On today’s Sekulow, Logan and Jordan Sekulow break down the realities of the latest government shutdown. While the media spins panic, the show separates fact from fiction, explaining which services will continue, how federal employees are impacted, and why much of the fear is political theater. With calls from listeners across the country, the discussion also dives into the political blame game between Democrats and Republicans, the ongoing battle over Planned Parenthood funding, and the deeper question of government bloat. Plus, the ACLJ highlights its ongoing legal battles, from defending pro-life advocates to exposing surveillance abuse under the Quiet Skies program. The conversation rounds out with updates on Israel, Hamas, and international security threats.
SPEAKER 12 :
Today on Seculo, we have the inside scoop on the government shutdown. We'll tell you everything you need to know.
SPEAKER 11 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Seculo. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 12 :
The government may be shut down, but we're here still doing a show for you. Welcome to Sekulow. My brother, Jordan Sekulow, will be joining us in studio shortly, but right now it's just me and you. So let's talk this through. We're going to break down what this government shutdown means, why all of your friends are calling you screaming, saying it's the end of the world, and why for many of us who have been through this government shutdown before many times, you know it's not. Maybe just that your friends finally started paying attention to the news. They probably never even noticed that the government has shut down so many times in their lifetime. But this will be the first shutdown since the record. We'll go through some of this record. 35-day closure that was in 2018 during President Trump's first term. We do have a breakdown we're going to go through. Kind of Leading you through, there are, you know, look, there's no good to this. No one wants a government shutdown, but we are going to break down what it actually means, how it's going to affect your daily life. There are some things, depending on your job, obviously, if you work for the government, there will be things that do get affected. public parks, public museums, a lot of those in Washington, D.C. Many of those will be shut down as of today. Those are the kind of things that start happening as the government has to figure out how to get back to work after they fail to pass a spending bill. And this spending bill, by the way, and this is what it says, it says on September 19th, I'll read it for you, the House passed a short-term continuing resolution extending existing spending levels for government operations until November 21st, my 40th birthday. So you know what? Happy birthday to me. I get to celebrate a government shutdown. That's great. House Republicans adjourned and leadership in town. They called it back into session in 48 hours. There's a lot of different things this will go through, including what they wanted, what the Democrats wanted. They wanted things like restricting executive authority. They're upset after Doge. They are upset about Big Beautiful Bill. And of course, the restrictions on Planned Parenthood, all things. the things that you would fully expect them to be mad about and of course they are i want to hear a lot from a lot of people on capitol hill today i want to make sure you're hearing the voices you should be hearing let's start just right off the top can we go to mike johnson let's go to represent mike johnson uh take a listen there's nothing new in this legislation there's no poison pill there's no partisan tricks there's no gimmicks whatsoever the only difference today is the man who is sitting in the oval office
SPEAKER 02 :
rather than work with President Trump and Republicans to get this job done. As our party has done repeatedly in the same situation over the years, Democrats want to play political games with the lives and the livelihoods of Americans. The simple truth is Democrats in Congress have dragged our country into another reckless shutdown to satisfy their far-left base. That is the truth. Whether or not the government remains open or reopens is entirely up to them. There's still time for Democrats to pass this clean bipartisan bill that's sitting before them. And we encourage our Democrat colleagues to do that. I certainly pray they'll come to their senses soon and do the right and responsible thing.
SPEAKER 12 :
Of course, that's from Mike Johnson. You know, one thing maybe happens with a government shutdown. Windscreens on microphones, not as easily accepted. You know, you don't have good ones. That's what happens. They start really putting in the bad windscreens. Sorry about that for some of the sound difficulties there. You can blame the government shutdown. That's what happens. Phone lines are open for you. What do you think about this? What do you think about this government shutdown? 1-800-684-3110. We'll get some other topics as well today. Of course, Israel still in the news. We'll be talking about that as Hamas has a little bit of time still to respond. There are some good signs. There are some good indications overnight that they may be headed towards a deal. We will see, though. Again, as everyone kind of waits a little bit on bated breath for that actually to wrap up. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. Have your voice heard today. Always support the work of the ACLJ. We're kicking off October. Kick it off strong. The government may be shut down, but we're still open for business here. We're out there defending your religious liberties, your free speech rights, and even in the face of people trying to criminalize and silence us, we're not going to have that happen. So today we have a vital deadline defending even a parent who's being sued by a teacher for defamation. We also are appealing a FOIA case. We had so much going on. They gave me a whole list of things. Tomorrow we're filing to stop a far-left attorney general from suing our client who's a preacher who just want to pray outside Planned Parenthood. We got so much to talk about and so much going on. We're not going anywhere, but we can't do that without your help. So go to ACLJ.org, make your donation today. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Secular. My brother Jordan Secular is now joining us in studio, a man who has lived through a lot of government shutdowns in his time, including in Washington, D.C. Again, you do have to call your friends probably because a lot of them are going to be panicking because you hear the words government shutdown. And I mean, for goodness sake, it doesn't mean exactly what they want you to believe it is. Now, it's not a good thing. It certainly is going to hurt. It's there to hurt President Trump. It's there to hurt the Trump administration. So let's not sit here and pretend it's nothing. But it's certainly not the doom and gloom in times of which they say.
SPEAKER 13 :
Right. It's all about who gets the blame at the end of the day. Right. So the left, I think, is so low at this point. And Chuck Schumer and the Hakeem Jeffries have been by the leftist like AOC and kind of who's winning the primaries in the upcoming midterms are being pushed out and are clearly not identifying with the people who are still that 30% of Democrats giving money, right? So they thought they had to make a stand here and that they could still blame the Republicans. The issue is they've already lost three in the Senate. So I think they needed 10 total. They're going to keep having these votes. Now, when this gets tougher, I'd say, is after a week. I'd say then you start feeling it. Well, the trash starts piling up in DC. You start wondering, you know, people that got furloughed. Museum workers. It's kind of like this. Imagine when you like turn off everything and if you left your house and then you came back in a month, no one checked on anything. And there's, you know. You got to put the pieces back together. The rats come out more. The bugs are out more. I mean, there's no... They're in there working, and there's no one to take trash. So, like, it piles up. But if that's the worst of what we're talking about here, people are nervous about Social Security, not an issue. People worry about Medicaid, not an issue. Hospitals, not an issue. Military gets their pay, continues. So, security, not an issue.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, let's actually go through. This is the list. They have what service and programs continue during government shutdown. As you said, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid payments will all continue. Most veterans programs will continue. Air traffic control and TSA will continue. So again, if you're flying out, don't worry. There's still that option. Federal law enforcement and border patrol. Military personnel will stay on duty. Student aid for higher education. The Postal Service. At least it's funded by postage, it says. In fact, approximately 23% of federal employees will be furloughed, while 77% will continue to work. Right, because they're considered essential? No, it's still... There's nothing to laugh at, 23%.
SPEAKER 13 :
That is a lot of people. A lot of people. But for instance... different federal agencies have different budgets for these moments. So federal courts, and I was just confirming this for everybody because this one is one you could see is either going to wrap up fast or because the Dems are looking for anything, it's going into the midterms. Anything to put the pain to them. Even to try to prove not just to Republicans. but I'm talking about some of these guys who are up for their own issues with primaries and things like that, that they should still be in charge, the current Democrat leadership. So I get a little nervous with that. It's how long they can keep the five or six or seven more moderates they need from breaking. These Democrats would not be voting to say, I agree with everything in here. It's a continuing resolution to then have this debate longer. I don't like that government has to work this way, and it shouldn't come to this. But you do need to know where the blame lies. And on this, Republicans were not trying to do anything drastic. It was to keep things exactly as they are. So it just meant no new funding. The Democrats wanted another like a trillion dollars of spending.
SPEAKER 12 :
I think it was a half a trillion dollars or something like that. They basically wanted to restore everything that they lost in the last budget battle. In the big beautiful bill and in the Doge cuts and all that. Of course, what they really wanted... Was Planned Parenthood to be backfunded? All of those things that are they, you know, what will maybe win them some votes? Yeah, the Democrats put forward their own funding bill, which would increase spending from one to one point five trillion in exchange for one month of continued funding. Is that right? One point five trillion. That's pretty wild. Let's go ahead and let's take a call.
SPEAKER 13 :
That's a non-starter. Did you see the picture that the White House released? Do we have the picture of the White House released? We should grab it. President Trump, it's kind of a view of the side. And he's almost laughing in their face. And he tossed them his hats.
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, yeah, I saw.
SPEAKER 13 :
I did see that. Because, again, he was laughing at them because he knows they're not serious. He knows they're just playing politics. And they're going to try to go out there and say, see, they're going to let your grandmother suffer because she's not going to get the medication. None of that is true. If you hear anything like that, I believe it's harder for them to tell that story now, too, because. regular left-leaning mainstream media doesn't control the info the uh sources it's not that people like this though you're panicking let me let me tell you something it's not good no from most people other than the trash piling up in places that affects federal employees barely gonna feel it right for now really actually think about after this ends Did you feel any difference?
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, that's what I said. Most people don't even realize they've probably lived through many of these. And didn't know what's happening. They're just now politically attuned. They're now just watching the news and paying attention. They likely went through the one in 2018. Yes. I mean, if you're an adult now, there's a good chance you're an adult or a teenager at the youngest then. If you're listening to this show. Let's take one of these phone calls. A lot of people are calling.
SPEAKER 13 :
People have lived through a lot. Because it's not so much the economic side. So they try to make it about... Again, your grandparents and your retirees and security.
SPEAKER 12 :
Not affected. Let's take Bill in Wyoming. Bill, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks, sir. Let me share this with you. I think it's kind of interesting because way back when H.W. Bush was president, he promised no new taxes. And unfortunately, when they come to this type of a deal, the Democrats had to rush in a... emergency spending bill for the people that were suffering from a natural disaster, and they slid in the tax increase on top of that. Then they went to the press crying about how President Bush is being mean to those who are suffering from this natural disaster. And let's not forget about Clinton, when he had that problem, because I was going to school with somebody who was on Social Security, And they were basically saying the same thing. And they're using this language to scare people into saying, hey, let's go ahead and decide with these guys. I think that's kind of interesting. What about you?
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, ultimately when it comes down to all of these issues, I think it's a great question. I don't think they can. We just were talking about it. Do they get away with using it in the news? Will they have mainstream media friends who do that for them? Sure, because it's the news and they want you to watch it. Yeah, so they'll have the ticker running. But anybody telling you this is pushing grandma off the cliff kind of story, is a lie as an outright lie. And I think you are right, Bill. They will probably at some point learn that when, when you're the party who actually has caused this, you can't just blame the majority party when it takes at least 10 of your people to, to keep the government going. And you're the reason why. And so there's enough of us telling this story today. And what, like Logan said, um, Make it clear. You know, take that list, post it to your social media. Make sure you know it when your friends reach out to you. Because if you're watching or participating in this show, podcast, however you do it, over the air, watching the broadcast, watching YouTube later. you're the kind of person that people are going to come to because they know that you actually pay attention to this kind of information.
SPEAKER 12 :
Maybe one of my friends who's on our side say, hey, give me the information I can now send to my friends because they're panicking and I know you're going to tell me the truth here, so send it to me. So yeah, make sure you do that. Follow this show, follow all our pages, and maybe we can even post that list somewhere. Yeah, there's some things that I don't like.
SPEAKER 13 :
I don't know, it's not good. Your trip to Washington, D.C. stinks if you can't go to the museums.
SPEAKER 12 :
You can't go to Smithsonian.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes, but usually this is resolved Republicans will give the Democrats a chance to resolve this today, tomorrow, and I would imagine it's either solved by the weekend or we might have prepared for something longer. I actually, we're starting to do it in our office. We've got things coming up and we have a date in mind that if the shutdown is continued to that date, things that we had planned were going to move to the next month. So again, we're affected by it to that extent, but our attorneys are still in federal court. So those courts are running. It's just kind of like the Postal Service. They have their own budgets and their own kind of rainy day funds. So unless you get... Historically, we've never seen one. What was the longest it was? We've already been through it recently.
SPEAKER 12 :
The last one was 35-day closure in 2018.
SPEAKER 13 :
So, I mean, again, you have to get really into this deeply to where your tone changes, you say this is out of control. We're not even close to that point. In fact, the government today is still working because they have to be there to shut it down. So as they put out, by OMB put out, everybody has to report to duty tomorrow to actually put the shutdown policies into place.
SPEAKER 12 :
even the people who are going to be furloughed. All right, we're going to be taking your calls and comments coming up. A lot of you called in. So stay on hold if you're on hold right now. We will do our best to get to all of you because I know a lot of you have questions or just statements and you want to vent. That's fine. We're here for you. It's a Wednesday. We can do that. We're also going to talk about some of the other topics as well today. But right now we're going to stick on this because it seems to be what you all want to talk about because there has been more information come out about how the TSA targeted our friend Tulsi Gabbard. We're going to talk about that. And we're also going to talk about the situation involving Israel and Gaza and what this new deal may look like as there have been some other concessions and apologies made. As history keeps moving forward in that, we'll see where we end up. Again, phone lines are open for you. Give us a call. But in the meantime, as we said, the government shut down. We're not. That's because people like you. Go to ACLJ.org and make a donation today. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Steculo. We are going to take your calls and comments on this because we had a lot of people calling in. Do you want to give an update on the Quiet Skies situation?
SPEAKER 13 :
We had our team, obviously, you know, we not only Tulsi Gabbard worked with us here before. Again, her job is DNI. And of course, we have Rick Grinnell, who was the former DNI. But we also represented her. as she was working at ACLJ with us as part of the time period when she was out of elected office and really kind of explaining to people her full move out of the Democrat Party, why she felt like she had no place left and kind of actually didn't just feel like she needed to be independent, but felt like the Republican Party was her new home.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, it was two steps. She went independent, released the book, and then said, you know what?
SPEAKER 13 :
And then, of course, while that happens, she travels a lot. She's fairly high profile, doing a lot of speaking and events. And she's noticing she keeps getting that designation on her boarding pass. I've gotten it before.
SPEAKER 12 :
My wife has gotten it before.
SPEAKER 13 :
It's supposed to be random. Random. And again, to get it over and over again, to have agents on the plane, and it was getting kind of personal too, like going through her personal belongings in front of people. So you would go through security, and then oftentimes she would have to do it again at the gate, and sometimes they would take her to a back room. But again, this is just, it's personally, you feel like, listen, I didn't do anything wrong, so nothing's going to actually happen to me, but I'm being actively spied on.
SPEAKER 04 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 13 :
And then we find out three more Republican members of Congress, only Republican, this was happening to also. So you have the government using a power that is supposed to protect us from terrorists to surveil and kind of, I think, kind of make life tougher, just like, you know, kind of show them, hey, we're the ones in charge. Using power in the worst way. because of people's politics. And again, when the government ever faces any moves like this over politics, Logan, I mean, that's the worst of the federal government. And so what I love about the hearing and the ACLJ's work on this, and let me thank our donors again, because these are tough, complicated cases, especially we took it on in the administration that was in charge. And Rand Paul said, Senator Paul said, this was only uncovered because of Tulsi. And we uncovered it with her right here on this broadcast. And now that we uncover it, we fought back and represented her.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, absolutely. We actually have a bite from earlier this year. So this is from January this year of Tulsi Gabbard speaking about this, speaking about specifically the Quiet Skies program. When was this and where was this? Just so I know, so I can give people information. This was during her confirmation hearing. Okay, so let's take a listen to Tulsi Gabbard.
SPEAKER 06 :
Biden, the FBI abused its power for political reasons to try to surveil Catholics who attend traditional Latin mass, labeling them as quote unquote radical traditionalist Catholics. Personally, just 24 hours after I criticized Kamala Harris and her nomination, I was placed on a secret domestic terror watch list called Quiet Skies. Sadly, there are more examples. The bottom line is this. This must end.
SPEAKER 12 :
Remember, this is what we were living through. I mean, I think it became very normal for all of us. And maybe you're very quick to forget. You're very quick to move on. It's why, you know, we've always had to say the only thing difference is like when we start talking about the FBI now or the DNI and those kind of things. I have to reframe my mind to not immediately think of corruption and it's like, what are we talking about? Because so much in so many years, I mean, really, even during the first Trump presidency, we were dealing with a lot of it's just the beginning of draining the swamp.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. I mean, so much of what, when you talk to Rick Grinnell, I mean, he was basically brought in as DNI after Ambassador to Germany to say, you know what, we've got to kick this off because even the first people put in place were not tough enough to fight the bureaucracy. What was already built in, yeah. And so it started with Rick and then now Tulsi, someone who has seen the abuse of this is, is in charge. So they have a massive job of not only the main job of DNI, which is to keep us safe and to make sure our intelligence agencies are working together to keep us safe from terrorism, protect Americans, protect American troops, uh, And using it in the most effective way. It's also about not letting people use this for the unconstitutional and illegal ways because of politics or because of views that you have. And so the fact that it was not just Tulsi, which we assumed it would not be, but because she was brave enough to come and speak out about it. We now know three other people. They said, wait, this was happening to me too. And again, that doesn't mean that tomorrow if you fly and this is on your... No, it does happen randomly to people. But if after every flight, and if you start noting that there's air marshals sitting next to you or behind you, yes.
SPEAKER 12 :
Go to our website. Go to aclj.org slash help. Especially if you're someone who's very active on social.
SPEAKER 13 :
That helps people. Like Tulsi, it helps the people inside the Trump administration. There's thousands upon thousands of people here with this kind of power. So they want to route out the bad guys, the bad operators. Sometimes they're able to do that on their own. But again, it always helps if you have people come and say, this is happening to me.
SPEAKER 12 :
And this is who's doing it. Absolutely. We're looking right now, if you're watching any other news, they're showing live shots of the floor right now. I just want to say, tell me those people look like they're panicking and it's the end of the world. No, you got people giggling and laughing in the corner. All of your bureaucrats and your senators and congresspeople are all... Don't feel like this is the end of the world the way they make it feel. It's uncomfortable. It's not great. But you can see the seriousness on there. Look at their faces. Their faces tell me it's not, you know, is there anything they're playing cards with you? They're not playing cards with themselves. Let's go ahead and take another phone call about this. Let's do the government shutdown. We can talk more about Tulsi as well if you want to call in. Let's go to Brian who's calling in Virginia. Brian, go ahead.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, guys. I'm just so upset. Just so upset about what's going on with this government shutdown. I'm actually at the hospital now in the emergency room, and I'm getting treated for government shutdown-itis, which is actually a real thing.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I mean, did they not? There's no one there to see you, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, it wasn't a government hospital I had to go to. It was civilians, so I'm good to go. I mean, this is the thing.
SPEAKER 13 :
For most Americans... Will not feel an impact. I'm not saying that no one will. Of course people will. They said 25% of the federal government. They will get back pay. Yeah, furloughed. So if they were supposed to get their paycheck next week and they were still shut down, that paycheck is coming. And they've been through it before if they've worked for the federal government in the last five years. So they know that the check is coming. Now, President Trump did say this. You want me to fire more people? Because the American people are about to see that we could probably keep all this going without at least 25%.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I think that's what happens. Look, it happened, sadly, a lot during COVID. I think a lot of people realized their businesses were bloated. Unfortunately, I mean, it costs a lot of people jobs, but you realized, oh, we have gotten a bit in an American culture where we are overstuffing a lot of our organizations. Obviously, the government has been for years. We don't want to cause anyone to lose their jobs, but it becomes a little bit more of a reality. No, right.
SPEAKER 13 :
It's not like the person who's just a good civil servant should be punished here. At the same time, if your bureaucracy is so bloated that your debt and the spending is out of control, that that civil servant, even if they lose their job, ultimately that might be better for them financially and their family. In a few years, even, they might be recovering better because of what else happens if we don't get the spending under control.
SPEAKER 12 :
First half hour flew by. We want you to continue being part of this conversation. We do have a second half hour of the broadcast coming up. It's me and Jordan. We're talking it all out, talking government shutdown.
SPEAKER 13 :
To be able to answer to your friends too. Yeah. Use this broadcast because we're here. We've got the info. So 1-800-684-3110. And don't feel bad about any questions.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, we can walk you through the next.
SPEAKER 13 :
I've been walking through my mind saying, okay, which one does get, which one doesn't? Because I want to be very clear to you. So call us.
SPEAKER 12 :
And we'll also walk through what the Democrats want and why, of course, it's a non-starter for a lot of Republicans. We'll talk about that coming up and so much more. But as always, support the work of the ACLJ at ACLJ.org. Catch the second half hour. If you don't get it on your local station, on all our social platforms, ACLJ.org. And of course, on YouTube and however you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 11 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 13 :
But Schumer has been able to keep enough Democrats on board that they don't reach 60 votes to make this basically a shutdown that never happened.
SPEAKER 12 :
I want to hop to a call real quick about this shutdown. Chris in Arizona, on line four. Chris, watch on the Salem News Channel, which we're on live every day from 12 to 1 p.m. Go ahead, Chris.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thanks for having me. I just wanted to say, you know, these shutdowns, they're going to keep happening. These guys are acting like little kids throwing pepper tantrums because they're not getting their way. Until we figure out a way to make them pay and be held accountable for these shutdowns, they're going to continue to happen.
SPEAKER 12 :
That's what I was saying, Chris. When you saw the floor and the votes happening right now, you don't tell me that that group of people looks like they're absolutely panicking.
SPEAKER 13 :
You want to even go a step further? They do not. usually the Senate senators will leave town because of Yom Kippur.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 13 :
And they're planning on doing that still.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, and that starts tomorrow.
SPEAKER 13 :
Now, I'm not saying that that's not a very important, the most important holiday of the Jewish faith. And it's important, but again, the idea that they're going to leave. And the government still shut down.
SPEAKER 12 :
It also shows that they don't think that we're close to having a deal done. Not close or and also not in crisis. Yeah. It doesn't feel that way. Okay. Honestly, even when it's not your number one news story for a lot of people. I mean, yes, I did get a lot of calls, but there's a lot of talk still about other things, including Hamas. President Trump saying, you know, they're giving them two or three days to make the call. Of course, I'm sure he's trying to push it for them to do it on, I don't know, maybe during one of these holidays during Yom Kippur, which is happening starting tonight as Hamas has kind of an ultimatum deal. And then look, President Trump kind of doubled down on that ultimatum and said, look, if they don't do this. Israel, do what you got to do. And pretty much gave almost an approval to go in and finish the job in a way that will be probably devastating for Hamas and for Gaza in general.
SPEAKER 13 :
And it'll be very hard for the... Because the rest of the Arab world supports this, is willing to send their troops... to secure Gaza so that it's not the IDF doing that, to put themselves in harm's way and use their resources, that, again, you can't blame Israel.
SPEAKER 12 :
And this even happened, look, there's news reports that Hamas operatives, we just started talking about this, were arrested in Germany. And we're not talking about like financial guys, we're talking about people that were trying to, I mean, this is from the Washington Post, German authorities arrested three men, this was just a few hours ago, suspected of being members of Hamas, uh, and procuring weapons to carry out attacks on Jewish or Israeli institutions in Germany. I guarantee you though, or I can't guarantee you, but likely I assume that's because of the holidays coming up. Police seized weapons, including an AK 47 assault rifle, several pistols, significant amount of ammunition while arresting the men in Berlin. Two of them are German citizens. Uh, and one is a Lebanese born. So again, they know that this is happening now around the world. Things have to look, it's something we all got to be careful about. Um, There's not much you can do, but thankfully, the German government was able to step in, the police force, and stop what was happening there. But remember that this is all happening in real time as we try to focus on this. And look, maybe later on, if you're hearing this show tomorrow, day after tomorrow, hopefully we can say, hey, the war is over, and you're listening to this, and we're talking about old news. That would be great. So, you know, pray for everybody there that that may happen. Hey, we're going to the next segment. Phone lines have one line open right now. This is a fast moving show today. We're going to take as many of the calls as we can. Absolutely. And we're also going to walk you through a bit more of the show.
SPEAKER 13 :
And our team is working on this at the ACLJ, our government affairs team. to make sure you have the right information, that we're putting the right information out, getting you, again, being able to explain what's not true that you might hear, the politics of it, what it actually is and means, and how this works moving forward. So ACLJ, especially on the government affairs side, very active in this because a lot of the members of Congress, even though they're there, they actually do lose a lot of their staff. So their staffs go to like a kind of a skeleton staff, if you will. So we can even assist more.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right. We'll be right back. More on Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are completely jammed right now. So if you want to call in, you've got to give it a second. Let other people get through. I'll tell you when they open up. And if you're watching online, you can obviously put your comments in as well. We have teams monitoring those comments. Some of those may make it on the air. We obviously have somebody reading them, and I try to read through a lot of them that comes in. I guess apparently right now there are some people in the chat that are... They're angering some people. So if you're watching right now and you're on our team, maybe we need to go through and do a little cleaning on some of the bots that are in there or some people. Hey, throw in the chat right now to counter that. Tell me where you're watching from right now. I really would appreciate that. I like looking at that because it's not only here in this country. I always love to see there are people around the world that watch this show each and every day it's really great you know american politics and american news uh is covered worldwide i think in a way that we cannot really fathom because the way the world events don't get covered in america um if you go to europe you go to uh the uk uh there's a good chance you turn on the news the face you're seeing is president trump
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes, I mean, because we lead the world. Our economy leads the world. Our military protects the world. And look at just what we were talking about with Israel and the situation there, or even Ukraine and Russia and NATO. I mean, we matter most. That's actually a good thing. I don't mind that we matter most to the world. That means that we are still the leading power. If they were spending all their time on China, that would make me nervous. And that's what we're really looking at, right? I mean, that's the only other country that could even come close, and it's still not close when it comes to what we have inside our own country, what we've built, and also what we do around the world. And so let's keep it that way. But yeah, don't think... I mean, the whole world... pays attention to the United States. What you want is the correct messages out. You don't want massive financial stock market crashes and things like that. Cover my shutdowns. Yes. I mean, for instance, I think this time around, if you're, if you're at work for like a TSA and how they pulled that in 2019, when they all called out sick to try and a lot of them did to, to try it because they're supposed to show up because they're going to get back pay. And so a bunch did, it slowed down a lot of flights, canceled a lot of flights and, They do that under President Trump. It feels like they're doing that now every day. I feel like if they do that under President Trump, they're not going to get their job back. Like they, I mean, they make it like he said, and they probably should get fired because you know, as a federal employee, Pete Hanks is going to take over the FAA in the New York. You're covered here. You're covered. You know, you've been through it before. And honestly, unlike most businesses who if had to close their doors, that's it. There might not be any money there for the next week.
SPEAKER 12 :
We have a caller right now. We should let them speak. Susan in Pennsylvania who is a federal employee who is having this issue right now. It stinks for them. This is not fun. No one wants to trivialize that this is something that we should be laughing at. It shouldn't be. Sadly, Susan, I look at the way they're reacting and I wish they were reacting in the way that you are. Go ahead, Susan.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, hi. So I am a Department of War employee. I am currently furloughed as of midnight last night. I am a Trump supporter also. I just I don't like the optics that's being played. And I understand that's politics. But you do have to understand that we do have that element now of reduction in force being thrown at us. And that is not a good place to be or a good feeling, especially when I'm a Trump supporter. And I want that. I want the corruption cleaned out, but, you know, there's a lot of our lives being played with. And one more point. You say that, you know, we know we've been through this before. We know we'll get paid. Well, we don't know now that they're talking reduction of force.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, you're saying, yes, if, for instance, they were to take action, say, hey, you know, there's 23 percent. Everything was fine. Let's not. Now, I think a lot of that's talk. I feel for you, Susan, at the same time, I think we are at a point where the government's too big. And I'm not saying it's your job specifically, but the technology and the advances we've made, we can do a lot more with less people. And that doesn't mean that you can't take the skills and all the service that you've – as probably a great servant in the department for our country into the private sector. I know that's not necessarily the most fun thing. But I do think you will get your back pay, and I think ultimately – If you are a Trump supporter, you get the idea, and you probably see it yourself in the department, that there's plenty of people there who are sitting at desk, showing up maybe, maybe not even showing up, especially a lot of the side offices. We probably don't need to be using taxpayer dollars to keep them employed if they're not doing a service.
SPEAKER 12 :
And Susan, if for some reason... Give us insight into that. I don't know where the ACLJ can come into that, but if for some reason that doesn't happen, go to our website. Go to aclj.org slash help. You never know what we can do.
SPEAKER 13 :
There's a law that says if you're furloughed... Yeah, back pay. So I would imagine this, Susan. Worst case scenario, if all 23%, including Susan, were ultimately... part of the sizing back of government, which President Trump was very honest about when he ran and you voted for him, Susan, and said that we want to shrink the government, you would still get the back pay up until that point. So it's not like you're losing for today. You haven't lost your job.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right. Thank you, Susan, for calling. Let's take another call. Let's go to Mary Ellen in Illinois. I'm going to open up a couple calls, a couple lines. Hopefully we can take some more in the next segment. Mary Ellen, go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, thank you. And following her call, I was just thinking as she was talking, you know, what about are all these jobs in the government, union jobs? So that's one question. But I called in because President Trump has been saying that the Democrats, they won't like things that may happen if it shuts down. And I was following this Russ Voigt from the Office of Management and Budget, or is it Budget and Management, which comes under the Executive Office? And it's like they were talking about things like, well, you know, the question is, well, will they make more job cuts, you know, because like 100,000 had, I guess, resigned before this. What about cuttings? Are they able to cut agencies or make more doge cuts? So my question really is, do they have, you know, because if whatever President Trump will do or authorize, they'll file a lawsuit. So the question is, Is this all, you know, what's the legality of that, you know, going forward?
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, I mean, again, the legality of... I'm trying to make... I want to make it clear to everybody. The legality of the funding, I mean... This is not the executive branch, so I make that clear. The executive branch, ultimately, President Trump tries to get the deal done, but this is Congress, right? I mean, he can't... He can just be kind of a middleman. He can sign it, but they gotta get it to his desk. And so... He has no issues. That's why we have three equal branches of government. The continuing resolution that was put forward was not to cause a political fight. I want to make that clear. Republicans did not add in a bunch of additional new cuts or try to do something that would really change where the spinning was from the big, beautiful bill. and other legislations actually pass. All it would do is keep things the same.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, what they don't want is, you know, they're upset about the Doge cuts. They're upset about the USAID cuts. They're upset about all of those. They are certainly really upset. President Trump's winning. Yeah, and one of, of course, the couple that are big ones are pro-life protections and, of course, the defunding of Planned Parenthood for the year. Those are the ones that, of course, they're going to shut down the government over.
SPEAKER 13 :
Susan doesn't get her paycheck this week at the Department of War because of their love of killing babies. Yeah.
SPEAKER 12 :
Seriously. Yeah, I mean, that is what it feels like. I mean, again, that's what I'm saying. When you look at when they're sitting there laughing, it doesn't really necessarily feel that way that they're taking it as seriously as people like Susan should. Mary Ellen, thank you for calling. We appreciate it. We are going to be taking more calls and comments in the next segment. So we have opened up a couple lines. 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. 3-1-1-0. We got some calls also coming in about Israel. I want to give that a little bit more time. So if you're calling in about that, we'll give that in the next segment because we'll need more time to talk about that. But once again, I wanted to tell you, you got to support the work of the ACLJ because we're not going anywhere. We're not shutting down. It's October. We're headed towards the end of the year now. I can't believe we're here, you know, where we live still pretty warm outside. So it hasn't really turned to fall just yet. But the reckoning is coming, I guess, if you will, very soon. But with that, I know it's very easy to get distracted with all that's happening in the world. The ACLJ, whether it's our media operation or legal operation, we are not funded primarily by major sponsors or corporations. We are supported by you, the individual. the person that gives on an individual level. Most of our donors give $75. Most of our donors don't even give monthly. They just give one time a year. Now, we encourage you to give monthly, become what we call an ACLJ champion. That's someone that gives an automatic renewing membership. We really appreciate all those people. It gives us a great baseline. Tens of thousands of you do it. It's awesome. But again, they're doing it at levels that start at $5. It's not like we're talking about an entry point that's so high. We want you to be a part of the team because, like I said, when you hear our show, when you see our show, know that if you have an ad, yes, it's on YouTube, a very small percentage of revenue comes to us from YouTube. Very small percentage of revenue comes from any sort of advertising. If you hear it on the radio, none of that goes to us. There are times in a lot of networks where we're paying for that time. You may be going, Logan, why would you do that? You're a broadcaster. Why are you paying to be on? Why are they not paying you? Because that company doesn't get to decide what we can and can't say. And that is not true for most of the world of news media, of entertainment media, of political media, of religious broadcasting. If you're being told by a network, look what happened recently. Look what's going on in the news, even on the other side, even the Jimmy Kimmel's and the Stephen Colbert's. Eventually someone could do that, but they can't do that to us. And that's because people like you decide you're going to support this broadcast. You decide you're going to support also the organization or all of our legal work. And today's October 1st. Let's kick it off strong. I'm going to encourage you to go to ACLJ.org as we head into this last segment of the show today where we get to hear from all of you. And right now we have one line open. So we're going to do our best to get to as many calls as we can. But think about it, pray about it, support the work at ACLJ.org. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. Phone lines, two are open. And this would be your last chance to possibly make it on the air today. 1-800-684-3110. Give us a call. Let's kick it off. Let's go. This one's about Israel, and I think it's okay to divert a little bit to that. Let's go to Don in California, who's listening on the radio. Don, go ahead.
SPEAKER 01 :
Oh, hi, fellas. Blessed, high holy days. You know, I'm really upset when I hear these foreign leaders recognizing a Palestinian state. They're going to pick a little country like Israel, carve out the heart of biblical Israel, and give that to a people that want to kill them. I said, wait a minute. Australia has a lot of space. You could create a nice Palestinian back canada has a lot of space you could plant a you know a palestinian state in in the yukon you know it's like it's always and it's the brits and the french are the worst offenders of carving up the middle east and creating the doggone problem so uh i'm at my wit's end what do you think fellas well don i mean if you look at history the arab countries did step up and you know what the the palestinians who were welcomed into uh jordan by the country you know what they did they tried to kill the king
SPEAKER 13 :
They did. And and they were. So instead of saying thank you for because they're this one, that's the closest related country to Palestinians, Jordanians, trans Jordan, that area. And so they're welcomed in there. You know, the language is the same job services and they ultimately get pushed out because they tried to kill the people that help them.
SPEAKER 12 :
Last night, Don, I was at the premiere of House of David season two, which is coming to Amazon. And the first episode of season two is just a war. It's just a fight scene for 45 minutes following the events of David killing Goliath. And the whole time you're sitting there and as they're fighting for Israel and control of Israel and the king of Israel and all of these things, you just go, not only have we been doing this for thousands of years. I mean, they even say in this, we'll be talking about this war for the rest of eternity. And it does feel that same way. I mean, yes, obviously that is a scripted moment, but definitely was a wink and a nod to even what's going on right now. that these wars are everlasting and have been something that has been going on really since the dawn of time, unfortunately. I do want to thank them for inviting us out there. It was interesting to watch. I believe season two starts later in the week, so I'll just give them a nice plug there for House of David. It does give you a bit. More of a visual understanding of what's going on there. But yeah, Don, hopefully we'll have an answer from Hamas. Now, what Hamas is, who Hamas is, I think is interesting right now, as we've said, because it's not necessarily the same leadership as most of them have been taken out. So what that looks like, the official response now, they have indicated that they are thinking positively. There are things like the Tony Blair situation they're not as thrilled about, but you know, As you said, the pressure's on. So we'll see where that goes. Let's hit some more phone calls. You can give us a call. Last chance. This will be really your last chance. 1-800-684-3110. Tony's calling in Colorado and watching on ACLJ.org. Great place to watch. You can obviously catch up with all the great information. None of it ever behind a paywall on ACLJ.org. Very proud of that. That's because people like you support the work. Tony, go ahead.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hi. I'm just curious. I don't know how all the politicians are paid or such. I'm really not in. in the knowledge of any of that. But if we were to miss a deadline at work for some reason, there would be a penalty. What penalties do they get for not hitting deadlines, for not doing the job that they were, I guess, voted in to do? Yeah, do their paychecks keep going?
