In this episode of Rush to Reason, host John Rush welcomes Jay Bieber, Executive Director of Policy at the National Motorist Association, for an engaging discussion on the controversial policy of income-based speeding tickets being rolled out in San Francisco. The episode delves into how this policy attempts to circumvent the equal protection clause, offering insights on the discounts given to low-income individuals and the ensuing legal and economic implications. Jay explains the complexity of these programs, their constitutional challenges, and their spreading popularity across the United States, highlighting the National Motorist Association’s ongoing efforts to address these issues.
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This is Rush to Reason.
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With your host, John Rush.
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Get a job, sir. You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same and there’s a big difference.
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It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 17 :
Welcome back. Hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Jay Bieber joining me now, Executive Director of Policy at the National Motorist Association. Jay, welcome back. Always a pleasure to be with you. I appreciate it. San Francisco launching a new program that is backed by, of course, Gavin Newsom, that will issue speeding tickets based on income.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, well, I mean, they’re trying to get around the equal protection clause here, which is that you can’t technically say, hey, we’re going to charge you this price depending on what your income is. So what they’re doing is they have a price for the ticket, and then they’re giving discounts to people who claim that they have less money.
SPEAKER 17 :
So if you’re a quote-unquote low-income individual, you get a better discount than somebody that can quote-unquote pay the fine.
SPEAKER 04 :
Exactly. So basically, you know, people who have done well in their lives and can make money and can support themselves, those folks will have to pay a higher fine than those people who, whether it’s their own fault or not, they have less income, they have less money, so they get a pass.
SPEAKER 17 :
Dumb question on my part. How is that equal law to equal individuals?
SPEAKER 04 :
It isn’t, but it’s how they’re getting around it. Whether or not it’s legal or not, or whether it passes constitutional muster in California or anywhere else, plenty of other places do this. They do give discounts for people who are low income. And until somebody challenges it in court, then you have to have resources to do that. You have to find a public interest law firm to do it.
SPEAKER 17 :
This is a load of crap, by the way. Somebody needs to take this on. This is a load of crap.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep. Well, that’s why we try to do this. But, you know, you’re absolutely right. But we try to do this and, you know, we only have so many resources. Of course. That’s why our membership is so important.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, thank you. Yes, it is. But I would ask you this question. You say other places are doing this. I mean, to me, this sounds like very much a California type thing. But I was shocked at what you said a moment ago that there’s other places that do this. I was not aware. I mean, I guess, A, I haven’t. I shouldn’t say this because I’ll have one on the way home. I haven’t paid, quote unquote, a speeding ticket in quite some time. So I didn’t really, I didn’t understand that there was any kind of a discount program available. Is this like in a lot of places around the country or is it hit and miss?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, it’s hit and miss. They’re starting to try to roll this out because once they see it in one place, here’s what they’re doing and here’s why they’re doing it. It’s because we have made the argument that high-priced traffic tickets like in California, which are $200, $300, $500 for a red light camera ticket that’s a slow rolling right turn or a fraction of a second violation, they’re $500 tickets. So one of the ways we’ve been able to fight these things is we’ve been able to show how they affect people who don’t make as much money and say, look, you’re crushing the people that you claim to care about. So they said, okay, well, you know what, we’ll just crush the wealthy people and we’ll give a discount to the other people. That’s how they’re able to run these programs and how they’re able to get people to vote for them who would otherwise care about people and their due process rights and all of these things, which, by the way, go all out the window with all these kinds of tickets. So, you know, it’s ways of getting around the arguments that we’ve been making and successfully making that these are very punitive for poor people, and you shouldn’t be putting in cameras everywhere where everybody who passes by gets a ticket. So basically they said, well, we’ll just give a discount to the poor people. That’s the logic here.
SPEAKER 17 :
And I guess, again, being dumb on my end, what’s the proof of I don’t make any money?
SPEAKER 04 :
You know what? Some of them say the income has to be, like, shown that they make less than a certain amount of the poverty limit in the country. Some, they have to be honest. If they’re already qualified for some kind of assistance program, each of these places, each of these rules are somewhat different. I forget what it is for the speed camera program, but it’s something similar to that.
SPEAKER 17 :
Interesting.
SPEAKER 04 :
There’s a lot of other legal problems with the speed camera program, by the way, as well. Oh, yeah. Including a lot of due process issues and a lot of… other equal protection issue. I mean, think about this. You get a ticket from a live police officer for exactly the same crime, which is, you know, traveling, you know, what actually is considered not above the speed limit, but what is considered, quote unquote, an unsafe speed. It’s just assumed that if you’re going above the speed limit. It’s an unsafe speech, but you’re supposed to be able to challenge that. And with a camera and only the owner of the vehicle being responsible for the ticket, then you can’t challenge it. You have no way of challenging it. So you lose all your due process rights, and you don’t go to court. You go to a hearing. It’s a kangaroo court. The owner’s responsible. The ticket is private with facial evidence against you, which means that all they have to do is present the ticket, and you have to prove that you didn’t do it. Yep.
