In this episode of ‘Rush to Reason’, host John Rush and guest Jersey Joe dive into some of the most pressing issues of our time, from the undervaluation of trade careers to the perils of misinformation spread through memes. They discuss the often misguided perceptions fueled by confirmation bias and how this shapes our understanding of political and social issues. Highlighted are the personal stories of entrepreneurs who took significant risks to achieve major successes, demonstrating that with hard work and determination, great heights can be reached. The conversation turns to societal challenges, such as controversial cases involving self-defense
SPEAKER 04 :
This is Rush to Reason. You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes. With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 19 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did.
SPEAKER 12 :
Get a job first. You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 18 :
Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 12 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, Hour 3, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Jersey Joe joining us now. Joe, how are you? John, I’m just fine. How about yourself? I’m good. Always a joy to have you. Where do you want to start?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, let’s start with a couple of quotes. And by the way, John, I think you can relate to this one, John. This is by economist Thomas Sowell, and he this is about people who get all their information from memes. You know, they never fact-check anything, and they call you, they argue with you because they read something in a meme. And here’s Thomas Sowell’s quote, and I encounter these people almost every day. He said, it is usually futile to try and talk facts and analysis with people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority driven by their own ignorance.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, they think that billionaires only pay an 8% tax rate or, you know, just stupid stuff. Republicans killed this. Republicans killed Obamacare subsidies. And, you know, just nonsense because they get all their information off memes off liberal websites.
SPEAKER 20 :
Do they not go do any of their own research, Joe? Evidently not.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, and the reason they don’t, John, it’s called confirmation bias. We’ve talked about this before. They read something. They want to believe it. They want to believe that billionaires only pay an 8% tax rate. They want to believe that Republicans killed the Obamacare subsidies, which they haven’t, by the way. January 1, the subsidies will still be there at the original 80% rate. But they want to believe these things. That’s why they don’t fact check. It’s called confirmation bias.
SPEAKER 21 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 05 :
And, John, I encounter them every day, and I try and tell them they’re wrong.
SPEAKER 20 :
And not to get off on another full tangent or go a different direction, Joe, but that can affect both sides, as you know. We see some of that even on our side of the aisle at times. So I don’t want to say that it’s just one side versus the other. It is, I think, more prevalent on the left. But believe me, there are folks on the right that can get caught up in the exact same trap.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, and I actually got caught, John. You mentioned I sent you a thing of Bernie Sanders. Turned out it was an AI-generated – Bernie Sanders did not say poor people are going to have to starve so we can make our point. I got fooled by that. It was an AI-generated quote.
SPEAKER 20 :
And I talked about this a little bit yesterday. Man, there are some times extremely difficult to determine whether something is AI-driven or not because AI is getting so much better all the time, Joe.
SPEAKER 05 :
It was a video of him speaking on the floor of the Senate, and it was his voice.
SPEAKER 20 :
Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
And they overlaid his voice, but it was a collection of his words. strung together by AI, overlaid on a video of him speaking on the floor of the Senate.
SPEAKER 20 :
And the problem is, it wouldn’t surprise you, but he never said that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Never said that, but I got it. Another quote, we all know who Mike Rowe is, right?
SPEAKER 20 :
Oh yeah, I love Mike, good guy.
SPEAKER 05 :
And we know who Jensen Hong, the head of NVIDIA is, right?
SPEAKER 20 :
Right, right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I’ve got two quotes 20 years apart. In 2005, Mike Rowe said, The next generation of CEOs will be desperate for plumbers and electricians. That was Mike Rowe in 2025. Jensen Wong, the head of NVIDIA, last month said, the next generation of U.S. millionaires will be plumbers and electricians. And he should probably have added, you know, auto mechanics.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, trades, basically trades is what he really should have said. The trades is where you’re going to find the most millionaires.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I’m not saying individuals, but I know young guys, John, and I’ve been in the HVAC industry. I know young guys who five, ten years ago started out on their own. They bought a truck. They had one man. They hired another guy. Now they’re running seven, eight, nine mechanics. And, John, guess what? If you’re running a profitable business with eight trucks on the road, you’re knocking down $250,000, $300,000 a year. So you’re not making a million a year, but if you’re knocking down $250,000 a year… In five or six years, you will have a net worth of a million dollars.
SPEAKER 20 :
Oh, yeah. Yeah, exactly. In fact, the more you build it, the more assets you have in the business, the better the business becomes, the more valuable it becomes. Yeah, you’re on your way to doing that, Joe. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
By the way, do you know how many new millionaires a day were created in this country last year?
SPEAKER 20 :
That I don’t know. I’ve never looked.
SPEAKER 05 :
A thousand new millionaires a day. This country created over 360,000 new millionaires last year, John.
SPEAKER 20 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Is that a stunning number?
SPEAKER 20 :
That’s a big number. I mean, A, it tells you the value of the dollar isn’t what it used to be, but on the same token, it tells you that people are, that despite what some on the left will even tell you, in spite of that, they’re getting wealthier.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. And, John, you know I spend a lot of time down in Texas in the oil fields down there. John, there are literally hundreds of companies started with guys with nothing more than a high school education. They started out driving a truck, you know, hauling oil or crude oil or wastewater or fracking fluid. for somebody else and they start out their own business. And John, these guys, I mean, millionaires, you can’t spit without hitting a millionaire down in the oil. It’s amazing. And John, these are not MBAs. These are hardworking guys who started off in the oil field. And… And you can tell them most of them are driving $100,000 pickup trucks.