SPEAKER 12 :
Those who vote, when they've voted for a shutdown, do the politicians still get paid? Yeah.
SPEAKER 13 :
Members of Congress still get paid because the Constitution says they have to. Their staff doesn't though. So, they do have an incentive to, and some of their staff they will, they consider essential and they have to work without pay. They also will get the back pay. And then some of the staff is considered non-essential. And the reason why they do that is because when there is no trash services and food services, things like that, you don't want a full office necessarily. And because things, it does get kind of gross real fast. And also... It's just kind of not right. So the idea is that, you know, you might keep the core, but they're working without pay. So even though, and a lot of the members of Congress have said, you know, if this goes on to that point, a day shutdown is not really impacting this yet. They won't take the paycheck.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, it looks like at least, like you said, that it likely will last at least through tomorrow at this point.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes, and then you've got, they usually don't, it'll be interesting to see if they do like maybe another morning vote tomorrow. Because then they usually go home for Yom Kippur. So it's an earlier leave, and then they would come back. I mean, technically, if it wasn't for that, they'd be working it through the weekend. So there might be a 24 hours where there isn't a vote. That ultimately will be up to leadership.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, Tony, thanks for calling. Let's continue on with a couple more calls. Let's go to Sean, who's calling in Oklahoma on line three. Sean, go ahead.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes, sir. Hello. My name is Sean in Oklahoma City, as you said, and I'm a moderate conservative Christian and a constitutionalist. I'd like to get your input on this. Our U.S. Constitution, I believe, needs to be amended, and we should add a line item veto. Line item veto is when instead of credit laws being passed with good laws, they bundle all the laws for one vote. And I'd like that to stop. So each one law can be voted individually instead of all of the above. I think that would make voting easier for their politicians. Interesting concept, Sean.
SPEAKER 13 :
The politicians could vote that way. But when you're talking about funding the entire federal government, it's pretty tough to do that. It's not like just six pieces of legislation.
SPEAKER 12 :
It's also these standards of how to get things through. It is political, political, as political as ever been.
SPEAKER 13 :
When you're talking line item veto, I want to explain to people what most people think when they hear line item veto, if they understand the idea of it. Some states allow it. Some governors have that power. If the legislation passes and it goes to the president's desk... they can cut pieces out that they believe are... Yeah, so you could say, we're not funding Planned Parenthood. Right. But we are going to pass the rest of this. That's not allowed currently. So the idea is... And I'm not sure, again, the idea kind of I love... When you love the president and you support their policies, do you love it when it's not a president? You may not be able to get anything done. Right. Or you fought hard in Congress to take back control. You put it on their desk three or four times. They can veto the whole thing if they want. So the president still has the power to say no to this continuing resolution. But he supports, obviously, the Republican continuing resolution. So he'll sign it the moment it gets to his desk.
SPEAKER 12 :
Hey, I don't think, Brock, we'll be able to get to you today. Call back earlier tomorrow. Your topic is very broad. Tariffs keep getting collected, by the way. He's asking about tariffs.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes, they will still be collected because the government is still functioning. As we said, 73% of federal employees are working. Okay, so again...
SPEAKER 12 :
If you're one of the people who called in who has been currently furloughed, now that we understand that this is a stressful and painful time, but also we've got to make sure that you know the facts, and that's why hopefully you've enjoyed this last hour. We've been able to really give you a lot of great information. Send this show to your friends. You can literally copy and paste this YouTube link. Send in your text threads with all of your political buddies and go, here's what you can learn.
SPEAKER 13 :
The one part that I think is never cool with shutdowns is the military and people who do security and federal work, law enforcement. Because they have to still go out and risk their lives. They will get their back pay, too. But that's what I think. But I mean, they're the ones really putting their lives on the line. So it's more than just financial issues for them. And they're still doing that. And I feel like if we could amend another law like the way they have amended for some other people, that would be where to start.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, thanks for watching today. We really appreciate it. A lot of you are brand new. If you're brand new and you've never been a part of this show before, you're watching maybe on YouTube, hit that subscribe button right now. It's a great free way to support this show, but also you get your feed hopefully every day, 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern, clipped out, and there's podcast versions you can watch later on, however you can. Of course, support the work financially if you can as well, especially if you've been watching for a while at aclj.org. Talk to you tomorrow.
Join host John Rush as he delves deep into America's tumultuous history, spotlighting the riveting 115-day presidential race involving Rutherford B. Hayes. In conversation with Richard Battle, listener favorite, they draw fascinating parallels between historical and modern political challenges, highlighting how the leadership of yesteryears can guide today's divided society. Special attention is given to the complexities of electoral processes and the significance of principled leadership in fostering national healing post-Civil War.
SPEAKER 09 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 06 :
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 08 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 09 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did. Get a job, Turk.
SPEAKER 13 :
You haven't made everybody equal. You've made them the same and there's a big difference.
SPEAKER 14 :
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 15 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 03 :
It's Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 19 :
All right, we're back. Hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560, and Richard Battle joining us. Richard, how are you today? How's your day going?
SPEAKER 05 :
Good afternoon, John. We're doing great. Thanks for having us back with you.
SPEAKER 19 :
Always a joy. The 115-day presidential election that hastened national healing. Talk about it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Saturday is Rutherford B Hayes birthday. And so it's kind of ironic that that came up and I decided to talk about it right at the time of the government shutdown. Uh, but that particular election was so unique. especially in the face of the division of the Civil War and the healing after it, and comparing the leadership in those days versus the leadership today, that I thought it'd be good to review it.
SPEAKER 19 :
Okay, let's get into it. So first of all, Rutherford Hayes, what number president was he?
SPEAKER 05 :
You're asking me the one question I can't remember.
SPEAKER 19 :
Because I didn't have it off the top of my head. I'll look it up. I'll look it up while you're talking.
SPEAKER 05 :
Not a problem. I don't have the number, but what's amazing was that election and another byproduct of that was George Custer, part of the reason he was doing what he did before he got wiped out. By the way, 19th. He was the 19th president. 19th. Custer was trying to be the Democrat candidate for president in 1876, which Samuel Tilden, the governor of New York, was the Democrat candidate, and Rutherford B. Hayes was the multi-term governor of Ohio, was the Republican candidate.
SPEAKER 19 :
Okay. Interesting.
SPEAKER 05 :
So when the election finalized... Tilden was ahead by 19 electoral votes, but there was contention in five states. Imagine this. One of them was Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, Vermont, and Oregon. And so there were issues about tabulating ballots as well as unqualified electors that were causing problems. So some things never change. Some things never change. There were 20 electoral votes in those five states. Tilden was ahead by 19 electoral votes on election night.
SPEAKER 19 :
Close race.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it was a very close race. And so what was interesting, it took 115 days to resolve it. We think that the 37 days in 2000 were bad. And they barely got it resolved before Inauguration Day on March 4th. And if they wouldn't have gotten that done by March 4th, that would have violated the Constitution itself.
SPEAKER 19 :
Hmm. Good point. Wow. You know what? These are things I don't think most people know. I had read this at one time but forgot all about it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and here's another point that your listeners will like. Colorado was admitted to the union that year, and they had three electoral votes that went to haste. But the admission process was not the normal admission process. If they had gone through the normal admission process, Colorado would not have made it in 1876, and those three electoral votes wouldn't have occurred.
SPEAKER 19 :
Okay. Okay. Good. I didn't know that either. Good to know.
SPEAKER 05 :
So there were so many unique things. The Congress, lacking interest in having an accountable opinion about what should happen, instead of the Congress taking care of the election like 1800 and 1824... They appointed a federal elections commission, which is not constitutional. And they had representatives and senators and then Supreme Court justices to try to adjudicate the dispute, which was interesting. And their vote was one vote difference after a Supreme Court justice was kind of flaky on the deal. And so one vote difference on that. as they went.
SPEAKER 19 :
How did the country react and or respond to all of that at the time, or do you know?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, what's interesting is, of course, the communications in those days were not as good, so people couldn't keep up. You had telegraph, so the people that were really involved could keep up, but then you had to rely on transcriptions in the newspaper to keep them going. But if you'll remember, when you and I were kids, politics were not part of our daily life.
SPEAKER 19 :
No, they weren't.
SPEAKER 05 :
And even more so in the 1800s. So I think most of them probably figured, well, there's very little difference between one and the other. So regardless of who wins, America wins.
SPEAKER 19 :
How good of a president was he?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, one of the things he did, and I think he was very principled, because he promised to only serve one term. And what happened, the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, but they lost the election. and and the reason why was they cut a deal uh reconstruction had been going on for 11 years and the north had punished the south i mean after the war there was so much bitterness in the south if lincoln would have lived i think reconstruction would have been easier and quicker and the healing would have been quicker so hayes and his people Every day to the last 115 day, it looked like Tilden was going to win the election. But Hayes cut a deal that if he were elected, he'd only serve one term, and he would withdraw federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction. And so those southern states said they'd vote for Hayes if he did that, and that's what swung the election.
SPEAKER 19 :
That's what made him win. Interesting. And won by one electoral vote. Amazing. I did not know that. That's amazing. Again, these are stories that, again, I think I knew this at one point in time or I'd read this at one point in time, but, man, we forget, and I forgot how close that was.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, we forget about it, and they used the law to adjudicate the election. There are provisions in the Constitution and in law to adjudicate election disputes, and they did it. There weren't riots in the street or anything. They went through a legal process. There were attempts five years ago to do some of that. And, of course, there's contention on both sides there. But there were attempts to go through a legal process. And some people argue both directions, whether it went through properly or not.
SPEAKER 19 :
So, as I just said a few minutes ago, some things never change. And I think my point in that, Richard, is that, you know, I always hear from, you know, different people that, man, you know, we're back to the point where, you know, we're up against, you know, it's going to be Civil War again. And, you know, it's just getting so bad. And I don't know how we can continue on and this, that and the other. And I'm always quick to remind people that, you know, we've been through rougher times as a nation, but we have short memories in regard to that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. And part of the reason I like talking about this is those people put country ahead of self and party. And they had the Democrats and the Republicans had to do that to come together to solve this particular issue, which was bigger than self or party. And that's what we need now going forward to help us heal. They had argued for 30 years before the Civil War. There was bitterness long beyond this. I mean, the city of Vicksburg didn't celebrate Independence Day until 1944 after the Civil War. So there was still bitterness, but this was a major step forward to healing. And if they could heal that, we can heal this if we have statesmen and women step up.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah. And, you know, as you and I talk on a pretty routine basis, that's where the leadership end of things comes together and the simple fact that we don't have enough of.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, and the difference between a politician and a leader, a politician thinks about the next election, and a statesman leader, if you will, thinks about the next generation.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yep, that's exactly right. All right, so we've got books, we've got other things on the website. Talk about that for a minute.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, if I may, I'm going to give one quote that I think is important. Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER 19 :
Go ahead.
SPEAKER 05 :
Before self-promotion, nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts of meanness.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yep. Yep.
SPEAKER 05 :
Think how applicable that is.
SPEAKER 19 :
Yep. No, you are 100% correct. I can't argue that at all. That was his. That's Rutherford B. Hayes' quote.
SPEAKER 05 :
That is Rutherford B. Hayes' quote, and these are in the Americans who made America 19th century. Growth Division and Reunification Volume. RichardBattle.com is the website. All 12 volumes are there signed. If you'd like them inscribed, email me, Richard, at RichardBattle.com. After you order, we're happy to do that for gifts, which holiday season is coming up. On Amazon under Richard B. Battle, all 12 books, including 11 of them in Kindle and 8 in audio version.
SPEAKER 19 :
Richard, always a joy. Glad to have you back this week. We appreciate all you do.
SPEAKER 05 :
My pleasure. Take care. God bless America.
SPEAKER 19 :
All right, Richard, you have a great day. God bless you as well. And up next, Golden Eagle Financial. And Al did a great interview of late. Don't forget, you can listen to him on Wednesdays. By the way, today from 2 to 2.30, Golden Eagle Financial. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 04 :
TJ here with KLZ and Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial. And Al, I have a question for you. I've been putting money away for a while in a savings account or maybe a couple of investment accounts. But what am I doing wrong and what can you do better than that?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, I think a savings account is important because all the financial gurus, including myself, agree you should have three to six months savings that you have ready liquid access to. But retirement planning is a bit more long-term, and it's a bit more strategic. We want to take a look at the sum of money you'll need way into the future, and we want to look at how that money can last by providing you income for as long as you live.
SPEAKER 04 :
What kind of planning or strategy do you provide for folks with that that have a big savings but haven't made that next step?
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, that's a good question. If someone has a large amount in savings, one of the things I do is we have a conversation about their risk tolerance. Nobody's comfortable losing money, but having money in the market over a long period of time is a mechanism to accumulate wealth. And so we talk about the different levels of risk and the different products that are available. And we don't put everybody into one box, but I have an enormous assortment of financial products. And it's not that there's good ones or bad ones. It's there are some that are more appropriate for some people, but not for others.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that sounds excellent. How can folks get in touch with you for that meeting?
SPEAKER 15 :
You can reach me at 303-744-1128. And if I'm not there, it goes to voicemail, but I return my voicemails promptly. And we could have a conversation in the office. If you live a considerable distance away, we can have a long phone conversation or a Zoom call, whichever you would prefer.
SPEAKER 04 :
And as always, you can find him at klzradio.com slash money. Al, thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, thank you, TJ. Thanks for the conversation.
SPEAKER 04 :
You bet.
SPEAKER 19 :
All right, Dr. Scott, don't forget, if there's anything you need when it comes to the medical sides of things, I've been talking about him to a lot of different people that I know. And if you want a really great doctor that thinks of you first and not your insurance company or a big pharma, that is Dr. Scott. Find him today by calling 303-663-6990.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 17 :
putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 19 :
Hi, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Yesterday, Andy and I really broke down the GOP meeting that was the SEC meeting that happened this last Saturday and really talked a lot about, you know, where are we at, where are we at as a party, and so on. And along those lines, there was an Apple News story that I read this morning that just caught my eye and thought, well, I'll go ahead and read this. And the title of this particular article is, A Far-Right Faction Took Power in Odessa, this is in Texas, Odessa, Then It Had to Govern. And I read the entire article, which, very interesting. Only problem is... As I'm reading that entire article, I'm thinking, this is exactly what's happening in Colorado, only it's in a statewide basis here in Colorado, not just in a particular city, particular area. I would encourage you, whether you have... And let me look here, whether you have Apple News or not. This is coming out of a publication called Texas Monthly. Texas Monthly. So most of you could probably look this up, even if you don't have an Apple account. But I think Apple News, I think... And I don't know this because I'm an Apple user. Charlie, can you read an Apple News story if I send it to you? Or have you ever tried doing that? He's not sure. We'll have to figure that out, whether you guys can actually read an Apple News link or not. And if some of you know that answer, let me know. But very interesting article. And really what it boils down to is a – faction, a group of really hard right individuals, ended up winning power in the city of Odessa, took over, and literally changed lots of things in regards to how the city functioned. And let me give you some examples. And while in principle, this is what I talk about with our party here in Colorado right now, who's in charge? In principle, their right is But in the way they handled things, they were wrong. So, for example, Texas already has a very strict abortion law statewide. And yet, even with that, and even given the fact that Odessa has no abortion clinics in its city limits, they thought that they needed to pass a law banning abortions in the city and spent a lot of time and money doing that. And yet they had issues going on with their water supply, whereby they had certain days where you couldn't drink the water because it wasn't fit to drink and so on and so forth. In other words, they were working on things that they thought were important while the city struggled. Again, principle, yes, correct, but practically speaking, completely wrong. Again, why would you bother with an abortion ban in the city of Odessa when there's not even an abortion clinic there? Why would you spend any time on that? Well, because in these guys' eyes, and they were guys, in their eyes, that's what they stood for and that's what they were going to do, period. They were God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians, and this is what we're going to do, even though people might not be able to drink water in town. And you see the error of their ways in what I just said? Yes, in principle, they're correct. And I don't believe in abortion either. You guys hear me talk about that even on the National Crawford Roundtable in regards to the sponsors that we have there, Preborn. And great organization, by the way. But do I agree with how these guys handled the abortion situation in Odessa, Texas? No, they're knuckleheads. They're idiots. Sorry, I'll just say it as is. They're complete idiots. They're so principled that they lost sight of taking care of people. I mean, people need drinking water. That's far more important than passing an abortion ban in a town where there's not even a clinic anyways. I mean, how stupid can you be? Well, very stupid. And this whole article goes through talking about how they they fired the current city manager, which, by the way, I hate city managers anyways. But they fired the city manager they had. They put out a search for a new city manager. Well, as it turns out, they end up hiring a city manager that is really it was very incestual. This particular person was very key inside of the state GOP party, had no experience ever being a city manager there. They basically rigged it to where even though they did a study and a search, they paid a firm to actually do a search for a city manager. They end up hiring the insider, if you would, for a tune of about $275,000 a year. Remember, Odessa, Texas, that's in the heart of the Permian Basin, very, very wealthy area. Because of that, they have all sorts of money, all sorts of funds. But these knuckleheads chose to spend it in ways that were on them and not the town. Again, as I was reading through this entire article, all I'm thinking about are the things that Andy and I spoke about yesterday in regards to the Davidians, as Andy calls them, and he's right in calling them that, as in the Davidians that are running the state party today here in Colorado. Now, fortunately for Odessa, Texas... They were actually able to turn the tide. People finally woke up. The voters in the area finally woke up and realized that, wait a minute, this isn't going the right direction. We should probably vote in some folks that are more concerned about how the town actually runs versus their inside politics and the fact that these guys are all getting rich off of being on city council, which is exactly what was happening. And let's turn the tide. And they did. They ended up electing, quote unquote, moderate Republicans that came in and now are getting the town back on track and trying to fix some of the infrastructure issues they're having and so on and so forth. It got so bad that the city couldn't even borrow money any longer because their bond ratings were so poor because of the way the town was being run. It affected that end of things. This is what happens when you let radical activists run a town. That's the ultimate story here is exactly what's happening in Colorado happened in Odessa, Texas. And eventually it'll it'll fix itself here in Colorado. It'll right itself. These knuckleheads will no longer be in power and things will change. And I know, by the way, a lot of you knuckleheads listen to my program. You won't be there forever. You won't be in power forever. You're in power for right now, but that won't last. Eventually, people will wake up, and they will realize that they've been had, that they're getting scammed by the likes of you, and we'll go back to somewhat of some normalcy, hopefully. The question is, how long will that take? I don't have that answer. I hope it's sooner than later, and I hope some of these people that are, I call them this, the political grifters, that grift in and out of Colorado, they get on the coattails of somebody else, they realize there's money to be made, and there's ways to make that happen, and I can run for this, and I can run for that, and I can be this, and I can be that, and eventually that runs out as well. And I hope that's sooner than later. Keep in mind, and I'll be careful how I say this, but I think this is pretty well known, keep in mind we've got two people that are really in charge of the party in Rhino Watch right now who can't even do my job, that got kicked off air in doing my job because of things they did and basically their arrogance in how they feel things are and can no longer even sit in my chair because of that. And I'm not again, I'm not going to get into details, but that's essentially what happens when you get to that point where you feel like you're above everyone else and you start acting and saying things along those lines. You're no longer able to do your job. And yet and yet they're still collecting money and raising money off of the very things I'm talking about in regards to the GOP here in Colorado. How sick and twisted is that, by the way? There's a lot of folks right now in charge of the GOP here in Colorado that are in it for one reason, one reason only, money. They'll tell you it's, oh, we're principled. Oh, we're doing it because we want to see Colorado go back red, which, by the way, it hasn't been red forever. So that's the dumbest thing anybody would ever say in Colorado anyways. And that's coming from a native standpoint, by the way. But yeah, these guys and gals that are basically running the party here in Colorado, the 20 or 25 people that Andy and I talked about yesterday, these are people that are in it for one reason, one reason only. Money and greed. Power and greed. Ego. I guess you could call it several things, but money, power, ego, all of them going together, by the way. Each one of those feeding off of the other. And all they do is criticize anybody else that would come against them because they're not principled. They're a rhino. They're a weak Republican. They're this. They're that. That's exactly what they'll come back and tell you. They're not worthy to even run in an election because they don't think like we do. By the way, do you see the danger in what I just said? They don't think like us, so they're not worthy to run. That's a dangerous place to get to, by the way. So those of you that are in that camp, shame on you, by the way. And by the way, any of you that think along those lines, have you really looked in the mirror and thought about what's going on and that you're a part of something you shouldn't be? And I mean this sincerely. Some of you I've known for years and years now, and you've gotten wrapped up with the wrong people. And you're doing it for all the wrong reasons as well. Your ego some way, somehow is being fed, and I don't know why, because it's being fed by people that, frankly, don't have your best interest at heart. They're users through and through. So, again, go read this article. I encourage every one of you that are listening, even if you're on that side of the aisle, go read this article. Look and see what these people did to Odessa, Texas. They're now reeling back from that. They're trying to get this thing back on track and fixed. after literally these guys thoroughly screwed up Odessa, Texas. And you would think, how could that happen in a place like Odessa? It did. No different than it's happening here in Colorado. Now, the difference is these guys actually got elected. They were in power and they made a bunch of changes to Odessa, Texas. Here in Colorado, they're not doing things on a statewide level as far as politics are concerned because their activist ways won't allow their candidates to be elected. Now, they'll tell you that, oh, we have the best candidates ever, and it's this primary system that doesn't allow things to happen correctly, and that's why we can't win. As I said yesterday, they're delusional. These are literally people that are – it's a mental illness. I don't know how else to say it. These are mentally ill people, much like I talk about people on the left being mentally ill. The same thing is happening inside of our own party. These are mentally ill people that are so addicted to the ego and power and money that they're losing sight of what really happens with regular Coloradans. And it's really sick if you think about it. They are so drunk on power, and they are so happy now that they finally have a piece of the power pie, and they're not going to give it up. Come hell or high water, we're not giving it up. But eventually they do, and they'll have to, just like in Odessa, Texas. So once again, go read this. It's so eerily similar. to what's going on in Colorado, that as I read this, that's all I could think of is, this is us. This is the Colorado GOP, those that are in charge. And literally, it's so incestuous, it's ridiculous. And as I was reading through some of the comments, by the way, regarding the decisions that were made on Saturday from the SEC and so on, and some of the people that are criticizing those decisions, by the way, I'll name names, the Eric Grossmans of the world, which, by the way, nobody even knew who Eric Grossman was until Dave came along, Dave Williams came along. And they're just pals. And all Dave did was feed Eric money. for a business that I've never heard of and most of you haven't either, and there's not even any Internet presence on that company, and yet he was the party planner that we fed hundreds of thousands of dollars to. And yet he's the first guy to come out and say what happened last Saturday isn't correct. I mean, these people, again, they are delusional. They're drunk on power, and eventually, and I'm going to keep talking about this because we need to eliminate these people. They need to go away. Eliminate, not as in eliminate, but eliminate them from the power they have is what I mean. Please don't misunderstand what I just said. Eliminate their positions. Let me say it that way. In some cases, by the way, these are people that have only been in Colorado for the last five, six, seven years. They haven't even been here that long. In some cases, less than that. And yet they jump on, they jump in, and they're going to capture some of that cash, some of that fame, And they're not giving it up. Unfortunately, in Colorado, we've allowed that. And I think we do because we just don't vet things like we should at times. And again, it's because of our independent thought and how we as conservatives look at things and so on. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but we are not the well-oiled machine that the left is. We allow things to happen the left never will. And we can learn some things, by the way, from what the left does and be much better off for it. And we should, strategically speaking. Cup Creek Union Air Conditioning coming up next. Don't forget about their furnace tune-up special. Find them today. Just go to klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 08 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 19 :
All right, we are back. Sonny Kutcher joining us now. Young Americans Against Socialism. Sonny, welcome.
SPEAKER 16 :
Thanks for having me. How are you doing this week?
SPEAKER 19 :
I'm doing great. Always a joy to have you. First off, give us an update of what's going on on your end of the woods, your neck of the woods with Young Americans Against Socialism.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, you know, we are just still trying to get our resources out to everyone that needs them. I think that's the most important thing that we can do is just have resources available for families. When they come looking, you know, they are able to find it. And especially after Charlie Kirk's assassination, you can tell from the statistics and whatnot that our searches have gone way up. People are definitely seeking out this material, seeking out information, and especially for their kids because they understand how important the work that Charlie was doing is to reach college kids and to seed the indoctrination. It's really quite shocking. People are seeing now, okay, we need to help our children from a young age. age and so uh that that's where you can find us at yas.org which is the website and we're happy to uh you know share your story if you're you or somebody you know has experienced you know uh tyranny from another country or they're a survivor or they know somebody we'd love to hear from you and to be able to share those stories
SPEAKER 19 :
You know what? And I want to dovetail into that because I did a great interview in the first hour. We do health and wellness for that first hour on Wednesdays, and we had a great guest on today. We were talking about mental illness and how it's on the rise and how things are being prescribed and where is it coming from. And really, we dovetailed back into, and this particular psychologist fully agreed with me, This is part of the Marxist movement. It's exactly what they want. They want to see this mental health crisis. It's been by design. This particular psychologist, Sonny, fully agreed with me. And what I want to dovetail into you from him is you have a lot of materials whereby if there's somebody struggling even on the mental illness end of things, I'm not saying it's going to be a fix-all, but if people would read your material and and learn what's really trying to be done, or not trying, what's being done in our public school education especially, and if they'd really sit down and look at your material and understand where they're at, I am convinced that they could even probably head off some of this mental illness problems we have, especially with young people.
SPEAKER 16 :
I definitely agree with you. I think the material when it comes to our rights, talking about the Constitution, talking about the story of America and the Declaration of Independence and how Americans, the early colonists, fought for their independence. These stories and these values, absolutely, I would agree with you, do build the foundation. They are the building blocks and the core pillars for Americans and humans in general to understand that our rights do come from God, that there is natural law, that natural law exists, and that the reason the Constitution is so unique and so special is because it actually codifies that. It actually protects those rights into law to say, hey, no matter what, Our government is here to protect us. And so we want to make sure that no matter what, our rights, our freedom of speech, our freedom of the press, all of these different things are protected because that's the only way that you can keep a functioning society from derailing.
SPEAKER 19 :
Great point. And I think the other thing that he and I talked about is just, you know, how, and I know you guys talk about this in the material as well, this idea that, you know, hey, you don't need God. There is no higher power. There's nobody there that you can look to for comfort and care and so on. The reality is we're government. We're going to take that place. Look to us instead. Oh, by the way, if you come to us with any kind of mental illness, we're just going to prescribe a pill to you anyways, which, by the way, is by design, Sonny. Again, there's so much material that you guys have that would help people really understand what's the real motive here. And I think if people were to really understand what the motive is, I think in a lot of ways it might change their whole perspective on things.
SPEAKER 16 :
Definitely, because we can't control the people that go into office, right? We all have free will, and so that is why government is so susceptible to corruption and to tyranny, because people abuse their power. So the governmental system in Europe and France, let's say, or Germany or whatnot, they either have a parliamentary system or they have an XYZ system in whichever country you want to discuss, That may be fine and great. That may be quite all right. However, you cannot control people who go in and want to abuse their power and then, you know, end up creating like in England where they're actually people who are being arrested for, quote-unquote, hate speech because they don't have the First Amendment. They don't really have that in writing. It doesn't exist the way that it does in this country. So I absolutely agree with you. I think that this goes right into just the same – concept as it is when we do talk about health recommendations from the government, governmental agencies saying, oh, we are going to be the arbiter of science and of what's medically conducive for your child or what's medically recommended for your child. I think that's why so many families especially are waking up as far as the pharmaceutical industrial complex, what President Trump has been talking about with autism. People want to get to the root of the truth. They want to understand the truth. And so if they could see, perhaps, and from that perspective, if you are a parent that is, you know, really getting into the pharmaceutical industrial complex and how they're actually poisoning our children, how they're wanting to, you know, schedule all these vaccines back to back to back that are creating issues with our children, undoubtedly, because RFK, he always talks about you don't see 75 year old men who are autistic or not just men, but 75 year old people who are autistic. It doesn't really, it doesn't exist. Right. So there's something happening. That's the trickle down. And that's why, uh, knowing how that happens in every single way from the government to the people, you would talk about healthcare when you talk about, uh, freedom, when you talk about these laws, when you talk, you know what I mean? So that's why it's so important to understand how socialism works because that is economically you know, quote, unquote, their idea of economic prosperity trickling down from the government to the people, and it just does not work. Just like it doesn't really work when the government runs too much for us.
SPEAKER 19 :
No, you're exactly right. And again, it was one of those things where I was thinking, you know, as I was talking to him, and I'm thinking, okay, we've got Sonny coming up, and the reality is so much of this literally ties back and forth to each other that your education and what we need to get out into the hands of And I say it all the time, Sonny, and I know we're trying to get this out into young people especially because that's at the heart of what we're talking about, although there are people even my age that probably could benefit from reading your material that, frankly, even though they believe like we do, maybe have never really read through the factual data of why they believe what they believe.
SPEAKER 16 :
Definitely. And I also think that what an important and special opportunity it is for parents to understand Not only understand that, you know, okay, hey, yeah, my kid needs to understand, you know, what the Bill of Rights is and what their freedoms are and how the Constitution protects these freedoms. Great. I think there's a special opportunity here for parents to actually take responsibility as being their child's first and most important educator. Nowadays, you know, more and more people are homeschooling. We know that that's not possible for everybody, you know, and we know that's not feasible for everybody, or maybe that's just not everyone's priority or preference, rather. But how special is it to really take that time and to dedicate to understanding your rights, your values, so that your child can grow up knowing that they cannot be taken advantage of, knowing when it comes to legalities, when it comes to contracts, when it comes to employment, when it comes to financial literacy, when it comes to critical thinking, when it comes to observing the news, the media, their peers, college. everything in their life eventually will build upon these values and build their confidence and their critical thinking is so important in order to protect these rights for themselves, because guess what? Yes, these rights are given by God, and they are protected by the Constitution, but that does not stop people from actually trying to infringe upon those rights and actually impeach upon your rights.
SPEAKER 19 :
That's right. No, very well said, by the way. I appreciate all of that. I know you're short on time today. How do folks find you?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, yass.org is the website, so you can certainly check us out there. We'd love to hear from you. There's a little banner at the bottom where you can send us a message if there's something that you'd like to share or you have questions about. We're just so grateful for the support, and this is the time. This truly is the time to get involved, just to share the resources, watch the interviews on our website, on our YouTube channel, so you can go, honestly, search Young Americans Against Socialism or YASS, the acronym, America, YASS America, on Twitter, on Instagram. YouTube and you'll find it because those interviews are so helpful and impactful to really help people visualize and understand and feel realistically what it means and what it was like what it still is like to live in these communist and socialist countries and that really is the heart of our organization and then the resources kind of funnel through from there of what we learn and how we can distill this information to share with your children in a curriculum or a learning guide format and so feel free to go to the website download those resources and let us know what you think
SPEAKER 19 :
Awesome. Sunny, as always, I appreciate it. Thanks for taking time out of your day. I know you're busy, and I appreciate it greatly.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, thank you so much. I appreciate you, and what a blessing it is to have so many people who want to learn, want to share this information, and so we're really grateful for this opportunity always.
SPEAKER 19 :
You have a great day. Thanks, Sunny. And we'll let her go. Have a great evening. Mile High Coin coming up next. Again, those of you that have been collecting things, and it just stuff builds up over time. You know what I mean by that. You get a little item here, a little item there, and pretty soon you've got a jewelry box full of stuff, and it's like, you know, I'm not even using the majority of what's in here. Okay, turn that into cash, or at least find out what's its worth, what's its value. Mile High Coin will do that for you for free, 720-370-3400.
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SPEAKER 19 :
All right, Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Story that I had read, and Charlie sent me this as well. Two Denver area companies and three of the business's top executives are facing federal charges for allegedly defrauding the government on sales of forklifts and trying to dodge tariffs on equipment imported to the U.S. So what these guys were doing, in a nutshell, was they had imported Chinese forklifts into the U.S., changed the bill of lading, had basically a scam going on with the Chinese company that was sending these over, and they were falsifying documents, making it look like they weren't coming from China, but in essence they were, and they've been caught. Now, they started doing this, I believe, I've got to look at the article here, but I believe... That was all the way back to 20, I want to say 2018 or 2019. In other words, this didn't just happen. This has been going on for a while. This isn't just because of the tariffs and things that were just enacted of late, by the way. This is going on way before that. And again, these guys, frankly, these guys should go to jail, I believe. And here's why. Let me explain. These guys more than likely were involved in a bidding process for forklifts to the government. And I don't know exactly what department of government these were going to, but it doesn't matter. Going to the government. And where I think this is, and why they should go to jail, by the way, is, A, not only did they defraud the government because they claimed these were U.S.-made, and by the way, there was a law enacted, and Trump did this, I believe, back in 2020, or earlier, 2016, let me say it that way, his first term, 16 to 20, whereby he encouraged and mandated that the government buy as much U.S.-made products as possible. These guys probably figured out, okay, wait a minute, we can get an edge. We can probably sell an item to the government that's a little less money than what somebody that's actually got a U.S.-made product has. We'll still be okay. We'll figure out a way to make it look like these are actually U.S.-made forklifts, and we're good to go. We're golden. So they thought. And here's where it frustrates business people like myself that are doing this the correct way. They basically stole money from other U.S.-made forklifts, and the companies that were selling those are trying to sell those to the government. They beat those guys out in the bidding process with an inferior product that costs a lot less. But they literally took money out of genuine U.S.-made products that could have actually gone to the government. And yeah, these guys should go to jail. There's a bunch of garbage. I don't know how these guys sleep at night. Of course, they don't care. I don't know who these individuals are. I've never met them. Don't know what they even look like. Don't know what their ethnicity is or anything else. Brian Perkins, Jeffrey Blasdell. and a former executive, J.R. Antzak. I can't, I don't, I'm saying that probably wrong. A-N-T-Z-Z-A-K. Antzak. They conspired to import forklifts from China and then conceal the forklifts' foreign origin. Once disguised, the group would sell the forklifts to federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, Federal Emergency Management, so FEMA, and they represented the trucks as being made in America. They intentionally violated the Buy America Act to defraud the U.S. government. It's not just a legal issue. It's a demonstration of complete disregard for U.S. law and the safety and security of our U.S. military. Because, again, this went to the Department of Defense as well. Now, side note. I guarantee you that if I were to go and look at one of these forklifts and give it a once-over, I could have probably told you within five or ten minutes that this is not an American-made forklift. Am I a forklift expert? No. Have I owned forklifts? Yes. Do I currently? Yes. Can I pretty much identify a foreign-made one versus an American-made one? Yes. So I'm trying to figure out why did it take so long for government to figure out that these guys defrauded them in a million dollars in tariffs, duties, and fees. And on top of that, sold products to government that weren't even made in America. In other words, I'm trying to figure out, it wouldn't have taken very long. Even, by the way, just doing an oil change and some other things along those lines on one of these, you could have figured out pretty quickly that these weren't made in America. So why did it take this long to finally bring these guys to justice? Five years later, basically. Six years later. That's the biggest question I have is why did it take so long? Again, I get it. The wheels of government go really, really slowly. But keep in mind, these guys have been basically living a life of luxury, I'm guessing, selling all these forklifts to the government, probably making pretty good money on doing so. All on our dime. And not having a single worry about it, not even thinking twice about it. So, again, my take is not only did they commit a crime in doing what they did by selling to the government and avoiding all the tariffs, but they took money out of real good, solid, legitimate American companies that could have provided the government with forklifts. They stole from them at the end of the day. So, yeah, lock these guys up and throw away the key for all I'm concerned. Roof Savers of Colorado. Great company, by the way. Wants to help you save money on your roof by extending the life of, in a lot of cases, actually helping you with your insurance policy as well. Talk to Dave today. Find out how that works. 303-710-6916.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 19 :
All right, that's it for this hour. Another full hour coming your way. Scott Garlis will join us at 530. I'll also talk a little bit about the government shutdown. And then Colorado just had a big meeting, a big conference, I guess you could say, on artificial intelligence and how that should work inside of the state of Colorado. I'll talk about that as well. Don't go anywhere. Hour three is next. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
Thank you. I'm a rich guy
Scott Whatley welcomes Dr. Melissa Fling for an enlightening conversation focused on the impact of suppressors on hearing health. The discussion covers the latest legislative changes and what they mean for gun owners, while Dr. Fling provides expertise on the importance of hearing safety. Learn why double hearing protection might be your best bet and understand the realities versus the myths when it comes to suppressors and hearing risk.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado, Colorado's premier outdoor radio show heard every Saturday afternoon on KLZ 560 with insights on hunting, fishing, archery, guns, and ammo from Colorado's top outfitters featuring the industry's leading experts on how to enhance your experience in the great outdoors. Now, here's your host, Scott Whatley.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado. Thank you so much for joining us today. Always good to have our exclusive audiologist with us, Dr. Melissa Fling. It's Custom Air Solutions 720-839-7705. You'll also hear her on Wednesdays at 1230 on Haystack Help Radio in a segment we call Listen Up. And Dr. Fling? Always good to see you. How are you?