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It’s a cash cow for a lot of states, cities, counties. We did have one here. I thought you might enjoy this one. I didn’t talk about this last week. I was going to. It was in my notes and I never got around to it. We have toll violation issues here in Colorado. There’s not a Jersey barrier. It’s kind of an honor system when you get in and out of the toll lane. It’s double-striped where you’re not allowed to go in and out. It’s dotted where you’re allowed to go in and out. And we’ve got this high-tech camera system now in Colorado on a couple of different toll areas that we’ve got whereby if you violate that, Enter in where you’re not supposed to. For example, Jay, they give you a hefty fine. It’s like 150 bucks and can go up to 250 bucks. Well, we actually had an attorney that made the news here about a week or so ago that actually fought entering in an area where he wasn’t supposed to, but still paid the toll. So his point was, wait a minute, time out. You’re penalizing me for entering where, quote unquote, I’m not supposed to. But I didn’t violate any laws because I still paid the toll when it was all said and done. And he read through all the statutes and everything in the state and so on. Basically got that particular ticket thrown out because the judge did come back and basically say that, you know what? You’re right. There’s nothing that says you can’t. Enter. Now, you can’t weave in and out and avoid the camera, which this guy didn’t do. He just entered in a spot that, quote unquote, he wasn’t supposed to. Or frankly, Jay, you can enter in. I’ve gotten a ticket before for this where I’ve entered. I’m not exaggerating. The left rear tire hit the double stripe, but the rest of the vehicle was in. I was just that far off and still had to pay a fine.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s because they want your money. Because they want the money. That’s right. It’s only about the money. And here’s the thing. We try as hard as we can. I’m incredibly frustrated today because I’m fighting a lot of these. There’s a bill right now in California to make red light camera tickets. similar to what they’re doing for the speeding tickets because they’re like hammer tickets are actually have to identify the driver and you go to court you least have a chance to defend yourself they’re not trying to change that because they’re not getting enough of people’s money i cannot get anybody to to help us in terms of in terms of fighting these things every other organization We’re too busy. We’ve got too much on our plate right now. So basically, they’re going to pass this. They’ll turn it into law, and then everybody’s going to suffer. And then people will come back and complain about it, especially the people. I talked to the social justice groups. They should be all over this. Nothing. Teamsters, nothing. Triple A, nothing. The police groups who actually don’t like these things, nothing. It’s ridiculous. We’re out here all alone. trying to fight these things. It’s frustrating.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, and I got another text message, and basically, in other words, your answer to the proof of income is there’s not a distinct answer that it sounds like it’s going to vary by quote-unquote applicant or person that’s had each ticket. In other words, it’s not a blanket statement.
SPEAKER 04 :
Generally, yeah. That’s generally the way that these are set up. And, you know, it just depends on, you know, not even the judge. There’s not even a judge. No, that’s right. There’s a hearing officer. That’s right. It’s a hearing. Somebody hired by the city gets to decide this.
SPEAKER 17 :
That’s right. National Motors Association. It’s a 501c3 nonprofit. How do folks find you, Jay?
SPEAKER 04 :
Find us at motorists.org. Motorists is plural, .org. Look, we’ve got a couple of things you can do. Join as a member. It’s $42 a year. It’s basically nothing. You can also, if you go to motorists.org forward slash RRT for Rapid Response Team, you can sign up and say, hey, if you let me know about something like this is happening, I’ll take action on it. So sign up for that. And you know what? We’re 501c3. If you want to donate to us, It’s tax deductible.
SPEAKER 17 :
Awesome. Jay, I always appreciate you coming on. You always give us a wealth of information, and we’ll continue to help you out, sir.
SPEAKER 04 :
I wish we had less of this to talk about.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, well, unfortunately, it’s going to get worse, not better.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep, exactly.
