask further things so that you’re really delving into them as a person, not just what they do for a living.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, exactly. And one of the greatest examples that really brought my awareness up on this years ago was going into a volunteer organization, and people are pigeonholed there all the time. That’s right. I was thrown into fundraising, and the accountants were thrown into being the treasurer, and someone in administration would be thrown into being the secretary, and one of the great things about volunteerism is it gives you an opportunity to explore other areas of expertise and learn new things if you don’t allow yourself to be pigeonholed.
SPEAKER 10 :
That’s exactly right. But you’re right. I mean, a lot of times, and this is some of the faults that happen inside of the whole ministry end of things, if you would, or inside the church world, is they tend to think that, well, if this is what you do, this is all you can do, when nothing could be farther from the truth.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, that’s exactly correct. I spoke last month to a men’s group at the church I go to, and a motivational type speech and everything, and I had several people comment afterwards that they never saw that side of me or didn’t realize that side existed. And so it’s always nice to see that kind of positive smile on people’s face when they can see you beyond what they know about you.
SPEAKER 10 :
So here’s a question. This may be a little off topic, but, you know, you’re in that setting. Somebody says, you know, what do you do? And you could be funny or you could make a joke or you could do even I did and, you know, be sort of a roundabout answer. But, you know, is there an ability? I guess, Richard, what I’m asking is instead of just saying, you know, hey, I’m a talk show host or I’m a business owner, I’m this or I’m that. You know, what about adding something else to that that, you know, and I’m also a grandfather of nine.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I think so, and my description has evolved over time, and I think all of us should evolve our descriptions as we grow and have different capabilities. And so what I would answer right now if somebody asked me what do I do, I would say I influence future generations.
SPEAKER 10 :
Good answer.
SPEAKER 15 :
And I would hope that they would say, wow, what’s that mean? How do you do that? And then that would give me an opportunity to define different things that I hope helps me to influence future generations.
SPEAKER 10 :
Good one. Give us the Michael Adkins example.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, this, and he’s from the Denver area.
SPEAKER 10 :
I see that.
SPEAKER 15 :
Somebody I’d read about four or five years ago, and hopefully the story’s still positive, but here he was in African America, and he was a student at a school. Then he went to be a part-time custodian, full-time custodian, paraprofessional custodian, then he became an assistant principal, and then a principal. So he climbed the ladder from the very bottom to the top of a school, and his grandmother had always told him, don’t let other people write your story, write your own story. But between any racial obstacles and any obstacles of perception that maybe he could only be a custodian or some other position, for example, he did not allow those perceptions to stop him from growing and becoming more as a person and as a professional.
SPEAKER 10 :
In your notes here, how can we achieve more and avoid being pigeonholed? Of course, you’ve talked about it, be a lifelong learner, stretch yourself outside of those roles. One of the things on here, though, which I struggle with, because I don’t know why, but this is an area just personally, Richard, I struggle with, is inform others of your accomplishments, not to brag, but to enable them to see your potential. That’s an area, I’ll just be straight up honest, I don’t do well.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, and I don’t feel comfortable doing much of that either. But a lot of times, unless we tell somebody that we’ve done something in a factual way, they won’t know. And the same thing if you’re working in a corporation, for example, if they don’t know that you’ve led a Boy Scout group or a Girl Scout group or led a Little League team or the United Way or some other type of thing, If your employers and management don’t know that, then they can’t factor that in any career opportunities for you. So I think how we do it’s important and not just say, look at me, how good I am. It’s here’s an experience I have, which makes me, I hope, a better person to contribute everywhere I have the opportunity.
SPEAKER 10 :
One of the things that I think, and my own advice along those lines, is when you’re in these discussions, first things first, Richard, listen to what those around you are saying. In other words, don’t be the first one to come out and say these things, but let other people have the opportunity to share who they are, what they do, and so on. Eventually, it’s going to come around to you anyways, and you can share at that point. But what I’ve learned is by listening and being that person where you’re not trying to butt in and cut in and get your two cents in – more people are apt to listen at that point than when you’re the first one speaking.