SPEAKER 20 :
Right, right. Which, you know, at the end of the day, and I’ve always looked at people like that, Joe, and I’ve even instructed some of my clients along these lines. Anytime I see somebody that’s successful, I don’t have an ounce of… of envy or bitterness or jealousy about that person. I look at them and say, you know what? Good job. What did they do that I didn’t do? How can I attain to that? But ultimately, at the end of the day, Joe, good job. You’ve done well. And you know what? We need more of you.
SPEAKER 05 :
They worked hard. They took a gamble. They took a loan to buy a truck. They probably took out a loan to buy the second truck and hire the second guy. That’s right. And they took risks. They gambled. And I’m going to go back to Obama. He used to speak derisively about life’s lottery winners. Well, these life’s lottery winners, guys like Steve Jobs and Willis Carrier, you know, these are the guys that took enormous risks. They gambled. They maxed out their credit cards. They borrowed. They took mortgages on their house to gamble on the opportunity to become a lottery winner. And for everyone who succeeded, there was 100 who failed. But these are the guys, Jeff Bezos, I mean, he was selling books out of his garage.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yep, packing them up himself.
SPEAKER 05 :
Packing them up, you know, he gambled. You know, Tesla, Leon Musk, when he bought Tesla, which he didn’t found Tesla, he bought Tesla. It was a struggling, money-losing company. He gambled. He made some money by selling PayPal. And he gambled a huge amount as well.
SPEAKER 20 :
All of it on that, basically. I’m sorry? He gambled most of it on that, Joe. I mean, it wasn’t a sure deal.
SPEAKER 05 :
He gambled most of the money he made from his interest in PayPal on buying this failing little electric car company called Tesla.
SPEAKER 20 :
Amazing.
SPEAKER 05 :
Huge risk.
SPEAKER 20 :
Oh, huge, yeah. And he did the same thing with SpaceX. And, you know, again, another great story. And he’s done very well. And he’s gambled many times and succeeded. Good for him.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. And by the way, SpaceX didn’t launch its first rocket ship for four years after they started.
SPEAKER 20 :
You don’t… Oh, and they had… They were at one point… There’s stories about… I’m sure you know this, Joe, but there’s stories about SpaceX to where they were literally down to no money. They had enough to maybe do one more launch, and if it failed, they were going to be done. Fortunately, they got down to the last launch. It succeeded, and the rest is history. But they were on the verge of not making it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, huge. And today, by the way… They have over 8,000 Starlink satellites in orbit around the country.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s amazing.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s amazing, Joe. And through those 8,000 satellites, they’ve brought Internet and communication services to even the deepest. There’s nowhere you can go on this planet right now where you can’t get, if you’ve got the right base station, equipment.
SPEAKER 20 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Middle of the Congo, you can get internet. It’s amazing. You can call an air ambulance in the middle of the Congo right now.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s awesome. By the way, I had to have the vision to even see all that through.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, and again, that thing, as we just talked about, John, was just a money hole, just sucking up cash. Yep, yep.
SPEAKER 20 :
To the point it almost failed.
SPEAKER 05 :
Almost failed.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, you want to talk about some really stupid stuff?
SPEAKER 20 :
Let’s do it.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, hunting season. Guy in Pennsylvania this week. Came home, didn’t bother to unload his shotgun after he got done hunting. Threw it on the bed. Dog jumps up on the bed. Paul hits the trigger, shoots the guy in the back.
SPEAKER 20 :
That’s amazing. I read that story. I’m just like, you’ve got to be kidding me. First of all, unload the dang, you know, weapon. Second of all, you know, why would the safety not be on? And, you know, lastly, man alive. You talk about, you know, a weird set of events to have the dog, you know, light off the shotgun. Oh, my word, Joe.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, unless it’s a self-defense pistol, you should never have a loaded gun in the house. You don’t bring a loaded hunting rifle or shotgun into the house.
SPEAKER 20 :
No, and I’m even one, and I don’t want to get too out there on things, Joe, but I’m one that even, you know, I don’t keep anything chambered. It only takes a second to chamber something. Typically, at that point in time, you’re going to have time. I mean, if the person’s that close and you don’t have time to chamber around, you’re probably in deep doo-doo anyways, Joe.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, you are.
SPEAKER 20 :
So I just—I don’t believe in having one in the chamber, period, no matter whether you’re home or whatever. I just don’t think it’s—I don’t think it’s good practice. And I know there’s a lot of gun-toting guys out there probably would just argue with everything I just said, but that’s me, Joe.
SPEAKER 05 :
I hear you. And, you know, each to his own, John. You know, and if you’re in a house with small children and you have a gun, you need to have it in a locked box. Absolutely. In the case of a locked box.
SPEAKER 20 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’ll take you about the same amount of time to chamber round as to open the locked box.
SPEAKER 20 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 05 :
But if my gun’s in a locked box, I’m okay having a round chamber. That’s right. If the gun’s inside of a locked box.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, and that’s fine. I have no issues with that, absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Let’s talk about more stupid stuff, this time by management. So this week in Oklahoma City, a young woman, I think she’s in her early 20s. She was a night clerk at a 7-Eleven in Oklahoma City. Guy comes in, tries to pass a fake $100 bill. She refuses the $100 bill. He tries to strangle her. Well, she worked in the night shift. She happened to have a gun, and she shot him. She didn’t kill him, but she shot him, and he was wounded, and the police came and took him to the hospital. But 7-Eleven fired her for violating their policy about having guns on them. That’s not my word. Dumb. Dumb. You want me to play the clip? Yeah, let’s play the clip. I can play the clip.
SPEAKER 11 :
I’ve got it. Here we go. Five-year-old Stephanie Dillard was a 7-Eleven clerk who faced terror after she says a man tried to strangle her after she refused to counterfeit $100 bill for burritos, beef sticks, and ice cream. It happened Thursday just before midnight.