SPEAKER 17 :
Thanks, man. Appreciate you, Jay. And yes, these are just… Sometimes we shake our head even at the laws we have here in Colorado. And, yeah, that was a story that I forgot to bring to you and didn’t forget. Just didn’t get enough time to get around to it. There was an actual attorney here in Colorado that I think it was even similar to the ticket that I got, where it wasn’t like he was entering in, like, the middle of the HOV lane. He happened to just cross over the stripes. I did that. I actually got a ticket, 75 bucks. The left rear tire crossed over. Nothing else did. It was on the camera. I couldn’t disprove it because, yes, the left tire did, in fact, cross over in that particular area where I wasn’t quite dotted yet. I was just a little quick to make that change into the HOV lane. Wasn’t cutting anybody off. There wasn’t anybody behind me. That wasn’t the issue. The issue is these cameras are extremely, extremely sophisticated. And they will send you a ticket. And the law in Colorado now is you pay it because the old days of because it’s on a camera and they have to serve you and all of that. Those things went out the window. Now, in this particular case, this attorney read through the statute and everything well enough that said, wait a minute. There’s nothing in here that says I can’t enter. anywhere i want i can’t weave in and out and avoid the toll which this person did not do and he had proof that he had paid the toll and fortunately for him the judge ruled in his favor it’ll be interesting to see what happens down the road and how many other people try to fight the same situation and i didn’t fight mine i just i don’t know honestly didn’t have time didn’t have any other means to mess with it at that point in time so you pay it and move on but i hate camera tickets of any kind because it’s literally nothing more than a revenue generation it doesn’t do anything to help out traffic in my opinion i don’t care what study you bring me prove to me that it actually helps at the end of the day because chances are it’s not veteran windows and doors 35 off three windows or more or sorry, up to three windows, and then 40% off if you do 40 or more with free labor. Find veterans today at klzradio.com.
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putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, staying on the car topic, there is a new bill that’s being debated, HB 25-1277. It is a bill that would require gasoline stations to put a sticker on the pump, a sign, telling you about climate and health impacts And this is what it would read exactly. Warning. Use of this product releases air pollutants and greenhouse gases known by the state of Colorado to be linked to significant health impacts and global heating, respectively, pursuant to Section 25-5-1603-CRS. Tampering with this label is a violation of Section 18-4-510-CRS. Number one, that can’t be proved. That statement can’t be proved. Use of this product releases air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Now, the air pollutants, well, of course, it’s a carbon product. It’s gasoline. Yes, it’s going to have air pollutants in it. Anything like that will. But the greenhouse gases is the part I’m talking about. And it goes on to say, known by the state of Colorado to be linked to significant health impacts in global heating. Again, key word, significant. No, there’s not. That’s a lie. That whole sticker is a lie. Not true. Unproven. I don’t know whether this will actually make it through or not if it passes. This would take effect July 1st of 2026. The labels must be printed in black ink on a white background in a type no smaller than 16 points displayed in a conspicuous location. Any violations of the labels would need to be cured within 45 days. More bureaucracy, folks. Bottom line, more bureaucracy. Not going to lower the price of fuel, by the way. Not going to help you fill up your tank. Not going to help out anything economically speaking. More bureaucracy. More literal red tape. In this case, I guess, white tape. So the primary bill sponsor is Representative June Joseph. June, do you not have anything better to do? You know, I pick on a lot of folks down at the Golden Dome, but I’m going to pick on this one. It’s June. I don’t know you, but do you not have anything better to do? She said that her caucus, she’s Colorado State lead for the National Caucus of Environmental Legislatures. Again, useless caucus, by the way. It’s aimed at creating legislative change combating environmental challenges. So I guess I’m answering my own question. June, you have nothing better to do. You have nothing better to do. This is not going to affect anything, any way, any time, any how. If you think for one second this is going to keep somebody from topping off their gas, filling up, deciding to drive something different, it’s not. It’s not. I mean, this is like a warning label for dummies, other than you’re the dummy. Literally, you’re the author of, you’re the dummy here. This is going to do nothing but add cost to every single thing that an owner-operator does in regards to a fueling station, gas station, call it whatever you want. It’s not a gas station because they sell other products as well, but you get where I’m going with this. reality is this isn’t going to change anything at the end of the day it is not going to lower the amount of fuel that is pumped in the state of colorado at all not one bit in fact i will go as far as to tell you well maybe you’re maybe you’re like me i don’t even pay any attention to the things on the pump in fact just really quick a side note my biggest irritation at the pump is the stupid digital screen that asks me 15 dozen questions. I want to pump the fuel now. I don’t need a car wash. I don’t need your loyalty program. I don’t want to sign up for anything. I just want my gas or diesel, whatever it happens to be. I