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In this engaging episode of Rush to Reason, host Andy Pate takes the reins in John Rush's absence, guiding listeners through a compelling conversation with Jersey Joe. As they delve into the ever-evolving political landscape, they share insights on energy policies, the potential shifts in the Supreme Court, and the intricate dynamics within American politics. Through entertaining banter, they highlight the influence of media and the importance of informed dialogue in shaping public perception.
SPEAKER 17 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 10 :
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 15 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 12 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did!
SPEAKER 24 :
Get a job, turd! You haven't made everybody equal. You've made them the same and there's a big difference.
SPEAKER 31 :
Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 11 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 16 :
It's Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electric, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 18 :
Filling in is Andy Pate, party of choice. And welcome to hour number three here on Rushed Reason. I'm Andy Pate filling in for John Rush. Just one more hour. John's going to be back tomorrow. We are all very excited. I'm sure we'll hear a lot about his trip. On the line right now, we got Jersey Joe. Joe, how you doing? I'm doing okay. How you doing? Doing all right. Doing all right. And how's that pretty wife of yours doing? She is doing magnificently well, as she always is. Joe, before we go any further, how can people read your stuff and hear your stuff?
SPEAKER 14 :
If they want to read it, they should go to the JerseyJoe.com website. Just remember to spell Jersey, J-E-R-Z-E-E. That's an R-Z to E's, JerseyJoe.com. If you want to be put on my mailing list, just send me an email to Joe at JerseyJoe.com. If you want to listen to my weekly 30-minute podcast, you can find it on any of the major podcast platforms, including Apple or Spotify. Just search for The Situation with Jersey Joe. Just remember to spell Jersey J-E-R-Z-E-E. And you can listen to it audio only. But if you go to my website, I talk about a lot of things. I play a lot of clips. I reference a lot of documents. If you want to see those links, you'll need to go to the website, JerseyJoe.com, where you can actually... In fact, we're going to play some of those clips tonight, and some of the facial expressions of the people are worth going there to just watch the video instead of just listening to the audio. So I urge people to go to JerseyJoe.com.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, and Joe, before we get into your stuff, I want to touch on how I ended the last hour because I want to ask you this too. Donald Trump is about to take office. What has you the most excited? And let me throw one thing in that I forgot to throw in at the end of hour two. Energy. Drill, baby, drill. I am so excited. I am so furious. with Biden closing down more of our offshore drilling. Granted, it was in areas that we're not going to explore much anyway. My wife told me that. She's in oil and gas. But it's still annoying. We shouldn't be closing down any of it. We should be opening up all of it. And I'm furious. I am so excited that we are going to expand our oil and gas and start getting back to real energy. And I also am excited because I know it's going to be hard on China and I think they deserve it because China is cornering the market on green energy worldwide because they're cornering the market on all the materials you need for batteries. Right. And it's going to be really tough for them. China was absolutely banking on Trump losing this election. This is going to be very hard for them. I'm excited. So Jersey Joe, what is you most excited about Donald Trump coming back to office?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, it hasn't happened yet, but I suspect at the end of this Supreme Court term, you're going to hear Clarence Thomas announcing his resignation, and quite possibly Sam Alito at the same time. So again, I'm very excited about Trump and energy, and hopefully the XL pipeline will be reopened. So I'm excited about seeing energy prices come down. I'm seeing about America become dominant again. I'm also excited about reducing the size of our annual budget deficit. I'd like to see a lot of, between Ramaswamy and Musk, about cutting down the size of the government. That has me excited.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, one second. Before you race on, though, I want to go back to one because I agree. In my opinion, Alito and Thomas need to retire soon. In the next eight months. Yep. They need to retire while we have this Senate. Well, it's going to be an easy confirmation and we can get their replacements in place. They need to do it for the country. And I know that's that's exactly what the left said to what's her name? Gosh, what was her name?
SPEAKER 14 :
Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That's what the left was saying to her. Well, you know what? They were right. And she sold out her side by not doing that. You need to step down when you have an opportunity like this. You've got your president who's going to share your beliefs and is going to put in somebody who is going to be close to your views. And you've also got a Senate on your side. You cannot let that opportunity go away.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right, because in two years, we're going to have another midterm election. Right. And there's going to be about 33 Senate seats up for election. And if we lose two seats in the Senate, we lose the ability to confirm Supreme Court justices. So Alito and Thomas need to announce their retirement at the end of this term in June of next year.
SPEAKER 18 :
I think they do, too. Man, if they do, that'll be fantastic. I sure hope they do. Okay. Continue on, sir.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well... By the way, Charlie said he needed some time to tee up some of the clips. I've got a bunch of clips I want to play tonight.
SPEAKER 18 :
Charlie says he is ready.
SPEAKER 14 :
Okay. Well, let's go. Let's start with – and these are some of the ones you're going to watch. There's a – I don't know if you watched the New Year's Eve with Andy Cohen. He's the guy that hosts the Real Housewives series and Anderson Cooper. And they had a female comedian, Whitney Cummings. And they asked her – they were asking each other, well, looking back at 2024 – And she went on this very, very brief, her take on 2024, and she makes reference to, remember the movie Weekend at Bernie's where they were propping people up? Yeah. And she makes reference to Pfizer and Viagra. So, Charlie, can we play that? And so listen very, very closely to her talking about how the Democrats bungled the 2024 election. Charlie, can we play that? It just needs the first 48 seconds, I think. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 24 :
Ah, well, we hope you enjoyed 2024's New Year's Eve roast. No, we're not talking about the food. We're talking about comedian Whitney Cummings, who went after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on CNN's New Year's Eve live special with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen. Let's watch.
SPEAKER 27 :
2024 election fried our brains. The Democrats couldn't hold a primary because they were too busy holding a body upright. Are we still rolling? Am I off? Go for it. It was amazing that the pro-choice party didn't give their voters one when it came to the presidential candidate. Kamala was forced on us so hard you'd think she was patented by Pfizer or Moderna, whichever one.
SPEAKER 14 :
Wow. They were so busy propping up Biden, of course, to reference the weekend with Bernie. And then her reference, you'd think Kamala Harris, they forced her like she was patented by Pfizer, which is a reference to Viagra.
SPEAKER 18 :
You know what really gets me about this, Joe? They're all complaining about Joe Biden right now. All right. They're complaining about it. And I understand Joe Biden was mentally gone. And that's one thing that hurt him as a candidate. But the main thing that hurt him was the failure of his policies. And all of his policies were everything they wanted. Joe Biden became nothing but a rubber stamp for the hard left, for all these people who are attacking him right now and blaming him for their loss.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, and you say his policy. I think you're right. They weren't. And you're aware of all the the the black SUVs that were back and forth between Obama's Georgetown resident in the White House, almost on a daily occurrence. You're aware of those, right? I mean, they had his staff going over to Obama's residence.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 14 :
They were coming back and they were telling Biden, here's what you're going to say. Here's the bill you're going to sign. Here's what you're going to propose. So it wasn't really Biden's policies. Again, he was he was the he was the puppet. He was the puppet for Obama and the rest of Obama's staff, the holdover.
SPEAKER 18 :
Do you think that the left is going to succeed at trying to characterize their problems as being because of one man? Now, I know they can't totally succeed, but do you think they'll be able to succeed in characterizing a lot of their problems as being because of one man and put it all on Joe Biden, just like the left up in Canada is trying to put it all off on Trudeau?
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, there's always, you know, the U.S. population, we're not a monolith. You know, you've got those that are aware and alert enough, like the listeners to this show, that won't swallow that. Right.
SPEAKER 18 :
But what about the people in the middle?
SPEAKER 14 :
I think, unfortunately, there's people in the middle. You know, I spend time on these social media sites. There's an incredibly number of uninformed people who disbelieve whatever the media feeds them, which is why, by the way, I call my podcast News in Perspective You Won't Hear on TV because... Number one, they're news stories you'll never hear about, or two, you'll hear the story, but you'll only hear the side the media wants you to hear. And I've got a couple of clips today where you're going to hear exact examples of that. So unfortunately, I'm going to say about at least half the middle will believe what they're told. and 100% of the Democrats will accept it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I think the Democrats are looking for, the old word is scapegoat. Scapegoat. And they should be looking in the mirror. They should be looking in the mirror because let's face it, Joe, their policies failed, okay? They opened up the border entirely and we were overrun. People are upset. They put in policies that drove up the prices of everything you buy. Here in Colorado, we're paying a zillion dollars for eggs. Why? Directly because of Colorado legislators.
SPEAKER 14 :
Cage-free chicken.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, everything has to be cage-free. Guess what? That's a lot more expensive. And they put it through. You know, my opinion, really quick here, I wish Republicans would start speaking more like this. Other people shouldn't make you pay for their activism. If they want to choose cage-free eggs, they should be able to, but why should you pay for their activism? Maybe you have a different thing that you want to be into.
SPEAKER 14 :
Go ahead. By the way, you know, the comedian Penn Jillette talks about, it was in reference, he talks about charity at the point of a gun. He said a lot of people feel this sense of moral superiority because they They get legislation passed that force other people to do other things like, you know, poverty programs and this. The same thing with cage-free eggs. So many people out there get this sense of moral superiority because, well, I got this piece of legislation passed that's going to do away with chickens in cages, and they feel great about it. Well, and, of course, once they get that passed, if you don't comply, if you're a grocer and you don't comply and you resist, you know, when they come and tell you you have to stop and you resist, they eventually come and send the police in there. with guns to arrest you. Right. And it's, you know, so it's this moral superiority at the point of a gun that I object to. If you don't want to buy eggs from chicken kept in cages... By the way, here's one thing on that, by the way. Chickens that are kept in open pens, bird flu is spread by the droppings of wild birds. So when you have chickens in pens, outdoor pens, and wild birds... roost on the top of the chicken wire and crap in those pens, that's how domestic chickens get bird flu.
SPEAKER 18 :
I did not know that.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, now you know.
SPEAKER 18 :
But I don't think in those disgusting terms.
SPEAKER 14 :
Okay. Well, but that's, you know, law of unintended consequences, by the way. But that's how bird flu... is transmitted from wild chickens to domesticated chickens, from wild birds to domesticated chickens.
SPEAKER 18 :
I think what it comes down to is that a lot of Americans are getting really, really sick of people in power making everybody pay for a small group's activism. You really want green energy. You're going to make everybody pay for your green energy. You really want cage-free chickens. You're going to make everybody pay for the price of eggs that you want for your activism. And it's like recycling in an HOA. The people who want recycling in an HOA make everybody else pay for their activism. It drives people nuts, and I think Americans are turning away from it.
SPEAKER 14 :
It's called the tyranny of the minority. Yes. And I think, you know, same thing with bike lanes and whatnot.
SPEAKER 18 :
Oh, yes. Yes, because you've got gridlock all over Denver that is so much worse because of these lanes that nobody's in that you could have cars going down.
SPEAKER 14 :
The tyranny of the minority, whether it's cage-free eggs, whether it's bike lanes or, you know, all these other taxis, you know, that only benefits certain small groups. And again, it's people that you didn't vote for, you know, telling you what you have to do. Again, if you don't want to buy eggs from chickens that were in cages, don't buy the cage and let the free market, let the free market decide what, you know, how much of which type of eggs gets sold.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, you know what? And let's close out this segment with this. I believe that Americans are going to see over the next four years that way fewer Americans decisions made by the majority are going to affect their lives, control their lives in that way. And so people, even people on the left are going to realize, wait a minute, Donald Trump is not going to come in and make me buy this or that or live this or that because he's in office. Donald Trump's not going to try to control your life like all these leftists did through Joe Biden. Is that fair?
SPEAKER 14 :
Government that governs best governs least.
SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush. And welcome back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 18 :
Denver's Afternoon Rush. KLC 560. Andy Pate filling in for John Rush. And we got Jersey Joe on the line. Joe, what do you got for us?
SPEAKER 14 :
All right. I want to talk about the farce that was attempted to be perpetrated on the American people. Now, we've all seen over the past 14, 15 months the mental decline of Biden. Right. And coincidentally, Saturday Night Live is on holiday break. And so they ran a rerun this past Saturday. And the rerun was from October of 2023. And I just happened, you know, because I always kind of watch it just to see what the other side is talking about. And in October of 2023, the opening skit was a biting satire of Biden's mental decline. So even in October 23, even Saturday Night Live have turned on him, and they were highlighting his mental decline and how feeble he was. And yet, Charlie's got a clip of a bunch of, this is Pelosi, Schumer, Kareem Jean-Pierre, his Secretary of State, all telling the American people and all these meet the press, face the nation, how sharp Biden is. And this was, I mean, I'm angry that they covered for him. So can we play this clip of all these people telling, lying to us about how sharp Biden is?
SPEAKER 05 :
Here we go. Does the president have the stamina physically and mentally, do you think, to continue on even after 2024?
SPEAKER 21 :
Don, you're asking me this question. Oh, my gosh. He's the president of the United States. You know, he I can't even keep up with him.
SPEAKER 11 :
The most difficult part about a meeting with President Biden is preparing for it. because he is sharp, intensely probing, and detail-oriented and focused.
SPEAKER 09 :
I can testify, because I've been working very closely with this president for the past two years. I've been knowing him for 30 years. And I'm telling you, this guy's tough, he's smart, he's on his game. Joe Biden has vision, he has knowledge, he has...
SPEAKER 23 :
a strategic thinker.
SPEAKER 25 :
The president is focused. He's detail-oriented. He's always thinking about the big picture. He is engaging. He is capable. He has an incredible record as president.
SPEAKER 23 :
And I'm often with him on foreign trips. He's at the top of his game. So he has a vision. He has knowledge. He has judgment. He has a strategic thinking.
SPEAKER 08 :
I met with the president, I don't know, five or six weeks ago, and he seemed fine to me. I have complete confidence in the president. I have watched him expertly guide meetings of staff and cabinet members. I could not have more confidence in the president.
SPEAKER 34 :
I would just tell you that I meet frequently with the president, and every single time I meet with him, he is just fine.
SPEAKER 23 :
But he is, again, knowledgeable, wise.
SPEAKER 11 :
Incredibly sharp, incredibly probing, incredible command of the details. He is sharp.
SPEAKER 17 :
He is on top of things. There is nothing to these challenges, these suggestions that somehow he's not sharp and he's not capable.
SPEAKER 22 :
We see Joe Biden up close. We know how attuned he is to the issue. And you're going to see how smart he is and the experience he has. I say his age is an asset. He's wise. Yes, he's wise. He has wisdom.
SPEAKER 03 :
He has experience. And his experience, because of his age and his wisdom, has been invaluable to this country. A lot of countries, people who've been in office a longer period of time are praised for their wisdom.
SPEAKER 01 :
I have seen a lot of 72-year-olds not as capable as this 80-year-old.
SPEAKER 21 :
It is hard for us to keep up with this president.
SPEAKER 12 :
His mental acuity is great. It's fine. It's as good as it's been over the years. He's fine. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong.
SPEAKER 09 :
And this kind of sense that he's not ready for this job is just a bucket of BS that's so deep, your boots will get stuck in.
SPEAKER 18 :
You know, Joe, that reminds me of when Jill said to Joe after his debate, and you answered all the questions. Yeah. Unbelievable.
SPEAKER 14 :
Is there another Joe Biden we're not aware of? Because clearly that's not the guy we all saw for the past year and a half. I mean, and how can they in good conscience as public service stand up and lie to the American people like that?
SPEAKER 18 :
Do you think that the American people simply find the Democrat party to be even more dishonest just because of their cover up for Joe?
SPEAKER 14 :
I think so. And this goes back to that comment by the committee, that woman, Whitney Cummings, you know, propping up Joe Biden. That's what they were literally doing was propping him up because we all know that not a single word of what they said in that last two and a half minute clip was true. It was just one continuous lie. It was the party line. And I don't know how they in good conscience just kept repeating that nonsense.
SPEAKER 18 :
Joe, as bad as Kamala did in this election, I honestly believe Joe would have lost worse.
SPEAKER 14 :
I think you're right. I think Joe, the American people, I think, You know, they saw with their own eyes how unfit he was for office. And I think, you know, I know some Democrats wouldn't have voted for him.
SPEAKER 18 :
Do you think that the Democrats are going to have a hard time dealing with Trump? And what I mean is this. In his first time around, they were able to pick him apart and slow him down, you know, with lawfare and all kinds of accusations. Obviously, Russia, Russia, Russia.
SPEAKER 14 :
uh i don't know that they it just seems to me they've shot everything out of their quiver what are they going to use on him this time around um you know right now they're saying well his tax cuts you know we're going to add trillions to the deficit and whatnot now his by the way the people don't care yeah they don't care so unless he screws up royally um You know, I think right now they're all predicting that it's going to be the tariffs are going to raise the cost of goods for the American people. And I think they're crossing their fingers and hoping. Now, you and I both know that Trump is using the threat of tariffs. Right. As a negotiating level. I don't think he actually intends to do it. You know, he may. By the way, I think we'll see some.
SPEAKER 18 :
Just so you know, I think we'll see some out of the gate with places like China and so forth. But that is to start the negotiating.
SPEAKER 14 :
Start the negotiation. But, you know, there's a bunch of Trump tariffs in place. that Biden could have revoked, but he didn't. He left him in place. So unless Trump screws up, I think the Democrats are going to be sucking wind, I think it is, in terms of the phrase, in terms of trying to find something to criticize him about.
SPEAKER 18 :
Really quick, before we go to break, what do you think Trump's election is going to do to China, flat out?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, you know, we already talked about, you know, he's going to kill all the EV mandates, so that's going to put a big dent in China's export economy. Huge. Huge. Huge. I think China's going to have to be a lot less hostile to not only the United States, but to places like Taiwan. Their economy is in the toilet right now, and they need us more than we need them. All right.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I think, look, I'm just going to say this. I think China's in a hard way. I think they really are. I think it's going to be awful for them because, mostly because of green energy. Okay? They were so reliant on America pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing this green energy scam and getting more and more into electric cars, which we can't afford. We don't have a grid for. It doesn't matter. They were so reliant on that and on that market for green energy. My goodness, I don't know how they prop it up because they've already killed themselves with housing.
SPEAKER 14 :
And by the way, they are continuing to build coal-fired power plants at the rate of one a week. Oh, yeah. They are now the world's largest consumer of coal.
SPEAKER 18 :
Do you think we're going to get back to coal at all? And also, do you think we'll expand nuclear? Because I think we should.
SPEAKER 14 :
Nuclear and natural gas, and we should not expand coal, and we should let, as the existing coal plants age, we should let them die out.
SPEAKER 18 :
You really think so? I think we can burn coal much more cleanly now. I think coal's good.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. But I'm not saying build new ones. I'm not saying shut them down. But if I have a choice between natural gas, which is plentiful and doesn't... It is. Because with coal, you do have the ash residue from coal, and you've got these big... You've seen these big ash things. Right. I think natural gas. If I have to choose between natural gas and coal, I'm going to go natural gas.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay. Let's take a break. We'll be right back with Jersey Joe. Up next is roof savers. In the dead of winter, those roofs are cracking and leaking. Get help from Dave Hart at Roof Savers. That's 303-710-6916.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
Back to Rush to Reason, presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, and Electric, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 18 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560, Andy Pate filling in for John Rush, who's back tomorrow. I'm on the line right now. We've got Jersey Joe. Joe, how can people once again hear your stuff?
SPEAKER 14 :
If you just want to listen to the podcast, you go to Spotify or Apple Podcasts and just search for Jersey Joe, J-E-R-Z-E-E, JerseyJoe.com. And you can hear the audio. If you want to see the video along with you'll find the notes and links to some of the things I talk about, go to the Jersey Joe website at jerseyjoe.com. Just remember to spell Jersey with an R, a Z, and two E's.
SPEAKER 18 :
One last question, because I've been asking Luke this during the show. Do you see a trend in the West away from big government, away from government power? Do you see a trend? Do you see a rise of the individual, individual liberty in the West after what's happened in Canada and what's happened in America?
SPEAKER 14 :
And by the West, you mean the Western Hemisphere?
SPEAKER 18 :
I do, because we're also seeing it in Argentina. We're seeing it in spots all over.
SPEAKER 14 :
I think, yes, absolutely. When you consider the Western Hemisphere, including South America and Canada, and of course the U.S. with the election of Trump, absolutely, I think there's a trend, a very strong trend, away from progressivism and socialism towards conservatism, absolutely.
SPEAKER 18 :
Okay, what do you got next?
SPEAKER 14 :
All right, I'm going to talk about media bias now. I don't know if you've heard... Oh, there's no such thing, Joe.
SPEAKER 18 :
How can you say that?
SPEAKER 14 :
I've got another clip I'm going to ask Charlie to play in a minute. You may not have heard this, but in New York City, there was a U.S. postal worker, and every day on his route, there was a deli where he would stop and grab a sandwich, because in New York City, that's where you get your lunch. The deli makes you a sandwich. And he got into an argument with another patron in the deli over whose turn was it for their order next, and that other patron stabbed him to death. Now, this is the news, and by the way, I looked at four or five different
SPEAKER 18 :
You know, Kathy Hochul would say that's a perfectly safe deli.
SPEAKER 14 :
Perfectly safe. Anyway, CBS, ABC, NBC all reported this stabbing, and they kept referring to the attacker who stabbed this poker worker to death over a place in line as the woman and she. So, Charlie, can you play that clip, please?
SPEAKER 13 :
New details surrounding the stabbing death of a U.S. postal worker in a deli. Police have identified the 24-year-old suspect, who's charged with second-degree murder. An employee also tells us the two were regular customers who had no history of disputes in the past. Christy Kalijian has the story from Harlem.
SPEAKER 30 :
we're hearing from an employee who tells us exactly how this all unfolded he says it started right here while the two were waiting in line fighting over who was first in line then that argument spilled over here to where the coffee machine is and got physical and here's some new video of 24 year old jaya cruz who police identified as uh who allegedly stabbed to death 36 year old ray hodges a u.s postal worker and this employee tells us that it seemed as though hodges was here first And then Cruz crossed in front of him, and it sparked a whole argument. Here, take a listen to what he said.
SPEAKER 28 :
I separated them. The male guy in the front, the lady, she was in the back. She's spilling him in his face. And the male guy, he get mad because she spilled him. So he was lemon juice mixed with a coffee machine. He throw on her. So she took the knife. This is so bad. This is my first time I see this happen from my face.
SPEAKER 30 :
And this all unfolded yesterday at around 2.30. We also heard from a teacher at a nearby school who says they had to go into lockdown, which is customary for any sort of dangerous situation. out here but of course it was very scary for her and the nearby community was all just shocked over this violent incident that happened right here and also hearing from the USPS that issued a statement saying that it is looking out for the safety and well-being of its employees and that it is working diligently with the NYPD as they investigate the situation. In Harlem Christy Kalishian CBS News New York.
SPEAKER 18 :
Joe I trust every word I just heard.
SPEAKER 14 :
Now let me tell you if you look at the video by the way She towers over the cops. She was at least 6'6". She was not a she. Now, and the way you know that is four hours before the evening news came on. That was from the evening news. The New York Post, which is a newspaper, ran this story. It says Hodges was on the job Thursday when he was senselessly murdered for cutting by a, quote, woman on the deli line. Sources previously told the Post that Jaya Cruz... who has been described by cops as a transgender woman, had a history of threatening victims with box cutters before he allegedly killed a father or two. So it was a documented fact that this person was a man, yet they can, every single network news show refer to her as a, well, they refer to the killer as a woman and she. Why didn't they think it was relevant to say it was a transgender woman
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, because look, because they advocate when any time the left advocates for the rights of any group, it doesn't matter which one. Right. And it could be, in this case, transgenders. Then they need to hide any sins or crimes committed by that group.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. And that's again, this is the bias of the media. And by the way, when I first saw the when I first saw the video, I didn't read the post report till after I saw the news. And I'm looking at the cops, you know, leaving the police station. There's one on either side of him. And he's easily six inches taller than either cop. And I'm going, that's a woman? And then I read the Post story. No, it wasn't a woman. But yet, every single network news story reported her as a woman and she. Not as even a transgender.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, let me tell you something, Joe. When you kill somebody, I really don't care what you want to be called. I'm just going to call you what you are. And I know in California... Wasn't it in California where they're saying that it can be actually a crime in like the penal system or whatever to not refer to people by?
SPEAKER 14 :
By their preferred pronouns.
SPEAKER 18 :
By their preferred pronouns. You know what I say? I don't care what your preferred pronoun is. Honestly, I don't care anything about you. You hurt people. You kill people. You rob people. You know what your rights are? Nothing. You shouldn't have committed crimes. And don't tell me how I'm going to refer to you. I'll refer to you as anything I want because you hurt people. I go my entire life and not hurt people. You can do the same.
SPEAKER 14 :
Exactly. By the way, on the topic of, I'm going to segue into a different, this was not in my sequence, but... Go ahead. Talk about killing people. Every year, you know, there's a website called the Officer Down Memorial Page. It's odmp.org. Again, odmp.org, not com. Officer Down Memorial Page. And every year, throughout the year, they keep a list of all the police officers who die in the line of duty now. Last year, 144 law enforcement officers died. Some died in vehicle accidents. Some had heart attacks on the jobs. But 48 were murdered. And every year, I look at, number one, how many were murdered and who killed them. And unfortunately, there's a trend which has not changed. Let me give you the stats from this year. Of those 48, and that's basically one a week. Cops in this country are getting murdered at the rate of one a week. And so I compile a summary of who the cop was, where he worked. You know, the date of his death. And then I put the name of the assailant. And here's what I came out. This is the demographics of who's killing our cops. The number of Asian assailants who killed a police officer, zero. Number of Hispanics who killed a cop, two, which is 2.3%. Number of white Caucasian assailants, 20 out of 48. Wow.
SPEAKER 18 :
Whoa, no, no, no. That's really low because white people make up over 60% of the country.
SPEAKER 14 :
66% of the country. And the remaining group, which makes 12.5% of the population African Americans, were responsible for 26 of those 48, which is 54.2%.
SPEAKER 18 :
Holy smokes! So 12.5% of the country killed well over 50% of the cops.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. Intentionally killed, intentionally murdered over 54% of the cops. And unfortunately, this is not an anomaly for this year. This is not an anomaly. Andy, I don't know the reason why. We don't have time to speak. That could take up a whole show as to why this particular demographic is so violent in terms of their interaction with law enforcement officers.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, no, no, no, no, no. Let's take a step back. We've got a moment. That demographic is more violent in general. That demographic does a tremendously inordinate amount of the killing. And it's not because black people are more violent by nature. They aren't. All people are people. All people are exactly the same. The reason is if any society takes any group and tells them your rage is justified.
SPEAKER 14 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 18 :
They will unleash the rage of the worst elements of that group, whatever group it is. You go back 100 years and it was white people doing this. Okay. White people lynching, white people getting away with murder. Literally. Why? Because society said, hey, it's okay.
SPEAKER 14 :
You've been wronged. You've been wronged. This is the only fair that you do this to right the wrong you've been subjected to.
SPEAKER 18 :
Exactly. And so this is when you look at that, what you're really seeing is the end result of the public education system, the end result of the entertainment industry, the end result of the media. When all these people come together and tell a group, your pain is justified. That group is going to go out and commit a lot more violence. It's just the way it is. You're guaranteeing it. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 14 :
And by the way, I think a couple of weeks ago we also talked about the FBI National Crime Report. 56% of the homicide victims in this country last year were also African-American. Yeah. So they're actually killing African-Americans. The biggest threat to the life of a young African-American man in this country today is not a police officer. It's another African-American man.
SPEAKER 18 :
What really angers me about this, Joe, and we'll take a quick break, come right back, is the people who are causing the African-American community, especially African-American men, the people who are causing them to become more violent in this way. No, they're doing it and they don't care. OK, these people in the media, these people in public, in academia, these people in the entertainment industry who keep just piling on the African-American community, telling them, hey, your rage is justified. You should be enraged. You should be upset. You've been wronged. You've been wronged. Oh, my gosh, it's systemic. Everything that's being done to you. They know they're creating a monster by doing that. And you do it with any group. OK, and they don't care. They don't care, and they know also that they're unleashing these people most of all on their own community. Yep. And it's terrible. Okay, let's take a break. We'll come back with Jersey Joe. Up next is Ridgeline Auto Brokers. When you're looking at used cars, you want good selection and best inspections. Ridgeline is both, and you can find both locations at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 16 :
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SPEAKER 33 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
It's time to leave your safe space. This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 18 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Andy Pate filling in for John Rush, who is back tomorrow on the line right now. We've got Jersey Joe. Joe, what else you got?
SPEAKER 14 :
All right. I want to talk about recycling. You ever go into Starbucks and you get one of those cold drinks and they give it to you in a clear plastic cup with a straw on the top? And when you're done, they've got a special bin where you put that clear plastic cup to be recycled? Okay. Well, CBS, they took 36 of those plastic. They went all over the country, like 12 different states, and they put little Apple AirPad trackers in these cups.
SPEAKER 18 :
Oh, they put trackers to see where they actually went.
SPEAKER 14 :
Right. And Charlie has a clip of CBS telling you where those 36 cups wound up. Here we go.
SPEAKER 25 :
Ever wondered what Starbucks does with all the plastic cups people throw into their in-store recycling bins? Well, CBS News discovered that most of those cups actually never get recycled. So joining us now to explain is our national environmental correspondent, David Schechter. Good to see you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good to be here again.
SPEAKER 25 :
All right. So tell us about, let's start at the beginning. Tell us about why people think that if they get a plastic cup from Starbucks with their iced coffee and they finish it up and they toss it into the recycling bin, why it's actually not getting recycled.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, the recycling bins say, you know, it tells this customer actually to put it here. There's a little blue bin and it says, please put your cup in here. And so you're setting up the expectation to the customer that it's going to be recycled. So what we did is we got trackers and we put them inside, like, A whole bunch of cups. 36 of these cups had like an apple tracker in it. We went around the country. You can see where, you know, 15 ended up in the landfill. 14 went to a waste transfer station, which is a place that doesn't recycle. And then you have four of them that went to an incinerator where they would just burn trash. And four of them went to places called material recovery facilities where they would have the possibility of being recycled. So we're kind of checking the Starbucks promise saying, hey, customer, we're going to recycle these things if you put them in here. The reality of what we found is that that didn't happen.
SPEAKER 14 :
So there you have it, a fraud. Only four out of 36 actually got recycled.
SPEAKER 18 :
That's not a surprise at all. I mean, let's face it, virtue signaling is so much easier than having virtue.
SPEAKER 14 :
It is. And by the way, John Stossel did a whole thing where he followed in residential neighborhoods where they make people separate their trash, and they followed the special recycling trucks as they picked up the recycling trash, and they followed the trucks and they went right to the same landfill. Yeah. But people pay a premium for that. How much time we got left? We have about four minutes. Go. All right, I want to talk about, you know, we've had a couple of, in Germany we had the truck attack, New Orleans we had the guy in 60 seconds killed 15 people and wounded 35. I want to talk about, I'm going to tie this into this liberal thing about banning assault rifles. You've met with the phrase cognitive dissonance? Yes. It's where people, you know, when they're stressed out, well, we need to do something, anything. This whole thing about banning assault rifles, when you look at how easy it is to kill people, a dozen or more people in under a minute without using any type of gun at all. This thing about, well, we need to ban assault, this is an expression of cognitive dissonance. In other words, well, we need to do something because it makes us feel better, makes us feel safer. By the way, a guy in Nice, France a couple of years ago drove a, they have a big, their 4th of July is Bastille Day. He drove a stake-body truck down a crowded street full of people, killed 85 people in 60 seconds with a truck. A guy in the Bronx, New York, a couple years back set fire to a nightclub, killed 86 people with $2 worth of gasoline. So this thing about we need to ban assault weapons, I call it squeezing up... People who think you can stop evil and crazy people from killing dozens of other innocent victims simply by denying them access to a specific type of weapon, these are the same people who think you can make a balloon smaller by squeezing it in just one place. Right. I mean, if you can't think of several different ways... to kill a dozen more people in under a minute without using a gun, then your IQ is probably not above room temperature because I don't want to give anybody ideas, but I can think of half a dozen ways to kill a dozen people without using a gun.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, yeah, you could use a truck, you could use a car, you can use so many other things. And Joe, by the way, these are the exact same people who never look at the demographics who are doing the killing. They never look at the fact that, hey, gee, wait a minute. If we say if we see that certain demographics are doing far more killing, shouldn't we look at our societal message to those demographics and change it? Yep. What are you doing to provoke this demographic to kill far more? Shouldn't we look at that and change that? No. Let's disarm the law abiding.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, it's a feel-good measure. By the way, here's a little statistic. The deadliest school shooting in American history was carried out by a guy using two legally purchased pistols. He killed 31 people with a .22 pistol and a 9mm pistol, no assault rifle. So everybody out there says, oh, if we can just ban assault rifles, we'll put an end to these school shootings. No, you won't. And when that doesn't work, what do you want to ban next? Because there's no such thing... as an end to more, what do they call it, common sense gun controls? Because once you ban one, you'll squeeze the balloon. They'll turn to a different weapon and a different weapon. I think we need to ban assault trucks.