SPEAKER 15 :
He threatened me, said that he was going to slice my head off. And then that’s when I tried to call the police. Realized he started throwing things at me. I came behind the counter. I tried to run off, but he grabbed his hands around my neck and pushed me out of the counter space. That’s when I pulled out my gun and I shot him.
SPEAKER 11 :
Police say the suspect, 59-year-old Kenneth Thompson, ran to MacArthur Boulevard and Northwest 34th Street and called 911. Police say Dillard is protected under Oklahoma’s self-defense law, but she says 7-Eleven Human Resources fired her Monday morning for using her own gun.
SPEAKER 20 :
By the way, bad PR for 7-Eleven, Joe. Bad PR.
SPEAKER 05 :
Bad PR.
SPEAKER 20 :
They should have thought through that a little farther than firing her Monday morning. Whoever’s in charge of HR at 7-Eleven, and I don’t know because 7-Eleven, they can be independently owned and so on. It’s more of a franchise thing. So at the end of the day, Joe, here’s my advice. If any of you are listening that are in that realm, that was the dumbest thing you could have ever done.
SPEAKER 05 :
John, they could have given her a reprimand.
SPEAKER 20 :
You could have even suspended her for, hey, we need to check a few things. Why don’t you take a week off? In fact, this happened to you. You probably should take a week off. We’ll give you a week off with pay. We’ll talk about things when you come back. That’s what they should have done.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, just kind of the stupid move by the management of 7-Eleven and smart move by the woman. I don’t think she for one second regrets having that gun.
SPEAKER 20 :
I think probably the only thing she might regret or that I would regret is she didn’t have good enough aim to drop him.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I don’t know if I’d want that on my conscience, but, you know… I don’t know.
SPEAKER 20 :
Given this guy was going to slit her throat, Joe, I mean, you’ve got to realize everything she said. If this guy actually did that, there’s probably video proving that that’s in fact what he did do. No offense, this guy doesn’t need to be walking around, period, because he’ll do it again.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep. No doubt, John. No doubt. And I wonder how much jail. Of course, it’s Oklahoma. He may get some jail time.
SPEAKER 20 :
He might. Yeah, it’s a little tougher there than other places. Absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
So let’s talk about stupid things. Let’s talk about two mayors. We have our socialist mayor… Zoran Mondami, we got two clips. He’s talking about he wants to empty the prisons in New York City. He’s claiming that violence is just an artificial construct, which the people get mugged on the New York City subway or shot in Times Square. And then we have Mayor Brandon Johnson. claiming that arresting criminals is racist. So can we play those two clips?
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, I’ll play this first one. Here we go.
SPEAKER 16 :
We’ve even found as legislators, when we go into these courts, the term violent crime is even used when people are stealing packages. Violent crime is even used when people are accused of burglary and there happens to be a housing unit in that same dwelling. So violence is an artificial construction.
SPEAKER 20 :
Really? Okay, so violence is an artificial construction, Joe. I’ve never really heard it called that before.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. And now let’s go on to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson claiming that arresting criminals is racist.
SPEAKER 02 :
We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence. We’ve already tried that. And we’ve ended up with the largest prison population in the world without solving the problems of crime and violence. The addiction on jails and incarceration in this country, we have moved past that. It is racist. It is immoral. It is unholy. And it is not the way to drive violence down.
SPEAKER 20 :
All righty then, so let’s not have any punishment fit a crime, Joe.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, yeah, let’s not, when we catch somebody, when these gangs want, you know, having a Saturday night shoot them up, you know, let’s not put it, let’s not arrest them and put them in jail. They were just blowing off some steam. Or when carjacking, you know, I forget how many carjackings a week they have in Chicago. That’s just racist.
SPEAKER 20 :
Far too many, as you know.
SPEAKER 05 :
Far too, yeah. All right, let’s move on. Let’s talk about ICE. Yeah. They announced that they were going to do a sweep down in Charlotte, North Carolina. I saw that. It was widely announced. It was called Operation Charlotte’s Web, and they flooded the city with ICE agents. Well, guess what? Monday morning, 21,000 kids didn’t show up for class.
SPEAKER 20 :
Amazing.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s 15%. That’s a huge number. It’s 15% didn’t show up for class. Wow. It wasn’t a protest, John. There was no protest like we’re going to keep our kids out of school in protest. These were just kids. Either they and some of these kids, when I say kids, they weren’t all fifth and sixth graders. Some of these were 17, 18-year-old high school kids. So either they were not legal or their parents weren’t legal. But 15% of the city’s school population didn’t show up for class this week because ICE was in town. And by the way, I ran a number. Nationwide, You know what the average cost to educate somebody in grades K through 12?
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, I know in Colorado, the last numbers I looked at, and I’m sure it’s climbed since, Joe, was about $13,500 here in Colorado, $13,500.
SPEAKER 05 :
The most recent national numbers, it was about $17,000. So I ran 21,000 kids times 17,000. John, that’s $327 million a year in taxpayer money. Wow. So if you assume those 21,000 kids are either not legal themselves or children of illegal immigrants— The Chicago School District, I mean, the Charlotte School District is spending $327 million a year to educate children who are either illegal aliens or children of illegal aliens.
SPEAKER 20 :
So that’s the cost. And that’s where the left has this false narrative telling everybody that there’s really no cost to what we’re doing along these lines. But at the end of the day, Joe, the costs are enormous.