don’t want to go through a litany of questions. Just give me the gas. I have limited time, and I’m not going to screw around at the pump. Give me my gas. And by the way, I’d love a receipt at the end, which half the time you get, half the time you don’t get. That one I’d like to make as a law. I want a receipt, and I don’t want to go inside. I hate going inside. I will not go inside. In fact, I’m one of those people where if I go to swipe my card and nothing works, I’m going to the next station. I am not going to go inside. I’m not thinking around with that. I’m not buying a candy bar. I’m not in there to screw around, get in a drink, or whatever else other people do. I don’t do that. I want my gas. I want to go. Maybe some of you are like me. Maybe some of you are different. Maybe some of you go inside and hang out. I don’t. I am not a hang out in the gas station kind of guy. Unless it’s gas station sushi, then I might actually get some of that, but Yes, I’ve been known to eat gas station sushi. I’ll eat anything. You guys all know that. But no, it’s a rarity. It’s got to be a road trip or something like that for me to go inside. Not exaggerating. I’m not going in the station. I don’t care if it’s cold. I don’t care if it’s hot. I just want my gas, and I want to go. I don’t want to have to mess around. And my biggest complaint at the gas station is the 50 questions that are played on the screen before I get my gas. I just want my gas. I don’t want anything else. Get rid of all that junk. So I’m one where I don’t even pay attention to the stickers. I know there’s three choices of gas, one choice of diesel if I’m getting that. That’s all I care about. I’m going to push the right button to get my fuel and I’m gone. That’s it. I don’t need anything else. I don’t need the car wash. I don’t need any extra additives, which I don’t fill up at those places because they’re crap gas. But I don’t need anything else. I just want the gas. That’s it. Nothing else. Now, I am one that is… I’m very particular, and I do pay close attention, is there a skimming device on the pump? Yes, I do watch for that. So for some of you, you may be asking, what in the world are you talking about, John? Skimmers, they’re called, will place what looks like the exact same componentry over the top of the existing card scanner that’s there, and it enables then that thief to pick up your number and steal your stuff. You’ll still slide it. It’s working on top of what’s already there that the pump needs to read your card so that you can pump gas, get charged, and so on. And it’s not taking your payment or anything along those lines. It’s just simply stealing your card number. That’s all it’s doing. It’s a skimmer. So, yes, I do watch for those. You can typically see if there’s a skimmer there. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go look it up. Go Google it. You’ll see what skimmers look like. They’re all over the Internet. By the way, they’re not just on gas pumps. They’re on anything that you would slide a card into, including some of those things that are at state. You know, you pay at the counter. Sometimes they get stuck on there when somebody’s not looking. They can be on ATM machines, by the way. You can find them in a lot of different places, so really watch for the skimming devices. I know I took a path down a different area here, but yeah, make sure you’re not getting skimmed. But as far as this particular bill goes and adding another layer of garbage to what an owner already needs to do that’s required to record all sorts of other things when it comes to pumping fuel, they don’t need any extra layer of bureaucracy, which is all this is. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to read what’s on that pump. I would highly doubt that anybody even reads the last time the pump was calibrated and inspected and signed off on, which they’re supposed to be done annually. I highly doubt anybody even reads that sticker. I do because I’m weird. But that’s about it. I don’t look at anything else. And again, going back to the whole digital screen thing, I just want my fuel and I want to move on. Now, I know there’s other ways to do that. John from Cheyenne, he’s got an app that he uses to wherever he goes in. He can just use his app. He goes and off he runs and so on. It might make things easier. I don’t typically frequent the exact same stations all the time, so I’m not sure how well that would work for me. I know some of you are going to think, well, why don’t you, John? Because I’m in all sorts of different places in town. And because I am, I am frugal enough to where if I can save, you know, 10 cents a gallon going here versus there, I will. And yes, I do watch that. And I tend to pay attention to those things and so on. And yes, I will fill up accordingly. So, yeah, I do pay attention to that. But this whole climate activism nonsense of putting this sticker on the pump and the climate activists are thrilled about this. Labeling is critical to ensuring consumers receive accurate information about the environmental impacts of their fuel choices. Folks, they don’t have any choices. In a lot of cases, that’s near their house or it’s near where they work, and they’re going to fill up and they’re going to leave, and where else are they going to buy fuel? Like they have a choice? I guess what you’re really trying to do is get them to drive something other than a gasoline-powered vehicle, but good luck with that. You’ve already tried shoving that down people’s throats, and that doesn’t work either. That one backfired. Didn’t work out very well. Nothing that’s pushed on someone by law works. People revolt. In some cases, they will not do it just because you’re trying to shove it down their throat. It’s sort of like giving your dog a pill. Even though the pill might taste good, the dog’s not going to eat it. You’ve got to hide it. You’ve got