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, yeah, I mean, look, the bottom line is these commons, all these limits on being able to buy a weapon are only obeyed by the law-abiding.
SPEAKER 14 :
By the law-abiding, right.
SPEAKER 18 :
They are only obeyed by the people who need the weapon to protect themselves from the people you're not affecting with the law.
SPEAKER 14 :
If you're a bad guy in Colorado and you want to get a high capacity magazine, Cheyenne, Wyoming is what? 90 minutes from Denver.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah. Or you'll find another way to do it. Or guess what? You'll use low capacity and just have a lot of magazines carrying more guns. If you want to look, if you are hell bent on killing a lot of people and not just protecting yourself, you will get the means to kill a lot of people.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yep. And again, if, if people who think, well, we're going to, we're going to solve this problem by banning certain types of weapons. It's cognitive dissonance. So all they're doing is trying to make themselves feel good. Because if they understood the data and reality, they would know that nothing they are proposing will stop an evil or crazy person from killing a dozen or more innocent victims in under a minute. Can't be done.
SPEAKER 18 :
No, what we need to do is we need to have more cops, more FBI agents. We need to have harder targets at schools and everywhere else. We need to make it harder for these people to get messages that tell them to kill or that it's okay to kill. And we need to have it harder for them to do the killing. Sound good, Joe?
SPEAKER 14 :
You're right. Including faster, you know, faster saves lives. We need more. armed staff and teachers. We need more of that.
SPEAKER 18 :
Absolutely. Joe, thank you so much. Folks, that's going to do it for today. Hour number one replays next. And John is going to return tomorrow. Reason is coming back to Denver. Until then, drive safe, God bless, and thanks for joining us at Rush to Reason, KLZ 560.
On today's program: Kevin Hern, U.S. Representative for Oklahoma's 1st district highlights key priorities for the reconciliation bill and stresses the importance of GOP unity heading into the new year. He also provides insight into this weekend's
SPEAKER 02 :
from the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation's leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 08 :
We have a wonderful Republican Congress. We have a leader that I have a lot of confidence in. I think he's going to be hopefully a great leader, a great speaker. And we have a leader, by the way, in the Senate, I think has been great. John Thune has been doing a fantastic job. They'll be coming down, the senators also will be coming down, and then ultimately we'll be meeting in the White House in a few weeks, but right now this is the winter season.
SPEAKER 10 :
That was President-elect Donald Trump at a press conference earlier today in Mar-a-Lago discussing a number of topics, including a meeting with Republican lawmakers this coming weekend at his Florida estate. Welcome to Washington Watch. I'm Tony Perkins, your host. Thanks for tuning in. Also among the topics in today's wide-ranging press conference was reconciliation, which is a budgetary mechanism that will be used to accomplish a number of the incoming president's priorities. We're going to talk about that with Oklahoma Congressman Kevin Hearn, who's the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee. The Biden administration announced that 11 terrorists who were being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were transferred to Oman. Now, previous terrorist detainees, terrorist detainees that were sent to Oman have been released by the Oman government. Meanwhile, Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett is urging the incoming Trump administration to end the funneling of U.S. foreign aid to the Taliban. Congressman Tim Burchett joins us later to explain what's going on. McDonald's announced yesterday that they will be holding their special DEI sauce from their burgers. McDonald's said they would end their racial quotas for hiring. Then, today, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Chief, said they would be ending their fact-checking program on Facebook and Instagram, which has led to many conservatives being censored.
SPEAKER 01 :
We've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship. The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. So we're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platform.
SPEAKER 10 :
So do you believe him? I should make that a poll question. Zuckerberg said the change comes as a result of the November election. He said it points to a cultural tipping point for free speech. I didn't know we had to have an election to underscore that free speech was important. Stephan Padfield, Executive Director, Free Enterprise Project at the National Center for Public Policy Research, will join us for that conversation. You know what, this political awakening that is happening with corporate America is encouraging, no doubt about it. However, however, We should not believe that the problems are solved and that corporate America is becoming a champion of these fundamental freedoms. We need to see what is happening here as an opportunity, an urgent opportunity that requires action. Suzanne Bowdy, editorial director and senior writer for The Washington Stand, joins me for that conversation. If you've not yet downloaded the Stand Firm app, I encourage you to do so. Go to the App Store and get the Stand Firm app. You can watch Washington Watch no matter where you are. You can also get our daily devotional, The Stand on the Word, as well as our news feed, The Washington Stand, news and commentary from a biblical perspective. You can find it in the App Store, Stand Firm, or you can text APP to 67742. Republicans on Capitol Hill are plowing forward with their agenda despite the impacts of yesterday's snowstorm on Washington. And this weekend, many of them will be heading down to where it's a bit warmer, Mar-a-Lago, to meet with President-elect Trump. What might we see unfold in the days ahead? Well, here to discuss is Congressman Kevin Hearn, the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, which serves as the advisory committee to the House Republicans. He represents the 1st Congressional District of Oklahoma. Congressman Hearn, welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to see you.
SPEAKER 07 :
Great to be with you, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
Happy New Year to you. Hope you stand warm.
SPEAKER 07 :
It's a little snowy here in D.C., but it's very nice. Very pretty.
SPEAKER 10 :
So let's talk about some of the items on the Republicans' plate this week. Let's start first with reconciliation. Yesterday and again today in the president's press conference talked about whether or not there'll be one or two reconciliation bills. What are we looking at?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, here's what we don't disagree on at all, and that's all the policies, the border policies, the energy policies, making sure our military is strong, making sure our tax policies are not increased on all Americans and businesses across America. that we continue this ability to limit the size of the federal government the president came out sunday night and wanted one big beautiful bill that's what we intend to deliver on the house side on the senate side there's still some questions about can we move quickly enough so the president as he stated today he said you know he'd really rather have one big bill and get it all done at one time But if it took two, then he would certainly look at that. And that's part of the reason he wants to get everybody down to Mar-a-Lago and out of D.C. to listen to the concerns and do what a good business guy does, take all the input and then make the final decision.
SPEAKER 10 :
So two bills, only half is beautiful?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, you know, we'd like one big, beautiful bill on the House side. We have a very narrow margins of votes and much more, much less than what the Senate has actually for the first time in a long time. So Speaker Johnson and the people involved in this process on the House side understand what we need to do to get a bill passed. And we think one bill is the way to go.
SPEAKER 10 :
So just take just a moment. Let's explain to our viewers and listeners. I've done this before, but this is pretty deep into the weeds in Washingtonese, talking about a reconciliation. This is a 1970, goes back to the 1974 Budget Act, which allows policy related items that have budgetary impact to be addressed in such a way that it does not require the super majority in the Senate. A simple majority vote in the Senate allows us to go forward. Correct?
SPEAKER 07 :
Correct, it was a process put in place in 1974. I would argue sort of as a fail safe that if you couldn't get the budget done, the appropriations done, then you had a way to actually do it. It's sort of an alternative pathway that was even more restrictive, more difficult, very narrow, no policy changes that you'd normally get in a budgetary process. So it's really about, as you said, had budget impact. And then it's really about how do you get around the 60 vote filibuster rule in the Senate, so the simple majority in the Senate. So it takes a lot of coordination between the House and the Senate. And at the end of the day, it's the parliamentarian on the Senate side that really controls the integrity of the reconciliation bill. So you have to work very quickly. You have to work very earnestly in making sure it's correct, and then you make sure the policies in there meet the criteria that the parliamentarian says, and then you get it on the floor. And you can move rather quickly. We'd like to have it done by Memorial Day.
SPEAKER 10 :
What are the policies, with budgetary implications, obviously, what policies are we looking at in the reconciliation bill or bills?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, you know, you'd like to get some pay-fors and you'd like to make sure everybody has something that they can vote on. As you know, the president's team and the president has said in many meetings that I've been involved in, none of us in these tight majorities are going to ever get everything that we want. So we try to create a bill that everybody can get something that makes them feel like they've achieved their representation of their constituents back home. But Border security is one, making sure that we can save money there with implications on what we've been spending to offset the housing of illegal immigrants, shipping them all over the country. One thing we've understood in the Biden administration, they've spent hundreds of millions of dollars doing that. Energy policy, unleashing the energy production in the United States, huge revenue generators for the federal government. for the Federal Treasury, and then certainly the tax policy. You know, when you looked at 2017, the Trump tax cuts were done under reconciliation. I think it's also worth noting that when you do reconciliation, it's not necessary because you can get bipartisan reconciliation bills, but generally speaking, they're partisan. So on the House side, it would be necessary to have all Republicans so you couldn't lose but one. And then on the Senate side, you need the 51 percent vote. So, you know, it's real challenging, but it can be done. All the big moves in Congress in the last 30 years have been done. Actually, the last time this happened in a big way and it was very meaningful was under President Clinton. Well, the first time President Clinton and Newt Gingrich when they got a balanced budget. So a lot of opportunity. And I feel good that we're going to do it. We're going to move as quickly as possible.
SPEAKER 10 :
Congressman, let's talk just a moment about that narrow margin, because the legacy media would like for us to believe that there is great disunity among the Republicans in the House, the Republican conference. Can you speak to that?
SPEAKER 07 :
You know, it's interesting you say that. I actually just told a group of media reporters I've been here six years. I've probably never seen the Republican Party more unified than it is today. We have no agreements or disagreements on the policies. The only narrow, you know, eye that we could look at right now would be to look at how we're going to do the process. But when you look at the policies, border policies, energy policies, plussing up our military to regain our national security posture and securing our tax cuts that we have from 2017, we're all in agreement on that. I think when you see what happened with you know, the mandate that President Trump got with the vote, the electoral vote, the popular vote. Yes, you know, Speaker Johnson had to, you know, go talk to two individuals, two of our members, friends, to get some assurances that they needed. But we got it done in the first-round ballot. And you contrast that to two years ago. It took 15 rounds and a speaker race in the middle of all that. The Republican Party is very united. I've talked to people around here a long time, very united. So we're looking forward to getting President Trump's 100-day agenda going and getting the reconciliation package and getting America safe and secure and low taxes.
SPEAKER 10 :
I just want to put, I guess, highlight what you said, that there is agreement on the policies. It's the tactics or the way we get there. And that's understandable because everybody has their own ideas on things. But you do have a pretty unified conference when it comes to the big ticket items of what is important. And one of those items you've been very good about talking about with your business background, it's one that is increasingly popular. a concern to many Americans that are paying attention is the debt, our nation's debt that is ticking up rapidly. What are we gonna do about that?
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it is a grave concern. And one of the drivers of that now in mandatory spending is our ever-growing interest rate on the debt, the massive debt. You know, we have $36 trillion in debt, so every 1% that increases on an annual basis, that's $360 billion more. We're now spending more on interest on our debt than we are on military. We've got to curtail spending. When you look at the revenues as a percentage of GDP over the last 20 years, it's hovered around 18%, 19%, 20%. But when you look at spending, spending has gone from 18%, 19% to 25%, 26%. So we've spent $8 trillion in the last four years. And then when you talk to people that are adverse to cutting, they can't seem to find any way to cut any money. And so it's one of those things where we all do need to come together. I fear at the end of the day, the bond market's going to control what we ultimately end up doing when they control what they're willing to pay, you know, we're willing to give us for debt as far as the interest rate goes. And it's going to come to a screeching halt. But we have an opportunity on reconciliation to look at some of this, some of this that, you know, what could be some revenue drivers to offset some of these costs? And we'll do so.
SPEAKER 10 :
Final question, just following up on that, we just have about a minute left. Are you optimistic that we are going to trim government with the Department of Government Efficiency? Do you think we're going to find those areas where it began to trim some government spending and bring it in under control?
SPEAKER 07 :
I do. It's going to take somebody outside of the Congress to do it. And I think you're going to see what Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy and the Doge work that they're going to do is cut down on the need that these agencies have to have authorized and appropriated. That's where it's going to start. And we've got a long ways to go. Government is out of control on its size. I believe that the real work in America is done at the local level. And that's the way our country was designed. And this fine men are going to make that happen.
SPEAKER 10 :
Congressman Kevin Hearn, thanks so much for joining us today. Always appreciate your insight and input.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. A lot of work ahead and we're going to be tracking all of it. All right. After the break, 11 terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay were transferred to Oman to restart their lives. Should the move by the Biden administration be a cause for concern? That's next.
SPEAKER 06 :
During these challenging times for our nation. Family Research Council continues to serve as a watchman on the wall for faith, family, and freedom. And together, thanks to your support, we're making an eternal impact. 2024 has been another year of shining the light for biblical truth in Washington, D.C. This fall, over 1,000 spiritually active, governance-engaged conservatives gathered for the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit to pray for our nation and ensure that the issues impacting sage cons were understood and advanced. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins marked a major milestone this year, its 900th episode, and added the Washington Watch News Desk, a new production that presents the top news each day from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand published 2,000 articles of news, commentary, and podcasts in 2024, garnering over 5 million views. FRC's outlet for news and commentary continues to pursue the truth on the issues that matter most to you and your family. And with the launch of the Stand Firm app, you can listen to, watch, and read our content in one simple place. Pray for current issues, stay rooted in the scriptures, and engage the political sphere, the community of believers, on our new platform. In 2024, FRC shaped public policy and culture, organizing the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, where members of Congress and Christian leaders came together to seek God's intervention in America. FRC called upon believers to pray for and stand with Israel by dedicating a portion of their worship services to pray for Israel's peace, prosperity, and protection. With Pray, Vote, Stand Decision 2024, FRC and Real Life Network led a powerful evening of election night coverage to analyze the election results and pray that our nation would turn back to God. We also filmed a transformative educational course, God and Govern. Launching in January 2025, this series will explore the biblical and historical foundations of our government, empowering you to stand confidently in your role as a citizen of heaven and earth. Family Research Council thanks you for partnering with us for another year of standing for faith, family, and freedom.
SPEAKER 14 :
Looking to grow closer to God in the new year? FRC's Stand on the Word spiral-bound journal is here to help. Dive deeper into scripture with thought-provoking questions, note-taking space, and context for each book and author. This second edition, covering Isaiah 2 Revelation, will guide you in tracking your journey through God's Word while deepening your faith in Christ. Order now at frc.org slash store or text journal to 67742. Perfect for you and your loved ones.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us. The website, TonyPerkins.com. Better yet, download the Stand Firm app. The release of Yahya Senwar in a 2011 prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas should serve as a stark example of the risk involved in freeing terrorists. Senwar went on to become a senior Hamas leader and the chief architect of the October 7th, 2023 attack on Israel. He was killed by Israeli defense forces this past October. Well, the transfer of 11 Guantanamo Bay detainees to Oman, facilitated by the Biden administration, has sparked fears that these individuals could go back to their old ways of business, terrorist networks, and target the U.S. or our allies. Joining me now to dive deeper into this issue is Congressman Tim Burchett, who serves on three House committees, including the Foreign Affairs Committee. He represents the 2nd Congressional District of Tennessee. Congressman Burgett, happy new year and thanks so much for joining us here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thanks for having me on, brother. It's always a pleasure.
SPEAKER 10 :
So, Tim, let me ask you this question. Are you concerned at all by the Biden's release of these 11 terrorists from Guantanamo?
SPEAKER 11 :
100 percent. I believe in the last four years we've been run by a group of anarchists. I don't think it's just one. I don't think Joe Biden's cognizant about half of what he does. But from this to awarding people that just hate our country all these medals. The border, 14 million people. You've got people on a terrorist watch list. I have a bill myself to stop us. We send about $40 million a week to the Taliban. They'll hate us for free. I can't even get the Senate to take it up, members over there, Republicans or Democrats. I think we're completely compromised. I think If Donald J. Trump was not elected president, America would cease to exist as we know it. I think there was a movement afoot. You can say it's a conspiracy theorist or not, but there's just too much anarchy and craziness that's being put into our laws and people that are put into place. I mean, today, that Lakin Act that we passed him, honoring that poor little girl who was murdered in Georgia and brutally raped by an illegal. You know, we had over 150 Democrats who didn't even vote for that. Where's the outrage? We've got a border that's porous. We've got these cartels bringing children over to be traded off as sex slaves. Not really sex. At that age, it's an act of violence. But, you know, where's the outrage? Where are the preachers calling out, saying, Stop this. Why are we not electing people that are God-fearing or at least adhere to the Constitution of the United States? We are fallen, and we better realize this is our last great chance. And when we send 15 to 20 percent of the population to the polls, this is what we get. We have preachers that are afraid to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we are reaping what we've sown.
SPEAKER 10 :
I agree with you on all of that. And I want to put a fine point on something you said, is that we've been given really an opportunity. This country is not saved, but it's not been destroyed by the outcome of this election. We have an opportunity to save it, but it's going to require us to do something. And it's along the lines of what you just described. But I want to go back to a point you made about the foreign dollars from the United States, United States giving foreign aid to the Taliban. You wrote a letter. You made it public to President-elect Trump calling on his incoming administration to stop this funding, indirect funding of Taliban. Explain.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, you know, you're familiar with NGOs, non-government organizations. They were created to do good things. And as most of these type deals, they've run astray. And so we're sending this money as aid packages And as you know, money is fungible. It can move. It's like water in a glass. It moves to every corner of it and fills it and covers it. And so does money. And that's exactly what we're doing. And we're disguising it as aid. But we've found out through, there's a guy named Sean Ryan, who's a former Navy SEAL, who has a podcast. And he had a fellow on there. It goes by the name of Legend. He's a Middle Eastern. He's a Muslim. But he fought for this country. And he's fighting for a free Afghanistan. And and so he has disclosed this. We've researched it and find out that it is that it is the truth, Tony. And we're spending it's around 40 million dollars a week. It is getting to our enemy. Now, those folks are sworn as Taliban. They're sworn to hate and want to kill Christians and Jews. I dare say that probably is everybody listening or watching to this story. this telecast right now, that applies to you all. Yet our government is sending 40 million a week. I've got people in Upper East Tennessee and North Carolina that don't have running water because of that hurricane that we've forgotten about. And we can't seem to get any money there. We spent over $200 billion to Ukraine. And we sent over a billion down Central America for somebody to protect some lake or stream down there. And all that money is just getting stolen. And we are compromised. to the highest levels in this country.
SPEAKER 10 :
As you have validated and verified this information regarding the money going to the Taliban, you've inquired about that. The State Department is aware of this, are they not?
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, yeah, 100%. either ignore me or tell me that it really isn't working that way. But if they're able to take this money that we send them to buy food and they slide it, once it gets into their hands, they can go anywhere. And we're finding out it is going to the worst possible places. And these people are going to be coming after us with our own money and our own guns because of it.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, we left them behind. Yes, sir. And one of the ways this works, and we're almost out of time here, but these NGOs that are doing this humanitarian work there are being taxed by the Taliban. And so it's that money from the United States funding these NGOs that's going into the coffers of the Taliban.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, sir. It's not just the United Nations that's funding our enemies with our own money. It's our own money. funding our enemies. So we're going directly to them. So yes, sir. And we know what's happening, and they allow it. I can't tell you how many times I've been in testimony and talked about it. And they'll say, well, it's just 1%, or it's just 2%. But they're admitting, I don't care if it's one penny. As it turns out, we're sending a few billion dollars. A few percentage points of that is a lot of money in East Tennessee.
SPEAKER 10 :
ED HARRISON That is crazy. Congressman Tim Burchett, thanks so much for joining us. Always great to see you, my friend.
SPEAKER 11 :
Hey, brother, I pray for you. Please ask your folks to pray for our country. We we need to take our country back.
SPEAKER 10 :
We absolutely will. And we are. Thanks so much. And folks, that's a great reminder. Join us with Prayer Shield, our Operation Prayer Shield. Text SHIELD to 67742. And we're going to be praying for this country. We're praying now. We will be praying. We'll continue to pray. So join us. Don't go away. We're back after this.
SPEAKER 04 :
So if you like to think and you like to pray, FRC is the place for you.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think it is the best program out there.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I've absolutely loved my experience interning at FRC.
SPEAKER 03 :
They really are making waves out in the political world and doing it from the light of the Lord.
SPEAKER 04 :
It's really humbling for me as a college student who has been involved in the life movement for only a couple of years to be able to witness it alongside of some of the people who have spent their entire lives fighting. A huge thing that sets FRC's internship apart from others is they are looking for what they can pour into you instead of what they can get out of you.
SPEAKER 03 :
I have talked to so many of my friends who have interned other places and they're responding to emails or taking phone calls and doing things like that, but here we get real hands-on experience and get to talk to important people and do important things that we get to see the impact of.
SPEAKER 05 :
The throne of Jesus Christ is unchallenged. His name was never on the ballot to begin with, and it's never going to be on the ballot. He's the King of Kings, and He's the Lord of Lords, and nothing's going to change that. And so our mission stays the same, preach the gospel, make disciples, get ready for heaven. In the meantime, that we're to advance the concerns of the kingdom of God here on earth.
SPEAKER 10 :
America has entered a critical and vulnerable period from now until January the 20th. Join Family Research Council for Operation Prayer Shield, a 10-week prayer initiative for our nation. From now until January 20th, our country faces global challenges, a transition of leadership, and a lame duck session of Congress. This season calls for heightened spiritual vigilance, discernment, and prayer. Text the word SHIELD to 67742 to join us. You'll have access to prayer points, scripture, prayer calls, text SHIELD to 67742. Unite with us and pray for our nation. Welcome back. If you've not yet downloaded the Stand Firm app, I encourage you to do that. You can have Washington Watch with you no matter where you go. Go to the App Store, download the Stand Firm app. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will be ending supposedly, according to Mark Zuckerberg, their fact-checking program and lifting speech restrictions as a part of an effort to restore free expression on their platforms. Now, in a video message today announcing the changes, the Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, called the recent election, quote, a cultural tipping point toward once again prioritizing speech, end quote. So what could this mean over the next four years and beyond? Joining me to discuss this, Stephan Padfield, executive director of the Free Enterprise Project at the National Center for Public Policy Research, which presses corporations to stay out of the political and social engineering fields. Stephan, thanks so much for joining us. Welcome to Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thanks so much for having me. It's great to be here.
SPEAKER 10 :
So can you unpack a little further for us what Zuckerberg and Meta announced, starting with their fact-checking program? What does that mean?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, it seems to mean that while they have previously relied on third parties and algorithms to essentially take down posts and comments, that they're basically shifting to the system that we see many of us that use X, formerly Twitter, where the post will stay up absent some really glaring, egregious, you know, Could be child sex trafficking, something like that, that might take it down. But anything other than that, I think Zuckerberg was quoted as saying, if you could say it on the House of Congress, then you can say it on our sites now, would just get community notes that would clarify that. provide various perspectives. And so certainly seems like a step in the right direction. We have certainly complained, those of us on the right, for a long time about how these fact checkers, quote unquote, unbiased fact checkers, were really just partisan, left-leaning censorship shops. And so it does seem to be a step in the right direction. But as always, we do have reason to be cautious in our enthusiasm for these changes as well.
SPEAKER 10 :
Agreed. Very much agreed. Trust but verify. Stephan, let me ask you this question. Would we be having this conversation if we were looking at Kamala Harris as president?
SPEAKER 09 :
I don't think we would at all, and I actually give Mark Zuckerberg credit for being somewhat transparent about the fact that he is simply responding to, among other things, but certainly it seems like it's primarily the election results, right? He saw what happened. And he took that in, and this is something where I think we can give him credit for acting like a good capitalist and taking the feedback, seeing the direction of the country, what his customers want, which is free speech, certainly, and then providing it. And again, this doesn't mean that his own political views have necessarily changed dramatically or that the makeup of the internal employees at Facebook, that their overall political leanings have changed. But it clearly would not happen. I think that's I think that's fair to say. And I think that's what he's telling us without the election. But still, there is something to feel good about that. He is actually being responsive to that rather than doubling down and trying to create. You know, I think one of the alternative platforms is blue ski, I believe, is the name of it, where they sort of try to create elections. The new the old leftist censorship utopia. And I think that's not faring very well. So he could have done that. But instead, he's actually trying to provide some free speech and give the users what they want. And we should reward that.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right. agree when people are moving in the right direction. But as you said at the beginning, I think we've got to verify that this is, in fact, true. But I would also underscore, Stefan, that This is today. But what happens four years from now if we get another leftist that emerges because, you know, public opinion is somewhat fickle. I mean, I think the First Amendment is ironclad in the Constitution. It's a principle that Americans have fought and died for. We shouldn't need an election to remind us that it's important. But I do believe that this is a window of opportunity in which we need to fully exercise this freedom and kind of cement it back into the public mindset so that the next election won't affect it.
SPEAKER 09 :
That's absolutely right. I mean, there's a couple of things going on here that we can look at positively. So one is with the leftist radicalism, including their war on free speech and their enthusiasm for censorship, it eventually falls apart. It eventually eats its own tail, so to speak. Now, the only question is how long does it last? How much damage does it do along the way? But really part of what we're seeing here is the inevitable on some level culmination of the radicalism with the censorship, with the war on free speech. And so that's reason for optimism. And as you say, we need to now keep building upon that. And we need to use the speech that we're given on those platforms to really engage positively, to drive home the need for free speech. But to some extent, I think we can take comfort in, this is a saying I hear a lot, the common sense of the common man. Right. These censorship efforts have failed ultimately because of the common sense of the common man and the integral belief in free speech. It has made its way through ultimately after some tumultuous times. And as you say, now we get a chance to prove that it works and continue to defend it. We've just got about a minute left.
SPEAKER 10 :
Do you think this is going to impact other tech giants that are in the social media field?
SPEAKER 09 :
I think it has to. Now, some will try to differentiate themselves, right? So again, I think Blue Sky is the other network that's trying to sort of position itself as the old Twitter. But at the same time, it's hard to ignore when a force like Meta, when a person like Zuckerberg sort of just tips his hat to the cultural shift and makes this dramatic change. So I would expect to see more rather than less. It's similar to what we're seeing with a lot of corporations walking back DEI right now. We're seeing more of it rather than less once the truth breaks out as to how problematic the left's agenda is.
SPEAKER 10 :
Stefan, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate your insights on this. Thank you. All right, folks, we're going to continue this conversation on the other side of the break. Don't go away. Hello, I'm Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council here in Washington, D.C. Behind me is one of the most recognizable buildings in all the world, the U.S. Capitol. What does it stand for? Well, most people say government. But do you know the Bible talks about four institutions of government? Do you know what they are? And do we have a republic or a democracy? Well, what do you say? Also, what about this thing, separation of church and state? Does that mean Christians shouldn't be involved in government? Guess what? We address those issues and more in our new God and Government course. I invite you to join us to see what the historical record and the Bible has to say about government. Join us for God and Government.
SPEAKER 13 :
The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God's will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn't impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can't do that. It's not that you don't love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God's opinion more than your neighbor's opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you're the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that's not all. They're also engaged in our government. They're voters. They're more likely to be involved in their community, and they're making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these sage cons yourself, go to frc.org slash sagecon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can't do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That's what we're working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That's S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. I'm Tony Perkins, your host. Good to have you with us on this Tuesday. The website is TonyPerkins.com. I want to invite you to join us in Operation Prayer Shield as we've been praying for our country leading up to January the 20th. But because of events as we felt led to do this prayer, we're seeing the validation of that call with what's been happening both here domestically and internationally. And so we're going to continue to pray and I invite you to join us. So text the word SHIELD to 67742. That's SHIELD, S-H-I-L-D. I-E-L-D to 67742. And you can join with thousands of others across this country praying. You get daily prayer points. We'll have periodic prayer calls. So text the word SHIELD to 67742. Our word for today comes from Isaiah 52. The Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God. Through the Jews' return to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity and through the gospel today, the Lord is revealing his power. He is bearing his arm as a warrior would do. It continues in verse 11 of that chapter, "...depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing, go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord. For you shall not go out with haste nor by flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard." Similar to the Great Commission commanding us to go, the captives were told to go. But the unknown is often intimidating. Living for the Lord and stepping out in faith to stand on His promises is not easy. But the Lord says He will go before you and lead you and behind you to protect you. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. That's BIBLE to 67742. Yesterday, fast food giant McDonald's announced that it would be ending a number of woke DEI policies, making it the latest company on a growing list to do so. McDonald's listed a number of reasons for making the changes, including the Supreme Court's 2023 decision banning race-based college admission policies. But is it simply that they saw the writing on the wall, as more and more companies have been doing? And what do these and other developments tell us about the moment in which we are living right now? Joining me to talk about this is Suzanne Bowdy, editorial director and senior writer for The Washington Stand. Suzanne, thanks so much for joining me.
SPEAKER 12 :
Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 10 :
So, Suzanne, you've been tracking the whole DEI woke stuff before it was even popular. Kind of give us a sense of how the momentum is building. It's really kind of snowballing right now as we see more and more companies moving away from this.
SPEAKER 12 :
Absolutely. I think a lot of this we saw really kicking off in 2023 with the advertisement done by Dylan Mulvaney for Bud Light. And after that uproar over Dylan Mulvaney, I think we saw companies and especially Americans just sort of shocked by the outlandish transgender agenda that was right in front of their faces. And so it's In 2023, I think we started to see the groundwork being laid for this. After the Dylan Mulvaney, consumers decided, hey, I'm ditching Bud Light. And then when groups like Target and Kohl's and Nike and others decided to either display transgender merchandise or really lean into this transgender agenda, you saw consumers really back away from them and With a force that I don't think we'd seen before. And while I believe that Robbie Starbuck, who's the activist that's behind some of these latest decisions, does deserve a lot of credit for what he's doing, especially this year. I think this really kicked off in 2023. You saw the sports leagues decide. sort of unanimously to no longer force players to wear pride jerseys, which was a major development that sort of kicked off this avalanche. And then I think heading into this year, we had a lot of companies sort of apologizing in 2023 saying, oh, we're sorry, like Rip Curl Doritos both had controversies with transgender spokespeople. But then I think really this all started to happen in July and June with Tractor Supply when Robbie Starbuck said he was going to threaten to expose the DEI policies that they had. And instead of exposing them, what happened was Tractor Supply proactively came out with a huge list, sort of a mea culpa list. of things that they were rolling back, DEI, they were no longer going to be participating in the Human Rights Campaign's Equality Index, which was a major blow to the LGBT movement. And from Tractor Supply and from their proactivity, from them coming out and not being exposed, but rather taking the bull by the horns and coming out and agreeing to all these changes, you started to see John Deere, you started to see huge companies like Lowe's and Ford and Coors and Harley Davidson and just on and on and on until what we're seeing now is what happened in 2024 with Walmart, one of the biggest employers in America, has carried over into 2025 with McDonald's, which has also agreed to not only end its hiring quotas, which was an easy thing to do with their Supreme Court out. But also they're saying that they're no longer requiring suppliers to hold fast to those quotas. And they're also not participating in HRC's Corporate Equality Index, which was a major thing because they had 100 percent score.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right. That's pretty big. You know, that's That's pretty significant. You see these companies backing away. And I go back to my conversation I had in the previous segment with Stefan, that this is the result of an election. I think had the election gone the other way, I don't think we would see corporate America doing this. So I think this is reflective of their read of the culture. It has been trending, but I think it manifests itself in a greater way in the election. And they know there are consequences for going down this path. But I think and you've been tracking this for quite some time. We've been at the Family Research Council. You know, we were at the tip of the spear when it came to the council culture. We've been walking through this for a long time. It would be a mistake to think that this problem is solved and that this election will resolve this once and for all and that these changes corporate America is making is the end of it. I mean, I think if four years from now, if as we've been seeing this back and forth of elections from one extreme to the other, if it goes the other way in the next election, I would not be surprised to see these corporations once again move to the left.