SPEAKER 05 :
And that doesn’t count, by the way, Medicaid. And contrary to claims, we have 19 blue states. that have allowed and are continuing to allow illegal aliens to fully enroll in their state-administered Medicaid. Medicaid is a state-administered program, and the states get reimbursed by the federal government. Now, the big, beautiful bill says, hey, if you want to keep enrolling illegal aliens in your state-administered Medicaid program, you’re free to do that, but we’re going to exclude those people in our reimbursement calculation. But in California, you’ve got 21% of the population is on Medicaid. it’s just incredible numbers. So in addition to educational costs, John, you’ve got this massive Medicaid cost for people. We’ve got time to talk about electric ferry boats.
SPEAKER 20 :
Sure. Yeah, we can do one last one. Go for it. Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
Washington State, they took a 30-year-old ferry, and they decided they were going to pull out, rip out the diesel engines, because, you know, in Seattle, you got the sound up there, and you got The ferries go across, you know, from the mainland out to the island, out to the peninsula, if you will. You know, the sailors, they’re famous for their ferries. They spent $133,000 to retrofit one of their ferry boats. It’s a 30-year-old ferry, by the way, to all electric. They put it in service in July. It’s been out of service twice since then. They took it out of service again last week, and there’s no estimate of if and when it will ever be back in service. $133,000 for an electric ferry that they can’t keep.
SPEAKER 20 :
Unbelievable. I mean, Joe, I don’t have an engineering degree, never been to college, anything along those lines, but I could have told you from the get-go, bad idea.
SPEAKER 05 :
Bad idea.
SPEAKER 20 :
I guess maybe in my automotive experience I could have said, bad idea. There are certain applications, and you know my feelings on EVs and all of that. There are certain applications where they work very well. There are other applications, i.e. this one or school buses or even bigger buses or bigger trucks and so on, where it’s just not there yet, Joe. The technology hasn’t arrived, and it’s a ways away. And as you know, the biggest reason for that is just the sheer amount of weight that you need battery-wise to even make something like that happen.
SPEAKER 05 :
And not just the ferry zone. We’ve talked, I think, several times over the past six months. There’s been reports city after city where they’ve spent millions of dollars on electric school buses, and they’ve all either burned up or they’ve had to just park them because they’re not working. They have repeated failures. By the way, an electric school bus, last time I looked, a regular diesel school bus, I could be off by $10,000. I think an electric school bus costs around $120,000.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, I was going to say $150,000 or so maybe, but yeah, probably in that neighborhood, yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, between $110,000 and $150,000. The electric school buses are going between $350,000 and $400,000. Triple. And there’s yet to be a school system that’s been able to maintain, with any reasonable uptime, a fleet of electric school buses. And two of the electric school bus manufacturers, by the way, have gone bankrupt. So these school districts, when they try to go back to the manufacturer— They’re not there.
SPEAKER 20 :
They’re gone. They’re done.
SPEAKER 05 :
They’re gone. Yeah. So school district, you know, you’re— That money’s gone.
SPEAKER 20 :
It evaporated.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s gone. And these school buses are parked.
SPEAKER 20 :
Which, again, Joe, I could have told everybody on the front side, don’t do that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. Don’t try to, you know, don’t try to field and operate electric school buses. That’s right. The technology is not there yet. It is not. It is not.
SPEAKER 20 :
Joe, as always, man, I appreciate it. We will not talk next week because of Thanksgiving, so we’ll talk the week after.
SPEAKER 05 :
But I’ll be on Monday, I think, with Andy. I’ll be on Monday with Andy. All right, man. Talk to you on Monday.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right. Appreciate you, Joe, very much. Have a great rest of your evening. Let’s do this. Gino’s Auto Service coming up next. All of your vehicle needs in one-stop shopping. Ginosautoservice.com. Gino starts with a J.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s the holiday season and a great time to take advantage of Geno’s Auto Service’s alignment and tire rotation special. Winter in Colorado can be tough on your car. Now, through the end of the month, save $30 and get your vehicle aligned and all four tires rotated. Geno’s can also check to see that your heater is working properly with the cold months ahead. Have you ever noticed how your tires have a way of finding holes in the pavement? With consistent alignments every 5,000 to 10,000 miles, your vehicle will get better gas mileage and longer tire life. At Geno’s, we offer loaner vehicles so you can drop your car off and pick up when ready. Geno’s is AAA approved and located at Bowles and Platt Canyon. Save $30 on an alignment and tire rotation. Geno’s Auto Services is celebrating our 43rd holiday season. Thank you to all our clients and longtime customers for your patronage and support. We truly appreciate it. Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Stop in or visit us online at genosautoservice.com.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning, whereby you can make an appointment online. I know I mentioned that a lot, but you can. Just go to klzradio.com, look for Cub Creek, and then make that appointment online. Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning, again, klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 10 :
When your furnace goes out, Cub Creek heating and AC turns panic into peace. Picture this. It’s midnight. You hear clanging downstairs and a cool breeze wafts past you. You can already see your breath and your kids are huddled under blankets while you frantically Google emergency HVAC near me. instead you should have become a cub creek member already cub creek members enjoy priority service calls especially in emergencies and cub creek proactively calls you for things like maintenance tune-ups and filter changes they will have a record of your service and equipment history helping them diagnose and prevent problems even before they can start so be your family’s hero and call our reams certified pro partner cub creek to become a member so you never have to worry about whether your furnace will keep working or not. Find Cub Creek Heating and AC on the klzradio.com advertisers page and klzradio.com slash HVAC.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, veteran windows and doors. Save money, by the way, by using veteran windows and doors, because in doing so, you’re going direct from the source to you. Find them today at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 12 :
When you invest in new windows and doors for your home, choose the company that educates you and gives you honest, fair pricing. Veteran Windows and Doors. At Veteran, the goal isn’t to close the sale. It’s to make sure you’re fully educated on what you’re buying. Windows and doors that meet and exceed rating and code requirements, along with their installation that is better than what the state of Colorado requires. Owner Dave Bancroft believes it’s doing business the right way. No pushy tactics, no emotional pressure, and no fake extra discount if you sign right now. Veteran Windows and Doors proudly stands behind their work with a five-year labor warranty with over 20 years of partnership with Provia. There is no middleman, meaning more savings for you. And when you invest in your home, start with the right company so you’ll never have regrets. Choose Veteran Windows and Doors, where integrity, quality, and service come standard. Find them on our advertisers page at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 07 :
This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Phil Kirpin should be joining us here in a moment. Charlie’s going to get him rounded up. He is the president of American Commitment, and we’re going to talk a little bit about AARP and their role in pushing for a massive insurance bailout. So we’ll talk to Phil here in just one moment. Again, yeah, for those of you listening, you’ll hear Joe again on Monday with Andy. I am off next week, which is three days because of Thanksgiving and the way that falls. I’ll be off for a couple of days next week. Andy will be here on Monday, and then Wednesday he’ll have his special movie review show heading into the four-day weekend, whereby you’ll know exactly what movies to watch, and even on the rental side and so on, because that’s a weekend where a lot of folks do just that. Phil is up next. Phil, welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m doing great. How are you?
