Join John Rush and Dr. Josh McConkie as they delve into the complexities of social media’s impact on youth. With a focus on Australia’s recent social media ban, they explore the challenges and opportunities for parents in guiding their children through the digital landscape. Dr. McConkie shares practical advice for setting age restrictions, time limits, and maintaining communication with children to ensure their safety online. In the second half of the episode, John addresses the growing issue of anti-Semitism and the political dynamics surrounding it. The conversation expands to include historical perspectives and expert insights into Islam, bringing clarity
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This is Rush to Reason.
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With your host, John Rush.
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It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, we are back. Hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Dr. Josh McConkie joining us now. Dr. McConkie, welcome back. How are you today?
SPEAKER 08 :
Hello. I’m joining you tonight from the Vice President’s residence.
SPEAKER 18 :
Oh, wow. Nice. Thank you. I appreciate you telling us that and hope you have a nice time while you’re there. Yeah, thank you. That is awesome. Okay, talk to us about it again. Big news. I talked about this in the last hour, the shooting, of course, that happened down in Australia, the racist act that was there literally. I don’t know what else to call it, Dr. McConkie, literally a racist act that happened. But Australia has also been in the news because of their teen social media ban as well. Talk to us about that.
SPEAKER 08 :
So, yeah, boy, lots going on in Australia. I worked down there. I’m a board-certified emergency physician in Australia as well. And so social media has had a very negative impact on a lot of youth and their development. As an emergency doctor, I see all that anxiety, the depression, and unfortunately the suicides. And the studies have really shown that 95% of children 15 years of age and younger have at least one social media account. And 70% of those have had some dangerous interactions, harmful content exposure, and one out of seven actually gets actively groomed online or has encountered that. So this social media ban, I certainly agree. I think that should be probably more of a parent’s decision. I’m not big into federal government banning things like that, but they’ve taken that extreme in Australia. Yeah.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, you know, by the way, I’m exactly like you. And I’ve even said this publicly before that, you know, while I appreciate in this particular case, you know, these things being brought attention to and making more people aware, parents and so on. I’m not a band person. kind of a individual, Dr. McConkie. I just feel like those are decisions that should be made individually and discipline needs to be a part of this. And this is where, you know, parents and kids get together. And the reason why I say that, Dr. McConkie, is it’s why I I, growing up with all of my kids, or when I was raising my kids and they were all growing up, and granted the Internet isn’t what it was today, but I never put filters or firewalls or bands like that on the Internet coming into my house because I knew my kids would eventually go to the real world and there wouldn’t be any of that out there. So my thought process was I need to teach them when they’re younger how to use these things properly where they’re not a bad habit in the first place. Then when they go out into the real world, it won’t be there either because they’ll already have handled that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. And those, those opportunities to educate and teach and coach your kids on safe use for social media. I’ve got three very easy tips that I’ve talked a lot about on TV and podcasts, but you know, the first is having some of those age restrictions they’ve shown. It’s crystal clear that social media below the ages of 16 does increase risks of anxiety and suicide. I mean, you might as well be handing your kid a loaded gun when it really comes down to it. So you gotta have those age restrictions and, And then if you do allow them access, you have to have time limits. So for my children, they don’t have social media, but they don’t get their cell phones or their iPhones until 430 on Saturday for a two-hour window. And I tell you, they are just salivating, waiting for that clock to go off at 430. And the third and the most critical, this is where parents really fill that role and educate and supervise. I call them drive-by audits. So you just kind of swing by, ask them questions. What are you looking at? You may not care in the slightest. Just act like you’re interested and just let them know that you’re watching, you’re asking questions, and they know you’re giving them that supervision. So it kind of hopefully keeps them out of going someplace they shouldn’t be.
SPEAKER 18 :
In other words, that other additional layer of that drive-by really is an additional layer of accountability whereby they know, oh, mom and dad are going to be checking up on me.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, so the aspect of the, how should I say this, Dr. McConkie, make sure I ask this correctly, for parents that are out there listening, the negative aspect of all of this, because, you know, there’s some good aspects, like anything, it’s a tool, there can be good, there can be bad, how it’s used or the amount of time that it’s used has a lot to do with this. What are some of those negatives? You mentioned that kind of opening things up, but for the parents that are out there listening or even grandparents that might be very involved in the raising of their grandkids. I mean, what are some of these things and what are some behavioral things we should be looking out for that say, wait a minute, maybe my child is on this or they’re too ingrained because I’m seeing these sorts of signs?
