On this episode of Rush to Reason, John Rush brings his unfiltered perspective on a range of issues influencing everyday life. First, he tackles the renewed attempt by Volkswagen to capture the market with its latest van, pointing out consumer concerns and market mishaps. Then, the conversation flows into an analysis of law enforcement challenges when addressing illegal driving and the potential fixes involving cooperation with ICE. Energy is high as the discussion then pivots to public transportation woes, learning from other cities’ successes, and the application of these solutions to Denver’s traffic headaches. The episode also features a
SPEAKER 07 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 03 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 07 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 03 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did.
SPEAKER 05 :
Get a job, sir. You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 12 :
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 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 05 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 08 :
And we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Lots of comments, by the way, on our car review today. Don’t normally get many comments on reviews, so today is a little bit of an exception to that. A lot of you chiming in on that particular vehicle. I think some of you probably have seen it. I mean, there was a lot of push. around Volkswagen coming back out with a bus, which one of you was correct in saying that, yeah, they lost a lot of that market even when minivans came out. Iacocca, of course, was the inventor, quote-unquote, of the minivan. He was. It revived not just the K car, but it revived Chrysler back when he took over. And, yeah, I would say it had a huge impact upon the bus. And I think in this case they really felt like they were regaining some of that market that might have had a bus of old, but at the end of the day, in their sales show, I’m not the only reviewer out there, by the way, that feels the same way. I don’t think I’ve read any other reviews that talk about the price like we did. I just feel like value-wise, it’s just not there. And for those of you that chimed in and texted in, I appreciate that you all had great comments. So thank you for that. And our guess that we were going to have here at this point, which I did talk about on the zero bail, cashless bail, is not – available so we’ll continue on just like we always do so what that means is i don’t have any any guests this hour so if you’ve got something on your mind something you want to talk about we got to talking about even in that last hour before richard talking about sorting and storage and hoarding and all of that whatever i’ve got this open you can do whatever you want to especially now in this particular segment 303 477 5600 but you know i try to be as honest in those reviews as i can and manufacturers miss the mark sometimes Now, I will say of the last decade, maybe even decade plus, Charlie and I were talking about this at the top of the hour, most vehicles, for their intended purposes, do pretty well. They do enough studies and demographic studies and target markets and who’s going to buy the vehicle and who are we trying to attract and so on and so forth. For the most part, they do a pretty good job. There are some misses. You know, Ford had one with naming the EV Mustang the Mach EV. Stupid. Dumb. Whoever was at Ford and came up with that’s a moron. Maybe it was a team of people, but a team of morons came up with that. Stupid. Dumb. Why manufacturers do some of the things they do, that one I don’t have an answer for. I’m guessing, just like I said, they get a group of people together around a table, somebody makes some sort of an ultimate decision, and they think it’s a great idea, and off they go. In a lot of cases, though, nothing could be farther from the truth. And there’s been bombs of vehicles in the past. They’re not always hits. Typically, they are. But they aren’t always. And these manufacturers can have, you know, they can stub their toe from time to time. And this is one of those, in my opinion, where Volkswagen stubbed its toe. They came out. They had a recall on the back seat because you could actually fit three people in it, even though it’s supposed to be designed for two. I mean, somebody at Volkswagen did not do their homework before launching that vehicle in the U.S. John and Cheyenne, you’re next, though.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, John, with the Volkswagen van, there’s not a lot of potheads left anymore that can’t afford it. That’s the only thing they can afford.
SPEAKER 08 :
You’re probably correct in that. You’re probably not wrong, John.
SPEAKER 06 :
My brother’s a minivan guy because he uses it for work. Chrysler minivans, he’s had like three of them. And he says they perfectly hold two bodies with no problem.
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Oh, geez.
SPEAKER 06 :
He’s a funeral director. Two bodies. Yep, he can fit two bodies in the back of his minivan with all the seats up. That’s hilarious. Take it out. So just in case somebody needs to get rid of a body or two, there you go.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s hilarious. Well, and again, and to your point, John, I think that’s, I didn’t mention that, but Richard kind of alluded to it. The problem in that market is, you know, you might really like the retro look and all of that, but when you go price that against a fully loaded, you know, you can go to Toyota, you can go to Hyundai, you know, the Carnival, and on and on we go. I mean, you can look at a lot of other products that, by the way, are a better product than the one I just drove that are $20,000 or more or less.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah. Well, it’s the same thing. And I wanted to talk to you about the first hour, but we’re looking at getting a third vehicle. We want a SUV with a third row. And the Sequoia has the ground clearance we need, and so does the Tahoe. But the price difference between those two is a… I don’t know how Chevy’s getting that money, because you can get a Sequoia for like $15,000 less, almost the same loadings. And the New York Tolos are unbelievable, 90 grand.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, they start at 75. They can approach 100 or more depending upon how you equip one, what engine option you do, and so on. Now, here’s the catch, and this is where it’s going to be interesting to see how well the Sequoias do on the resale market now because they typically in the past, that’s one of the few Toyota products that doesn’t do really well on the resale. And I don’t know why, John, but they’ve never done super well
SPEAKER 06 :
on the resale side where tahoe’s you know tahoe’s and yukon’s you know their resale is always good it’s always strong well and you know me i’m i’m keeping it to 200k minimum i’m not worried about reselling it you know it’s got 200 or more so that’s that’s just us we don’t believe in buying a new car every few years i mean we’re going to upgrade the 11 ram keep one Ram and get a second SUV-type vehicle. But going back to the first hour when you were talking about these drivers, and I deal with them on a daily basis on I-80, it’s the, well, let’s talk about the guy that killed all those people on I-70 a few years back.