SPEAKER 20 :
I’m doing good. Phil Kirpin, American Commitment. Talk to us about AARP.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, this is an organization that kind of sometimes still pretends to be a seniors advocacy group, but really has become functionally a marketing and advocacy arm of UnitedHealth. which is their exclusive health insurance partner. And, you know, we’ve been tracking this for a number of years. They were getting about $700 or $800 million per year from UnitedHealth because they skim 6%, actually 5.95% to be exact, off the top of all the premiums and all the AARP-branded UnitedHealth products, which adds up to a huge amount of money. But then something happened that shocked even us as people who’d been tracking this for years, which is, They got a one-time payment last year of $9.062 billion. That’s a billion with a B. $9.062 billion, which I guess is in advance against the next 12 years of royalty payments. So I don’t know why they accelerated to this crazy giant one-time payment, but I’ve never heard of some money anything like that going into an advocacy organization. So they were already… big now they’re much much bigger and uh… they are a fourth four people in all of the health care policy debate we have in washington and now they’ve they’re loaded with you know more money than anyone’s ever seen in that the contact so it’s uh… computer
SPEAKER 20 :
Just to inform all the listeners and even myself, I don’t follow AARP a lot. I have never joined them, even though age-wise I could. I don’t believe in what they do because a lot of what you’re talking about. But I think there’s a lot of folks out there, Phil, that may not know exactly what AARP does. In fact, they look at them as that, you know, hey, I’m 55 plus now. I should join. I get these benefits, blah, blah, blah. Give us a real scoop on what they actually do.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, the main business that they’re in is the Medicare business, Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare supplemental plans. And they have this exclusive arrangement with UnitedHealth, and they’ve got tons of lawyers. So instead of calling it a commission, they call it a royalty for the use of their name, and that way they don’t have to comply with any of the insurance regulations. But they get a skim off the top of all of those premiums. And when they started doing this, It was 3.95%, then they raised it to 4.95%. Now it’s 5.95%. And it basically means that they would rather you pay higher rather than lower premiums because they make more money. They make more money, right. They’re in one of these plans. They’ve actually gone up quite a lot. And so, you know, it’s not like they’re advocating for you trying to get a better deal. They’re… Essentially, they function like part of UnitedHealth, more or less. But because they were originally founded as a seniors group and they still have a well-known brand and so forth, they also can weigh in politically. And so during, for instance, the Inflation Reduction Act debate, probably the most ridiculously misnamed bill since the Affordable Care Act, but they also support it. During the Inflation Reduction Act today, we actually tracked, you know, they don’t say vote for this member of Congress because they don’t want to cross the line with their tax status. They kind of walk up, tiptoe up to the line. They say this person’s a hero for seniors and a champion of Social Security and a wonderful person and all this kind of stuff. And they gave that full loving treatment. We did this analysis for the 2022 cycle. We haven’t done it for 24. We probably should. But in the 2022 cycle, they did this sort of the full loving treatment for I don’t remember the exact number, but it was 80 something. I think members of Congress, House and Senate and all but one were Democrats. And the one Republican was Mike Crapo, a senator from Idaho who didn’t even really have an opponent. So it’s like, you know, they were about as partisan as you can imagine. And so, you know, they’ve got this scheme where they raise massive amounts of money from the insurance industry. They funnel a lot of it back to Democrats who push. you know, subsidies and giveaways to the insurance industry, like we’re seeing right now in this Obamacare debate. And then it cycles back through them. And it’s very corrupt. And unfortunately, here’s my problem, is I can point to this and say, oh, my God, don’t listen to this group. Look at all the money they’re on the take from the insurance industry. But, you know, a lot of politicians here, when I say that, they say, oh, my God, they have $9 billion. I better not cross them. You know, so I can say, I can shine a spotlight on it, but that doesn’t make the money go away. That’s the problem we’ve got.