SPEAKER 15 :
That’s absolutely true. And to add one more thing to your previous comment, there’s one accomplishment that I have that I’ve never in 40 years been the one to tell people about it. If they know about it, they know about it from other people saying something or from them reading about it. I’ve never discussed that one. So there are limits to things that I would do and Everyone has to kind of pick and choose how they do that.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, and again, by all means, Richard, I am not an expert in a lot of these areas, still learning as we go myself. That’s why we talk on a weekly basis as well. But I do think that people appreciate those that are around listening to even their story, and you earn some respect from them by doing so.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, absolutely. And that is one of the things that helps endear trust. And to me, trust is the coin of the realm, because without trust between two people, you can never advance a relationship. Without trust in a business relationship, you can never advance the business. And so listening and understanding and acknowledging and commenting about somebody’s story are all things that endear trust.
SPEAKER 10 :
I had a text message a moment ago, which this one I hadn’t thought about, but very true. When you grow up in a small town, you’re always who you were in high school. So if you were the star quarterback, guess what, Richard? In that small town, you always are.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, that’s exactly the case. I had to go back to my high school in October for an event. I hadn’t been in a long time. And I was talking to our star quarterback, and I kept getting elbowed by these women that would knock me over almost to go over there and give a hug to me all these years later, which was a perfect example of that.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep. And by the way, whoever texted that, thank you. I hadn’t really thought about that, but that’s very true. And by the way, that can even be true inside of our own families, Richard, where if you grow up and everybody thinks of you, in my case today especially, I was always the auto technician, auto mechanic, owned auto shops, which I don’t today. But yet, I think for a lot of folks inside of my own family, I still do.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, and see, that’s why it’s so important for them to know what you do now with the radio and things so they can see that broader context and how that’s communicated, I think. can be effective to do it versus coming across like you’re just bragging.
SPEAKER 10 :
Good point. Good point. All right. For those of you listening, Richard, how do they find you? How do they get a book? And I know it might sound early for a lot of you listening, but trust me, it’s not. Graduation, spring break, all of that, Richard. I know it sounds a long way away, but it will be here before you know it.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yes, it will. And thank you. So All 11 books I have are available on Amazon under Richard V. Battle, including Kindle and audio. At the website, richardbattle.com, everything’s available printed, and all books are signed. If someone wants an inscription to personalize a gift, email me, richard, at richardbattle.com. And we’re happy to do that, and we’re happy to converse or exchange with listeners as well. Anything we can do to be of help, we want to do.
SPEAKER 10 :
Richard, you’re always awesome. I appreciate it. I learned I had several comments, by the way, on what we’re talking about today and how informative it is. And thank you. I learn each week as well. So I appreciate you very much.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, it’s always my pleasure, and I’m learning with you. And we say God bless America as we do every week.
SPEAKER 10 :
God bless you, Richard. We appreciate you very much. All right, Roof Savers of Colorado coming up next. And, yes, Dave can help you with saving money on your insurance. I know that sounds to a lot of you like, wait a minute, how can a roofer save me money on my insurance? Ask him, and he’ll explain how. 303-710-6916.