SPEAKER 12 :
Absolutely. I think the biggest mistake we can make is to be satisfied with what we're seeing. Because while, yes, Walmart and McDonald's and some other major brands that Americans recognize have come out and said they're no longer participating, just this week, HRC released a corporate equality index showing that they had an increase in companies who are participating. So we can't let our foot off the gas pedal here. We can't be complacent. We can't be satisfied. And I think this is a unique moment in history. You've talked about this where where, yes, we have an election. And I would tend to agree with you, but also say that I think the election results were part of this movement. I think that people felt we can make a difference. They're seeing it in all of these anti-woke policies coming out. And they decided to turn out en masse for Donald Trump and for the MAGA movement that supports these types of policies. But yes, the worst thing we can do is be complacent. And I think that's something that you've talked about quite a bit.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, to borrow from our Sunday night prayer cast that we did for the nation and my conversation with Pastor Jack Hibbs that we heard a little bit of last night in the program, I do believe, and he agreed in our conversation, that there is an open door. Right now, these issues, we could have lost the country. I said this going into the election. The election was not going to save the country, but it could have destroyed it. Fortunately, it's not been destroyed because Americans woke up and did not vote for a leftist. But the work is not done. This just gives us the opportunity to do the work. And I think when we see things like Facebook, and I've not gone into great detail on this program, the number of social media outlets and big tech firms that have censored us, going all the way back to the beginning, So we know what that's all about, but here is an opening, and I think we have to rush through this when I say we, as Christians in this country, exercising our free speech as these doors open so that we can solidify this freedom in the minds of Americans, talking truth, speaking the truth, talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ, confessing the Lord Jesus Christ, Putting these things out there in the public domain and having that discussion, this is not a time to hold back. It's not a time to be timid. It's time to be compassionate, kind, civil in our conversation. But we need to exercise these freedoms so that we can strengthen them and keep them.
SPEAKER 12 :
I think one important part of this whole development, this massive shift that we're seeing across politics and across sports, even across entertainment, as we've seen Disney sort of back away from the transgender agenda, is that this is a grassroots movement. People are making a difference. And I think that sort of feeds into what you're saying about this open door, that we actually do have the momentum right now. I think there's a clip that Robbie Starbuck had earlier on his webpage where he said, you know, we are the mainstream now, not the anti-woke. And I think Christians really need to lean into that and say, we do have the momentum and we need to use it.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right. And not, you know, we've kind of, we, I mean, I can't put myself in that category. I haven't really censored myself. But as Christians, we've kind of, we don't want to offend anybody. So we've kind of self-censored ourselves. We've, you know, we're told religion and politics are things you don't talk about in polite company. Well, you know, when I hear that, I say, well, you don't want to hear from me. I've got nothing else to say. I'm not going to talk sports. I'm not going to talk weather. I know you'd like to talk sports, but I don't go there. The reality is this is a moment to begin to educate people. When I say, you know, we need to exercise these freedoms, it's for the benefit of sharing truth with others so that they might experience the freedom that comes from the truth. This is a time to use these platforms to change local communities. I mean, school board elections, and that's one of the things Zuckerberg said, is that they're going to allow more political discussion on their platforms. We need to take this moment, not thinking it's going to be forever. It could be a very short window, but we need to take it, utilize it, and make the most of it so that we can, again, I'm being redundant, but I think it's important to hear, solidifying these freedoms in the minds of a generation that has lost the importance of the First Amendment. and those freedoms, the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the freedom to gather together peacefully, to have our concerns addressed by government. This is a unique moment, and we cannot take it for granted.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right, absolutely. And I think one of the things Christians have been so afraid of in the past and the church has been afraid of is that they're alone. And I think what we see in these movements and with this election is that we're not alone. There are a lot of people who hold the values that we do, who believe in truth and transcendent truth like we do. I mean, you've been in the political world for 30 years. Did you ever think that we would see such a shift in corporate America? I did not. And I have... This has been, as we call it, an issue of passion of mine for more than 15 years. I never thought we would see the progress that we're seeing today. So what do you think is possible? If we can accomplish this in the corporate sphere, what else could we accomplish?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I was – last week I had the privilege of praying at the inaugural ceremony for the mayor in my home city of Baton Rouge. And I had been involved in the kind of the political – atmosphere, structure in my home city of Baton Rouge for a long time, going back 30 plus years. And I came out of the inaugural ceremony and I told my wife, I said, this was like a church service. I never would have thought. I mean, there were amazing, I think it was amazing grace, How Great Thou Art. I mean, there were just a number of songs, all of them spiritual in sense or patriotic. There were so many prayers, I lost track of them. And everyone was giving glory to God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And I said, you know, I would have never envisioned that. Now, here's the contrast. We're living in the worst of times, but it's the best of times. We have one of the highest murder rates in the country, violence in Baton Rouge, unfortunately. That's a part of what fed into this election. People have had enough of it, same thing we saw on the national level. There's a moment here that people are so desperate that they're open to moving away from the woke ideology, the leftist ideas of silencing. And this is a moment to bring truth to the table, have frank conversations, because we know the truth can bring us to a place of consensus, but also resolution of some of these issues that are facing our local community. Again, I can't encourage people enough to take this moment to respectfully, redemptively, as Ephesians 6 says, speaking the truth in love. We're not trying to win a debate here. We're trying to win hearts and minds, and we're trying to set people free with the truth. But this is the time to have those conversations. This is that door of opportunity that I believe has been open to our country, and to the church in particular, in the wake of the events that have occurred.
SPEAKER 12 :
Absolutely. And I think that it would be a huge mistake to just think that this is always going to be this way. It's up to us, as you say, to seize this moment, to have those conversations, to live boldly, to stand firm, and not just where we're spending our dollar, but with education. If you have kids in school, speak up if you see bad curriculums. It's a political debate. It's an education debate. It's everywhere that we live out our faith, which, as you always say, is not within the four walls of the church, but everywhere we go.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, and to reemphasize what you said, the wind is to our back because we're seeing success and nothing breeds success like success. We've got momentum and we need to be thankful for it. Thank the Lord for this momentum. Thank the Lord for this opportunity, for what he did in the election. But it's going to be up to us to define what the outcome. outcome is of all of these things that are unfolding. Suzanne Bowdy, thank you for joining us and appreciate your work on The Washington Stand.
SPEAKER 12 :
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 10 :
And by the way, folks, The Washington Stand, if you've not yet seen it, is news and commentary from a biblical perspective from the Family Research Council. You can go to The Washington Stand or better yet, You can get the Stand Firm app, and you'll have the news feed right there in your pocket. You'll have the Washington stand. You'll have Stand on the Word, and you'll have Washington Watch right there on your smartphone. All right, folks, thanks so much for joining us today. I leave you with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul found in Ephesians 6. where he says, when you've done everything that you can do, when you've prayed, when you've prepared, and when you have taken your stand, by all means, no matter what comes your way, just keep standing.
SPEAKER 02 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
Join Dana Lash as she leads you through a whirlwind of discussion and light-hearted banter in this episode of Absurd Truth. Starting with tales of Florida Man’s latest ventures into the strange and unbelievable, Dana delivers her unique brand of commentary that keeps listeners both entertained and informed. Explore the world of AI-assisted social scoring, a topic that’s as provocative as it is relevant. Dana and her team unpack the emergence of positivity scores, linking them to larger discussions around privacy and digital life management. Through their humorous yet skeptical lens, they expose the potential misuse of these systems and the broader implications for personal freedom. Cap off your listening with a heated analysis of a modern political faux pas during a congressional swearing-in. Dana critiques the media’s take on what should have been a non-issue, drawing connections to historical political narratives. Whether you're here for the absurdity, the critique, or the camaraderie, this episode promises a thought-provoking ride.
SPEAKER 03 :
Liberty Nation with Mark Angelides.
SPEAKER 04 :
The tinderbox in the Middle East is set to inflame. What could Joe Biden have done differently to prevent the coming storm? You'll find out on Liberty Nation Radio.
SPEAKER 03 :
Author, columnist, managing editor of LibertyNation.com. Podcast host and conservative policy advocate. We dismiss history at our peril. Liberty Nation with Mark Angelides.
SPEAKER 04 :
Dana Lash's Absurd Truth Podcast, sponsored by Kel-Tec.
SPEAKER 05 :
It's his life mission to make bad decisions. It's time for Florida Man.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right. So, Kane and I were too busy debating on break about whether or not we should buy Canada. I'm firmly against it. What? I'm just saying. Florida Man got in trouble for making his own sandwich at Subway. What? That'll do it. Yeah, because he left without paying for it, too. He got jailed, according to the Miami Herald, for making his own sandwich and then leaving. I guess he thought, this is in Marion County, that he could just go in and do it. And then if you're making your own sandwich, then you don't. That's not how that works. So they also had to throw away pounds of sandwich fixings. Literally what they wrote. Sandwich accoutrement. Out of concern that they were contaminated. Ew, I didn't even... Yeah, that's true. Like if he's sticking his hands all over everything, nasty. And then he left without paying. So it was a $10 sandwich. And... He didn't even finish all of it. He threw it in the trash outside the store. So they had to throw away all the food on the line. They wasted, they said, about $66. He was arrested and charged with criminal mischief and retail threat. Of all the things to get in trouble for, that's like the dumbest. It's one of the dumbest. A Florida man claims an alien abduction after a nude carjacking attempt with a knife. So it's double a nasty. A Florida man told members of the Palm Beach police that he had been abducted by aliens and he wanted to die. They arrested him because he tried to steal a car while completely nude. That's one way to steal it. You don't even have to be armed with anything. If someone can't get away from you fast enough, they just don't want to be near you naked, and they want to get away. So the guy, apparently it was on New Year's Eve. He tried to steal the car. A witness said that he had a large knife, and he carved his initials into the side of the car like that was his now. Look, my name's on it. It's my car. And it was in West Palm Beach. And he carved, he started, like, I guess, drawing pictures with the knife and the paint on the vehicle's exterior. And he threatened the man with a knife. By the way, he's naked the whole time, just so you know. And anyway, they ended up arresting him and taking him in. And if you suspected that drugs was a part of it, you're right. You're right. A giant gator Godzilla dragged the biggest python ever seen past tourists. It was in the Everglades. I don't like any of this. Everything about this is terrifying. It was a python twice the size of the gator. Like this python really could kill the gator. And somehow the gator was dragging it through. And one of the tour guides said, I've seen many alligators eating pythons out here. I've never seen a python that large. Oh, man. I don't even like... Remember they got a big bad Burmese python problem there because somebody apparently had pet pythons and they let them out and now there's like this huge problem in the Everglades and they sponsor like state hunts of them to help control the population. They said that this python was about 20 feet long. It's one of the largest I've ever seen in the Everglades. It's an invasive species. So... I guess that Gator was doing a favor. You know, maybe it could win a prize for bagging the biggest Python. Our partners who helped bring you the program. It's our friends over at Kel-Tec. Kel-Tec, the makers, oh, they invented the micro compact pistol category. They invented all of that. They're unveiling some new stuff over at SHOT Show as well, which is going to be later this month. That's a private industry event. But they have, you know, whether it's the P-15, whether it's the P-11, the P-32, I mean, they've really changed the way people conceal carry. And they have... You know, an entirely new category of high-performance KSG shotguns as well. The fold-in half-carbine family, the sub-2Ks, all kinds of awesome stuff that they've come out with, and they're going to come out with something new later towards the end of this month, and we'll have it. You can also visit caltechweapons.com slash Dana and sign up for that Caltech Insider e-newsletter and see all their social media posts, etc., and that's where you can get updates on the latest. Innovation Performance Caltech, caltechweapons.com slash Dana.
SPEAKER 04 :
Superman derives his power from the yellow sun. D.C. politicians get their power by giving handouts. In 1913, the tax code was 400 pages long. Today, it's 75,000. This is how politicians derive their power. Check out the Watchdog on Wall Street podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 02 :
So Kane was telling me, welcome back, by the way, to the program, Dana Lash with you, that you can check your positivity score on X. Do I want to do that? Because some days I'm either like, yay, everyone is great. And then other days I'm, you know, it all depends.
SPEAKER 05 :
One of those days is more frequent than the other.
SPEAKER 02 :
There's no in between. There's one or the other. I'm a very simple person. You know, I've got two gears.
SPEAKER 05 :
Apparently, you're supposed to ask Grok. So I think you have access to Grok.
SPEAKER 02 :
Do I go to the Grok? I have never talked to AI before.
SPEAKER 05 :
You go to Grok. You have to be verified to use Grok. So what do I ask it? So you just ask it, what's your positivity score?
SPEAKER 02 :
Gosh. I don't want to do this. I'm doing it, though. I'm curious. What is my positivity score? Oh, boy.
SPEAKER 05 :
What does it say?
SPEAKER 02 :
Hold up. I'm reading. Well, this is obviously a lie. What? I don't believe any of this.
SPEAKER 05 :
You better screenshot that so one can get it up on the screen or something.
SPEAKER 02 :
I do not believe this at all. I really... Okay, I'm going to put it in. I'm going to put it in. I don't believe this at all.
SPEAKER 05 :
Am I the only one that thinks it's like a commie thing? Like your social credit score? It's totally like a social credit score.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's what it is. The only social credit score that was worth anything were the stickers that you got for the book it campaign for Pizza Hut. That's the only credit score that's worth a team.
SPEAKER 05 :
I really enjoyed that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Gosh, we did not know how good we had it. So this is what it's telling me. Grok says, because I go, what is my positivity score? And it goes, your positivity score based on the sentiment analysis of your recent posts on X leans towards the positive side.
SPEAKER 05 :
It does?
SPEAKER 02 :
Your posts often highlight themes of free speech. Oh my gosh. This eyeliner is not waterproof. And critique of certain policies or behaviors, but you also share moments of appreciation for cultural content like TV series and personal anecdotes that resonate. This is kissing my ass. This is what it is. This is a lie. I don't know if I trust this. I... Should I ask it again? Hang on.
SPEAKER 05 :
Let me just... Are you sure?
SPEAKER 04 :
Let's just put an are you sure question mark. I put mine in and I put what is my positivity score on X question mark and it gave me a number. Oh. Okay. What is my positivity score? I'll share with mine after you do yours.
SPEAKER 02 :
What is my positivity score on X?
SPEAKER 04 :
Mine was out of 100. Okay.
SPEAKER 05 :
Is this more accurate?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, yeah. Oh, gosh. Here we go. I just did mine. Based on posts found on X, your X score for positivity would roughly be around 38 out of 100. That's where I'm at. This score suggests that while your engagement on the platform is appreciated, the nature of your posts and interactions might not fully align with the platform's current emphasis on positivity. Well, you know what? That's too damn bad.
SPEAKER 05 :
They must be giving that to everybody because that's what I got. I got a 38. I think Lorraine talked about her getting a 38. I think one of our other listeners had posted they got a 38.
SPEAKER 02 :
So if you just ask about, you know, what's my positivity score? It's like, why are they so different?
SPEAKER 05 :
That's so weird.
SPEAKER 02 :
Why is it? Yeah, she got, what did she get? Oh, she got a 38. I got much higher than a 38.
SPEAKER 05 :
You got, oh.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, Steve's a big butt kisser. Big butt kissing grok fan.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, not everyone's a 38, apparently.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, you know what? You just leave it to the 38s. The 38s are talking. Stop. Okay, so why does it tell you? Oh, I mean, look at the difference. And Lorraine is the same.
SPEAKER 05 :
If his was above 38, what was your score?
SPEAKER 02 :
What do you mean? It's a lot bigger.
SPEAKER 1 :
65. 65.
SPEAKER 05 :
What do they say to you?
SPEAKER 02 :
I don't want to be friends with anybody that has a score of 70 or higher. What does it say? Because I can't stand those people.
SPEAKER 04 :
They're always happy. You're on drugs. This is going to sound terrible, but this score reflects a generally positive tone in your engagement, although there's a mix of sentiments suggesting that while your contributions are mostly positive, there are elements of critique or skepticism. That's fine.
SPEAKER 02 :
Like you can't critique or be skeptical? What the hell is that?
SPEAKER 01 :
You're getting punished?
SPEAKER 05 :
This social credit score stuff.
SPEAKER 01 :
I don't know. I mean, you know, the government told me to drink puddle water, but I feel like I shouldn't drink puddle water. How dare you be skeptical and critical of what Papa government told you to drink?
SPEAKER 05 :
Quit being unpositive.
SPEAKER 02 :
You're going to laugh up that puddle water and love it. Right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Stop being unpositive.
SPEAKER 02 :
See, when you tell me to don't be skeptical, that makes me more so. I can't help it. I want to do it. When lockdown happened, and you guys know how I'm such a germaphobe to an infuriatingly annoying degree, I was like, well, I don't want to do that now. I didn't want to stay home. I didn't want to do any of that. I wanted to go out and touch doorknobs. I can literally open doors without my hands. I can open any door without my hands. With shoes on and everything. For real. It's an art. Learned how to do it. I've developed a particular set of skills. But then when lockdown happened, I immediately wanted to go out and touch everything, right? But now with this one, it's like, oh, you're too skeptical. Well, I'm going to be more skeptical. How can I get this lower?
SPEAKER 05 :
Skepticism is what got me to today.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. When I see things like positivity scores, I want it to rate me as a degenerate because – I don't like those. I mean, of all the stupid things that we this is, it's a social credit score. At some point. I don't know. I don't trust anything, particularly government. I don't trust anybody. Don't be shocked if you have to go kiss butt on Facebook or X so that you can get access to the grocery store to go get you your French toast supplies ahead of Snowmageddon one day. Oh, no, it looks like you can't come into the grocery store because your positivity score is too low. This is the kind of stuff they do in China, legit. You can't even get on public transport in China if your social credit score is too low. So why do something like this unless it's going to be used in a manner similar to that, right? What's the point? This is like free work. Why?
SPEAKER 05 :
So I asked it how to improve my positivity score.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, you've got to come here to Texas and kiss Grok's butt.
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, essentially, not so many words. But yeah, it totally did. There's like eight steps, and it all includes positivity. Positivity from interacting with other people. Positivity in comments to posts that you respond to. I mean, it's an amazing amount of steps that you can take.
SPEAKER 02 :
I don't have that much positivity. Not that I'm mean. I'm just not... I mean, I like joy and stuff. I'm just not like... And doesn't the universe just want balance?
SPEAKER 05 :
If we get too much of one thing, it just wants to balance it out.
SPEAKER 02 :
If you get too many happy people, it's equally insufferable. Right. Come on.
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean... We need a balance, not just all positive.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right? I mean, you got to have some rain sometimes to get the flowers, right? Right, Grok? I'm afraid to ask it more questions. I don't like AI. I don't like talking to... Sidebar. Kane. And for those of you who have been in the St. Louis area or who have ever been into the Magic House in St. Louis, specifically Kirkwood. Mm-hmm. Do you remember they had a computer there and it had AI and you could sit down and talk to it? Yes. That was creepy.
SPEAKER 01 :
That was really creepy.
SPEAKER 02 :
So as a kid, you would sit in front of this computer and it was part of their tech lab, their science lab. And the magic house was like this crazy museum and it turned this regular old-timey Victorian house into Kirkwood, into the Winchester house. And it became like this crazy museum. Anyway, everybody I was... I went there all the time. I took my kids there when I got married and had a family. And... They had a computer there in the science lab. There were like two or three of them. And you could sit down, and the whole purpose of it was to talk to the computer, but it really was AI. And it was weird, and I didn't like it. And my grandmother was always like, that's of the devil. Everything was of the devil. If she didn't like it. Like, that's of the devil.
SPEAKER 05 :
I wrote it off as it was all pre-programmed response stuff.
SPEAKER 02 :
Which is kind of what AI is.
SPEAKER 05 :
I know, but I mean, AI does, I mean, it's more, I think it's less pre-programmed responses.
SPEAKER 02 :
AI is AI-ier.
SPEAKER 05 :
But it's pre-programmed paths to a conclusion. That's the difference.
SPEAKER 02 :
I mean, it will seem like the same thing to me. So this is the only time, I have not input anything into AI except for that. Like that. I don't. Of the devil. You're talking to the devil. That's what my grandmother would say if she were here on Earth.
SPEAKER 05 :
What would you ask AI if you just didn't care and just wanted to ask and just curious?
SPEAKER 02 :
How do I kill you?
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Hang on here.
SPEAKER 02 :
How do I kill you, AI? That's literally all I care about. How do I end you? Does that mean? I just, you know, maybe it'll give you an answer. I just put that in and it says... You're totally going to get banned.
SPEAKER 05 :
The concept of, quote, killing and artificial intelligence can be approached from several angles. Termination of AI processes, data and memory manipulation, physical destruction, disabling network access, reprogramming or misalignment, and then the legal and ethical considerations of not doing it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Aw, too bad. Don't try to appeal to my good nature, AI. Interesting. Yeah, you got to ask these questions now before it gets too smart to answer, right? Sarah Connor's judging everybody right now. Sarah Connor's up in the clouds judging all of you. You're using AI. This is going to make your life easier. And if you dislike big pharma and you dislike the Rube Goldberg machine that is our healthcare system, all family pharma is here for you because they believe in medical freedom and empowering you to take charge of your health. So for instance, when I got sick over Thanksgiving, right? And I mean, I can't get into your doctor. And if you know, do you want to go to urgent care and pay like a 200 something dollar copay when you could just literally get in touch with all family pharma dot com slash Dana and use code Dana 10 for 10 percent off your entire order. And then you know what you need. You know that you're sick. You know what medication works. You still consult with a doctor and they get it sent out to you and they can send it out to you overnight. There's no red tape. There's no hassle. It's all made in the USA. You're not getting Chinese medicine. OK, you're not getting CCP meds. And you can get comprehensive treatment options like ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine. They have antibiotics. I got a zithromycin because I had a really bad sinus infection and I was sick as a dog. And I got a zithromycin overnighted to me. And it just basically made it to where I could still see my family for Thanksgiving. So it was nice. Fast and convenient delivery. Like I said, you can let them know if you need something overnight as well. It is worth it. Visit allfamilypharma.com. AllFamilyPharma.com slash Dana and get 10% off with promo code Dana10. There is no other way to get the medicine that you need. Don't wait for Big Pharma's next excuse. Protect yourself and your family today. It's AllFamilyPharma.com slash Dana and use coupon code Dana10 to save 10%.
SPEAKER 05 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right, so first up, this is sweet. An elderly woman left a very kind note at a restaurant in Springfield, Missouri. She apparently is living in poverty. She doesn't have any family. And she wrote a note to the restaurant staff at Black Sheep Burgers and Shakes in Springfield, Missouri. The owner had offered a free burger to anyone in need on December 25th, and a neighbor told her about it. And she explained she'd been living off her Social Security. She had a downsize renting a room in a house. She said she felt like she was in college again. She was the youngest member of her family and everybody passed away and just left her alone. And so she said that a dear friend heard about the offer of a free meal, invited me out for Christmas lunch. Great idea since I was down to one dollar. She had like perfect cursive writing, by the way. And now the restaurant's inviting her to share, have a belated meal. Christmas celebration with them. So that's really nice. That's the Black Sheet Burgers and Shakes in Springfield, Missouri, which is a good place to go if you're in Springfield. All right. So the Golden State, not really Golden State anymore. California, they came in debt for five years in a row. They have been dead last for growth and they've been number one for U-Haul rentals leaving the state. Everybody is leaving them. Everybody's leaving. So for five years in a row now, that's been happening. So they're number one in people leaving, and they're last in growth. It's pretty amazing. Americans say a mysterious fog with a chemical smell is making them sick just minutes after exposure. There's parts of Texas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Florida, and Minnesota. They say it's a very unnatural fog. And it began in late December. They said that, you know, they would sneeze and then their eyes got puffy and all kinds of stuff. And they're trying to figure out what's what is it from? They said that we've had fog before, but this is not normal. And they said it's like a dirty fog. And they were even showing their air filters, showing how dirty the air filters were after. So I don't know what's and they said it has a taste and a smell. That's really weird. Hmm. Bird flu. Here we go again. They're saying there's the first bird flu death reported in a Louisiana patient. Everybody freak out. And then there's that other more panic thing. Isn't there like another thing from China that's coming? A bunch of letters. Oh, my gosh. And now there's something else. It's the norovirus. Apparently, the norovirus can spread on clothes and can survive an entire month in most conditions, which is great or it's bad, rather, if you never wash your clothes. This is so dumb. You know what the best line of defense is? Don't be nasty. Wash yo hands. Take advantage of that soap. You know what I mean? Wash them. Super easy to do. Can I sidebar real quick? Have you ever been in a public restroom and someone doesn't use the sink and soap? Do you turn into a one-person alarm system? Because I do. I'm like, are you going to go touch? I did this before. I yelled. It was like a... Bigger lady. And I was like, are you going to go touch your food if you just touched your ass? You're going to really do that? That's so nasty. Wash up. That's how norovirus spreads. And I told you already, UFC's Dana White has already joined Metta's board of directors. So there were three new members to the board. One was like an auto tycoon. And I can't remember. The other guy was, I can't remember. And then Dana White with UFC. So interesting. Interesting. So business is talking. Business is talking. They're making some moves. And I get it. I get all the arguments. Whether he wants to avoid an antitrust, invest it, whatever it is.
SPEAKER 05 :
And he's a big UFC fan.
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, I whatever motivates him. Trust if people are motivated by money, you know, their currency. Everybody's got currency. Some people's money, some people's vanity, some people's adulation, adoration, whatever it is. Always trust that. There's Senator Fisher. Because she was sworn in. All the other lawmakers were sworn in. Everybody is sworn in. Senators are sworn in. Members of Congress are sworn in. Deb Fischer is from Nebraska. And she's a Republican from Nebraska. She was sworn in yesterday. And we've got video of this. Her husband was there. He was holding the Bible on which she was going to place her hand and swear. Her husband, Bruce... And I'm not trying to be mean or anything. Juan's preparing the video. He's holding the Bible and he also has a cane. And he was, as he walked up to the dais where they were, she was going to get sworn in. And I don't know if the full, the video we have shows the full thing. But as they were walking up, because he's got, if you're looking at the video, his right hand, his right, your left hand. he's got a cane and he was leaning on it pretty heavily. I mean, you could, in some of the other videos, like his, his hand was sort of shaking when he was, when he was holding it and he was trying to hold out the Bible and the cane. So as he walked up and this video doesn't show all of it, as he walked up, And they were doing that. Kamala Harris had stuck out her hand and he was trying to figure, and you could tell that he just didn't have his balance. He was trying to figure out, do I drop the Bible or do I drop my face on the floor? What do I do? Like, should he just fall on his head and then just sort of like shake her hand all the way down? Like one of those things? Because the left, oh my gosh, they lost their mind. I don't know who this guy is. But there were a number of like Sam Stein with CNN, quote, refusing to shake the vice president's hand during the swearing in of your wife doesn't make you a badass. It just makes you kind of immature. I had asked Sam Stein, you know, maybe Bruce Fisher isn't as lucky as you are to have the three hands that you do. He only has two. So with what hand? Was he to shake hers while he was holding his Bible and his cane? And also, you're kind of the ass if you're there sticking your hand out and you can see that this frailer gentleman in front of you who is leaning heavily on his cane and trying to hold a Bible and not fall down. If you're seeing that he's struggling and you're insisting on trying to make a spectacle of it by sticking your hand out, fishing for that handshake so you can make headlines if you don't get it, you're the ass. I mean, it was just rude and the theater was so stupid. But they have been just, oh, man, like, oh, no class and all this. People were saying that he was a racist, of course. And I mean, they just that's what they were doing all day yesterday was building up a rage against this guy. And I mean, you can see all the photos and all the video. He's not trying to dodge anything. I mean, everybody started attacking this guy. including the thirsty, not really Republicans that pretend that they're Republicans so that they can get on CNN and MSNBC, those as well. I mean, the video is clear. And also, who cares? Do you honestly look? I get it that we're only pretending to be a civilized society with these formalities and traditions of manners and greetings, et cetera, et cetera. But you could not prevail upon me. to shake someone's hand when they were part of a regime that not only censored you and suppressed you and oppressed you, manipulated you and persecuted you and prosecuted you, to shake their hands so we could act like we're kissing and making up and getting along to move along. There is no way in hell that you could prevail upon me to do that. And I think that it's asking too much. After everything that this regime put this country through, she stuck out her hand and then she was like, oh, okay. No empowered woman acts like that. No woman's like, oh, I guess he doesn't want to shake my precious little baby woman hand. Oh my gosh. I'm going to withdraw my hand. Because she like made a big deal out of it. He's an older dude and he's clutching a cane and he had his Bible and everybody's trying to give him stuff and he's trying to hand stuff out. It's a little confusing. Don't be an ass. Be helpful. Right? Respect your elders. Good heavens. This is just so fruity. The way that the left examined this video all day as they were screenshot by screenshot. Some of these people see they're not getting paid by Biden anymore, so they don't have any lives. So they got to occupy their time somehow. I don't know. It's the whole thing was just infuriating to watch. But OK, I'm not nitpicking on this too much, am I? that she's sticking her hand out and then does, that ticks me off when I'm watching that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it ticks me off more because of what the media still to this very minute is trying to do. And they're still trying to push the narrative that this guy is some sort of a-hole for doing what he did and not holding a cane and a Bible at the time.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, screw that old man. He should have fallen and broken his hip. You dumb racist. How dare you not shake the Lord and Savior Vice President's
SPEAKER 05 :
It's a level of absurdity that I just can't... I don't know.
SPEAKER 02 :
Look, I get Democrats think everything's petty because to them it is. They are petty. But Duke was struggling. And I think he's also trying to reserve some dignity for himself because he's on a stage, technically, in front of a chamber. And he's helping his wife to swear. And she wants him to be there for this day. And Kamala Harris sees that he's got his hands full. Sees that it's just weird. The whole thing was weird. And I think her trying to do that was kind of performative. I do. I think that's how women are. Women do stuff like that. Women absolutely. I mean, she extends her hand. He's holding the Bible and a cane. She sees that he's holding a Bible and a cane. But she does it anyway. And then she's like... It's just petty. That's what broads do. They're petty like that. Men, you don't see this stuff that ladies do. This is what ladies do. Like, oh, I guess I'm just going to make myself the victim with one hand move. Why are Democrats always the victims? Does that ever get tiring? Do you ever get tired if you're a leftist constantly being a victim? Oh my gosh, he didn't shake my hand. Probably couldn't be because he couldn't stand up without holding his cane. Has to be because he's racist. I mean, correct. I'm not wrong. So I'm not going to say correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not even going to play the part. It's just infuriating. I feel bad for this dude. Right. I mean, there hasn't been this much drama over a cane since that one lawmaker got beaten to death on the floor with one.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, it's true. And how many times have we seen Democrats refuse to Charles Sumner?
SPEAKER 02 :
He was caned.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. You guys remember? This was back in 1856. Well, I don't remember. Senator Charles. Well, because you were not alive. Yeah, you were on a life. That's why he Charles Schumer was an anti-slavery Republican, as the Republicans were. And he was addressing the Senate and two Democrat senators got mad. Stephen Douglas, Andrew Butler, South Carolina. He said that he told Douglas to his face that he was and he was a noisome squat and a nameless animal and not a proper model for an American senator. Andrew Butler was not president. He was not present either. He was mocked. And then anyway, this other lawmaker came forward because they all got into it. It was all a big old brawl. I mean, it was like a combat zone. Preston Brooks, he was from South Carolina. He was friends with Andrew Butler. And he decided to get a cane that they would use to beat dogs. That's horrible, but that's... And he entered the old chamber. He found Sumner and began beating Sumner upside the head with his cane. So there hasn't been this much drama over a cane in the Senate since Charles Sumner was caned. For centuries. Yeah. So Kamala Harris is trying to Charles Sumner Bruce Fisher. We're going with it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thanks for tuning in to today's edition of Dana Lash's Absurd Truth Podcast. If you haven't already, make sure to hit that subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
In this episode, we dive into an insightful coverage of Donald Trump's live remarks from Mar-a-Lago where he delves into topics ranging from the proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, to critical updates on foreign diplomacy and hostage negotiations. With a humorous take on press interactions and a critical analysis of the Biden administration's strategies, the episode provides a comprehensive overview of current political affairs. As Trump discusses international policies and deals, we gain unique insights into the intricacies of foreign relations and leadership dynamics.
SPEAKER 04 :
Liberty Nation with Mark Angelides.
SPEAKER 14 :
The tinderbox in the Middle East is set to inflame. What could Joe Biden have done differently to prevent the coming storm? You'll find out on Liberty Nation Radio.
SPEAKER 04 :
Author, columnist, managing editor of LibertyNation.com. Podcast host and conservative policy advocate. We dismiss history at our peril. Liberty Nation with Mark Angelides.
SPEAKER 21 :
We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring that covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name. And it's appropriate.
SPEAKER 13 :
It's appropriate. We're going to be... So that was just one. Trump's taking questions right now from the press. And I do want to go to some of this if we could pull it up. But that's like the soundbite that I had to immediately come to. You know what, though? First off, welcome to the program. Dana Lash with you. Top of the first hour here on Tuesday. I did double check. Why isn't it the Gulf of America? I mean, I'm just asking. But I'm going to come back to this because why? He's taking questions right now. He's speaking from Mar-a-Lago. And he's gone over everything from Greenland to Canada to tariffs to China. What is he on now? Let's just go. I want to listen live a little bit. And then we got a lot of stuff to get to. So this is Trump live right now.