SPEAKER 09 :
I'm good. Good to be here. How are you?
SPEAKER 06 :
I'm good. I've got a couple of dates figured out with one of our gun rangers now that have invited us over.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, okay. Yeah, let's talk about that.
SPEAKER 06 :
You come over and shoot some guns and say, oh my, now I want to come on the show every day to warn people. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep. Okay. Sounds good.
SPEAKER 06 :
How's the last few weeks been?
SPEAKER 09 :
everything's been good yeah just moving right along i've been working on i'm giving a talk um next month at our colorado academy of audiology conference which is exciting so i've got to prepare for that um and another another project that i've been working on an article with a couple colleagues so yeah some cool things are coming up lately cool how many people will be at that oh gosh i don't know uh well Definitely, I would say at least a hundred, maybe two. And, you know, there will be different talks happening at the same time. So everyone won't come to my talk, just whoever finds the topic interesting, but. Yeah, it's a good amount of people that, you know, the audiologists in Colorado.
SPEAKER 06 :
Wow, that's awesome.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, yearly conference that we have. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey, we're going to talk about suppressors today. And, you know, we do that with a lot of our gun stores as well. And a lot of things are changing in that. In the big, beautiful bill that President Trump signed, the $200 tax stamp. that we've always had to pay every time you wanted to buy a suppressor, that will be going away January 1st. So you just simply have to pay for your suppressor. And most of our partners at gun stores are kind of letting you come in now if you want to do that and get your suppressor. I want to say get it, do all the paperwork. And then in January, you can pick it up if you don't want to pay that $200 tax stamp. but from an audiologist standpoint we're going to get her views on suppressors because it is said sometimes in in literature in ads and uh and even from you know some folks that sell them that are on our show that and they do put air quotes around this hearing safe so let me ask you in your opinion as an audiologist is there anything hearing safe as far as a suppressor in your world?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, it's not really my opinion. I had to do some research and actually it was, it was a guest that you had on that called them hearing safe. And I thought, Hmm, I don't, I'm not sure about that. I want to look that up. And you know, that's not to be critical, but it's to get down to what is actually the fact about it. And the fact is suppressors are, obviously reduce how loud a shot is, which is good for your hearing, but it doesn't reduce it so much that it makes it safe for your hearing. There's still a significant risk, especially cumulatively, depending on how many shots you're taking, or if you're out shooting regularly, then you're going to have this cumulative damage exposure that causes damage that builds up over time. So the, the overarching thought here is do suppressors make it safer? Yes. Safer, not safe. there still will be risk. And even to make it even safer would be to combine the suppressor with hearing protection. And that could be single hearing protection, meaning just earplugs or just muffs. Or if you're in more of a reverberant environment indoors or you're even outdoor, but you're kind of inside something or you have a hard surface next to, you know, on either side of you, then it's more ideal to have double hearing protection, earplugs and earmuffs. So that topic that was brought up on your show, I thought, oh, that's a really interesting topic that needs to be discussed a little bit further. I don't think it's appropriate to say that suppressors are hearing safe. And actually, we don't even have a standard yet for how to measure suppressors How much they do suppress. I think there's information out there about that, but I don't know that we have a standard. That's being worked on. Actually, when I looked it up, the American Suppressor Association has hired a consulting contract company called SASRAC. And a colleague of mine works for them. They're working on developing a standard to even just measure the performance of suppressors. Gotcha. So I think we're a little ahead of what's current by saying they're hearing safe. We don't know that. Well, actually, we do know it. There have been studies that have shown... There's still a significant risk. But they're working on getting a standard so we can measure how much suppressors reduce noise, which is good. Yeah, absolutely. That's movement in the right direction.
SPEAKER 06 :
And, you know, one thing is a lot of times the sound, it breaks the sound barrier way up in front of you. So it's not really that here. But, I mean, you'll see. We go to a gun range. There may be somebody sit there for an hour, 45 minutes or an hour, just repetitive shot, repetitive shot, especially at a range, you know, hunting situation. Yeah. You may be shooting, you know, one time or a couple of times, but a lot of times it is gauzy, gauzy suppressors. It is a repetitive shot.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. Now I have a question. You said it's breaking the sound barrier sometimes way in front of you after it's exited the muzzle. What about inside the muzzle? Isn't the... What is it called? The... Well, the muzzle blast, but there's another term that I heard. Oh, the ballistic crack, the bullet breaking the sound barrier. Can that happen inside the muzzle too?
SPEAKER 06 :
No, that's going to happen outside of it. It does help a little bit there, but no matter what, you get into some bigger calibers, like a .22. I mean, it's just... I mean, it's really little, you know. Yeah, not very loud. But then you get up in what they call a 30 caliber can, which is like, you know, for a bigger rifle. I mean, it's still some noise. Okay. But I've got a couple. So when we go...
SPEAKER 09 :
You have a couple suppressors?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so when we go, we can see.
SPEAKER 09 :
They also mentioned the use of subsonic ammo.
SPEAKER 06 :
And it really does quieten it. Yeah. A lot of times, especially on a semi-automatic, and you take a .22 or something, when it racks that bullet back and kicks out the hull, that makes more noise than the shell. So, I mean, it really does. But you know what? Here's what I think the message would be from today is this. You've only got two ears. Why take a chance with something? I don't care if it's got it stamped all over it, hearing approved. If it hurts your hearing and you lose your hearing because of it, uh or attributes to hearing loss why take that chance yeah yeah they are a lot more comfortable to shoot they can i mean there's a lot of different deals with a suppressor yeah you know and it doesn't disturb other game it doesn't disturb right as many of your surroundings and things as it normally does with a bigger larger caliber gun yeah um And so, I mean, they are nice, but we do want to put out good information here.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, if you're not using one, however you do it is fine, but it's important that the information be accurate and based on measurements and studies that have been done around that versus just labels to... Reassure people so that they feel more comfortable buying something. That's fine, right? But we don't want to propagate misinformation.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. Yeah. And when you go to a range, most of you know this, if you don't have your own headset for head protection, they will loan you some. You can rent some or eyewear, different things like that. And I think we all know they're not going to buy the most expensive equipment. type of headgear for to protect your hearing yeah so that's something to maybe look at investing some money into you know your deals which we'll get into in just a second and then and you're even a fan of double protection of some muffs over yeah some things
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, depending on the situation and the firearm and the environment and all of that. But ideally, you'd have people are going to go, oh, this is not I'm not going to do that. Or it's not, you know, it's not ideal for maybe like long range hunting for big game or something. You wouldn't use subsonic ammo typically.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. No, no, no.
SPEAKER 09 :
It's not ideal for that. Right. Yeah, but ideally you'd have a suppressor, subsonic ammo, and double hearing protection. But that's not always appropriate for the use case. So I understand that. But, yeah, so that's just why it's important to have a conversation about it and say, hey, actually, they're not hearing safe, but they will make your exposure safer. And then if you want to make it even safer, then use hearing protection on top of it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
And very important, too. I mean, we're into the hunting season now. Waterfowl's kicking up soon. And upland bird hunting. Man, make sure everybody in your group is hearing safe, so to speak.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, got protection, especially kids. Because, boy, you want to put a kid on a long path that's not going to be fun for them. Don't shoot, you know, guns around them if they're not wearing hearing protection as well. Correct?
SPEAKER 09 :
Right. Yeah. And it's... Hearing safety is a part of overall firearm safety. It's not just knowing how to use a firearm. It's all the other things that come with it, the effects of it, such as how it exposes you to damaging noise levels. So yeah, that's an important part of overall firearm use safety as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. All right. It's been a while since we've done this. Let's run through your lineup a little bit. And once again, we try to make this clear. Most of the time you're an audiologist, you think hearing aids, hearing tests, whatever. Dr. Fling does not have hearing aids, so to speak, in her shop. Her deal is helping you preserve the hearing that you have with several types of hearing protection. If you do a hearing exam with her, which we highly recommend, it's only $125. You can schedule that by calling 720-839-7705. If she decides you do need to move forward with some hearing aids, she has colleagues then that she can refer you to. But let's walk through your lineup.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, so it could be divided into two categories, services and products. So service-wise, I offer hearing evaluations, which you've mentioned. I can also potentially offer earwax removal. and I can do ear mold impressions. So that's impressions of your ears for the purpose of making custom fitted ear molds for whatever use. Some people come to me and they want to buy the product from me and others just want impressions so they can send it off to a manufacturer that's going to make them in-ear monitors for music or electronic protection for hunting or something like that. So some people already have the company picked out that they want, and they just come to me for the service of the impressions, which is fine. On the product side of things, it's all custom ear mold products that are meant for either hearing protection, or I could say protecting your hearing from noise, protecting your ears from water if you need that, if you have a hole in your eardrum, or if you are susceptible to ear infections from water getting into your ears. Ear molds for communication devices, like the ones you're wearing now, you're wearing in-ear monitors essentially to listen to the radio versus wearing the ear muffs. So we had a pair of ear molds made to fit around those in-ear monitors for you. So you have a... more comfortable, secure fit. That would include Bluetooth earbuds like Apple AirPods. If you want something custom to fit around those, you can make those. Sleep ear molds. So those are the products. Now, as far as the lineup of hearing protection goes, the most basic, simplest option would be solid ear molds for maximum hearing protection. That would be when you don't need to be aware of your environment. You just need maximum hearing protection like indoor target shooting or if you're working in a warehouse or a manufacturing plant or something where there's high levels of noise, you don't have to communicate, you just need protection, those are $165 for the pair. If you need hearing protection that will allow you to be aware of your environment, including being able to communicate with other people, then I would recommend filtered ear molds. Um, and those would be two 60 for the pair. And those could be used, um, in environments, like I said, where you need to communicate with people, but also protect or, um, hunting. Like you have the filtered molds for impulse sounds. So those will allow you to hear fairly normally between shots, but then they'll compress a shot when it's taken or any loud impulse noise. And then the kind of top tier level would be electronic custom hearing protection. Those would be ideal for people who are hunting and want a little bit of amplification of soft sound so they can hear game or they can communicate with the people they're hunting with. But they also want the protection to... compress on impulse sound to protect their hearing. Those are more of an investment. And that would be for people that are really serious about hunting and would use those often those would range from about 1150 to 1350 for the pair. Okay.
SPEAKER 06 :
What are you getting? Just curious, what are you getting from 1150 to 1350?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, the technology level changes. So you'll get more features, more programs, the protection, the hearing protection is the same. but it depends how many different scenarios you want to be able to use them in. So the top level will have multiple programs. The lowest level will have one to two programs. It's more basic.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. Anything we forgot?
SPEAKER 09 :
I don't think so.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. Hey, well, good job. And thanks for listening to Sportsman of Colorado. Yeah, I love that show. As we get information on things and on suppressors, different things like that, hey, we'll bring it to light. And if we've got questions, we're going to get with Dr. Fling and saying, hey, what do you think about this? This is what this company is saying about this. So we just want to make sure we get you good information. And once again, it is customeersolutions.com. Their number is 720-839-7705. When you call, just let Dr. Fling know you heard her here on Sportsman of Colorado and KLZ 560, and we would appreciate that as well. So, Dr. Fling, thanks for your time. Thank you. See you again soon.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right.
SPEAKER 06 :
You're listening to Sportsman of Colorado. We've got to take a quick break. We'll be back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
If you're in the market for a new rifle for the big game season or a new shotgun for some doves or upland game birds, head on over to The Gun Room. Kevin Flesch here from Sportsman of Colorado, inviting you to visit Denver's oldest gun dealer. And that's The Gun Room at 1595 Carr Street in Lakewood. They offer buy, trade, consignment, transfers, and appraisals. And if you purchase a gun, we'll cover your background check fee. It's The Gun Room, 1595 Carr Street. Tell them Sportsman of Colorado sent you.
SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
This is KLZ 560 AM, your home station.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome back to Sportsman of Colorado. Again, thank you so much for being with us. Just a quick reminder, now you miss our show here on Saturdays, 1 to 2. You can catch us twice on Sundays. That's 8 to 9 a.m., 8 to 9 p.m., and then the following Thursday from 9 to 10 a.m. So hopefully one of those times will work out for you. If not, of course, you can catch our podcast where you get yours, and we would love to have you join us there. Tell your friends about it as well. Well, hey, always good to have our buddy Jimmy Graham in. Jimmy has been a friend for several years and has just done a great job. And I'm going to get him on here to talk about his organization and then a really cool event. And, of course, a lot of things going on in our world today on a national level and a local level. So, Jimmy, welcome to the show. How are you?
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks, Scott, brother, for having me. Good to see you. Appreciate you, man. Happy to be here.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey, it's been a while since we've had you on. And just to talk about your company, Able Shepherd, usually you're on promoting something else, which we'll do here in a little bit. But let's kind of talk about how that all came about and a little bit about your background for folks that don't know you.
SPEAKER 03 :
yeah i say you know this is where i guess the navy seal lands when he grows up so you go on from being a little over 15 years in the seal teams then being a bodyguard for the cia for the grs program 13 hours you know that was my time in benghazi libya there's a lot of stern up about that right now got a lot of thoughts on that but um then you have kids and you're trying to look for that exit strategy is i don't want to be that dad on the other side of the world so you hand your kids over to a school and a church and you're saying how are you going to protect them in a world that's getting darker since our duty to be the light And the answer is not good. And then you offer to help and it becomes your calling.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. And then that turned into Able Shepherd.
SPEAKER 03 :
It turns into Able Shepherd, which is basically where it started off with the physical part. So I say spiritual, then mental, then physical. So we started with kind of the third thing. It's very unlikely that you're ever going to have to use a firearm, let's say, on the extreme end of that to defend your children. But you need to spiritually and mentally defend them today. So we kind of hook people with that physical, I want to be the protector of my home. We say it's your responsibility to protect your kids, but we can help. Then while they're there, you expose them to the truth of spiritually you need to be. Here's what protection is, by the way. It's self-defense. Now stand in front of your kids. right so that's not just physical it means spiritually if you can't protect yourself eternally then what good are you to your kids right if you can't mentally like mean you're not a crazy person how can you raise mentally strong children so i believe that that is the order it is spiritual then mental then physical here's the deal though on a day like we've seen recently many many times including evidently last night that you just informed me of when that physical protection thing comes up it's not more important it's more immediate So like right now on this day, you need to step up as a man and defend that child. Right. And a lot of people, when they're honest, they're like, I don't know how to do that. And I'm like, that's okay. We do.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. You know, many of us, and I'm guilty and I've admitted this, been very transparent with you. Many of us, Oh, I got to get my concealed carry permit. We get that. And then what do we do?
SPEAKER 01 :
Right.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, I mean, maybe go out and shoot some targets every once in a while, but Never really get prepared for that moment we hope never happens. Yeah, yeah. Okay? But there's been a whole bunch of moments that have happened that nobody around expected.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. I've got a buddy, Neil Pinkham. I'm guessing he's 70, and I love him. I was on the phone with him. I talked to him once a week. He moved out to Louisiana. He was a mentor of mine. He just took his concealed carry for Louisiana. And the instructor, they said, hey, where do you think you rate as far as being comfortable with a pistol? He said, nine. And they kind of looked at him like, yeah, right. Everybody else was one or two. And then they did scenarios. They did the video scenario, and he aced that. Then he went into the range. And literally, if you saw the hole, it's about a one-inch hole for every yard line. And the instructor was like, I hope you don't show us up. And then when he went in, he did. And he was like, hey, Abel Shepherd, I know it's a little bit of a drive. But it just felt good as him. It was a thing that he aspired to do a little bit later in life. He wanted to check that box. He'd been a financial provider. He'd been all that, but the protector part. And I think a lot of people that what I love about this program so much is that when you introduce community and camaraderie to people. through an actual real capability. Like you said, there's always been a question, could I do it? Well, when the answer becomes yes, you can put that out of the way now. And now it gives you the dignity, the ability to go step in, to stand with me at a library and talk about what books our kids should be reading, right? To stand with me down in DC when people are spitting on you and throwing stuff at the pride fest, when we stood, when people were getting groomed and And violated. And the senior citizens are getting attacked. You remember that whole thing. The 70 dudes that stood with me, they stand taller this year because the wind changed. It used to be like, I can't believe you did the thing. And Sheriff Weekly posted that thing and was like, we're going to separate. That was all to cover his six. And now I don't appreciate it. And he knows it. But now I'm like, hey, now I need you to just let that sink in and not do it again. And that's what I'm counting on.
SPEAKER 06 :
Absolutely. Absolutely. So, Abel Sheppard, let's break it down. Because what I love about it, you can take anybody at any level. That's right. And I think that's what everybody needs to understand.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, yes. I mean, if you've never considered a firearm in your home ever, but now it popped in your head, we want to meet you and talk to you and hear those concerns and then make some recommendations. But we have SWAT teams coming in from all over the state to get a certificate from us. Why? Because a guy in Denver said there should be a standard. When I say, are you any good with a gun? And you say, I feel like I'm pretty good. I say, it's not a feeling, it's a standard. Show me. And then when you, in these scenarios, we'll put like somebody come in, this little girl runs in, throws her hands in the air, somebody representing an innocent, and says, help, and your gun goes off. Why'd that go off? And 75%, by the way, of people we put in that scenario shoot the person with their hands up. Then their jaw drops and they go, oh my goodness, I'm that guy. You're like, yeah, let's fix that, right? And then we spend some time on it. Now they're not that guy.
SPEAKER 06 :
So is it a series to be the best and be prepared? Is it a series then of classes, so to speak?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, yeah. It's a progressive program. We have a static and a dynamic track. So static means stand there and shoot your gun. And that's historically where the standard's been. Let's stand here and pass a shooting ball but that's not real world so the real world's dynamic meaning moving constantly moving actually so we've actually got a live fire range we've got a scenario shoot house where i'm on an overhead catwalk and now you got to watch behind you and in front of you and go get your little girl and pull her out of the building with say your spouse well let's just go do it and let's talk about those theories this isn't really complex you know it's not easy but it's not complex it's pretty simple when you talk about what does protection mean to get to her you've got to go through me
SPEAKER 06 :
physically okay now just make sure they don't do that yeah jimmy graham is with us once again um abel shepherd and uh abelshepherd.com yes okay abelshepherd.com and uh hey if you want more information get in touch with them there be sure and let them know you heard about them here on sportsman of colorado and we'd appreciate that as well We're going to talk about an event that's coming up, but I don't want to reflect just a little bit over these last few weeks. Man, a couple weeks ago, matter of fact, very transparent, we're recording this actually two weeks ago today. Boy, something that really shook our nation, you know, gut punch, man, with Charlie Kirk. But then you look all around and other people aren't as famous as Charlie Kirk. This is happening a lot right now. Your thoughts?
SPEAKER 03 :
Brother, I've got so many thoughts. I could talk for the rest of the day on this. I'll start by saying this because men like declarative statements. I will not fade. People are going to fade off because when shootings happen, I take them personally. You know that. And it's heavy and it gets me in motion. I'm now leaving the grieving stage and going into the action. phase of this right so everything that i've done in my life has prepared me for a day you know for such a day as this right you know i've got a lot of guys in my circles that are like i was born in the wrong generation i should have been a cowboy like you were born exactly the right time none of this was some kind of surprise to god and when i saw that widow first speak and she's way too young to be a widow but she's a widow to first speak something hurt in my heart And as I was reading through my Bible, I came across Acts on how we're supposed to care for widows, right? And select men. It said, go select men. And then further in Acts, it says, go select men. And I'm like, select men, select men. That's a New England term for an elected official. But I'm going to do something with that. And I will be one of those select men that steps forward and says, we're not going to let this go, right? So we are going to support this organization. Because one of the verses, I'm sorry, a quote from Frederick Douglass, it's kind of guided my life. It's easier to raise strong children than to repair broken men. I'm like, uh-oh. So I'm like, let's go get some men and model strength for these kids. But then when I went, I realized half of them don't really believe they're men. Like, that's a problem. So I'm guided at both directions. One, repairing broken men, including this one, me, and modeling strength for young people, right? So simultaneous. It's not one or the other. You chase your tail or you just only focus on the left side of that. It's both simultaneously. You know, I wrote a book called Return of Man, focused on this end. Next month, it publishes. It's been about a year. How do you love a fish? It's a kid's book about morals and values in this nation. Right. Stuff I do with my kids. It's not going to educate just kids. The parents reading are going to be like, you know what? I need to be a better mom or dad.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, absolutely. You know, you see all the people who's going to take Charlie Kirk's place. Yeah. Good luck with that. And yeah. But what I'm saying, it's not just a guy that can do a podcast. It's not just a guy or gal that can speak to kids at colleges. If we lose that spiritual aspect to this. It doesn't work that way.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's not going to be the same. I tell people like I'm not an architect, but I know enough to know this, that you can't keep building while simultaneously chipping away at your foundation. So when you say who's going to fill that void, there will never be another Charlie Kirk. But who will fill that void? The answer unanimously across the nation should be me. Everybody should say me. We call it a safety culture. When I say in a school or church or a business, whose job is to protect this place? Everybody simultaneously should say me. Whose job is it? It's mine. And if you all say that, you stop chalking doors. You maybe do take that stop the bleed class. You maybe do. all that, whichever the emergency, the solution should be me. And if everybody really felt that way, then it'd be a safer world, right? So you wouldn't, and by the way, you said the foundation, if you don't believe, if your kids were not raised knowing that that dude, the stranger across the parking lot was made in the image of God, why not shoot him? You know what I mean? You've got to believe something. At some point, I was raised with these biblical Judeo-Christian values of probably shouldn't kill people. Like any society is like, you don't want to murder people because that might come back on you. I don't want to be murdered. Therefore, I shouldn't murder people. So if you're off the foundation, then you can't really build. And when it comes crashing down and people wonder why, I kind of made a name around town for rebuilding imploded security teams in churches. I'm like, guys, you can start with a foundation. You got to be a cop or a vet. which is my history and my brotherhood, but that's two of the most unhealthy industries out there is military and law enforcement. You get the tough guy crossing his arms, mean mugging everybody that can't prove a standard when it comes to protection. Yeah, you're probably great in Iraq zapping bad guys, but now we need a professional to show up. And I really do want to put a calling out to vets too, because that leadership and the thing that got you to sign, that grit where you signed a blank check, we need that today. But there's a thing in my industry, both with the SEAL teams and the CIA, called the quiet professional. And it's a disease, by the way. Quiet professional, like if you're going to come out into the world, you need to stop being quiet and be twice the professional. It means you need to grow up right now, but don't, you know, that thing that got you to enlist and serve your country and go into some of the most dangerous places in the world, man, that's here. That's here. It just might look like Congress. It might look like a library. It might look like a school. But the answer is somebody who loves people enough to tell them the truth and then be willing to die for it. A lot of guys are coming to me now saying, shouldn't security have done A, B, C, D, E, F, G? The answer is yes. But you could do that. Like if I'm speaking, how about you go on the tree line and go check it out? How about you go and you can't go check all the places. And here's a secret that's not a secret. Guys like Charlie Kirk, guys like Jimmy Graham, guys like whoever, they're going to do it anyway. Hey, Jimmy, we don't have, and this is going to be hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars for that kind of security because that's what I used to be. The number on that, right? We're going to do it anyway. Like you need to go talk anyway. Well, Jimmy, security wasn't, they didn't show up today. I'm still going. Right. That's the kind of faith that needs to lead. So this is why the world is grieving right now, not the country, the globe. The Holy Spirit grieved for Charlie Kirk. He was the best of us. Somebody said, I didn't know who that was. I said, we'll study him because he was the best of us. Right. If Donald Trump or Elon Musk or Jordan Peterson think highly of these folks and we need them, if any of them died, we wouldn't have felt this.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
But Charlie Kirk, we did because the Holy Spirit grieved. The Holy Spirit lives in me and it hurts and I feel it. Right. But now that's turning. Right. I'm like, OK, so I am the turning point. Right. And that's actually what we're calling this event. We are the turning point.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Cool. All right. What is it? You mentioned churches. Let's just take that or a business. What's the security assessment look like? Security.
SPEAKER 03 :
So this is... There are people that'll charge you 10 to $15,000 for a security assessment. It's gonna be a stack of papers where they're gonna assess anything and everything, much like an insurance company or others. A lot of this is fill in the blank. So you take a modest church and they spend $10,000 on an assessment. They don't have anything left to actually do anything, right? So we came up with one of these, we just kind of shook our heads and like, this is not right. So we give out a free security assessment that you could fill in and answer 55 yes or no questions, right? This is just an example of one of the things that we do. And it quantifies it. It puts a score next to it. And it's usually not good. Well, now make a NOAA yes according to your time and budget. Right. And now it gets better. So one of the safest, the safest school, I'm not going to say the name of it, but it's here, it's attached to a church. And it's the safest school in the state. Like if you run the numbers on what's going to happen realistically, if somebody tries to touch those kids, they're gonna end up laying on the floor bleeding. I get the ultimate thing, but it's really hard to even get in. Like the second you get on property, they know you're there. Like you're gonna have to pound your way through reinforced glass. And while you're doing that, you're gonna get shot. Like that's a good answer. You know what I mean? When you love your kids, you're like, hey, man, if we're going to get realistic here, what would you do if I tried to hurt these kids? I'm like, whatever it takes is the answer. But then it's got to be real, right? So just put – I run these assessments and I drive around and look at schools. Like, say, STEM school. They could check, do you have a fence? Yes. It's like a four-foot fence that goes from here to here. Like, you can see the end of it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's not what I meant. You know, did you have a fence that could actually stop people? You know, that kind of thing. So you'll go through and check the boxes, but common sense, you and I could be like, man, I could be in that church literally in 20 seconds. Well, that's a problem, right? If we really, we're very good at protecting our diplomats and our money, but not our kids.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's got to change. I mean, how many times, just real quick, I've gone to see people in a hospital of friends after visiting hours. Yep. And dude. There ain't a door I can't walk in. I just act like I know what I'm doing. I look people in the eye, say hello, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER 03 :
If you look like you know what you're doing, no one will question you. I said it like a purpose, like you're late for something, you know. And that's the thing. There's two schools of thought on this. And on one side, the left side, the weaker side, it's called SEPTED, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. On the other side, it's called target hardening. Think a prison. The answer is in the middle. So aesthetically pleasing. And you know that I spoke on this two years ago in the Western Conservative Summit. I was on the stage with Lauren Bobart and many others. And I talked exactly about this because it was days after Uvalde. And I asked to change my slide deck, and I did. So go on YouTube and look that up under Abel Shepard's YouTube page and look at Western Conservative Summit. And you're going to see exactly me walking through three designs of what a school should look like in the future. By the way, that's exactly what TPUSA, their next headquarters, should look like that. Because they're marked forever, right? So after Charlie Kirk, it's like, okay, now you're the person to hate. They're going to have to plus up their game, and I want to help with that too.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, very good. Jimmy Graham is with us, Abel Shepard. All right, we've got an event we want to tell you about that's going to be happening October the 11th. at our friends at Kiowa Creek Sporting Club, and so I'll let you introduce them.
SPEAKER 03 :
They're so great. Yeah, they are. They've been great to us, and they mark that. Once you use that date, they're like, if you want it next year, we'll put your name on it and all that kind of stuff. So it went great last year. It was October 11th on Saturday. It's at noon to 1.30. And able nation exists for those churches and schools that don't have a budget. We started years ago with that guy's talking about Neil Pinkham. And we just started helping out not me, the community would help out with those resources for emergency medical for training for all that kind of stuff. This year, I was talking to the board and I said, man, with all going on, I just it doesn't feel right raising money for this. And we're not doing that bad. We're okay. We got some donors and all this stuff. So what do you guys think about, you know, pushing that money towards TP USA, my daughter, before the Charlie Kirk assassination started her TPUSA chapter. She's 17 years old and she recently had her first meeting. Well, now there's a backlog. So people are like, she's already got one and we can't start one. Can we come to her? So people are flooding into hers. So I see my 17 year old daughter put on a little vest. the end look nice and she's like uh got a powerpoint and she's she's presenting turning point usa this local chapter and she's like dad i need a point i just want to help so i run out in the garage real quick and find a target arrow and i take my knife out and shave off the fletchings i'm like here and she's doing this professional presentation to a bunch of teenagers in our living room right it's absolutely beautiful so i asked the board can we make a donation from the proceeds this year to tp usa because that's that's my heart sand and they came back and they're like yeah i go what percentage are you guys feeling and across the board 100 and i'm like So it just all of a sudden got incredibly cool that we're doing okay. And I was praying, like, what number would be the right number where we're still taken care of, but it honors God. And when they said 100%, I'm like, that's right, we will be taken care of. So I'm not worried about that. Let's just do it all. So we're going to be running for Sporting Clays that people don't know. If you're just coming to that event from 12 to 1.30, it's just a lunch and a get-together and talking about what we're doing. We're asking for a $100 donation. That's for shooters and non-shooters just to cover the lunch and all that kind of stuff and to put some money into TPUSA. If you're a shooter, we need you showing up at 8 o'clock. I'd like to register able-nation.org under events. Look for the Sporting Clays fundraiser, and it just feels so good. I got emotional when they came back. They're like, let's do the whole thing. So now we're just going to recoup the food costs and all that stuff. Oh, by the way, some of the things that they can bid on, because it's a shotgun thing, we're going to give away a shot. We're going to sell a shotgun, right? Oh, okay. But because it's us, do you know what a Genesis 12 breaching shotgun is? I don't think so. It's an AR platform shotgun. Okay, I've seen those. That's probably a 10-inch barrel. It's short. It was in the movie John Wick. That's what's going to be one of the auction things, right? It's a silent auction where you go on givebutter.com or something like that. It's connected to the link. And then also a handmade guitar by JL Customs. It's awesome. It's called a We the People. And the whole video series of this guy hand-making this guitar, it's black, but it's got the red, white, and blue inlays, We the People, along the neck. And it's beautiful. And he sound checks it and all that. And he donated that. So there's certain things in there. All of that, all the proceeds from that are going to TPUSA. I'm in contact with, I think it's Lena, the local rep here for TPUSA. It's like, do you want it here in state or do you want it national? You just give me the location and it'll show up. So we're super excited about it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Cool. All right. So they go to your website.
SPEAKER 03 :
It's Able Nation. So the able-nation.org under events.
SPEAKER 06 :
And they can sign up? Yes, register there. All right. And so, hey, if you've got a team, what, four guys?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, they can do a team. They can just show up. They can do individuals. Everybody's like, well, I'm not going to shoot with all these experts. Trust me, with shotguns, I'm not an expert. And that's not my jam, man. But it's so cool to just spend the morning walking around with guys. I tell people, if you've never done it, it's like golf, but with guns. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
So it is a lot more fun, no matter what. Yeah. And Kyle Creek, man, I tell you, they have a great, great sporting clay range. I mean, it is awesome. I mean, a lot of different positions from shooting and just angles. The clays are coming. I mean, it is really good. But you know what? It's all about the fundraiser here that April Nation is doing. And again, if you just want to come to the event itself there. That'll be noon to 1.30. If you want to get some guys or gals together and come as a team or just come as an individual, they'll get you all paired up. And you need to be there at 8 a.m. for that. And, again, that is Saturday, October 11th. And if you're driving and, hey, you can't remember all this, just get in touch with me here at the station, and I'll get you in touch with Jimmy. And, hey, we need a good group to show up out there for sure. Where do we go from here a little bit with our whole concealed carry? Now, there's extra training real quick. I just want to mention that for people, which I'm not against extra training. I think there needed to be more than what previously was required.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, yes.
SPEAKER 06 :
But is that going to be something that you guys are –
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. We're going to stay ahead of that to make it as easy as we possibly can for the end user. The problem that I have probably with you is the word mandated, like second amendment. The second you say mandated now, should we incentivize, you know, and make things cheaper or like take a portion off a gun that may be, gets supplemented back to the seller. Sure, man, we can do all that stuff. It is your responsibility. If you have a firearm, that's life and death in your hands. It's your responsibility to know how to use it and how to shoot and how to not shoot. Like I said, target ID so you don't accidentally shoot somebody and hurt the cause and our constitutional rights. That's your responsibility, and we should encourage that. We should incentivize it and do all that stuff. When we talk mandated, I have a real problem there. But it's, it's time. And I think everybody should do it. We're getting more and more people that never considered it. It doesn't mean you have to carry. And I was like, I talked to a medic tech medic guy that was a veteran. He goes, I just want to focus on the medical thing. I go, then do it. He said, well, if I have the gun, then maybe I'll be thinking. I'm like, no, no, no. You focus on that. It just means if you don't have one, just say you had a cop protecting you while you were given medical aid and he gets shot. You don't have a gun. The only option is die. So, okay, maybe I take a pause on this tourniquet, neutralize a threat so we can both live, and then go save that life. So I think that's a responsibility. A lot of people, pretty much if I've ever talked to you ever, I've probably been armed. And I'm not focused on that. I'm living my life. When I'm comfortable enough to say if something happens, I'll deal with it because it's my job because I'm a man.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. Abelshepherd.com for that. But, hey, come to this event. It's going to be great. Saturday, October the 11th. Website one more time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Able-Nation.org. By the way, shotguns are like, you can rent them there. The community we have, if you don't have a shotgun, show up. The guy next to you will say, shoot mine. It's just that deal. It's just the most relaxed, cool kind of environment. It's the way we should do things as a community, and it's beautiful.
SPEAKER 06 :
Jimmy, thank you, buddy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Cheers, brother. We'll do this again. God bless you.
SPEAKER 06 :
You're listening to Sports from Colorado. We've got to take a quick break, and we'll be back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, Dan. You know, our jobs are pretty different. I'm a baseball announcer. You're an attorney and a talk show host.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
You know, I'd recommend Len Lyle Chevrolet to anyone. And with their low overhead, that means... Lower prices.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
Here's your Water Talk Minute with Paul the Waterman, brought to you by Water Pros.
SPEAKER 02 :
So, one of the things that we've learned, and you can check this out factually information for yourself by going to theepa.gov. The EPA has a laundry list of unregulated contaminants. And what that means, folks, is that your municipality does not have to test for these contaminants, and so they're not reported in your annually water quality report. This is something that has to change. We have a false sense of security about the quality of our drinking water, from pharmaceuticals to the levels of PFAS and Gen X chemicals, which was recently removed from the EPA contamination list. And for example, there's a contaminant on the unregulated list called 1,4-Dioxin. 1,4-Dioxin has been in our water supply since the early 1900s. Check out my podcast on Spotify, Paul the Waterman, or waterpros.net.
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SPEAKER 11 :
KLZ 560 AM, your home station.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome back to Sportsman Colorado. Again, thank you so much for being with us today. We're going to wrap things up with our good buddy Dan Johnson. Lynn Lyle Chevrolet, drive east and pay the lease. Dan, welcome. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you, Scott? I'm good.
SPEAKER 12 :
Beautiful weekend.
SPEAKER 06 :
I know, man. The weekend is here, which means it's always a good time to buy a car. What's going on this weekend? Yeah, absolutely. What's going on this weekend?
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, we're pushing hard. We're trying to reach our goal, and like I said, it's the last weekend of the month, so I got Lots of cars for sale. I need used cars, so if you have a trade-in, I'll be super aggressive, and the stars are aligned. It's a good day to come on out.