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SPEAKER 06 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Okay, I know Monday. I had mentioned that be careful what you repost on social media because there’s a lot of things out there that, frankly, will turn out to not be true when it comes to the fires and so on, and be really careful making sure that we’re accurate, especially as conservatives, when we repost things. And I gave the example of the red-roofed house in the midst of the fire that supposedly a Christian man owned, and to caption something along the lines of, see what happens to Christians, basically. I’m paraphrasing, but… That was kind of the picture in the meme, and that went viral. It went out there. It’s false. It’s been proven to be false. It’s an AI-generated house. You can go onto Google or whatever and generate some of these images, and that’s where that particular image came from, so that is false. Now, there is a story out there, and this one’s true, of an architect that built a house, and his, for the most part, didn’t have a lot of damage. It didn’t burn to the ground. It’s still standing. And there’s a story about how that happened, what he designed the materials with, what he did with his home, what he did to prepare the home before he left, opening gates, doing all sorts of things along those lines to where he tried to do the best he could to make sure that fire would not affect his house. Now, that’s a true story. And that one’s out there. That one’s not getting quite the social media attention. response that of course the red roof house is is because it doesn’t quite fit what a lot of people would rather see with the red roof house there’s another one and i’ve seen this one more than once and i should have checked it earlier i apologize i should have even mentioned this on monday but i didn’t there’s another meme floating around about the blm founder losing two of her three homes in the fire Now, I did a little bit of checking. This one, nobody else has done any fact-checking on that I know of. But from the research that I’ve done, that one is most likely false. And here’s why. The three homes that she bought, one was out of state, out of California. One was in Englewood, California, and the other one is in South LA. Neither one of them in the area of the fires that just happened in California. So my gut feeling is, and she hasn’t commented on this yet, they’ve reached out and she hasn’t commented. And by the way, I’m not giving the BLM founder a pass because she used funds in a way that shouldn’t have been used to buy these homes in the first place. That’s a story in and of itself that I’ve talked about in the past. But I’m not going to spread false rumors about her losing those two homes. And, of course, there’s something along the lines in the caption of, you know, imagine this. You know, she lost her homes and blah, blah, blah. And, you know, I’m not reading it word for word. I don’t have it in front of me. Don’t care. Bottom line, it’s most likely not true. But yet those things get spread. And again, they get spread because it’s what people want, which I understand. But if it isn’t true and you spread it, how dumb do you look? And I’m sorry, but it makes us look dumb. And I’ve seen some people that I have a lot of respect for that have shared some of these things. There’s some other people that I have little to no respect for that I’ve also seen share these. But again, at the end of the day, don’t share things that you don’t know to be true just because you would like it to be. and in your heart you would like it to be, that doesn’t make it true, nor does it mean we should share and spread that particular item, that particular quote-unquote news. So, again, be really careful. I say it a lot, but I mean it because there’s nothing in my opinion—I don’t think I’m wrong in this— But there’s nothing more damaging to us as conservatives and as Christians than to spread things on your own social media page that are blatantly false that you didn’t bother to take the time to check out yourself. You went ahead and reposted anyways. It makes you look really stupid. I’ll just be straight up honest. So please, I say it a lot and I mean it, double check these things before you just click repost and add whatever your own comments are to it. Be really careful what you repost. because in a lot of cases you’re going to find that that particular item, that particular post, that particular meme may not be true. So I found the one about the BLM founder. Tragedy strikes twice for BLM founder Patrice Cullors as two of her three L.A. mansions are consumed by wildfires. So right off the top, you know that’s not a true statement because she didn’t have three in the first place. She had three, but not in L.A. But again, these are, and by the way, there’s a little caption here, by Robert Gibson for ABC News. Anybody can put these things in any time they want. You can make pictures, especially in today’s world, in regards to AI, you can make a picture look like it’s as real as real can be, even though it is 1,000% false. And again, I cannot stress enough that you have to be so diligent now. And with AI, it’s going to get worse. But you have to be extremely diligent to make sure that the things that you’re posting are true and accurate and factual. And here’s my advice. This is what I do. If I can’t prove it, don’t post it. That’s my motto. If I can’t prove that it’s true, I’m not posting it. Now, I get it. Some people just like the likes and the attention and so on, and so they’re going to post to make sure that they’re one step ahead of everybody else. But I would highly recommend and suggest that, A, you don’t do that. You really only post the things that you know are factual and true, and if they’re not, stay away from it. Because, again, at