SPEAKER 21 :
He's a guy I like. Respect. I think he respects me also. He's the one that didn't go after certain people after I requested that he not. You know who I'm talking about? The Kurds. I don't know how long that's going to, because they're natural enemies. They hate each other. But he didn't do that yet. And he didn't do it in the past also. He started, and I said, please don't do that. And he didn't do it. But if you look at what happened with Syria, Russia was weakened. Iran was weakened. And he's a very smart guy. And he sent his people in there through different forms and different names. And they went in and they took over. And that's the way it is. I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt you. Do you have concerns about HDS taking control? By the way, I have the envoy here. Is that in the back? It is. Standing with my son, Eric, is Steve Witkoff, who's just got back from the Middle East. And he's done a fantastic job. He's a... He's a great dealmaker. I said, what we need there is a dealmaker because nobody makes a deal. We have people that understand where the rivers are and where the meets and bounds are, but they can't talk. They can't make deals. Steve's done a great job. I just want to thank you, Steve. You've been working endlessly for months, and he's working specifically on the hostages, trying to get them back. Well, that was my second question. Steve, come up for a second. Maybe you might want to say a couple of words. I didn't... I didn't know Steve was going to be here, actually. Never did I. He's done a fantastic job, and it's a dangerous job, too, and we appreciate it. He didn't know about this kind of danger and the other deal-making he does. Now he sees a lot of big danger. Come on up, Steve.
SPEAKER 20 :
Mr. President, can I ask you a second part of that? Hamas rules out the hostage video. Just one second.
SPEAKER 21 :
I'm going to give you a little report on the hostages if I can, Steve. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President.
SPEAKER 18 :
Wow. Well, I think we're making a lot of progress. And I don't want to say too much because I think they're doing a really good job back in Doha. I'm leaving tomorrow back to go to Doha. But I think that we've had some really great progress. And I'm really hopeful that by the inaugural, we'll have some good things to announce on behalf of the president. I actually believe that we're working in tandem in a really good way. But it's the president, his reputation, the things that he has said that are driving this negotiation. And so hopefully, it'll all work out and we'll save some lives. I believe we've been on the verge of it. I don't want to discuss sort of what's delayed it. There's no point to be to be negative in any way. But I think it's the president, his stature, what he said he expects, the red lines he's put out there, that's driving this negotiation. I'm going back probably either this evening or tomorrow night.
SPEAKER 20 :
Are you confident there will be a deal before January 20th? Or is that something that's likely to happen if there's a deal even at all? We've been hearing this now for... So now they're talking about the hostages and all that.
SPEAKER 13 :
We're going to continue monitoring this press conference that Trump is giving for Mar-a-Lago. And, you know, if he when he when he goes back to speaking, we'll dive into it. But it's been I mean, he's had a very busy it's been a packed speech so far. And I like how instead of the reporter was asking about the hostages and he's like, I'm going to bring up, you know, one of my foreign policy wonks here and we're going to we're going to talk. So it's it's it's is it weird to see press conferences and presidents again? I don't know what to do. I know. What what do we do? We watch them. It's weird. It's almost like we just don't know what to do with them anymore. We haven't had them in so long. Where the hell is Biden? He's like signing away. He's like commuting sentences for death row inmates and all this stuff. I don't know what the hell the guy's doing. He's out to pasture. He has been retired. They've retired him. He's no longer. It's just so weird because he's the sitting president, but he's not. And he's trying to, as Cain noted, and we made mention of this yesterday, he's trying to sabotage as much as absolutely possible. Whether he's going to try to tie up energy, whatever it is, they're trying to sabotage as much as possible. But I don't know if it's so much as Biden as it's all of the underlings, is the word I'm looking for, all of the underlings with him, right? That's really what it is. It's just weird. I don't know. I've never seen anything like it, and I just want to sit here with it for a minute because I've never seen anything like it before. It's really weird, isn't it? Is it not? So odd. And I like how Trump is still talking. He's not even at the lectern, and he's talking. That guy's just standing there by the lectern. Okay, so a lot to discuss, but first up, the... Again, a number of things. I just it is amazing to see because we had this this the headline with that's what I woke up to was Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg coming out with a statement saying that they're changing some things over at to Facebook's audio soundbite nine. Listen to this.
SPEAKER 22 :
back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms more specifically we're going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to x starting in the u.s so community notes i or you can just not do anything don't
SPEAKER 13 :
Because community notes are also annoying because that's where everybody gets in and they all argue with each other. Kane, you've seen it. They all argue with each other and it's really annoying. So why do we even need anything? Now, I will say. And I'm of actually just one thought on this. I do think that this means the tide is turning. Now, before people freak out, because there are people hellbent on Twitter. They are such drama queens that they will argue over anything. They will literally become flat earth and argue flat earth just to have something to argue. I don't know who these people are. I kind of want to knock their heads together. But that's me. I do think the tide is turning. Now, and I think that free speech is becoming cool again. Like, for instance, I said that I was discussing how, you know, I've been censored on Facebook more. Oh, my gosh, more times than I can count. How many times did we get flagged by Facebook? It's like something that's pretty frequent, right? Yeah, all the time. And so it's. I think that this is significant that he's making this change. I don't think it's something that it's a political motivation. I think it's more of a business motivation. And I don't care if the tide is turning because money's making a turn. That's also incredibly significant because that means the market's responding to something. So you can't discount it either way. If he had and I don't really care. I don't care if he had a genuine political conversion. I just don't care. I'm almost past the point of persuasion. Right. Just don't care. But this, you know, whether he's this change is significant. Because those fact checkers are annoying. And it's like, who are you? At least with community notes, you know, it's one of the it's one of the peanut gallery that's that's there with you. I don't know. It's just going to be it'll be interesting to see how it works. But my point is that the tide still turning regardless the reason why. And the market responding to it is incredibly significant. So that's, you know, I don't know. Some people are just, you know, they're mad there. Well, he there's no I don't I don't want him to join my team. I don't care if he joins my team. I just don't want him to put a finger on the scale. You see what I mean? I don't want him to put a finger on the scale at all. I'm not about trying to be best friends with him. I'm not about trying to be like the woke right and elevate him to like a messiah level position because he said one thing that wasn't entirely wrong. I don't want to do any of that. I just don't want him to put his finger on the scale. I'm a big kid. I can take care of my own self. I just don't need him to be involved. So... You know these notes are going to be horrendous. I will add this, too. That it is curious to me that Zuckerberg has had a limit on how much he was willing to accommodate from China in order to have access to China's market. That is significant. Because remember, Facebook is not allowed in China. China has their own Facebook account. And that's not to say that Zuckerberg didn't, to an extent, try to ingratiate himself in with China. Oh, he absolutely did. But I think that there was a limitation as to how far he was going to go with China. It's interesting because I feel like he compromised more with the Biden regime than he did with Xi Jinping. You know, because Xi Jinping calls himself a communist. That makes it better, apparently. I don't know. But at least with the Chinese commies... He actually had a limit on how far he was willing to go in order to have access to their market, which was none. But meanwhile, here we all know what they ended up doing. They donated a lot to far-left causes. And I don't mind somebody donating their own money to how they see fit. I think money is speech. Otherwise, I wouldn't have supported Citizens United. However, the... excuse that I didn't know this was happening when it came out that all of your tech workers at your company were bending a knee to request from the government to suppress users of your platform. When you own the company, there is no excuse. There is none, none. And so I think that regardless of him, in spite of him, really, It just feels like the pendulum is swinging because the market is being forced to correct itself with regards to speech. So don't think that this is like him having this religious restoration or somehow this new discovery of his personal allegiance. He's making a business move. But again, that is not insignificant because the market's responding. We have a lot more to get into. Trump is speaking. We're going to we're going to revisit it. We're also going to get into a lot of this latest, including some of those bills now moving in in Congress. We'll touch on all of that. 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SPEAKER 12 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 13 :
So Amazon has made a deal for a Melania Trump documentary and it scored a whopping $40 million to license it. It's going to be directed by Brett Ratner and it's going to be her documentary plus another undisclosed project She's already doing more work than Harry and Meghan. Just saying. She's already doing way more work than Harry and Meghan. So that's going to be, that'll be interesting to see. Also, move over Mudang, because you guys know I love the pygmy baby hippo. The baby pygmy hippo? Pygmy baby hippo? Hippo pygmy baby? I don't know. But now a U.S. zoo has its own. I made mention of this yesterday. It's the Metro Richmond Zoo. They have a newborn baby pygmy hippo, and they named it Poppy. The mother's name is Iris. And so they named it Poppy, the googly eyed pygmy baby hippo. And baby Poppy was born on December 9th. 15 pounds, 15 pound whopping little baby pygmy hippo. Adorable. Anyway, so and interestingly enough, Poppy is Mudang's cousin.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, they're all related.
SPEAKER 13 :
They know it's like good news for the day. I don't know. Let's see this. I did not know what. OK, Biden signed a bill making the bald eagle officially the bird of the US. Why wasn't this already done? I remember a story from my weekly reader when I was in elementary school where we narrowly missed having the turkey as our national bird. I'm like, thank heavens for that. Because that bird's weird. And it's all weird up in space. Anyway, so I thought this was already a thing. How is this not? They said, well, you know, there's one piece from Lee Valley Live. They have a story on a 25-year-old bald eagle. A 25-year-old bald eagle. This bald eagle has lived longer than most people. Well, not most people, but a lot of people. Just wild. Anyway, so it's a national bird now. I just I thought that it was already a thing. I didn't know it wasn't. We still have more updates on the dangerous cold pattern. So it is officially 30 degrees here in Texas. I'm wearing turtlenecks until it stops it. Because I can't function like this. I can't live. Like, how do people, how in the world, like, how do they go to the Arctic? No way. I hate ice. No. But anyway, eastern half of the United States, super dangerous cold weather pattern. Apparently, Dallas is going to get anywhere from two to five inches of snow. Snow. It'll be just probably me here in the studio all by myself Thursday and Friday. So that'll be fun. Vegans, they said, are most likely to be depressed, according to a study. Sad little vegans. UK biobank research found vegans are at higher risk of anxiety and depression because they drink plant-based milk. They don't drink milk. They drink plants that have been mixed with dirty water. That's what it is. You're not drinking plant-based milk. You're drinking plant juice mixed with dirty water. And it's nasty. So nasty. So, of course, you're depressed because that's what you... You have to only eat rabbit food and drink plant juice with dirty water all day. It's so sad. I'm almost sad. I'm sad for them. Sad adjacent. We got a lot more on the way, including the Danish king is now trying to troll Trump. Because everybody's mad over Greenland? I don't know. It's 2025. Just stay with us. Pain can really affect your life, so you should consider a New Year's resolution. And it's not about taking it easy or slowing down. It's about making 2025 the year of feeling good again, the year of doing more and living more and waking up excited every day. And you can do it by trying Relief Factor. Relief Factor is a 100% drug-free daily supplement that helps your body fight pain naturally. Developed by doctors, it works by supporting your body's response to inflammation. And Relief Factor doesn't just mask pain for a short time, it helps to eliminate it. It's like turning back the clock on pain so you can feel like you did years ago. Whether it's neck, back, joint, or muscle pain, Relief Factor can help you feel better. Become one of the over 1 million people that have turned to Relief Factor. Trying Relief Factor is easy. Get their three-week quick start for just $19.95. That's less than a dollar a day. Call 1-800-4-RELIEF. Whether it's neck, back, joint, or muscle pain, Relief Factor can help you feel better. That's 1-800-4-RELIEF or visit relieffactor.com.
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Superman derives his power from the yellow sun. DC politicians get their power by giving handouts. In 1913, the tax code was 400 pages long. Today, it's 75,000. This is how politicians derive their power. Check out the Watchdog on Wall Street podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.
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SPEAKER 18 :
Better get done by the inaugural.
SPEAKER 20 :
But when you say all hell must be paid, they don't release the hostages.
SPEAKER 21 :
Do I have to define it for you? All hell will break out. If those hostages aren't back, I don't want to hurt your negotiation. If they're not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East. And it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don't have to say anymore, but that's what it is. Welcome back.
SPEAKER 13 :
Double entendre. Yeah, welcome back. Dana, last year with you, bottom of this first hour. I felt like he was going to say, what do you mean, how to define that? What size of boot can your ass accommodate? You tell me. I'm curious as to if he actually would have... I mean, you're a journalist. Oh, wait, that's right. You don't have any imagination. The press that he was asking... Give me the audio of the one guy that... that was asking him about a strike on Iran. And he was trying, he was goading Trump, trying to get Trump to answer it. And Trump's like, no, it's a stupid question. And it's a stupid question because the only stupid person would answer it. It's just funny. I just, I feel like Biden tries to have that kind of energy when he's calling people fat and dog-faced pony soldier and all of that other stuff. But it's not the same it's not the same but this was this was funny it was kind of it was pretty funny this whole yeah let me know if you knew you have that but he's giving his room he's still giving remarks uh he's taking questions at mar-a-lago he's still uh answering some of the questions uh there at uh mar-a-lago so he's uh let's dive into i just want to hear one more bit of it one more bit and then while you find that audio for me i just want to hear what he's because he's been going on for like over a half hour out of the military
SPEAKER 21 :
So listen live, real quick. Over 500 miles of wall. Much of that wall was built through money that I put into the military. We took it out because we couldn't get things from Congress in those days, and we took it out. And that wall was built largely with money coming from the military. So very simple. I went to the military. I said, our country is being invaded. by very similar, nothing like what's invading our country now. They weren't releasing prisons into our country, and they weren't releasing mental institutions in, but some bad dudes were coming in, right? And I said, our country's being invaded. And I took that money largely from the military. I was sued nine times by the Democrats in Congress, and I won all those suits. And we ended up building 571 miles of wall. Once that wall was built, They start going around it. So we're going to add another 200. That would have been up in three weeks. And then we had a very unfortunate election result. And they said, we don't want to put it up. We'll sell it. And they started selling it for five cents on the dollar. So we'll do this again. I just want to thank everybody very much. I'm just telling you, this will be the golden age of America. This is the golden age of America.
SPEAKER 13 :
So he's concluding his remarks there, Mar-a-Lago, talking with members of the press. That's the president talking with members of the press and answering their questions. It's been very interesting. I am... I did love that exchange. Please give me that exchange if you have it. You just had it. You just had it. You were playing it for me on break. Oh, it's I know. But it's so it's so funny. So while that's been happening, like I said, there was the news that that Facebook is changing some of their I'm pulling up his statement that they're changing some of their some of their rules. Now, what does that mean? I don't know. They put out more speech and fewer mistakes, is what he said in his video. And that he wrote an... The chief global affairs officer over at Meta published an editorial on their own site about it. And... They were discussing free expression. They're ending third-party fact-checking programs, and they're moving to community notes. This is what X has. They said they're allowing more speech and developing complex systems to manage content that are not going to be as complicated for them to enforce, etc. They said that they don't want too restrictive and too prone to over-enforcement. They're trying to get away from that. A personalized approach to political content, etc., etc. I mean, Facebook is a very different platform from X, so we'll see how it goes. And the way that the press has reacted, I don't know if you've seen some of these headlines. It's they're they're saying, quote, this is wait, this is Rolling Stone. Mark Zuckerberg and Meta are finding new ways to kiss Trump's ass. That's literally a headline over Rolling Stone. Here's CNN. Meta gets rid of fact checkers. Zuckerberg acknowledged more harmful content will appear on the platforms now. He didn't say more harmful content. CNN's like, more harmful content. How does CNN define more harmful content? Content with which they disagree. If it's a threat to our opinion, then it's dangerous because they're too lazy to articulate a defense of their position. So the easy way out for them is to allege that their opposition, their ideological opposition is simply dangerous. And therefore, they're trying to do a two birds, one stone. They're trying to not only smear their ideological opponents, but they're also trying to smear anyone who would agree with their ideological opponents because good and moral, upright, just people. don't want to be known as being using or endorsing anything that's considered dangerous, right? That's their whole point of doing this kind of stuff. They're cowards. These people are ideological cowards. They create for themselves these little ivory towers and they sit there and they absolutely refuse to entertain any kind or to even make a defense of their own positions. I kind of wonder how... resolutely the left is in their position if they are so unwilling to defend it really the headlines have been crazy of course a lot of this changed recently and then it was announced that Dana White UFC's Dana White is joining Meta's board they added three board members including UFC's Dana White they also added a tech investor and an auto tycoon so interesting so this I mean, I don't know if that had that much. I think that may have been also part of just another felt consequence of the market shifting. But regardless of why they're doing it, the pendulum is swinging the other way. I have stories on all these different companies that are dropping DEI, for instance. McDonald's is the latest company to walk away from DEI initiatives. I don't care if it's, you have to realize something. There are people out there, and I've seen them in my mentions, that say none of this matters because they're just doing it for the money. Do you not realize what a myopic statement that is? Of course they're doing it for the money. But don't diminish how unbelievably difficult it is to change market conditions to make companies do this stuff. And I feel like the people who are trying to downplay this and say, oh, it's just him after money. I don't really feel like they understand the situation or market and culture. Because, of course, it's about the money. No one goes into business just to give product and time and service away. But do you realize how unbelievably hard it is to change the winds for companies? That you can actually... With demand. Change how a market is operating. And that's exactly what's happening here. Two major tech companies. Three technically. If you want to open Amazon and Washington Post. So regardless the motivation. I even think the fact that there. It's one thing to be politically ideological yourself. But it's another thing. To shift your company. to do what we're seeing like with Facebook. So I don't care if it's, I don't care if he's, I don't care what his politics are. Like I said earlier, I just don't want him to have a finger on the scale. But I think it's actually exponentially harder to change company behavior than it is just the ideals of the owner. So I think that this is incredibly significant. Now time will tell. But being a fascist doesn't pay. Being a commie doesn't pay. No one is ever purely fascistic or purely communist because it's a grift. It's what stupid progressives do because they think it sounds cool, but they actually still engage in capitalism. No, none of that stuff. Tyranny doesn't pay. These people want to get paid. Freedom will follow. I mean, money follows freedom. So that's what they're doing here. People want more speech, not less speech. They want fewer rules, not more rules. They don't want all the restrictions. And that's what Facebook is doing. And I do think it's significant to change. And it's not just Facebook. It's Amazon. It's been X. It's been all of these companies that are now walking away from all of these DEI initiatives. DEI is now cringe, even amongst the left. It's cringe. It's really it's embarrassing. They're going to look back on that as a horrible footnote in their history. Progressive history. It's just embarrassing. But the pendulum is swinging. All right, we got that audio. I want to play this audio for you. This was when Trump was being asked about the Iran strike by this reporter. He just told, I mean, some things just need to be said. Listen.
SPEAKER 20 :
The last time you were here, you were asked a question about the U.S. possibly launching. A preemptive strike on Iran. You said you wouldn't answer that question. But who? Obviously, on Iran. The U.S. launching a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
SPEAKER 21 :
And I said, I don't talk about it.
SPEAKER 20 :
It's a military strategy. But it is a legitimate question.
SPEAKER 21 :
Well, it's not really, because only a stupid person would answer it. Look, it's a military strategy, and I'm not answering your questions on military strategy.
SPEAKER 13 :
I mean, only a stupid question, only a stupid person would answer it. I mean, it's true. They're trying to get him to go on. He's like, I'm not playing this game. I'm not doing it. I'm not. No, I'm not doing this. It's funny. That's funny. It's so different from Biden, who's I don't know where he is or what he's doing. Democrats were patting themselves on their back yesterday because they participated in certifying the election results. Do you remember? It was like the 80s the last time that. Democrats didn't object to a Republican certification. It was George W. Bush's dad. Wasn't that the last election? Because they objected to everything since they objected to W. They object. I mean, they've objected to everybody. So for them to act like, oh, look at us. We just went and we certified these election results. I think it was H.W. Bush. I think that was, and it was in the 80s. I think that was the last time that they did not object to a Republican certification of a Republican president. They're not going to tell you that. Well, and the reason I bring this up is they had tweeted this. Yesterday, House Democrats and Senate and everybody else, they were tweeting, and that's how you certify an election. Like, look what we did. But they ignore the hanging chads and all the lawsuits. I mean, you realize how long those lawsuits went with Gore v. Bush? It was crazy. I only know what a hanging chad is because of that whole stupid drama following the election. Those were the little... like when you would punch a hole out in a ballot and it's the, how do you, it's okay. So imagine you have a donut, but the hole is still in it and you punch out the donut hole. So the hole that's getting punched out is technically the chad, right? Hanging chad means it wasn't entirely separated from that. That's how they referred to it, these ballots. So when you were punching out holes, they had to literally look and inspect every single one of them to see whether or not the little part that was punched out, the chad, was hanging still. And didn't they actually come up with a rule like so much of it actually had to be separated? It was so stupid. They had lawyers litigating every preposition and conjunction and everything. It was just ridiculous. So I don't want to hear it from Democrats. I don't want to hear it from them at all. That's how you win an election. All right. We got more to come as we roll towards the conclusion of this first hour. And we'll be... Like I said, we'll bring you all the latest with all the other developments. We've got some silly stuff to get into as well as we move our partners that help bring you the program. Ooh, just in time. Tax Network USA. First off, the government theft agency, I'm sorry, the IRS, they are very, very aggressive in making sure that they get the money that you have earned that they contributed nothing to. And so as a result, Tax Network USA, it's the top tax relief expert. They've secured over a billion dollars in tax relief for clients. They're offering, they have penalty forgiveness, hardship programs. They have in-compromise solutions for lump sum settlements, whether you owe 10,000 or 10 million. The experts at Tax Network USA. are there to help you can uh schedule a complimentary consultation by calling 1-800-958-1000 you can also visit tnusa.com slash dana and i mean it is collection season the irs is in full collections mode and if you need personalized support tax network usa should be your your first call risk-free solutions for you to reduce or eliminate your debt and they have a proven success record To schedule your complimentary consultation, call 1-800-958-1000 or visit TNUSA.com slash Dana. That's TNUSA.com slash Dana. And that's Tax Network USA. Take charge of your financial future with their help. TNUSA.com slash Dana.
SPEAKER 06 :
Get the lowdown on the latest news with a side of laughs whenever you want. Subscribe to the Dana Show podcast on YouTube, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast.
SPEAKER 11 :
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of the United States.
SPEAKER 19 :
Poor Kamala Harris, you know, because she's vice president and president of the Senate, she had to give the official sign-off on Trump's win, which that is cruel and unusual. I mean, this is like, it's like making your ex DJ your wedding to your new... It's her job.
SPEAKER 13 :
I mean, is she a big, empowered woman or not, right? I mean, can you believe she did that? It's her job. It's her J-O-B. He's clueless and not funny. Yeah. When is he ever funny? I don't know. He wasn't even funny. Like, the only reason he was even close to funny is because he stood next to Adam Carolla when they did the man show.
SPEAKER 12 :
Because he was an adult being juvenile.
SPEAKER 13 :
The women's boobs that flopped on the trampoline in the closing credits of that show were smarter than Jimmy Kimmel is.
SPEAKER 12 :
I'd have to agree with you.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. Didn't know I was... Yeah, it's new year, new me. Telling you. I can't stand him. He just seems like he's insufferable. I can't insult him enough.
SPEAKER 12 :
It's like he's an energy vampire. It's like he feeds off of people not liking him. It's weird.
SPEAKER 13 :
In a way, if he was a person, it would be him. Like he's the son of and that's Jimmy Kimmel.
SPEAKER 12 :
I can't unhear that.
SPEAKER 13 :
No, you can't. It's really difficult. Can't unsee him. You know, just his skinny little tie makes his net look fatter. Anyway, move on. I don't like him in case you can't tell. I know. I tell you what. But that's her job. That's Kamala Harris's job. Oh, my gosh. We are going to. So coming up and I forgot to put this on the rundown. We have to go. The left lost their minds, lost their minds yesterday. You guys, I thought I didn't know it was going to be this early in the new year. They all defecated their drawers over this old man. Sorry, elderly gentleman. Who was holding a cane and a Bible. And Kamala Harris was not reading the room because she's a moron. And she's like, are you going to shake my hand? And the guy was like, well, let's see. Do I drop the Bible on the floor or fall down? Which are my choices here. All of the left went after this Senator Fisher's husband because he did not drop his cane and fall on his face and I guess shake Kamala Harris's hand on his way down. I don't know. We have to talk because the left has been trashing this guy for 24 hours. I didn't realize that they hate people with disabilities so much, but they do apparently. We they Zapruder level scrutiny of this of this video that they've had. We're going to talk about that coming up. Stick with us a whole other hours on the way as we move our partners that help bring you the program. It's our friends over at Super Beats. The Super Breen product is I mean, this is a product that it's I mean, it's kind of new for them. It's like one of the new one of the new ones that they've done. But the Super Bering product is helping with your metabolic health. It's helping with your, you know, your overall like blood pressure, et cetera, et cetera. And it's made by the makers of Super Beats. And so the berberine that they use, it's, you know, like a super nice berberine. And. as you know because of this it's easy to absorb it's easy to work in the body and it's just a great I mean it's just a good product and it's something that you just one capsule a day it's super easy to take and that's all it is so with the with your healthy blood sugar levels as well that's also something really important that a lot of people overlook and this is one of the things that super green will target you get real results it's super convenient used by doctors And it's easy to get. You just go to Sam's Club and get it right at Sam's Club. You can save on the Super Beats hard shoes. And you can also get the new Super Breen from the same company. And you're going to like the way that it makes you feel. So they have the Super Beats hard shoes there. And they also have the new Super Breen product at Sam's Club. Welcome back to the program. Dana Lash with you at the top of the second hour. And we've been... There's a lot of stuff to touch on today. It's also 10 years since the Charlie Hebdo terror attack. You guys remember that, right? After that, it was the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists and their writers that were targeted by Islamists and they were murdered. I can't believe it's been a decade. That's just kind of wild to me that it's been that long. They ended up I mean, they stood their ground and it was what, I mean, 10 years ago. Just wild. Kane and I were talking about this. Kane has a conspiracy theory about it. Share it with everybody, Kane.
SPEAKER 12 :
What did these...
SPEAKER 13 :
And this is in context with the Hebdo stuff.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, that they choose historical dates to create their atrocities. Like, you know, October 7th was a date for them. And I know that there's a date coming up in 1991 when we went in to Iraq. It was January 17th of 1991. Now, January 17th is coming up, obviously. So it's, I don't know. There's a lot to look at before we get to January 20th, I guess is my point.
SPEAKER 13 :
Interesting. So you're saying that just timing. Yeah. Interesting. So yeah, 10 years. It was January 7th, 2015. They forced their way into the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo. They killed 12, the staff cartoonists, the writers, and 11 were wounded, four of them seriously. So it's pretty... I mean, gosh... That kind of made everybody sort of, I think everybody kind of checked themselves in terms of the threat of Islamism, which still exists. It still exists. So 10 years for that. I wanted to shift gears here. I talked about this last hour, right as we were heading out to break. It's quite early in the new year for the insane amount of outrage that the left has been demonstrating over every little thing. But, you know, they did it again yesterday. There's Senator Fisher is because, you know, she was sworn in all of the other all the other lawmakers were sworn. They were everybody swears is sworn in. Senators are sworn in. Members of Congress are sworn in. Deb Fisher's from Nebraska and she's a Republican from Nebraska. She was sworn in yesterday. And we've got video of this. Her husband was there. He was holding the Bible on which she was going to place her hand and swear. Her husband, Bruce, and I'm not trying to be mean or anything. Juan's preparing the video. He's holding the Bible and he also has a cane. And he was, as he walked up to the dais where they were, she was going to get sworn in. and I don't know if the video we have shows the full thing, but as they were walking up, because he's got, if you're looking at the video, his right hand, his right, your left, he's got a cane, and he was leaning on it pretty heavily. I mean, you could, in some of the other videos, his hand was sort of shaking when he was holding it, and he was trying to hold out the Bible and the cane. So as he walked up, and this video doesn't show all of it, as he walked up, And they were doing that. Kamala Harris had stuck out her hand and he was trying to figure and you could tell that he just didn't have his balance. He was trying to figure out, do I drop the Bible or do I drop my face on the floor? What do I do? Like, should he just fall on his head and then just sort of like shake her hand all the way down? Like one of those things. Because the left. Oh, my gosh. They lost their mind. I don't know who this guy is. But there were a number of like Sam Stein with CNN, quote, refusing to shake the vice president's hand during the swearing in of your wife doesn't make you a badass. It just makes you kind of immature. I had asked Sam Stein, you know, maybe Bruce Fisher isn't as lucky as you are to have the three hands that you do. He only has two. So with what hand? Was he to shake hers while he was holding his Bible and his cane? And also, you're kind of the ass if you're there sticking your hand out and you can see that this frailer gentleman in front of you who is leaning heavily on his cane and trying to hold a Bible and not fall down. If you're seeing that he's struggling and you're insisting on trying to make a spectacle of it by sticking your hand out, fishing for that handshake so you can make headlines if you don't get it, you're the ass. I mean, it was just rude and the theater was so stupid. But they have been just, oh, man, like, oh, no class and all this. People were saying that he was a racist, of course. And I mean, they just that's what they were doing all day yesterday was building up a rage against this guy. And I mean, you can see all the photos and all the video. He's not trying to dodge anything. I mean, everybody started attacking this guy. including the thirsty, not really Republicans that pretend that they're Republicans so that they can get on CNN and MSNBC, those as well. I mean, the video is clear. And also, who cares? Do you honestly look? I get it that we're only pretending to be a civilized society with these formalities and traditions of manners and greetings, et cetera, et cetera. But you could not prevail upon me. to shake someone's hand when they were part of a regime that not only censored you and suppressed you and oppressed you, manipulated you and persecuted you and prosecuted you, to shake their hands so we could act like we're kissing and making up and getting along to move along. There is no way in hell that you could prevail upon me to do that. And I think that it's asking too much. After everything that this regime put this country through, she stuck out her hand and then she was like, oh, okay. No empowered woman acts like that. No woman's like, oh, I guess he doesn't want to shake my precious little baby woman hand. Oh my gosh. I'm going to withdraw my hand. Because she like made a big deal out of it. He's an older dude and he's clutching a cane and he had his Bible and everybody's trying to give him stuff and he's trying to hand stuff out. It's a little confusing. Don't be an ass. Be helpful. Right? Respect your elders. Good heavens. It's just so fruity. The way that the left examined this video all day. There were screenshot by screenshot. Some of these people see they're not getting paid by Biden anymore, so they don't have any lives. So they got to occupy their time somehow. I don't know. It's the whole thing was just infuriating to watch. But OK, I'm not nitpicking on this too much, am I? that she's sticking her hand out and then does, that ticks me off when I'm watching that.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, it ticks me off more because of what the media still to this very minute is trying to do. And they're still trying to push the narrative that this guy is some sort of a-hole for doing what he did and not holding a cane and a Bible at the time.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, screw that old man. He should have fallen and broken his hip. You dumb racist. How dare you not shake the Lord and Savior Vice President. level of absurdity that I just can't I don't know look I get Democrats think everything's petty because to them it is they are petty but Duke was struggling and I think he's also trying to reserve some dignity for himself because he's on a stage technically in front of a chamber and he's helping his wife to swear and she wants him to be there for this day and Kamala Harris sees that he's got his hands full Sees that it's just weird. The whole thing was weird. And I think her trying to do that was kind of performative. I do. I think that's how women are. Women do stuff like that. Women absolutely. I mean, she extends her hand. He's holding the Bible and a cane. She sees that he's holding a Bible and a cane. But she does it anyway. And then she's like... It's just petty. That's what broads do. They're petty like that. Men, you don't see this stuff that ladies do. This is what ladies do. Like, oh, I guess I'm just going to make myself the victim with one hand move. Why are Democrats always the victims? Does it ever get tiring? Do you ever get tired if you're a leftist constantly being a victim? Oh my gosh, he didn't shake my hand. Probably couldn't be because he couldn't stand up without holding his cane. Has to be because he's racist. I mean, I'm not wrong, so I'm not going to say correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not even going to play the part. It's just infuriating. I feel bad for this dude. Right? I mean, there hasn't been this much drama over a cane since that one lawmaker got beaten to death on the floor with one.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, it's true. And how many times have we seen Democrats refuse to shake hands?
SPEAKER 13 :
Charles Sumner. He was caned.
SPEAKER 12 :
Is that who?