SPEAKER 08 :
Boy, we had a summer last summer where there was so much time on their iPads. It was my wife and I, we were busy. We’ve got lots going on. I’m working. I’ve got military duty. And, and, you know, we weren’t really wanting that as closely. And you could see, as you start to pull that away, when you try to shut that off and they just absolutely go ballistic and act like the world is ending, it’s probably time to detox. They’ve had too much time and too much exposure when they can’t turn it off. Gotcha. They’re fighting you tooth and nail. I mean, it’s, They’re too into it. They’re too addicted. You’ve got to learn to detox.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay. So that response, or in this case reaction, because response is positive, reaction is negative. So their reaction to having things pulled away in and of itself is a telltale sign.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, but they just can’t let go, and they can’t separate that. When they get super angry, if they’re not tied to their phone or that iPad, it’s probably letting you know they’ve got too much going on there.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay. What if, and again, being a parent, going back in time to kind of realize how different things happen in kids’ lives, especially as they start to grow and get older. You know, they start interacting with even sometimes those from the opposite sex and so on. I would venture to guess, Dr. McConkie, when you see a, you know, quote unquote down day whereby there’s nothing else has gone on. They didn’t get a bad grade. There’s not a big test coming up. You know, the stress level shouldn’t be there. But yet all of a sudden you see a down day. I would have to believe that that’s where you got to start more out. You got to start asking more questions as to, hey, you know, you know, you know, Susie, you know, you’re not yourself today. What’s going on?
SPEAKER 08 :
And that’s where you’re stepping up as a parent. That’s your active role, being involved with your kids, doing those drive-by audits. It doesn’t have to be just about social media. You’re just checking in. Hey, how are you doing? How was school today? If you know they’re dating somebody, ask them about them. We had a breakup in our household this last week, and it’s been a little bit traumatic. Sure. You know, just being there for your children. That’s part of being a parent. That’s being the weight behind their spear. That’s the best resource that we have in our country. Teachers, coaches, families, volunteers, that family component is critical. Good point.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right. Going back to Australia and the ban there. Number one, it’s just started, so we really don’t know the impacts of. But do you see, you know, let’s say, for example, Australia has some success in this particular area. And again, only time will tell. But do you see other, you know, nations, other even, you know, regions, whatever, following suit if they have some success here?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I know the UK in particular and a lot of Europe is watching very, very closely. I mean, they’ve been very active. I’ve read some articles in BBC. You know, they’ve done a lot of restrictions on their social media in general where the UK is throwing citizens in jail for posts on Twitter and Instagram. So they’re watching this very closely. I think the big question is, how do you really police this? How are you monitoring this? Because I’ve already seen the interviews of children in Australia, but they’re going to VPNs, virtual private networks, so they can’t be tracked. It’s just like you’re going to one of the liquor store or one of the beer websites. What’s your age? They’re just going to put an age over 16. So how are they really going to police this? And it came down to the social media, the sites themselves with Meta, Facebook, X. They levied fines upwards of $50 million Australian dollars, which is about $32 to $33 million U.S. But how are you policing it? That’s the whole question.
SPEAKER 18 :
So bottom line, stay involved. Make sure you know what your kids are doing. When it comes to what nations do, to your point, Dr. Josh, there’s always a way for folk and even these kids to get around that. So that’s another area where you better be policing what’s going on because, you know, I know this from the technology side, Dr. McConkie, just because something gets banned doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t still find what you need. Exactly. You know, those rules are always made to be broken, and that parental role is critical. Absolutely. How do folks find you? I know you’ve got your book as well. How do folks find you, Dr. McConkie?
SPEAKER 08 :
If you go to weightbehindthespear.com, W-E-I-G-H-T, weightbehindthespear.com. On Instagram, it’s JoshMcConkieMD, and X, it’s McConkie007.
SPEAKER 18 :
Awesome. I appreciate it. Have fun, by the way, at the VP residence. Say hi to all of the J.D. Vance family for us, if you would, on behalf of Rush to Reason, and we appreciate all that you do. I really mean that. Yes, sir. Thank you. You’re very welcome. Have a great evening. And up next, we have Veteran Windows and Doors. Save money when it comes to windows and doors in your household, by the way. And you do that by going direct to the source, and that’s what Veteran Windows and Doors does. Find them today at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 05 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive, this is John Rush.
SPEAKER 18 :
And we’re back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Jerry and Greeley, you are next.
SPEAKER 11 :
John, your discussion about anti-Semitism made me think about one of my favorite Jews, the great Dennis Prager.
SPEAKER 18 :
Good point.