SPEAKER 20 :
This is amazing, and of course they’re pushing for the bailouts, I’m assuming, because it makes them look better at the end of the day, even though it’s the tax money of the people that they’re actually having, you know, the tax dollars of the members themselves that are actually funding that.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I mean, they’ve now got a pretty lengthy tradition of betraying their own notional members. It’s interesting, there was actually a lawsuit in federal court on this issue of uh… you know whether they were betraying an obligation for members by like monetizing them filling the more expensive products and giving it off the top and they they they got a lot of different after the way to get out of this method they went to the court and they said you know we all we have an ordinary business relationship with our members we have no obligation to them and uh… that’s apparently the way there documents are written up and so you know they won by telling the truth in court but it told you a lot about the business they’re actually on
SPEAKER 20 :
Meaning if you’re out there listening and you’ve, which I’m guessing most of my listeners don’t belong, but if you’re somebody out there listening and you’ve somehow or another made that mistake and belong, find another organization, Phil, because at the end of the day, I wouldn’t belong to them at all because of everything you’re saying. And I knew a lot of that on the front side, knew how politically involved they were. I really don’t know why you’d be involved with them, period.
SPEAKER 03 :
I would agree with that, but especially if you’re right now doing your Medicare enrollment and you’re looking at different plans, I would be very skeptical of the AARP plan. That’s right. Maybe it’s got all your doctors and you’re used to it and you want to stick with it, but understand they’re skimming 60% off the top every single month of your premium. That’s right. And also, make sure you don’t shop for your Medicare plans on the AARP website because they have an exclusive deal with United. You’re not going to see anyone else’s plans.
SPEAKER 20 :
Interesting.
SPEAKER 03 :
So go to Medicare.gov where you can see all the plans.
SPEAKER 20 :
Good advice. Phil, how do folks find you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Americancommitment.org is our website. You can also follow me on X. It’s my last name, Kirpen, K-E-R-P-E-N.
SPEAKER 20 :
Always a joy, Phil. Appreciate you very much. Keep up the good work.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks a lot. Have a good one.
SPEAKER 20 :
You bet. Have a great night. Phil Kirpen again, American Commitment Roof Savers of Colorado, coming up next. Again, save money on, speaking of insurance, you can do that on your homeowner’s insurance by having your roof rejuvenated with the RoofMax product. 303-710-6916.
SPEAKER 19 :
August heat and those September storms can really take a toll on your roof here in Colorado. But before you shell out thousands for a full replacement, call Roof Savers of Colorado. Roof Savers offers Roof Max, a quick, affordable, eco-friendly treatment that restores flexibility and extends the life of your asphalt shingles. all for a fraction of the cost of a new roof. As the seasons start to change, now is the perfect time to get ahead of winter damage. In just one treatment, RoofMax rejuvenates your roof, improves protection, and gives you peace of mind before the snow hits. Call Roof Savers of Colorado today for a free roof assessment at 303-710-6916 or visit us at RoofSaversCo.com and ask about our seasonal specials. Roof Savers of Colorado, we add years to your roof and protection to your home.
SPEAKER 20 :
Group Insurance Analysts, they’re a broker. They shop for you. Speaking of that whole Medicare supplemental thing Phil was just talking about a moment ago, GIA does all of that as well. E-GIA.com.
SPEAKER 09 :
Finding the right home and auto insurance can be confusing, and picking the wrong plan can cost you thousands of dollars more out of your pocket. You need an expert in home and auto insurance to help you find the best coverage that fits your needs and at the very best premium. Call Paul DeNigro at GIA Insurance, and his team of home and auto insurance specialists will help you find the right plan for your needs. As independent brokers, GIA Insurance can help you shop the market so that you get the right coverage at the right price. GIA never charges fees and your premiums will never be any higher than going directly to the insurance companies or buying online. Receive the local hands-on service that you don’t get with a call center or online. Whether it is your home, auto, classic car, or liability insurance, GIA has got you covered. Call 303-423-0162, extension 100, or go online to e-gia.com. Get more without paying more.
SPEAKER 08 :
The best export we have is Common Sense. You’re listening to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, we are back. About 20 minutes or so left of today’s program is all. You can call in, by the way. Don’t have anything scheduled for the rest of the show. Guess twice, 303-477-5600. Anything on your mind, we’re here. And for me, this will be the last time you probably talk to me. We’ll have tomorrow’s show, of course, with movies and all of that. But as far as talking to me about anything politically speaking or whatever, today is it. until we get back from Thanksgiving. I’m taking next week off, as I said earlier. So if you want to call in, feel free to do so. 303-477-5600. Somebody sent me, one of you listeners, I should say, sent me an article. I didn’t talk about this yesterday, but the internet… in a portion of the Internet, let me say it that way, Cloudflare was down yesterday, and they are about 24% or 27%, somewhere in that neighborhood, 25% of web traffic. They control it. And they went down. And supposedly because there was a particular instruction file, let me just say it that way, that was too large, And somehow that got put into the system and it shut it down. And I know I’m for those of you that are out there on the programming, engineering, you know, computer side, I know I’m making it very simple, but that’s essentially what happened. So what somebody sent me was that we’re on borrowed time as far as the Internet is concerned across the board now. i take all of this with a little bit of a grain of salt because i think the internet’s a little bit more robust than probably this particular article out of binance b-i-n-a-n-c-e binance is saying but this thing’s basically saying uh borrow time your internet died for eight hours on november 18th because a configuration file got too big again that instruction file Not hackers, not a cyber attack. A text file grew too large. So X, ChatGPT, Clod, Shopify, and thousands of platforms and websites went completely dark. $1.2 billion vanished. Nobody could work. Nobody could pay. The digital economy flatlined. Well, again, that’s an exaggeration. Because, no, it didn’t. Yes, there were certain things that were not working with the Internet, but the entire Internet wasn’t down. I mean, these articles are great, but