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes. You guys remember this is back in 1856. Well, I don't remember Senator Charles. Well, because you were not alive. Yeah, you were on a life. That's why he Charles Schumer was an anti-slavery Republican, as the Republicans were. And he was addressing the Senate and two Democrat senators got mad. Stephen Douglas, Andrew Butler, South Carolina. He said that he told Douglas to his face that he was and he was a noisome squat and a nameless animal and not a proper model for an American senator. Andrew Butler was not president. He was not present. He was mocked. And then anyway, they this other lawmaker came forward because they all got new. It was all a big old brawl. I mean, it was like a combat zone. Preston Brooks, he was from South Carolina. He was friends with Andrew Butler and he decided to get a cane that they would use to beat dogs. That's horrible, but that's and he entered the old chamber. He found Sumner and began beating Sumner upside the head with his cane. So there hasn't been this much drama over a cane in the Senate since Charles Sumner was caned.
SPEAKER 12 :
For centuries.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. So Kamala Harris is trying to Charles Sumner Bruce Fisher. We're going with it. Just saying. All right. We got more on the way as we rolled. And our partners over at Burn a Gun, the non-firearm firearm. And it's always good to diversify your self-defense arsenal because, you know, I would love to. I carry all the time and I have zero problem using lethal force. You come at me, UFA, UFO. That's kind of how I look at it. But I know that there are areas that are gun-free zones or gun-free buildings, private property or whatever it is. And sometimes, you know, you don't have the luxury of declining to go there. Maybe you got to go there as part of your job, but you also don't want to be a statistic. This is where burn a gun comes in. Stun guns, regular ones, are restricted to like one or two shots. Burna's most popular model, the Burna SD, has a five-round capacity and shoots chemical-irrident projectiles that can disable threats from up to 50 feet away. They have a whole carry bundle that you can get. This is a great holiday gift, too, by the way. You can get defense spray. They have an LA Launcher carry bundle. They got all kinds of stuff. But it provides to you... Instant readiness, no recoil, easy target acquisition. It's legal in all 50 states. No background checks, no permits. They can ship it right to your front porch and it doesn't care about gun-free zone signs. It's an effective deterrent. And it's another option that you can have for self-defense, particularly when the state's trying to deny you or maybe a property owner wants to deny you. You can visit Byrna.com slash Dana and get 10% off your purchase. That's Byrna.com slash Dana for 10% off.
SPEAKER 12 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 13 :
All right, so first up, this is sweet. An elderly woman left a very kind note at a restaurant in Springfield, Missouri. She apparently is living in poverty. She doesn't have any family. And she wrote a note to the restaurant staff at Black Sheep Burgers and Shakes in Springfield, Missouri. The owner had offered a free burger to anyone in need on December 25th, and a neighbor told her about it. And she explained she'd been living off her Social Security. She had a downsized renting a room in a house. She said she felt like she was in college again. She was the youngest member of her family and everybody passed away and just left her alone. And so she said that a dear friend heard about the offer of a free meal, invited me out for Christmas lunch. Great idea since I was down to one dollar. She had like perfect cursive writing, by the way. And now the restaurant's inviting her to share, have a belated Christmas celebration with them. So that's really nice. That's the Black Sheet Burgers and Shakes in Springfield, Missouri, which is a good place to go if you're in Springfield. All right. So. The Golden State, not really Golden State anymore. California, they came in debt. So for five years in a row, they have been dead last for growth. And they've been number one for U-Haul rentals leaving the state. Everybody is leaving them. Everybody's leaving. So for five years in a row now, that's been happening. So they're number one in people leaving and they're last in growth. It's pretty amazing. Americans say mysterious fog with a chemical smell is making them sick just minutes after exposure. There's parts of Texas, Wisconsin, Iowa, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Florida and Minnesota. They say it's a very unnatural fog and it began in late December. They said that, you know, they would sneeze and then their eyes got puffy and all kinds of stuff. And they're trying to figure out what's what is it from? They said that we've had fog before, but this is not normal. And they said it's like a dirty fog. And they were even showing their air filters, showing how dirty the air filters were after. So I don't know what's and they said it has a taste and a smell. That's really weird. Hmm. Bird flu. Here we go again. They're saying there's the first bird flu death reported in a Louisiana patient. Everybody freak out. And then there's that other more panic thing. Isn't there like another thing from China that's coming? A bunch of letters. Oh my gosh. And now there's something else. It's the norovirus. Apparently the norovirus can spread on clothes and can survive an entire month in most conditions, which is great or it's bad rather if you never wash your clothes. This is so dumb. You know what the best line of defense is? Don't be nasty. Wash your hands. Take advantage of that soap. You know what I mean? Wash them. Super easy to do. Can I sidebar real quick? Have you ever been in a public restroom and someone doesn't use the sink and soap? Do you turn into a one-person alarm system? Because I do. I'm like, are you going to go touch? I did this before. I yelled. It was like a... Bigger lady. And I was like, are you going to go touch your food after you just touched your ass? You're going to really do that? That's so nasty. Wash them. That's how norovirus spreads. And I told you already, UFC's Dana White has already joined Meta's board of directors. So there were three new members to the board. One was like an auto tycoon. And I can't remember. The other guy was, I can't remember. And then Dana White with UFC. So interesting. Interesting. So business is talking. Business is talking. They're making some moves. And I get it. I get all the arguments. Whether he wants to avoid an antitrust, invest it, whatever it is.
SPEAKER 12 :
And he's a big UFC fan.
SPEAKER 13 :
You know, whatever motivates him, trust. If people are motivated by money, you know their currency. Everybody's got a currency. Some people's money, some people's vanity, some people's adulation, adoration, whatever it is. Always trust that. We have a lot more on the way because we're going to get into, goodness, we got a lot of stuff with, we got some foreign policy. We're also going to get into some of the latest with the cabinet stuff. We got a lot. Stick with us. Back after this. Our partners over at ReadyWise, they're ready even if you are not. ReadyWise has an array of affordable, healthy, nutritious meals that will sustain you throughout whatever it is, whether it's a natural disaster, a political one, or maybe you just want to get away from everybody because everybody's loud and annoying and you want to go camping. I don't care. If you want to pretend that you're homeless on the side of the mountain, go up and do it. But you can take ReadyWise with you. It's security and simplicity. They have all kinds of product choices to meet every budget. The one month supply, emergency bucket bundle, two bucket bundle, three month emergency food supply. Everything's designed by their team of in-house culinary experts to make sure that your caloric needs are met. that your daily healthy carbs, your protein, all of that, so that you have the energy and the nutrition that you need to sustain you. They have everything, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They have whey milk. You name it, they've got it. 25-year shelf life as well. Visit ReadyWise.com and use promo code Dana20 at checkout for 20% off your entire purchase. That's ReadyWise.com, promo code Dana20 for 20% off.
SPEAKER 06 :
Make some common sense of the crazy headlines with the Dana Show podcast. Your on-the-go guide for getting up to speed on today's most important stories. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple, or your favorite podcast platform.
SPEAKER 13 :
So Kane was telling me, welcome back, by the way, to the program, Dana Lash with you, that you can check your positivity score on X. Do I want to do that? Because some days I'm either like, yay, everyone is great. And then other days I'm, you know, it all depends.
SPEAKER 12 :
One of those days is more frequent than the other. There's no in between.
SPEAKER 13 :
It's one or the other. I'm a very simple person. You know, I've got two gears.
SPEAKER 12 :
Apparently, you're supposed to ask Grok. So I think you have access to Grok. Do I go to the Grok?
SPEAKER 13 :
I have never talked to AI before.
SPEAKER 12 :
You go to Grok. You have to be verified to use Grok. So what do I ask it? So you just ask it, what's your positivity score?
SPEAKER 13 :
Oh, gosh. I don't want to do this. I'm doing it, though.
SPEAKER 12 :
I'm curious.
SPEAKER 13 :
What is my positivity score? Oh, boy.
SPEAKER 12 :
What does it say?
SPEAKER 13 :
Hold up. I'm reading. Well, this is obviously a lie. What? I don't believe any of this.
SPEAKER 12 :
You better screenshot that so one can get it up on the screen or something.
SPEAKER 13 :
I do not believe this at all. I really... Okay, I'm going to put it in. I'm going to put it in. I don't believe this at all.
SPEAKER 12 :
Am I the only one that thinks it's like a commie thing? Like your social credit score? It's totally like a social credit score.
SPEAKER 13 :
That's what it is. The only social credit score that was worth anything were the stickers that you got for the book it campaign for Pizza Hut. That's the only credit score that's worth attaining.
SPEAKER 12 :
I really enjoyed that.
SPEAKER 13 :
Gosh, we did not know how good we had it. So this is what it's telling me. Grok says, because I go, what is my positivity score? And it goes, your positivity score based on the sentiment analysis of your recent posts on X leans towards the positive side.
SPEAKER 12 :
It does?
SPEAKER 13 :
Your posts often highlight themes of free speech. Oh my gosh. This eyeliner is not waterproof. And critique of certain policies or behaviors, but you also share moments of appreciation for cultural content like TV series and personal anecdotes that resonate. This is kissing my ass. This is what it is. This is a lie. I don't know if I trust this. I... Should I ask it again? Hang on, let me just... Are you sure?
SPEAKER 14 :
Let's just put an are you sure question mark. I put mine in and I put what is my positivity score on X question mark and it gave me a number. Oh. Okay. What is my positivity score? I'll share with mine after you do here.
SPEAKER 13 :
What is my positivity score on X?
SPEAKER 14 :
Mine was out of 100. Oh!
SPEAKER 12 :
Is this more accurate?
SPEAKER 13 :
Oh, yeah. Oh, gosh. Here we go. I just did mine. Based on posts found on X, your X score for positivity would roughly be around 38 out of 100. That's where I'm at. This score suggests that while your engagement on the platform is appreciated, the nature of your posts and interactions might not fully align with the platform's current emphasis on positivity. Well, you know what? That's too damn bad.
SPEAKER 12 :
They must be giving that to everybody because that's what I got. I got a 38. I think Lorraine talked about her getting a 38. I think one of our other listeners had posted they got a 38.
SPEAKER 13 :
So if you just ask about, you know, what's my positivity score? It's like, why are they so different?
SPEAKER 12 :
That's so weird.
SPEAKER 13 :
Why is it? Yeah, she got, what did she get? Oh, she got a 38.
SPEAKER 14 :
I got much higher than a 38. You got, oh.
SPEAKER 13 :
Oh, Steve's a big butt kisser. Big butt kissing grok fan.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, not everyone's a 38, apparently.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, you know what? You just leave it to the 38s. The 38s are talking. Okay, so why does it tell you? Oh, I mean, look at the difference. And Lorraine, hers are the same.
SPEAKER 12 :
If his was above 38, what was your score?
SPEAKER 13 :
What do you mean? It's a lot bigger.
SPEAKER 1 :
65. 65.
SPEAKER 12 :
What do they say to you?
SPEAKER 13 :
I don't want to be friends with anybody that has a score of 70 or higher. What does it say? I can't stand those people.
SPEAKER 14 :
They're always happy. You're on drugs. This is going to sound terrible, but this score reflects a generally positive tone in your engagement, although there's a mix of sentiments suggesting that while your contributions are mostly positive, there are elements of critique or skepticism. That's fine.
SPEAKER 13 :
Like you can't critique or be skeptical?
SPEAKER 02 :
What the hell is that? You're getting punished?
SPEAKER 12 :
This social credit score stuff.
SPEAKER 02 :
I don't know. I mean, you know, the government told me to drink puddle water, but I feel like I shouldn't drink puddle water. How dare you be skeptical and critical of what Papa government told you to drink?
SPEAKER 11 :
Quit being unpositive.
SPEAKER 13 :
You're going to laugh up that puddle water and love it. Right?
SPEAKER 11 :
Stop being unpositive.
SPEAKER 13 :
See, when you tell me to don't be skeptical, that makes me more so. I just, I can't help it, I want to do it. Like when lockdown happened, and you guys know how I'm such a germaphobe to an infuriatingly annoying degree. I was like, well, I don't wanna do that now. I didn't wanna stay home. I didn't wanna do any of that. I wanted to go out and touch doorknobs. I can literally open doors without my hands. I can open any door without my hands. With shoes on and everything. For real, it's an art. Learned how to do it. I've developed a particular set of skills. But then when lockdown happened, I immediately wanted to go out and touch everything, right? But now with this one, it's like, oh, you're too skeptical. Well, I'm going to be more skeptical. How can I get this lower?
SPEAKER 12 :
Skepticism is what got me to today.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. When I see things like positivity scores, I want it to rate me as a degenerate. Because... I don't like those. I mean, of all the stupid things that we, this is a, it's a social credit score. At some point, I don't know. I don't trust anything, particularly government. I don't trust anybody. Don't be shocked if you have to go kiss butt on Facebook or X so that you can get access to the grocery store to go get you your French toast supplies ahead of Snowmageddon one day. Oh no, it looks like you can't come into the grocery store because your positivity score is too low. This is the kind of stuff they do in China, legit. You can't even get on public transport in China if your social credit score is too low. So why do something like this unless it's going to be used in a manner similar to that, right? What's the point? This is like free work.
SPEAKER 02 :
Why?
SPEAKER 12 :
So I asked it how to improve my positivity score.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, you've got to come here to Texas and kiss Grok's butt.
SPEAKER 12 :
I mean, essentially, not so many words. But yeah, it totally did. There's like eight steps and it all includes positivity. Positivity from interacting with other people. Positivity in comments to posts that you respond to. I mean, it's an amazing amount of steps that you can take.
SPEAKER 13 :
I don't have that much positivity. Not that I'm mean. I'm just not... I mean, I like joy and stuff. I'm just not like... And doesn't the universe just want balance?
SPEAKER 12 :
If we get too much of one thing, it just wants to balance it out.
SPEAKER 13 :
If you get too many happy people, it's equally insufferable. Right. Come on.
SPEAKER 12 :
I mean... We need a balance, not just all positive.
SPEAKER 13 :
Right? I mean, you got to have some rain sometimes to get the flowers, right? Right, Grok? I'm afraid to ask it more questions. I don't like AI. I don't like talking to... Sidebar. Kane. And for those of you who have been in the St. Louis area or who have ever been into the Magic House in St. Louis, specifically Kirkwood. Mm-hmm. Do you remember they had a computer there and it had AI and you could sit down and talk to it? Yes. That was creepy.
SPEAKER 07 :
That was really creepy.
SPEAKER 13 :
So as a kid, you would sit in front of this computer and it was a part of their like tech lab, their science lab. And the magic house is like this crazy museum and it turned this regular old timey Victorian house into Kirkwood, into like the Winchester house. And it became like this crazy museum. Anyway, everybody always... I went there all the time. I took my kids there when I got married and had a family. And... They had a computer there in the science lab. There were like two or three of them. And you could sit down and the whole purpose of it was to talk to the computer, but it really was AI. And it was weird and I didn't like it. And my grandmother was always like, that's of the devil. Everything was of the devil. If she didn't like it. Like, that's of the devil.
SPEAKER 12 :
I wrote it off as it was all pre-programmed response stuff.
SPEAKER 13 :
Which is kind of what AI is.
SPEAKER 12 :
I know, but I mean, AI does, I mean, it's more, I think it's less pre-programmed responses.
SPEAKER 13 :
AI is AI-ier.
SPEAKER 12 :
But it's pre-programmed paths to a conclusion. That's the difference.
SPEAKER 13 :
I mean, it will seem like the same thing to me. So this is the only time, I have not input anything into AI except for that. Like that. I don't. Of the devil. You're talking to the devil. That's what my grandmother would say if she were here on Earth.
SPEAKER 12 :
What would you ask AI if you just didn't care and just wanted to ask and just curious?
SPEAKER 13 :
How do I kill you?
SPEAKER 12 :
All right. Hang on here.
SPEAKER 13 :
How do I kill you, AI? That's literally all I care about. How do I end you? Does that mean? I just, you know, maybe it'll give you an answer.
SPEAKER 12 :
I just put that in and it says... You're totally going to get banned. The concept of, quote, killing and artificial intelligence can be approached from several angles. Termination of AI processes, data and memory manipulation, physical destruction, disabling network access, reprogramming or misalignment, and then the legal and ethical considerations of not doing it.
SPEAKER 13 :
Aw, too bad. Don't try to appeal to my good nature, AI. Interesting. Yeah, you got to ask it these questions now before it gets too smart to answer, right? Sarah Connor's judging everybody right now. Sarah Connor's up in the clouds judging all of you. We're using AI. All right, so... The, all right, we got to, anyway, that's my positivity score. So now you guys know about the positivity. I don't think Facebook has anything. Well, I think Facebook does, but it's not public. I think it's for their like programmers and that, isn't it? That's like something that's like pretty back channel. Yeah. All right. So we got, oh, I got more. I got more to get to. So Canadian politicians are now threatening to take. Okay. Have them. California, Washington and Oregon. Audio Sunbite 11, please.
SPEAKER 15 :
Hey, Donald, have we got a deal for you? You think we want to be the 51st state? Nah. But maybe California would like to be the 11th province. How about it? Okay. California? All right. Oregon? Okay. Washington? All right. You've got geography in common with us. And not only that, we've already got a carbon trading system between California and Quebec. We've got some... strong alliances to be like on our West Coast from British Columbia there's been a lot of academic papers on the idea of Cascadia so California Governor Newsom and Washington State Jay Inslee and newly elected governor of Oregon Tina Kotak how about it okay is this I mean don't threaten me with a good time and Cascadia I say leave us the land keep the people
SPEAKER 13 :
Take the progressives. Yeah. Just take them. You know, I'm fine with that. Yeah. Go ahead. I mean, there we're going to get into some of this. But there were even because I've got audio of people speculating that, well, maybe the UK should leave the five eyes. You know, there's our security agreement because Elon Musk has been criticizing, you know, Keir Starmer over complicity in the grooming gangs because he was had a public prosecutions at the time. You know, nothing was done. And this was allowed to run rampant for two decades. So their lefty labor government is threatening. Well, they're speculating about leaving Five Eyes because Elon Musk criticized the way that they butchered handling the grooming gangs and the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of young girls. Really? And you're... So you're going to take your... Okay. Take your ball and go home and then you can rely on that Russian energy. Go ahead. Dirty Russian energy. And then don't call us when you get into a bind, which will happen, as it has. Why even do that? Labor over there is so stupid. Our friends... over at Patriot Mobile, the only Christian conservative cell phone service in the nation. Patriot Mobile wants to save you money during this Biden economy time. You only got two weeks left, folks. Two weeks left. That's all I got. But in the meantime, you can switch and start saving not just money immediately with Patriot Mobile, but you can also not have your money work against you, which is great because, you know, they share your values and you're not compromising on quality or convenience or your principles or anything else. And you can have nationwide coverage you can trust. You get exceptional nationwide coverage by operating on all three major networks. So you're connected wherever you go. Seamless switching. Talk to one of their U.S.-based customer service reps, 100% U.S.-based, and you're creating and maintaining U.S.-based jobs as well. You can keep your current number, keep your phone, or you can get all new everything or upgrade. It doesn't matter. We'll walk you through it. It's super easy, takes minutes, and it's never been simpler to switch. Visit patriotmobile.com slash Dana or call 972-PATRIOT and get a free month of service with promo code Dana. Switch to Patriot Mobile today and defend freedom with every text and call you make. Patriotmobile.com slash Dana 972-PATRIOT.
SPEAKER 08 :
Did God bless the United States of America? Pastor Alan Jackson says yes.
SPEAKER 23 :
I believe God has blessed this nation, that he's called it into existence. It isn't perfect. There's no such thing as perfect. We continue as we lean towards the Lord to make improvements. There is no greater expression of liberty and freedom amongst civilized human beings than we've seen from our own nation in the last 250 years. As imperfect as it may be, that's true.
SPEAKER 08 :
Subscribe to Culture and Christianity, an Alan Jackson podcast, on your favorite podcast app.
SPEAKER 11 :
It's his life mission to make bad decisions. It's time for Florida Man.
SPEAKER 13 :
All right. So, Ken and I were too busy debating on break about whether or not we should buy Canada. I'm firmly against it. What? I'm just saying. Florida Man got in trouble for making his own sandwich at Subway. What? I'll do it. Yeah, because he left without paying for it, too. He got jailed, according to the Miami Herald, for making his own sandwich and then leaving. I guess he thought, this is in Marion County, that he could just go in and do it. And then if you're making your own sandwich, then you don't. That's not how that works. So they also had to throw away pounds of sandwich fixings. Literally what they wrote. Sandwich accoutrement. Out of concern that they were contaminated. Ew, I didn't even... Yeah, that's true. Like if he's sticking his hands all over everything, nasty. And then he left without paying. So it was a $10 sandwich. And... He didn't even finish all of it. He threw it in the trash outside the store. So they had to throw away all the food on the line. They wasted, they said, about $66. He was arrested and charged with criminal mischief and retail threat. Of all the things to get in trouble for, that's like the dumbest. It's one of the dumbest. A Florida man claims an alien abduction after a nude carjacking attempt with a knife. Says double a nasty. A Florida man told members of the Palm Beach police that he had been abducted by aliens and he wanted to die. They arrested him because he tried to steal a car while completely nude. That's one way to steal it. You don't even have to be armed with anything. Like, if someone can't get away from you fast enough, they just don't want to be near you naked. And they want to get away. So the guy, apparently it was on New Year's Eve. He tried to steal the car. A witness said that he had a large knife and he carved his initials into the side of the car. Like, that was his now. Look, my name's on it. It's my car. And it was in West Palm Beach. And he carved, he started, like, I guess, drawing pictures with the knife and the paint on the vehicle's exterior. And he threatened the man with a knife. By the way, he's naked the whole time, just so you know. And anyway, they ended up arresting him and taking him in. And if you suspected that drugs was a part of it, you're right. You're right. A giant gator Godzilla dragged the biggest python ever seen past tourists. It was in the Everglades. I don't like any of this. Everything about this is terrifying. It was a python twice the size of the gator. Like this python really could kill the gator. And somehow the gator was dragging it through. And one of the tour guides said, I've seen many alligators eating pythons out here. I've never seen a python that large. Oh, man. I don't even like... Remember they got a big bad Burmese python problem there because somebody apparently had pet pythons and they let them out and now there's like this huge problem in the Everglades and they sponsor like state hunts of them to help control the population. They said that this python is about 20 feet long. It's one of the largest ever seen in the Everglades. It's an invasive species. So... I guess that Gator was doing a favor. You know, maybe it could win a prize for bagging the biggest python. Third hour on the way. No, we don't need to buy Canada. Stick with us. Imagine a young woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, feeling alone and unsure of what to do. And she's searching for hope. And that's where Preborn Ministries comes in. You can make a difference for just $28. Your generosity can be the key to a mother choosing life for her baby. And with your gift, you will receive the story of a mom who chose life as well as the ultrasound image of her precious baby. And like the story of Kelsey who found Preborn and after hearing her baby's heartbeat, she chose life. Consider making a larger, life-changing donation of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000. Maximize your gift that can help women in unplanned pregnancies receive ultrasounds and even help place an ultrasound machine in a women's center. Donate for the gift of life. Just dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound or hashtag 250 baby. Or visit preborn.com slash Dana to donate online. Every contribution counts. So again, that's pound 250, say the word baby, or donate securely at preborn.com slash Dana. Welcome back to the program. Dana Lash with you, top of this third hour. And of course, you can find us over at Substack as well. Sign up, chapter and verse, that's the newsletter. And you can also... Find us over at YouTube, Facebook, like and subscribe. All of that good stuff. I'll be on Jesse Waters' program tonight. Topic, TBA. Not sure yet, but I'll keep you updated. So we have the Lake and Riley Act that passed the House. And that's good news. That's one of the things. So they're getting things done. Apparently, how many, I was looking at how many, there are a lot of Democrats.
SPEAKER 01 :
159 Democrats.
SPEAKER 13 :
159 voted against the Democrats. Deporting criminal illegal aliens. It's amazing, but that's true. So the Lake and Riley Act will ensure that criminal illegal aliens are detained and deported. It has to go through the Senate, but that's what they passed through today. So, That's a great step in the right direction. How could you vote against that? You're here illegally, you're committing heinous criminal acts, and you still are against those people who are coming here illegally and committing heinous acts to be detained and deported? I mean, they would be jailed in any other country. Heaven on earth, they'd be immediately jailed. That's crazy. I... Again, the United States is not afforded sovereign rights. Speaking of which, Trump has said that he wants to. He's talking about buying Greenland. My first question was with what money? I mean, we're kind of broke. We're in debt a lot. And he was I think he's joking about Canada. Kane is actually unopposed to buying Canada. With what money?
SPEAKER 12 :
I mean, I'm a fan of Rush. Actually, I like that show Corner.
SPEAKER 13 :
They gave us Alanis Morissette.
SPEAKER 12 :
Corner Gas. You've seen that show Corner Gas?
SPEAKER 13 :
And Caillou. They also gave us Caillou.
SPEAKER 12 :
Sitcom.
SPEAKER 13 :
And Justin Bieber.
SPEAKER 12 :
But yeah, I'm practically Canadian.
SPEAKER 13 :
What?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah. I like Rush. But liking Rush makes you kind of Canadian.
SPEAKER 13 :
No, it doesn't.
SPEAKER 12 :
It kind of does.
SPEAKER 13 :
No.
SPEAKER 12 :
It's how I feel about it.
SPEAKER 13 :
With what money?
SPEAKER 12 :
You don't care how I feel about it?
SPEAKER 13 :
With what money are we going to buy Canada?
SPEAKER 12 :
Are we going to buy Canada? Is that how it was? I don't know.
SPEAKER 13 :
I don't want to incorporate their disastrous, debt-ridden, failed socialist health care system. I don't want to fold that into my economy.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, we already have our own here.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, I don't want that.
SPEAKER 12 :
I'm with you on that.
SPEAKER 13 :
I don't want all the liberals up there.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 13 :
Sorry, Canadians. I like some of you. Don't want all the liberals over here.
SPEAKER 12 :
But there's nothing about you that's just like, you know, instead of calling them our neighbors to the north, just our fellow Americans.
SPEAKER 13 :
No.
SPEAKER 12 :
No?
SPEAKER 13 :
No.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well.
SPEAKER 13 :
Totally no. Okay. I mean, no offense, but no. No. I mean, with Greenland, I still am like, with what money? With what money? We can't hardly handle the country we have right now. Why are we? I mean, if you can make... an argument for me that will explain also how we are to acquire this land and that it doesn't add to the deficit and we're not spending money we don't have and also that it will make us money in the near future then i will sit down and listen but until then i don't know now i will say the trump remarks on panama i thought made the most sense yeah I don't know if we have any of that because it was all happening. We were listening to it live when it happened. He remarked on Panama, the Panama Canal particularly, because even though Even though it was relinquished to Panama, I mean, it's the Chinese that basically run it. They've got... It's supposed to be under... It was under Panamanian control. It still is. And it's owned by, what is it, the Panama Canal Authority. But as Trump notes when he's talking about it, China... It kind of runs all the infrastructure with Belt and Road. Listen to this. He talks about it here.
SPEAKER 10 :
Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas, you are not going to use military or economic coercion? No. Can you tell us a little bit about what your plan is? Are you going to negotiate a new treaty? Are you going to ask the Canadians to hold the vote? What is the strategy?
SPEAKER 21 :
I can't assure you. You're talking about Panama and Greenland. No, I can't assure you on either of those two. But I can say this. We need them for economic security. The Panama Canal was built for our military. I'm not going to commit to that now. It might be that...
SPEAKER 13 :
Hmm.
SPEAKER 12 :
So maybe some military involvement.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, and, you know, we paid... money and we pay an annuity for continued access and usage because I mean we I mean we benefit I think they said what like there's over 40 ships that go through the canal every single day we have American subs that go through the canal and so much of our shipping oh my heavens goes through it but we I mean it was an we helped make it possible and But then China came in with Belt and Road Initiative. They have two big hubs at the end of the canal, either end of the canal. And I think it's funny that he's... And why should he? I don't think he should... I think it's smart for him saying that he's not refusing to use military force, is not committing to military force, but it's refusing to signal to any geological opponent what options we have. He's not going to show moves to anybody. So I think that's smart. But I mean, ultimately... I mean, the influence that China has over the canal is, I mean, it's a pretty, there's already been a lot of, I mean, I've talked about this with Stephen Yates. There's already been a lot of discussion about China and their activity and their control of the canal because they insist that, no, no, no, we don't have any soldiers. We don't have any military. We don't have anything like that. I mean, no uniformed soldiers, sure. But you absolutely have operatives. And I mean, there's accusations of military personnel and civilian clothing and all of this stuff that's there. It's a choke point. And Beijing wants to control it. And I think that him talking about the Panama Canal is actually huge. I think that that makes sense. And I kind of wonder if he's not throwing that out there and couching it in between, you know, talk about Canada and Greenland so that people take him less seriously over it. I'm just curious. I mean... The regime could act to close the waterway off. And again, they control two huge hubs at either end, the Atlantic end and in the Pacific end. They have it's C.K. Hutchinson Holdings and they have their huge they have the Panama Ports Company and then they have another one that's that's on the Atlantic side. So they're of all of the port operators in that zone. China's the largest. And they have a 25 year concession. So it's and they're based in Hong Kong. But who took over Hong Kong? China. Commie China. So you have to if you want to continue doing business, you have to go along with the CCP. And even it doesn't even matter. China's role is when if there's any kind of conflict that kicks off, People's Liberation Army takes over. So, you know. So, yeah, absolutely. It's just it's weird. There's a really good piece at Newsweek that gets into some experts on this particular part of the world with respect to Chinese involvement, along with Belt and Road Initiative. And they've been talking about this for a number of years. And it's I mean, this is one of the most important canals in the world. And as Steve notes, and this is one of the reasons why a lot of people dislike Jimmy Carter, because Jimmy Carter did give up control of it. That's why I'm like, I'm not going to talk. He can lie in state and whatever. But he did, in addition to mucking up the Middle East, he decided to totally relinquish control of the Panama Canal to Panama and then Panama trying to swoop right in with Belt and Road. Yeah. So, yeah. Good old Jimmy Carter. Gordon Chang had a couple of good pieces on it. He also talked about it in one of the books that he had. And he's been on the program before. But, I mean, if there would be any kind of war involving America, our Navy would have to rely on Panama Canal to get things to whichever theater. So... I don't know. That actually I think is the most important issue that he talked about of the three. Canada, no. Greenland, come on. But the Panama Canal is incredibly important. It's very vital to American security. So that makes sense that he's talking about it in that respect. But very interesting indeed. This a couple of other things because we got a lot of audio as well. Oh, here's the other thing I wanted to mention. Speaking of foreign policy and American security. So Biden, their administration, again, another example of him trying to do everything he can to drag down the transition of president elect to president coming up in just less than two weeks now. They have shipped off 11 prisoners linked to Al Qaeda. To Oman from Gitmo. They released them from Gitmo. They were from Yemen. They were held there for two decades. I mean, they were caught in the field in the wake of 9-11. They were used to be bodyguards from Osama bin Laden. And they shipped them off to Oman. They're trying to clear Gitmo of terrorist prisoners. That's Biden's because I don't know why. And we have no idea. Was there a deal made? Did the United States just ship off these terrorists to Oman with, you know, no question? Is that what I mean? What was it? Nobody knows. It's very unclear. So I don't know what they get in exchange. I don't know what the United States has gotten in exchange for that. I mean, I don't even nobody was made. It was not made aware of not made public. I mean, they had one of the guys that was one of bin Laden's bodyguards. He's an al-Qaeda fighter. There's also the guy, Sharabi. He was the one that they said was responsible for a 9-11 style plot for Southwest Asia. And I mean, they're all identified as extremists. So, yeah, that's going to be real good for those 11 men to be back out in the world. Right. Great job, Biden. Good heavens. Is he trying to one up Jimmy Carter? I mean, good night. Like, who's worse here? We have a lot more on the way. We've got headlines coming up as well as we roll towards the bottom of this hour and our partners. 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SPEAKER 12 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 13 :
So this dude cut himself shaving and he sued and won $6,000. Now, in his defense... It was a little over $6,000, but it was a razor that was faulty. So it broke, and apparently it was not designed very well. And he ended up cutting into his face. But still, that's a lot for $6,000. That's a lot to go through for $6,000. He said he could have done real damage, but... Yeah, it's true, but it was a product error, though. It wasn't, you know, like the lady who spills hot coffee on herself and then sues for hot coffee. No, it was the product was not made correctly. So there is a top secret living lab robot city of the future that was built near a volcano that's going to welcome its first human residents later this year. It's Toyota has been building its woven city. Sounds like the Umbrella Corp., which serves as a test ground for driverless cars, smart homes, and robotics. And it looks real weird. I don't know if I like this. 2,000 people are going to live there eventually. It's a few miles away from Mount Fuji. It's $10 billion. And the current site will eventually house 360 people. Once phase two and future phases are complete, 2,000 people up to could be living there. I don't know. I don't like planned things like that. It is weird. It's very Stepford, right? I'm not into it. I just want to be a rat and live out in the woods. I don't know. Let's see. This... Oh, boy. No. Human pods equipped with a suite of AI personas to be unveiled at a new tech event today. later this year. It's an open-ear wireless design, so you will be able to access AI with a gentle tap. It's like an earbud that you would wear to listen to music, but you apparently are able to just get AI. Why would you want that? I mean, you literally have your phone and you can, if you need to. I don't like this. The singularity just got sped up by like infinity, right? It's weird. Fluoride is once again being scrutinized for an effect on children's brain. I still cannot believe we do put fluoride. I mean, why do we put fluoride in water? Because the government thinks you're too stupid to take care of your teeth? Isn't that what it was? This is like an Atlas Shrugs thing. Let's see. Face mask mandates are returning in multiple states. Doctors are warning of a quademic of four viral infections. I will punch someone in the face before I cover mine again. Yeah. And even then, I didn't really cover my face. I was like, I'm not wearing this stupid thing. But it's because of the flu, COVID, RSV, and then that one, I don't know, some other weird thing that they'll come up with. And some states are saying, well, we should, hospitals like in California, Illinois, of course, and New Jersey, they're saying, yes, we need to bring back mask rules for staff and visitors. That's so stupid. Not going to do it again. No way. Stick with us. We've got more to come next.