to put it in a piece of bread. You’ve got to put it in a piece of cheese. You’ve got to do something else to get your dog to eat a dang pill. Why? Because they don’t want to eat it. Because it’s not the norm for them. Well, guess what? People are no different. It’s exactly the same thing. They’re not going to take the pill either. You have to hide it, disguise it, subsidize it, do whatever else to get them to eat it, because that’s the only way you’re going to get them to buy that product. And that’s the way it is with EVs. It’s no different. So I’ll leave it at that. But, yeah, don’t be surprised if this bill passes. It’s one more layer that will add extra cost to your fuel because that’s what the stations will do. It’s dumb. It’s not going to change anything at the end of the day. It’s a feel-good measure by this particular representative, June Joseph. It is not going to do anything at the end of the day. And, June, I challenge you to call in and debate me on this because it’s not going to change a single thing. We’ll be back. Golden Eagle Financial is next. Al Smith, he wants to help with all of your future financial plans. Talk to Al today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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Call in to the KLZ studio line, 303-477-5600. Now, back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, my son Richard should be joining me here in a moment. Before that, though, I got a great reminder from somebody. John, by the way, thank you for this. Those of you that don’t drive a diesel vehicle, Please, for the love of God, unless it’s the only pump open, do not go to the pump with the green handle. Okay? That’s for diesel. And it never fails. Anytime I’m driving a diesel vehicle and I’m looking for a pump, some knucklehead has parked and then gone inside to get their Coke or candy bar or whatever else they’re dinking around doing. And they’re parked in front of the only diesel pump available. Sometimes, for whatever reason, some of the other ones might be down or they’re gloved off or whatever the case may be. And it never fails. That person that’s not driving a diesel, and yes, you can tell by looking at the car whether it’s a diesel or not, they’re parked in front of the only diesel pump on the island. Drives me crazy. So, unless you’re driving a diesel, do not go to the green-handled pump ever unless it’s the only thing open. I don’t care. There’s no excuse. If it’s not open, okay, I’ll give you a pass. But if any of the rest of them are open and there’s no green handle there, go there. Even when I’m driving one of my gas vehicles, not a diesel vehicle, and I need to fill up, I don’t go to the green handle. Why? Because of everything I just mentioned. So, John from Centennial, thank you for that reminder. That is one of my big pet peeves as well, is people that are not driving a diesel truck that are at the diesel pump, blocking it up for all the people that actually have a diesel truck or car or whatever. car or truck, that need to be using it. Everybody else, by the way, that’s asking about the tickets from cameras. Yes, there has been a change. It happened beginning of 2024, not 2025, but 2024. Prior to 2024, you could ignore any of those red light speeding tickets, whatever that came in the mail. You could ignore those unless you were served You could ignore those. Well, because it’s a Democrat state, in 2023, they passed a law. whereby you couldn’t ignore those any longer. They did some things legislatively whereby you now would have to fight that in court if you didn’t want to pay either the red light camera or the speeding ticket, camera, you know, ticket. So some of you have been asking me along those lines whether you have to pay those tickets that you may have received here of late. And yes, you do because of the legislative change that I mentioned a moment ago Yes, you have to pay those tickets now. That has changed. Again, that changed early. January 1 of 2024, I believe, was the date. And it’s all the way through now. So, yes, we’re in 2025. And, yes, you have to pay those. So it used to be, and even on this program, I had Kevin Flesch on. We talked about it numerous times. And prior to that, and I’ve been on air for a very, very long time, and those tickets have been around for a very long time. You used to be able to just ignore those, not even worry about fighting them. Now, what I will tell you is if you have got a legitimate case to fight those, you’re not the driver. You can prove you’re not the driver. You can prove it wasn’t your car. Sometimes those things are not foolproof. They can make mistakes. And if you can tell for sure that there’s been a mistake that has been made, you can fight that in the same way. And again, not pay that ticket, but fight it instead. All right, Richard, you joining us now? Go ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, that I am. Sorry. Was involved with some things there.
SPEAKER 17 :
That’s all right. Not a problem. All right. We’ve got a few minutes here before we go to our next break. Come back and do a couple reviews. Talk to us about the Final Four and how things are shaping up.
SPEAKER 06 :
Final Four, Duke had a mini-collapse over the weekend. You and I kind of talked about that earlier. They were playing well, and it just goes to show you, Houston, I think there was something Walt was telling me that I think their guys run like all of their guys can run a mile under six minutes or something like that. And it showed late in that game. They were a more conditioned team. They did. Duke got tired. They kind of let the lead slip away. Overall, it was to Houston’s benefit. Honestly, I don’t even know if Houston’s the more talented team. I think that Duke’s really talented. They’ve got the Likely number one overall pick in the NBA draft coming up on their team. I’ll tell you what, this is my opinion.