the end of the day, we want to be factual, we want to be true, and we want to make sure that the things that we post can be fact-checked. And I’m not talking fact-checked by, you know, the fact-checkers at Facebook, which should be going away. I’m talking about all of the other things that go on. I even heard on one of our other programs here, not gonna throw names out or anything along those lines, but there was a guest of one of our other programs that I just happened to be listening to the other day. And this person was talking about the water situation that Joe from Jersey called in Monday about, where there’s this couple that the internet claims own most of California’s water, literally. And this particular person on this show was reiterating that same story and what she did, and it’s a her, but what she did, in my opinion, is discredit herself from anything else she says. I’m sorry, but you do. If you’re not willing and able to go check some of these stories, to double check to see if they’re true, how can I believe anything else you’re saying? Because at this point, now all you become is a conspiracy theorist regurgitating what somebody else has told you. And how do I know you’re factual at all in anything you say? And by the way, this is a person that’s very well known. This is a national person that was on another program that I heard. And when this person said that, I’ll just be straight up honest, not that she had a lot of credibility with me in the first place, but she lost all when she did that. If you’re that lazy that you can’t go out and fact check some of these things on your own, which, as Joe said from Jersey on Monday, that one was a simple Google search. And within about 30 seconds, you’d have the answers you need to realize that that’s not true. But yet this person’s looking at a meme, looking at a story, whatever, repeating it without double checking first. They want it to be true. So they believe it to be true. They’re now going to respread that, in this particular case, going on the airwaves and even talking about it. Totally wrong. Shouldn’t happen that way. And I do my very best here to not do that, folks. In fact, sometimes you’ll not hear me talk about a topic for several days to make sure that I have all the understanding on it so that we’re not spreading anything around that’s just not true. That’s where I want to be when it comes to some of this. So we’ll be back in a moment. Sonny Kutcher will be joining us. Bruce Simmons is next. He is our reverse mortgage professor. And if you’ve ever had a question on the way a reverse mortgage works, all of the ins and outs and so on, don’t listen to the wise tales that are out there because there’s many. Talk to Bruce instead. 303-467-7821.
SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
We’ll be right back. Starting to save even a few years earlier could mean the difference of hundreds of thousands by the time you enter retirement, even if the same amount is contributed annually. The longer you wait, the more you miss out on the compounding effect of time, making it much harder to catch up. Let Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial help you today by contacting him on the klzradio.com advertisers page. 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 to individually licensed and appointed agents.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, Michael Bailey, he is our mobile estate planner. You heard Michael earlier, by the way. He’s got his own program between 2.30 and 3. Get your appointment with Michael today. Get your estate in order. He is mobile. He’ll come to you. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 13 :
A dirty little secret in estate planning is that you can do it yourself. But Michael Bailey will put it together for you faster, cheaper and much better. There are lots of self-help programs that will ask you questions to get a basic idea of your needs. But if you don’t understand the question or the why, you may answer incorrectly. Michael knows the right questions to ask for your specific situation. Put aside just 56 minutes for a session with Michael Bailey, the mobile estate planner. That’s all it takes to get a better, cheaper, and faster result that won’t leave your family guessing. 56 minutes. Find Michael at klzradio.com slash estate today. Back to Rush to Reason. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electric. Where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 10 :
And we are back, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Sunny Karcher joining us now. Sunny, welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER 09 :
I’m doing well. Thanks for having me, as always.
SPEAKER 10 :
Safe from the fires, I hope.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, this week it seems much better. Though you said the wind was, of course, you know, I… I believe the media is the enemy of the people. I know that they want us to be prepared, but they were really hyping up the week this week and the wind this week, excuse me. And I am not seeing any wind at all. So that’s actually a good thing. You know, the fires are still being contained, but I think they’re doing a really good job and just an absolute standing ovation for our fire department. I really looked into what their job really is like. last week and this week because you know I’ve been feeling so helpless you want to know okay what are they doing you know what is this process like and just kind of learning about how they deal with fires like this regardless of what happened and where it came from but they really do such an incredible job while risking their lives and sacrificing their lives and their families to protect the people. That is what our public servants should be doing. And we know that they’re not, but that’s another story.