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Right, Denver West, yep.
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And that Polish commuted his sentence? Right. I mean… Was that guy an illegal, too?
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Yes, he was.
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I can’t remember.
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Yes, he was.
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And I believe ICE has a hold on him for when he gets ready to get out. He’s going to immediately go back to where he came from, hopefully. But that’s the other thing, is you’re going to send this guy back to where he came from after his sentence unless we have a Democrat, and then they might say, well, he can stay.
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Right.
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And that was crazy.
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Correct.
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And one of the things I was reading about him, though, is he got his original license in Washington State.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. I saw that, too.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and then California honored the Washington State license and gave him a California license. So, I mean, when I took my CDL test, it was all in English and it was only in English. Are they even giving the test in other languages would be my first question.
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Yep. Agree.
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Are they? Do you know if they are or not?
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If they’re requiring English? Not until now. No, they haven’t been. They’ve been given the test in Spanish and in English, both.
SPEAKER 06 :
So, the guy that killed all those people on I-70… didn’t need to know how to read and write English road signs.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, that’s one of the things Trump is really pushing right now, is he wants all of them to be able to speak English, and there’s a big push now to change some of that. But no, in the past, you could have taken the test in Spanish.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, wow. That’s crazy.
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Yes.
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How do you communicate with police or anything? And we had this discussion before, but I’m going to say it again. Part of our problem are the highway patrolmen don’t want to do their job. and pull over the ones that need to be pulled over. As you said, they’ll pull over the legal ones because they can write a check.
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Well, I think it’s two things, John, and I’m not trying to step on toes of police officers, and I know some, by the way, so I don’t think I’m stepping on toes because most of the ones I know would agree with my statement, what I’m going to say next, John. It’s a hassle pulling over that person that’s illegal. Not only is there no check going to be written, but just the whole hassle factor in what you’re doing there, it’s much easier to pull over you and me.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah, it’s easier, but I don’t know if you saw this. About three weeks ago, the governor of Wyoming informed the head of the highway patrol here, I don’t know what his exact title is, that they will cooperate with ICE, and any time they have an illegal that they pull over for any reason, they’ll contact ICE.
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Interesting.
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And so I know the troopers will, you know, I mean, there’s other states around that are doing that.
SPEAKER 08 :
You won’t see that in Colorado. Not right now until the feds push to make that change, which it’s Jersey Joe sent me another example of where the feds can withhold money on the gas tax end of things. They did that when certain states wouldn’t raise the drinking age.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yep, and they also did it when they wouldn’t lower the speed limit.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. I said that one earlier, but I had forgotten about the drinking age limit.
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I’ve been in and out of the truck.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, that’s fine. Point being, I do think they could put some teeth to this whole, you’re not going to give CDLs, commercial driver’s licenses, to illegal aliens any longer. Call it whatever you want. Undocumented people, I should say. They’re not citizens, but undocumented workers, blah, blah, blah. You could state that however you want to, John. This administration will say illegal aliens, but you could withhold…
SPEAKER 06 :
federal funding on the gas tax end of things if they don’t want to abide and i think that’s something the administration needs to look at well i don’t know if colorado would miss that money because they don’t do anything to fix the roads anyway well they just divert it to everywhere else so they’d sure miss it absolutely they would no i i’m just joking no you get it you get it yeah they’ll send you know they won’t be able to build that next bike pad um Did you see that other article just talking about transportation where it’s like five cents of every dollar is what the fare goes towards on RTD? It was a recent article.
SPEAKER 08 :
I didn’t see that. No, I did not.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. It was like out of every dollar, five cents of it is fare and the rest is all subsidies.
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Interesting.
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Which, well, if you look up New York City and the same way, They, every time, instead of raising the subway fares and the railroad fares, they raise the tolls on the bridges and tunnels because it’s all part of one transit authority, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, they call it. And so that’s how they get away with it. So that’s why you’ll pay $14 one way to go over a bridge.
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Oh, gotcha.