SPEAKER 06 :
Good deal. You know, it's finally nice to say, hey, we got some really good interest rates, too, on some things, right?
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, yeah. Silverado, you know, they were doing, you know, low interest rates, but the term was so short, nobody could do it. But now I've got 2.9 on the most popular trucks for up to 72 months. Wow, okay. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, you know, they were 6%, 7%, 8%.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 12 :
So now it makes them quite a bit more affordable.
SPEAKER 06 :
Sure, sure. Hey, I saw something, I believe, on the news last night about on the electric cars. There's going to be some things changing on that and some of the money, right?
SPEAKER 12 :
Absolutely. The big, beautiful bill, there was – There was $7,500 federal tax credit on pretty much all the EVs. And that goes away September 30th, what, in a couple, three days here. So, yeah, so that ends. Now, what happens after that, I don't know. The state tax credit is still in play, which is $3,500 for EVs. Colorado, so that's still a good deal, but when you combine the two, that really made it attractive. What the manufacturers are going to do after that, who knows?
SPEAKER 07 :
Right.
SPEAKER 12 :
You know, I know we're still going to have to figure out a way to sell electric vehicles, so they're going to have to incentivize them somehow, but I haven't heard anything yet.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right. Hey, for your customers, and some people have asked me, like, man, is that a pain to get the charger in your garage and all that? Walk us through. I mean, have you got somebody that you guys refer folks to to help them there?
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, absolutely. We can... I mean, it's such an easy process. Oh, is it? Okay. You just basically go online, an electrician will call them, and boom, you know. I mean, I did one in my house. I don't have an electric vehicle, but I had an electrician out there, and I said, just in case I ever wanted to do this, he goes, oh, I'll put a 220 in your garage, and I think you charged me like 400 bucks.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right, okay.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, so, and so, you know, I mean, I could do it real easy, and that's a fast charger. You know, most of the EVs you can still plug to 110, it's just it's a slow charge, and everybody has a 110 in their garage, but to do a 220, which picks it up like, you know, 20 times faster than the 110. You know, it's not a big deal at all. And that's like, old plasma TVs that keeps coming down in price, coming down in price. So, you know, probably you could find an electrician for two, three hundred bucks.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right, right. What is this? A guy asked me, they go, so if you're not putting gas in it, you're not, you know, all the, what is the service like for one?
SPEAKER 12 :
Is it just tire rotation? Yeah, pretty much. They're heavy cars. So, you know, definitely want to rotate the tires. Uh, But other than that, you know, it's wiper blades. You know, of course, they still have brakes, you know. So, you know, that's something that. But, yeah, there's no oil changes, obviously. And, you know, it's pretty much just, you know, not much. Brakes and tires and that's pretty much it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. You know, my buddy Ryan that came over and got one from you. I was just seeing him the other day at his store, and I said, how's that electric car working? And he goes, man, we love it. He said, it's really cool. And that's what made me think of the service, because he said that. He goes, man, you know, not having to worry about oil changes and different things like that and just plug it in. He goes, man, it's awesome.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, no, that's everybody. I mean, everybody that I've sold them to, really, I haven't had one complaint. The only complaint you get is... you got to probably have another car, a gas car, because in case you want to go to Des Moines, Iowa or something, just because that old, uh, you know, plotting your trip and pulling over. And, you know, I had one, one, one guy tell me, and he doesn't have a Chevy. He's got a, you know, a different brand. And, uh, He said, you know, I drove from Minneapolis or wherever, somewhere in Minnesota. He says, well, it usually takes me 12 hours. It took me 16 hours. He goes, I didn't like that. He goes, but just driving around town, he goes, I love it. So there's a place for both.
SPEAKER 06 :
Sure, sure. Dan Johnson is with us once again, GM at Lynn Lyle Chevrolet. If you go by, hey, someone will usually greet you there when you pull up, just tell them you'd like to meet Dan. And, hey, thank you for sponsoring our shows. We could not do our Haystack or Sportsman without Dan and his support. And I'm telling you, we've been doing business there, gosh, I guess like 20 years now. And my wife still says it's uneven, Dan. She said, you've had like nine new trucks and I've had two cars. I go, hey, it's part of the advertising commitment, right? That's right.
SPEAKER 12 :
Wow. And the way you drive, he doesn't drive like you drive.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, that's for sure. For sure. Hey, service, I was in just a day getting oil changed in less than an hour. And I know we can't commit that to everyone, but, hey, it worked out really good. So we're just talking about oil changes. But, hey, with my high country, I need it. But anything going on in the service right now you want to mention?
SPEAKER 12 :
um well since i know that come october we're doing the tire special again buy three get one free uh which is really a good deal when we had that oh i don't know two or three months ago that was really i mean that that's a great deal i mean we'll hands down beat any of the tire stores or any of those on four tires. And we're coming into winter, so everybody make sure your tires are good.
SPEAKER 06 :
Man, there's no bigger bummer than that. And it's the law, I mean, you know, to have good tread going to the mountains, man.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey, Body Shop as well. Hey, hope you don't need that. But I'm telling you, Dan, everything can be covered right there at Len Lyle Chevrolet, from the sales, the service. If you do happen to get into a fender bender, they can take great care of you there at Len Lyle Chevrolet. And as Dan said at the beginning, hey, if you've got a— a car that you're not find yourself not using as much and you'd like to turn that into cash hey give dan a call and uh drop by there and see him at london chevrolet 14 500 he's colfax let him know you heard him here on the show and i promise you they'll take great great care of you and dan um what's your for 2026 what's what's one special car you want to mention
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, if you want to get really special, then Corvette.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, man, yeah. How did that change?
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, they're coming with some new models that are, you know, like crazy. You know, the Z06 upgrade there, you know, the E-Ray, which, you know, is an all-wheel drive Corvette. So, yeah, I mean, you know, not only is, you know, this current, mid-engine model you know they just keep making it better and better and more powerful and more fun and sure you know so that's the crazy car but you know i mean we know we just got the new traverse you know just just this past year which i think has just been an unbelievable improvement you know it's not doesn't have a minivan look to it at all it's kind of more like a you know a rugged Tahoe kind of look, I mean, and, you know, for a whole lot less money, and they're awesome, they're great. We got a lot of good stuff. We have all the electric stuff, and then the bread and butter, Silverado half-ton like what you drive. There's nothing better. I drive one, too.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, man, I love it. I tell you, I absolutely love it. Hey, get by and see Dan this weekend, and again, let them know you heard them here on KLZ 560, and we would appreciate that. So, Dan, I know you're busy on a Saturday. We thank you for your time, and I'll get by and see you soon, my friend.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, have a good weekend. Thank you.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right, you as well. I want to thank all of our guests today. Hey, Dr. Melissa Fling and also Jimmy Graham and, of course, Dan Johnson, Lynn Lyle, Sheriff Relay. Thanks for being with us today for Sportsman Colorado. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend, and we'll talk to you next week.
SPEAKER 15 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
In this episode of Retirement Unpacked, host Al Smith dives into the fascinating world of life expectancy and longevity. Highlighting the impressive increases in global life expectancy, Al explores vital statistics and captivating anecdotes of individuals who have reached their centenarian years. Whether you're planning for retirement or already enjoying it, understanding these trends can equip you to better manage your financial future.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to Retirement Unpacked with Al Smith, owner of Golden Eagle Financial. You want a retirement plan that alleviates your fears about the future so you know your money will last. As a chartered financial consultant, Al Smith will help you find a balance between the risk and reward of the market and the safety of your retirement income. And now, here's your host, Al Smith.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to another program of Retirement Unpacked. I want to thank you for tuning in. I'm sure there's other things you could be doing, but I have some good information for you today, some of which you might have heard in the past, but a lot of the things I talk about deserve repeating because as we move toward retirement or through retirement, there are a lot of concepts that we need to keep in mind. But before I dive into one of those concepts, I want to first announce I am having an event. And the event has to do with the tax pitfalls that we may face as we approach or move into retirement. There will be an event at the Bennett Library. And that will be Friday, October 17th at 1.30 in the afternoon. And the Bennett Library is easy to find. I don't have their address at my fingertips, but I'll be able to provide that because there's about three and a half weeks before the event. Again, that's Friday, October 17th at 1.30. where we're going to talk about the tax traps or the tax pitfalls that we may be facing as we move toward and through retirement. We're going to cover those. It will be a one-hour event, so we're not going to have some marathon two- or three-hour kind of thing, but we're going to highlight the really important things about taxation in retirement. I thought about quite a few different things for my topic today, and one of my favorite topics, I've talked about this in the past, but I believe it deserves some attention. We're going to talk about life expectancy and longevity. Now, the reason that's kind of an important topic is because when Social Security, for example, was first passed into law in 1935 during the Roosevelt administration, the Social Security benefits kicked in at age 65. And ironically, one of the first who filed for Social Security benefits was a lady named Ida Mae Fuller. and she paid into it for a few years. She was a legal assistant in Vermont. She paid in about $22 in benefits, and she collected about $22,000 because she began collecting in 1939, and she collected until the 1970s because she lived to be about 100 or very, very close to it. But the point is that's something that we are all facing. Some of the statistics about longevity, for example, a woman age 65 has a 25% chance of reaching age 90. And when there's a couple who are both age 65, the odds are even higher that one of them will live into their 90s. And there are a lot of factors that affect longevity, and I think most of us know what some of those are, exercise and better diet and things of that nature. But I'm going to dive into some of the things that have to do with life expectancy. In developed countries, for example, the life expectancy is between 77 and 90. I know that's a broad spread. In what they call developing countries, which is a kinder word for saying undeveloped countries, it's only between age 32 and age 80. One country, for example, the average life expectancy is only age 41, and that is in Mozambique, Africa. Now, one of the things that's interesting is since they've been gathering these statistics, the life expectancy has increased by one to three years for both developing and non-developing countries. And some other interesting things, I always found it fascinating when people reach 100 years old, And that goes back a while. The first person for whom it has been documented that lived to be 100 was named Iliff Philipson. And in 1785, it was recorded that he lived to be 102. And these had to be documented, so there had to be some documents of these people's birth and so forth. There was another person named Gert Boomgart. I think she was a German. And this was in 1899. She lived to be 110. Another lady named Margaret Neve died in 1903. She was 110 also. A lady named Jean Calmet, I think she was French, in 1997, she died after living 122 years. Another woman named Sarah Now, spelled K-N-A-U-S, in 1999, lived to be 119 years old. The very oldest man, his name was Jeroman Kimura. He was Japanese, I believe. He's the oldest man who ever lived, and in 2013, he died at age 116. So these centenarians, as they're called, living to age 100, they are benefiting from the 20% to 30% cause of death call it a cause of longevity, but call it a factor of longevity, because when people live longer than 100, genetics plays a greater part. There are certain genes and things of that nature that help the body's immune system to fight off diseases in later years, and some of that immune system becomes weak as we age. What's also interesting about the centenarians is how their number has increased. In the United States, for example, in 1950, there were 23,000 people who were 100 years old or older. By 1990, That's 40 years later, there were 110,000 people who were 100 years old. And let me re-talk about these statistics. These are globally. These are not just within the United States. In 1995, there were 150,000 people 100 years old or more. In the year 2000, only five years later, that number jumped to 209,000. By 2005, 324,000. By 2009, 455,000 people were age 100 or older. By 2019, 675,000. And five years later, there are or were, in 2024, 935,000 people who were 100 years old or more. And what I have also found very interesting is the country of Japan, just Japan alone is expected to have 272,000
In this engaging episode of the Kim Monson Show, guest host Bradley Beck takes us on a journey through the depths of political analysis and community concerns in Colorado. Bradley introduces us to themes like the socialization of essential services and the perennial battle between freedom and government control. Delving deep into local issues, Bradley discusses the pressing topics such as RTD's proposed fare changes and the broader implications of governmental decisions on people's daily lives.
SPEAKER 04 :
It's the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 01 :
The socialization of transportation, education, energy, housing, and water. What it means is that government controls it through rules and regulations.
SPEAKER 04 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 01 :
Under the guise of bipartisanship and nonpartisanship, it's actually tapping down the truth.
SPEAKER 04 :
Today's current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 01 :
On an equal field in the battle of ideas, mistruths and misconceptions is getting us into a world of hurt.
SPEAKER 04 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let's have a conversation.
SPEAKER 05 :
Indeed, let's have a conversation. Hello, Colorado. Welcome to the Kim Monson Show. I'm Bradley Beck, and I have the great honor of guest hosting again two times this week. So let's have a conversation. Thank you for listening. Each of you are treasured and valued. You have purpose. Today, strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. You were made for this moment in history. And there's a great staff that works with Kim. And I'm always greeted at the door by producer Joe. Joe, how's your morning going?
SPEAKER 10 :
Going pretty well, Brad. How about yours?
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm doing unbelievable. It's always good to see you. And it's comforting to know you're behind the glass there and taking care of all my little mistakes. So thank you for doing that. And it's going to be a great day today. Great show. We've got some wonderful guests.
SPEAKER 10 :
I'm excited to hear who you have to speak with today.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, we'll reveal that shortly. But, you know, folks, you can always go to Kim's website and sign up for Kim's weekly email newsletter to see who's going to be on the show. You'll get the first look at all her upcoming guests as well as the most recent essays. And I just submitted one, so I'm looking forward to that being published. Kim's email is kim at kimmonson.com. And this show could not be put together without the great and gracious support of so many folks. Thank you to the Harris family for their gold sponsorship of the show. It's greatly appreciated. And thank you to Hooters restaurants for their sponsorship. There are three locations in Colorado, Aurora, Westminster, Loveland, and they have great lunch specials Monday through Friday, dine-in or to-go. Wednesdays are Wings Day, and I think that's today, Joe, so that might be a great place to go have lunch. Buy 20 wings and get additionally 10 for free. The offer is good for to-go or dine-in. Hooters Restaurant's a great place to get together with friends and to watch your favorite teams. So check them out, Hooters Restaurant. Today we have a word of the day that is a little bit longer than most of them. Usually Kim makes simple words or words that you can use in everyday speech and language, but I decided to do something a little different. So the word of the day today is epistemology. And that's spelled E-P-I-S-T-E-M-O-L-O-G-Y. And epistemology is a branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. It's also called the theory of knowledge. And the term epistemology comes from the Greek word episteme and logos. And used in a sentence... Epistemology helps us understand the different ways we acquire knowledge through perception, reason, and testimony. So the word of the day, if you can use it, is epistemology. And then the quote of the day is from a economist. Many of you have known him as F.A. His real name is Frederick August Non-Hayek. He was born May 8th, 1899, same day my mother was born on. And he died March 23rd, 1992. He was an Austrian-born British economist and a philosopher. He is known for his contributions to political economy, political philosophy, and intellectual history. His account of how prices communicate information is widely regarded as an important contribution to economics that led to him receiving the Nobel Prize. He's a major contributor to the Austrian School of Economics. And his book, The Road to Serfdom, warned against the dangers of state control over the means of production. And the quote he gave us was, quote, liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice. It also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions. Liberty and responsibility are inseparable, end of quote. So that's from F.A. Hayek, quote of the day. And by the way, Joe, did you know this day in history, October 1st, 1876, does that ring a bell at all? I have no idea. Most people in Colorado don't. It's Colorado Day. It's a state holiday. And today, October 1st, 1876, we celebrate it. And I bet most of the federal offices are closed despite the government shutdown. That's an event that's happening, of course, many miles away in Washington, D.C. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the next day or two, see what the debate and arguments are. But basically, the government is shut down for the next short period of time. It may open up today. We don't know, but we'll have to see. In 1908, the state's oldest continually operated movie theater closed. The ISIS Theater opened its doors in Colorado Springs on October 1st, and it's still in operation today, over 100 years later. And also on October 1st, 1942, the world's first atomic energy plant, known as Atomic City, began operations here in Colorado. The plant was used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons during World War II. So those are some of the things that happen here in Colorado. Things happening in the state also, even though our illustrious representatives are, as I like to call them, those animals down under the Golden Dome. before they start taking more of our money and adding another 600 or so laws to our already thousands and thousands of laws and over-regulation, there's still business that goes on, and there's also organizations that still function. And one of those organizations is RTD, and RTD voted on... major cuts, and there's a program that they use basically for those that are less able, the Disability Ride Program, and I believe they had a meeting the other day, and the big picture is the proposal they came up with was, and they had been debating this for over a year, they would add a $6.50 fare up from zero, and and lower the maximum subsidy per ride from $25 to $20 and end service 24-7. And so this is an impact on those that are impaired or aren't able to get around, and this is a lifeline for a lot of people to use the transportation system that's there provided, although it's grown incredibly. It went from 6,200 riders a month now up to 73,000, as the latest records show us. And so it's an essential component. thing for a lot of people and yet we have this deficit in the city and we have a lot of money going towards programs for people that aren't citizens and so you have to ask yourself one program is essential for a lot of people and another program is using other people's money it's amazing how government does that frequently And you have to ask yourself, which program would you rather invest in? Something that's going to help people that by no fault of their own, if they're blind or indigent, they're not able to get from point A to point B, worthy cause. I can still make a case that the free market could probably come up with something even better. But the program's there to help those less fortunate. And yet we spend in this city an amazing amount of money on things that don't belong to any citizen. They're not a right. And so people can support those if they want to out of their own free will. benevolence, not altruism. Altruism, I've always had a problem with, Joe. It's a word a lot of people use, but it comes from Auguste Comte, the philosopher. And the problem with that word is it's the use of force. And I've never liked the idea of force. Kim talks about freedom versus force all the time. And what happens is when people think they're entitled, like The entitlements that FDR put into place of home and health care and all these different entities, then people come to believe that they have a right to them. And they have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but they don't have the right to other people's money. And that's something that we always have to remind folks of that. Sometimes out of the graciousness out of our heart, we'll support something, but we shouldn't be forced to participate in things that aren't part of our American system. We believe in a defense. We believe in the police protecting us to have the courts. And this is all at a federal level. And then at the state level, we have a variety of things that the states take care of. but it could be limited even further. And I think that's important for us as citizens to make sure that we're constantly talking to our friends and neighbors and reminding them that a lot of the programs that are instilled in our local municipalities and down here at the State House are things that are nice to have, but we don't need them. I think people need to figure out a way to provide for themselves, to have some personal responsibility. and get away from being on the dole from the government. And that's something I think that a lot of people don't think that on their day-to-day, they don't think about. They just go about their day and think, oh, there's a program I can participate in. It's free money. Well, nothing's free, folks. Somebody's got to pay for it one way or another. And so it's interesting. Well, I haven't heard from what has happened with that vote at RTD, but I'm sure we'll hear about it in the near future. And there's many other things going on in Colorado, and I know you're interested in those things. A lot of times we talk about the big national items, but today we've got a variety of folks coming up and talking about local issues. And we'll have in the third and fourth segment a discussion. Let's see, Mike Rolick. Mike's a concerned citizen for Citizen Watchdog. And later on in the show, in the second hour, we have Trent Luce and what's happening up in Wyoming, still with the situation up there with the wind farm, and looking forward to talking to Trent. Wendy, who's Wendy Volk, a realtor up in Cheyenne. So we've got a lot of talk about both locally and here in the state of Colorado. Lots of things are happening. And, you know, what's amazing is we still live in the greatest country in the greatest state. And with all the problems that Colorado faces, we're lucky to get up every morning, salute our flag, talk to our neighbors, go to work. raise our children and our grandchildren and still have the freedoms that our founders gave us so I think we should be thankful for that every day and I am for sure I wanted to also let you know that we have Roger Mangan at State Farm Insurance The team will create a personalized insurance plan to cover all your needs for protection of your cars, your home, condo, boat, motorcycle, business, and renter's coverage. Contact Roger Mangan's team right now at 303-795-8855 for a complimentary appointment. Like a good neighbor, Roger Mangan's team is there for you.
SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
There's so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. I'm Bradley Beck, and I'm fortunate to fill in the big shoes of Kim Monson, who is here Monday through Friday, and she has her veteran story on the weekends. But she's still out of town and asked if I would fill in, and I'm always happy to do so. Check out Kim's website at kimmonson.com, and her email is kim at kimmonson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. Thank you for contributing to support of Kim's independent voice and the exercise of the right to freedom of speech. It's so important today, and especially with what happened with Charlie Kirk and so many others that are out there on the front lines speaking truth to power. Through all Kim's work with veterans, she's honored to highlight the USMC Memorial Foundation and all the work that they're doing to raise money to remodel the official USMC Memorial, which is located in Golden, Colorado at 6th and Colfax. Paula Saris is the president of the foundation. She's a Marine veteran, a Gold Star wife, and Paula and her team are working diligently to make the remodel a reality. And you can help by donating to the USMCMemorialFoundation.org. That's USMCMemorialFoundation.org. Well, on the line with us, we have somebody who I've known for a few years, and she's decided to throw her hat in the ring for candidate for Centennial City Council. Please welcome Patty McKernan. Patty, good morning.
SPEAKER 14 :
Good morning, Brad. How are you?
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm doing unbelievable, and it's always great to hear your voice, and I hope things are going well with you. In fact, I commend you for running for Centennial City Council, and tell us a little bit about why you're running and why you want to represent the citizens in that jurisdiction.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I'll tell you what brought me into the race. I had been asked for months by a person who's been in It's an influential and centennial for many years. And I just had so much on my plate. I said, I can't think about it right now. I said, talk to me in August. Well, in August, I had a friend who's on the Englewood City Council tell me that they had a city council meeting where I think it's called like a provider, producer provider organization came in and they were pitching single trash hauling contracts for all the cities. And I also get on Kevin Lundberg's call on Mondays, and I've been hearing about that up in the Loveland, Fort Collins area. And Kim's talked about it on her show, too. But when I listened in to the city council meeting where they were pitching this idea, it's just like... you know what we need to have people in in um City Council that that understand what this means and I'm not saying that the council people didn't because they did a good job with the hearing but uh what they wanted to do is tell all the citizens citizens of Centennial that they will go with one single trash hauler because it's good for the roads and I said okay so Instead of three trash companies coming down my street on Wednesday, it'll be just one. Well, what happens on Friday when I see the lawn service companies come through? Should we start regulating the lawn service companies? Hmm. What about Amazon? Maybe we do them on Monday and UPS can only come on Thursday and the federal government with the U.S. Post Office can come on Wednesday. Are we going to regulate that too? And that's how I think about how we should, what government's role is, uh, what are the consequences? And I, that's what really made me say, I've got to jump in. There wasn't a, um, it's a nonpartisan race, but you know that there are letters behind the candidate and the only candidate that was in the race for district three, which is my, my area that goes from say Colorado Boulevard and dry Creek all the way up toward, um, just west of South lanes. And, uh, there wasn't a conservative person on the ballot. And I said, I can't tell other people to do this and not do it myself. So I jumped in the race, and here I am. Well, good for you.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's commendable. And we need good people like you, citizens, who see a problem and are looking for ways to solutions that will help their neighbors, but also to protect their rights. And I know that you'll be doing that. What should people know about your campaign versus an opponent that might be in the race?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I guess the biggest issue is that... When Chris Kolker won the SD 16, which is right here in my Senate district and Robin Carnes ran against him, she got pretty close. And his victory claim was, okay, now that we have locked up the state, we're going to start going after the city councils and the municipal races. So there are Democrats that are running against us in all of the races. And their desire is to take what's at the Capitol and bring it down to our local races. And Centennial has been an amazing city. It's almost 25 years old in February. And we have had balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility since day one. And it was founded on Home Rule Charter. And so we need to keep it that way. and my understanding is that in about four years the the savings and you know the coffers are going to start to get stretched and we're going to have to make some decisions on how are we going to stay fiscally responsible we're like the number one city in colorado to live in people love centennial so we want to keep it that way so the city council is really an important place to hold on to The proper role of government to have local control and make really good decisions and don't let the influences of Denver creep into our city. And that's where I think single trash dollar concept was starting and and and that's really what I'm here to to protect
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, you bring up a good point, especially with the single trash hauler. I know up in Boulder County and in Broomfield County, they've been trying to do that for years. And it seems like they go from one municipality to another and they bring in these ideas, whether it's single trash hauler or some broadband project or something. And they went in one jurisdiction and then they go to the next one. And it's usually the same people spreading the same information. How do we address that, Patty? And how do we make our fellow citizens aware that this is going on within our counties and in our state?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I think one way you do it is run for office. So when I knock on doors and talk to people, I tell them about these special interests. It's like the St. Michael prayer. They prowl about the world seeking the ruin of men. And they're going throughout. You're right. They're cherry picking. They're going to different municipalities. So we just have to stay strong and the citizens have to know about it. When I explain that to them, they get it and they say, wow, I'm really glad you're running. And I've even had fellow Republicans think, oh, this isn't such a bad idea. This will help our roads. And I'm like, stop. Think about the consequences. Yesterday, Barbara Kirkmeyer was on the radio talking about the consequences of the incompetency law that they passed unanimously at the statehouse where people can't stand trial if they're judged incompetent. And there are judges out there that are going to let every criminal be incompetent for some reason or another. Well, they didn't think about the consequences, but we have to do that. That is, that is probably the, the, the best thing that I can bring to the table is think about the consequences. If you pass what's in front of you, if you accept the pitch of somebody that's in front of you, there's another one. I don't know if we have time, but there's another one that, uh, I heard at city council and it was a Littleton Metro South Metro housing organization asking for bond money or bond municipal bond approval. For centennial bonds money that year because we weren't spending it and they wanted us to spend it on a senior housing project in littleton well I don't mind a senior housing project, but what are the consequences if we allow our bond money to go to littleton somebody has to explore that you can't just rubber stamp things and that's. That's what is most important about holding on to a good city are people that are aware, they look at consequences, and they're looking for decisions that are made that protect and make all citizens flourish, not just a tiny pocket.
SPEAKER 05 :
You're so right, and the citizens of Centennial are fortunate to have you running. Where can people get more information and contact you about getting involved?
SPEAKER 14 :
My website is patty4centennial.com. And I have all the information about how to get a hold of me and what my positions are and my background. And I'd love for you to visit it. And there's a donate opportunity as well. So thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Patty McKernan, thank you for running. Appreciate you getting on the radio early this morning and sharing with folks why you're running, and we're glad you're doing so. So thank you so much.
SPEAKER 14 :
All right, Brad. Thanks so much.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep. Stay tuned. We'll be right back with more of The Kim Monson Show.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back. I'm Bradley Beck filling in for Kim Monson, who's away still for, I believe, the rest of the day. She'll be back tomorrow. So sign up for Kim's weekly email newsletter. And you can always go to our website at Kim Monson, K-I-M-M-O-N-S-O-N dot com or email Kim at Kim at Kim Monson dot com. And thank you to all those folks who contribute to support Kim's independent voice and our exercise of the organization. Freedom of speech. It's so important to be able to say what you want unimpeded as long as you're talking about liberty and freedom and protecting rights. I think it's an incredible opportunity for us as Americans. And talking about freedom, are you ready for financial freedom? You can call our friends at Mint Financial Strategies. As an independent firm and an accredited investment fiduciary, they always put their customers' interests first. Mint means more than money. It stands for meaningful relationship, information sharing, a network of smart strategies, and a thoughtful advisor who puts you in control. There's no cookie cutter plans. Everything's tailored to you, the customer. Call Mint Financial Strategies today at 303-285-3080. That's 303-285-3080. Jody would love to talk with you. Our next guest is somebody who you've heard before on Kim's program. He's a concerned citizen. He has a citizen watchdog. He's into all kinds of issues, and I really enjoyed talking to him yesterday, doing a little pre-show investigation with him. And so, Mike Rolick, good morning. How are you, sir? Good morning, Brad. How are you doing? I'm doing unbelievable. It's always great to be in the seat and love to get your take on what's going on in the city of Arvada. You attended recently a Arvada City Council Forum. Tell us a little bit about what happened there and your reaction to it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, yes, I did. My group, the Ralston Valley Coalition, had set up a forum for the city council candidates, one incumbent and five contenders for three different races. And we asked a number of land use dedicated questions and also some questions that kind of dovetail into something Kim Monson herself might have been talking about. Recently, the online option... for testifying and providing commentary for the planning commission and the city council meetings were taken away because of cost. Um, we actually did a core request to see exactly how much cost is involved in the zoom meetings. And while it's more expensive than a normal subscription for you or I because of privacy things that they have to do over at zoom it's about uh about 12 to 14 000 a month uh which you know it's a fair bit of money but when it comes to the expansion of the first amendment and for folks to be able to show up remotely testified maybe there's people who have a second job swing shift a single parent folks who just can't get out of the house due to mobility issues um We're actually kind of shocked, and our group had mentioned for the past year that this should come back, and cost was cited as a prohibitive factor. And before we get into the rest of our bad stuff, we did a lightning round, and one of the questions was, would the candidates support bringing back the online option? All six unequivocally said yes. I would hope that they stick to their word, because... A lot of times we'll see governments spending millions here, millions there, and these projects seem to go nowhere, and all of a sudden you've got something that would enhance everyone's ability to be involved, the transparency, and just expansion of First Amendment for $12,000 to $14,000 a month. Maybe there's a cheaper service, but... Why I bring this up is, first of all, everyone said yes. And second of all, I just saw this letter that Kim Monson herself signed, as well as a fair bit of Kim Monson's guests, including Natalie Menton. And they're trying to do this at the state level, too. Apparently the I'm not sure if you're aware of the Colorado Freedom Information Coalition.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 18 :
They wrote a letter and had a bunch of co-signers. Apparently, the Legislative Council is looking at taking the online live streaming and video coverage away from the legislative committee meetings during 2026 and beyond.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Mike, before you go on, so what they are always screaming at, whether it's a local municipality or it's down at the Capitol, is the pollution, the traffic, the cost of turning the lights on on a facility, the heating, the cooling. And yet here is a more effective, efficient way that people can get information and they're saying they don't want to participate in it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, citing cost, but I think that the other side of it is, dare I say that sometimes people would like less participation and more opaqueness. I remember during the Senate bill. uh 25003 and that was the huge firearm bill where now you have to take a test for certain firearms and to assert your second amendment right um and i know that comes uh into fruition next august i think it is but during that i've sat on the zoom meeting portion for eight hours and they just ran out of time which i was happy about to see that much participation all kinds of folks all different sides of the issue some i don't agree with but everyone's there and and and that's the point of this participation i sat for eight hours at my house doing other things walking around with the ipad you know i could wash dishes you know what have you walk a dog if i needed to right and then i could still and be involved when my three minutes shows up it would be virtually impossible for me to be able to take a day off of work spend eight hours and then realize there are so many people there i couldn't even talk So the investment of time is a little less when you're doing other things, tasks around the house, what have you, being productive. Maybe you work from home. Maybe you work from the office and you can have this going on, you know, like behind the scenes. And when your time shows up, you can spend your three minutes, participate and then move on with your life and hope your senators or, you know, representatives do the right thing. But now it's gone. it's gone. And you would literally have to take days off of work or rely on lobbyists who are there at all times. That's the frightening part.
SPEAKER 05 :
It is. And, you know, these are civil forums that allow the citizens to give input and to find out what the heck is going on. And like you mentioned, most of us have real jobs and we're out there trying to earn money for our family, trying to provide for them. And this is a way that people can get involved without having to take the extra time and all the parking and travel time and expense that sometimes you think, boy, they just want to keep you like mushrooms. They want to keep you in the dark and not know much.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, unfortunately, it does feel like that sometimes. And you brought up an interesting point when it comes to traffic, when it comes to emissions, clogging up highways. It doesn't make sense with this amount of technology right now. Like, If they're trying to save whatever $1,000 per month in one way, they're literally incurring infrastructure costs through the degradation of the roads in another way. And it's always like this short-term gain, long-term pain philosophy where they're trying to save a few dollars now at the expense of many later. So it just doesn't make sense in any sense of the word. I got to sit in on so many different bills last season just from having time off, you know, could be at the house and then listen in. There was a bill trying to keep bug agriculture from expanding in Colorado. And I wouldn't have known about that unless I wasn't on the meeting for something else. And then all of a sudden I'm like, my gosh, you know, I was rep Scott Bottoms, and he was trying to keep bug agriculture, big bug, from expanding in Colorado. I got to listen in to doctors talk about the lack of benefit from eating chitin, you know, the shells of insects and things like this. And just hearing this stuff and then reaching out to one of the doctors and learning more on my own time was a great experience. Unfortunately, that bill failed, but the point was because of Zoom, I was right there. I could take advantage of the time to listen to a bill I didn't even know existed. I think last year, what, CUT said there was over 500 pieces of legislation. How can you keep track?
SPEAKER 05 :
You can't. No, and there's too much. But you bring up an excellent point. So often you see on a consent agenda a variety of topics. But when you get there, either physically or you're online, sometimes, oftentimes, it's a totally different direction that they're going in. And It's a benefit to be able to listen in, hear what's going on, and understand how they're using your hard-earned tax dollars for programs that you may have read one thing, and they're talking about something totally different.
SPEAKER 18 :
And as you bring that up, Brad, you know what I've noticed is if I'm on Zoom, and if it's something I'm trying to testify about, and I'm hearing people's comments back and forth and back and forth, I know I'm maybe 18th or 20th in the queue, I can actually listen to commentary, try to understand something that maybe I've never thought of before, do some quick research on the iPad without offending anybody because I'm not in the room, and then have a more pertinent commentary myself, where I've been in live situations where you might bring printed out papers, And when you get to the point, you're like, well, gosh, this is actually, you know, it doesn't apply at all. And if I'm going to pick up my phone or whatever in the live room, it's actually kind of offensive. It's kind of against manners and protocol. but now I've just wasted all my time because I wasn't truly grasping what the authors of a bill were trying to go for. And now my plan testimony is quite inadequate. That's a, that's actually another thing, you know, being in a setting where you can be a little more nimble helps as well. And I was really impressed with how many people signed on. Um, Natalie Minton's on here, Kim Monson's on here, Brad Brandon work. Um, and CUT, Tabor Foundation. You know, there's a lot of folks that I think everyone would recognize on here. I did talk to Jeff Roberts at the Freedom of Information Coalition about this. And if anybody wants to check it out, please go to their website. And there's also an email to the Legislative Council that he's urging people to write to individually, if you want that, Brad.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure, you can share it with our listeners.
SPEAKER 18 :
Sure. So if you want to support this effort that Kim Monson is working on, it's LIS.GA at LIS. C-O-L-E-G for coloradolegislator.gov. Again, L-I-S dot G-A at college.gov. And you can write in and just say, you know, please keep this online option going through a 2026 and beyond.
SPEAKER 05 :
So let's talk a little bit about that meeting, that forum that you listened in on. And what were your impressions? What did you find that was going on and ways that you think people need to get involved with?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, as far as the city council forum itself, yeah, it's something that we do. It's our third annual one. This time I was actually one of the moderators, and, you know, obviously we write our questions. The questions that we write are from a lot of what we go through and our membership goes through during some of these land use issues. And one thing that really kind of came up to me was the – And land use planning, you know, after we listened to the candidates discuss different kinds of land use planning or what have you, it's mostly based on residents. And as we're sitting there thinking about it, you know, and asking the questions and listening to them, I thought, well, my gosh, you know, land use planning for businesses is is so critical to think about what kind of businesses are going to survive as AI starts replacing humans. How does a city, how does a county survive this next tremendous wave of technology and basically human replacement? So we threw that question in at the last minute because business land use planning, I think, is going to be critical going forward. And I think some of the answers are actually pretty savvy. And The crux seems to be making sure that, A, you're diversified in your types of businesses, making sure you have one-off small businesses, and making sure that there's a uniqueness. And I think in land planning in general right now, there's a trend towards diversity. cookie cutter stuff where it's like okay you'll have your target shopping center nothing against target but you know just in general you have nice target shopping center and you have the same stores and you can go to any city and see that same thing um or or anytime you're driving you can see the The same like Ross Dress for Less and some other stores like that. And it's just it's basically it works. It's a good plan. People like it. They go. However, when you go to certain small towns, you'll see like the one off mom and pop shop. And that's so interesting as well, because that's kind of the American dream. Right. You can take a small shop or a small roll up building or whatever and try something. And that was one thing that they consistently were talking about in their answer for this resilience against AI is to make sure that small businesses are not overburdened, that you're encouraging a unique perspective on things, and then if AI can enhance the small business owner through possibly marketing or whatever. Now, that might put marketers out of jobs as well, but then the marketers, I think the onus would be on them to learn more about the AI. And I'll give a corollary. I've been a musician for most of my life, and we saw the big studios kind of go away because of the advancements in home recording. However, there's still people that are excelling at home recording in studios because they have pushed their art so far to be using the tools like from the Crystal or Algae boards and from Pro Tools or Logic or what have you. They have pushed that art so far that they're still in business because they're still staying ahead of the curve on the basic things that a person can do at home with a minimal education. So I think that through personal excellence, we can probably stay ahead of the AI curve But we are starting to see it with engineers. They're starting to get laid off, and it's kind of scary. So that was one of the huge questions there. I don't know if you've run into that kind of thing as well.