SPEAKER 10 :
Agree, agree. No, and by the way, thank you for saying that, because I can’t disagree with anything you just said. All right, though, talk to us, though. And this is something I haven’t talked much about yet, and believe it or not, and you would think it’d be top of mind, but I just haven’t spent much time here. You being… Of your age, probably better at this than I anyways, talk to us about the TikTok ban.
SPEAKER 09 :
So the TikTok ban is coming. There was a law that came into place several months ago that TikTok or the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, had to either sell the app or face being banned. Okay. I personally don’t support the ban. I think this is, you know, a wolf in sheep’s clothing type of situation. It is exactly what we saw when, you know, they wanted to protect Americans with the Patriot Act and used a crisis to usher in more control, more access to citizens’ privacy and private information. Similarly to what we discussed with the FinCEN, BOI reporting with small businesses and I personally believe there are nefarious motives of those in our government who are using the fear of the CCP, which, of course, is a real thing.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 09 :
They’re using that to ban this app, which is widely used, also does put money into the economy. Let’s just take it there. It does.
SPEAKER 10 :
Really quick, two things, Sunny, really quick. It does, it puts money back in the economy. A lot of these creators are making money, which you know, and we could get into the explanation of that if some of you listening don’t understand that. But on top of that, Sunny, I know just from viewing a lot of things, there’s also a lot of not, you know, it’s not always good information. There’s some conspiracy stuff and so on that gets shoved out there and you got to do your own fact finding. But on the same token… There’s a lot of good information, self-help, all sorts of things that go on as well. In other words, it’s not all just, you know, 10-year-olds running around, sorry, 15-year-olds running around dancing.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely. And, of course, you know, TikTok does, you know, tailor the content that you see. However, yeah, I would agree. I think actually there has been a lot of topics discussed on TikTok such as the drones that have been seen in the sky that do continue to get banned on TikTok. In fact, there’s a whole, you know, funny thing about it. They started calling them Dior bags because they were trying to circumvent the shadow banning of those videos talking about drones and the things that they’re seeing in the sky because what if they’re coming from China, you know? Right. So I’m not saying that TikTok is, you know, is clear of what they’re doing here.
SPEAKER 10 :
But really quick, Sunny, that you could apply that to, you know, I agree with you, by the way, number one. But on the second hand, you could say that about Google. You could say that about Meta. I mean, you could go down the list of some of the other folks that are out there in that same space. None of them are innocent. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 09 :
Absolutely. They’re not innocent. Again, you know, this is just like what they’ve done with other laws, where they want to get more information. But now, see, the thing is that because TikTok is banned, people are flocking to this other Chinese-owned app called, well, it’s a Chinese name, but it actually translates to, get this, Little Red Book.
SPEAKER 10 :
Oh, jeez.
SPEAKER 09 :
Which is, ironically, or… The Americans are calling it red notes. I guess that’s the American translation, because they don’t want people to hear a little red book. For those people who don’t know what that is, or maybe you’ve heard of it and don’t know all the context around that, Mao Zedong, China’s brutal communist dictator, had his own little red book, which was a pocket-sized propaganda book. tool that brainwashed millions of young people into carrying out his violent cultural revolution, which left over 60 million people dead. Many people have these, even American communists, it was a thing back in the day of people would have this book on their wall or on their, you know, in their library or or in their family rooms or sitting rooms to show their loyalty to the CCP, a tiny communist party. So this tool is a propaganda tool, and this new app has even stricter censorship rules than TikTok does and actually warns their users outright. not to post anything, quote, politically sensitive. People are already talking about their videos that have been banned. Bethany Frankel is huge on TikTok. She’s like the queen of TikTok. And she’s been talking about her first video was taken down because she doesn’t even know why.