SPEAKER 17 :
I think what happened, and again, others might argue with me on that one. I think that happened to be a situation where Duke got outcoached.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and that could be that. John Shire is a, I think it’s his third year coaching. He took over for Coach K a few years ago. And Calvin Sampson is a very accomplished coach. He’s been coaching for a long time.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah. Again, not watching the entire game, but I did get a chance to watch kind of the end of that, and I was watching everything you talked about, and I was watching, you know, keep in mind, too, and this is not necessarily always, well, it is the coach’s fault because everything rises and falls on leadership. I think Duke got a little cocky as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, they did. I think they were up big throughout the whole game. They were up big late, and I’m with you. I think that you sort of saw them crack a little bit, and I think you also saw a result of they played in a little bit, even though the ACC is traditionally a really strong basketball conference. It was a little weaker this year, and so I think that you saw sort of the results of that as well, to where they weren’t as battle-tested as Houston, which played in the Big 12, same conference as CU. A lot of good teams in there, a lot of close games throughout the year, and I think you kind of saw that. So it should be entertaining tonight to have Florida in Houston SEC versus Big 12. We’ll see who pulls that out. You also have the Masters starting this week, Dad, which will look different for folks because for those that remember, it was a while ago, but back in October when one of the hurricanes kind of rolled through Florida and those parts of it actually rolled into Florida, into the Masters and into Augusta, and it ended up actually taking out quite a few trees on the Masters course. And so it doesn’t look any worse for the wear, but from what I’ve been reading, people will be able to tell the difference on TV of just fewer trees. You know, maybe not lots fewer, you know, not massive changes to holes, but fewer trees, which is… You know, unfortunately, it’s one of those things where Mother Nature shall do her thing for sure. But obviously, you do get used to seeing those big, beautiful trees, especially down there and kind of the sign of spring. So it’ll be interesting there, Dad.
SPEAKER 17 :
Really quick, before we move on from the Masters, one thing I did notice, I want to check with you on this, because I didn’t know if this was just an Internet rumor or if it’s really true. Do they still sell the same food for the same prices they always have?
SPEAKER 06 :
Dad, you can buy one of everything on the food menu. I think it’s for $41, and I believe they have like 20 items.
SPEAKER 17 :
Okay, so it hasn’t changed. What I read was correct.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, it actually is what I was going to get into. So they have adopted the mentality of basically the food and the beverage on site is relatively inexpensive. You can get a pimento and cheese sandwich for like $2. You can get a beer for like $4. Right. And they bought into the idea that you’re there, you’re there to watch golf. They don’t really need to make a bunch of money on the concession. They do make their money on their merchandise, right? You know, the average, I think ticket, you know, we’ve talked about this a little bit, you know, the business of the masters. I think the average sales ticket of merchandise, and I want to say it’s about $500. And I think they make, I think it’s like $10 million. No, they make a lot more than that. They make a gazillion dollars just in the pro store every Masters. They buy polos. They buy all sorts of things. There’s really no limit to how much you can buy. But they’ve taken the approach, Dad, that people will buy more concessions if they’re cheaper. And actually, the Atlanta Falcons in their new stadium, a few years ago, took a similar approach, and they priced their concessions more affordably as well. And the idea is that we will get people to show up earlier and stay later and make more frequent trips.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, you know what? I would agree with that. I think that’s a great strategy. I think a lot of people make one trip, if that. Some even pack things in or sneak things in, even though they’re not allowed to actually, quote-unquote, take things in. You see people do it all the time. You would avoid that if you had reasonably priced concessions.