SPEAKER 05 :
I have, and I'd like to talk a little bit more about it after we come back from this break. There's so many things that this relates to, AI, land planning use, and the use of technology to move things forward in our local municipalities. So we'll be right back after this message.
SPEAKER 19 :
That's 303-880-8881. Call now.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome back. I'm Bradley Beck, and I'm filling in for Kim Monson today. Love that little intro, Joe. Thanks for that dum-da-da-dum-dum. Check out Kim's website for all information on the Kim Monson Show at kimmonson.com. And Kim always likes to support the Center for American Values. It's located down in Pueblo on the beautiful Riverwalk. The center is focused on the foundational values of America— honor, integrity, patriotism. And through their K-12 educational programs, they train educators. And you can also go through their portraits of valor. Over 160 Medal of Honor recipients. The Center is helping instill that idea of honor, integrity, and patriotism to our next generations. Check out their website. It's AmericanValueCenter.com. That's AmericanValueCenter.com. And I'll put in a short little plug for Drew Dix and his podcast. If you haven't listened to it, it's excellent. I'd encourage you to go on wherever you listen to your podcast and listen to his program as well. We're talking with Mike Rolick and Mike is a concerned citizen. He has many things in the fire. He's part of the Ralston Valley Coalition. And we were talking about land planning use, especially with the AI technology really shooting up and the ability to plan things out more carefully. But that brings up a question, Mike. And one of the things I always liked about Houston, Texas, was the lack of planning in the sense that it grew up organically. It was spontaneous. And you would have a neighborhood that would be Maybe really well off in another neighborhood across the road that wasn't so well off. And it created this, as the left likes to say, diversity. You had restaurants, shops, small, big, large. And people seemed to get along pretty well because of that uniqueness. And as cities continue to plan with their planning departments and having the perfect little parking lot and access, which usually is a mousetrap, things become cookie cutter. So how do we address that? How do you see that happening for the better rather than this planning that goes on all the time?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, it's interesting that you mention that. So Ralston Valley Coalition has become... kind of a hub for developers to come talk with us prior to dropping a lot of money into engineering diagrams just to get a basic idea. So Remington Homes is in some form of application phase. So their plans are public as it is right now. And they decided to take a look at what 5,000 of our members had said at the time when we were looking at the Amazon situation. And they said, well, gosh, instead of an Amazon going in this particular set of parcels along Indiana, we would love to see some form of mixed use retail along with homes of various price points. And I'm very careful never to say terms like missing middle, affordable housing, what have you, workforce housing. I think terms like that are kind of like a resurgence of a caste system. I'm never going to judge what someone should have as a house based on their job. I look at it as just straight math. Math is agnostic. So if a home is $500,000 and that's what you can or decide to buy, that's fine. If a condo is $300,000 or a million or a million and a half, whatever it is, Math is agnostic. So Remington Holmes came through and said, gosh, this is what you guys are looking at. And actually, we talked to another developer as well. And both had put together a really cool plan to say this is a unique community on 30-some-odd acres to have the restaurants, to have a little bit of retail, to have walkability in the evening. Say there's a special event, they have plans to be able to move food trucks in and have like a section cut off of one of the main roads, kind of like a mini 16th Street Mall to enhance neighbors to come out, hang out. Kids can play. They're using the floodplain for like a park. And it's like, gosh, you're really using everything on this land creatively to drive that marketability. And, you know, we've talked about this, I think, Kim and I before, the 15-minute city concept. If it's an economic decision by a developer to say, hey, look, I would like to have all these different things on this parcel of land to keep people on property, spend money, enjoy themselves, everything's nice and, you know, close. You don't have to spend a lot of time in traffic. That's one thing. to be forced is completely a different thing altogether. But we're finding Remington is actually working through that process on their own, coming to their own conclusions and saying, this is a really cool and unique property. And it is. We've met with them several times, and it looks great. So that's an interesting way to work with a community outside of planning, is to have groups like ours. And I know certain cities actually have a community planning group that you can talk to and say what do people really want what's going to sell like hotcakes what wouldn't sell like hotcakes because maybe the architects don't quite get what this particular area wants and so that's one way that we're trying to achieve that
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, you also brought up to me yesterday when we were talking a little bit about the show and pre-planning the idea of drones and how that impacts on business. This delivery that people, businesses keep talking about, whether it's Amazon or Walmart, and yet there are some consequences to that. Speak a little bit to that controversy.
SPEAKER 18 :
Oh, sure. We did ask about drones in so much as can... a city look at different zoning types and if drones can take off or land. And there is good cause for this in the first place because obviously counties and cities and the FAA will be involved in where airports are. And when I looked up the rules about airports in Colorado, it does include buildings as well. Obviously, if you've got a life flight helicopter taken off of the roof of a building, you have to make sure that Things are going to work well. You know, planning. There's got to be some planning around it and understand if this helicopter can take off safely or not. So this kind of setup is here for the safety of others. You know, a lot of what we deal with in aviation is for the safety of others. If I want to take a small aerobatic plane up over the middle of just a barren landscape and, you know, do whatever I want. No one seems to care. But a lot of the altitude laws that we have and other laws that we have are for protection of A, passengers, if you're taking passengers, and B, folks on the ground. Remember, I have my freedom until it affects you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 18 :
Exactly. Right. So drones, we're looking at the Beyond Visual line of sight. It'd be part 108 in the regulations now for the FAA. And comments are due by next week. So if there's any aviation enthusiasts out there, go check out the notice of proposed rulemaking on that. But drones. generally stay under 400 feet whereas if I was going to take a small plane over your neighborhood I generally have to stay above 1000 feet and if I'm in a single engine at an altitude that I don't pose a risk to you if my engine fails I can glide to maybe an open field or something like that instead so drones are going to be operating obviously at a much lower altitude And I just was looking at one real quick where they're actually designing a way that the drones can latch onto a high-tension power line and recharge themselves so they can stay in the field ad nauseum. So it is interesting because now your airport, so to speak, would be the power line possibly out in front of your house. And these drones can literally just latch on and grab on and charge themselves. Additionally, when I was looking at some patents that certain companies have, they're looking at being able to have proprietary camera technology attached to some AI device. and take pictures of your house as they're delivering to you and then give you targeted ads for possibly what you're missing in quotes uh you know maybe i don't know new roof materials or or a weed killer or something like this or you know maybe decorations that you don't have for a specific holiday they show up and it's like well we're getting close to halloween we don't see any pumpkins out you know that that kind of thing so i i think there's a there's a privacy aspect to it as well and what if they are going to deliver to my house and they still take pictures of your house and send you ads um through your favorite you know um internet apps uh you know for for shipping um my great great conversation there's so much to talk about and we're unfortunately running out of time how can people get a hold of you if they want more information um You know, I guess I need to put together a website. I haven't really thought about that. But you can always check out the Ralston Valley Coalition website. And we do have an email there. But that's our land use planning. And any groups out there who are working on land use or want to know more, we're always available for you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Mike Rollick, thanks so much. It's always good talking to you and hearing your ideas. So thank you for coming on the Kim Monson Show.
SPEAKER 18 :
Thank you, Brad. Have a great day.
SPEAKER 05 :
You, too. And our quote for the end of the show from F.A. Hayek, an Austrian-born economist. He said, So ladies and gentlemen, today be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. You are not alone. God bless you and God bless America. Stay with us.
SPEAKER 11 :
I don't want no one to cry, but tell them if I don't survive.
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Is it freedom or is it force? Let's have a conversation.
SPEAKER 05 :
Indeed, let's have a conversation. Welcome to the Kim Monson Show. I'm Bradley Beck, and I am fortunate to sit in for Kim. She's away. She'll hopefully be back tomorrow, and it's always good to sit here looking at Producer Joe, who's on the other side of the glass. Always happy to see you, and good morning, Joe. Good morning, Brian. Let's have a conversation. As Kim always says, we always want to thank our listening public. And to each of you, you're treasured, you're valued, you have purpose. Today, strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, your body. We were made for this moment in history. And there's so many people out there that Kim works with, all her great sponsors. And you can always find out who are the sponsors. Find out more information on our website at Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. Sign up for Kim's weekly email newsletter to get the first look at all her upcoming guests. And we thank you for contributing and supporting her independent voice and the exercise of freedom of speech. And we'd like to thank some of those gold sponsors, the Harris family for their gold sponsorship of the show, longtime supporter. And from Parker to Golden. Little Richie's Pizza and Pasta is your way for real New York-style hearty pastas, pizza, and that unbeatable local vibe. And I'm going to have to look at the vibe up in the dictionary, Joe. One of those newer terms. Little Richie's is serving up daily specials, quick and tasty weekday lunch deals. and happy hours that locals actually build their plans around, whether you're bringing the crew, catching up with friends, or flying solo for that hot slice. Little Richie's is your neighborhood hangout. So sounds like we need to make a little field trip down there and get some good food. Well, today's word of the day is epistemology. It's a mouthful. It's spelled E-P-I-S-T-E-M-O-L-O-G-Y. And it's a branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called the theory of knowledge, the term epistemology comes from the Greek words combined episteme and logos and used in a sentence episteme. Epistemology helps us understand the different ways we acquire knowledge through perception, reason, and testimony. So if you can use that word epistemology, you get extra bonus points, impress your friends, and hopefully you'll learn something about that term. Our quote of the day comes from an economist who I've read quite widely. His name is Frederick August von Hayek, known as F.A. Hayek. He was born on May 8, 1899, and he passed away March 23, 1992. He was a popular economist in Britain and a philosopher. He's known for his contributions to political economy, political philosophy, and intellectual history. And his account of how prices communicate information was widely regarded, still is, as an important contribution to economics that led him to receive the Nobel Prize. He also was a major contributor to the Austrian School of Economics, and his book Road to Serfdom warned against the dangers of state control over the means of production, something that some of the legislators down at the Capitol could understand. Take some time to read. But his quote was, End of quote. So there are a lot of things going on today. And, of course, catching you up on the news, if you haven't heard, the government is shut down, which sometimes I would say is a good thing because they can do less harm to us. But there are essential things for the government that will stay open. And some people are getting furloughed. Some people are going to be probably let go. We'll see what happens. But one of the things that one of the Republicans is pushing is a constitutional amendment to dock lawmakers pay during government shutdowns. And I think that's a brilliant idea to force. And I hate force. But if we're going to elect our representatives, they have to suffer some of the consequences that the citizens do by not getting paid if they're not working. Or if they're working and working inefficiently. So I think that might be a good idea. What do you think, Joe? Should we put them in the same situation that some of our citizens are going to be in?
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
It might be tough to pass, but I think there's a little day of reckoning coming up. So we'll see what happens with that and see how it pans out. But, you know, during the commercial break, we heard a little bit by Helen Grebel and Helen Grebel. I had the good fortune of working with her and. getting to know her a little bit, and I was in one of her videos that she did on citizenship with a group of friends of mine. And it was an incredible experience, and I always liked Helen's perspective on how the citizens have the power to get involved and take back some of the local control that so many people just abdicate because somebody else has the position of being a representative. and we've got to take control of so many things in our lives. And one of the people that can help you take control is a gentleman on the line, Loren Levy from PolyFi Group, and he's a mortgage specialist. And, Loren, what's your take on the industry this week?
SPEAKER 16 :
Hi, Brad. How are you doing?
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm doing unbelievable.
SPEAKER 16 :
My take is it's an interesting time. Rates, as I've been explaining with Kim in the last few weeks, um came down before the last fed meeting when uh when they did a cut it came down right before them and then the reaction after that has been that they went up uh back up a little bit just because people were worried about inflation more than they were, you know, the cutting of the rates, helping mortgage rates go down. So the fear of inflation caused the 10-year U.S. Treasury to creep back up a little bit. It's settled in around maybe around a 412 right now. So our rates are pretty good. There's activity. There's a lot of home listings right now, which is helping buyers. uh have more choice um and so you know rates are decent enough i think that people want to make a move uh i'm looking a little bit and uh so we're seeing some decent activity so we're having some uh conversations about pre-qualifications and people getting ready to buy so when they do go out and find that house that they really like they can be prepared to make an offer pretty quick um that's one of those opportunities right now where we think There's not as many buyers out there where you're going to run into a multiple bid situation and drive a price up. You might be able to actually grab the house that you like at a good price that works for your family. We're encouraging people, if you're interested, to get pre-qualified and be ready to make a move when the time comes.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, it's so important to do that. And it's the old Boy Scout on your mark gets it, you know, go. You got to be ready to go. And if you're not prepared, you're going to be behind the eight ball and miss that opportunity. So what are one of the two things that people can do today to get prepared for that option?
SPEAKER 16 :
That's what we always do. If you want to reach out to someone you can trust, in the example of home loans, it's only a 10, 15-minute call to go over options to have an application in place, which doesn't cost anything. That way, the person helping you, if you call us, we can help you know exactly what you can qualify for, what a payment would be on every type of home you might look at, so you can know going in confidently that you can afford it or it's within your budget. and what it costs and what price range you need to stay in. One of the worst things people will do is think they can qualify for a certain home or go looking at a home, find out it's a little too high of a price, and then have to settle for something and then have trouble finding something they like because they got spoiled at a higher price. So we always want people to be ready, know exactly where they should be looking, and we can certainly help them do that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Where can people find out more information from you, Lauren?
SPEAKER 16 :
The best way is always to just call 303-880-8881. We're here to call, or we'll call right back, and we'll spend the time it takes to make sure everyone's educated before they go looking so they can be ready.
SPEAKER 05 :
Lauren Levy, you're an expert and a resource, and we appreciate all that you do. Thanks for all your information, and we'll look forward to hearing from you next week.
SPEAKER 16 :
You got it. Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
And thank you to Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance, the team that will be a partner for you, and the Kim Monson Show. So check them out.
SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back. I'm Bradley Beck. I'm filling in for the great Kim Monson, who hopefully will be back tomorrow. And you can always find out what's happening on The Kim Monson Show by going to her website at kimmonson.com and sign up for her weekly email newsletter. Get the first look at our upcoming guest and the most recent essays. You can always email Kim at KimMonson.com. And thank you for all the folks that contribute and support the independent voice Kim has built up here for the exercise of freedom of speech. And through all Kim's work, especially with veterans and her veteran story, she's honored to highlight the USMC Memorial Foundation. All the work that they're doing to raise money to remodel that official USMC Memorial Foundation. which is located right in Golden, Colorado at 6th and Colfax. Paula Saris is the president of the foundation. She's a Marine veteran and a Gold Star wife. And Paula and her team are working diligently to make that remodel a reality. And you can help by donating to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. That's usmcmemorialfoundation.org. On the line with us, we have a sixth-generation farmer and rancher from Nebraska, somebody who's on the Kim Monson Show quite frequently, and it's always interesting to hear his perspectives. Trent Luce, welcome to the Kim Monson Show.
SPEAKER 03 :
Good morning, Bradley. Boy, you're doing a fantastic job making almost Kim useless. Ha ha ha!
SPEAKER 05 :
She will never be useless. I have a face for radio, and I fill in once in a while when she asks me, and I'm happy to do so. But you're always busy, and I've watched many of your videos, listened to you on Kim Monson's show. But you have an interesting story that you've been working on, on this Canada's mass extermination of 400 healthy ostriches. Why the heck would somebody from Nebraska worry about ostriches in Canada, and why is it important to our listeners?
SPEAKER 03 :
I think that's a great question. And these ostriches, some of them are as old as 37 years. And I've been bringing Katie and her mother Karen's plight to my audiences back in the spring. It's probably been six months now. In December, there were a couple that had a PCR test positive to H5N1. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said that that's a problem. We're going to come in. We're going to cull these ostriches. We're going to euthanize them all. And they've been fighting it through the court system until, what was it now, a week ago Monday, CFIA showed up. They took over the place with court order. On the third day, they were going to begin euthanizing, exactly as you said, nearly 400 ostriches. And a series of events took place, and there was a stay at the request of the family. They did get another stay the morning that they were to begin euthanizing them, so it was like by the skin of their teeth. And then at the same time, even though Katie had been doing a tremendous job getting this word out, and I think this is the reason that's really relevant to us today, is that this was an atrocity being committed to this family, and it wasn't my ox being gored. So nobody really paid attention. There were some of us, and I've always paid attention, Bradley, to these situations because I understand that an attack on somebody animal ownership and property rights violations in Canada is going to affect all of us if we don't engage. And if you wait until your back's against the wall, there's not going to be anybody there to help you. And that's basically paraphrasing Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran minister from Nazi Germany, when he talked about nobody got involved until it was too late and there was nobody to help me when the time came. So that's the history today. The stay that was put on by the government of Canada, it was actually a court system in Canada last week, was through Friday, October the 3rd. If you go on and you look at what is happening today, I happened to look this morning, it's almost like a county fair scenario that has occurred because there's been a tremendous amount of exposure in the past week. And finally, people say, hey, this is a bad deal. We've got to show up. It looks like hundreds of people. There are food trucks. There are people camping and living there. There are television cameras constantly monitoring the ostriches. And it is truly a case where when people finally show up and engage and don't just let somebody who's being wrong sit out there on an island by themselves, you can make a difference. And so there is not a complete resolve to the situation yet, but it certainly feels 180 degrees better than it did a week ago.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, that's good to hear. And Trent, you bring up an excellent point. You know, every year when they have the rodeo here in Colorado and it's always they call it down. The weather here always determines whether we're having a rodeo. It seems like they call it rodeo weather usually gets cold in January. But there's always the usual suspects who come out and say the animals are being harmed. They don't like rodeo. They don't like cows. They don't like cowboys. It just seems. And they're always complaining. And yet there's people who stand up and say, no, we like this as a sport. It's well regulated. People are looking out for the safety and the health of both the animal and the participants. So I think what you're bringing up is it's important to get involved, even though it's not happening here in the United States. It may and most likely will.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is happening in the United States. We happen to be focused on one that is taking place in Canada, but we have... euthanized over 80 million head of poultry. In fact, in the last 60 days in the state of South Dakota, there's been 437,000 turkeys that have been euthanized by H5N1. And nobody is raising the question to say, what is the real reason that we're euthanizing 437,000 turkeys in a 60-day period in the state of South Dakota based upon an H5N1 test? And in Katie's point, she has made a very clear point that they did have positive animals. They had some death in December of 2024. The animals that survive are the ones that we should really be focused on because those are the animals that have a natural immunity to whatever toxin they were exposed to. That's how you improve the health of any species, whether it be plant, animal, or human beings. And we have not been forcing people, in this case it's the USDA, to address why they have a process of if there's a positive test, we automatically come in and euthanize them. Even the people who have this done to them are not questioning the system like I tell them they should.
SPEAKER 05 :
It's interesting because we all went through the, as I like to say, the Wuhan experience. And we don't get rid of people because they have had the COVID virus. And yet it seems like it's a natural reaction to any kind of virus that comes into our animal population. And it's curious that it's happening just prior to a certain holiday that there's a lot of turkey consumed.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is kind of curious, isn't it? But, you know, one other thing that I want people to think about, and this has been the argument that the Canadian government has had in place, and it is the argument that the USDA gives for euthanizing now upwards of 90 million head of poultry, and that includes ducks, turkeys, and chickens. Well, in order to maintain our trade status with other countries in the world, we must eliminate these animals. That's the excuse that's given. Okay, if you haven't paid attention, we're not trading agricultural products like we were. In fact, 2025, we're looking at a $52 billion trade deficit. We're importing $52 billion more in agricultural products than we're exporting. So that excuse is not flying with me. There's something else to the case, and I think that you just nailed it just before We have the day to celebrate the turkey like no other. We're euthanizing turkeys so that they cannot be consumed.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Trent, you know, so many people don't know where their food comes from. And wouldn't it be a wonderful experiment to take people out to a farm or ranch and see the process? Because I think they just go to the grocery store and just like when you flip a switch to turn on your lights or turn on your faucet, it just happens. And people don't have appreciation for ranchers and farmers. What are your thoughts on that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Actually, I've done that. Years ago, I was speaking in Chester County, Pennsylvania. It was a cross-section of people. It was a great group. And I was speaking positively about concentrated animal feeding operations, otherwise known as CAFOs, which require a permit. And we go through manure management programs. And I had a guy stand up, and he said, you cannot tell me that confining these animals is a good thing. I said, I'm not only telling you that. Any day you want to take a tour, I will set it up because I've got many friends in Pennsylvania right here in your home state that are part of this process. And we'd be glad to give you a tour and say, hey, here's what we're doing. Well, lo and behold, about six months later, that gentleman called me, and he said, Hey, Trent, I'm in Omaha. You said you'd give me a tour. Where can we go? Oh, okay. Well, let's make it happen. So I called an operation, a very sizable operation. It happened to be a pig farm in this case in Nebraska, and they spent about five hours touring this facility and the facilities that are in the system. And I have an interview that I could find where they said, This is nothing like we thought it was going to be. It's absolutely the most sustainable farming operation we've ever seen. The problem is, Bradley, that it's really tough to take 330 million Americans through a tour in that endeavor. So if we can create that opportunity with virtual, which has happened, you can accomplish a lot. But that, what you just said, is truly the answer. How do we make it happen?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Trent Luce, we've got more to talk about, and I'd like to explore a little bit more of what's going on in the world of ranching and farming and your friend Wendy Volk. And we'll do that right after these messages.
SPEAKER 10 :
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SPEAKER 19 :
The current level of interest rates is causing challenges and creating opportunities. For nearly 20 years, mortgage specialist with Polygon Financial Group, Lauren Levy, has helped individuals realize their hopes and dreams of homeownership, fund kids' educations through second mortgages, and access capital by utilizing reverse mortgages. Lauren's not constrained to work with just one lender. Because he works with many different lenders, Lauren offers you choices for your individual mortgage needs. Knowledge is power and preparation leads to success. Call Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881 so that you are prepared for the opportunities in the mortgage market. That's Lauren Levy at 303-880-8881.
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
There's so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at kimmonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. I'm Bradley Beck, and I have the good fortune of filling in for Kim, who's away for a couple days. And she let me sit in the chair on Monday, and she said, would you come back on Wednesday? And it's like, sure. Anytime I get to talk to some interesting people, I'm happy to do so. Thank you for having me. We're talking to our sixth-generation farmer and rancher out in Nebraska, Trent Luce. Trent, welcome back.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks, Bradley. I've already texted Kim.
SPEAKER 05 :
Don't let that guy come back on the radio. You have been an advocate for what goes on in not only your great state of Nebraska, but Colorado, Canada. We're talking a little bit of what's happening up there with the ostrich situation. And where can people get more information on what's happening with that ostrich farm?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, if you search Universal Ostrich Farm, you'll find a lot of good stuff. And Katie herself does a fantastic job, and her mother has gotten more involved now as well. All of my stuff about that, you can search Beck News, B-E-K. That's B-E-K.news. And I do three TV shows, five radio shows every day that try to bring that gap, like you talked about before, between food producers and food consumers together.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, it's interesting. I'd like to get your take on what's happening in New York where they're talking about, you know, having these government run grocery stores. And I can see nothing wrong happening there. Can you?
SPEAKER 03 :
There are phrases that I would use that would get folks at Cropper Broadcasting pretty nervous about what was going to happen in terms of government overreach of this radio station.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right, right.
SPEAKER 03 :
I spoke for a group of dairymen and suppliers to the dairy industry in Albany, New York, last winter. I mean, I've been to California a lot. And I keep a pulse on what's happening in California and Oregon. In fact, I'm going back to Oregon, which Oregon is just as liberal and messed up in terms of food production as any state. But what is taking place in the state of New York is unimaginable because they currently, unless something changes by 2030, are requiring all automobiles to use electric, including semis that deliver milk, semis that deliver feed. And you want to talk about an industry that's like, I did not talk to one single person involved in the dairy industry at this meeting. Bradley, every single one of them said, if something doesn't change, we will not be raising food in New York in 2031. Wow.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, it's amazing.
SPEAKER 03 :
They all see the day that they have to leave. And for those that may not know, people think of New York and they think of, you know, the Big Apple and Manhattan and all the city lights. New York is the fourth largest dairy-producing state in this nation. It's a significant contributor to our food equation. Upstate New York is incredible.
SPEAKER 05 :
It is. Yeah, it's beautiful. And there's a lot of agriculture there. And when you have a concentrated area of people who think everything is just down the street at the bodega or the supermarket, they can pop in and get it, and they don't realize and reflect on where... Their food comes from. And, you know, if all they have to do is the truckers don't ship in from the agriculture producers into Long Island, that place is shut down.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is an island. Yeah. In fact, it doesn't take much to shut it down. There's like four points of pressure that if you had four bridges shut down, you'd paralyze the whole island.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. That's amazing. Well, you're involved in so many things, and especially in agriculture, but also lifestyle and things that happen around the country. And you brought to Kim's attention the plight of what's going on up there in Wyoming with Wendy Volk. And I want to bring Wendy on. She's a realtor up in Cheyenne. Wendy, welcome to the Kim Monson Show.
SPEAKER 13 :
Good morning. Nice to be on the show again.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you for being here. And Trent, you brought this to the forefront. And Wendy, talk a little bit about what is happening up there with this proposed wind farm.
SPEAKER 13 :
Sure. So in June, our family, and I'm married into a ranching family that goes back 154 years, and our daughters are the sixth generation of a ranching operation out in Horse Creek. It's 26 miles northwest of Cheyenne. And we got notification from the company, and then a few weeks later, at the end of June, we got notification from our county that a permit had been submitted for a 56,000-acre wind turbine. uh project and on that 56 000 acres it was going to be predominantly on two of our neighbors private property so two different ranchers had signed lease wind lease agreements with this company repsol out of spain and um and then there was about 6 100 acres of state land and they were proposing to put 170 of these turbines And they said it was going to be open for public comment. There was going to be more information. I was waiting like, oh, everyone's going to be really talking about this. And it was complete crickets. There wasn't any public conversation or discourse about this. And so that's when I just jumped in and I started gathering more information and realizing the company had provided information. um us with an eight and a half by eleven piece of paper map that shows a postage size stamp project when in fact 56 000 acres is uh over three times the size of cheyenne cheyenne's largest city in the state of wyoming so it's three times the size and they put it down and condense it to you know a postage size stamp project on this piece of paper And they didn't properly disclose who were the neighbors surrounding the project, if we were even touching the project. And sure enough, the more I asked the company to provide more information to us, I realized that they didn't even depict our property touching two sides of the project. We have 6,100 acres of the ranch, the Dreamer Ranch, touching the southern portion of the proposed project, and we have 1,600 acres on the eastern side. So with a series of kind of raising community awareness through getting on radio, submitting some letters to the editor, meeting with neighbors, I went and took the map the company gave me and I enlarged it to 11 by 17 so I could show everyone that was going to be potentially impacted by this project and the community really stood up and participated actively this past month on June 11th they came to the planning commission and I would say there were at least 30 40 people they gave very very you know detailed information about their concerns did it very diplomatically it was kind of a neat process to see and then the following and the county planning commission decided to postpone voting on this permit And then in the very next week, our county commissioners were looking at the same permit to either approve the permit, deny the permit, or postpone it until after more analysis was done at a state level. And we were... absolutely flabbergasted that three commissioners denied the permit and one commissioner voted for the permit and it was pretty unbelievable to see that our county commissioners listened to the overwhelming concerns from the residents and they affirmed that the local land use decisions needed to be guided by careful analysis um of what the public health and safety impacts and the long-term stewardship of this project could be on our community.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow, congratulations on at least getting that acknowledgement that they're listening. I'm curious, Trent, your two cents on this, if you're still there, on what you think about this green energy and how it affects not only the livestock, but the wildlife community.
SPEAKER 03 :
So, Bradley, I was going to say that I had to correct you on three points, but now I've got to correct you on four points.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
There's nothing green about this energy project. Right. It is the farthest thing. The only green involved is the tax credits that go to a foreign-owned company. Why are we, through the United States government and taxpayers, giving tax credits to a company based in Spain? And it's happening every day. The first point that you really got wrong, and it wasn't your fault, Kim brought this awareness of Wendy to my attention. Wendy called in to this program, and that's how we got together. I didn't enlighten Kim on the situation. Two, you made the cardinal error. Wendy was wonderful, by the way, because she's been scolded on the air. These are not farms. These are development centers. Farms are where you plant, you grow things that you can harvest. We are planting and growing things that there is ultimately no harvest on because you look at the impact that wind has on our reliability. The Secretary of Interior, this is a double-edged sword, Doug Burgum was in, Secretary of the Department of Interior, was in Wyoming yesterday with Mark Gordon, the governor. And they were talking about reopening more land for coal, which is absolutely vital. We're now at below 16% of our nation's electric supply coming from coal. We're losing another 5% this year with two coal-fired power plants going down in Michigan. And the reason that we are in peril, we are in jeopardy for our electric supply, reliable electric supply, is that we have allowed too many of these wind development centers who are chasing nothing other than subsidies to come in and displace coal. Because what happens is government has given an incentive to the coal-fired power plant to use wind over coal which has broke financially disrupted the ability to continue to take coal from the soil which by the way we have a thousand years worth of coal left and generate an affordable supply of electricity from a resource that we have and i also issue a word of caution the work that's been done And Laramie County and Wendy has been a champion like I've never seen. She's been fantastic. But what will happen next, and this is part of this discussion yesterday, I guarantee you with Doug Burgum and Mark Gordon, is that they will try to circumvent local control and try to permit that project anyway through a state industrial commission. And that cannot happen.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it feels good to be corrected by the great Trent Luce. I always love learning new things. And terminology is so important in the way we approach these different subjects. And so thank you for that. I always like learning a little bit more. When we come back, I'd like to know a little bit more how this is going to impact Wendy's family and the community there, the ranching and farming community up in Wyoming. We'll be right back after this message.
SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
If you would like to support the work of the Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmonson.com. That's Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
Franktown Firearms, in conjunction with Colorado CQB, will prepare you for real-world defense of your life and property. Imagine you get home and walk through your front door and something seems off. We'll be right back. including you for June and July. When you sign up for a range membership at Frank town, you're automatically enrolled in CQB for free. You'll get discounted firearm classes, concealed handgun training, and more classes at CQB fill up quickly. So sign up now while you can go to KLZ radio.com slash Frank town and click on the CQB link to learn more, or just send them a question through the online form. Frank town firearms where friends are made.
SPEAKER 10 :
It's a great day to be alive.
SPEAKER 05 :
It is a great day to be alive. And welcome back. I'm Bradley Beck. I am guest hosting for the great Kim Monson, who's out today. Her website, you can always find out about what's happening in Kim Monson land at Kim Monson dot com. Sign up for her weekly email newsletter and get the first look at all her upcoming guests, as well as the most recent essays. And you can always contact Kim at her email address, Kim at Kim Monson dot com. And something that we should all have on our bucket list is a visit to the Center for American Values. It's located on the beautiful Riverwalk in Pueblo, Colorado. The Center for American Values was co-founded by Medal of Honor recipient Drew Dix and Emmy Award winning documentary maker Brad Padula. They've got a great podcast. I'd encourage you to Take a look on whatever platform that you get your podcasts on. And the center is focused on honoring our Medal of Honor recipients and teaching them and upholding the principles of America, which are honor, integrity, and patriotism. And you can find out more information on their website at AmericanValueCenter.org. We're talking with Trent Luce and Wendy Volk. And Trent, thank you. Gave me a good little education. It's wind development, not wind farm. So thank you for that. I'll use that new terminology. And Wendy, I want to talk a little bit about what's going on up in Wyoming with this wind development up in your area. And there's so many concerns. There's safety on the roads. There's way of life. There's construction workers that will be potentially impacting what goes on up there. How do you deal with that? And how do you activate your community so well?
SPEAKER 13 :
I'm a fourth-generation real estate agent, and so it's almost like it's required, I think, as a citizen. You have to be engaged in your community. You have to stay informed. So when I first heard about this, I didn't know very much at all about wind and industrial projects of this scale. But what I did know is I know the geography. I know where people live. I know how to deploy social media in terms of engaging others to come explore this process of what this project could have been impacting both positively and negatively. In terms of the impact to the long-term stewardship of our communities, natural and cultural resources, the company was a bit vague on saying how big these things are. And they finally disclosed at the county commissioner meeting where we thought they were going to be 588 feet to 600 feet tall, they're going to be 678 feet tall, which is four times the size of our tallest building in Wyoming. It's even four times the size of our state capitol. And to see something that's close to 70 stories high and have 170 of them surrounding your property, um Trent gave a whole lot of good information and I appreciate that it's not just his opinion he gave me actual resources to educate myself and I think that that's what I felt imperative that I needed to share with others in our community that didn't know about the project number one number two where to get more information number three is to then say how do I civilly you know, begin a conversation, a discussion with elected officials. And I think that's the important thing we've kind of gotten away from is having that engagement between the citizens and our elected officials. So our commissioners became very attentive. Our governor is also very attentive. I think he has now talked about in a recent interview about finding a balance between the industrial projects And then the citizens and what the stewardship impacts to land. Wyoming is, it's a wonderful, you know, if there's a reason we're the least populated state and we have more, three times as many cattle as people, twice as many sheep as people, when you cut into that industry on this magnitude, it will be gone forever. We're in the high plains. We're 6,000 feet above sea level. You destroy the land forever. there won't be the land to come back home to. I think for our young people, for visitors, it just has long-term ramifications that I don't think had been fully vetted. We did not address the impacts fully to the land, the water, the wildlife, the quality of life. And so I hope that that becomes a much more robust conversation in our community and beyond.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, you know, the left always is talking about saving the planet and worrying about wildlife. And there are so many unanswered questions. If a development like this goes in, what's going to happen to the migration of mule deer or pronghorn or any of the wildlife? And I know Trent's well aware of this in his understanding of what happens on the land, whether it's developed or not. Has there been any information brought to the forefront on how those populations are going to be probably decimated by having this development in the area?
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes. The company never shared their studies. They said they've been doing studies for the last seven years in our community, and we've not seen their studies. They shared their studies with our Wyoming Game and Fish, and they were very concerned about what the impact was to the migration patterns, to the raptor population, to the bat population. I'm very concerned. And I just didn't realize that something like an industrial wind project, it will bring all sides together to have a conversation. That is for sure. Because there are so many... moving parts but there is a love for wildlife there is the love of land and we need to protect it it won't it will not protect us if we don't protect the resources around us and we had i can't tell you how many hours people sat to wait to publicly speak during our planning commission meeting and our county commissioner meeting people that had never spoken in public in terms of a governing body to tell their concerns. And wildlife was at the top of almost all the discussion points. Traffic impact, road safety, Climate change in terms of how this is going to be drying out the land and forever changing it. We had a gentleman who got up and told us, you know, the impact of earthworms on, you know, what impacts wind projects have to earthworms. I didn't even give any credit to this guy. It really opened my eyes about earthworms, that they are part of the whole composition of our soil and decomposition of soil. Earthworms don't like the vibration of wind turbines.
SPEAKER 05 :
Wow. I didn't even know about that.
SPEAKER 13 :
Who knew? So I'm going to get a T-shirt saying, I heart Wyoming earthworms now. I have a soft spot in my heart for earthworms. But there have been significant studies done on what happens to below the ground underneath these turbines. And earthworms are part of that ecology that we need to pay attention to.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, when people come up to Wyoming not to see windmills, they come up there for the beauty of the land and the wide open spaces. And I know when I drive through Kansas and I see all those windmills, I just say, boy, that's a blight on the land. You know, the tourism industry would probably be impacted, which probably is not brought up at all.