SPEAKER 06 :
Subscribe to the Dana Show podcast because who says you can't make fun of people while staying informed on your own personal time? Subscribe on YouTube, Apple or wherever you get your podcast.
SPEAKER 17 :
As a reminder, today is the last day to pay your property tax bill before it becomes delinquent. Please note that North Carolina law does not permit property tax waivers or exceptions for natural disasters, including Hurricane Helene.
SPEAKER 13 :
So that's what some folks in North Carolina, they had a deadline yesterday, midnight last night, where they were told that they still had to pay their property taxes. And it's still a midnight. That's pretty unbelievable there. I mean, this county, Buncombe County, which I'm told by people who live there, is run by Democrats with most executive positions. They they could have waived this and they I don't know why they didn't. What gets me is you had the Biden administration, even though it was overturned by circuit court, they were giving people moratoriums on paying rent. I mean, not the property owners for taxes, but just, you know, the people who are renting taxes. I mean, I'm amazed that they have not waived this. That is insane. So it's a county that is still demanding property taxes on homes that were destroyed by Hurricane Helene based on pre-Helene assessments that no longer apply. This is why property taxes are anti-American because you never own your own property. Ever. You never own your own property. If you don't believe me, stop paying your property tax and find out. That's what... You never own your own property. The state will take it from you. So you pay the state a protection ransom so they don't come and take your property. That's not freedom. You don't ever really own anything. That's true. Property taxes need to be abolished. There's better and different and better ways to do this stuff. That's amazing though. So they're going to have to be paying based on assessments that are no longer inapplicable. Oh, you own a property tax on your house and the improvements that you've done on it. Oh, it's not here anymore. Hurricane destroyed it. I mean, there was like a couple hundred thousand homes that were affected, right? I read something. It was like almost 130 something thousand homes. That's a lot of homes. Yeah, they tweeted out, yesterday was the final day to pay the Buncombe County property tax. Really? After how long do those people languish? What do their property taxes get them? How long do they wait for first responder services? Do their property taxes buy them? How long do they have to wait to get their streets cleared up? You know, that's what their property taxes buy. Are they getting their trash collected, the people whose homes are destroyed? You know, I mean, what in the world, people? Just asinine, absolutely asinine. And everyone's like, well, you know, you can appeal your assessment. There are no property tax waivers or exemptions under North Carolina state law. Oh, goody, goody, gumdrops. You get a best government ass kisser award. Great job. You get a badge, hall monitor. That's not the point. First off, they're unconstitutional. So I'd never view it through the context of, well, you can just you can just appeal your assessment. You can just appeal your face. No, I'm never going to accept the context that it's a legitimate thing. It's not. It's a racket. And the fact that they can't even waive it, how much I mean, that's insane. If you will. I mean, in some regards, the United States is no different from the UK because you never actually own your own property or some of these other places where they levy these exorbitant all this stuff on you. It's crazy. But no, you're not getting what you we're not getting any of that. The other thing I noticed yesterday, I wrote a piece about it up at Substack. If you get my chapter and verse newsletter. I had a short piece about how Democrats have, they try to make, and they're going to do this every year forever, how they try to make yesterday, January 6th, a holiday. And all of them, when did, how did the lie, how was the lie created that multiple officers lost their lives on January 6th? Democrats were tweeting about this all into the night. Yeah. Everybody from New York AG Letitia James to Hakeem Jeffries, everyone. They treat this, I wrote that not since Kwanzaa has a made-up observance turned into such a solemn occasion, but that's exactly what the left has done with January 6th. They've analogized it to Pearl Harbor and everything else, but they were saying that, they were naming all these officers that investigation proved their deaths had nothing to do with January 6th. I mean, no officers lost their lives. But you know who Democrats have never remembered? David Dorn. I don't know if you guys remember, David Dorn was murdered in our hometown of St. Louis as part of the Burn Lute Murder Summer Series. You guys remember David Dorn? It was on livestream. In fact, that's how one of his grandkids found out. They watched it on the livestream. People were writing. Two people were convicted in his murder. Or what about Officer David Lee? He was killed by a drunk driving illegal alien. Or what about the New York police officers who were shot by an illegal immigrant whose immigration case had been dismissed by a judge just prior? And that was in June of this past year. Or what about the officer that was shot by a violent illegal alien in San Antonio? Or what about when they had that big pro-Hamas protest in D.C. and an officer was punched in the face by a Hamas-supporting writer? I mean, these are just some examples. Democrats never mention them. They never mention those police officers because those, I guess, police, they don't exist if they're You know, not shooting people like Alicia Babbitt. I don't know. By the way, the shooting of Alicia Babbitt's the only cop-involved killing that the left loved. It's true. It's the only one that they loved. No, I mean... It wasn't an attempted coup. I wrote it wasn't an insurrection and it was it wasn't organized and no one was armed except for the police. And it also wasn't an organized multi year series of violent, mostly peaceful events all around the nation. I was just I was stunned at the number of Democrats, some like they couldn't even get their story straight. These are elected officials and people who are on television. I'm not like just picking random people off of X who were saying like, oh, there were three officers killed. There were five officers killed that day. So many officers lost their lives. What in the world? They're just making it up now. But it can't go entirely wrong. unchecked anymore I wanted to play this for you audio soundbite 18 I made mention of this earlier uh in Britain speaking of x they're mad at Elon Musk because he was very deservedly critical of the way that they handled the child grooming and gang rape thing not just in Rotherham but outside of Rotherham uh listen to this because now their socialist government their officials are all speculating about leaving five eyes because they're mad over Elon Musk this is 18.
SPEAKER 16 :
Absolute horror at the highest levels of the government at the incendiary language we have seen from Elon Musk. And there's going to be, as I understand it, a hard-headed assessment. Is this just the view of Elon Musk or is it the view of the wider administration and the incoming President Donald Trump? If it's the latter, then there may well be some very, very serious questions about the nature of our ongoing security partnership with the United States. John Healey, the Defence Secretary today, was saying that the UK-US security relationship is the closest we've got in the world. We're members of the Five Eyes group with the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Can you have that level of sharing everything If this sort of stuff is endorsed by the next president of the United States.
SPEAKER 13 :
Oh, my gosh. You know what? Elon Musk, he thinks that Elon Musk's words are incendiary. I think the fact that a bunch of Pakistani men were allowed to rape and traffic young girls all throughout parts of Britain for two decades without nay a word from their government. I think that's incendiary. I think protecting that is incendiary. I think getting upset more at being held accountable for not doing anything to protect those girls is incendiary. So he's talking about leaving five eyes. That's the English speaking. It's New Zealand, UK, Australia, Canada, US, obviously, that make it up. And it's our intelligence security association, alliance. That's what it is. they they're not going to leave that that's labor being stupid that's just so you know what they're going to fa and fo they're going to have a true dome moment speaking of that i wanted to play this this is pure polyvair audio soundbite 10 he's the conservative leader he may be the next prime minister of canada he does follow me on x but he perfectly explains inflation listen
SPEAKER 22 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 09 :
What are the steps I need to take to fix the damages to inflation? First and foremost, stop the overspending. Inflation, high taxes, deficits, high interest rates are all symptoms. The disease is overspending. When governments spend too much money, there's only three ways to get it. One is to raise your taxes. The other is to borrow, which means that they'll tax you more later on. And the third way is to print money. Printing money seems like a painless way to pay for things. It's very simple. If you have 10 apples and $10 in the economy, it's a bucket apple. If you double the number of dollars in the economy to 20, you still only have 10 apples. You're not twice as rich. It's just that each apple costs twice as much.
SPEAKER 13 :
Boom. I mean, you know, do you really need to incorporate? And I would take Pierre Polivere. I would take him. I like him. He's a very common sense kind of guy. but he perfectly explains it right there. And he's exactly right. Exactly right. Uh, last thing I'll, last thing that we'll touch on because I'm trying to make sure that I get everything I wanted to get out to you guys today. I don't know if you guys watch a land man, uh, I think I mentioned the Jerry Jones thing yesterday. I would play it for you, but we will probably get suspended on YouTube because even though it's like information and all of that stuff, you can't play anything else from anybody else. We ought to act it out. But anyway, you know what I'll do for those of you who get my newsletter at Substack? I'll send out a separate thing about that to you tonight. But anyway, so you can see the clip there. But Jerry Jones, he was he had a cameo in Landman. Landman is a series from Taylor Sheridan who did Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Mary Kingstown and Tulsa King and Lioness. He's got like a ton. I mean, all of his stuff is actually pretty good. Landman, notwithstanding the the dialogue from the daughter. That's a little much. But Landman is a good series. And I think Billy Bob Thornton was born to play this role. And it takes place out in Midland, Odessa. And it's a landman, a guy who's going out there securing leases for oil and gas and mineral rights and all that stuff. And his family, his very crazy family. And at one point, he's in the hospital room of his boss. And Jerry Jones is there as Jerry Jones visiting. And Monty's the boss. And Jerry Jones was telling Monty, His life story, basically. He's saying, you know, I made a decision early on that I wanted to work with my kids. And he said, I it was a very I mean, he had emotion in his eyes, like his eyes glinted like they were watery. I mean, he was really and it was just a brilliant monologue. And the guy, Monty, had had a heart attack. It was like his fifth bypass, I think. And he said, you know, I'm not saying that I've done everything right, but I made up my mind a long time ago I was going to work with my kids and they're involved in everything. He says, Joan said they're involved in my leasing, oil and gas, real estate. And so when I got the Cowboys, I got it so that we could all work together. I thought I was doing it for them, but the one who got the most out of it was to me and i love what he said here he because he's talking to monty he's laying in the hospital bed and he says i know it's not going to be this time but you're going to be sitting there sometime in the future laying here sometime in the future and the room will be filled with your business associates and the people you've worked with all your life and jones ads and more than likely your children and your family's going to be there because they're your children and your family but you could have them there because they're the people you spent your life with you worked with, you fell down with, you got up with, and not just Thanksgiving and Christmas. That's who you want to be with, he says. So when that time comes like this, it's a celebration of your life and you're not wishing that you spent a little more time seeing a few more suns come up. And he goes, that's the trick. And he ends with saying, because that's going to be your glory. I thought that was great. And I thought it was great because a lot of people I feel like in society have to make apologies if they want their kids to work with them. I have friends who work in agriculture. And their parents who were friends of the family worked in agriculture and they were raising their kids up to go into agriculture and work in ranging. And it's weird because it's like outside of that community society is like, Oh, a Nepo baby or something like that. And it's like, no, these kids are learning the ropes and they're learning what they're supposed to be doing. But I feel like, Saying that you can't pass that down to your kids or bring your kids into it is a very anti-American way of looking at things. Because we're not talking about giving it to people who didn't work and didn't earn it. That's a very European aristocracy way of viewing things. No, they actually work in the field. They're not just people of leisure. They actually work in the field. And they go out and they learn about animal husbandry. And they go out and do all this stuff. And everybody in every industry... That I've ever seen, including friends of ours that own businesses, you know, in our own town that own restaurants and all this. They they bring their kids to work with them and they show their kids the ropes and the kids by being immersed in that sort of world. They get that real time practical education and they learn and it's a passion of theirs, too. But isn't that why you work so hard to have your family celebrate it? And I just thought that was a great message from Jerry Jones. I know people get mad at him with the Cowboys, but damn, he's a good actor. And that's not even acting. But as Justine Bateman noted on X, just to be able to deliver it like that with that kind of emotion. You still got to be pretty talented at acting. So I don't know. Maybe if he decides to give up the cowboy someday and all the oil and gas, he could do that. We got a lot. Layman's a great series. I would beware of the daughter's dialogue, but it's a good series.
SPEAKER 06 :
On the go and need a quick news fix with a fun twist? Follow Dana's Absurd Truth podcast for bite-sized informative episodes. Perfect for your busy schedule on Apple or wherever you get your podcast.
SPEAKER 13 :
Welcome back to the program. All right. Tonight, I'm going to be on with Jesse Waters, his program that's at 7 Central, 8 Eastern. And then make sure you sign up over at Substack, too, because I'll make sure you get that Jerry Jones video from Landman. It's very good. Like I said, I'd play it on air, but we get hit if we don't. All right, today's stupidity came.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, this is Joe Biden. Is the president still, right? Still president? Just making sure. Adam Kinzinger, all the other dumb Democrats are saying the same thing. They're trying to, and the media, make January 6th a thing. Listen to this.
SPEAKER 06 :
I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy. A threat to democracy.
SPEAKER 12 :
What Trump did by saying to peacefully protest. That was a threat.
SPEAKER 13 :
I mean, we were on air when it happened. We literally carried him on air saying to be peace. I mean, he said it.
SPEAKER 12 :
That burned down cities. Those weren't threats to democracy.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. I tell you what. Never ends. Never ends. All right, folks, that does it for us today. Of course, you know, we're going to be back at same bat time, same bat channel tomorrow. So stay warm and we'll see you then. God bless.
Join Mike as he dissects the shift in public sentiments regarding January 6th and how conservative media plays a pivotal role in shaping discourse. With segments discussing equity protection and political rebranding, the episode holds a mirror to the changing tides in American socio-political dynamics, offering practical insights on how to navigate these complexities in daily life.
SPEAKER 03 :
He's the happy conservative warrior. From the Relief Factor Studios, here's Mike Gallagher.
SPEAKER 05 :
I really wish I was a nicer person. I hate how much I enjoyed watching Kamala Harris certify her own defeat yesterday. I'm not proud of myself. My wife used to say, Gallagher, you are a little, little man. And I am. I'm just petty. I'm petty and maybe mean-spirited. In fact, I saw a clip on social media last night that showed what Kamala Harris said when she was a candidate for president and what she had to say yesterday. I thought I'd share.
SPEAKER 07 :
And I have said, and I'm very clear about this, Donald Trump should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States. He has not earned the right. He has not earned the right. And that's why he's going to lose. The votes for president of the United States are as follows. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala Harris.
SPEAKER 05 :
Now, do you know how agonizing that had to be for her? And why do I – I shouldn't enjoy it. I really am not happy with myself. But, gosh, it was a great moment. And there was all that concern about the snowstorm they've had in Washington, D.C., and would the lawmakers get back? And they did, and it all came together. And, of course, Democrats are bragging, well, at least they didn't burn the place down. See, we can do this. There wasn't an insurrection. There's no riot. There was no Pearl Harbor. Some of these dummies are actually equating January 6th, 2021, to the Holocaust. You know how sick you have to be to even go there? First of all, if you're Jewish, how offended are you to hear the likes of this goofball, what's her name, Sonny Hostin over on The View? Is the clip, I don't even know if we should play it. Christian, does the clip contain her making this absurd reference to the Holocaust and Pearl Harbor and what, the riot of a few hundred people with one dead Trump supporter, Ashley Babbitt, one murdered Trump supporter, that's the same as the Holocaust? Should I play this clip or not? I don't even know if I want to play it. I've got it in queue. Let me take a quick straw poll on the MyPillow text line. 800-655-MY. Do you want to hear it? Do you want to hear rage and hatred? and despicable rhetoric from Sonny Hostin on The View. Do you want to hear it or not? Just give me a yes or no. Text yes or no to 800-655-MIKE. 800-655-6453. We'll take 60 seconds and gather the numbers on the poll as I wait for your input. Let me remind you about MyPillow because 2024 was a tough year for MyPillow. They did everything they could to destroy that company. But you got in the way. You keep supporting MyPillow. So make it a MyPillow Tuesday. Make it a MyPillow Tuesday. Go to MyPillow.com. and look for the Mike Gallagher Specials Square. Click on that box, and then with anything you order, enter the promo code MikeG. You'll get the pillow that started it all for as low as $14.98. It's an amazing deal. I can't even believe I'm telling you about this price. MyPillow.com, promo code MikeG. You'll save up to 50% on the flannel sheets, and with all this winter weather, goodness knows there's an awful lot of... need for flannel sheets. These sheets are so smooth, durable, comfortable. They're fantastic. You're going to love them. Look, it's just a great American company. They're in Minnesota. They're such a great, great American company. And Mike Lindell is a patriot. So support a patriot like MyPillow and Mike Lindell. MyPillow.com. Again, look for that Mike Gallagher specials. Click on that box. And with anything you order, the comforter is up to 60%. The MySlipper is amazing. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. Or call 800-928-6034. 800-928-6034. Sing along with me.
SPEAKER 09 :
For the best night's sleep in the whole wide world, visit MyPillow.com.
SPEAKER 05 :
Promo code MikeG. All right, there they are. Eric, there's clearly some massive delay with my... With my text line. So something's up with our program. But finally, I'm seeing all the votes coming in. And it's an overwhelming yes. So you asked for it. You got it. Here we go. Sonny Hostin on The View.
SPEAKER 01 :
I say no. You don't move on. Because January 6th was an atrocity. It was one of the worst moments in American history. And when you think about the worst moments in American history, you know, like World War II, things that happened, you know, like the Holocaust, chattel slavery, we need to never forget, because past becomes prologue if you forget any race.
SPEAKER 05 :
Now, these people are so goofy and so delusional and so nuts that they don't even recognize... Something like a CNN poll. Do you want to know what the percentage is of people who think January 6th, 2021 is important today? Wait until you hear the numbers guy, Harry Enten, over on CNN. Wait until you hear him telling a shocked John Berman just how many Americans really do care about January 6th. And Scott Jennings, the great Scott Jennings, called it the Democrats' High Holy Day, which was perfect. And, you know, I'll play that clip for you from the polling, which you're going to love, I promise. But as we get ready for that, I want to open up the phone lines to you and ask you a question. When the Sonny Hostins, the miserable Sonny Hostins of the world, say something as idiotic as January 6th is comparable to the Holocaust and slavery and Pearl Harbor and everything else, do they believe it? I often ask you this question, but I never can get a good grasp of it. I want to find out what you think. 800-655-MIKE. Join me. We're in the Relief Factor studios. It's Tuesday, January 7th. Welcome in. Our number is 800-655-MIKE. Do they believe that crap or do they just spout rhetoric? Is it just propaganda because they think that's what they're paid to do? You can't be that stupid. You can't be that cruel. You know how cruel it is to compare January 6th to the Holocaust? How about families who lost loved ones, grandparents, great-grandparents in the Holocaust? How insulted they must be. So I want to know from you, if you think they mean it, or is it just propaganda and they're making it up? 1-800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. I hope you join us.
SPEAKER 04 :
If you feel like.
SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Mike Gallagher.
SPEAKER 05 :
A ton of text messages pouring in on the MyPillow text line. Nebraska, they are absolutely nuts. And that's my, you know, go-to expression. Some of these people are just nuts. Michigan, Democrats are in a self-inflicted four-year timeout from the presidency, and they just can't handle it. The hatred they're showing is psychotic. And finally from California, San Diego, Sunny Hostin should change her name from Sunny Hostin to Sunny Hostel. Thank you, San Diego. I heard from the great general manager of the San Diego Salem property this week. I've got to get back out there. It's been a while since I've visited San Diego. I was a guest with Hugh Hewitt this morning, and Hugh was chiding me over my vacation time. He's one to talk. I mean, we all get time off. And I took a nice, long, fat break over the holidays, and he wanted to know about ABBA Voyage, which is that show that I saw over there that just blew my mind. Avatars, virtual avatars. I thought they were real people. The whole thing fooled me. I had to get in the Uber on the way back to the hotel and look it up online and found out that they were all virtual avatars. It's amazing technology. So anyway, just thrilled to be your live host in San Diego and look forward to coming back soon. 800-655-MIKE, what do you think about Sonny Hostin? And I'm going to play the Harry Enten thing in just a moment. You don't want to miss this. But quickly to Eric in Delaware. Eric, when Sonny Hostin compares January 6, 2021, to the Holocaust, Does she believe it, do you think? Or is she just spewing propaganda to get attention?
SPEAKER 04 :
Mike, I think she's spewing propaganda. And then also her reference to slavery. You know, I was driving along here listening to that quote. And when she references slavery, she says cattle slavery or cattle slavery. And it struck me. I thought, you know, I thought. It was pronounced chattel slavery. You can tell me if I'm right or wrong.
SPEAKER 05 :
I thought it was chattel slavery. I always thought it was pronounced chattel slavery. But incidentally, that was the legal institution that treated enslaved people as personal property. But here's a black woman who I think also discovered she was part Jewish. I believe she made that pronouncement. I thought I saw that somewhere. And so she's black and Jewish, and she compares, you know, a few hundred people rioting on January 6, 2021, to the Holocaust and slavery. Insane. Catherine in Columbus, Ohio. What do you think it is, Catherine? Does she believe it? Does she really feel it? Or is she just making it up? Catherine, you there? All right, let's try Walter in Detroit. Hi, Walter. Welcome back.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hi, Mike. Hi. Man, my wife and I love you, man. We're a black couple, man. We just love you. I love you back. Thank you, Walter. Give your wife my best. She said you crack her up, man. Expressions on your face. You should have been a comedian, man.
SPEAKER 05 :
I live to serve. I live to serve. It's a good deal. Well, what do you think? Does Sonny Hostin mean it? You're a black man. Does she compare January 6th to slavery?
SPEAKER 10 :
You know what I call worse than the view, listening to those evil witches on there? Yes, I said evil witches. The people that go in their studio that listen to them are worse than they are. And this is my take. She thought, her and all them Democrats and their voters... including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and all the guys in the Congress, the Democrats, that is. They actually thought that was going to be one of their arsenals, tools in their arsenals, or Hail Mary, to steal the last election. And guess what? Just like abortion and all the other go-tos and their Hail Marys, none of it worked.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, this is why you're one of my favorite callers, because you just hit on something, Walter, that is so important, and that is the way America rejected their awful, awful, deceitful, wicked narratives. And that's what we saw on November 5th, didn't we? We rejected the narrative of January 6th. We've rejected the narrative about what they claim is the science, whether it's COVID or climate change. We rejected their narrative that all crime isn't really that bad. We rejected their narrative that inflation isn't really that problematic. Walter, what we saw on November 5th was a revolt. It was a revolution where Americans said, you know what, mainstream media, no more. You're not going to get away with it anymore.
SPEAKER 10 :
And guess what? Obama, you might as well throw him in the group. All that crap, he's going out there talking to the black brothers, you know, rebuking them. I know. Get backfired on him. And I think you guys, the ones I listen to, including you, they're predicting that he's just going to disappear because nobody wants to listen to his race card, race pimping, race hustling ways like Al Sharpton and the rest of them.
SPEAKER 05 :
He becomes irrelevant, doesn't he? I mean, these guys are becoming irrelevant before our very eyes, and that's a glorious thing to watch. Thanks, Walter. Great hearing from you again and again. Thank your wife for me. I appreciate both of you very much. This is what I mean about rejecting the narrative, and that's what finally, finally we broke through. You know, people, as long as I've been in this business, there's been a debate about what's the impact of conservative media? What's the impact of talk radio? What's the impact of Salem News Channel? And, you know, Rush Limbaugh, to his credit, always used to say, look, if we were that successful, we wouldn't have had, you know, eight years of Clinton. Now we could do an appendix to that. We wouldn't have had eight years of Obama. But this time, it feels different. This year, it felt like something really broke through. And I'm going to have a delightful time in sharing with you the shock and awe of CNN coming to the realization that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not consider January 6th, 2021, a big deal. That great clip and more coming up.
SPEAKER 09 :
Memories in my way, love's in the way.
SPEAKER 05 :
There's no better time than right now to call my friends at PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition to start your journey to a healthier you. As I hear from you about how PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition has changed your life, I know that each one of us has had our own reasons for starting. I started my journey because I gained enough weight and was ready to make a change. I sat down with Dr. Ashley Lucas. And like they say, the rest was history. I lost 53 pounds and I've kept it off. We all have different reasons for starting. Maybe you got a discouraging diagnosis from your doctor. You needed to make a lifestyle change. One grandmother I talked to couldn't chase her toddler grandson and was afraid he might get hurt in her care. Another gentleman had lower back and hip pain, which forced him to give up golf. He wanted his life back. You want your life back? do what i did start the phd journey make 2024 your year to say goodbye and let go of all those unwanted pounds call phd weight loss and nutrition today to schedule your consultation call 864-644-1900 864-644-1900 or just go to myphdweightloss.com myphdweightloss.com
SPEAKER 03 :
He's the happy conservative warrior. From the Relief Factor Studios, here's Mike Dillon.
SPEAKER 05 :
I hate it when I have what I know is a very uncharitable reaction to something that's happening to somebody. I know it's not the right way to feel or believe. I keep hearing my wife Denise's voice in my head. Gallagher, you are a little, little man. I enjoyed Kamala Harris yesterday way more than I should have. The fact that she had to certify her own defeat was so fulfilling to me. And I feel guilty about it. I know it's not the right thing to do. She had a terrible day. You know that she got home and kicked off her shoes and she and Doug probably... probably down to a bottle of Chianti, because it was a rough, rough afternoon for Kamala Harris. I saw something, a lot of good stuff on X and social media. In fact, Betty Johnson. tweeted out something on X last night. An impeccable source just told me something wild. Let's see if it plays out. Tomorrow, the social media landscape will change massively once again for the good. You'll see soon. Wow. Well, Benny Johnson was right. Wait till you hear the announcement that Facebook makes about censorship. This is huge. It's a large reason why I've stayed away from Facebook. And now I'm back. We're getting back to Instagram and Facebook and TikTok and X. And who am I missing? Truth Social. 2025 is going to be the year that we kind of reengage on digital platforms with the Mike Gallagher show. You know, we're really proud of the ratings and revenue that this show already generates. We're grateful for the massive way you respond to our campaigns and support our advertisers. In December, just in the month of December, you donated nearly a quarter of a million dollars to our Prison Fellowship Angel Tree campaign. No show comes close to us. And it's you. It's this audience. And so I'm mindful that a lot of you are very plugged in to X and hope you follow me on X at Gallagher Show. And I hope you start following me on TikTok and Truth Social and Facebook and Instagram. Because look, this news about Facebook is huge. And the Mike Gallagher Show newsman, Roger P. Shulman, is going to be by a little later this hour to break it all down for you. Because it's pretty... Pretty astounding. This is why Trump doesn't want TikTok banned. And I understand the reservations that a lot of us have about TikTok. Look, I've had reservations about Facebook. But it sounds like Zuckerberg and people like him are starting to get the message. I mean, they're all lining up and donating millions to Trump's inauguration next week. Companies like McDonald's are abandoning their DEI initiatives. Change is coming. Change is here, arguably. And thank God in heaven above, we avoided the catastrophic impact of a Kamala Harris victory. Now, remember, she confidently predicted that Trump was going to lose. This is perhaps why I'm enjoying this so much. This is what I saw on X last night, a before and after. This is Kamala before and after. You know how there's like before and after, like with my weight. You've seen the before and after picture of me with my weight, right, with PhD weight loss. And I stupidly ate too much over in London when I went there for Christmas. And I got right back on the horse again, the PhD bandwagon. I lost like seven pounds in four days. I know exactly what to do. You got the before and after pic, Christian, for people watching on video on Salem News Channel? Man, I was big. I was a fatty. No way around it. And Fatty Mike isn't so fatty anymore thanks to PhD weight loss. I lost 53 pounds on the PhD program. And as we get into 2025, I'm more committed than ever to try to get everybody to lose weight. So if you're watching and we've got all these different video platforms, you know, Samsung Plus. Sling, Pluto, Pluto TV, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV, Fire Stick, Google TV, Fubo, Vizio. So the show is being streamed everywhere now. In fact, a guy stopped me at the department store the other night and said, I watch you every day, Gallagher. And incidentally, one more quick housekeeping note. I notice that everybody always likes to call me Gallagher, and it never bothers me. Because it's kind of catchy, I guess, but I always was worried about being confused with that comedian that broke the watermelons. And I don't think he's around anymore. Is he still with us? The guy that would slice up, he'd bash watermelons with a sledgehammer. So I think we ought to start rebranding. I'm going to talk to the suits and see if they like The Gallagher Show. Doesn't The Gallagher Show have a better ring to it than The Mike Gallagher Show? Again, the only reason I always want to insert Mike into that phrase is because of the comedian. I don't want people to get us mixed up. I already have enough problems being mixed up with the former Rhino, Wisconsin congressman, Mike Gallagher. So I think we ought to start. I think it has a nicer ring to it. The Gallagher Show. Gallagher Show. You can call me Gallagher. It won't bother me. Don't worry. Anyway, so we've got a lot of things going on. We've got a lot of plans. Do you have the before and after pic? Can't find it, huh? There it is. Put it up. There it is. There's the before and after. If you're watching us on the live stream and on Salem News Channel, man, there I was, fat. Gosh, that's embarrassing. And now, you know, not so bad. 53 pounds down. And I'm proud of that. MyPhDWeightLoss.com, incidentally, one of our proud sponsors and partners. I'm going to have lunch with Dr. Ashley later this week when I'm in South Carolina. Now, imagine having to be on your best behavior with the founder and CEO of PhD Weight Loss and Nutrition, Dr. Ashley Lucas. Because she doesn't have one ounce of body fat. She's a former ballerina. Beautiful woman. And so we're going to dine together over at, what is it, Fireside, Firestone, Firestick, something over by the radio station. MyPhDWeightLoss.com, and I'll give you more details on how you too can lose weight. If you want to lose 15, 50, 100 pounds, MyPhDWeightLoss.com, or give them a call, 864-664. I just thought I'd remember the number. Like a dummy, I don't remember that. 864, where's the phone number? I don't have the phone number on my copy, which is bizarre. Off to an auspicious start today. 864-644-1900. Yeah, but it's not on the copy, which is strange. Can you make sure you put it on there for the next time I remind the world about Ph.D. weight loss? Because that's important. 864-644-1900 to go to MyPhDWeightLoss.com. And thank you, Texter, from... Massachusetts, Gallagher, the comedian, did leave us. He passed away November the 11th, 2022. So may he rest in peace. And now that he's gone, maybe we can use Gallagher more often. I like the Gallagher show. And North Carolina, with a very accurate assessment, spot on, a big fan from North Carolina. Don't worry, they would never confuse you with a comedian. He was entertaining. Thank you. And now you get, block, block, block you, you jerk. Here's me. I'm sure North Carolina is stewing about Kamala's bad day yesterday. Now, here's the before and after I had to share with you. And again, I'm ashamed of how much I enjoy this.
SPEAKER 07 :
And and I have said and I'm very clear about this. Donald Trump should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States. He has not earned the right. He's not earned the right. And that's why he's going to lose. The votes for President of the United States are as follows. Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris...
SPEAKER 05 :
Her bang in the gavel with that pained look on her face made everything we fought for worth it, didn't it? Gosh, that was glorious. Here she was after the certification having to face the reporter. She took no questions. They asked her a bunch. She just walked away. But she gave a brief, terse statement.