SPEAKER 10 :
Interesting. You know what? You’re teaching me something right now when it comes to the red note thing. I thank you because I knew nothing about this.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, yeah, and it’s definitely becoming, you know, TikTok is, of course, very popular among the younger generation, Gen Z and Alpha. But why are they, they can’t see the contradiction here where the whole controversy about TikTok was, you know, they’re stealing our information. Now they’re going directly to this new one without even knowing the, you know, irony of its name and engaging with this regime that is responsible for genocide. I thought they cared about that, right? Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
Do you think that TikTok will ultimately be banned, or do you feel like even if the ban takes place, do you feel like even within a few days you’ll see somebody like, I mean, there’s been all sorts of individuals like Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank himself talking about maybe figuring out a way to buy TikTok. Elon Musk has even talked about it. Do you feel like something like that will happen when it’s all said and done?
SPEAKER 09 :
Actually, I do. I think this was a bunch of hype to try to, who knows what the motives are on every side of this or every angle of this. But I also just heard that I think Trump is saying that President Trump is going to suspend the ban and try to work out a deal there, even though formerly he had supported the TikTok ban. So there’s a lot of interesting angles here, but I just feel like it’s a Trojan horse.
SPEAKER 10 :
I don’t know that I can disagree with you. In fact, it could very well have been a way for, given where we’re at at the 11th hour, for even those that own TikTok. And yes, some say it’s direct Chinese. There’s another individual involved and so on. But it could also be, Sonny, a way to pump up the price so that at the end of the day, they end up getting more money out of it now than they would have, say, six months ago.
SPEAKER 09 :
Precisely. You know, it’s interesting. I’m reading an article here, ironically, from the ACLU, which doesn’t support the TikTok ban. And they’re bringing up a really interesting precedent that happened in 1965, which was that the court struck down a law Oh, so let me start here. So courts have long held that the government cannot keep Americans from accessing foreign propaganda. Of course, they’re going to be supporting that. In 1965, the court struck down a law that required the postmaster general to detain, quote, communist political propaganda agents. which could be delivered to recipients only after they specifically requested it from the U.S. Post Office. So here you go. We’re trying to protect you, but you have to let us know if you want to see communist propaganda. Sounds like they’re putting your name on a list to know that you’re a communist, right? It is just so frustrating, right? And this goes to my point that I really wanted to hammer home here, especially in light of the nomination hearings that started this week. We must hold our public servants accountable. I’ve been starting to use that phrase, public servants. That’s what they are. They work for us and we need to hold them accountable. If they are bad at their job, they should be fired, period.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely. No, I like that. I think that’s exactly what we need to be doing. And part of the problem with the whole TikTok thing, and I said this back when all this was going on, and I will continue to hammer this. We have a bunch of politicians. Some, Sonny, have been there five decades, and I’m not exaggerating. that are now going to make rules, laws on things that, quite frankly, Sonny, they have no clue how some of this technology and how that end of things work. And I’m not exaggerating. I’m guessing if some of them didn’t have AIDS, they may not even know how to access e-mail correctly and or even get it on their phone in the first place. And I am not wrong in what I’m saying there. So we’ve got a bunch of literally – technologically illiterate individuals on Capitol Hill making policy and law about technology that, frankly, they shouldn’t be doing in the first place?
SPEAKER 09 :
Couldn’t agree more. If they really want to protect us from China, why don’t we figure out what the heck is going on with the spy balloons and the drones that are flying around all of our coasts? And aren’t the protect us from China that has already come out and said that they’ll see a video of thousands of robots and drones walking around.