SPEAKER 13 :
We had a guest, and this all came together because we had some guests come stay out at the Dreamer Ranch out at Horse Creek this summer, and they heard from our family talking about our concerns about this project, and they're the ones that reached out to Kim Monson, and then Kim Monson and then to trent and we just raised awareness about the project not saying good bad or ugly it was really raising awareness that nobody in a county of a hundred thousand people 30 people attended a public meeting by the company and the company didn't even make a presentation they just put up poster boards i don't think that's adequate for a 1.1 billion dollar project they did not ever provide any economic analysis they didn't share their wildlife impact they only shared the comments that came from our game and fish department and those were pretty powerful the the things that were provided and the lack of things that were not provided were very powerful i think in for our community to say no we can't we can't approve a project like this without a lot more detail and analysis
SPEAKER 05 :
Wendy Volk, thank you for being aware of the project and bringing it to the attention of Kim and all the citizens around the state, both in Wyoming and Colorado. How would you like to wrap this up and where can people find more information?
SPEAKER 13 :
I would just like to say thank you guys for really this platform of an opportunity to share more information. I would say we've kind of created a Facebook page that one of my colleagues, this is another neighbor, prepared saying no to Laramie Range Wind Project, so you can find that on Facebook. But right now the project's in a holding pattern. We'll see what the company decides to do. They have They could come back and sue in district court or county commissioners over the decision. They could try to go to the state level and submit that permit. Right now, nothing is happening on that forefront. So we're kind of in a wait and see. So I would say stay tuned. There's more to follow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, thank you very much. And Trent Luce, what are your final thoughts?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, a couple of things. We in the soil world all evaluate the amount of earthworms. That's the determining factor on soil health. So we need more earthworms across this country. What I did to garner as much information as anything, Bradley, is I went to counties that years ago approved these projects. I found out where the pitfalls were that they were lied to about. And I try to assist people like Wendy to get that done. And I want to remind people that we've got a short-term success story in Laramie County, but the county north, Platt County, Chugwater, Wyoming, is still engaged in this fight. And so we can never let up. We must always be vigilant and help our friends and neighbors when we care about such things as creating the perfect habitat for an earthworm, which determines how good your food is when you get it on your plate.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's so true. Well, Trent Luce, Wendy Volk, thank you both for your time today, and keep up the good work, and like you say, be vigilant. Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks, Bradley.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, my pleasure.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
And our quote for the end of the day comes from F.A. Hayek. Liberty not only means that individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice, it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions. Liberty and responsibility are indispensable. So, ladies and gentlemen, today, be active, get involved. Be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, and communicate well and listen to your neighbors, listen to your friends, listen to everybody, and live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. You are not alone. God bless you and God bless America. And write that letter that you've been meaning to write to your local town hall, your school board. Talk to a friend. Talk to a neighbor. We'll all get through this together. God bless America and God bless the USA.
SPEAKER 11 :
And fast on a rough road, riding high through the mountains, climbing, twisting, turning further from my home. Young like a new moon, rising fierce through the rain, enlightening, wandering out into this great unknown. And I don't want no one to cry But tell them if I don't survive
SPEAKER 09 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
In this episode of the Best Stocks Now show, professional money manager Bill Gunderson and Barry Kite dive deep into the current state of the financial markets as they start the fourth quarter of 2025. The duo discusses significant market movements, with a particular spotlight on NVIDIA and its groundbreaking performance. They dissect the implications of the government shutdown and explore how it's affecting market indices and investor sentiment. Furthermore, Bill and Barry evaluate the latest from the ADP jobs report, examining how private payroll figures may influence the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates. Alongside market news, they shed light on the rising gold prices and what that means for investors.
SPEAKER 01 :
He's been seen on CNBC, the Fox News Channel, and the Fox Business Channel. His articles can be found on MarketWatch, Seeking Alpha, TheStreet.com, and many other places. He's the author of the weekly Best Stocks Now newsletter and the inventor of the Best Stocks Now app. He's president of Gundersen Capital Management. Here is professional money manager Bill Gundersen.
SPEAKER 03 :
And welcome to the Wednesday, the midweek edition, the October 1st, first day of the fourth quarter of 2025 edition of the Best Stocks Now show with professional money manager Bill Gunderson, president of Gunderson Capital Management, a nationwide fee-based only firm. I'm here with Barry Kite, our chartered financial analyst. Where were you at midnight last night? Did you turn into a pumpkin? The government closed down, and also since then we've received the private payroll reports from ADP. That's going to be the only jobs report we get this week. ADP is obviously not a government entity, but a private entity. And as a result, we've got the Dow down right now 59 points. It hit a new all-time high yesterday, okay? The Dow down 13 basis points right now. The NASDAQ down a little bit more. It's down 84. That works out to 37 basis points, 22,576. Its all-time high was still two weeks ago on that Monday. The S&P 500 is down 19. That's 29 basis points. The small caps down 22 basis points. I guess the good news out of all of this is we're getting a drop in interest rates. The 10-year is down five basis points to 4.09. And the other good news is gold. New all-time high. Welcome to today's Best Stocks Now show with professional money manager Bill Gunderson, president of Gunderson Capital Management. I'm here with Barry Kider, chartered financial analyst. It is the first day of the fourth quarter. The shutdown, do you know where your portfolio is at? Do you know where interest rates are at? Do you know where your stocks are at? Do you know where the gold is that's hidden in your backyard? It's hitting a new all-time high today, above $3,900 for the first time. I think it's also significant to note that the Dow hit a new all-time high yesterday by a few points. But, you know, we've been on kind of a high alert. We've had this massive run in the market since April the 8th of this year. And at some point, you're going to get a top in this current run, and you're going to get some kind of a correction. That's just the way the markets work. And, you know, there's some profit-taking going on. And I always work under the assumption that when the market hits a new all-time high, and then backs off a day or two, I just assume, okay, well, that's the peak. We need to be careful now. But it wasn't the peak in the Dow because the Dow hit a new all-time high yesterday after peaking a couple of weeks ago. The NASDAQ and the S&P 500, however, you've got to go back to a week ago Monday. And those were the highs there, temporary highs. We'll see if we can eclipse those numbers here in the coming days. We got a little bit of a headwind here. We had a decent day in the market yesterday. The Dow was down, but the Nasdaq was up 30 basis points. And oil, Bitcoin rally, that continues. We're going to talk about that a little bit. And Nvidia had a very strong day yesterday. It topped $4.5 trillion. $4.5 trillion. I've heard that Aramco, which is Saudi Arabia's big oil company, is bigger than that. Of course, it does not trade on the U.S. Stock Exchange. But NVIDIA hitting $4.5 trillion yesterday. And NVIDIA is down just a little bit. The other significant piece of that NVIDIA story is it broke out to a new all-time high. So if you're thinking that the NASDAQ peaked two weeks ago and we're going to get a 20% correction, well, I would think twice before you accept that assumption because NVIDIA is probably the leader in the NASDAQ. Lord only knows what percent of the NASDAQ it is these days and what percent of the S&P 500 and what percent of the Dow it is. but it carries a very heavy weight at $4.5 trillion in all of those indexes. And let's just say that the market leader broke out yesterday. It's been in a sideways trend since late July. And yesterday was a breakout, which is a significant event. It can be a significant event because a breakout through resistance levels can be the beginning of a new uptrend. And you're saying, well, Bill, how can a new uptrend begin in a $4.5 trillion company? Look at my five-year target price on NVIDIA. I don't think NVIDIA has hit its ultimate top yet because the earnings expectations for next year are, And the year after that, and applying a decent reasonable multiple to those shares would suggest that NVIDIA still has quite a bit of upside potential from here. Now, a lot can happen between here and now. That's why we look at these things every day. Competition is coming along. There's a big competitor out there in China. And there's a competitor, there's a private company here in the U.S. that also is trying to come up with a chip to equal or match NVIDIA's. And, of course, that would be a big downside risk for NVIDIA if that were to happen. And, of course, this gold rally, it has not hit a new high. It has not peaked. Is it going to hit 4,000? It hit 3,910 this morning. This is the best month it's had since January of 2012 on U.S. shutdown fears and rate cut expectations. And that begs the question, I'll ask Barry this question here, do you think that this ADP, private payrolls report, of minus 32,000, all but guarantees, what are the odds, what are the prediction markets saying on a rate cut? at the next meeting. And then we'll talk about how long the government shutdown can last because the prediction markets are also weighing in there. But what about this ADP jobs report? Should we be worried?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I mean, you know, the ADP, we talk about it all the time, you know, basically it kind of has a lot of, you know, false signals. A lot of times the non-farm payroll is certainly the one you put more you know put more credence to right of course in this unique situation i was just reading that there's only i think one employee left at the bureau of labor and statistics yeah so there's only one but he could probably come up with better numbers than they did last year you know Well, and we're not, so we're not getting, you know, not getting the weekly jobless claims tomorrow, you know, not getting the Friday non-farm payroll. So, you know, the only thing we really have to look at right at this particular moment in time is ADP. And it was bad. And it was, and that's why you've seen. You saw Treasury rates actually yields go down because this kind of helps lead more to a rate cut because we're at 99% chance of a quarter point cut now at the October 29th decision. And then if you look back by the end of the year, there's a 91% chance that we are 50 basis points lower than where we're at right now. Okay, that's good news.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I think the government shutdown, the average government shutdown has been two to three weeks. The European markets have completely shrugged it off. The Europe markets rebounded, not too worried about the government shutdown. They're going to come up with, I mean, these are short-term issues that get resolved pretty quickly. You know, and I also saw ConAgra Brands today beat their estimates, but they are talking about inflationary pressure. So, again, there the Fed has two, they have a conundrum. They have to weigh the jobs market, which looks to be weak, although I'm going to make an argument that it's not so weak here in a moment. And they have to worry about the inflation kicking back in. But I saw that Austin Goolsbee, who is not a Trump fan. I mean, he was one of the main guys in the Biden administration on economics. He's out of the University of Chicago. I'm not talking about Chicago today. They beat my Padres yesterday 3-1. If we lose today, we're out.
SPEAKER 04 :
You get some pressure today.
SPEAKER 03 :
You've got to win two in a row. You've got to win two in a row here. He's from the University of Chicago. He's saying that he's not seeing the weakness in the jobs market. He says you've got to look underneath at wages going up. and other factors, and he says he's not seeing weakness in the jobs market at all, and that's coming from somebody from the Democratic side, from the Biden-Harris side, who is on the financial channels quite a bit. We'll be right back. Music And welcome back here to the second quarter of today's Best Docs Now show. Well, I think we've got Monty Hall at the helm of the country. Let's make a deal. I can't believe, you know, somebody ought to catalog all the deals. Whether you like the deals or not, whether you agree with them or not, there's been a lot of deals made, and yesterday there was a big deal that kind of flew under the radar. The European drug makers are trading higher today as the EU markets react to a new drug pricing deal announced by the Trump administration. And he's also carving out a couple, you know, he made private deals and exempted a couple of companies here, including Pfizer. Okay, I'm going to look at Pfizer stock today. Pfizer not only has a new, wow, look at that breakout on Pfizer. It's got new life all of a sudden. Trump made an individual deal with Pfizer, and Pfizer also bought that company, Metcera, which has a once-a-month GLP drug candidate for weight loss. And I think he also made a deal with Lilly because Lilly stock is doing the same thing today as Pfizer is. We own Lilly. We don't own Pfizer. Look at that chart on Lilly today, LLY. And I don't know what other drug stocks that he did to deal with, but you're seeing gains today in AstraZeneca, which is Swiss, Merck, Germany. That's the German version of Merck. Roche. which I believe is also Swiss, Novartis, Glaxo, Sanofi, and Novo Nordisk, which obviously is out of Denmark. So four of Pfizer's products, including its blockbuster arthritis drug Zelljans, will be initially available from the site called TrumpRx.com. He likes to put his name on things.
SPEAKER 05 :
Have you noticed that?
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, you go to Las Vegas and everything's blaring out at you. And there's that Trump Tower, which is all gold, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, I'm pretty sure Obama would like his name off of Obamacare. But Trump is like, he just throws his name into the Trump RX.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, he's offering discounts of up to 85%. For direct purchases. So I don't know how all of that works, but we'll figure it out. Rick Perry's data center REIT Fermi prices at $21 per share. Yeah, you talked about that yesterday. Yeah, that's going to be a data center publicly traded REIT. I'm not a fan of non-traded private REITs, and I'm going to do a little discussion in the second half of the show on all of these private investments that are all of a sudden coming up, private debt, private equity. They're democratizing it, making it available to the little guy. I've seen this pattern before where Wall Street comes up with something and they run with it and it doesn't end up well. I'm thinking of 08 and 09 when they were packaging up the subprime loans. Private, look, private is risky. Anything private is risky. And I don't think the private REITs, the non-traded REITs, really behaved and did what they wanted to do. Your biggest issue with something private is illiquid, liquidity. And we'll discuss that here in a bit. But they're going full speed ahead with this private stuff, Barry.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Yeah, no, for sure. I mean, and I guess if you're going to be in a space, right, data REIT seems like it would be a nice buzzword if you're raising money at the moment. Yeah, now it's public.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, Fermi's public.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, what was the company, I was trying to remember, what was the company we wrote about a handful of years ago, and then remember they got purchased by another company? But they used to be in the data center business too, but they got purchased by... Yeah. I want to say they got purchased by one of the companies that sold towers.
SPEAKER 03 :
We made some money on that. Yeah. You know, these public REITs, there are data center REITs that are public today. There's one really big one, but they haven't done that well, okay? So anyways, keep that in mind. Now, let's go to Rare Earth. Nova Minerals wins a $43 million U.S. government award to secure antimony supply. And, Barry, while I'm talking about the other companies involved here, look up antimony very quickly. I used to know what it's used for. I know it's used in nuclear, and it's a rare earth. It's a critical mineral. But Nova Minerals is NVA. It's in the app. Alaska seems to be another hotbed of rare earth.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think it's got kind of... Used in batteries, lead antimony alloys for lead acid batteries. Yes. Flame retardant.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. And I think it's used in... It has nuclear uses too. Fireworks. Yeah, well, we've got to have the 4th of July. So anyways, there's a big antimony investment or contract, NVA. The Energy Department also names Oklo and three others for a nuclear fuel line project. The other two companies are private, but Oklo has been selected by the U.S. government for its new pilot program to build advanced nuclear fuel lines. All right, so anyways, that's another one. It was CoreSite, by the way.
SPEAKER 05 :
CoreSite was that company.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, CoreSite. We own CoreSite.
SPEAKER 05 :
And it got purchased by American Tower in 2021 for $10.4 billion. But yeah, they were a... And Natural, they were actually, to me, the last pure play of a data center. I mean, they had, I think, 20 or so data centers.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, no, no, there's one other one that's super big, and I'll think of it. There's another one that is data center. There's one in China, GDS, which is a Chinese data center operator. I watch that stock on a regular basis. It hasn't done very well, but there is one in the U.S. that's quite large. that is a REIT that specializes in data centers. Okay, Lithium America is the other one. The shares climb after Secretary of Energy Chris Wright confirms that the US government will acquire a stake in the company. And this is the same thing that they did with Mountain Pass and MP Materials. And if I'm not mistaken, Lithium America is in that same area of Nevada. where it's thought that there's rich deposits of rare earth minerals there. So there's another deal there. That is publicly traded, Lithium America, LAC. And, of course, Mountain Pass is the one that we own in our emerging growth portfolio, which is the most aggressive one. Then there's another company here that's publicly traded, BWXT, BWX Technologies they get a 1.6 billion dollar contract from the Department of Energy to produce high purity depleted uranium now this is another thing that's going on is they're taking the used uranium from those reactors and renewing it to be used again so BWXT is another one that you can look at it's had a pretty good track record here And it is a publicly traded company, but it's going to be using their technology at the Jonesboro, Tennessee site where they're going nuclear. We'll be right back. This is Bill Gunderson. Thank you for tuning in to today's Best Stocks Now, Best Inverse Funds Now show. I put several hours of research in during the wee hours of the morning each day to bring you the very best cutting-edge stories that I can. To get two free weeks of my newsletter, go to GundersonCapital.com. To talk to us about our fee-based only money management services, call us at 855-611-BEST. Now, back to the second half of the show.
SPEAKER 1 :
Call out the instigator because there's something in the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
And welcome back here to the second half of today's Best Docs Now show. EQIX. Equinix. That's the one I was trying to think of, Barry. It is a $76 billion REIT that specializes in data centers.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and you're right. I looked through all the big publicly traded data center names, and that whole sector just really has nothing. Nothing's really happened there. You would expect that they would be getting movement like all these other places.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I use my iPhone to look up baseball scores, to listen to my music collection, to check the tide tables. All right. I got to know when low tide is. But I also have an analyst in my pocket in my iPhone. It's called Best Docs Now app. And. Look, within seconds here, I have access to ask the app, how has Equinix performed over the years? This is the first place I go is the batting average, just like a baseball player. Over the last 10 years, Equinix has delivered an average annual return of 13.9%. That's pretty good for a REIT. The S&P has delivered 25%, but... Their performance has been decelerating big time. You can look at the chart. It's not very good. Over the last five years, you've gotten a paltry 2.4% return. That includes the dividend yield on Equinix, E-Q-I-X, which is the biggest one out there. They're headquartered in Redwood City. uh in the bay area and the dividend yield on eqix is 2.4 percent but over the last 12 months it's really really done poorly uh according to the best stocks now app my analyst in my pocket here It's down 9.4% over the last 12 months, while the S&P is up 16.6%. And year-to-date, EQIX is down 15.5%. I think that EQIX probably has a lot more competition now. And I think maybe are we overbuilding in data centers? I don't know. Or is EQIX not getting any of the new business on these data centers? But it has not performed, like I say, very well. Now, if we do evaluation on it, that's the second part. Now, here's where you've really got an analyst in your pocket. Anybody can look up the track record, although it's kind of difficult. If you can find a website that shows one year, just like a mutual fund, one year, three year, five year, ten year compound annual returns. But the valuation is what's critical in my book. And we have it with 71% upside potential over the next five years. We like 80% or more. And I have a hunch that the consensus growth rate of 11% per year, that sounds a little bit high to me. I'm just going to see what their growth has been here recently. I think, oh yeah, that's got to be adjusted downwards. The analysts are wrong on that growth rate. I overwrite the consensus analyst five-year growth rate if I think it's wrong. I think it's probably more in the 6% to 7% area, and that's going to really lower. I'm going to overwrite that. I check these on a regular basis. uh lower equinix growth rate and that's going to affect uh the uh the five-year target price so anyways i wouldn't go running out and buy rick perry's new offer he's gonna get rich off of it but i don't know about you you know that's usually how things work the the purveyors of all of this private. Okay, now, I want to have this discussion on private. This is the big thing in our business today. There's no question about it. And I've seen many things come along new products. Prudential was infamous for their partnerships, which many of them blew up. I personally got burnt in two partnerships that a broker put me into 40 years ago when I was starting to get money put into my profit-sharing plan at our family business. I consulted some Merrill Lynch guys, I think they were, and they put me into partnerships. Now, looking back, I know why. I know how the game works. They made 10% commissions. And whoever put the partnership together, they're charging big fees inside of those to manage these partnerships. So all of that blew up. And Prudential got into all kinds of trouble, the rock, during that period of time. I've seen in 08 and 09, all over the country these things started blowing up in people's pockets, right? Blowing up like Iceland and Greenland. They had invested in something called subprime debt.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, yeah, and you had limited partnerships, too. I mean, even in the late 80s when they changed the tax law, you know, basically you would have them for tax losses on purpose. Yes, okay. And so all of them basically didn't provide that benefit anymore, and they all went, you know, I've seen those things. I still see some of those things sitting on people's, you know, statement because it's from, you know,
SPEAKER 03 :
1988, you can't get rid of it. No, you can't get rid of it, and it's worth pennies on the dollar. Now comes along, enter stage left, the private REITs. Well, I had a competitor in San Diego that was also a big radio guy, nationwide radio guy. that was socking people away. I never bought one private REIT, not one. I had no interest whatsoever. Why buy a private REIT when there's hundreds of publicly traded REITs? Because there was a big commission involved. And supposedly they were non-correlated to the market. You know why? Because they weren't pricing them every month. Well, if you get on your statement, your REIT is worth the $100,000 that you put into it. The market goes down 20%, let's say. And they list your REIT. Your REIT didn't go down. Well, that's because they weren't pricing it. SEC caught on and said, wait a minute. You've got to price these things every month. Well, guess what? REITs are very vulnerable. I don't know how you can say they're not correlated to the stock market. go back and look at 08 and 09 the REITs were down 79% is that non-correlated? oh they hold up just fine during a sell-off in the market bull they're right on the front lines when there's a sell-off in the market the property REITs the office towers the commercial shopping centers the malls etc you're trying to tell me they're non-correlated to the market now enter stage right Look, you have to do your own homework. At the end of the day, you're responsible for your investments. I'm just the guy in between these investments and you trying to keep you out of trouble, number one. And number two, trying to do the best that I can, you know, with the, I stay in the public markets. so the guy who was on the radio doing the private reits uh... he got he lost his license he fought and it went to the supreme court but he lost his license for plowing people into private reits barry how many private reits have transferred to us i haven't seen any lately but there were a bunch of them that came to us that weren't you can't sell them they were illiquid unless they go public or are bought out, they're illiquid.
SPEAKER 05 :
The secondary market is 10 cents on the dollar, right? Yeah, we had one that went public and still went public with a bit of a haircut, and so then there was some liquidity, right? And then others, you may be able to Ask for liquidity every three months, for example, but you're not guaranteed any liquidity.
SPEAKER 03 :
No.
SPEAKER 05 :
You can say you want to sell all and not sell any.
SPEAKER 03 :
Bill Getterson is a guy who's seen a lot during the 25 years. I'm sure I haven't seen everything yet. There's a lot more that I'll see. But now they're plowing money into private debt. This is the hottest thing going out there. And I heard the CEO of Franklin Templeton being interviewed on Bloomberg this morning. And they are all in. That's the hottest ticket right now is packaging private debt and selling it to the general public. Barry, just give me your comments on why is there private debt? You know, there's a bond. We buy individual bonds. That's public corporate bond debt. What is private debt and how risky is it? Think about it. Bull on that for a minute. When we come back, give me your thoughts. I have my thoughts, and they're not good. And they're also packaging private equity. And private equity firms are buying up private companies almost at any price because all of a sudden there's this demand for private equity for individual investors. We'll be right back. And welcome back here to the final segment of today's Best Stocks Now show. The biggest splash that I've seen in many, many moons in our industry, Barry, is under the guise alternative. alternative investments.
SPEAKER 05 :
And it's been going on for a while. I mean, you remember, I mean, it really started kind of, you know, around 08, 09, and then, you know, whether they threw a mutual fund wrapper on it to kind of provide some liquidity, whether they put it in an ETF, right? And, of course, now, I mean, what, you know, private, what you're talking about in terms of this is private lending. So essentially it's, you know, businesses where, you know, A lot of them you think of it as an alternative financing potentially, right? Like a pawn shop. Well, instead of a bank, right? Instead of using a bank as an area, right? They'll pay a higher rate, usually a shorter term time period. The idea obviously is to get the business to where it needs to be and then get rid of the debt, right? Have you ever made a loan to a buddy?
SPEAKER 03 :
Have you ever made a loan to a buddy? Yeah, it's like, you know, in high school, I can remember loaning a few guys. Hey, Bill, you know, it was the same people all the time or at the track. Or I remember at the track I had a guy, racetrack, he'd come up to me, hey, Bill, you think you can spare a 20? You know, I don't have any gas money. You mean you gamble away your gas money? You can't get home? All right. You know, I learned my lesson very quickly. Do not loan money to a friend or a family member or whatever.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and that's what, I mean, you had just recently we had one of the buy now, pay later companies just had a big, you know, swath of their, you know, buy now, pay later business, you know, kind of that debt. They sold it off to a company who is going to essentially be responsible for it, right? Just because there's no real high risk. There's not much recourse. Yeah, there's not much recourse there for a lot of the buy now, pay later folks.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, where are the... Okay, so you've got this... it this is a movement like you can't believe i mean it's franklin templeton's all in okay if they're all in then you got to know that morgan's all the rest of them are all in they're going to come after me for even saying this right that i am very very i do not like things that aren't liquid that's why i'm not a fan of annuities I've never bought a private REIT, never would buy a limited partnership that's not publicly traded. I would never, ever again do that. I learned my lesson when I was in my 30s. Okay, so let's just say we're creating, let's just say ABC on Wall Street is creating this giant, they call them alternative credit offerings. That's the guys, that's the label, right? We're offering alternative credit. And guess what? You're getting a better yield than what you would get on U.S. Treasuries. They're juicing their returns, okay? Who's providing the money to loan? Where is the money coming from to loan out? It's coming from the investors. They raise a big pool of money, let's just say a billion dollars. and we're going to go out and buy up and loan out money called private credit. It's your money that they're lending, and they're getting a big management fee. Now they're responsible for lending the money, finding those that are worthy of their lending, I suppose, and then managing the debt along the way. And they use this word alternative because supposedly it's not correlated to the market or the economy. What's the first thing to go when people start to get laid off when the economy goes south? Do you think private credit is a safe place to be? I don't, but okay, and that's why I played this song. You've got to go where you want to go.
SPEAKER 05 :
It depends on the deal. The deal matters, right? That's the one thing that's tricky, the way they're packaging it. To me, packaging this stuff up is there's a lot of credit analysis that needs to be done on a deal-by-deal basis, and when you're purchasing a big swath of this deal, debt, say, across the board, you're going to get mixed quality in terms of what's underneath the hood.
SPEAKER 03 :
What were we told in 2008 and 2009 about the loans, the home loans that they were doling out? remember the ratings agencies had them at prime when they weren't at all they were very subprime and most of them blew up in people's faces all across the world those things blew up to me that was a safer thing at least you had some collateral in the property itself but It was a time, too, when the properties were inflated. The properties go down in value. There goes your collateral. This is private credit. So I see Brown Brothers Harriman is forming a new subsidiary to house its $55 billion investment. Structured Credit Business. So I'm just saying that, and you know, they're putting it, this is an exclusive product. It's a U.S. wealth management channel. They've got massive distribution channels set up to sell this stuff. I'm just saying, at the end of the day, you're responsible for... Now, even riskier... Well, I would say that private companies are very risky. Private debt is even riskier than that. But you do your own homework. But if you're at one of these big firms, I mean, Barry, there's not a day that goes by that I don't get an email from some big alternative conference that's taking place that they want me to come attend and learn about all of the new alternatives that are out there. And they'll have 10 presenters, and each one represents somebody that's put together an alternative investment that you need to invest in now. Number one, my smell test is, is it liquid? If I need the money, can I? They're not liquid. They're not liquid. Number two, what is the real risk? Can you disclose? I mean, I just know from a personal loan or private loans that the bank's not making. Oh, man, that just does not pass the smell test. Now, who gets left holding the bag? Spirit Airlines is going to their bondholders. This is a public company. Their bonds are upside down, and they've got to cut a deal with them. Private debt is way below a Spirit Airlines. I'm just saying. That's my warning to you, and it won't be on our menu here at Gunderson Capital Management. All right. To talk with us, 855-611-BEST. To get a four-week trial, to our newsletter, GundersonCapital.com. GundersonCapital.com. Have a great day, everybody.
SPEAKER 02 :
This show is not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. Bill Gunderson or clients of Gunderson Capital Management may have long or short positions in stocks mentioned during the show. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Gunderson Capital Management is a fee-based registered investment advisory firm. All accounts are held at Charles Schwab. Schwab is a member of SIPC and FINRA.
Join Angie Austin as she revisits a conversation with Dave Bowden, author of Parallel Faith. Dave discusses his journey as a church leader and educator, navigating the fine line between these two worlds. He shares insights into how Christians can step beyond their comfort zone to reach out to others, especially the youth, in a way that resonates with today's cultural landscape.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here's Angie.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey there, friend. Angie Austin here with the good news. Really good news today. We have Dave Bowden back. We've interviewed Dave before, but he was so excellent that we wanted him to come back. His book is titled Parallel Faith. And it has to do with, you know, do we come alongside people when they accept Christ? We walk alongside them. Or do we just say, that's great. You accepted Christ. Now go on your way. So Parallel Faith, Walking Alongside Others on Their Journey to Christ by Dave Bowden. Welcome back, Dave.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thanks so much for having me back again. I loved it last time, so I'm excited about today.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, yeah, we had a blast. So, yeah, great, great. You're such great topics. You're a great conversationalist. And I know I wanted you back to talk more about young people. So first, tell us a little about the book and give us your background, and then we'll get into the whole young people topic.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so my background, I've actually worked in education for the last, 17, 18 years. I've also been a church leader as well. So I know what it's like to sort of straddle, in many ways, two different worlds, the world of the church which can sometimes feel a little bit like a bubble, can't it? That religious world. And then also the world of education, where you've got people who are not thinking the same as Christians, they're not believing the same things. And it can often feel like the gap between what's going on in the world and what's going on in the church are two vastly different things. It's a gap as grand as the canyon, as you guys would say over there in the States. And For me as a Christian, I believe that that gap has to be crossed by one side or the other. And actually, when we think about this whole idea that Jesus came down from heaven, he left where he was and came to where people were. He left the comfort zone of heaven, came to us. Maybe that's a little indication to us that we should go and do the same. And if one of us is going to go, it's got to be the Christians, because Jesus came and he said, I want you guys to go into all the world and make a difference, make disciples. And in a way, that's sort of the heart of Parallel Faith. It's about how do we walk alongside other people on their journey to Christ from any starting point. This is not just expecting people to come ready into a church building, all prepackaged, set and ready to go, understanding all the jargon, understanding all the behaviors. But actually, we're willing to step beyond our church walls and go to where people are.
SPEAKER 05 :
So do you think is that your calling? Like in my faith, you know, doing the good news, obviously I speak to people about Christ and left TV news to do the good news of the Bible and of the world, I guess, the good news stories. But with that said, I think forgiveness for me is something that I kind of preach on or speak about because of my background and being estranged from my dad for 35 years or thereabouts and just having that forgiveness with him, but also my brothers and just in general, being able to let all of that childhood junk go and be able to have relationships with them, you know, decades later as an adult and allow my dad to then establish the relationships with my kids. And my husband had said to me a couple of times, like, I don't know how you do it. Like I would have written him off. Like I have no idea how he did. And then later on, he said, wow, I have to hand it to you and your dad because he really rose to the occasion. Like he really became a great grandpa, a great grandpa and, And he was very well educated. He's just a genius into martial arts and just a character in his 80s doing Tai Chi every day. And we might be traveling somewhere and he'd be stressed and he'd do Tai Chi in a 7-Eleven parking lot or the side of the highway or on a cruise ship while everybody's eating and staring at him. So my kids just thought he was a riot because he was so different with long hair and long beard. He looked like Willie Nelson. So they just thought... He was amazing. And so he's my husband. Pardon me. He came to understand or admire us for our ability to forgive. And so that's what I so I guess my question to you is, is this your calling to walk along people and maybe in particular young people with parallel faith?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I feel like it's become that somebody was talking to one the other day and they were saying that you don't. You can't always recognize your destiny, but you can trace it back. And I thought that was a really interesting thing that often you look ahead and think, who am I going to be? But sometimes you look back on your life and there's key moments and key things that happen that make you who you are today. And I can vividly remember being 14 years old in a church meeting and the guy at the front on the stage said, He said it was the end of the week. We'd had an amazing encounter with God. We'd been in prayer, been in worship. And he said, I want you guys to come back here next year. I don't just want to see this room full of the same old faces. I want to see this room full of the lost and the broken, people who don't know Jesus. And I actually didn't know up until that point that people didn't know Jesus. I just thought everybody did. And I never really understood that there was a world beyond the church that I was so fond of and a part of. And I think that set off a bit of a niggle in me of realizing, oh, yes, there's a world out there that needs Jesus. So I think in many ways, my primary calling, I would say, has become by default. I'm very purpose driven. I'm very passionate about what I do. It's probably come true when I'm talking. But in terms of the passion I have, first of all, for God's mission and out of that, God has seemed to use me time after time after time in the realm of working with young people ever since I was with myself. So at the age of 16, I began reaching out onto a street in a rough urban estate, began to share the gospel with young people who were almost the same age as me. And that led to 18 leading a summer camp of 200 teenagers. And then later on, when we were married, my wife and I, we started a youth club in our local area. Just when we moved in the neighborhood, we ended up working with 80 young people from our neighborhood. Just one neighborhood, 80 young people. And it's just been time after time after time, that opportunity to connect with young people, to build relationship with them, to walk parallel with them. on their journeys. And some of those young people have come to faith. Many of them haven't. But the point is we don't change who we are depending upon the outcome because we trust God. And the whole thing is driven by faith, hope, and love.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, that's interesting when you say you didn't know that a lot of people didn't know about Jesus. We were just sitting last night at a game at the high school, and one of the girls, she's a senior, and my little one, Faith, she's a freshman. But then I've got a senior boy and a junior boy. But this senior girl, will pick up my little freshman at like 6.45 or 7 in the morning to take her to Fellowship of Christian Athletes because they meet really early in the morning before school. And my kids all know her from Young Life, which is after school. And that's like bowling and ice cream. And it's to bring kids that don't really know the Lord And maybe don't feel comfortable yet getting in depth speaking about the Lord or the Bible. So it's more fellowship at Young Life and not so much talking about the Bible or scripture. So Riley, my oldest, who he doesn't go to the FCA, the girls do. And so the girl said, hey, are you going to FCA tomorrow morning? And he's like, what is it exactly? And I'm like, you know, right. The girls go, you know, in the morning before school. And then the girl, Maddie, she said, well, what do you talk about? And she goes, oh, we talk about Jesus. And we were in the stands, you know, with lots of people around us. And I know some of the parents know we're Christians and we're looking at Christian universities and they don't. know about that world and they've even said like if we have to fill out questions about because they ask for your testimony when you fill out your application for the Christian universities you have to give your testimony where do you go to church what Christian organizations are you and you do volunteer work you know all that so I saw I'm kind of looking at us and Riley goes oh different than young life then you talk about Jesus because young life is kind of like Jesus light where they're just giving the kids a sip of the Kool-Aid per se to get them to come and bowl and whatever and and then they make friendships with other Christian kids. So I thought it was interesting that people's ears kind of peaked because I don't know if I mentioned to you last time when I worked at NBC in LA and I told my boss I was going to church, he said, oh, I didn't even know people went to church anymore. I mean, it is sometimes out in the world, depending on the group you're hanging out with, an anomaly or I don't want to say an oddity, but it kind of sets you aside somewhat from other people.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and I think probably maybe even more so in the UK than it is out there in the States, because in many ways we are a post-Christian society, and particularly amongst young people. So what's happened is we've got a generation now that would only recognize the name Jesus as a swear word. Oh, wow. And... You know, I always describe the spiritual climate as akin to like fresh snow with no footprints in it, is that when you're talking about Jesus or church or faith, often with people, particularly under the age of 16, they just haven't got any prior knowledge of it. So 95% of young people in Britain have got no connection to a Christian or church. So only 5% have. So one of my big passions, that's why I love school so much, is that we want to go where the 95% are. We want to go where the people are who don't have this experience, don't have an understanding, who've never heard the good news. So when we share about Jesus with them, they're hearing it often for the very first time.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that's quite exciting as well. It can sometimes feel like, You know, we can feel like the world's, excuse the pun, excuse the world's gone to hell in the handbasket. But actually, when you get this big reset that's happened, you almost get a generation who just don't know. And one of the challenges is, is that when we try to reach them with the things that worked 20, 30 years ago, using the language that worked 20, 30 years ago, We are like that on mute person who's desperately trying to get across on that Zoom call over COVID, you know, they're shouting, they're talking, but nobody's listening. Why? Because they're on mute. And I think there's so much that's happening out there in the world where the church is speaking, but the world, particularly young people, There's no relevance for them whatsoever in listening. You know, when they face problems, when they face difficulties, when they face an identity crisis, a sense of purpose, who am I? Where do I belong? They're asking these questions, but they're not turning to the church for answers because what they see of the church is archaic. It's institutionalized. It's irrelevant. It's something that's for Christians and not for them. And I think that's one of the huge journeys that we've got to go on when we're choosing to go where people are, walk with them. Half the time we're dealing with stereotypes, half the time we're busting myths, half the time we're actually overcoming barriers for somebody to even hear the gospel before we can even share it.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, it's interesting. After hearing you speak about, you know, U.S. versus U.K. where you are, I do feel blessed that the kids, I can think of four things they have in a week. And that's excluding just plain old church. Four things they have in a week with the Young Life, with the FCA, with a Bible study that they have in the morning that is affiliated with Young Life. And then Sunday at church, they do have like a youth group. And so those are their choices. And I would say, you know, Young Life, they go to, I would say, 95% of the time. And FCA, because it's 645, they have to wake up. I would say that's probably like 50-50, maybe 65% of the time, you know, that the girls go. And so just the fact that they have that many options, I think, is such a blessing here. But it sounds like that is what you are trying to create more of in Britain. Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
I think it's this whole idea that everybody's on a journey and that some people have to take little steps towards Jesus before they can take big steps with him. So when it comes to what we do with young people, very often we're having to go right back to that blank slate and say, how do we move somebody from being not interested in faith to becoming spiritually curious and that curiosity being pointed towards Christ? So a lot of what we do is help kind of move the discipleship dial that way. So we're trying to say, how do we move from being not connected at all to stirring some curiosity, stoking some interest? And then how do we communicate the gospel in a way that this generation will understand? Because if we say to them, you know, hey, brothers and sisters, you're washed in the blood of the lamb, they're not going to understand that, are they? Yes. They're not going to get it. Right, right. It's going to fall on complete deaf ears. And we might be very excited about singing songs about lions and lambs. And I do that. And that's great for me. Think about translating that into a world where young people are not considering these matters at all. So we've got to go to where people are. We've got to change our approach. And, you know, the message never changes ever, does it? No, it never changes. And the good news is the same. It's been the same for 2000 years and it will be the same forevermore.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, hold it right there. Let's take a break because we've got to take a break here. If you're just joining us, we're talking to Dave Bowden about his book Parallel Faith. And we're talking about, in particular today, bringing young people to Christ and how we walk alongside them. We'll be right back with the good news.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
Brimfield is listening to the Mighty 670, KLT, Denver.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, welcome back to The Good News with Angie Austin and Dave Bowden. We're talking about his book, Parallel Faith, and we're talking about walking along people, along with people on their journey to Christ. It's Parallel Faith, walking alongside others on their journey to Christ. In particular, Dave, I took a break right when you were talking about walking along with these young people. So pick up there.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I think what I was saying was that the message stays the same, but the way that we communicate that message has to resonate. in the culture that these young people are growing up in um so there's certain things that they just believe you know about themselves about the world because of the culture they've grown up in that we've got to either affirm or challenge through the conversations that we're talking with them about so for example many young people to them their church is consumerism isn't it you know the shopping malls or the internet malls they are their cathedrals um to them uh sin is debt you know and reward and bliss is fashion and feeling like you fit in because of what you wear and what you do and that sense of belonging so we've got to look at where young people are at and we've got to begin to ask ask questions of them and begin to listen to them about where they're at and then say, how can we hook the gospel into that kind of place where they begin? So it's almost like, you know, you take what are the problems and the challenges that this world are facing right now, this young generation, and you, as Tim Keller used to say, you say, you give them an answer in Jesus. You know, the plot line, the plot twist is Jesus. So it's like in many ways, power, sex, money, they offer us something, but Jesus offers something more lasting. And that's for every generation. But we've got to find out what it is that this generation believe and how can we actually communicate good news in the midst of that. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, it does. So talk about some of the work that you're doing in Britain that you obviously you're an author, but talk about some of the things that you do and how you gather kids together.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so I've done many things over the years, but right now I'm leading a Christian ethos organization that actually puts Christians into secular school environments. And we work with the school. So we almost act as salt and light in that school community to help young people develop character and values. to help young people understand how to build healthier relationships and also to understand what Christianity says to them. So we've got a tremendous opportunity for putting this team of Christians into a secular secondary school who are there every day. They're embedded there incarnational. You know, theologically, we'd be looking at incarnational mission to be alongside young people where they are. And they build relationships. They help them meet them where they're at. They help improve their well-being. And we've got young people who've got behavior problems who work with our team and overcome those behavior problems. We've got family support workers who maybe that child isn't engaging very well into lessons. And what happens is they'll go home and speak to the family and realize that the child is not sleeping on a bed. The child is in poverty. The mom and dad don't have a job. So what our team will do is, first of all, they'll buy the child a bed. They will get food from the food bank. They will do whatever it takes to help re-engage that child, look after the whole person. So we're not just walking with people to say, you know, get back into lessons and academically achieve. We're looking at developing the whole person from that deep sense of love for young people, from that sense that every child is made in the image of God, and from that belief that Jesus cared not just about our spiritual needs, but our physical and emotional ones as well.