SPEAKER 07 :
I do believe very strongly. That America's democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it. Every single person, their willingness to fight for and respect the importance of our democracy. Otherwise, it is very fragile and it will not be able to withstand moments of crisis. And today, America's democracy stood.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, and then she turned around and ran out of the room. Look, we all fought hard. in 2024, didn't we? We fought real hard. We left it all out on the field, and we won. So let me ask you, did you enjoy Kamala's day as much as I did, or is that a mean thing to do? Somebody just sent me another text from Minnesota. You owe Kamala an apology. She had a dreadful mission and completed it flawlessly. Oh, really? Did she flawlessly complete her dreadful mission, Minnesota? Yeah, nice try. Join me, 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. It's the Gallagher Show in the Relief Factor Studios. Christmas means giving, and for my money, Christmas means MyPillow. Make it a MyPillow Christmas for somebody on your list because the Christmas extravaganza is well underway. Because a big box retailer canceled an order, Mike Lindell has thousands of MyPillows to move. Well, he wants to pass the savings on to you, so check out this offer. You can order a standard classic MyPillow, and it's normally $49.98 for just $45. 1488 with promo code mike g limit of 10 this is the pillow that started it all the pillow that never goes flat stays nice and cool all through the night you can throw it in the washer in the dryer as often as you want you can get a classic standard my pillow for 1488 with promo code mike g a queen size normally 69.98 you'll get it for just 1888 with promo code mike g or a king size Normally $79.98. You can order it for $19.88 apiece. Limit $10, please, during Mike's incredible Christmas extravaganza from MyPillow.com. Look, if you haven't been to the site in a while, you can get all your Christmas shopping done by going to MyPillow.com. Look for the Mike Gallagher Specials Square. Click on that box, and then with any order you place, enter the promo code MikeG, and you'll save big. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com, promo code MikeG, or call 800-928-6034, 800-928-6034. It's the Christmas extravaganza sale going on right now at MyPillow.
SPEAKER 03 :
He's the happy conservative warden. From the Relief Factor Studios, here's Mike Gellerman.
SPEAKER 05 :
There is something in the air. Everything is changing. Yesterday, McDonald's announced they're saying goodbye to their DEI policies. No more hiring people because of the color of their skin, evidently, at McDonald's. You're going to get hired on your merit. You're going to get hired on whether or not you're capable of doing the job, your willingness to do the job. You're incentivizing people to get back into the workforce and not be beaten out by somebody who's going to get the job because of the color of their skin. I was listening to a great monologue this morning from Mark Davis, my friend in Dallas-Fort Worth. On November the 5th, Americans rejected an entire narrative. The narrative of DEI, the narrative that crime isn't really a problem because Americans knew better. The narrative that prices at the grocery store really aren't that bad because Americans knew better. The narrative that if you wear 10 masks and get 15 vaccines, you'll never catch COVID. I mean, they have corrupted science. They've corrupted the media. The left has corrupted everything. Like the great Dennis Prager says, they destroy, the left destroys everything it touches. And Americans finally, finally wised up. On November 5th, America rejected these broken, empty, false narratives. We're standing by for President Trump, who's going to give a press conference for Mar-a-Lago. We want to make sure you have a chance to hear what he has to say. This is kind of fun. Donald Trump Jr. and R. Charlie Kirk are in Greenland. Trump keeps promising to buy Greenland. I don't know that the Greenland government wants to sell it to us. The prime minister of Greenland, Mute Borup Agedi, said, Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and we will never be for sale. We must not lose our long fight for freedom. But the video I'm seeing, people in Greenland love MAGA. They love Trump. They love the United States. Did you know that the capital of Greenland is closer to New York than Copenhagen? Greenland is an autonomous territory that has been part of Denmark for over 600 years. But America has talked about buying Greenland forever. Greenland has access to the Arctic, where, you know, nations are trying to claim northern territory in hopes of accessing all the natural resources that are there, abundantly there. Gold, silver, copper, uranium. And then, of course, there's this talk about Canada becoming our 51st state. Now, I kind of laughed it off until Justin Trudeau resigned yesterday. I was like, wait a minute. Why did he quit? He said, I had dinner with my family and said, I'm out. As Trump is talking about making Canada the 51st state. Which, you know, you can laugh at that, but think that through a little bit. I wonder what the square mileage is of Canada compared to, I don't know, Texas. We ought to do some comparisons. I mean, it seems like a pretty big country. But Trump posted on social media, many people in Canada... You put that up for me, Christian, because I don't have it here in front of me. Let's put it up on the stream. President Trump posted on Truth Social that a lot of Canadians love the idea... of Canada becoming our 51st state. Trump wrote, the United States can no longer suffer the massive trade deficits and subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this and resigned. If Canada merged with the United States, there would be no tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be totally secure from the threat of the Russian and Chinese ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great nation it would be. Now, I've been accused of being very jingoistic or nationalist. I'm a MAGA guy. I want to put this country first in everything we do. I have to admit I'm a little uncomfortable with acquiring or merging with Canada. Or I guess more appropriately, Canada merging with us. What do you think? You think Trump is on to something? 800-655-MIKE. Welcome aboard. It's Tuesday. 13 days to go before we get our country back. We're in the Relief Factor studios. Welcome aboard. Call or text 800-655-MIKE. That's 800-655-6453. We're also standing by for President Trump's press conference from Mar-a-Lago. We'll bring it all to you. Don't miss a minute of the Mike Gallagher Show, or you'll miss a lot.
SPEAKER 09 :
Turn us out.
SPEAKER 08 :
I don't really like working. I'm going to need a priority parking space. I only work remotely. How are your safe spaces? Can I bring my dog to work? Will your company protect me against microaggressions? You're triggering me. Is this interview almost over?
SPEAKER 02 :
You don't run a daycare. You run a business. So why use high-priced recruitment agencies who charge you up to 40% of an employee's first year salary? So they're focused on getting you the costly talent, not the best fit. Which means you get more of this.
SPEAKER 08 :
What's your policy on paying employees to attend protests? I demand eight weeks of vacation. I need at least 12 weeks of paid vacation. I'm going to need a lot of mental health days. Do you have a game room? My pronouns are Zs and Zs.
SPEAKER 02 :
Isn't it time you hired grown-ups? Call RedBalloon.Work and skip those high-priced recruitment agencies. Call 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. That's 833-880-0600 for a free consultation.
SPEAKER 03 :
Mike Gallagher. Every day, Mike visits with Mark Davis, morning host on 660 AM The Answer in Dallas. Here's today's Eminem experience.
SPEAKER 06 :
Have you seen the Yacht Rock documentary? I've not. I've not. Sounds like it's up my alley, though. It's tremendous. First of all, how do you you've heard the term Yacht Rock, right? No. Get it. Dude, hello. Do you live in America? I do. What's yacht rock? Okay, yacht. Y-A-C-H-T. It's a boat. Exactly. You and Lisa cruise around Lake Grapevine on one all the time. On a palm, dude. Ain't no yacht. But the term, some people think that it's just kind of a soft term. Middle of the road, not real, you know, hard edged rock. But it's actually a very specific term that involves a whole lot of incestuous, in a good way, relationships of people from Michael McDonald to the Steely Dan guys, to the Toto guys, to Christopher Cross, who all sort of appeared on each other's records in the mostly in the 70s, early 80s. And the Yacht Rock documentary is just fantastic. Kenny Loggins is a huge part of it. So I refer that to you. Hey, while we're talking about stuff on the TV box, are you watching?
SPEAKER 05 :
I was going to tell you about my TV box thing, but go ahead. Your turn. Go. All right. Well, you know, true crime Mike. Yes. Who killed Jean Benet? I'm telling you what, Mark. That is the weirdest crime I've ever seen. Because on the one hand, I just cannot believe the family was completely... You know, oblivious to this. I mean, on the other hand, it doesn't seem like it's the family that this this guy that this one detective who was a dogged defender of the Ramsey family kept saying it was an intruder. It was an intruder. It was an intruder. They had a they had a window that was breached in the basement. The house was hard to navigate. I don't know. The whole thing is bizarre.
SPEAKER 06 :
How did you feel before you sat down? I mean, this this is just so faded into the history of the young. How old was she? Was she six?
SPEAKER 05 :
Six or seven years old. And she was a beauty pageant.
SPEAKER 06 :
Just the creepiest thing in the world.
SPEAKER 05 :
I know.
SPEAKER 06 :
Don't put your kids into that. It's horrible. And that made people think weirdly about the Ramseys. That's right. Patsy's dead, right? John's still alive.
SPEAKER 05 :
She died of cancer. John remarried. The son isn't talking to anybody. And that... But he gave one interview post, you know, JonBenet's death to, I think, Dr. Phil or somebody. And he sued somebody because they kind of, because a lot of people say, I think the son was involved. You know why they think the son was involved? Why? There's a 911 call when they found her little body. It's just so awful. I mean, the whole thing. Imagine Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. You find your six-year-old daughter dead in the basement in a blanket. The son is he was nine. The son is heard saying in the background, what do I say? What do I say? As everybody's frantically screaming and yelling and all that. And it was peculiar that the little boy would say, what do I say? As if maybe. Like, it's an odd thing to say, you know. Why would he ask that? Now, I don't want to overstate that, because on the other hand, look, there was a sophisticated ransom note left behind. She had terrible things done to her with a sophisticated, what do they call it, a garrotte, you know, like a knot around, like a stick.
SPEAKER 06 :
That one would think a nine-year-old could not navigate.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, he didn't. I mean, she was her skull was cracked. I mean, she was that poor girl was brutalized and sexually brutalized. She was sexually brutalized and people don't know that. So I don't know. It's just it's so chilling to think that somebody got away with this and somebody perhaps in America is listening to you and me right now saying I did that. Yep. And they never caught me and they never will.
SPEAKER 06 :
And it undercuts, I mean, don't we usually think, and listen, we've done this from the shooting of the healthcare CEO to various other things. We've said, doesn't everybody usually get caught? And the short answer is no. Sometimes people absolutely get away with crazy things. Well, let me reverse the tone, the head-snapping change. Are you watching Landman with Billy Bob Thorne?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, but I'm going to because you recommended it. Another Taylor Sheridan video. Look, after you recommended ABBA Voyage, as far as I'm concerned, a Mark Davis recommendation can never fail. I'm still talking about that. In fact, I'm going to talk to Hewitt today about it. Look, he's had me on his show about two times in 20 years. He wants me on the show to tell him about ABBA Voyage in London. Get out! Yeah, he's so excited. I said, Hugh, we were texting back and forth. Of course, he leaves the time slot this week. Chris DeGaulle is going to be your lead-in early mornings in Dallas starting this Monday. And he'll be my lead-in on stations all around the country. Hugh goes to the Gorka slot in the afternoon. So we've got a bunch of lineup changes going on. And we also have big things going on in Salem world. We're going to make some announcements in the next couple of days, which are pretty exciting, involving... Some people from Trump world who you're going to recognize. So I can't say much more about that today. But the reason I bring.
SPEAKER 06 :
So anyhow, your recommendation is to offer you a recommendation, which I do anyway. Somebody appeared in Sunday nights in Sunday's episode. It's the story of Billy Bob Thornton is Tommy Norris is a land man, a guy in charge of oil power. And I love me Billy Bob. I love me some Billy Bob. And go watch Goliath where he was.
SPEAKER 05 :
Goliath, he's so great in that.
SPEAKER 06 :
So, so, so great. Anyway, part of it takes place in Fort Worth where there's wealthy folks connected in Fort Worth. And so no spoilers. Somebody's in the hospital. It's not Billy Bob, but somebody's in the hospital with a kind of a life threatening thing going on. And guess who comes and visits him in the hospital? Jerry Jones. Jerry Jones.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, wow.
SPEAKER 06 :
Jerry Jones. So Jerry Jones is in the Landman episode. And the running narrative right now, in view of the way things have gone, is Jerry is a much better actor than he is general manager of a football team. Wow. And it's true. Rhonda hit me to this when I came in. She said, please tell me you saw it. Please tell me you saw it. And I hadn't yet. And then we did last night. And Jerry delivers about a minute and a half little soliloquy about the value of keeping yourself in good health and cherishing time spent with your family and working with your family. He seems to get kind of worked up at it. It was moving to me as a viewer. I'm sitting there looking, there's flipping Jerry Jones here. He is great in that episode of Landman. So there you go.
SPEAKER 05 :
Incidentally, you mentioned Rhonda. I listened to Rhonda tell you the Miss Rhonda goes to Washington story yesterday. And she has inspired me. I'm going to be there next week for the inauguration. Yes, you are. And it's been a long time since I've kind of walked the halls of Congress or gotten the Capitol tour and all that. So Joey Hudson and I are inspired by your chat with Rhonda. When we're there next week, next Monday, Monday afternoon after the inauguration, we're going to go visit some representatives on Capitol Hill. We're going to go take a tour of the Capitol and just kind of remember the people's the people's place. So thank you, Rhonda, for for for reminding me how much I love watching the seat of power unfold. You know, I've been binging when I travel and I did the London trip. I must have watched 100 episodes and people get mad when I say this because I know they're a bunch of feel good lefties. But I've been binging the West Wing. And it is, you know, I know they're touchy feely Democrats. I get it. It's Martin. Martin Sheen is president. And they're all there. It's all it's clearly a Democrat administration. But the writing and the sort of pulling back the curtain and the comical look at. at the west wing is so neat to me and uh you know as a guy who's been you and i've been blessed to go to the oval office we you know you and i may be going back in the next four years um to sit in that room and to see it portrayed the way it is in the west wing is is something that i really do recommend i mentioned it to dennis prager in the hospital that i've been binging on it and he kind of rolled his eyes and their their family friend was there said oh they're Just a bunch of touchy-feely liberals, and it's so stupid, and it's propaganda. I thought, uh-oh, I said the wrong thing here in this room. And I get it. I mean, it's too far left, but it's still cool writing. Good writing is good writing. Yeah, and it's entertaining. Good acting is good acting. Good performances, Allison Janney, and of course my old next-door neighbor, Rob Lowe from Ohio. Great story about that, because he was supposed to be the star of that show. And then Martin Sheen emerged as the real star, as the president, and I don't think Rob liked it very much. So it was interesting drama behind the scenes. Speaking of drama, let's look at CNN drama. Can I just salute you again some more after your great recommendations about shows in London? How about your narrative today about Americans rejecting media narratives? It was so spot on, Mark. I was driving over the Howard Franklin, watching the waves and screaming, go, go, go. Yesterday, John Berman, the CNN anchor, was stunned when their numbers guy, the data Jedi, Harry Hansen. Oh, yes. They got a board about how they got the big board about America's interest in whether or not Trump had anything to do with January 6th. And by incidentally, how about the great Scott Jennings calling January 6th the Democrats high holy day?
SPEAKER 06 :
Precisely right.
SPEAKER 05 :
That was so good.
SPEAKER 06 :
CNN employs these guys. How does Scott Jennings keep that job? And I don't know about Harry Enten. How does he keep that job? Because I thought I'm going to play it in a little bit. I saw his pitch yesterday as well. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 05 :
So he's up on the board saying, oh, it's 48% in 2021 that Trump had something to do with January 6th, that he incited it. Then it went down a little bit to 37%. Now, that was a clear shift. Know what it is now?
SPEAKER 1 :
5%.
SPEAKER 05 :
5% of Americans believe that January 6th is Donald Trump's fault. That includes Democrats. It's only—I mean— That's only 2% Republicans. So, hey, Sonny Hostin, hate to break it to you, sweetheart. Not the Holocaust, honey. It's not World War II. It's not Pearl Harbor, you nutcase. So good for you and good on you for reminding the world that the narratives have been rejected. And I love the way you said that. And you said it so right about, I may play your clip on my show today, if you don't mind, because it was the science. We're rejecting, you know, what they tell us is science. We're rejecting what they're telling us about climate change. We're rejecting what they're telling us about just about everything. And look, Mark, 30 seconds. It's not hard for the CNNs of the world to regain the trust. All they have to do is have a modicum of fairness. Shoot straight with us. We're a forgiving country. A little bit. Just a little bit. Amen. Throw us a bone of fairness. And until they do that, we're not going to trust them. So, anyway, happy Tuesday. I love you.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I love your monologues.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I'll tell you all about your ABBA voyage recommendation. Please, please. Take a chance on me. It was a home run.
SPEAKER 03 :
Download the podcast and hear all of Mike and Mark's conversations at MikeOnline.com for the M&M experience.
Meta's recent announcements have sent shockwaves through the tech world, as the company vows to discard traditional fact-checking methods in favor of more community-driven approaches. With significant board changes, including the addition of high-profile conservative figures, Meta appears to be aligning its strategies more closely with free speech advocates. We explore the potential impacts of these pivotal decisions on both the platform's users and the broader social media industry. Tune in as we analyze Zuckerberg's message on restoring public trust and fostering open dialogue in this rapidly evolving digital landscape.
SPEAKER 09 :
Mark Zuckerberg makes two shocking moves in one day as Meta seems to go MAGA.
SPEAKER 02 :
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 Sekula.
SPEAKER 09 :
Welcome to Sekula. We are going to be taking your calls. I'd love to hear from you at 1-800-684-3110 as some pretty big announcements come out of Meta. Of course, Meta is Mark Zuckerberg's platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, all of the Meta universe, the Metaverse. And the statements that have come out of Mark Zuckerberg really over the last few months, and maybe you can even say the last year, have seemed to be presenting a sort of changing tide that's happening within social media. And you have a moment where, of course, we specifically, even the ACLJ, have had a lot of issues with Facebook over the years in terms of fact-checking and some of the issues that have come out. Now, we've got friends at Facebook. They've taken care of us. And I believe of all of our fact-checks, we have never had one that was not overturned by Facebook once the higher ups, I guess, got involved. But now what you've seen is Mark Zuckerberg make this announcement of they are doing away with fact checking. That's right, all those little fact checks that you saw over the last four or five years, gone they will be uh now replaced with something similar and those are the words of Mark Zuckerberg we'll play in the next segment um some videos and some clips from Mark Zuckerberg where he lays this out in a way that feels very Trump if I'm being honest they use words like legacy media and having issues with that and telling the truth and free speech and how community notes that was developed on X is going to be essentially uh beefed up and brought over to the Meta platform. So on Facebook and Instagram, take this as a huge win, everyone. The fact that it took some time, but you have someone like Mark Zuckerberg seemingly seeing what's happening on X, not being afraid now to stand up. And at the same time, he's made some shifts in the board of directors at Meta, which not only included a Republican congressperson, is that right? Yes. Republican congressperson, but also- A lobbyist, Republican lobbyist. Lobbyist, sorry. lobbyist who you may not know but that's okay because he put in also Dana White, the head of the UFC, the creator of the UFC, and really, and now running TKO, part of Endeavor, and someone who has been a massive supporter of President Trump. Maybe when other people weren't, you had Dana White out there. And now he's going to be on the board of directors at one of the biggest platforms in the world. Of course, that's Facebook, Instagram, the metaverse, and meta in general. And we actually have some official news. statements from our friends at Meta. We're going to read those coming up in the next segment. But I want to know from you, how do you feel about this? Do you think this is a true sign of change? Is this just a business saying, hey, we got to make sure we can stay around, stay relevant, and we can't be doing what we're doing? Because they lay out specific issues, Will, in this that they are no longer going to be censoring.
SPEAKER 10 :
That's right, and they even get into it, and we'll play some of this, about how pushing back against governments, including the United States government, saying they're going to work with President Trump and the government to push back on these policies where the government was pushing them to censor certain content. Now, obviously, there's going to be a lot of people that are skeptical. Is this just trying to deal the cards you're dealt, play the cards you're dealt with a new president? Maybe, perhaps. However, this cannot be lost that this is a big win. You have to take these wins and then continue the pressure. Ensure that the people in the new administration work with these platforms to ensure that free speech continues. It's why when the liberals lost their minds over Elon Musk buying Twitter, it ended up being one of the best things for free speech, not just because of that Twitter platform, but now the fact that Mark Zuckerberg is even saying it will be like the community notes on X is He's pointing to the fact that's been a big win for free speech, and they realize they have to adapt and change if they want to stay in business. We'll get into more of it. We'll take your phone calls, 1-800-684-3110. Do you trust this move? Are you skeptical? Let us know. 1-800-684-3110. Yeah, we've been fighting censorship on social media for years.
SPEAKER 09 :
And you can still get involved. You can still sign our petition related to that at ACLJ.org slash sign. Take this as a big win. I know sometimes it's hard to celebrate the wins, but Facebook is getting rid of fact checkers, something we have been fighting for years. And we've actually won in the courts. And of course, we've won with every strike. Facebook and Instagram and all the platforms have tried to come against us. Sign the petition right now. We're going to take your calls coming up. Welcome back to Secular. We are going to take your calls about this and other topics as well. If you have a question or comment of anything related to the news right now, give us a call. 1-800-684-3110. If you're watching on YouTube, I'm going to ask you to hit that thumbs up and also put in a comment. If you don't know what to comment, tell me where you're watching from. I always like to see that. We need to make sure more people... get this in their feeds because it's a really interesting story and I think we need to play well some clips from Mark Zuckerberg himself and I will also give you some headlines some sort of top lines that we got from our friends at Meta to share which I thought was pretty interesting again big moves and i believe you can credit uh elon musk for a lot of this uh you can credit the success they've had on x and maybe you could also credit threads you know not exactly blowing the doors down when they had the you know the x alternative um and it's an interesting time i think we should play a clip i mean you could see it's not just a quick press release hey we're doing this mark zuckerberg sort of Pleads with the American people. Pleads with the world to say, hey, we messed up. We went way too far and we're going to do what we can to redeem ourselves. Should we go ahead and play a bite? Yeah, let's go ahead and play bite two. This is from a video released this morning from Mark Zuckerberg.
SPEAKER 01 :
The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech. So we're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms. More specifically, here's what we're going to do. First, we're going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes, similar to X, starting in the US. After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth. But the fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the US.
SPEAKER 09 :
So let me read that to you. The fact checkers have become too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S. We can say without a doubt because we had this happen to us and we have a lawyer on staff whose main job. It's to make sure we have a voice advocating for ourselves on these social media platforms. Because, Will, there were times where we would have a case and we were making our argument in the case. And Facebook or the Facebook fact checkers, the independent fact checkers, would come in and say, no, what you're spreading is lies.
SPEAKER 10 :
And there's one very specific instance that I remember was when it was with a bill that was going in the, not Minnesota, I'm sorry, Maryland State House. It was going forward. It had that language about perinatal abortion, which we were pointing out that that term includes the period after birth as well. In that hearing, The lawyers for the Democrats conceded that that's actually what that means. There could be some unintended consequences here. It wasn't even the conservative pro-life faction that was saying this. It was the lawyers for the Democrats. And we were pointing this out. Our lawyers were presenting in this hearing, testifying before a legislative body. We had a post about that very issue. And the liberal fact checkers that Facebook was using rated it as false. Not only does that make the post not get shown up, but it hurts your entire brand and category of having your posts and information seen. We fought it, we were able to successfully overturn it by showing documentation of what we testified, what the Democrat lawyers in that state house testified, and showed them the record and got it overturned with no long-term damage to the organization's social media accounts. However, that is just one caveat, one small thing, because we had the proof, the wherewithal to fight it, and even some connections at Facebook to know the right channels to go to. Most people did not even have the time to continue to push to overturn or even know that they could push to overturn these fact checkers. And even there, Mark Zuckerberg points out that the fact-checkers have been too politically biased. That goes to what we've been saying. It goes to our own experience. I know it goes to your experience out there that's watching, that you saw things that were demoted, shadow banned, or disappeared, or fact-checked because it wasn't even necessarily Facebook themselves, but this team of fact-checkers that they had were all left of center and all targeting conservative voices.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, and we saw that over and over again. Let's go take a call. Let's go to Lynn in Florida who's listening on the radio. Lynn, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes. Metta has not suddenly decided to be a friend of MAGA. They're just doing this to, I guess, not suffer the consequences. They didn't decide overnight to not be evil. If you believe this, you lack wisdom, you lack knowledge, and you lack understanding. Exactly.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I appreciate you calling in. And I understand after many years of dealing with that, I'm a little more hopeful. I'm a little more hopeful that maybe they see the writing on the wall and maybe this was something that was not directly. I mean, I'm sure. Look, they saw the change in the feelings of the American people. Mark Zuckerberg says it in that video. Would this have happened if Kamala Harris had won? Maybe so, because you're trying to keep your business going. You're trying to keep your audience happy. And of course, we've seen so much change in social media over the last few years that people have left platforms. They've joined platforms. The liberal groups all were on Twitter. Then they all left X and it goes back and forth and back and forth. And maybe you could have sort of a return to normalcy. You could say that even Instagram was maybe one of the few that felt a little less politically driven. And I heard an interview actually with one of the heads of Instagram who said like, one of the reasons that you can't link out So it did not become a news platform. Right. And I think that's maybe what we're seeing, which is get back to why you want to be on Facebook, why you want to be on Instagram. Now, Facebook, they're saying, no, we are actually going to amp up political discussion, if you will. We're going to amp up some of those more controversial topics that we at one point deemed to be for inclusion and now realized that the American people are not one sided on.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, and to Lynn's point, she is, I would say, justifiably skeptical. Absolutely. As probably most people watching, including ourselves, you want to see the proof once it gets there. But I would also say, when you're seeing like McDonald's announcing just yesterday they're ending some of their DEI practices, you've seen the University of Michigan saying that they're rolling back some of those DEI things, a lot of corporations are saying, You know, we've kind of heard. And I would say some of these corporations are not as ideologically driven by politics as we give them credit for. I think, and I would argue, and probably rightly so to some degree, that these corporations, especially the giant ones, they are guided by profit. Right. And when they think that the world, and maybe because of what legacy media is telling them the world wants, they're like, how are we going to make more money? We're going to go do all these DEI things. Yes, is it a lot of money for us? They spend money on these programs that honestly don't make them a dollar, but they think that makes them more palatable or more attractive for the consumer.
SPEAKER 09 :
Or for the advertiser. Exactly. And we saw that happen at a company like Disney where it went so far where an audience finally started revolting. And you had a group of people inside Disney say, we cannot keep politicizing every piece of content we put out. And when you see it, you can feel it. Because it was never done... with gentle hands. It was always done with something that just felt so out of place or something that felt so forced that the creatives involved didn't feel like they even had anything to do it. It felt like they were just pushed to do it. I think that's what we've seen across the board. Maybe there are some changes. Look, again, I think you can be skeptical. I'm skeptical on Facebook because why? I don't know. Let's say six or seven years ago, we had somewhere between 5,000 to 10,000 people watching our show each and every day on Facebook. As we're broadcasting right now, we got thousands on YouTube, thousands on Rumble. How many do we have right now as we talk about this content on Facebook?
SPEAKER 1 :
240.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay, so you can't tell me that that hasn't changed. We have 4 million plus people on this page. And 240 are what's watching. So I want to make a challenge to our friends at Facebook and say, how about you lift some of those filters? How about you start notifying people once again that this show is broadcasting live? How about you start doing what you used to do, which was spread the word and let us have a actual forum for discussion? we'll see if we get there phone lines again are open at 1-800-684-3110 we've been fighting this for years and we have successfully won over and over again against social media platforms that have tried to censor us we have won every single time and now we've seen facebook say we give up we're changing things mark zuckerberg clearly trying to make some inroads with trump putting in someone like dana white Again, the head of the UFC, who you've seen speak at the Republican National Convention, you've seen speak over the years, you've seen him welcome President Trump to UFC events to thunderous applause. Maybe, again, he was doing that when it was not popular to be doing it. And now he's on the board of directors of Meta. That is a big deal and a huge win for conservatives. I mean, this is not a non-controversial figure. This is maybe one of the more controversial media figures just due to the business that he's in. UFC, Power Slap, now involved in the WWE because of TKO. This is someone involved in violent sport, but is a sound conservative.
SPEAKER 10 :
And Logan, I think to that point as well, that's even bigger to me than just the announcement of getting rid of the fact checkers and going to the community notes, because that also shows they are putting people in leadership. There's a former Republican lobbyist as well as Dana White. Those are two individuals that will help shape policy. And so that to me is the bigger news in this that they are trying to change and seek a new path forward as opposed to just saying, okay, here's some community notes. Everyone should be happy now. I think that is a signal of big change at Meta.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep, and I've heard there's some even bigger announcements coming. Stay tuned. We got more coming up. We're going to take your calls on the next segment. 1-800-684-3110. Welcome back to Sekulow. I also want to say a welcome to our new friends on Salem News Channel. If you're watching us on Salem News Channel, make sure you give us a call. Tell us. We'd love to hear from you because we have been on the network for the last year, but we are now live. So if you're watching this right now on Salem News Channel, unless it's a later on, way later rerun, we are live noon to 1 p.m. Eastern Time, I wanted to say. Hello to all you. Great lineup of other hosts on there, so I hope you enjoy it. Take a look at what they're doing at Salem News Channel. Let's go ahead and take some phone calls. Let's go to Ronnie, who's calling in South Carolina, who's listening on the radio. Ronnie, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 06 :
Good afternoon. It's not morning anymore. Go ahead. So, a question about Facebook. Do you guys have any inkling here? I was thrown in Facebook jail so many times because of fact checkers. quote-unquote fact checkers, and now my friends do not see my post, and if they do, it's a couple of days old. I'm not, anything I post on their marketplace, nobody sees it, and I'm really curious if any of that's going to be affected once these budget changes come in.
SPEAKER 09 :
Maybe so. One thing we can actually talk about and share is that they will be moving their content policy team from California to Texas. Now, we have seen the moves to Texas from a lot of these platforms. We've seen X start to do it. We've seen a lot of the others start to move their way to Texas, a lot of times to Austin, which can be a little more liberal leaning. But I assume what you'll have is a good group of people who will probably be leaving Texas
SPEAKER 10 :
the platform because they don't want to move and they simply don't want to move to Texas and that could shift a lot of these policies well and Mark Zuckerberg did say in that announcement about the the content-based review team going to Texas he says as we work to promote free expression I think will help us build trust to do this work in places where there's less concern about the bias of our teams So what you can also, I think, infer from that, I'm not putting words in his mouth, but that if they move it from the most liberal part of California, Northern California, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, then you move it to Texas, that they're not expecting, I assume, I'm not, once again, not putting words in their mouth, that Not everyone is going to want to leave Silicon Valley in San Francisco area to move to Texas, wherever that may be in Texas. And by saying there should be less concern about bias of our teams, that they're looking for talent. That are less biased, that maybe come from those areas of the country.
SPEAKER 09 :
Maybe they're trying to find people that will go into the office again, too.
SPEAKER 10 :
Exactly. Well, I mean, that's probably also a part of it as well. But I think this entire thing from the leadership being having board members that we know are of like mind. That is a huge deal.
SPEAKER 09 :
I can't reiterate that enough. In a platform that large, in a company as large as Meta, the board controls a lot. They can do a lot. They can get a lot done. And you have someone who is as outspoken as Dana White, and you said another Republican lobbyist that's getting involved and now on the board as well. Those are big moves. And look, I know it's easy to just go, oh, don't trust them. And I'm not saying you should. But I think that this is an opportunity, maybe an opportunity to get back a bit where we came from. Let's go ahead and take another call. Let's go to Charles, who's calling in Georgia on line two. You're on the air.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hello. I just wanted to express my opinion that I think the only thing that is really going to ensure that Facebook and Google and big corporations like that that have gotten control over information, which they have in the past used it to censorship, uh collusion with fbi all kinds of things to um to limit free speech for political purposes they've demonstrated that they've done that they're capable of it and i think it's what we're seeing now is just a ploy all it is is to uh like if you can't beat them join them and then if the democrats get back in control again and all that uh wokeism comes back and all that stuff Zuckerberg will be a chameleon and join right up with him again.