SPEAKER 06 :
And that’s the mentality of the Masters and what the Falcons have done and what actually several pro sports franchises are trying to. Honestly, it’s something I wish the Broncos and the Rockies and even the Nuggets and Avs would do is make it more affordable. And you’ll get people that go back and they will more than make up for the lack of your profit margin on the items. There’s no reason that a tub of popcorn needs to cost you $20. Correct. Or a beer needs to cost you $12, or a hot dog, for crying out loud, needs to cost you $8. Again, I think you can go to the Falcons game and get a hot dog for like $1.50. And like I said, at the Masters, you can get the pimento and cheese sandwich. They have a really good peach dessert that they have there. Even their azalea cocktail. that they have. They make, I think it’s $3.50 or something like that. Again, really cheap, and they make a killing on it. We talk about this every year. CBS doesn’t pay any money to broadcast it. Basically, they get the rights because they have agreed to give all control to Augusta National. They decide how many sponsorships they have, how many commercial breaks they have, and there’s not that many. You’ll notice that. They’ve also been criticized because they only do certain pairings on thursday and friday they only kind of broadcast the premier groups um and then on saturday and sunday you know cbs takes over and but but they’ve got it down to an art and they’ve got it down to a science dad um and they’ve done a really really good job on it and so yeah so that’s coming up this week i guess the the the nfl draft is in two weeks um see you had their pro day last week with shadur sanders and travis hunter and lots of people up in boulder and That was exciting. Obviously, we talked about the Final Four tonight. Oh, and talking about the Rockies already out of contention already, Major League Baseball started up. Actually, you had the Dodgers, the World Series champions. meet President Trump today. It’s been an interesting reversal, Dad, because when his first term, it sort of became the cool thing to decline an invite. You had several players, and I think the Philadelphia Eagles declined the invite, or maybe that was the rumor. But now, I think three teams in four weeks, you’ve got the The Dodgers are visiting him today. I believe Ohio State, the college football champions, are visiting next week. And I believe the week after that is the Eagles are finally making their White House. Because here’s the deal, Dad. It doesn’t matter who’s in the White House. It is a cool thing to be able to go to the White House and meet the president, no matter if you agree with the guy or not. I agree. Didn’t get to at this point in time, but there’s only so many people that have ever been president. That’s right. And there’s only, what, at this point in time, you’ve got, you know, you’ve got George W., Clinton, Barack, Biden, and then Trump. So you’ve only got five living presidents at this point in time?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
I mean, it’s kind of an opportunity. So, but I’m, you know what, Dad, and I will leave with this. I’m excited because, again, it’s sports, as we always talk about. It should not be politicized. It should be the time to come across the aisle. And I can guarantee you every person on the Dodgers doesn’t agree with them, maybe even their manager or whatever it might be. But it’s still cool to be able to meet, shake hands with the president, have a few nice words said about you, get a tour of the White House, and just enjoy it. So I’m glad for them and glad for everyone else that gets to do it.
SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 17 :
And we are back, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. This is the point on Mondays where we combine a little bit of drive radio with Rush to Reason, do some car reviews at the same time. Richard, you recently drove a 2025 Mazda CX-70.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, Dad, we did. It was a really fun car to drive. It is an all-new model, actually, for 2025. Therefore, it’s basically, we actually did the CX-90, the Mazda CX-90, a few weeks back for folks who want to check that one out. That’s basically the seven-passenger version of the CX-70. Really, when you look at the car, folks, where the third row goes is just more cargo space. They’ve removed, basically, they still have cup holders and charging ports and some other stuff back there, which you can use for tailgating or some other things. So I don’t know the exact dimensions, Dad, so I don’t want to comment 100% on it. But to me, the car looked and felt exactly like the CX-90, just without the third row. Now, the only thing I would like to see with that is they could have maybe scooted that second row back.
SPEAKER 17 :
Give a little more leg room for the second seat.
SPEAKER 06 :
Exactly. Give me a little bit more. Now, granted, I didn’t have any adults in there. I just had the kiddos in the back with their booster seats, and they fit just fine. But it would have been nice, especially as you know, Dad, my oldest, a little bit taller. He hits the seat a little bit at times, right? So it’s definitely something that I would like to see. And I looked it up.
SPEAKER 17 :
It is exactly a CX-90 with that third seat out, giving you a lot more cargo capacity than what the 90 has. That’s really what they did. You’re 100% correct.
SPEAKER 06 :
A lot more. And at the same time, it’s actually brilliant because they’re saying, you know, I think you save a little money on it. You don’t save a lot. So if you are thinking, oh, I could maybe use that, you know, that third row at some point in time, I would still consider the CX-90, Dad. But if you’re like, I really don’t need that. I just want that extra cargo room. I want all of the capabilities of the 90, but I really don’t. I don’t want to have to be the carpool mom, right? Right. This is definitely a car that I would consider, right? Because you don’t have that third row. You don’t even have that option. As far as price-wise go, Dad, you can get this from the 3.3 turbo preferred for about $42,000 all the way up to the plug-in hybrid for just under $60,000. We talked about the engine choice. We had the 3.3 liter turbo in here that worked really, really well. The 3.3 turbo, I should say, worked really well for our model, Dad, especially up here at our altitude. It