SPEAKER 05 :
Now, how do you come into contact? I missed that part. How would you find the kid that isn't doing well in school and then find out that he's living in poverty? Is it someone who's already approached you and your group?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. So because the team are there every day. So you imagine like a team of pastoral supporters who are there supporting the school. The school will just say to our team, can you work with this child? Can you work with this family? So one of the things that we say with Grace Foundation, the charity I work for, is everything we do is done with grace. our schools not to the schools and that's a bit of a lesson there for churches sometimes isn't it so we do things in partnership and synergy so we will align ourselves with um their goals as long as they fit us and our goals are about the transformation of young people and that gets us so much trust and it gets us so much um influence and impact in the schools So we are seeing young people come to faith. But beyond that as well, we're seeing young people who are self-harming, no longer self-harming, young people who are in difficult family situations, getting out of those family situations, young people who've got rock bottom well-being, suddenly finding and understanding that they've got an identity and purpose and young people who are. may be struggling because of loss they're getting comfort young people who are trapped in that kind of like feeling weak and overwhelmed become resilient because of the work of our team so it's pretty amazing to be honest well and that's an advantage i think that you have over what we have because you are allowed to come alongside them at the schools now
SPEAKER 05 :
There's strict laws, you know, regarding Christians and schools that you can't necessarily come in and say, hey, I'm going to have a Bible study. It has to be, I think, generated by the kids or I just know because my kids do go there and they are that young life isn't there. But a fellowship of Christian athletes is. But it can't be something that the kids feel is forced upon them by the school.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
And we would still be in that situation here in the UK, actually. So even though there's probably greater freedom than there is over there in the States. Yeah, absolutely. We would describe ourselves as educators, not evangelists. But if you think about it, when we're educating young people about the good news, I mean, so just take, for example, Easter that was earlier in the year. We did 35,000 engagements with the Easter story.
SPEAKER 01 :
Wow.
SPEAKER 04 :
Through the young people that we work with. 35,000 different opportunities for young people to engage with that story of hope. That's way more than most churches are getting. So we're able to do that, but we're doing it through the right means. Sometimes we're doing it through religious education. Young people have to opt in to certain activities that we do. If we're doing activities with the families beyond, they get to choose whether or not they come. And I think the principles of the type of work I'm talking about Ultimately, what we're saying, and it goes back to parallel faith, doesn't it, is that we're choosing to walk alongside people and meet them where they're at. And I genuinely believe that there's a whole generation of young people out there who feel misunderstood. They feel judged. And it needs people like you and me who are willing to walk alongside them and actually listen to where they're at. answer questions that they're asking, love them and be in relationship and community with them. And I think whether you're running a Christian ethos charity in the UK or whatever you're doing, wherever you are, right where you are, in your neighborhood, we can suddenly notice young people more, not judge them for who they are, and actually choose to walk alongside them. And that is massively back to that heart of Parallel Faith.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, it's such a gift that you're spreading because, you know, so many of these kids that are, you mentioned the self-harm or the poverty or the difficult background. And I became a Christian at 13 when I was living in a different home. I wasn't with my parents. And then I went to church with my foster family, who I just was in touch with still. They're in another state, but I kind of found them again through social media. Anyway, that's where I came into contact with faith outside of my own home when I was 12 and 13 and then 15. And so that really, I think, helped provide a foundation for me to get through the rest of my childhood, but then to carry on into my adulthood. So what are you seeing these kids struggle with? You've mentioned self-harm, the poverty. We all know there's drugs, the teen pregnancy. What types of things are you really seeing that these kids need help with that may have never even walked inside of a church before?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so one of the big key fundamental differences is the impact of social media on young people. So all the things that you just mentioned there around, you know, some of your classic issues around relationships, the kind of sex, drugs and rock and roll type stuff from the past, it's all still there. But what's happened is now is that these young people are growing up in an environment where their lives are displayed online 24-7. Mm-hmm. And they have to edit and present themselves in the best light, which causes tremendous pressure so that they're living on their scrolling comparison night after night, night after night. And the average young person is spending between seven and nine hours a day, no matter what the stats tell you, seven to nine hours a day on their phones, uh, on that device. And they're getting locked into that. Um, they're dealing with the post pandemic in terms of, uh, particularly in the UK. There's a lot of lockdown. And depending where you were in the States, I know you had the same. But in terms of the sense of loss, the sense of uncertainty, there's a worldwide crisis that are happening. So we're now more aware than ever before of these issues that are going on in the world. They're happening in real time. So all of this is hitting these young people left, right and center. At the same time, they've been told they can be whoever they want to be, do whatever they want to do. And the reality of those factors are just not true for so many young people. There are so many limiting factors based on their background. And unfortunately, their zip code, you know, where they live often is a limitation for them. So what we're finding is that young people are coming almost, they're reaching overload at a very early age. So it's stressful thinking about what I'm talking about now. And as an adult, I found the pandemic hard. As an adult, I find social media challenging at times. But you imagine that that is the thing that frames your world and you're getting bombarded with it and you don't have the resilience and the skills to be able to navigate through some of those issues. And this is why we're seeing such an increase, even in suicide rates, unfortunately, amongst young people, particularly young boys. And this is a terrible, terrible situation. pandemic of mental health you know alongside all the other challenges that we have so how do we overcome that it starts with actually i believe us as christians being a non-anxious presence and actually stepping into that mess and isn't this what jesus did anyway he got involved met people right where they are the chaos 2 000 years ago he still stepped in and there's so many issues that you know, even my own children are facing on hyperdrive now that, yeah, we may have dealt with exam stress. Yeah, we may have dealt with puberty and hormones and changes in relationships. But it feels like today is playing out on a vast scale. And so many adults have abandoned young people and judged them for who they are and what they're doing because they don't like the way that they act on TikTok. Well, the reality is, is most young people are copying the adults that they've seen. Because young people will either rebel or they will replicate what they're seeing from the adults. And I believe that there's a whole responsibility for us as a different generation to look at the millennials, look at Gen Z, look at Gen Alpha that's coming through. We could have a whole conversation about Gen Alpha. So that's all the young people born from 2010 onwards. What's happening in that generation is they're anxiety-minded. They've got the huge potential for influence because they want to influence the world. They've been impacted by the pandemic in a great way, but they're coming out of it. And this is now the generation that is going to be shaped and formed by AI in a way that the likes of which we've never seen before.
SPEAKER 05 :
I just am learning about that. So, yes, the likes of which have never been seen before. We have about about a minute left, Dave. So kind of give us what you want people to take away from this and maybe your challenge to us.
SPEAKER 04 :
think my challenge to everybody today you know just has come out in this conversation would be that let's not ignore the young people that are around us in our lives let's choose to actually listen to them even sometimes our own kids we've got to stop what we're doing and listen and enter their world because jesus entered ours and we're not going to see the impact that we need to see in that generation unless we're willing to be people that are trusted adults and people that will love and be loved by them and i believe there's so much we can uh lead in the next generation we can love them but we can learn from them too so that's my message in that and i think in terms of parallel faith you know with the book even since the last time we spoke everybody who's reading it is telling me he's changing their perspective on mission and we're seeing some amazing stories come out of it
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, you know, I know you're busy, but I just get such a kick out of you and the work you're doing and the similarities. You know, I've got three kids in high school right now. And so I'm kind of in the thick of it. And I see, you know, one of my daughter's friends is really hurting and they have this hotline. It's anonymous, safe to tell. And she's like, if he tries anything again, I'm calling safe to tell. And I'm like, boy, we didn't have that when I was a kid. Dave, we're out of time. Give us your website and then we'll have you back again.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so you can go on Dave Bowden, B-O-D, yeah, it's Dave Bowden, .substack.com. You can read a little bit more work there and also Parallel Faith is available on Amazon. That's easy to find there.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thanks, Dave. You're a real blessing.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you. Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
Rick Hughes explores the pervasive challenge of maintaining a spiritual mindset amidst an assault of worldly distractions. With references to scripture and practical advice, listeners learn strategies to focus their thoughts on what is true, noble, and pure. The episode offers a refreshing take on how fear can undermine faith and how spiritual doctrines can fortify one's mental resolve, encouraging believers to stay anchored in their faith despite external chaos.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you'll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good morning, and welcome to the Flatline. I'm your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stick around. Just a short time of some motivation, some inspiration, some education, always without manipulation. We don't con people. We're not trying to hustle money. We're not trying to ask you for membership. We're just trying to give you some accurate information that will help you verify as well as identify the plan of God for your life. And if I'm able to do that and you would like to orient and adjust to the plan, then you can fire away, have at it. It's up to you. It's your life. You got decisions to make and bad decisions definitely limit future options. Let me remind you, please, if I could remind you that we rebroadcast all of our radio shows on podcasting. We use podcast menu like Apple iPod or Spotify or Breaker or Anchor. These are all free podcast venues that you can join. And if you do and you just hit the flat line, if you type it in the search engine, the flat line, you will find the radio show 24-7 anywhere in the world. That has internet connection, and you can listen to over 600, 700 radio shows right there on your iPhone or on your Android by using the iPod in the podcast venues. Again, our books are available free of charge. The latest book, Crash Course in Christianity, is a great book we've written. I think you'll enjoy it, as well as Christian Problem Solving, Identifying the Ten Problem Solving Devices. And reminding you that we do have the transcripts from 2019 and 2020 in print available for you. That's every show that we did those two years in print, in books, and you can take them home and read them and look through them. All available at no charge. Okay? Thank you for letting me tell you about that. Now, if you'll stick with me today, I would like to talk to you about something that's dear to me. I'd like to talk to you about your mind being hijacked. Your mind being hijacked, the hijacked mind. How in the world would Satan hijack your thoughts? Let's start off with a verse that's pretty clear. In Proverbs 4.23, above all else, the writer wrote, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it. Above all else, guard your heart for everything that you do flows from it. Now the scriptures, I want you to understand that they distinguish between the mind and the heart. In the New Testament, the mind is pronounced in the Greek terminology, the nous, the N-O-U-S. And if it's the heart, it's pronounced cardia, K-A-R-D-I-A. And we get an English word from that, cardiology or cardiac. So the scripture distinguishes between these two, the nous and the cardia. The mind is where you assimilate information. And the heart is where you store the information ready to be recalled. So if you have a well-qualified pastor, and I hope you do, a lot of people write to me constantly, where can I find a well-qualified pastor in my city? And unfortunately, sometimes I don't know anyone I can recommend where they can go and get it on the internet and how they can have it delivered right to their home by streaming video. But sometimes I do not know a well-qualified pastor in their particular city. But the pastor's job, whoever he is, if he's doing his job and not trying to be some cruise ship director, then his job is to communicate the word of God to you consistently. And your job, if you will do it, is to concentrate on what he teaches. If you concentrate and comprehend the information, all of that takes place in your mind, in your noose, N-O-U-S. Now, by an act of your volition called faith, You believe it and you comply with it or you obey what he taught you. Communicated truth from God's word is stored in your heart where it circulates into your stream of consciousness and there it's called in the Bible wisdom, Sophia. Your biblical wisdom can in fact be hijacked if you're not careful. So guarding your heart is the Hebrew word notsar. And it's a verb in the Cal imperative, meaning this is a heavenly mandate. You are to watch, you are to preserve, you are to keep sin from invading into your thinking. So this verse indicates that the heart is the seat of your volition. Everything you do flows from it, Proverbs 4.23. So you have a volition. Your volition is positive, yes, negative, no. Every decision you make flows out of your heart where you have the information streaming in your stream of consciousness. And that's why your heart is the seat of your volition. Simply put it this way, the mind is where you process the information and the heart is where you perform the information. The mind is the processing facility and the heart is the performing facility. So if you store the word of God in your heart, that means you go listen to your pastor teach it. You're filled with the Holy Spirit when he teaches it. And now you obey it and comply with it. It's called divine wisdom. Listen to Proverbs 2, 10 and 11. When wisdom enters your heart, there's the word heart again. Same word we had up above. Above all else, guard your heart, Proverbs 4.23. So when wisdom enters your heart, that's the word of God you've complied with and obeyed by faith believed. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge becomes pleasant to your soul, that means you actually enjoy studying the Bible, learning the word of God. Then, verse 11, Proverbs 2.11, discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you. This is how you guard your heart, discretion and understanding. You'll have some insight that other people don't have. You'll see things that other people don't see. And you'll understand what's going on when Satan attacks your thinking. So the command to guard your heart is an indication that the scripture you've stored in your heart could, in fact, be hijacked because of distractions or even forgetting. I mean, it's possible that the rate of forgetting exceeds the rate of learning. If that's true in your life, you're in bad shape. You cannot allow the rate of forgetting to exceed the rate of learning spiritually in your spiritual life and your soul. So how exactly would your thoughts be hijacked? Well, by placing doubt, by placing confusion, or even being assaulted by human viewpoint thinking called stinking thinking. That's human viewpoint thinking, not divine viewpoint thinking. And during these recent times in our country, the enemy, aka the devil, has attempted to hijack many people's thinking, hijack your thoughts, take you where you don't belong. That's what happens when you get hijacked. If you're on an airplane and it's hijacked and you're headed to New York and you wind up in Bangladesh, you got hijacked. You got took someplace you didn't want to go. So when you get hijacked, your thoughts are taken where you don't belong. And much of this hijacking is going on through social media, television, radio, and young people are specially lured into the fantasy world by social media influencers. who promise things they cannot deliver. The never-ending call to worry about worldwide pandemics, the warning of military conflict, the drama of the sexes across our nation especially, the fear of economic loss, the dread of rising inflation or political intrigue, these all serve to capture your imagination and deliver you into the fear-panic ploy. So let me tell you technically how you can guard your thoughts. The Bible has a clear answer about that. For that we need to go to the New Testament into the book of Philippians that Paul the Apostle wrote and read verse eight in chapter four. Here's how you guard your thoughts. Finally, brothers and sisters, that's believers, Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things. Think on these things. So now we are able to guard our thoughts by concentrating on these things. What are these? These things, well, whatever's true, the first one Paul wrote, whatever's true, think on that. Ephesians 6.14 tells us that we should have the belt of truth buckled around our waist. The aletheos, the belt of truth. The word of God is the belt of truth. When you learn the Word of God, when you study the Word of God consistently, not just going to church on Sunday morning and maybe on Wednesday night if you're lucky, but when you have a consistent daily routine of studying the Word of God under a well-qualified pastor, and it is possible, then you build a belt of truth around your waist to protect you. The other parts of the armor will hook to the belt, the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, all of this. But it all starts out with how you think. You've got to have truth. And there's a lot to think. I mean, you cannot afford to think the lie, and that's what Satan's very good at. Because Satan attacks truth with distorted lies. In John 8, 44, Jesus said Satan is a liar and there is no truth in him. The greatest lie he does is through organized religion, telling people they'll be saved and go to heaven if they're good enough. That's a lie, because the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and it's a gift from God, not of works, lest anyone should brag about it. So Satan will lie to you in religion, and he'll try to convince you that you should be nice to everybody, that you should put a chicken in everybody's pot, You should feed the poor and you should do this and you should do that. And that's the Christian thing to do. And certainly Christians are compassionate of needs of other people. That's not what I'm saying. But the Christian life is much, much, much more than that. It's learning to replicate the lifestyle of Christ by identifying with his thinking. Let this mind be in you. It was also in Christ Jesus. His thoughts were never hijacked. although Satan tried to hijack him many times. Cosmic distortion is opposition to biblical truth. Cosmic distortion is opposition to biblical truth. And that's what the world thinks. The world will throw it at you. If you want to be happy, get married. If you want to be happy, make a fortune. If you want to be happy, have a big house. If you want to be happy, get a new car. That's a cosmic distortion. That's not the source of happiness. Those are pleasant things and wonderful things, but the Bible says happiness belongs to those people who hear my Father's word and keep it. So the next passage that we saw here was whatever is true, think on that, Paul the Apostle said. And then he said, whatever is noble, semnos, the Greek word, noble, semnos. What does that mean? It means excellent or of superior quality, the highest moral principles and ideals. So we are to concentrate on acquiring the thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is indeed the most noble person who ever walked the face of this earth. Isaiah 32.8 says, he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands. If you're going to think about anything, you must think truth, you must think the word of God, and you must think nobility, concentrating on that, on you being a very noble person in your life, having high moral principles. not giving in, not acquiescing to the demands of the flesh. And then the Bible goes on to say, whatever is right, concentrate on that, diakaios, dikaios, what it means, whatever is correct or whatever is fair, whatever is equitable, whatever is fair and impartial, think about that. James 2, 1 tells you, do not show partiality. as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. You're not allowed to show partiality. You must have right thinking. And then the Bible goes on to say, whatever's pure, think on that. Agnos, the Greek word, whatever's clean, whatever's sacred, whatever's modest. That's what the Bible's telling you there. It's what pure means. Romans 13, 14, rather clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think, think, do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. That's impurity. See, so this is where the flesh will try to hijack your thinking from you. So whatever's right, whatever's pure, whatever's noble, whatever's truth, then he says, whatever's lovely, Think on that, whatever's pleasing, whatever's agreeable, whatever's acceptable. And I'm not talking about art. I'm talking about the Word of God. I'm talking about the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ and the beauty of the truth of God. If you've never understood the essence of God, the beauty of the essence of God, then you really don't know the God that you say you love because he's sovereignty, righteousness, justice, love, immutability, veracity, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternal life. Heck, he's even got a sense of humor. Do you know that? If you don't believe it, look in the mirror. God made you, didn't he? He's got a sense of humor. Whatever's lovely, think about that. Whatever's admirable, think about that. Paul said admirable, and that's things of good report, things that are reputable. And whatever's excellent, arete, whatever involves virtue, moral excellence, and anything praiseworthy, he said, worthy of praise, worthy of accommodation, worthy of approbation. These are the things you think on. Think on these things. Think on these things. Consider these things. This is a verb, logizomai, in the Greek New Testament, and it is a imperative order from God. And the present tense means you're always to think on these things. So what does this mean? It means in order for you to keep your thoughts from being hijacked, you must think about the right things. You must focus on the right things. You must focus on truth. You must focus on nobility. You must focus on right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy. And there's a lot I could teach right there. I just don't have time in 27 minutes and I'm allowed to record the show to get into depth on all of these things. But my gosh, this is the extension of the Christian life. This is how you live the Christian life in your mind, what you think, because you are a product of your thoughts, not your actions. Your actions follow your thoughts. as you have impulses, as you have desires, as you have actions. You see, this is where it all starts. Your spiritual life is lived in your brain, what you think. And the Bible clearly says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. I told you that. And the Bible clearly says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. And the Bible clearly says, guard your heart. Don't let your thoughts be hijacked. Through the day, it's very easy. You assess a lot of information on the radio, on the television, social media, Facebook, Instagram, whatever you're looking at. This can hijack your thinking, and before you know it, you're lured into the world you don't need to be into. 24-7, there is an assault on your mind to capture your thoughts and to hijack your thinking 24-7. I don't care if it's a movie you watched. I don't care if it's a show you listen to. I don't care if it's a computer you're on. It's always an attack to get you out of fellowship, to get you to give in to the lust of the flesh, to get you to give in to the lure of the world, or to get you to buy into the lie of Satan. You must guard your thoughts. Now, how can you guard what you don't possess? That's impossible. If you're not learning God's word, you don't possess anything. If you don't learn it, you don't possess it. So you've got to comply and concentrate on the scripture. The pastor's job is to communicate the word. You concentrate on it. You comprehend it. and you comply with it, as I told you. If you're not concentrating and comprehending, you're not growing, you're not learning anything. The Christian life is a life of mechanics. It's a life of protocol. You must learn the mechanics of the Christian life. I don't know about you, but it took me a couple of years before I even realized what the filling of the Holy Spirit was. Nobody told me that. Took me a couple of years till I learned what it means to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I had to learn as a young Christian, I had to grow up and learn and I was distracted and defeated on many occasions because I didn't pay attention. Listen, in order to keep your thoughts from being hijacked, focus on the right things. Now there is something that will eliminate your focus and that's called fear. Fear eliminates your thinking. So if we go back to all this stuff that's going on today, trying to distract you, trying to get you out of fellowship, all the pandemic talk, all the military conflict thought, all the drama thought, economic loss, dread of inflation, political intrigue. If you're afraid, then you're not living the Christian life. And that will eliminate your thinking if you get into fear. So the Bible says in Colossians 3, 2, set your mind on the things above, not on earthly things. Now, I guarantee you social media is rarely talking about things above. On our Facebook page and our Instagram page, we do give social media influencers an opportunity to see scripture and we give the word of God and we link it to our podcast. But very seldom will you find anything on social media talking about the things above. It's always about something else, always luring you into a place that you don't belong. so we are colossians 3 2 set your mind concentration thinking on those things that are above not on what's on the earth and then first john 2 15 don't love the world and don't love anything in the world that's a warning to you because that'll disappoint you that means that you're looking for happiness in all the wrong places Why would God tell you don't love the world? Well, listen to 1 John 2, 17. The world and its desires will all pass away, but whoever does the will of God will live forever. Now, that's a great question. What is the will of God? John 6, 40. This is the will of the one who sent me that you believe in me whom he has sent. It's simply Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Occasionally I'll get letters from people that want to debate this and want to argue with this or tell me what they think about this. And so they come up with some solution that they think nobody's ever thought of it before. Oh, they thought of it. Well, what if a person believes in Christ but then goes and lives in the world? Is he really saved? Listen, this is what the Bible says. It's clear that Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. So concentration is the key to you guarding your heart as a Christian. If you don't concentrate on what you're doing every day, you're easily dissuaded, easily sucked aside, easily distracted into the world. Isaiah 26.3 tells you, You, that's God, will keep him, that's you and me, in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because they trust in you. So there it is. No fear when you are concentrating on the word of God, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, learning those problem-solving devices and living by them. because we trust him. Trust, that's an act of our volition. What is trust? It's faith in action. Trust is your faith in action. So if you trust God or you have faith in what God says, then it eliminates fear in your life because no one is called to live in fear or intimidation. My pastor once taught me these things, and I'll quote some of his notes to you here. Fear is a representative emotional sin. Therefore, fear is negative in the spiritual life of the church age. If you're afraid, you're out of fellowship with God. Most people don't think about fear being a sin, but it is. So you're not called to live in fear. Fear and the function of your spiritual life are totally mutually exclusive, different. Fear and faith are not compatible with each other. It's simply fear is you assuming an unassigned responsibility, someone once said. So the negatives of fear are this, it's a result of no adult spiritual life. The fear virus in your soul represents your emotional arrogance and your distraction to your spiritual life. I'm gonna say that again, I hope you caught it. The fear virus, not the coronavirus, not the Omicron virus, the fear virus in your soul, in your thinking, represents emotional arrogance. Fear feeds off your emotions, and arrogance is you justifying why you have the right to be afraid. These are a distraction to your spiritual life. That's why I'm telling you that fear can hijack your faith because you will start looking at the problem and not see the solution. You must look at the solution, which is faith, and not buy into the problem, which is fear. Does the Bible say anything about that? Oh, absolutely. Psalm 56, verse 3, what time I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. Bingo. There it is. It just nailed it right there. What time I'm afraid, I will put my trust in you. So fear is an indication that your emotions have replaced your thinking, and that's bad. I mean, if you go to buy an automobile, they want to get you emotional. Take a ride. Take a ride in it. Oh, don't those seats feel good? Look how nice it rides. And your emotions override your thinking, and you forget about, oh, we can get that payment down to $300 a month, brother, for the next 12 years. You're out of your mind. Quit thinking like that. So you have to think. Fear is an indication your emotions have replaced your thinking. Don't let your emotions run the show. Caution, on the other hand, is not fear. Caution is careful consideration. So your mental attitude will determine your happiness, I promise you. Your mental attitude is a function of your human thinking. Your mental attitude is what you think at any given time in your life, any given day, any given hour. Consequently, thinking is the battlefield of your soul. The life of every believer is in his mental attitude. The life of every believer is determined experientially by two principles, what he thinks and what he does. So this system of thought called Bible doctrine produces a mental attitude of divine viewpoint, the mind of Christ. And the content of this divine viewpoint is the infallible word of God in your soul that gives you trust because it acts on your faith. So the greatest battle we have in life is a battle in the soul. Therefore, the importance of problem-solving devices we call the flood line, flood line in your soul. Good changes in history are made through what you think, and the content of your thinking is the most important thing about you. And sadly to say, most believers today are kind of confused in their thinking, especially when it comes to the spiritual life, because very seldom are they taught accurate information about it So if you allow your thoughts to be hijacked, then you will enter into self-induced slavery. You'll have associated guilt, you'll have bitterness and hatred, and especially hating yourself for what you allowed yourself to become. The solution is always simple for the believer, you and me, and that's for us to rebound. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us and to purify us from all wrongdoing. We must confess the sin of fear. We must confess when we buy into the lure of the world of the lust of the flesh and not allow these things to take over our thinking. Of course, anyone who's not a believer in Jesus Christ has no alternative but to think what the world offers. The solution for him is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. You will be changed. If any man's in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things are passed away, and all things become new. Thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in. Pray for me that we'll be back next week, same time, same place. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you'd like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
Join Michael Bailey as he takes listeners on a colorful journey through his expansive collection of ties, connecting the dots between fashion, family traditions, and the nuances of estate planning. Discover the stories behind the ties that have adorned Michael throughout various holidays and how these stories weave into the fabric of his professional life. Michael shares his journey from acquiring festive ties over the years, to the humor and stories behind his popular Christmas tie collection. He reflects on how his wardrobe not only adds to his persona but also serves as a platform to engage clients in conversations about their financial futures. Tune in to gain insight into how seemingly simple fashion choices can tie into more significant life planning. This episode encourages listeners to consider the sentimental aspects of their belongings and how they can be integrated into an estate plan. Whether it's a collection of ties or any cherished item, Michael provides advice on preserving legacies for future generations.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Mobile Estate Planning with your host, Michael Bailey. Over a decade ago, attorney Michael Bailey turned his attention to estate law after he recognized the unacceptable number of adults without proper end-of-life planning. Michael recognizes that many of his clients have difficulty finding the time for making a proper estate plan. That's why he became the Mobile Estate Planner. He will go to wherever you are to assist you with your estate planning, including writing wills, trusts, and giving you the information you need to avoid probate. Now, ATX, Ask the Experts, presents Mobile Estate Planning with your host, Michael Bailey.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right, good afternoon. Welcome to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. So we can do something besides just leave your family alone. You are listening to KLZ 560 AM or 100.7 FM or possibly the KLZ 560 radio app. Phone number to talk to me on the air is 303- And again, that's 303-477-5600. And my direct line is 720-394-6887. And once again, that's 720-394-6887. So, it is October. Yay! So exciting. When it turns to October, I have some orange dress shirts that I can wear and I have my Halloween tie. So today I have a Halloween tie. There's a black cat at the bottom and the shadow of a black cat, which is also black. And then as we go, there's a path and there's a haunted house and there are three awfully friendly looking ghosts. There must be Casper-like type of ghosts. And then I have a full moon and some bats on my tie today. Now, I have several different other Halloween-themed ties. I have one that has a... grim reaper on it and one that has a headless horseman. And I have one that has a witch and some bats and then some spiders. And then I have a Dracula's castle tie. So I have accumulated over the course of my life several different ties. And I was at an office today and one of the managers was like, so how many ties do you have for various holidays on average? I said, well, it kind of depends on the holiday. For St. Patrick's Day, I have one tie. It has four leaf closures, has the shamrocks on it. That's all I got. For Valentine's Day, I have two different ties. I have one that's white with pink hearts, and I have one that's black with pink hearts, or black with pink and red hearts. But these are one-day holidays, so you'd think that there's not really a St. Patrick's Day season. Valentine's Day, I guess there's a Valentine's Day season, but it's not quite the same. And then, you know, for Independence Day or the 4th of July, I have a couple of different ties that have, like, flags on them or one's got a flag and one has a constitution on it and one has just, you know, stars and stripes on it. And so, you know, but those can be used for both Independence Day and for Veterans Day and Memorial Day and Labor Day and, you know, all of those type of holidays. And, you know, Halloween, I've got five or six, just kind of accumulated them. And they're like, but how about Christmas ties? I'm like, well, Christmas ties, I probably actually have like 35. And I didn't necessarily mean to end up with more ties than there are days in December. But the nice part about Christmas ties is that I have found if you buy a Christmas tie on the 26th or the 27th or the 28th of December, they're not nearly as expensive as on the 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. So many of my Christmas ties I have obtained for a dollar or two or three. And then I had reached the maximum number of Christmas ties that I needed and I was good. And then people started giving me Christmas ties for like Christmas presents or, you know, someone's like, oh, I found this really cool tie. I thought of you, so I'm going to send it to you. So that's how I ended up with more than more ties than there are in the days of December or days in the month of December. Yeah, that made sense. Anyhow, so, you know, I have all these ties and many of the ties that I have, including the one that I'm wearing right now, were ties that I, several years ago, I was walking to my children's elementary school for an October kind of festival Halloween thing. And I walked past a garage sale and the gentleman holding the garage sale said, had been a banker for a lot of years, and he had just recently retired. So he had all sorts of cool ties, and he was selling them for $3 apiece. I'm like, all right, cool. So that's how I ended up with a lot of my cool ties that I like. It's one of those things where I'm just not that rich anymore. You know, I mean, Luke will refer to me as money bags, but they're mostly empty money bags. If I have a money bag, it's an empty bag, and an empty bag is not worth as much as a full bag would be. And so, you know, I've accumulated, you know, fun ties and nice ties, and they're still the high-quality ties, you know, and they're not the kind of 70s polyester bags It could be used as a bib type of ties that my dad used to wear when he was in college. I'm sure there's many listeners out there who remember the big, wide ties. You're like, yeah, you could take it and use it as a bib or a napkin. I'm like, yeah, that's not necessarily my style. But I have this collection of ties. I have ties that have the Broncos logo on them. I have ties that have the Denver Nuggets logo. I have ties that have the Colorado Avalanche logo. I don't have any Colorado Rockies ties. I have a couple of Colorado Rockies shirts, but Colorado Rockies ties just... Never found one. Maybe I'll get one if they, I mean, I hear they let their general manager go and are looking for somebody new. But if they get back to winning and go back to a World Series, maybe I'll buy a Colorado Rockies tie just to have one. But people were like, oh, I only have like one or two ties. I'm like, yeah, I have a bunch. But then again, I wear a shirt and a tie every day for work and then on Sundays for going to church and sometimes on Saturdays when I'm doing church stuff. So I wear ties most of the days of the year, if not all of them. And so for me, it's part of my work uniform. It's part of what I do. And so I've accumulated all these ties. And now that my son is 13 years old and he will wear a shirt and a tie when he goes to church, he comes in Sunday morning into our room and goes into the closet and picks out a tie and takes it and he wears it for the day and then he'll come in, he'll lay it down on my dresser so that i can put it back where it goes and i'm like it works out great this way i haven't had to buy him any ties because he's kind of got the uh the store of dad to be able to get the ties from and it works out and it's all good but so i have a collection of ties that is larger than most people's collections of things or margin probably larger than most people's collections of ties And, you know, I keep them hung up and every once in a while one will get, you know, too dirty or it'll get, you know, it starts to get old and wear out and get like holes on the side of it. And I'm like, oh, well, it's time to get rid of this tie. And so you are listening to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey here on 560 KLZ AM, also heard on 100.7 FM or the KLZ 560 radio app. Phone number to talk to me on the air is 303-477-5600. And again, that's 303-477-5600. And my direct line is 720-394-6887. And once again, 720-394-6887. So collection of ties, is it really super awesomely valuable? Do I have collector's ties? No. I just have ties that you wear. Maybe there is such thing as a collector's tie. I don't know. I don't know that there's collector's cars, there's collector's stamps, there's collector's There's guitars, there's collectors, all sorts of things that are collectible and kind of in value. My ties are just kind of fun. The office that I use for my office is an office share executive suites type of arrangement and I travel between the different offices and one of the things that they've started doing over the last several years is when I wear my Christmas ties, it's almost a contest between the managers of the office of who can take a picture of my tie and they send it out to their group chat so that they can see whatever tie that Michael Bailey is wearing. And I'm like, well, I guess I'm tie famous. There's famous famous. There's real famous. There's Instagram famous. There's, you know, internet famous. Apparently I'm Thai famous. I don't know if that's really a thing. Maybe I just made it up. I don't know. But, you know, everybody wants to see which Thai. And so they did that. And then, you know, for Independence Day they wanted to take pictures of the Thai. And, you know, today I had to take a picture of the Halloween Thai. And, you know, my ties, they're really not super valuable. They're not like, oh, I'm going to go sell my tie collection for $3 million and retire. I mean, that would be nice if suddenly ties were something that were super valuable, then I'd be rich in the ways of tie, but I'm not. But there may come a time where I have a garage sale and put many of my ties out for sale. Or there may come a time when I was 19 years old, I went off on a mission for my church. And I took, you know, suits and ties and everything with me because missionaries for our church wear suits and ties. And, you know, that's their dress code all day, every day, except for when they're, like, shopping for groceries and then they're allowed to wear normal clothes. Even then, you're like, okay, so maybe I'll pass some of my tithes on to my son who can take them out. I mean, I had taken several tithes with me to Russia where I served as a missionary, and a few of them just got so beat up that I did not bring them home. I discarded them, or I would actually have a— when I left a city just to celebrate leaving a city because I served in three different cities— I would put on a tie and I usually would, I would put some, I would tape some matches to the bottom of the tie and I would burn the tie, you know, kind of almost like a, you know, from the Iliad where they would burn the ships to, you know, motivate the warriors to fight and win because they couldn't retreat. And so, you know, just, you know, an old dead tie, I would burn it just for fun as I'm going away. And, you know, I would, you know, take pictures of me wearing a burning tie, you know, silly things, silly things like that. Well, and if I get to the end of my life and I have a whole bunch of ties left in my tie collection, at that point, I hope to have grandchildren and great-grandchildren possibly who might like the ties. I mean, I always thought it was fun to go get a tie from my dad's closet or my son likes to go get a tie from my closet to wear. so at that point i will have a collection of ties and i might be able to you know if somebody comes and says hey grandpa i really like your um you know grim reaper tie when you die can i have it i'd be like sure and those type of things are things that you can put into your estate plan now you don't necessarily need to have you know you don't need to list everything out in
Tune into this episode of the Mike Gallagher Show where we delve into the intricacies of American politics and culture. As former President Donald Trump and Secretary Pete Hegseth address military leaders, Mike dissects their speeches and the broader implications for apolitical leadership within the military. Discover why camaraderie is vital in navigating today's turbulent political landscapes.