SPEAKER 11 :
And about 12 years ago, he wrote a wonderful book called Still the Best Hope about America being the world’s best hope as far as providing an example of how a culture can succeed. And the basic theme was that there are two competing ideologies that would love to destroy America because America is holding them back from conquering the world, and that’s communism and Islam. And I’m no expert here, but the way I grasp it is, there’s a big difference between Muslims and Islam. Muslims used to be called Mohammedans, worshiped according to the Quran and the Hadith, a whole bunch of literature in their history, whereas Islam is actually a political structure.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right, that’s a political ideology, exactly, 100%, Jerry.
SPEAKER 11 :
And their goal is to conquer the world eventually. And You know, most Americans, I don’t believe, understand that, that if you really dig deep into their history and their roots and what the real hardcore Islamists are commanded to do, you know, they’re commanded to conquer the world is what it boils down to.
SPEAKER 18 :
By the way, quite opposite of what the Jews believe.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER 18 :
It’s a direct dichotomy, by the way, one versus the other.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, right. Jewish people aren’t trying to cram their beliefs down anybody’s throats. There’s a fellow named Raymond Ibrahim. He’s a Coptic Christian. He was born in America. His family’s from Egypt. But he’s quite the scholar, and he does a great job of trying to explain this and the history of Islam. People can find all sorts of his stuff on YouTube. He’s written a bunch of books. But he’s very eloquent, and he’s got a really good YouTube video called Why Islam and the West Can’t Coexist, and I just recommend it.
SPEAKER 18 :
And really quick, Joe, I’ve got to stop for just one second, because you brought up some things earlier on that even Joe and I earlier hadn’t mentioned. Just PragerU, you know, Dennis Prager and PragerU in general, if you look at the amount of resources and things that they put out on an ongoing basis that really talk about our – you know, Constitutional Republic, what we do as a nation, the things that we do on an ongoing, you know, the conservative movement and what we do on an ongoing basis, Jerry, you know, to counter what somebody said earlier, you know, what do they bring to the table? You brought up another great example in Dennis Prager and PragerU.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, Dennis is a national treasure, and PragerU is priceless as far as I’m concerned. It’s magnificent. But, you know, I’m not well-spoken enough to explain these concepts, but I would just really recommend anybody who wants to look into it more, check out Raymond Ibrahim. And are you familiar with the Politically Incorrect Guide series of books, John?
SPEAKER 18 :
I am.
SPEAKER 11 :
Okay, so one of them that’s on this topic, the Politically Incorrect Guide to Jihad, I think that’s worth reading. Mm-hmm. And are you familiar with William Federer?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yes, I am. Yes, very much so. I’ve actually interviewed him before here.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, I missed that. Boy, he’s great.
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s been a while back, Jerry. That’s been numerous years ago. But yes, very much so.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, he’s got a book titled What Every American Needs to Know About the Quran.
SPEAKER 17 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 11 :
A History of Islam in the United States. And that’s worthwhile, too, I think. But… I don’t think – I think very few people understand that that is a goal of Islam, is basically to dominate humanity, and it’s by no means a live-and-let-live religion.
SPEAKER 18 :
No, and Jerry, to your point, they – you know, the belief system there, for everybody that doesn’t understand, really, the Jews are first, but you and I, Jerry, are second. That’s kind of their hierarchy of people to eliminate. Jew first, you and I second.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right, right, that saying, Saturday people first, Sunday people next.
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s right, yeah, we are on the list, and what folks don’t understand is the Jews are at the top of the list, but we’re right under that.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 11 :
I just thought I’d throw that out there.