SPEAKER 06 :
But one other thing, I know you’re coming up on a break, I’m sorry. The RTD could learn some valuable lessons from New York City. When there’s a home game, Yankees or Mets, there’s a station right outside both of the stadiums. And behind the train that’s sitting there waiting from, like, the seventh inning on, we’ll use baseball, there are trains lined up for all the way back, and they put extra trains with extra people in. and they just load them up and let them go one after the other about every three minutes. You know what I mean? And RTD could learn a lot by doing that, like, from Union Station after the Rockies game, or isn’t there a station fairly close to Mile High, right?
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Yes, there is. That’s right.
SPEAKER 06 :
And if they had a half a dozen trains lined up, you know, you bring the guys in, you could probably cut down a third of the traffic because, John, and I know you’re not a mass transit guy, But somebody say coming up from Centennial, if he knew he could get on a train and get home without having to worry about sitting in the traffic on 25, would he do it?
SPEAKER 08 :
I would. Here’s my thing. I would if I knew I didn’t need to wait a half an hour or more for the train. If I knew I could get on the train within 5 to 10 minutes, I absolutely would, John. The problem is you can’t in most cases.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. And so then you’re in your car and you’re sitting in traffic for 40 minutes until the jam breaks. Or… You take a walk and go maybe get a bite to eat and wait an hour.
SPEAKER 08 :
They make it too cumbersome is what you’re saying at the end of the day to use it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, whereas if they made it easy, they would cut down that ballgame traffic. And, you know, they’re going to say, well, not as many people would want to pay to park. Well, that’s okay. That’s private parking around most of the stadiums except for right at the stadium.
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Right.
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So I understand that, but if they could just get somebody with it, a little common sense and say, well, New York is doing this for over 100 years. Let’s go see how they do it.
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Keyword, keyword, common sense.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. John, have a great rest of your day. You too, man.
SPEAKER 08 :
John, I appreciate it. I’ve got several things to talk about, a couple of text message questions as well. I will talk about one of them when I come back. Golden Eagle Financial is up next. Great interview Al did of late. Anything when it comes to finances, we’re going to talk a little finances here on another article I read that’s right along the line of Al Smith. But if you need any help from Al, give him a call today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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TJ here with KLZ Radio. Once again, I have Al Smith from Golden Eagle Financial with me. Al, what are some of the common mistakes that people make before they come see you?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, one that I sometimes talk to them about that they really have no control over is not having started to save for retirement at an early enough age, because that’s the biggest mistake people can make. But it’s not one that they can correct. You can only do what you can do right now. Another mistake, once people are fully retired, sometimes they help their children out too much.
SPEAKER 16 :
What’s that look like for someone that helps out one of their kids? You know, obviously they’re just trying to be benevolent, that kind of thing. What are some mistakes that we can make in that?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I’ve met some who allow their children to live in the same household and don’t provide any encouragement for them to leave. And I don’t necessarily mean the 32-year-old who’s playing video games in the basement. I have met a couple one time that had children who were in their 40s, and their children themselves had their own children and were living with the grandparents, and it was bad. borderline senior abuse. So I think saying no to your children sometimes can make your own retirement better, and it can also provide more respect.
SPEAKER 16 :
It seems like you kind of help people fulfill that whole picture. You’re not just giving them a DIY software kind of fix. You dig into the root causes and look full steam ahead. Is that right?
SPEAKER 15 :
I also, I try to learn from the people I’ve worked with. I met one retired gentleman who had a son that was having some difficulties and he gave his son a gift rather than a loan because a loan, if it’s not paid back, not only is the money gone, but the relationship is gone because the son or daughter feels bad about contacting the parent because they haven’t made the payments.
SPEAKER 16 :
You got it there, folks. klzradio.com slash money for Golden Eagle Finance. Al, thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, you’re welcome. Thank you, TJ. It’s always good to talk with you.
SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
All right, speaking of, dovetailing into what Al was just mentioning, which I didn’t know that’s what Al was going to talk about because he does different interviews at different times. I had an article that I read today, which it does go along the lines of what Al was saying, only it takes a whole different perspective than what Al was saying. I’m on where Al’s coming from more than what this article is saying. What’s interesting is this particular financial advice, this is on the Wall Street Journal, coming from the Wall Street Journal, This particular financial advice is actually from a financial planner here in Denver who might be really good at what he does, but I totally disagree with his advice in this particular case. And here’s why. Here’s how the headline reads. She’s seven years old. Her parents are saving to support her when she’s 30. That’s going to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life, by the way. Article goes in and talks about how this is a particular couple, and they don’t live here in Denver, but he’s advising them, and they’re tucking away $1,000 a month for their 7-year-old daughter, Zoe. It’s not just for college tuition or for summer camp or medical expenses. It’s to support her once she is an otherwise independent adult. In other words, if she has trouble with buying a home or paying the rent or whatever, this is a fund that she’ll have access to so that when she’s, in this case, in her 30s, She won’t have to struggle like they did. They had, you know, student debt and some other things and so on. And they were, you know, this particular family, which nothing against the family. I just think this is the dumbest advice I’ve ever heard. You’re not going to help that kid by having this, especially if you tell them this. I guess if you don’t tell them, maybe you’d be OK and you’d have your own little nest egg built up. But. If you tell them there’s this cushion there someday that they’ll be able to fall back on, they will. Again, this has to be the dumbest advice, financial planning-wise, I think I’ve ever heard. And, again, the person that they’re interviewing and talking about in here is a financial planner from Denver. And, again, don’t know the person. I guess he can advise these people on whatever he wants to. I think it’s dumb advice. In this case, you will be setting your kid up for failure, guaranteed. Just like happens with a lot of other rich people and their kids, i.e. Shiloh Sanders, who we talked about with Richard. Shiloh killed it for himself. He’ll be lucky to hold down a regular job on down the road. And unfortunately, and I love Dion dearly, but unfortunately, in this particular case, he did not do a good job in keeping those boys in check. Sorry. And I’ll say it openly. Dion, if you’re listening, I’m sorry. And all of us as dads make mistakes. That’s one of yours. You’ve not helped those boys in the humbleness end of things. And it’s not boding well for them. In this case, this particular family is going to set up this young daughter for failure if they tell her that they’ve got this nest egg sitting there. I mean, I can’t think of any other way to have your kids fail than to do this. You’re welcome to chime in on this, by the way, 303-477-5600. I guess maybe because of me and who I am and part of it the way I was raised, part of it is just intrinsic to me. I didn’t want anybody helping. I understand the golden rule. The guy with the gold rules. I’ve never in my once taken any kind of a handout from any family member, folks included, to get where I’m at today. If I couldn’t get something paid for, I figured it out. If I was struggling to pay the mortgage, I figured it out. If I was struggling to put food on the table, which my kids, when they were little, because of the financial status I had at the time, we ate a lot of pancakes for dinner. Let’s just say that because they’re cheap. They’re really cheap. If you don’t know that, they’re cheap. I know there’s people out there whereby they’re struggling to get by, and yet they’re going here to eat and they’re going there to eat and they’re cooking a full four-course meal that they don’t even have leftovers for and, and, and. That’s not how I did it. I ate a lot of eggs and pancakes when my kids were little because there wasn’t any other money to buy anything else. It’s what we did to survive. And in this particular case, this young person, if her folks tell her that they’ve got this money sitting there, she’ll never experience what I just said. Again, what I’m saying is, and this is a guy here in Denver, Robert Perchetti. He is a financial advisor in Denver. It’s his mission to shake the stigma of helping children overcome these obstacles. Robert, you’re a dodo head. I’m sorry. Your advice sucks. You are not helping these parents help their kids succeed. You’re helping them fail. If you want to come on air and interview, since you’re here in Denver, if somebody can get this message out to him, I’d do an interview in a heartbeat. He is not going to help kids succeed. You’re actually setting them up for failure. His story is he lived rent-free with his grandmother until he was 26. He paid down student debt, saved up $30,000, bought a home before his 30th birthday, something few of his friends have been able to accomplish even today. He said now, 38, he tells clients to prepare ahead of time to help their children do the same. No, no. You prepare them to do it on their own, Robert. You don’t prepare to give them a handout. That’s the dumbest thing ever. Why would you do that? Even those of you that are Christians listening to me, nowhere in Scripture does it talk about doing that. Teach your kids how to do this on their own, how to make it on their own, how to make wise choices, how to understand things financially speaking, and don’t give them a handout. You’re not helping them at all. You’re helping them fail, not succeed. Teach your kids to work hard. Understand the value of a dollar, no matter where that is, what inflation does to it and so on. But you get my drift. Teach them the value of things. How to budget correctly. I had somebody text me, and I’ll talk about this in a moment. You know, after all the things I’ve been through, cleaning things out and all the stuff I’ve encountered with my parents and so on, has my buying habits changed? Somebody wanted to know that specifically. I’ll give you a testimonial on that. Absolutely. Sure. Have no problem with that. In this case, helping kids in this manner