SPEAKER 10 :
The corporate espionage, to your point, Sunny, just crack down on a lot of the corporate spying, espionage, stealing that’s gone on for now decades upon decades. I mean, there’s so many other things, frankly, that we could be worrying about rather than this. And the reality is, and I’ve said this numerous times, You know, if China wants to spy on us, they’re going to anyways. And now I also want to say that, you know, do I think we should just hand it to him on a silver platter? Of course not. And this is where we need technologically skilled people making laws around this so that there’s ways to monitor. and handle and make sure that, you know, for example, right now, all the TikTok data is stored by Oracle in Texas on their servers there. Okay, fine. Let’s make sure we have enough smart people around to double check and assure that those things are happening. And by the way, there’s a way to do that. And if that’s being done, then let TikTok move forward.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right. And again, this is just all in the name of protecting the people. You know, I wonder where they, you know, it was our justice system that targeted our own people.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right.
SPEAKER 09 :
You know, for being extremist because they went to a school board meeting, but they can’t figure out how to protect us from a giant adversary like China.
SPEAKER 10 :
We have an ex-president who’s now going to be the current president that they targeted, and lots of other people, by the way, that were around him, and to your point, parents that went to school board meetings, and by the way, others that had their Second Amendment rights violated because of ATF search and seizures in the middle of the night that shouldn’t have happened at all. I mean, I can go down the list, Sonny, of all the different things that have happened along those lines, and we’re worried about TikTok?
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s a distraction. And they truly, I think, you know, it’ll be interesting to see if it does go dark for some time because, you know, I read something about the fires taking out, you know, all of these high-profile celebrity homes and someone saying, you know, they’re taking away the bread and let the circus happen, right? So it’s just really interesting because I think people are really waking up to the contradictions and the hypocrisy that we are seeing. And hopefully… you know, President Trump will be able to expose the truth and let the people see some of these things that we’ve been asking questions about for some time now.
SPEAKER 10 :
Can’t disagree with that at all. All right, Young Americans Against Socialism, you guys are out there trying to teach young people, especially a lot of the things that we’re talking about right now. Frankly, for all of you listening as well, believe it or not, TikTok and a lot of the, not a lot, but there have been some content creators on TikTok that, frankly, Sunny, have done a really good job of what we’re even talking about, surprisingly enough. But at the end of the day, Young Americans Against Socialism, you guys are doing a great job in teaching young people about the very things we talk about each week. How do folks find you and support you?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, we’re really passionate about this mission because it is so important to recognize and understand these red flags of socialism and communism, propaganda, the tactics that the radical left uses. and how it was all rooted in deception and lies. And so you can go to our website, yaas.org, Y-A-A-S.org, and check out our resources there. We have a guide coming out, a learning guide coming out this week about the inauguration day, all about the history, the traditions, and what it really means to be an American and why this ceremony is so important. So we’re really excited to share more resources like this, teaching kids about what the American dream means, how important American values are, and how to recognize and challenge anybody who is supporting radical ideology. And you can check out our Instagram as well for more everyday content on current issues and topics like the ones we discussed today, Yas underscore America.
SPEAKER 10 :
Awesome. As always, Sunny, I appreciate it very much. Stay safe, and we will talk again next week.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thanks so much. You bet.