SPEAKER 18 :
Great reminder, Jerry. I should have mentioned that even in the 3 o’clock hour when I was talking about those things. So thank you for the reminder. I appreciate it greatly. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Jerry. I appreciate it. And really quick, before I go to break here at the bottom of the hour, bring my son on. We’ll change things up, talk about sports and some fun stuff here as we kind of close things out for this particular hour. But by and large, by and large, I’ve only had just a couple of negative text messages in response to what I talked about in hour one, and I did get, you know, some of you are very kind in your, how should I say this, in your admiration for what we do here, we keep bringing to the table, and folks, believe me, It’s because of you that we keep doing this, and I mean that sincerely. I don’t do this for my health or for me. I do this because of all of you, and I mean that sincerely. We do our very best. I do my very best to bring the truth daily to all of you that are listening. And the reality is, and as I said earlier in the 3 o’clock hour, I owe an apology for not nipping in the bud some of this anti-Israel Jewish hatred that just continues to exude itself inside of our party. I’ve talked about that on the roundtable. I’ll do it more so in the months ahead. But the reality is our party right now has a problem. And it’s the Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson’s of our party that are creating it. And literally, they’re creating a divide in our party that if we are not careful, if we don’t extinguish that quickly, it’s going to be the death of the party. I don’t know how else to say it, folks. If we don’t handle the Candace Owens, the Tucker Carlson’s, the Marty’s, if you would, of our party, our party’s doomed. We’re done. We’ll never succeed at anything. And frankly, two reasons why. One, you know, a nation divided can’t stand, which in this case, a political party divided can’t stand. But moreover than that, the Lord himself won’t bless us if we continue to go down the path that Marty and others would like us to take. I’ll just be straight up honest. And what’s ironic is the Martys of the world and the Tucker Carlsons of the world and the Candace Owens of the world think they’re doing the Lord’s work in what they’re doing, but man, lie, folks, they are so misguided. So misguided. They have no idea what the Lord’s work even is. And I’m being 100% honest. So those individuals are very, very, very misguided in their belief system, thinking that they’re somehow doing the Lord’s work by doing what they’re doing, but nothing could be farther from the truth. And I look at the Candaces and the Tuckers of the world, and Tucker, you know, I’m not going to say I give the guy a pass. He’s a young Christian. and unfortunately has been blinded and or misguided by some folks that he’s probably gotten close to, and maybe someday he’ll wake up to that. Don’t know. Don’t know the man individually. Not a fan of his at all, as you can tell. And I go back and I’ve said this before. Maybe Fox News, the network, knew something about Tucker. The rest of us didn’t and why he’s no longer there. I’m not giving Fox News, you know, I’m not giving them an attaboy and telling them, you know, saying they’re better than anybody else. But maybe they had some inside knowledge that nobody else had when it came to Tucker. And maybe that’s why Tucker is no longer there. Golden Eagle Financial coming up next. Al Smith, he wants to help you with your financial future. Don’t forget about his own program that he has right here on KLZ from 2 to 2.30 on Wednesdays. But if you need help financially speaking, give Al a call today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 17 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive, this is John Rush.
SPEAKER 18 :
And we are back, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. We’ll get my son Richard on here in a moment. Sometimes he gets tied up on the phone and it takes a little bit to get him on and get going, but we’ll get him on here in a minute, get an update of sports over the weekend. Several more of you, by the way, texting in, though, before I bring Richard on, texting in just about the events of the weekend and different things that happened in not only Australia but here at home and so on. Thank you, by the way. I appreciate all of the kind words that a lot of you have sent in on the text line, and all but, you know, really one other, and I haven’t banned anybody else on the text line, just Marty so far today, although somebody else is getting very, very, very close to being so, because as I said earlier, and I’m going to stick to this, I don’t have to put up with you. If you for some odd reason are a Jew-hating, you know, Israel-hating individual, you’re probably listening to the wrong station. and to the wrong show, for that matter. And I mean what I’m saying there. Again, I’m not trying to be rude or anything along those lines, but at the end of the day, I don’t have to put up with that. And frankly, I’m not going to. So at the end of the day, if you are one of those individuals, you probably need to find a different program to listen to and support. All right, Richard joining us now. All right, give us an update of the weekend in sports. Lots to cover. We’ll get as much in as we can.
SPEAKER 09 :
While it’s a cover, Dad, it seems to be the continuous theme for us here of kind of covering, I guess, good news for Denver sports, right? You know, the Nuggets sort of had a four-game winning streak. They played a night. The Avalanche continued to win on home ice. They still only have two regulation losses the entire year. But obviously the big story of this weekend and yesterday was the Broncos beating a really good Packers team. I know Andy’s going to disagree with me there, but, you know, we can hash that out later this week. But a really good Packers team, and they did it in convincing fashion, Dad. You had the defense played really well. I know some people are going to say, well, the Packers still got 24 points. And yeah, they did, Dad, but ultimately it was still a 26, whatever it is. They played when they needed to. They played well when they needed to. They sort of hardened up, right? They didn’t let them into the end zone after a couple short fields that the Broncos gave them. At the end of the game, they had some fourth down stops. Yeah, they got them to fourth down even after the Broncos failed to get them to fourth down. And then Bo Nix, Dad, in the offense, I mean, I don’t know if it was a perfect game for them because I think that they probably could have converted a couple of those fourth downs to really ice the game away and