is not helping them. I’m sorry, I will disagree with this one until I go to the grave. Because I’ve lived it. I’ve done it. Maybe I’m wrong in this, but I don’t think I’d be where I’m at today if somebody had helped me along the way. Because not having it makes you figure things out that you wouldn’t normally figure out on your own. You’re forced to do it. It’s sort of like being trapped at the bottom of a hole where all of a sudden you fell in and there’s nobody there to throw a rope over the edge to drag you out. You figure out, how am I going to get out of this hole? You have to. You have no choice. Either that or you die. And I’m not somebody who’s going to die. I’ll figure it out. So in the case of finances, you are not, I will repeat, you are not helping your kids by setting them up for some sort of payments down the road when they’re older. He’s telling this couple that if they do this, her allowance, quote unquote, could be $2,000 a month, up to $3,000 a month, depending upon how things would work for the rest of her life. That’s the last thing I would want to do is give my kid $3,000 a month for life. Granted, as time goes by, $36,000 won’t be worth what it is today, but still, I wouldn’t give them $36 unless it’s a birthday gift or a Christmas gift. Nonetheless, $36,000. I won’t do it. It’s… It’s defeating the purpose of raising your kids to be independent and be on their own. Again, as I said a moment ago, this has to be some of the dumbest financial advice that I’ve ever read in the Wall Street Journal. And unfortunately, there’s a financial advisor here in Denver that’s promoting this. And yes, I would interview that person in a heartbeat because I’d like to get my head wrapped around where he’s coming from because you’re never going to help kids succeed by doing that. Now, he’ll probably come back and say, well, I succeeded. I did it. Did you? No offense. You bought a house at 30. I bought one at 22. And didn’t go to college. Not bragging, but I did it differently than you did. And I beat you by eight years. So your idea and your method doesn’t work the same way as it should, or it doesn’t work the same way as it did for me and as it should. So I’ll leave it at that. I’m sure some of you have comments. I’ve got text messages coming in, but I did get the question specifically on what kind of habits… in my my wife’s life have changed since going through all of this stuff from my folks and the estate and just cleaning and sorting and throwing and so on i’ll talk about that here as well so don’t go anywhere gino’s auto service coming up next when it comes to your car’s ac which you’re still running right now this time of the year it’s going to run all the way probably into early november make sure you’re dialed in and by the way your air conditioner also runs your defroster so it needs to work no matter what the temperature is outside Give Geno’s a call today. Find them by going to genosautoservice.com, and Geno starts with a J.
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SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
The best export we have is common sense.
SPEAKER 08 :
You’re listening to Rush to Reason. And we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Brad, welcome. How are you?
SPEAKER 14 :
Oh, pretty good. I got a couple of quick questions. Sure. Go ahead. I know it’s going to sound rather crazy, but… They keep saying the Supreme Court has the final say and they’re the highest court in the land. If that’s the case, how come every time the Democrats don’t like a ruling by the Supreme Court, they go to a lower court and either get it basically overturned or stopped? So is the Supreme Court really the highest court in the land, or are they the highest court in the land in name only?
SPEAKER 08 :
Supposed to be, and as you know, and you said it very well, the Democrats have figured out a workaround. I don’t think that’s going to last and stand, because as those, and even the Supreme Court has said, lower courts, you don’t have that power. You don’t have that authority to do that.
SPEAKER 14 :
But they keep on doing it.
SPEAKER 08 :
They do, which means it’s going to have to be challenged every single time they do it, Brad.
SPEAKER 14 :
So I had called up a member of Congress one time addressing this very same issue, and I said, if that’s the case, when the Supreme Court ruled Obamacare… constitutional, why don’t the Republicans go to lower court and overturn the Supreme Court?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I think in their defense, Brad, I don’t know that anybody had ever done the strategy right now that the Democrats are doing. You know, they’re sly, sneaky, you know, they’re a bunch of scoundrels, and they have figured out a backdoor in doing this. We don’t think that way, Brad.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, unfortunately, I think we need to start because… I agree.
SPEAKER 08 :
I agree with you. But, given, especially then, we definitely didn’t think that way then.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, and I’d ask this member, the intern or aide, why don’t the Republicans do that? And they had no answer for me.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I do. I have one. Our brains don’t think that way. We’re not as scummy as they are.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yes, and it’s like Charlie Kirk said a couple weeks ago. The Democrats are more worried about winning. The Republicans are more worried about tradition, which is why Grassley won’t get rid of that blue slip stuff. And as a result, Elena Haba is saying… Her nomination is being held up by Charles Grassley and Tom Tillis. Now, we all know Tom Tillis is bad news, but everyone keeps talking about how great Charles Grassley was. I haven’t seen anything to indicate that Charles Grassley is that great. Now, he is better than all Democrats and a lot of Republicans, but I really don’t think Charles Grassley is as great as everyone thinks he is.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think there’s a number of them, Brad, that would, as you know, that would fit that description as well. And you’re right. I think what you said a moment ago, they want to win. We’re worried about tradition, or we’re worried about this particular principle that we’ve got to hang on to, or we’ve got to worry about this side of the budget, and we can’t get on board with the big, beautiful bill because of it, and on and on we go, Brad. We stand on principle at times, and it’s our death nail.