got up and went. It really did. It did what it was supposed to do, and again, especially at our altitude, just having that extra bit of power is really, really nice. We’d love to get our hands on the plug-in hybrid, but again, all-new model for this year, so we’ll just kind of have to wait on that. Overall, we’re really impressed. If folks want to learn more, they can kind of go back to our review of the CX-90. Almost all of it carries over, you know, updated infotainment, updated tech on the inside, lots of really nice apportionments, soft-touch materials throughout it to add heated, you know, heated ventilated seats, all that good stuff. So I would encourage folks to check it out. Head to your local Mazda dealer. Again, this is all new for 2025, and if you’re in that market for a very roomy, at least, you know, kind of overall speaking, for a five-row SUV, the 2025 Mazda CX-70, tell them that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush Reason sent you.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, we did a review, or I’m going to do a review. I drove a 2025 Yukon. It’s a four-wheel drive version, AT4 Ultimate. So some of you are thinking, okay, what’s the AT4? That’s more of their quote-unquote rugged slash off-road version. It’s been in a lot of the pickup trucks for quite some time. There’s been some AT4s even on the Yukon end of things, although… I believe, Richard, 2025 is the first year for the AT4 Ultimate, meaning they’re combining kind of that AT4 with the Ultimate trim package together. Retail price of this is $100,285. Yes, that’s a lot. Actually, sorry, with destination $102,000. 280 that is sticker price on this particular vehicle the at4 in this particular case gives you the electronic limited slip rear differential which gives you more traction in those particular scenarios where you’d want it you get all of the air ride adaptive suspension of course extra skid plates things along those lines you get the red tow hooks so if you see the red hooks running around you know that’s the at4 version on the gmc end of things this by the way is a refresh for 2025 as far as how the grille and front end look, and how the interior, the dash, it’s got a huge center stack screen now, which I’ll just say straight up, GMC, beautiful. Yes, there’s other vehicles out there with a huge center stack, although, Richard, I will tell you the clarity, the functionality, how everything works, where the button layouts are, and so on. It is a wonderful setup, 6.2 liter engine, which I believe, don’t quote me, I think it’s the same as my truck because I’ve got a 6.2 in the truck. I think… I think it’s 420 horse, is that correct? I think that sounds right, yep. I think it’s 420. Runs extremely well. I mean, even at our altitude, no turbocharger, no nothing. It works very well, and surprisingly enough, and I know because I own one in my truck, and it’s exactly the same engine. If you drive this vehicle correctly… You can get 19 to 20 miles to the gallon even with the 6.2. Now, if you get your foot in it quite a bit and you’re a little bit heavy on that end of things, it’ll drop all the way down to the 15, 16 miles to the gallon range. But if you drive this thing correctly, and they even state highway miles at 18, I can always exceed the highway mile end of things on my truck or this vehicle, and I did driving this. But I’ll tell you, Richard, they’ve done a very nice job. I can see why. They continue to sell these things, even though the sticker price is what it is. They sell these things year after year after year after year because versatility wise. And for those of you that are like me where you’ve got a I’ve got a crew cab short box truck versus the Yukon. This isn’t the Suburban because the Suburban is more my length of vehicle when you take a crew cab truck. The Yukon is shorter. Think more of a short box truck with maybe just an extra cab, and it’s even probably a little shorter than that. I will tell you, after driving the truck, which I do on a daily basis versus driving the Yukon, Yukon is more comfortable to drive. It’s got less noise interior-wise. It’s more nimble because it’s shorter, easier to park, easier to make a U-turn, all of those different things, Richard, I will tell you that. Personally, minus the price, and that one is, yeah, it is a hard pill to swallow, but that’s the going rate for that particular type of vehicle. Is this a vehicle I would own? Absolutely 100%.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, yeah, and we own several others just because of all the things that we do. And if you’ve got a large family, Dad, we grew up in similarly sized vehicles, right? And they serve a purpose. They are great for what they do. You’re driving an enclosed truck in a lot of cases. And, yeah, like you said, the AT4, definitely much more off-road oriented, but they’re kind of trying to blend the off-road with the luxury with that AT4 Ultimate. But like you said, sort of second to none, folks. And, yes, there’s other cars in this segment. But if you go out and do a little bit of research, even on the resale side, which you and I have done, there’s a reason that there’s a very long waiting list for the EM product that is out today. Yeah.
SPEAKER 17 :
By the way, in closing, this one also came with a lot of extra options to get up to that 100K, like night vision and illuminated door sill plates, and it even says GMC when you open the door, it shines down from the mirror. Again, really, really cool features that do set this apart from other vehicles out there like it. And I will tell you, if you’re in the market for that type of a full-size SUV, one thing I’ll also say really quick in closing, these things hold their value extremely well. So it’s one of the few vehicles out there that actually does well on the secondary market. Go check one out at your local GMC dealer. You may or may not find one on the lot. They can always order you one if need be. Tell them that John and Richard Rush both from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent you. And with that, Richard, I’ll let you go. Sounds good to see you. All right, appreciate it. All right, up next, Cup Creek heating and air conditioning. Find them at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 05 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, that’s it for Hour 2. Hour 3 is next. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