gotten the two-point conversion and some other things. But ultimately, it was, I think, one of the most complete games of the season and one in which I feel like, as a Bronco fan, you can feel really happy with because ultimately they got into a scenario or they put themselves into a scenario in which they control their own destiny. They essentially win two of your next three games Doesn’t matter which two. Just win two of your next three games, and you are guaranteed the one seed throughout the AFC playoffs, right? Throughout the AFC side, which gives you potentially two home games, right? It would give you a home game in the divisional round. not to mention that against the lowest seeded team, right? And that’s another big thing to factor in, right? When you could have a team, you know, kind of some of the teams that could potentially, you know, make it in. I think it’s a really important thing for the Broncos to, I guess, kind of get the best possible matchup and not to mention that you get that matchup at home. And right now, that seventh team would potentially be the Texans. So, yes, did you struggle with them earlier in the year? Yes. Are they playing at home? Yes. But they also have to play the Patriots. So you could get a situation in which maybe you play, you know, the Bills. Every team, Dad, I would say this. Every team inside the AFC this year, I think inside the NFL, is beatable. That’s even for the Broncos. I think the Broncos are beatable. But, again, if you can as Broncos – There’s not been many times, and yes, there has been a few times I was at one of those games where a team has come in in the playoffs and beat the Broncos at home. But we really hold a pretty great home field advantage. That’s not only because of the fans, but obviously because of our altitude, potentially because of the weather. And just the way that the team is made up this year, Dad, it just feels like they sort of answer the bell every game they play. And right, wrong, or otherwise, and we’ve talked about it a few times, they tend to play to their competition. And what I would say to that is that kind of bodes well for us in the playoffs. You know what I mean? That is something that we can probably run with and make. Because again, the competition in the playoffs should be the highest that you see all year. So that may not be a bad thing for the Broncos ultimately.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right. One other thing that happened, which I thought was interesting, and I didn’t know much about it yesterday during the day until reading about it this morning, but Philip Rivers, who, I’ll just be straight up honest, never really cared for the guy who was at the Chargers forever, always thought he was a loud mouth. But I will tell you what, after this weekend, Richard, I have a new level of respect for somebody I really didn’t care for before.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I guess I’m with you. I mean, I’m with you.
SPEAKER 18 :
Just the fact that he’s an old guy, decides to come back out, he’s 44 years old. I mean, guy doesn’t have to, but he thought, you know, I’ll come help a friend, I guess you could say at the end of the day. I mean, got to respect the guy for doing that, Richard, because at 44, that’s an easy thing to do.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, there’s lots of things at play here, Dad, right? Which is… there’s a young quarterback problem in the NFL. It’s no offense. It’s Phillip Rivers being able to come in after five years on the couch. Now I know he’s coaching high school football. That dude’s been on the couch for five years, right? Like he has not been in an NFL locker room. And I know that he’s still in decent shape, but you know, there’s the clip going around. I’m sure you saw of, you know, the reporter asked him, you know, what play, how much do you weigh? He goes like right now, he goes, I have no idea. You know, everyone’s kind of laughing. And it is, it’s funny because he, Guys probably have no idea how much he weighs right now. Nor does he care. Nor do most 44-year-old dudes that are playing. And like you say, it doesn’t really matter. I mean, the honest answer is he actually looks halfway decent. Obviously, I didn’t watch hardly any of the games. I saw the highlights just because – or the only reason I saw the highlights was because that was what was available as the Broncos were playing. But outside of that, it’s definitely something that I’m like, man, this guy, he is – Again, I don’t necessarily like him. I don’t necessarily – I should say this. I didn’t like him when he was with the Chargers. I have a little bit more of a respect for him now. But like you say, you’ve got to give credit to a guy for coming off the couch and being able to complete an NFL game.
SPEAKER 18 :
And actually, didn’t he throw a touchdown pass as well?
SPEAKER 09 :
I guess he did throw a touchdown pass. You are correct.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, and he threw a touchdown pass. I mean, again, so the headline in Wall Street Journal was Grandpa Quarterback Buses Back to NFL Shocking the Youngsters.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, and you know what? They’re not too wrong. He was. Grandpa quarterback did it. I mean, again, like I said, I think it more speaks to, though, the issue that we have in the NFL with a quarterback problem because you really do. You have a guy who’s coming in off the NFL who’s 44 years old.
SPEAKER 18 :
It hasn’t played a game in 1,800 days.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, it’s been a while. I mean, you know what? To his credit, well, I guess it wasn’t his credit. You know, he didn’t obviously have a great statistical game. I don’t know if anyone expected him to. I don’t think anybody did.
SPEAKER 18 :
I mean, the guy’s 44 years old, and he leaned heavily upon, of course, you know, their offensive line and so on, and you’ve got to give those guys all the credit. And some of his passes I was reading, and I didn’t watch all of them, but some of them were kind of lame ducks and missed their mark and so on. But, again, the guy’s 44 years old.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, well, and at what point, to your point, at what point do you sort of chalk it up as, you know, we’re going to give this guy a pass, right? Did that pass look the prettiest? No. And honestly, he’s never had a pretty motion.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, he’s never been a, you know, Peyton Manning, I guess you could say, Richard, when it comes to his passes. You know, at the end of the day, he’s never been a quote-unquote pretty quarterback. But he always, you know, unfortunately, he beat us too many times.