SPEAKER 14 :
And earlier today, someone… hit the nail on the head real well. He said, when the Republicans appoint somebody to be in charge of these committees, it’s usually by seniority. It should be by merit. Okay, Grassley’s been there forever and a day, so they give him this committee chairmanship, but why isn’t it going to somebody more qualified like Josh Hawley or Mike Lee or Ted Cruz?
SPEAKER 08 :
Have you ever been to a church, Brad?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
Have you ever been around churches with committees and boards and so on?
SPEAKER 14 :
No, I’ve just gone as a regular member who sits in the pews.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I have, and what I will tell you is the church has the same problem the Republican Party has. It’s not always who’s best equipped to handle that particular board committee or whatever. It’s who’s been there the longest. It’s the same thing is my point.
SPEAKER 14 :
Do you think that’ll ever change? Nope.
SPEAKER 08 :
Nope, it’ll never change. It won’t change because it’s that mindset. Until we change the mindset, then it might change, but it won’t change until the mindset changes. Same thing in the church, Brad. It’s no different there.
SPEAKER 14 :
And earlier today, Tommy Tuberville was on, and I think it was Charlie Kirkwood had made the statement that we get these good people in Congress or in the Senate like Mike Brown or Marsha Blackburn or Tuberville, and they serve one or two terms and want to quit. Now, Blackburn’s leaving to become governor. I called up her office and said, I’m opposed to that because how Blackburn votes in Tennessee affects me in Colorado. She’s an excellent senator. We don’t need another Corker or Alexander in there. And I told the person, Blackburn needs to stay in the Senate. And if I understand correctly, she’s leaving after four years. Well, the reason people go door-to-door, stuff envelopes and make phone calls, we expect these people to finish out their entire term, not do like Ken Buchan, resign in the middle of the term. And Blackburn may be finishing out her entire term, but I believe she’s leaving after four years. I’m not positive on that.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think you would be—I have to go back and look, but I think you’re right, Brad.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, then why would anybody want to go door-to-door stuff envelopes? Good question. Or donate to a candidate if their person is going to leave in the middle of the term?
SPEAKER 08 :
You wouldn’t. And that’s the problem that these guys don’t understand is when they allow these things to happen, it hurts the whole party.
SPEAKER 14 :
So they should make Blackburn finish out her term? I would. I would as well. And it’s amazing how many people around the country don’t understand how a U.S. rep votes in one state or senator votes in another state. affects the entire country.
SPEAKER 08 :
It does, although one thing that I have to caution everybody on, Brad, is remember that for that person to get re-elected and keep that seat, there are things that their constituents are asking for, and they’re a representative of those constituents, especially on the representative end of things. Not a senator so much, but a representative especially is sort of beholden to their district, if you would, and there’s going to be times where I feel like some of these guys would rather do something different, but They’re in some ways representing their district, and if they want to get reelected, they don’t have a choice but to do things a certain way or they won’t be in there at all. And that’s one thing we all have to be reminded of, myself and you included.
SPEAKER 14 :
I see your point, but then a lot of times they’ll ask me for money.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I’m not giving them money. That’s a whole other conversation, Brad. I’m not giving those guys any money. They can go round it up in their own district all they want because I don’t necessarily agree with their position. I’m not going to support them financially, but I understand their dilemma.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, the only reason I’d be concerned is how they – I try to explain to these people how they vote in Iowa affects me in Colorado.
SPEAKER 08 :
Sure does. It does.
SPEAKER 14 :
And then they keep telling me to go call my own representative.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and that’s because of what I just said a moment ago. Because we have a representative form of government, and just like Texas, just redistrict everything, the reality is we are a district in that way so that that person that’s in our district is who we really should be whining and complaining to. Now, in my case, that’s a Democrat. It’s not going to get me very far.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, you and I both have Brittany.
SPEAKER 08 :
That’s right. Not going to get either one of us very far.
SPEAKER 14 :
And one thing I can say about Brittany, though, as much as I disagree with her, they’ve also figured out a way to have very polite people on the telephone so you can call them up.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and to her credit, she’s a very polite person herself. I mean, I will give her credit where credit’s due, Brad. I don’t care for her and her policies and so on, but she is a very polite person. I’ve seen some of the town halls and things that she’s hosted and had and so on, and yes, she’s a very nice person. I don’t agree with her, but she’s a nice person, to your point. And then I’ve called up, which really really quick, Brad. First, I got to take a time out just for a second. You just said something that’s key. We all on our side could learn from her because guess what? She got reelected. And by the way, I think she’ll have that seat as long as she wants it because of what she just because of what you just said she does. Because she’s a likable person. Yep. And people like her, and she’s nice, and they can call in. And, yeah, she’s not you and I, and she doesn’t think like you and I. But some of the people that we have ran against her, you can now see why we’ve lost.