they’re very scary. And they’re done on purpose, so people will read them, of course. I mean, I understand how the journalistic end of things work, and the more scary you can make something sound, the more people will come and read it, and then it gets shared, and so on and so forth, which is exactly what happened here. And I’m not knocking that. That’s just the nature of the beast. It’s sort of like anybody that used to work back in the paper days in the journalistic end of things. You’d want a good headline. Every editor wanted a good headline for tomorrow’s paper, for the morning news. Some shocking headline, right, Charlie? That’s what sold the newspaper. Because if somebody saw the shocking headline standing at the bus station, they’d grab the paper. If it bleeds, it leads. There you go, Charlie. Thank you. If it bleeds, it leads. And so that’s how this works. So I’m not saying that some of what’s in here isn’t true, but is it as bad as what… They’re saying, you know, it goes on to say, this is a warning. What they’re not telling you. Cloud fire or cloud flare, I should say, controlled 25% of all web traffic. Mathematical models prove that at 23 to 27% concentration, internet failure stopped being isolated instance and become civilization scale cascades. Now, time out. Time out. Civilization scale cascades. Do we have to have the Internet to function? Last I checked, I can walk, eat, breathe, do whatever I want to do, even travel without the Internet. I mean, I’ve been around long enough to remember when it didn’t exist. I’m that old. And we did just fine without it. Now, has it been easier with it? Well, of course it has. But did we function and do business and so on prior to the Internet? Yeah, we did. I did. Everybody did. And even in today’s world, if the Internet doesn’t function, can you not do business? I get some businesses rely on the Internet to do their business. I understand that. But not every business does. We talked a lot today about Hunter from Cub Creek. Do you think he can’t come out and fix your furnace if the Internet’s down? Yes, he can come out and fix your furnace if the Internet’s down. You know, again, even in the car world, like I’ve been all my life and owning repair shops and so on. And I will admit, if the Internet goes down, does it make working on your vehicle a little bit harder? Yes, it does. Does it make it impossible? No. Now, do we need electricity and other things? Believe it or not, throughout the years of running my own shops, there were times where the electricity would go out or a leg of the electricity would go out. I had three phase back in that day, and if one leg went down, you’d have portions of the shop that wouldn’t function. And you know what? We worked around that. You can still do oil changes with a jack and a creeper, for example. I mean, we figured out ways to still get things done. My point is, this is a lot of scare tactics, right? There is no such thing involving the Internet that’s civilization debilitating. we can live without it. Now, would it be hard? Yes. Would we live? Yes. We would be just fine at the end of the day. All right, I’m going to take a break. I got one more thing to talk about here as soon as we come back. Golden Eagle Financial coming up next. Al Smith, which when it comes to finances and all the things that I’ve even talked about there, talk to Al today. Don’t forget, you’ve got certain decisions that need made by the end of the year when it comes to 401ks and IRAs and things like that. Now’s the time to talk to Al. Call him directly. Go to klzradio.com to find him.
SPEAKER 06 :
Money you save in retirement goes further with the help of Golden Eagle Financial. Taxes don’t retire when you do, and they can eat up significant portions of your retirement savings. That’s why you need a sound strategy from Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial. Al’s relational approach to retirement planning means he’ll get to know the whole you, including your goals and history of saving. And Golden Eagle will help you utilize financial products that will best benefit you. saving taxes, helping you defer taxes where it makes sense, and skipping them altogether if or when that’s possible. Tax evasion is illegal, but tax avoidance is encouraged by the IRS. So let Golden Eagle Financial help you figure out how to avoid taxes where you can, using Roth IRAs and other products, and be strategic in your plan for retirement. Find Golden Eagle on the advertisers page at klzradio.com and send out a message for a free, no obligation consultation. That’s klzradio.com slash money. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Management LLC, registered investment advisor. BCM and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
SPEAKER 20 :
Flesh law, civil, criminal, you name it, Kevin’s there to help represent you. Find him by dialing 303-806-8886.
SPEAKER 17 :
Here’s why you need personal injury attorney Kevin Flesch on your side. He understands the way the jury thinks. In the context of a personal injury case, you’ve been hurt by someone else’s negligence. The idea is that you’re going to try to recover so that you can get back to where you were just prior to that incident occurring. What that really means from a jurist’s perspective is that you’re going to be asking them to award you money. So when we talk about fairness, we’re talking about six people that you don’t know. Those six people view the evidence and make a unanimous decision that will decide what the fair value is. When you’re the one who’s hurt, you have a good idea of what you think it’s worth. The question is, can you persuade those other individuals whom you don’t know and were witnesses to believe that’s what the case is worth? Kevin Flesch understands the way the jury thinks. Call now for a free consultation. 303-806-8886
SPEAKER 13 :
As independent brokers, GIA Insurance can help you shop the market so that you get the right coverage at the right price. Whether it is your home, auto, classic car, or liability insurance, GIA has got you covered. Call 303-423-0162, extension 100, or go online to e-gia.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