SPEAKER 09 :
You know, way too many times, right? As Bronco fans, we’re all too familiar with Phillip Rivers. Probably why I don’t like the guy. Again, that’s what I’m saying. I sort of have to take it out of it a little bit. You know what I mean? I have to sort of adjust my level of expectations for this guy because, yeah, he really played well and admirably. I’ll give him that. But at the same time, Dad, the Colts, and it’s unfortunate for them because I think they had a promising season. If Daniel Jones, granted, I think he’s going to come back to earth, hadn’t gotten hurt, but you’ve got some really tough games upcoming. They have several divisional games that they still have to play. And it could be rough for them, to be honest with you. But I guess credit where credit’s due. He came off, he was admirable. I don’t know if it continues, and we’ll see what happens. But I guess kudos to Phillip Rivers. That’s painful. As that is to say that, because we like we loved it. Right. Or we love to hate him. when he was on the other sidelines.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right, right. And now that he’s not, I mean, again, I’m going to have newfound respect for the guy, I guess. On top of that, don’t forget, folks, that he’s a hardcore Catholic, has raised 10 kids. I mean, that alone, Richard, I’ll also give the guy some credit where credit’s due. I mean, he’s definitely a family man and has done a lot in that particular area. He’s now going out, again, to help some of his buddies on the Colts, and he coaches a high school team as well. So, I mean, again, at the end of the day, you can’t really criticize the guy for doing what he’s done.
SPEAKER 09 :
No, and like you say, on that side of things, he’s kind of like Harbaugh, right? You’re really a strong man of his faith. The guy doesn’t swear out there. He says dadgummit all the time. He’s not doing a lot of this stuff. Other guys are doing things, especially with the University of Michigan scandal that happened last week. You’ve got that kind of stuff going on. And at the same time, you’ve got You know, like you said, Phillip Rivers, who is a grandpa, literally, right? His oldest kid is having kids, and he’s older than a lot of the coaches. I mean, again, it’s a cool story. Unfortunately for the Colts, I think it’s just going to be a story. But, you know, again, stranger things have happened, Dad, so I’ll give you that. But it was interesting to me, too, Dad, and a lot of – or I know we mentioned this, so you probably were going to bring it up. I was hesitant to say this last week, but I feel confident this week, and I can because they’re mathematically eliminated – And this is all due respect to Patrick Mahomes, but ding-dong, the witch is dead.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 09 :
And it feels so good to say that. And I know, yes, Chiefs fans, I know they’re listening to that, and they are going to come at you, and that’s okay. I feel for Mahomes.
SPEAKER 18 :
I do, too. You don’t want to celebrate anybody getting injured, but, I mean, on the same token, I hate the Chiefs. Richard, I have nothing else to say, but I hate the Chiefs through and through.
SPEAKER 09 :
Dad, I’m with you, and it’s something – again, I don’t like personally what happened to Mahomes, but the Chiefs as a whole, no offense, Chiefs fans, and I know several of them, my level of sympathy for them, Dad, is pretty nonexistent. It’s to the level of you guys have won so much over the past few years to your own credit and to your organization’s credit. No one can take that away from you. But you’ve won a lot. And so, yeah, I am going to dance on your grave, I guess, per se. Granted, I don’t think you’re going to die. I think you’re going to come back just fine. And I know you and I were kind of talking about what that means for Mahomes. And, you know, the recovery, Dad, with NFL guys is just next level just because the level of care that they have is so next level. They are likely – he likely misses most of the offseason. He may miss one or two of the first games, although that guy seems like a freak healer to me. And so he’s probably going to be back for the first – few games. The only thing I don’t know with him on is that team is going to look drastically different next year. I think Kelsey probably retires.
SPEAKER 18 :
Especially now. You’re probably correct knowing all of this. That’s probably true.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, and you’ve got some stuff going on where they’ve got some cap stuff that they have to figure out. It’s kind of getting into the weeds for some of the listeners and such, but they’re over the cap, so they’re going to have to restructure contracts, remove some guys, which is not hard to do in today’s NFL, especially with the owners like the Hunts and how they like to do things. And so, yeah, it will be interesting to see how the Chiefs do it. But for the first time ever in Patrick Mahomes’ career as a starter, the Chiefs are not making the playoffs. And obviously, again, a significant injury for him. But honestly, looking ahead, I was sort of chalking up the Broncos game against the Chiefs, which happens on Christmas night.
SPEAKER 18 :
And you were kind of figuring that was probably a loss for us.