SPEAKER 10 :
Have a great night. Again, Sunny Kutcher, and she is with Young Americans Against Socialism. Hi-Fi Plumbing and Electrical is next. Again, big storm coming in this weekend. Make sure that you’ve got everything handled. And frankly, if you’re just even looking for some tips and tricks, maybe you’ve got a particular situation where you know you can’t get them out in time, but you’d still like to know, hey, how would I handle such and such? Give them a call. 877-WE-HIGH-5, and I guarantee you they’ll be happy to walk you through whatever that might be. So again, 877-WE-HIGH-5.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
This is Real Relatable Radio. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. And for those of you hopefully looking outside, we continue to get more daylight each and every day, which I am thankful for because typically by this time of night, it’s already dark. And I mean like super dark. So every day we just keep adding to, which I am extremely thankful for. So… I did not get a chance to watch, and maybe some of you did. I saw little excerpts here and there of some takeaways, I guess I should say, of some of the confirmation hearings. And I even had somebody texting me back and forth on Pete Hegseth’s hearings and how well did I think he was doing and so on. And keep in mind, there will be a big difference between somebody like Pete versus a Pam Bondi. Pam’s a politician. She’s been around some of this stuff before. She’s very eloquent, easy on the eye, of course, and just does very well in front of the camera. She, of course, is always going to do better debating, especially right now in her career. She’s going to be doing a much better job debating those attacks that are coming her way from knucklehead senators on the other side of the aisle. Pete, on the other hand, he needs a little bit of work on some of it. Even though he’s been in TV and he does very well in front of the camera, there’s a difference between being in front of the camera and debating in front of the camera. And in a lot of ways, that’s what he’s doing right now. Now, some of you say, well, it’s not really a debate. He just has to answer questions. The way some of these things are coming at him and the way they’re attacking, it’s a debate. Wouldn’t you agree, Charlie? It’s a debate. Yeah, they’re trying to – thank you, Charlie. Thank you. They’re trying to trick you into certain things at certain times. And I’m not saying he’s doing a bad job, by the way, because I don’t think he is. What I’m saying is there’s a big difference between somebody that’s seasoned at this versus somebody that is not. And even though, again, and a lot of people, I think, thought Pete would just kind of run through this because of his background in television, it’s not the same. And he’s learning that right now. And he’ll be fine. And I do think he’ll get confirmed when it’s all said and done. And a lot of the attacks that have come his way, he’s done a really good job of defending, if you would, or coming back at. But there are times where I wish he was a little bit more pointed in getting right back at some of these senators. And he’s not. But again, this isn’t his wheelhouse. It’s not what he’s used to be doing. He hasn’t even sat in this chair, for example. I’m not saying that I know more about it than he does, but I’m more prone to be in that position to handle it than he is because of what I do each day. And that’s not to brag. It’s just what you’re used to. Is that a good way to say that, Charlie? It’s what you’re comfortable with, what you’re familiar with. It would be like… Tucker Carlson being in his position, going through confirmation and answering senators’ questions versus him. Is that a good way to say that, Charlie? Tucker does this stuff for a living. He’s going back and forth and debating a lot of these people on an ongoing basis. Pete doesn’t. So it’s sort of refinement under fire with Pete, and he will get better at this. Trust me, I do think he’ll get confirmed. And do I think he’s a good pick? Actually, yes, I think he’s a good pick. Would he have been my first pick? Probably not. But now that he’s in it, will he do fine when it’s all said and done? Absolutely. One of the things that they kept trying to catch him on was he has said in the past that once you’re in the military, you end up being a general and you retire, you should not be allowed to go right away and work for one of the defense contractors that are out there, which I agree. So they asked him the same question. Well, you’ll be head of defense. Are you going to make the same pledge? He’s like, I’m not a general. Now, I would have deferred and probably said that a little bit differently, but again, this is Pete. He’s not used to this. He’s getting a lot of these things thrown at him, and you have no idea what these questions are going to be on the front side. You’re just answering them on the fly. All in all, I think he’s done a pretty good job, to be honest with you. So we’ll be back in just a moment. Don’t forget when it comes to insurance. I know we talk a lot about that with everything going on in California. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is to be properly insured. My good friend Paul Leuenberger would love to help you with that. 303-662-0789 is how you find him.
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
All right, we are back. And yeah, Charlie just said in my ear during the break, it’s that old, you know, catch 22 question, you know, the gotcha question. Tell me when you stop beating your wife. That’s the kind of stuff they’re throwing at Pete to where, you know, no matter what he does, it’s not the right answer. And I think the American public, Charlie agrees, will see through some of that and realize that you guys are just a bunch of knuckleheads. And by the way. A lot of them are. You’ve heard me talk about that when it comes to politicians on a routine basis. Got another full hour coming your way. Don’t go anywhere. Hour three is next. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