SPEAKER 14 :
And then when I called up Corrin’s office one time, they asked me for a zip code, and they immediately hung up on me. I think that was totally uncalled for, even if I’m not from the state of Texas.
SPEAKER 08 :
All of these people should talk to you no matter what zip code you’re in, Brad. Now, should they make the call shorter or longer, depending upon whether you’re a constituent or not? Sure. If I was advising them, I would even say that. But, no, you should never hang up on anybody ever. I don’t care what side of the aisle they’re on, even.
SPEAKER 14 :
And one thing I’ve noticed, though, these Republicans seem to solve every problem in the world by going on vacation. You’ve got the House on vacation for six weeks when they’ve only passed two appropriation bills. You’ve got the Senate 39 days when they’ve only passed three appropriation bills. Trump has a bunch of nominees that haven’t been confirmed.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, these guys don’t know how to work, Brad. That’s typical of a lot of politicians, though, Brad. I’m sorry to say, but that’s the norm for most politicians. And I say this all the time, even on our side, and I’ll keep saying it. These are guys that, for the most part, there’s a few exceptions, but for the most part, Brad, they’ve never had to earn anything and ever signed a paycheck in their entire life. They’ve never ran a business.
SPEAKER 14 :
And Charlie Kirk says the Senate takes money off, works half day Tuesday, works Wednesday Tuesday. It takes half day Thursday off and takes Friday off. Well, if that’s the case, no wonder anything gets done. Right. And I have no reason to doubt anything Charlie Kirk says.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I wouldn’t. You see the reason. I mean, here’s the thing, Brad. We see the results. That speaks enough for itself.
SPEAKER 14 :
And I don’t think it’s going to get any better in the near future. Would you go as far as to say Thune and Grassley are playing ball for the other team?
SPEAKER 08 :
Oh, I always hate to say that because I don’t think even if you were sitting down and talking to them that they would say that. What they’re going to tell you is, well, I’m standing on my principles. I’m standing on what I believe in. Yeah, well, in the same token, you’re screwing things up in the process.
SPEAKER 14 :
And I think Tom Tillis is definitely playing ball for the other team.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I’ve seen enough of what he’s done where I don’t know that I would argue that one, Brad.
SPEAKER 14 :
So that’s about all I have to say.
SPEAKER 08 :
Always good, Brad. Always enjoy your phone calls. I appreciate it greatly. You have a good rest of your day. Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning coming up next. If you’ve got any trouble at all, whether it’s your air conditioning or you know you had some problems last year with your furnace, give them a call today. klzradio.com is where you find them.
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SPEAKER 07 :
This isn’t Rage Radio. This is Real Relatable Radio. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. I had a question in, you know, how has my buying habits changed with all of what I’ve done here for the past year plus? And then one more thing I’m going to talk about tomorrow because I’m not going to have time today and I want to because I wanted to follow up on this because I had more responses on text messages on this one topic than I probably have had on anything, and that is credit card fees that a lot of merchants charge. I’ll talk about that tomorrow because it’s total BS. And I’ll give you guys some advice on how to handle this with merchants because… It’s highway robbery. It’s gotten to be in a lot of cases. I’ll talk more about that tomorrow, and it’s a bunch of garbage. If you’re a merchant, by the way, doing that, shame on you. Shame on you. You’re a poor business person. If you can’t figure out how to set your prices and include the credit card fee in that, you’re a bad business person. I’ll just say it straight up. I don’t care who you are. You don’t know how to do business correctly. So I’ll say that as it is, and you can take it from there, and I’ll give people advice tomorrow on how to avoid those. All right, somebody asked, How have my habits, my wife and I’s habits changed since going through all of this stuff in my folks’ estate? I will say this straight up. Yes, we do look at, is that something that we really need? Is it gonna be just something that gets added to the pile, gets tossed? Do we have other things that we could use instead? If we buy that, do we need this? In other words, do we buy something and get rid of something instead of just adding to? Yeah, we have really been a lot more conscious of the things that we actually have, own, and even are disposing of. And just as a side note, too, I make it sound like I’ve pretty much gone through and just thrown everything that I’ve gone through in the estate away. That’s not the case. I have repurposed certain things. I’ve given some things away. I’ve gotten family members to take some stuff. We’ve given some things to some of the secondhand stores and so on where they can give that to somebody else, put it in, or not give it, but sell it and collect some money and give that away. uh you know give that product to somebody else as well so we’ve done a lot of that also so i haven’t just tossed everything now when it comes like scrap metal and things like that yes i i am just getting rid of things along those lines and then just plain old trash you know i for example um i was going through stuff last weekend not yesterday but the weekend before and found a used distributor cap and wires And, no, I’m not saving a used distributor cap and wires. And it was used because I’m a car guy. I can tell you whether it’s used or not. And, no, I’m not keeping that for lots of reasons. I don’t care when it was. I don’t care how vintage it was. I don’t care anything along those. It was a small block Chevy, by the way. But at the end of the day, those