SPEAKER 09 :
I was. I said that a few weeks ago, right? That game, because us beating them when we did was fantastic because you sort of needed to do that because it’s going to be a short week. It’s on Christmas night. The past several times the Broncos have played on Christmas, they played awful. And so you couldn’t chalk it up any worse for them. So, yeah, I was saying it was lost. Well, now you have a team that’s reeling. I think they’ll play Kelsey and some of those guys, but you still have a game from now until then that some of those guys could get hurt. And ultimately, Dad, you have a situation where you’re going to be playing a backup quarterback in Gardner Minshew. And so, yeah, if you’re the Broncos, you’ve got to be licking your chops now. You have to take care of business this weekend, right? You have to beat the Jaguars this weekend. But if you do that, then you get a chance to clinch home field advantage, again, as we talked about at the very start, right, through the AFC playoffs by beating the Chiefs, on their field on Christmas night. I don’t know if there would be a sweeter present for Broncos or Broncos fans than doing that. And then, Dad, that last game against the Chargers doesn’t matter anymore. It literally will not matter. The Broncos will be in the rare position of being able to rest starters the last game of the season. And at the start of the year, who would have thought that, right? We as Broncos fans, I think we’re going to be happy with making the playoffs and then winning a game. Well, now I think things have changed drastically. We are now in line for the number one seed, which to me means not only should you win a game and get to the AFC championship game if that happens, but there’s a – I think Super Bowl expectations are not out of the question. And I don’t say that lightly, but I say it’s definitely something I think we’ll look at and we’ll talk about here in a few weeks as things get rolling. But definitely a good opportunity for the Broncos coming up.
SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 18 :
And we are back. And it’s myself, Richard Rush. And this time of the week, we do our car reviews for here and Drive Radio, both because we replay these on Drive Radio. Richard, what have you driven lately?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, Dad, so actually currently driving a 2026 Mazda CX-70, and this is the Turbo S Premium Plus Edition. You can get this vehicle, Dad, from I think kind of the high 30s, low 40s, all the way to the high 50s, which is what we’re driving. We’re kind of driving the top of the line. This is not the plug-in hybrid version, which they do have one of those. This is just your traditional turbocharged. It’s got 340 horsepower. 369 pound feet of torque however dad this has a feature on it called the m hybrid boost and what that is is it basically pairs the gasoline engine with a 48 volt electric assist really and i know what you know where i’m going to go with this which is it kind of helps with acceleration it helps smooth the start stop um you know features of the vehicle those sorts of things it’s not I wouldn’t even call it a hybrid vehicle by any means because it’s really not using that engine or that motor, I should say, for anything much more than just kind of helping with acceleration and things like that. One thing I will notice, I did not know that that was on this vehicle to start. And so driving it, there is a little bit of getting used to when you’re accelerating. And because that system does help you take off faster, however, because it’s not a large hybrid system or a full plug-in hybrid system, it helps you a little bit, but it does take a little bit for that turbo to ramp up. And so in my case, getting onto a highway or turning on from a stop sign, turning into traffic, it does take a little bit of getting used to nothing. That’s crazy. Nothing that, you know, it’s not like a massive amount of your safety issues or anything of that nature, but it is something that it did take a little bit of getting used to for me outside of that. What’s new on 2026. Cause they actually introduced this model dad for 2025. And it is identical to the Mazda CX 90 and, with the exception of this is a two-row SUV. So as a result, you don’t have the third row, not necessarily a big deal, which means you have a lot of cargo room, right, behind the second row seating. I can fit two booster seats in the car. For those with kids, it’s really spacious. As we’ve talked about with Mazda’s dad pretty frequently, it’s got a lot of nice soft-touch materials on the inside. The buttons and the feels makes this feel like a luxury SUV with not quite the same price tag as other luxury SUVs. It now has standard gloss black emblems. It’s got a lot of standard features like heated and ventilated front seats. and leather on base trims it’s got a different towing mode there’s some different plug-in hybrid models or additions that that you can kind of go get a little bit more information about ultimately dad though i really enjoy driving this car do i think that it could fit a family i do um and depending on what you’re looking for um it’s a little bit again it’s on the larger side of what i would say is two row suvs um and what i mean by that folks is this segment is kind of like I don’t want to call them compact SUVs, but midsize SUVs, right, Dad? That’s probably the right way of saying this. It’s definitely in competition there, but with it not having a third row, again, it makes up for by having the cargo room. Fuel economy, 23 and 28, Dad, for an average of 25 miles per gallon. And, again, I would say head out and check this vehicle out because you may be surprised that you’ve probably seen these things driving down the road and you don’t know kind of what they are, what they look like. And, Dad, you and I have talked about this. Mazda has really improved over the years with a lot of their features, their standard features, and even their performance.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, Mazda’s got a vehicle across their lineup whereby, and we know an individual, Dan, who used to be here with us, drives for Uber and Lyft up in the now Minneapolis area, and he loves his Mazda. I mean, he puts a hundred… hundreds of thousands of miles on these things richard they are flawless he believes solely in them and they work well and their price point is where i was going to start at if you look at this vehicle even starting at the 42 000 mark yes they can get up into the mid 50s but reality is mazda does a really great job of delivering a lot of creature comforts performance and so on at a really nice price and i mean that sincerely richard they really do a good job of that
SPEAKER 09 :
No, they do, and you’re 100% correct, Dad, and that’s something that can’t be missed, and I think that, I’ll be honest, Dad, a lot of folks, when you pull up in this car, they’re like, what is that? Again, it’s a Mazda, and I think when you see the inside, if you didn’t see the emblem on it, Dad, you probably wouldn’t have any idea. Like I said, there’s lots of soft touch luxury type materials on this vehicle and on all not even only this vehicle dad right across their lineup where I think people would really be pleasantly surprised to know that and like you say for the price point what this vehicle is competing against Again, where you can have a really good price range of kind of where you can go, I would encourage folks to check this out. I think they would be, I know we keep saying it, pleasantly surprised at what they find.