It’s time to leave your safe space. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, this next article, again, one of you sent in to me. I appreciate that and always appreciate the things you guys send. I can’t talk about everything you send, but I get to a good portion of them, so I appreciate that. So keep sending is my point. This one I think I’ve talked about in the past. In fact, I think it’s been long enough now to where I think even my old cohort, Dan and I, talked about this back in the day. But this is just stupidity. I have no other way to say this. So it’s a move. that might stink to some parents, but there’s a new age way to change a newborn’s diaper or undies. So drenched diapers are no longer messes that need to be ripped off a baby’s bottom. Post haste, according to new advice by early childhood development researchers in Australia, instead experts encourage moms and dads to request an infant’s consent. Again, folks, this is the dumbest thing. Who are these people? These people, they need their heads examined. I mean, I don’t know how they become an early childhood development expert or researcher because, you know what, I’ve changed plenty of diapers in my day, and I never once asked for permission. And the youngest, Richard, who you hear on the radio periodically, and all of my kids, by the way, are functioning adults today, and they do just fine. I never once asked permission to change my kid’s diaper. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I mean, am I supposed to, you know, first of all, when they’re really young, they don’t even know what you’re saying. And they can’t respond. I mean, kids can start responding depending upon, you know, their development and so on and how quickly they develop. And every kid’s different. You know, some kids develop quickly, some don’t. But, you know, they’ll kind of start talking to you when they’re, you know, two. By two and a half to three, they can put a sentence together and do fairly well. By four, they’re talking pretty well. Which, honestly, this is the other thing I was wondering about on this particular article. A lot of kids are potty trained by the time you could even ask them, is it okay if I change your diaper? Which, I’m not asking a kid. If his diaper, his or her diaper is dirty, it’s going to get changed whether they like it or not. And, frankly, that’s for the safety and hygiene of said child. Because all of us know, any of you that have been a parent, know what it’s like to have a child stay in a diaper longer than they need to. That’s where diaper rash and all sorts of other things come from because they’ve been in it longer than they should have been. And I also know that there are some kids, because I had kids, they’d sit in that dirty diaper all day long if you’d let them. They don’t care. Doesn’t bother them any. In fact, some kids are so busy, they don’t even want to stop long enough to have mom or dad change the diaper. So if you were to ask consent, they would say no. Again, I don’t know who these bozos are inside of this particular research group in Australia, but I can tell you right now, they are bozos. And probably have never raised their own kids, I’m guessing. So it says here, at the start of a nappy change, you can tell who’s, you know, not a diaper change, but a nappy. I guess that’s what they call it in Australia. Ensure your child knows what is happening. Yeah, they’re going to know what’s happening. Lay them down. Get your legs up. Your diaper’s coming off. We’re going to do a change. How hard is this? Researchers from the Deakin University wrote in November of 2025, get down to their level and say you need a nappy change. And then pause so they can take all this in. We wonder why we have screwed up kids and individuals today. Here’s part of it. But their offbeat directives for cleaning a cutie’s patootie is a task that parents often rush to just to get it done, the researchers said. Don’t just end there. Then you can say, do you want to walk or crawl with me to the changing table? Or would you like me to carry you? Again, folks, that’s not how this works. We’re not letting the kid make up their own mind as to how they’re going to get their diaper changed. You change it. This isn’t rocket science. I mean, I read some of these things at times, and I just want my head to explode. It feels like it’s going to explode, I guess I should say. I mean, I can’t believe that there’s this many dumb experts out there. And I’m using that term on purpose, dumb experts. So the experts further noted this can be a time to help children learn about consent and how their bodies work. No, they just poop their pants. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I’m going to ask permission to change, you know, in this case, my kid’s dirty diaper. Yeah, no, folks, we’ve got to get back to reality. We’re not asking permission. The kid’s pooped his pants or wet himself or herself, one of the two. They need changed. That’s the end of the discussion. You do what you need to do to get them changed. And I know, again, I’ve been a parent. I know what this is like. Sometimes they’re busy. They’re running around. You’ve got to get them to stop to even get the diaper changed and so on. And they don’t want to have the diaper changed because they’re busy and they’re playing and they’re doing this and they’re doing that. I get it. You’re the parent. You’re in charge. They’re not. I don’t know why these researchers don’t understand what I just said. You’re the parent. You’re in charge. They’re not. They’re the kid. And I don’t know why this is so hard for certain individuals to understand. I mean, we’re trying to raise just literally generations of wussies over and over and over again. I just – again, this stuff just makes my head explode. Keep sending these articles, by the way. My head won’t explode. I will be fine. I’ll talk about these things on air. We can let our heads explode together, I guess, because – You that sent this, you’re doing the same thing I’m doing because we had that conversation back and forth. It’s just utter, utter lunacy. I have no other way to say it. So, Dr. Scott, coming up next. And I know I talk about it a lot, but Dr. Scott is there to be your wellness. not your crisis care doctor. In other words, he’s there to help you be more well on a regular basis, and he does all sorts of things to make that happen. Blood panels, peptides, different things that help you be healthier as time goes by. 303-663-6990.
SPEAKER 14 :
What if you could get over 110 lab biomarkers tested, just like Dr. Mark Hyman advertises, but for a fraction of the cost, and with a doctor who actually explains the results? At Castle Rock Regenerative Health, Dr. Scott Faulkner has recreated this powerful biomarker test panel at a substantial savings. For the month of November, we have a special price for both men and women. Just $689. That’s a savings of over $2,500 over the standard price. And here’s the difference. With Hyman, you get numbers on a page. With Castle Rock Regenerative Health, you get Dr. Faulkner and his team walking you through every result, showing what’s off and creating a personalized plan to fix it. What’s even better, you don’t even have to be a concierge patient to get this pricing. This is open to everyone. Think about it. Most people’s deductible is higher than this special price. And your regular doctor, if he could get approved by your insurance, would never order this many tests, let alone know what to do with them. Call 303-663-6990 today or visit CastleRockRegenerativeHealth.com. That’s 303-669-6990. Take control of your health at Castle Rock Regenerative Health.
SPEAKER 07 :
Stay up to date with Rush to Reason after the show on Twitter at Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 20 :
All right, that’s it for today. Tomorrow, three movies. Andy will review Wicked for Good, Rental Family, and Sisu, Road to Revenge. And then, of course, NFL picks. Then movie rental hour is going to be Movies with Gold, not just in the name, but in the movie. That’s up tomorrow. Have a great evening. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you.