SPEAKER 16 :
From the wild world of D.C. politics to America's culture clash, brace yourself for the reality check you've been waiting for. The one and only Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 15 :
The Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, and the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief, Donald Trump, addressing top military leaders today at Quantico. A little bit of breaking news as we take to the airwaves for a Tuesday, the final day of September. Hard to believe we're looking at knocking on the door of October already. Isn't it crazy? I owe you an apology. I'm a big believer in apologies, unlike Jimmy Kimmel. And I do want to apologize about a conversation that we had yesterday regarding the New York mayor's race. I'll share that apology with you and get your reaction to all of that in just a moment. But first, let's take a little listen to the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, and this much-ballyhooed address. There was all kinds of speculation. What is this about? Why are they doing this? Blah, blah, blah. So let's check out what... Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump had to say to these military leaders at Quantico, Virginia.
SPEAKER 05 :
But if the words I'm speaking today are making your heart sink, then you should do the honorable thing and resign. We would thank you for your service. But I suspect, I know, the overwhelming majority of you feel the opposite. These words make your hearts full. You love the War Department because you love what you do, the profession of arms. You are hereby liberated to be an apolitical, hard-charging, no-nonsense constitutional leader that you joined the military to be. We need you locked in on the M. Not the D, the E, or the I. Not the D, E, I, or the D, I, E of dime. By that, I mean the M, military, of the instruments of national power.
SPEAKER 15 :
President of the United States followed up shortly after the Secretary of War. Here's what President Trump had to say.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you very much, Pete. Great job you're doing, too. Fantastic job. I've never walked into a room so silent before. This is very... Don't laugh. Don't laugh. You're not allowed to do that. You know what? Just have a good time. And if you want to applaud, you applaud. And if you want to do anything you want, you can do anything you want. And if you don't like what I'm saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank. There goes your future. But you just feel nice and loose, OK, because we're all on the same team.
SPEAKER 15 :
Teamsmanship, camaraderie. That's the president of the United States. Look, we're facing a lot of challenges. We're facing a lot of headwinds. We're up against a lot as a country right now. I am still thinking a little bit about the Utah Governor Spencer Cox and the profile they did on him Sunday night on 60 Minutes where he talked about the need to have some sort of common ground, the need for people to get together and come together and I mean, people are really losing their marbles. And the crazier they get, the louder they get. I can't get over the Rosie O'Donnell appearance yesterday on MSNBC where she actually admitted that her own therapist is questioning her sanity. Her therapist. Imagine being Rosie O'Donnell's therapist. She's over in Ireland. She fled the country. because the election didn't go the way she wanted it to. But instead of pulling an Ellen DeGeneres, who also fled the country, Ellen DeGeneres is picking weeds and walking her dogs and living her best life in the UK. And she's kind of, you know, out of sight, out of mind. You don't see Ellen DeGeneres pop up very much, but Rosie is everywhere. Rosie is doing podcasts. Rosie is doing CNN. Rosie is doing MSNBC. And yesterday she said something on MSNBC that was pretty astounding. I guess it's par for the course for Rosie O'Donnell. But what really astounded me was what Nicole Wallace said in agreement.
SPEAKER 09 :
Check this out. And if he's not stopped now, we have lost our country. And I don't know, Nicole, how it is that some people cannot see it. My therapist said, why are you so upset? And I said to her, why are you not?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Yeah, I have that conversation, too, because the gaslighting that I think you're alluding to, if you're a thoughtful, informed person, you do stop and say, well, maybe it is me.
SPEAKER 15 :
My wife used to have a funny expression. If you're crazy, do you know it? I mean, really, if you've got some profound mental illness, do you think it's you or do you think it's everybody else? And that's kind of what Nicole Wallace was saying. And Nicole Wallace agreed that she's had those conversations, too. So Rosie O'Donnell thought she was making a profound point when she said, I asked my therapist said, why are you so unhinged? Why are you off the rails? Why are you obsessing? Why are you, why have you lost your mind over Donald Trump? He's in office for three more years. We'll see what happens in 2028. I don't think Rosie's going to like that outcome either, but time will tell. And Rosie's response was, why are you not off the rails? Not to make fun of or mock people with mental illness or people who are in therapy, but I got to believe Rosie's therapist needs a therapist just to get through the therapy sessions with Rosie. And you notice she made it with real profound determination. I said to my therapist, why are you not? Pause. I mean, she was making a point. She wanted the world to know that her own therapist is saying, hey, Rosie, you're kind of cuckoo on this. You've gone off the cliff here. And Rosie wants to know, of the therapist, why are you not off the cliff? Now, I'm telling you, I'm serious. I'm not trying to be a smart aleck. I mean this. I'm starting to believe that the Rosie O'Donnells and the Keith Olbermanns of the world are so extreme, they're actually Republican plants. Because they make Republicans look normal. They make all the rest of us look like we're normal. On television, I asked my therapist. My therapist said, Rosie, why are you so upset? I said, how are you not? Why are you not upset? I hope the therapist said, well, because I'm rational. I'm reasonable. I'm normal. Elections come and go. Things don't go our way sometimes. Things go our way. You know that the therapist is liberal, like Rosie. Rosie's not going to go to a MAGA therapist. Even the liberal therapist is worried about Rosie's trajectory I gotta think that my theory might be correct maybe just maybe these are just actors who are MAGA to the core they're pulling an Alex Stein they're a living breathing talking version of the Babylon Bee they're just ranting and raving to make Trump and Republicans look good Do you know people like this? Do you know people like Nicole Wallace and Rosie O'Donnell who are truly unhinged? I know that these are people that are public people and they have a persona and they're on camera and they're on air and they're kind of like, I mean, look, all of us are, I guess, performative to some degree. Larry Elder asked me last week, he said, you know, I watch you on Salem News Channel, Mike, and you're so enthusiastic and you're so, you know, almost boyish in the way you do your show. And I said, well, that's the way I've always done it. I hope I'm never boring. And sometimes I stumble. And when I do, I want to make sure you know that I'm aware of it and I want to apologize for it. I'm going to do that in a moment on the mayor's race issue in New York City. But let me just start for, let's spend a couple of minutes here in the Relief Factor studios at 1-800-655-MIKE. And let me ask you, do you know people who you are convinced are almost hopelessly mentally ill as a result of politics? Do you know people, I had somebody tell me once that they curled up on their couch in the living room For two straight days and cried into their pillow after Trump won. I was so shocked by that. That's a good, by the way, good person. Friend of mine. Cried for two days. So I wonder. How many people have people like this in their lives? So join me with some anecdotal stories if you do. 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. Welcome in. You know I love loaded lines. I want to put your call front and center. And yes, my formal apology to this audience is all forthcoming in just a little bit. So you don't want to miss a minute of today's show. But let's talk a little bit about the zaniness, the kookiness, the real scary mental deficiency that people like Rosie and Nicole Wallace are exhibiting. Do you have people like that in your life? If so, share it with me. 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. PhD weight loss has changed my life, and I've got a little secret for you. You know Big Pharma and semaglutide and the shots in the belly. You've seen the story recently about the study that shows that a lot of people that are getting this are going blind. You don't want to do this. You want a program to lose weight that's centered around science and nutrition, a proven roadmap that has helped over 8,000 clients lose weight and keep it off, like me. I lost 53 pounds a few years ago, and I've kept it off. I know what to eat and when. I know how to quiet any of the cravings I might get and finally release that unhealthy belly fat that I carried along for so long. Make the phone call that can change your life in the way it changed mine. It's called PhD Weight Loss. PhD Weight Loss, Dr. Ashley Lucas' program is brilliant. And how do I know? Well, 53 pounds later, here I am. 864-644-1900 is their number. Call and schedule your consultation. You can do this program from anywhere in America. Call 864-644-1900, 864-644-1900, or visit myphdweightloss.com.
SPEAKER 16 :
The Mike Gallagher Show on Salem News Channel and the Salem Radio Network.
SPEAKER 02 :
It is illegal for illegal aliens to receive health care paid for by hardworking American taxpayers, but they're making the demand to change that. They want to add that back in. That's one of Chuck Schumer's primary demands to keep the government open, and we're not going to do that. The American people didn't vote for us to do that.
SPEAKER 16 :
We're trying to clean up the system. In the relieffactor.com studios, here's Mike.
SPEAKER 15 :
I just got some good news a minute ago. I'll be back to the upstate of South Carolina in a couple of weeks. They're having a big client appreciation event that I've been invited to attend along with Tara and Charlie and Joey and Bill and the whole gang there, Steve and Mark. And, of course, as always, I'll be back. In my home away from home, the Hotel Heartness. Portions of our show are sponsored by the Hotel Heartness. Travel and leisure is world best. Rates at the number one resort in the state. Third best resort in the country. Number 24 in the world. It's right in the upstate. You can stay there too. Visit hotelheartness.com. hotelheartness.com. I also want to remind you about Americans for a Balanced Budget. Congress's approval of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was definitely a defining victory for President Trump and the American people, but that victory is at risk. Congress has to act before the end of the year, or a massive health care tax hike will hit millions of Americans. Americans for a Balanced Budget is sounding the alarm. Key health care tax credits are set to expire December the 31st. If they lapse... 24 million Americans could face skyrocketing health care costs. Millions may lose coverage entirely. Rural communities would be hit especially hard. Congress has to act, and you need to be a part of that, and you can be. As I love to say, you've got to get off the sidelines. You cannot be... We had a fairly contentious conversation yesterday about Zoran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa. the mayor's race in New York. And I've shared with you some personal turmoil that I'm experiencing because Curtis Lewa, who absolutely would be the best mayor since Rudy Giuliani, is a friend. Every single analyst agrees there is no path for Curtis to win the mayor's race. We could wish there was. We could hope there was. We could close our eyes and tap our heels three times together. It can't happen. There aren't enough Republican voters in New York City, and there certainly aren't enough moderate Democrats who are going to vote for Curtis. The only chance New York is going to have... in my view, is for Curtis to team up with Andrew Cuomo and have essentially a Cuomo-Curtis ticket. Have Cuomo promise and fulfill the promise to give Curtis a prominent role in a Cuomo administration. Heck, make him the police commissioner. This guy's been fighting crime his whole life. Curtis is like Batman. He's the founder of the Guardian Angels, and he knows how to clean up the streets of New York City. But in expressing my own personal torment over this hard bargain, A lot of you came at me hard, and some of you got real personal. You said, I'm sacrificing my reputation, I'm disingenuous, I'm dishonest, which that to me is the real kicker. Why would I face this kind of flack? And the only mistake I made yesterday is arguing with people who want to let me have it. Because you know what? I get it. I get how you feel. I'm frustrated. I'm exasperated. I can't believe we're on the verge of seeing America's biggest city be run by a communist. What this guy will do, this smiling, charismatic, TikTok-savvy young man, what he'll do is... destroy New York in a spectacular fashion. And everybody I know in New York, everybody, I know very few people who are pretending that Curtis has a path to win the race. It's in a couple weeks. There's not enough time. There's not enough effort. And there's no way. Moderate Democrats will vote for Cuomo. They ain't going to vote for Curtis. Well, New York is a sea of Democrats and liberalism and leftism and moderates. Not a whole lot of conservatives in New York. And here was what Martha McCallum said to Curtis yesterday. Curtis appeared on Fox News Channel with Martha McCallum with an interesting exchange.
SPEAKER 13 :
With you staying in, the likelihood that you will... Force a Mamdani win is very high. And I know you don't believe these poll numbers, but if you and Cuomo are taking votes from each other, essentially, Mamdani has a very clear path here, no?
SPEAKER 03 :
Mamdani beat Andrew Cuomo in a Democratic primary.
SPEAKER 13 :
But Cuomo's still in the race.
SPEAKER 03 :
Excuse me. As an independent, try to find him on the ballot. You want to go on a search and find mission through a maze? Andrew Cuomo has no chance. He's not out in the streets.
SPEAKER 13 :
You realize that if Mondami wins, there's going to be pressure on you. You are a tried and true New Yorker. As you point out, you spend a lot of time in the streets here. What are you going to say if someone turns to you and says, look, you should have done the right thing. You should have done what Eric Adams is and gotten out of this race. It was the only chance to beat him, Donnie.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, really? And meantime, Andrew Cuomo and the rest will, because of fear, fright and hysteria, flee to Florida. Remember John Paul Jones, the father of our Navy, was told, surrender your ship to the British. You have no chance. You're going down to David Jones's locker. On his tomb in Annapolis, it says, I have just begun to fight. 36 days, I raised more money locally than Eric Adams, Cuomo and Mandami together. Three commercials on air, three more to come. I
SPEAKER 15 :
Here is Mamdani's take, incidentally, on Cuomo as the as the alternative to Zoran Mamdani. Mamdani understands that Trump wants Cuomo to win. And incidentally, that's not really it's a little bit of a I don't know if it's a secret. It isn't really talked about a lot. I know firsthand, well, I shouldn't say firsthand, thirdhand, from people that I know in the Trump administration, that President Trump's pick is most definitely Andrew Cuomo because President Trump, pragmatist that he is, knows that Cuomo's the only chance. And I don't think he has anything against Curtis Lewa. He just doesn't believe that Curtis has a chance. Here was what Mamdani said about Andrew Cuomo.
SPEAKER 12 :
Do you think that there is some sort of a deal between Trump and Adams?
SPEAKER 10 :
I can't speak to that. All I can tell you, though, is that, you know, Donald Trump is clearing the way for Andrew Cuomo because Donald Trump knows that Andrew Cuomo will clear the way for Trump's agenda. And New Yorkers are tired of that agenda. They want someone who's actually beholden to the people of this city, not to the White House.
SPEAKER 15 :
So Mamdani believes that Cuomo will be better poised to implement Trump's agenda. That's not a bad thing. And I suspect he's right. Look, Cuomo is not, he's a bad guy. Did some terrible things during COVID. He's a career politician. But he's a pragmatist. And like most people, I don't think Cuomo wants New York to crash and burn. Anyway, here's the apology. My apology is for arguing and pushing back with those of you who are disappointed in me. I'm not changing my position. Look, I'm not going to avoid hard truths just because I'm going to get some flack. But I shouldn't have argued the way I did with some of you. And I got defensive because a lot of it was personal. A lot of it were just personal attacks. But that's okay. You're frustrated. I get why you're frustrated. Frankly, I agree with you. I love the principle of stay in and fight. Do the right thing and fight, fight, fight until the bitter end. You never know what could happen. Well, I know what's going to happen. I know that in a three-person race between Zoran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Lewa, Curtis cannot win. I hate that because I love the guy. I hate that because I admire him, and I have for many, many years. What I wish for is Cuomo and Curtis Lewa to join forces and defeat the communists. Now, if you find fault with me on that, I understand your criticism. I really do. And again, I'm sorry that I was a little cranky with people who were coming at me. Got a little bit of a black eye. Do you see it here on the Salem News Channel? The lady tried to put a little powder over it. No, no, I don't have a black eye. Figuratively, I'm a little bruised because some of you were very disappointed in me. And I do understand that. Sorry. Sometimes the truth hurts. This is a little bit of tough love, I think. But I am sorry for some of the argumentative way that I reacted to some of you. You want to come at me? Go ahead. You're not going to get much of an argument because I'll know exactly where you're coming from. 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. Torrey is in Asheville, North Carolina, 16 before the hour. How are you doing today, Torrey?
SPEAKER 07 :
I'm good. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. Appreciate the call. I called earlier when you said you had an apology to make, and I thought you were going to apologize for your opinion yesterday. And I was going to call to tell you, don't apologize.
SPEAKER 15 :
No, no, no, no.
SPEAKER 07 :
I'm not going to change my opinion. I agree with you 100%. Even though you'd be the best choice, we should... If there's no clear path, he should drop out. I mean, there's a long history of politicians doing that.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, but again, though, Torrey, to be clear here, I don't want him to leave. Curtis Lewa would be a blessing to the citizens of New York. I want Cuomo and Curtis to join forces. Look, Curtis does have some money raised and some ads, three ads, he said, that are running on the air. Normal people know how great Curtis is, particularly with the issue of crime. And that's a problem that is facing New York. So you've got the lifelong career Democrat in a Democrat city, Cuomo. You've got a crime fighter, a Batman like Curtis. I don't want him to, I want him to, yes, I want him to drop out of running for mayor as the mayoral candidate. and join forces with Andrew Cuomo. I think that's a reasonable, practical, pragmatic position. Again, if you don't agree, that's okay. And my promise to you, after hearing some of the tape of yesterday's show, because I wanted to listen back, and I'm like, ah, Gallagher, you were too defensive, you were too argumentative. And I get that way. I'm emotional sometimes. I shouldn't have been so defensive, and I shouldn't have been so argumentative. You've got to let your ego, you've got to put your ego aside. I was thinking about this yesterday. I got a little bit of bad news yesterday. It wasn't really terrible news, but something that I had hoped was going to happen isn't going to happen. And I was kind of hurt and a little embarrassed. And then I thought about it. And I woke up this morning and I thought, all that was was my ego. And the real dirty little secret about the bad news I got yesterday is I didn't really want to do it anyway. It would have been kind of a hassle to do, and I don't think I could have pulled it off. So it actually was for the best. It is for the best. But it was my ego. It was somebody telling me, oh, we're not going to let you get what you had hoped to get. Well, it's just my ego. And when you can put your ego aside, life is a lot easier. So I'm putting my ego aside on this particular tough issue. I shared with you it's hard for me. I've shared with you that it's painful for me. It's personal. I've known Curtis for years. But it's how I feel, and I think sometimes you've just got to speak your mind and let the chips fall where they may. 800-655-MIKE. Your call, your voice, your perspective coming up. 13 before the hour. Great having you here on the final day of September, Tuesday. Every single day it's a joy to remind you that portions of our show are sponsored by MyPillow. As you know, our friend Mike Lindell, big legal victory last week. He's been in a ton of hot water, as you know, because he believes in election integrity. Of course, due to his friendship with President Trump. Well, last week there was a $5 million vote. judgment against Mike that was overturned by the courts. Good news for MyPillow. So you keep praying for MyPillow and you keep supporting this great American company. The premium MyPillow, limited time, great price, $18.98. If you go to MyPillow.com, this pillow is a godsend. Look, I bring the MyPillow products with me when I'm on the road. Here at the hotel in Washington State, I've got the MySlippers with me, those unbelievable slippers, because I pat around in the hotel room. I don't know what's on that rug. I bring the MyPillow with me. I roll it up into the suitcase. I've even got my MyPillow loungewear. Tons of great products. If you haven't been to the site in a while, go check it out. Go to MyPillow.com. Look for the Mike Gallagher specials. Click on that box. And with anything you order, enter the promo code MikeG. You're going to save big. The slippers, the doggy beds, and the Giza dream sheets. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. Or call 800-928-6034. 800-928-6034. Like we love to sing.
SPEAKER 14 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
Promo code MikeG.
SPEAKER 16 :
From the wild world of D.C. politics to America's culture clash, brace yourself for the reality check you've been waiting for. The one and only Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 15 :
You know the hardest part of this job is trying to get everything in. There are so many things coming at us. We always say it's like trying to drink from a fire hose. A lot of breaking news. Tonight, midnight, the government shutdown could very well happen. And I always walk in here with a stack. I know the team gets frustrated. Poor Christian. They work so hard on editing video clips for Salem News Channel and our presentation of the show. And I kind of try to bounce around, but some days I get to more clips than others. I'm grateful for the grace that Eric and Tracy and Christian and Alex and Joey give me. Thank you for your grace, too. I appreciate your patience. But today is one of those days. I mean, I didn't even get to the story of the Ohio Republican who's introducing a new bill that would allow the utility companies to control your thermostat. Uh-uh. Hell no. Pardon my French. Can you imagine the power company getting to turn your thermostat up and down as a Republican? Golly. And I'm sure I saw the story. We won't have time to get to it today, but I did catch how the caveat is, well, you get to opt into it. Oh, yeah, great. Great idea, Ohio congressman, whoever you are, Ohio Republican, knock it off. Government's got enough control of our lives. We don't need the government to say, oh, it's a little hot out today, so we're going to make sure your thermostat goes to 79 degrees. Are you crazy? I always hate it when I go to a hotel somewhere and the hotel thermostat, all this green crap they do, all this green deal crap. garbage they do. They've got these sensors in the thermostat where if there's no movement, then the AC goes out. Well, guess what? When you go to bed, you're not walking around in the room, so the AC goes out because it's not detecting any movement. So it's 80 degrees and you're sitting there in a pile of sweat because the AC got shut down because you're not moving. What do I got to do? Like home alone with the kid with the fake people that he put in the window spinning around? What should I do? Take a blanket and hang it from the ceiling fan so that it's spinning around and it keeps the AC going? Incidentally, do you know there's a hack for AC units in hotels? And you can bring it down to as cold as you want it to go. And if you Google it, you can find it online. It's a secret hack. I probably shouldn't talk about it because the hotels are going to get wise. And then they're going to try to counter the hack. You push like fan and up and down, the up and down arrow and then another button. Because they have a lock on the AC on most thermostats where you can't take it below like sometimes it's usually 65. But sometimes it's 68. I like it at 62 degrees. It's a meat locker when I sleep. But a lot of hotels, well, now I found the hack. And every hotel I go to now, it works on almost every thermostat. Look it up. It's on YouTube. It's the AC Hotel Hack. And you do a little code, and it puts it into VIP mode, and you can lower it to as cold as you want it to be. You can take it down to 58 degrees if you want. You see? See what you get when you tune into the Mike Gallagher Show? Helpful hints to hack the hotel AC. All right, let's talk about the government shutdown. Here's Vice President Vance. He lays it out, and every single day that I hear this guy and see this guy, I think, gosh, a J.D. Vance, Marco Rubio ticket in 2028, who's going to stop that? AOC? Let's bring that race on. I want to see AOC on a presidential debate stage with J.D. Vance. Here he was reacting to the Schumer Democrat shutdown that could very well be happening in a number of hours.
SPEAKER 17 :
Look, the principle at stake here is very simple. We have disagreements about tax policy, but you don't shut that government down. We have disagreements about health care policy, but you don't shut the government down. You don't use your policy disagreements as leverage to not pay our troops, to not have essential services of government actually function. You don't say the fact that you disagree about a particular tax provision is an excuse for shutting down the people's government and all the essential services that come along with it. If you look at what Chuck Schumer has said in the past consistently, it's whatever our disagreements are, let's negotiate with them. Let's talk about them. Let's figure out a bipartisan solution. But you don't shut the government down. In other words, you don't put a gun to the American people's head and say, unless you do exactly what Senate and House Democrats want you to do, we're going to shut down your government. That's exactly what they're proposing out there. Now, we have to remember, they're very frustrated. They say that they're very frustrated about the fact that this negotiation has not taken place until today. But if you look at the original thing they did with this negotiation, it was a $1.5 trillion spending package, basically saying to the American people, we want to give massive amounts of money, hundreds of billions of dollars to illegal aliens for their health care, while Americans are struggling to pay their health care bills. That was their initial foray into this negotiation. We thought it was absurd. We told them it was absurd, and now they come in here saying that if you don't give us everything that we want, we're going to shut down the government. We think that's preposterous. We think it's totally unacceptable, and we think the American people are going to suffer because these guys won't do the right thing. Now, I want to make one final point here. You will hear a lot from Senate Democrats, from House Democrats about the fact that American health care policy is broken. Well, we know that American health care policy is broken. We've been trying to fix it for the eight months that we've been in office. But every single thing that they accuse about being broken about American health care is policy the Democrats have supported for the past decade. So if they want to talk about how to fix American health care policy, let's do it. The Speaker would love to do it. The Senate Majority Leader would love to do it. Let's work on it together, but let's do it in the context of an open government that's providing essential services to the American people. That's all that we're proposing to do, and the fact that they refuse to do that shows how unreasonable their position is. I think we're headed to a shutdown because the Democrats won't do the right thing.
SPEAKER 15 :
Look, that's what an adult in the room sounds like. That's when the adults are in charge. That's what you get. The other side, that's Ilhan Omar and AOC and Eric Swalwell and Chuck Schumer. They're lost. The Democrats are lost. Look, from my perspective, shut it down. Because I've been thinking a lot about talk show host Eric Erickson and his post on social media. Let me read this to you, what Eric wrote. Here is the trap Democrats are walking into with the government shutdown, he says. The Office of Management and Budget can reduce discretionary agencies in force. OMB can reduce discretionary agencies. In other words, instead of layoffs, they can fire OMB. these employees and reduce the workforce. When the agencies get funded again, since the staff was fired, not laid off, real important distinction, the agencies can be expanded and they can rehire. They can start hiring. New people will fill the jobs. MAGA can embed into the bureaucracy. Suddenly protected from firings thanks to both the civil service laws and the rulings of progressive judges against Trump in the last nine months. Way to go, progressive lefty judges. As Eric points out, Suddenly, Democrat constituencies are out of the bureaucracy, MAGA is in, and the public sector unions that fund the Democrats are screwed. You want to know something? This is what draining the swamp looks like. You really want to drain the swamp? It's more than just a nice catchy phrase and a bumper sticker. Drain the swamp? Let the Democrats... lead to the shutdown, and let's embed MAGA back into the federal government. Let's purge the federal government of all the deep state bad faith actors on the left. And let's put MAGA in. Hey, I'm in. Let's get your take on all of that. 1-800-655-MIKE. We're in the Relief Factor Studios. Final day of September. I'm going to be off for a few days later this week. Joey Hudson's going to fill in. I'm going to put my feet up. Don't call me. I'll call you. I'm going to get a little breather, a little R&R. It's been a rough few weeks. and this has been a rough week in particular. It's been a rough few weeks for sure, and I'm grateful we got through it all together. So I'll miss you, and I'll be back Monday. Can't wait to recharge the battery. In the meantime, let's put your voice front and center. You know how much I love loaded lines. 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. Do you think Eric Erickson is right? Let's find out.
SPEAKER 06 :
Out in these parts, some folks call it radio. We call it the last campfire of the American spirit. Stoke the fire of freedom with American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avalone and Stephen Parr. American Ground Radio, planting seeds, growing freedom. Listen wherever you get your podcasts and visit our website at AmericanGroundRadio.com.
SPEAKER 16 :
The Mike Gallagher Show in the relieffactor.com studios.
SPEAKER 04 :
But every Democrat in this country for years. made no secret about the fact that they wanted Donald Trump and his people prosecuted, put in jail, and prevented from running for re-election. And they opened this box, and now they're living it.
SPEAKER 16 :
On Salem News Channel and Salem Radio Network, here's Mike.
SPEAKER 15 :
I was walking through the airport the other day, and a guy came up to me and said, Mike, I live in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I've listened to you for about 20 years. Never knew what you looked like. They've been running a PhD weight loss commercial on TV there in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson-Asheville market. Joey and I cut a TV commercial for Dr. Ashley Lucas as a sign of appreciation for the opportunity to tell you about PhD weight loss. So now our not-so-fat faces are plastered all over TV sets in the upstate. PhD weight loss is an amazing story. If you have been fighting with those extra pounds and you don't know how to take the weight off for good, it's not your fault. Your body works against you the older you get. When I saw Joey and Peg's success with PhD weight loss, I said, I'm in. I've got to be in. Because the longer you wait, the harder it is to turn things around. Why don't you make the phone call today that can change your life forever? This is a game changer. How about losing weight, never being hungry? How about not being reliant on a shot in your belly for the rest of your life with all kinds of awful side effects? How about embracing PhD weight loss? If I can lose over 50 pounds... And keep it off, you can too. Call 864-644-1900. Make the phone call that can change your life the way it has mine. You can do this program from anywhere in America. Use your food, use their food, use a combination of both. You'll have a weekly nutritionist. This is a program based on science and data, and it works. Say goodbye to that stubborn, visceral belly fat for good. It's called PhD Weight Loss. Call today, 864-644-1900. First 11 callers who call today, mention Mike, will get two free weeks added to the program. And when you fully commit, you'll get 15% off the entire PhD program. plus a free weight loss and energy supplement bundle, and your program will be backed by their get results guarantee. Some restrictions apply. Again, just mention the word Mike when you call. 864-644-1900. 864-644-1900. Ph.D., weight loss and nutrition. Here's Russ in Arlington, Texas. Hey, Russ, welcome to the Mike Gallagher Show. How are you today, sir? I'm doing fine. How are you, Mike? I'm great, sir.
SPEAKER 08 :
I appreciate your call. Well, the reason I called was because of something you said. I'm going to step outside so I don't lose you. Okay. But the reason I called was because I was in the military. I'm an old guy, but I was in the military for 13 1⁄2 years, and then I got put out because I was going blind. But nonetheless, when I was there, one of the edicts that you were given, and, I mean, that was impressed, was you spend every... that you are given in a quarter to the last dollar, and then you ask for more. Never lower your budget because you'll have to fight to get the money back. And so, I mean, if you have a philosophy like that, then you're never, you know, in other words, and I'm going to just throw this in real quick, and that is if somehow... Someone could pass something along the line that said, if you are in the government and you do something that saves money nationally and effectively, you should get a percentage of it. you would see a turnaround in finances overnight.
SPEAKER 15 :
A real incentive to do the right thing. Look, I always think about the government's money or a company's money as your own. And far too many people say, no, no, no, no, I'm just going to take, I'm going to take, I'm going to take. If you looked at, for example, your company that you work for, and you guard every dollar, if you're in any position of responsibility, and you consider the company's budget like your family budget, well, you're going to be in the black forever. You're going to do well if you fall short. And it's the same principle with the government. It just comes down to fiscal responsibility. And we're going to see if that happens or not. Man, I've touched a nerve with my HVAC hack in hotels. Dallas writes, Mike, this is how you bypass any wall-mounted thermostat in a hotel. I've been an HVAC tech for over 15 years. Remove the thermostat wall plate. There should be at least four wires in a common marked, I don't know, marked R for red, Y for yellow, G for green, W for white. I mean, look, I love you, my brother. You think I'm going to get out a screwdriver? and a jackhammer, and some tools every time I check into a hotel. Now, you could do it because you're an HVAC tech. You know what you're doing. I'll burn the hotel down. I'll blow the whole room up. You think I'm going to go in there and start taking the thermostat? No, you don't have to do that. There is an easy hack. It's called the AC or HVAC hack in hotels. And it's on YouTube. Just Google it. You push, like, up, the up button. And I forget how you do it. Auto and up and blah, blah, blah. And it takes it into VIP mode. And then every, not all, but most hotel thermostats... It turns it all around. I'm not going to take the thing apart. We should have a segment every day. Mike's helpful life hints. I got one life hint for you. Make it a MyPillow world. I'm in a MyPillow. Remember the Christmas? Do you realize we're going to be at Christmas time before you know it? Holy cow. I was thinking about this. And I've got Christmas planned, by the way. Bring it back to me for a moment, Christian, because I've got Christmas plans. I've decided we're going to have a Griswold family Christmas. I'm going to try it. Now, last time we tried this, we almost all wound up in the hospital, in the emergency room, in the police station. Because the Gallaghers put the dis in functional. But I'm going to do it. I got us a house. I got mountains. I've got snow. I've got reindeer. We're going to have a ho, ho, ho time if it kills me. And it's going to probably be nothing but disaster. So pray for us. Pray for the Gallagher family. Because we're going to all gather. Now, one of us can't be there. He'll be with his wife and kids, which is great. But the rest of us, we're all going to hold in. Hold on. I'm going to have a Christmas vacation. And look, there's always MyPillow Christmas gifts under the tree in anything Gallagher family related. You've helped MyPillow. and their employees in these tough times. Mike knows it, and he always wants to give back with deals on his most popular products. The MyPillow six-piece bath towel sets are back in stock. Now, this is a proprietary technology that makes the towels amazingly absorbent. I first heard about the towels from Peg and Joey. They said, you can't believe it. These towels actually work. Now, they're regularly $69.98, two bath towels, two hand towels, two washcloths, $69.98, but for a limited time. When you enter the promo code MikeG at the Mike Gallagher Specials Square, just $39.98. A six-piece towel set that you will just be amazed at the absorbency. So go to MyPillow.com. Look for the Mike Gallagher Special Square. Click on that box, and with anything you order, enter the promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com, promo code MikeG for this special offer and many, many more. The towels, the sheets, the pillows, the doggy beds, the slippers. Oh, boy, the slippers. MyPillow.com, promo code MikeG, or call 800-928-6034, 800-928-6034, like we love to sing. For the best night's sleep in the whole wide world, visit MyPillow.com. Promo code Mike G. Here's a good text from Arkansas. Look, if Curtis Lewa can't win in New York because there aren't enough Republicans to vote for him, then why should we even care about New York City? I get it. I really do. I understand it. It's a tough debate, but one that we have to have. There's going to be a morning after. Keep the faith and keep fighting the good fight. Hold your head up. We'll get through this together.