SPEAKER 18 :
And really quick, I’ve got to add this really quick because Mazda will love this because they listen to these reviews as well. He’s got a little bit of an older Mazda, has to be older or he wouldn’t have this many miles on it. He’s at about 460,000 miles. So when I say these things will run the distance, Richard, I mean they will run the distance. So about 460,000 miles. 460,000 miles right now. And keep in mind that when he texted me this, hang on, I got to double check this. When he texted me that, that was back in July. So he’s probably pushing the 480 to 490 mark on that particular car. So you know what? You can’t argue that when it works extremely well.
SPEAKER 09 :
I was going to say he’s pretty close to probably eclipsing the half a million mark, which is exceptional for a vehicle these days. I know you can speak to that with a lot of obviously your other jobs and such that you do. And so, again, folks, keep this in mind. Whether you’re going out for a new car this year, Dad, or, again, in the future, we highly encourage you to listen to these reviews. Again, not for now, but also for the future. Again, 2026 Mazda CX-70. Add your local Mazda dealer, check it out, and when you do that, let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent you.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, before we end things, we’ve got about a minute left. Jumping really quick back to the sports end of things, when it comes to the Broncos, home games and so on, playoff games at home, what has to happen for us to actually have playoff games here in the Mahi City?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, so they clinched yesterday, which means they are in the playoffs. If they lose the rest of the games, the right people win it. They would at worst be the seventh seed, so the Broncos are going to the playoffs for the second straight year. In order to clinch the division, Dad, I think that they would have to win one more game, and the Chargers would have to just lose one of their remaining three, and then you’ve automatically clinched the division, which would give you a home game. But kind of what I mentioned of that top seed, because you have the Bills and the Jaguars competing. And I think if you don’t beat the Jaguars, you lose a tiebreaker. I think you lose a tiebreaker to the Bills just based on how stuff is currently going. So if they win out, they have four losses, you have two. So like I said, you win two of your next three games, preferably the next two, you automatically get the one seed. No one can catch you because no one, even if the Patriots win out, you already have the tiebreaker over them. So, yeah, ultimately, Broncos fans, win two of your next three, you are the one seed guaranteed, and that’s really the best thing that we can hope for at this point.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, I’ll let you go with that, Richard. Have a great evening, and we will not talk next week. So, frankly, that was the last time for this year we’ll do that particular segment. I’m sure you’ll talk a little bit to Andy, but for you and I, that’s it for 2025. So have a great evening, Richard.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, picks on Friday with Joshua.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, all right, we’ll talk to you then. Again, folks, coming up next, let’s do this. Cub Creek Keating and Air Conditioning. Talk to Hunter, by the way, at 3 o’clock, and there’s big changes coming in the HVAC world in Colorado starting January 1. Find out exactly how that might affect you. Talk to Hunter today. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 18 :
All right, and that’s it for this second hour. Got a lot more in store, another full hour coming your way. And, yeah, what I do this week, different segments we have between health and wellness and all the other guests that we have on a routine basis, this will be at this particular week because this is closing out the end of the year for me. Yes, we’ll still do some things. There’ll still be some things Andy does with movie reviews and so on during the holiday week itself. But for me, I will be done by the weekend. and then close out 2025, and then we’ll head back into 2026 with, of course, a lot more content and things that we’ll do and probably change a few things up in 2026. We try to do a few different things each year along those lines. But, guys, we’ll be back. Got another full hour coming your way. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
The Rich Guy.