are a dime a dozen, and I’m not keeping that. And if I were going to put one on a car, it would be a new one anyways. I’m not using a used one. Now, some people would say, oh, man, you never know when you might need one of those. Yeah, me, never, ever am I going to need that. It’s getting tossed. So on those sorts of things, I have not kept those things because there’s just no reason to. And there’s no even repurposing of that. It’s done. It’s gone. It’s used. It’s no good. Should have been tossed. Whatever car it came off of should have been thrown away at that time. And I’ve thrown other things like that away or scrap metal, other things like that, you know, used coils and things like that. Yeah, I just I’m not using that stuff. If I have something where I need to replace it, it’s going to be new. I’m not putting a used one on anyways. So but in regards to buying new things. Yeah, I mean, we really do look at is this something that we need? Is it something we don’t need? If it’s something that we do need, even an item of clothing or something, okay, if you buy a new shirt, does the old shirt need to go? Things like that. So, yes, we have been much more mindful in, granted, it’s just my wife and I because all my kids are grown. But, yeah, we have been more mindful of those things that we buy, knowing that, you know, is this something that we really need or is it something we don’t need? And we have sold, personally, even a lot of items. My wife’s huge on Marketplace. She does a great job. I’ll commend her because I couldn’t put up with all the nonsense from people. But she does a great job of selling just miscellaneous odds and ends and things that you wouldn’t think even are sellable. And she figures out ways to… to sell them. We loaded up a couch late Friday night, as soon as I got home from the show, that we had an older couch that we no longer needed and were using, and it was more for when the kids were around, and we don’t need it anymore, and she put it on Marketplace, and sure enough, we found a college kid that was in need of a nice, you know, Seeper Slofa Ikea-type couch thing, and it was perfect for him, and him and I loaded it up, and believe it or not, I got that entire sofa in the back of a of an FJ40, not the old FJ40s, but one of the new modern FJ40s. So funny story. I should have taken a picture on how we packed it all in there. But, yeah, my wife does a really great job of figuring out how to sell certain things and, again, let somebody else utilize that item. Personally, I probably just tossed it, but that’s just me. My wife is much more handy when it comes to listing those things and, you know, going through all of the troves of messages and people that send in and, you know, is it still available and all of that nonsense. And she’s an expert in all that and does a really great job with that, which, again, I commend her for because I don’t think I could do all of that myself. But she does. So, yeah, for those of you that have asked, you know, what are we doing now after going through all of this? I’ve even gone through some of my own stuff. I went through, for example, all of my own tools of late. Because remember, I was a technician at one time. I’ve got a full bore technician-sized toolbox like you’d see in a lot of these shops. I’ve still kept all these years after not turning a wrench and still have it that I work out of and so on. And I have even been through it. and have gotten rid of things and thrown things away and so on. So it’s not just been stuff from my dad and mom’s estate. There’s been some of my own stuff that I have been through. And just looking at things like, is this something I’m going to use in the future or not? And I get it. It’s hard sometimes to say, well, I might need that someday. Well, yeah, you may not either. For example, something I threw away the other day. I had a set of tow hooks off of an old truck I used to own. Do I still need these old tow hooks? Somebody might be able to use them. Not me. They went. Those are the things that I’ve now been looking at saying, I don’t need that. Neither is anybody else going to need that. And if they do, they’ll figure out a way to buy a set. So out it goes. And I have sorted and tossed and thrown and scrapped. and so on and i will continue to do so because i’m not totally done i still have some inside things to get accomplished but again i would encourage all of you to start doing the same thing and minimize some of the stuff that you have make more room for the things that are the most important because as i’ll remind everybody of every square inch of everything you own has a cost to it i don’t care if your house is paid for there’s still a cost there to every square inch that you have in that home meaning every single item that you’re storing has a cost to it. And if we looked at things a little bit more like that, we would probably start pitching more and more things. So veteran windows and doors. Dave cuts out the middleman, therefore saving you literally thousands, tens of thousands of dollars in some cases when it comes to your windows and doors. I’ve got great testimonials from some of you listening along those lines as well. 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SPEAKER 07 :
Suck it up, Buttercup. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 08 :
You know, we were just talking, Charlie and I were through the break. Some of you listening, too, you may go through some of these, especially fall and winter months, and find extra clothing and coats and things like that where there are people out there that could really use some of that at a big discount compared to what they would normally go to the store and buy. And typically it’s just sitting in our closets collecting dust. Get rid of that stuff. Donate to folks like Salvation Army, ARC, and others where they can actually repurpose those things for somebody else that needs it a whole lot more than we do. That’s it for today, guys. Have a fantastic night. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
Tariffs, Truckers, and Tragedy: Politics Meets the Road