SPEAKER 10 :
Charles, I would say I want to jump in here because, I mean, I hear your points. Sure. And that's why I keep pointing back to the board members because it's a publicly traded company. The board members have a lot of power by saying, hey, these moves you're making, company, aren't in the best interest of the shareholders. Because what's the point of doing things in interest of the shareholders? To raise the stock price. At the end of the day, that's how the corporate America, these big corporations... The board of directors gets to look it down and have oversight and say, what you're doing is going to decrease the value of this company to the people that own stock of it. And if they're going to revert back and try to push things that one are draining resources, really expensive and don't produce any profit and lose actual users of the platform, people like Dana White, who has built very large companies based off the principles that we hold dear as well is another person that's conservative as well. I think they will have a lot of power to try to keep that in check. Yes, obviously, you can't control a publicly traded company from the outside, but you can with your pocketbook, with your users, and I do think that we are a big part of the reason this is a shift, not the administration. That we, the American people that are conservatives and believe in American conservative values... are a big part of the reason they are making this change.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, and I think you have someone like Mark Zuckerberg. Obviously, you have Dana White coming in. He's a big Brazilian jiu-jitsu guy, I think. Zuckerberg, he's involved in MMA. He's challenged Elon Musk to a fight. We've had all that happen. Remember, that happened just a few years ago. How quickly things change. You also have Tim Cook yesterday pledging a million dollars personally Personally, not the Apple usual. An additional million dollars of his own money to the Trump inauguration events committee. And that is a little bit traditional, but if you read the comments that came out of Tim Cook, and we know that Tim Cook, the head of Apple, by the way, He's been down at Mar-a-Lago as well, Auburn grad. He's been down at Mar-a-Lago with Elon, with people like Zuckerberg. So yes, are they kissing up to what's happening there? Maybe so. I mean, yes, definitely. Yes, but maybe that is because they also see how the American people are reacting and maybe you'll have companies that actually respond. I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm just saying that it's at least a... A good spot. So let's go ahead and take another... Should we play another clip from Zuckerberg? This is a little bit longer, so we'll hold that for the next half hour. Yeah, hey, if you're watching online, you'll get the full hour. If you're listening on the radio, some of you don't, make sure you watch us live, aclj.org. YouTube, Rumble, yes, on Facebook. We are there. We're also on X. Find us, just search for ACLJ or Secula. We're broadcasting live now. You can also sign our petition to help us continue our battle against online censorship and social media censorship. Sign our petition at ACLJ.org slash sign. This is a huge win as they're getting rid of fact checkers, something that has been a bit of a bane of our existence for the last seven, eight years. So excited to hopefully have some positive movement In that, again, you can go to ACLJ.org. We'll be taking your calls coming up in the next segments as well at 1-800-684-3110. Let's quickly go to Charlotte, who's calling in Georgia online. For Charlotte, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, Kevin and I are just saying hi and thank you guys for the wonderful work that you're doing. And we are praying for you every day. You're in the front lines for us. They're even on the phones. So we just, Kevin and I are just in prayer for the ACLJ and Jay and the entire crew. Thank you. Your safety, as well as the wonderful front lines you've been for Trump. and the entire conservative voice of which we are a part.
SPEAKER 09 :
Charlotte, I appreciate you calling. I appreciate your prayers. I don't mean to cut you off at all. We're just ahead to a break. But I want to thank everyone who does that, who not only supports the work of the ACLJ, whether that's by signing petitions or donating financially, but just pray for us. Continue to keep us in your prayers. Like she said, pray for our safety. For us, for our families, for our team, whether that's here in the office or when we're traveling around the world. I was at the European Center for Law and Justice, our European office. I was just there two weeks ago or less than two weeks ago. There's so much amazing work happening. There's so many people. You hear our names, sure. There are hundreds of people working full-time here at the ACLJ, and we can't do that without you. Let's go to ACLJ.org. Phone lines are open. 1-800-684-3110. Second half hour coming right up in less than a minute.
SPEAKER 02 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekula.
SPEAKER 09 :
Welcome to Sekula. We are going to take your calls. 1-800-684-3110. Again, we're covering the news. There have been major shakeup at Meta. Of course, Meta, home of Facebook, home of Instagram, of Threads, and a lot of other platforms. The Metaverse. The big shakeups, you'll have the removal, and this is the big one, the removal of all fact-checkers, and they're going to be moving to a community notes-style platform. Of course, you've seen that on X be implemented over the last year, and it's been a big win. You even had Mark Zuckerberg specifically saying, we're going to base it on the system that X has created and make it maybe even more complex. So that's coming. Plus, you have new board members, including Republican National Convention speaker, head of the UFC, the ultimate fighting, And, of course, you know him from speaking at the, not the inauguration, but speaking at the, like I said, the RNC. Or maybe you saw him on campaign stops. Or maybe you saw him leading President Trump out to thunderous applause, you know, with the likes of Mario Lopez and Theo Vaughn. And, of course, our colleague Tulsi Gabbard, Mike Johnson. And who is that? That is Dana White, who we've seen over and over again. Again, not picking a very non-controversial figure, picking a pretty controversial guy who happens to be one of the most brilliant sports businessmen in history who took the UFC from such a niche sport, something that only a lot of us watched. It was pretty hardcore back in the early days, to then now moving to maybe the most popular action sport that's happening now. air combat sport that happens uh we watch it every month it's a big deal he big republican big conservative joining the board of directors at meta uh these are big moves that are happening and we can't understate them and i think we should play a clip uh from mark zuckerberg which one you want to play well yeah let's go ahead and play bite six uh this is him talking about the censorship issue and it has some really key points that are fascinating to me and we'll explain it on the other side
SPEAKER 01 :
Finally, we're going to work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more. The US has the strongest constitutional protections for free expression in the world. Europe has an ever-increasing number of laws institutionalizing censorship and making it difficult to build anything innovative there. Latin American countries have secret courts that can order companies to quietly take things down. China has censored our apps from even working in the country. The only way that we can push back on this global trend is with the support of the US government. And that's why it's been so difficult over the past four years when even the US government has pushed for censorship. By going after us and other American companies, it has emboldened other governments to go even further. But now we have the opportunity to restore free expression, and I am excited to take it. It'll take time to get this right. And these are complex systems. They're never going to be perfect. There's also a lot of illegal stuff that we still need to work very hard to remove. But the bottom line is that after years of having our content moderation work focused primarily on removing content, it is time to focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our systems, and getting back to our roots about giving people voice.
SPEAKER 09 :
Amazing statement, if you will, from Mark Zuckerberg. You may think he's lying and whatever you want to think you can think. But this sounds like someone who would have been censored on Facebook over the last four years. Right. Or the last eight years, even at this point. This sounds like someone that would have been hit with, you're spreading false news that other governments are trying to take down your post. Or even our own government.
SPEAKER 10 :
He says over the past four years, the U.S. government has pushed for censorship. If you had have said that on Facebook, there is a chance that one of their fact checkers would have labeled that false or misinformation.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, he admitted that. He admitted that they were getting a lot of pressure. uh from the biden administration and even the biden uh when they were running for election uh from spreading you know information about the laptop and all of that he's admitted to all of that saying look they they did bow down a bit to the pressure because when the fbi comes to knockin You get a little nervous when you're one of these big companies. But you know what? I'm going to take this as a win. You may not, but I'm going to take it as a win. Sure, I'd like to see more people watching us on Facebook. Maybe that means more people are going to come back to that platform. We'll see. I'm going to take some more calls. 1-800-684-3110. We'll hear more even from Mark Zuckerberg coming up. As they also announced, they'll be moving most of their group members involved with Community Notes and all of this, to Texas, away from California, to become specifically less biased. We'll be right back. to Sekulow. I want to jump right into your phone calls. Give me a call too. We got three lines open so you can get on the air. 1-800-684-3110. That's 1-800-684-3110. This has been a big victory for us. And yes, I'm taking a little bit of a victory lap right now as we have been continually in, especially over the last few years, it's gotten a little bit better the last year or so. We have been constantly in a struggle with meta, with Facebook and as they have taken down posts or they've put strikes or they've put fake news kind of labels on it, even to the point where they would notify millions of people. We don't get notifications for this show very much anymore on Facebook, but there was a time where whenever they decided to slap a partially true, partially false, totally false label on it, they would notify everyone who saw it. or who engaged or who shared it. And of course, what they didn't do was then notify people when that strike was removed and when their system went through and they did a double check and said, hey, we were wrong, which happened every single time. So I'm taking a victory lap. That is going away. The fact checkers groups, and I hope they all go completely out of business, go away because remember they were a third party. Third party fact checkers, goodbye. Hello community notes actually done by the people. So I really like that. Let's go ahead and take some phone calls. Rebecca's calling in New Hampshire. Line three, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hi. I was thinking too that perhaps Facebook and the other ones should consider that our privacy is worth something to us and that they should allow us to decide what they get to have and what they don't. I think Europe does that. And I think that's an important thing, too, because otherwise they still have a lot of information that either can get stolen by other countries or used improperly at their choice.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think this is an interesting conversation. She battles sort of the TikTok situation, which is if you remove TikTok, are you actually causing more issues because of the potential censorship you are allowing? Or are you feeding into the algorithm? Now, do I use TikTok? No, not regularly. because of some of those concerns. But I have the choice to do it. I think you have that sort of same issue here, Will, with Facebook, which is, yeah, to create a privacy policy that's stricter, sure. And look, we've all had it happen. I'm talking about Dairy Queen and all of a sudden I'm getting an ad for Dairy Queen. We've had all those situations happen in real time in real life. So maybe there should be some of those, but it gets a little gray and it gets a little concerning.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right. And one, that is every social media platform's business model is the data that they get from you for offering you a free service as well as ads. So, yes, Rebecca, that is a very robust discussion that should happen about individuals' privacy, but also what they give up when they agree to use a platform. And so that I think having conservative minded people on the board is very helpful for those discussions going forward as well. So those are things, though, that weren't necessarily brought up by this announcement. And so we can't speak too far to what they're thinking about that. But I understand that is a concern of a lot of people. And Logan, you brought up TikTok. You saw Kevin O'Leary from Shark Tank fame. Obviously, he does a lot of media appearances on Fox News now. He's a conservative. He's in talks to purchase the assets of TikTok here in America. which is a part of that deal where if they didn't sell the company by X date, I think it was January 19th, but that's on hold from a court, but then it would transfer over. And he's saying, though, we need to have the Trump administration help negotiate this deal out, but that he's looking to purchase that and to try to almost take TikTok over in America so it wouldn't necessarily go away, but that connection to China would be severed and some of those privacy concerns would go away.
SPEAKER 09 :
there as well that could be interesting you know you put sort of a more trusted face i guess you'd say mr wonderful uh involved in running uh something like tiktok maybe that can win more people over and it continues the platform there are millions of americans and millions worldwide who their businesses are reliant on tiktok So that is always the concern when you're dealing with that. You're going to start limiting people's ways to make money or you have built an entire business on these platforms and then you're kicked off. Now, of course, YouTube has done that. Of course, Facebook has done that where they have kicked off prominent figures or they've throttled prominent figures who did build their whole career on social media. But I'm talking about someone that, you know, sells candles. You know, I'm not talking about someone who's a political commentator, a mom and pop shop that built up on selling a croissant that is legendary in Houston, you know, something like that. Those are the ones that I get a little concerned about in terms of the people still having a voice.
SPEAKER 10 :
This is another interesting thing. Our team has been looking through at some of the historic things that we had happen. And once again, we did mention that those got, we were able to defeat them and get those strikes against our account taken away. But even in his statement, Mark Zuckerberg mentions that we're going to simplify our content policies and get rid of a bunch of restrictions on topics like immigration that are just out of touch with mainstream discourse. We actually had a broadcast yesterday back in 2022, February 9th, so almost three years ago, that we were talking about our lawsuit that we were bringing. It was a FOIA lawsuit. We had FOIA'd the administration. They didn't comply within the statutory limitations. And so we filed a FOIA lawsuit. We were then flagged for false information on an immigration topic. But in there, they said it was also related to false information about Hillary Clinton. which had nothing to do with anything on the broadcast that day. I don't even think she was mentioned on the broadcast that day. It was very directed about the ACLJ work, filing a lawsuit based off our FOIA request. It was all internally created story. And they were fact checking us telling what we were in real time doing. And we got a content strike on that. And that's, once again, the flaw that even Zuckerberg is pointing out here with the third party fact checking and how much power they had to silence your content. If they didn't like it, even if the topic, because it was about immigration, a very contested time, and even if the excuse was wrong, that specific voice, The ACLJ talking to you was shadow banned, delisted, moved down, whatever you want to call it, through that process of the fact checker.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, I've seen – I have to say, this last election season, we saw a lot less of that. Right. We saw a lot – I'm not sure if we had one flag on our account. No one told me if we did because – You could tell they were already moving in this direction. So when those topics come up that are specifically mentioned and we're addressing them, as half the country agrees with, that's something that at least we brought up. Hey, no sweet baby rays this time. You know what? That was maybe the most disappointing thing. Where was the barbecue sauce? Yeah, if you don't remember, back when I think we introduced Meta four years ago. looming in the background out of focus was a bottle of sweet baby ray barbecue sauce which i think he's a big fan of uh just a solitary bottle on the shelf yeah and uh i've always thought you know he should put that if you're watching mark every should be an easter egg yeah every time hide a bottle of sweet baby rays we are gonna be taking your calls coming up in the next segment it'll be our last segment of the day 1-800-684-3110 let's go ahead and take a call paula it's in florida you're on the air
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, this is Paula. Thank you. Just wanted to give a shout out saying just give the public some time to even believe what Zuckerberg is saying. And because we have We've been hearing the opposite for so many years, and we didn't even believe that at the time that they were saying it. Just for instance, yesterday, I was watching the news, and here they're still blaming Trump for the insurrection on January the 6th. I mean, who do you believe?
SPEAKER 09 :
Who do you believe? And so you... What we want, Paula, is that conversation to be able to happen, is for you to be able to say what you feel about that and for other people to say the opposite. And then somewhere in the middle, maybe people will have a discussion. You'll actually be able to talk these things out, not just turn into one side. And maybe that's what can happen on these social media platforms. Once again, no guarantees. As you said, we got to build time, got to let it trust, build some trust up. Mark Zuckerberg has been headed this direction. And I will say, think about all the people. who have come on board to the more America first, I guess you'd say, conservative movement, the Trump movement, the MAGA movement, very unlikely people have come on board. You could say that from our own colleague, Tulsi Gabbard. You could say that from RFK Jr. You could say that from Elon Musk. You could say from a Russell Brand. A lot of people, hearts and minds have changed over the last four years, over the last six years, over the last two years. So if I sound more hopeful, And maybe you think, because you're like, I can't trust Mark Zuckerberg. We have seen it now time and time again. We've seen a lot of these leading voices in tech and entertainment start to take that risky swing. And it's really not risky, and that's what they know. They know it is not risky to the actual consumer. It's only risky to the advertisers, and it's only risky to the mainstream media. And that's when he starts saying terms like legacy media. You know what they mean.
SPEAKER 10 :
And it was almost two years ago that we brought Tulsi Gabbard on this show. In a very similar situation where she had left the Democrat Party, has not joined the Republican Party. I don't even think she had left the Democrat Party yet. Right. Yeah. I think she had just become an independent.
SPEAKER 09 :
Maybe that's what it was.
SPEAKER 10 :
Just become an independent. But even that, it took time for her to build trust within the conservative base. And our audience. Exactly. And so I think you can also look at that, why we have hope, because we've seen what can happen.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. The first comment, though, said, you guys are being naive. Maybe so. Maybe? Maybe so. Maybe we're looking for a hopeful 2025. We're going to take your calls coming up. If you disagree or agree or have other things to say, 1-800-684-3110. Last call to get your comments in. And sign the petition at aclj.org. Slash sign. We'll be right back. To Sekulow. Again, we're going to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110, talking about the news coming out of Meta. But also, we're going to shift a little bit here, Will, because we would like to never hear the name Jack Smith again. And I thought the last time we did this show, we said that was going to be it. It was done. It was over. But there is some big news, and as President Trump has just said, some great news, it was his quote, coming out of the potential release of a Jack Smith report. I'll put that in quotes.
SPEAKER 10 :
That's right. So there are some interesting developments here because based off of the federal law, this is 28 Code of Federal Regulations 600.8 paragraph C. At the conclusion of the special counsel's work, he or she shall provide the attorney general with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the special counsel. Then in 600.9, the Attorney General may determine that public release of these reports would be in the public interest to the extent that release would comply with the applicable legal restrictions. Now, President Trump's attorneys have been filing in court trying to get to make sure that this doesn't get released. They say it's inappropriate, they don't want Merrick Garland to release this, that they think that it is not in the public interest, he's wrapped up the cases, and also it goes to the point where the judge in Florida said the special counsel was not properly appointed, so therefore... He should not have the opportunity to release something if he was not constitutionally appointed. But then, we were going to talk about this on the show, but then there was a move by Judge Cannon in Florida that issued an order today preventing the DOJ from releasing the report while the legal battle plays out. The DOJ decided to continue to fight that case only on the aspect of of that they think that special counsels are constitutional and that he was constitutionally appointed. They've wrapped up the other side of it, but that appeal, when she threw the case out based off of an unconstitutional appointment, they have kept alive. She told the DOJ that they cannot... release this while that appeals process goes forward. And she said in her order that this rule remains in effect until three days after the resolution by the 11th circuit of the emergency emotion, unless the 11th circuit otherwise orders. So she's also saying that the 11th circuit, if they decide to keep special counsel on, get rid of him, whatever, they also have the authority to decide whether or not the department of justice can release this. So as of right now, That report isn't being released before he takes office, it appears. And it's a very interesting move because, once again, the special counsel's wrapped up all these cases, Logan. They're no longer trying to prosecute, and rightly so. But that special counsel report, remember, we had to listen through the Mueller report and all the spin that the media takes out of it. And they take the juiciest nuggets that they think they can spin on air and they get everyone to get on air and talk about how bad of a person he is and he should be in prison. And even then, when they had Bob Mueller before Congress and what a disaster that was, it just gives fodder. for the left to try and discredit and tear down and take the news away from the actual work of the incoming administration, which is trying to get America back on track. And that's the last thing we need as a country right now is just a new Jack Smith dossier dropped right as President Trump takes office so that they can just feast on that for as long as they want and not get down to the people's work.
SPEAKER 09 :
So just to quickly summarize, the breaking news item, the reason President Trump is saying this is great news moving forward is that it is currently being blocked from release. And the thought process is because it was so politically motivated.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, the thought process here from Judge Cannon is that one, her order said that this individual, Jack Smith, was not constitutionally appointed. That is being appealed in the 11th Circuit in Florida. And so therefore, she's saying if they overturn it or whatever, they can decide their own when they get there. But as of right now, because it's still in legal limbo, that it should not be released. Now, there could be a challenge on that order to the 11th Circuit. There could be a lot of things that play out depending on how badly Merrick Garland wants to smear President Trump on his way out the door because his term as Attorney General is coming quickly to an end. We're only 13 days from inauguration and we can't get there soon enough.
SPEAKER 09 :
And it is crazy, only 13 days away. It somewhat feels like that President Biden had disappeared, that Kamala Harris had disappeared, and he already had a sort of Trump presidency. Sadly, with the terrorist attacks and things that have happened over the last few weeks, it's just put another spotlight back on the Biden administration and some of the failures that they've had and sort of the bumbling issues that have come up, whether in terms of the statements or the comments. And that's been sort of a bit sad to watch because i felt like we were moving in a direction where we almost had put this chapter behind us already and now uh whether it's giving george soros uh the medal of freedom or uh the situation that happened in new orleans or even what happened in uh las vegas which again feels like disappeared from the news uh it's sort of shining that light back on. And even having Kamala Harris yesterday certifying the election, which we didn't bring up, the election got certified in 35 minutes. I think it said one of the quickest ever. And you had that statement, that video from Kamala Harris being like, I trust the American people. And of course, that was after years of slander.
SPEAKER 10 :
And a little bit tongue-in-cheek here, but you got to give the Democrats credit for one thing yesterday. Democrats have been objecting to the certification of Republican president-elects for, I think, all the way back to the 50s. And there has been a Democrat that objects to the certification of a Republican. So that is their M.O. That is their game plan. They love to object to the certification. Playing the hits. But they, for the first time maybe ever... they were able to convince their entire party, hey, let's not make a scene. Let's not do this because then they'll be able to say, look, you're just like January 6th. Let's not do that. And they were able to somehow corral the most unruly members of their party into not objecting and get through it quickly i know kamala harris is relieved because you could tell it did not look like she wanted to be much longer up there than she had to be but they did it they got through without an objection or someone trying to decertify the election and you know what that also tells me for the first time since the 50s the democrats truly believe that donald trump was rightfully elected he is our next president that's the 50s uh i'm pretty sure you just said that donald trump is the president you mean the republican the republican no the democrats believe that for the first time this republican nominee yes is the first person that they believe has been elected duly and they don't need to object to the certification
SPEAKER 09 :
It's great. It was very short, and it went off without any issues. I'm going to encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ as we head into the end of the show. There's a great way you can do it. You can sign our petition. You can get involved at ACLJ.org. Become an ACLJ champion if you can, too. That's someone that gives on a monthly recurring basis. If you give a small donation, that's fine. $10, $20, whatever it is. To become a champion, you just set that monthly membership. At whatever price you feel comfortable. I think the minimum is $5 just because of processing fees. You can do that right now. Become an ACLJ champion. I see a lot of people saying they'd sign the petition if Tom from MySpace would now become the head of Facebook. I don't know why that's happening in our comments. Maybe he'd be another board member. But I like it. I do like that's happening right now. Thank you again for watching and for listening to our show. Thanks again to our new viewers on the Salem News Channel. We have a lot of new stuff coming out this year. I'm so excited for 2025, but we can't do it without you. So if you can make a donation, I'm going to encourage you to do that right now because that's how this show happens. Not big corporate sponsors, not even big donors, a lot of them. A lot of them are individual people like you that are the backbone of this organization. Talk to you tomorrow.
Join professional money manager Bill Gundersen as he navigates the complexities of today's volatile market. With futures predicting a downside, discover what market leaders like NVIDIA and Palantir reveal about the state of the market, and learn how to interpret market movements beneath the indexes. Explore the significance of CEO speeches and their impacts on stocks, as well as insights into emerging trends in AI and robotics. Whether you're a seasoned trader or new to the market, this episode provides critical insights into making informed investment decisions.
SPEAKER 04 :
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 05 :
And welcome to the Tuesday. It is the Tuesday, January 7th edition of the Best Stocks Now show with professional money manager Bill Gunderson, president of Gunderson Capital Management. I'm here with Barry Kider, chartered financial analyst. And I did send out a message this morning saying, you know, the futures were up, the market opened up. But I said, I see another volatile day brewing, mostly to the downside. That was a pretty good prediction because it has moved to the downside now. The NASDAQ is down 121 right now. Kind of a sell-off in the leading stocks in the market, momentum stocks here today so far. The Dow is up, however, a little bit. It's up nine points. The Dow's at 42,715. The Nasdaq's at 19,747. We've got a lot of NVIDIA news today. The S&P is down 16. That's a quarter of a percent. The small caps are hanging on to their gains. They're up seven-eighths of a percent, 83 basis points so far. The 10-year was up a couple of basis points to 4.64%. This morning, and we also have Bitcoin moving higher today. Well, it's up a little bit. Bitcoin is above $100,000, hanging on to that level for now. No, now it's down below $99,347. So you've got a little bit of risk off coming into the market right now. All over the place. Yep. So welcome to today's Best Stocks Now show. with professional money manager bill gunderson and uh... i can just say that uh... when i look at that open up the market it's not so much what the indexes are saying uh... it's what the individual stocks are saying underneath the indexes and i saw market leaders like palantir Arista Networks, Vistra, Alab, which is Astera Labs. I saw Constellation Energy, Applovin on the downside. And those are kind of the high flyers right now in the market. And when you see the indexes up in the morning, but those leading stocks not participating, you have to if you're a day trader which i'm not uh... it was a pretty easy to predict that the market was going to move to the downside without those leaders participating could have made some quick money there in uh... maybe uh... the nasdaq uh... inverse three x or something like that but it did look like a week open uh... for the market and uh... right now that is holding true now I'd like to begin where we left off yesterday. 24 hours have passed. A lot has happened. We did have a pretty good day in the market yesterday. The NASDAQ was up 243 points yesterday. NVIDIA made a lot of noise yesterday, moving right up to its all-time high before it stalled out. And then we do have the talk that Jensen Wang gave, the keynote speech. He's kind of the keynote guy in the market these days, really.
SPEAKER 06 :
I mean, he's the most important CEO in the market at this, you know, at least it looks like for 2025. You know, Elon got, you know, Jensen got a lot of the, you know, Star power early in 2024. And, of course, Elon, with the election, got a good bit in the second half of 2024. And I think we're back to Jensen for the first part.
SPEAKER 05 :
Tim Cook, I mean, Apple has really faded. Even though those two companies, NVIDIA and Apple, are moving towards $4 trillion, the race is on. Tim Cook has definitely taken a backseat. I think NVIDIA is going to blow right by Apple. Apple had a pretty large head start. Yes, a large head start. So Jensen Wang is definitely the guy out there right now in the market because that – Those high-speed chips, you know, relate to so many different industries. And now everybody wants to be named in the same breath as NVIDIA, riding NVIDIA's coattails. We should create a sector, NVIDIA's coattails. One of our stocks joined NVIDIA's coattails today. It was up 50% this morning. I'm sure it's given up some of those gains right now. We'll get to that stock here in a bit. Markets remain volatile. The comments that stood out to me, I said amen to this after I read this one here. The Fed's Lisa Cook. She's a smart cookie. I think she's out in the Bay Area. I agree with this. She says markets are at risk of large declines as valuations are elevated. Okay, I mean, emphasize the word risk. It doesn't mean they're going to go down. But I think that's what's creating the volatility in the market, no question about it. Because you're kind of on pins and needles when you're walking this high valuation tightrope and you wobble one way or another, you know, with a few moves in interest rates or some bad news here or some bad news there, a downgrade here or a downgrade there. That's going to make the markets more volatile in 2025.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, it creates an asymmetrical payoff to the downside because the good news has to stay good or be really good to get higher. And then even coming in at expectations, as we've seen for earnings really the last year or so, A year and a half, if you don't overshoot that expectation by a good bit, you're going to be punished, given where valuations are.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, and you know her speech? They're comparing it to Greenspan's speech back in 1996. The exuberance? Is that the exuberance speech? Yes. But remember that he gave that irrational exuberance speech in 1996, and the market didn't peak until March of 2000. So he was off by four years. And now you've got Lisa Cook giving kind of a similar speech. She says the markets may be at risk of a significant correction given the current stretch valuations. I would also say that it seems like speed, market cycles have speeded up since Greenspan back in 1996. Maybe her prediction here will come truer a lot quicker. Even Alan Greenspan moves slowly, right? But we move a little quicker these days. News moves a little quicker. She says valuations are elevated in a number of asset classes, including equity. and corporate debt markets, where estimated risk premia are near the bottom of their historical distributions, suggesting that markets may be priced to perfection. Yeah, I agree, and therefore susceptible to large declines, which could result from bad economic news or a change in investor sentiment, she warned in a speech on Monday. Cook's statement is reminiscent of former Fed Chair Greenspan's warning in 1996. Okay, now, you know, look, I began the year with my first article of the year was looking at the two-year anniversary of the NASDAQ, our NASDAQ call January 6th. and what the valuation was when we went all in on the NASDAQ. The PE, forward PE, was 20. And now we're up around 36, 35 on the NASDAQ. So I think I beat Lisa Cook to this point a little quicker than her about valuations, but she's agreeing with my assessment that it's numbers. Valuations are very high right now. And that brings to mind the need, you know, there's a lot more tools in our toolbox today. I'm very happy to have learned about granite shares. where, look, if somebody had a big position in Amazon and said, I don't want to sell my Amazon, I would take a big capital gain, well, you can buy an ETF that is inverse Amazon. I'm just giving some examples here of strategies that are out there shorting the most high-flying stocks, the Coinbases of the world, the NVIDIAs of the world, etc., are also strategies. And then of course you have the inverse funds now which have become even specific towards inverse the high beta stocks. I mentioned Hibs, the HIBS. You can go inverse the Magnificent Seven. Maybe you own the Magnificent Seven, don't want to sell your Magnificent Seven. You could freeze them by buying an equal amount of the inverse Magnificent Seven, whatever your position is in those Magnificent Seven, and freeze their valuations until things look a little better. So anyways, I'm bringing that up because I think it's going to come into play this year. We already have a few inverse funds in place. As hedges against, how do you hedge a high valuation market? With some inverse funds against high valuation stocks. It's as simple as that. We'll get to Jensen Wang's announcement and some of the stocks riding his coattails. And how is NVIDIA doing? Is it breaking through that resistance level after his announcements last night? That's what we'll talk about when we come back. And welcome back here to the second half, second quarter of today's Best Stocks Now show. And, of course, the market has taken a move towards the downside. I think the valuation speech actually was yesterday. But, you know, maybe Jensen Wang wasn't wangy enough, wasn't, you know, just didn't really. But it doesn't seem like it's really sending the market down. what he announced. Yeah, he was last night.
SPEAKER 06 :
I mean, this morning, it's weird. You're talking about the VIX and volatility lately. I mean, NVIDIA was up, I don't know, 2.5% this morning when I woke up. All they were talking about was NVIDIA is going to do some work with autonomous vehicles. They're going to make a new PC, this, that, and the other. And the news was good. And then I think in the background, I was doing some work this morning. There was about Three bears came on, I think Bloomberg back to back to back. And so ever since then, the sentiment's been a little, it's been the other way. So it's one of the, I mean, you've nailed it since the beginning of the year. It's the VIX and volatility.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, NVIDIA hit its resistance level at 152, 153, which is an all-time high and has now backed off. It's down about 8 points off of there now. It's down 3% right now is NVIDIA. And I really think what the underlying problem is is the valuation. Now, maybe a person could make some money in the VIX this year, VXX. Nah, you know what? It doesn't look that great.
SPEAKER 06 :
It's always hard because, I mean, naturally that ETF, right, goes back to an equilibrium level, right, for the VIX. And so if you add the VIX to your portfolio, right, to help against volatility, well, it's not a buy and hold. It's one of those you get in it, it goes up, right, it gets elevated, then you've got to get rid of it because, you know, It's going to go back to equilibrium.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's what happens. During his keynote, he announced several robotics and autonomous initiatives, including NVIDIA Cosmos, the world's first physical AI model that can be used to boost robotics. So you've got Wedbush saying that these announcements will further its enormous lead in technology, which I agree with. And I do think eventually NVIDIA will break through 152 and hit new all-time highs. I don't know when. It's been going sideways here for quite some time. So anyways, it was kind of a major flex the muscles moment for NVIDIA. And I have watched, I'm going to talk about the robotic stocks here in a minute. There's several of those individual stocks, many that maybe you've never heard of. that are in that robotics space. Other announcements included the GeoForce RTX 50 series GPUs, a new family of NVIDIA Nematron models based on meta-plotforms, Llama models. Okay. and a partnership with Toyota to work on Japanese auto manufacturers' newest autonomous vehicles. So anyways, you've got Wedbush saying that they walked out of last night's event feeling more bullish about NVIDIA and the overall AI revolution as the next stage of investments in technology around AI are on the horizon. And that can facilitate new change for the technology world over the coming years. Okay, the first stock caught up in this is one we own in our incubator account. And that's where it belongs. It belongs in the incubator account. There was a time when Uber was going to develop their own self-driving cars, along with Waymo, which is Google, and along with, who's the other one? Well, Amazon has a self-driving car, and there's a few others. Well, of course, Tesla. But I think Aurora Innovation bought that. the building of the actual hardware, the car itself from Uber, and now it's Aurora Innovation. It's a $14 billion company headquartered out of Pittsburgh, where our show is heard every day. So I would say good morning, Pittsburgh. I'll bet it's a little chilly there in Pittsburgh today. It's 32 here. in Charleston, South Carolina. But we're happy to be in Pittsburgh. That's a new station for us, one of the big news talkers up there. Aurora Innovations is a $14 billion company. It has no sales. In other words, it has not sold an autonomous vehicle yet. But Aurora soared. It was up 50% in the pre-market in trading. after announcing a long-term strategic partnership with Continental, which is on the pink sheets, and NVIDIA to deploy driverless trucks. at scale the collaboration will leverage nvidia's next generation drive thor system on a chip and drive os which will be integrated into the aurora driver on sa level four level four is i think completely autonomous driving systems The mass production of the driverless trucks is scheduled for 2027. You see, that's why we call these like a long-term bond is, you know...
SPEAKER 06 :
20 years of 10 years or more a long-term stock is two or three years or more right where maybe maybe and you know just think how long so let's just say they're in 2027 think about how long it takes right to recoup those r&d costs and actually be cash flow positive for that particular business unit and it makes it even even longer duration yes now the initial service launch plan for april 2025 in texas
SPEAKER 05 :
So look at Texas, driverless trucks coming your way. How do driverless trucks handle ice on the road? I don't know, okay? The partnership was called the first in the industry aimed at scaling driverless trucks. Aurora is in the final stages. The symbol of Aurora is A-U-R. And I do believe that it's a good. Maybe it will rise up into the emerging growth portfolio from here. You know, I took the chance with it in my little incubator portfolio. I bought it a couple times. It's been very volatile. But it seems to me like a long-term partnership with NVIDIA kind of stamps it. It's credibility. So who knows? Maybe we'll start moving up the ladder in our farm system, Barry, our farm system of stocks.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, think of it as a player who got on a team where he could be a good fit, right, and has an opportunity to play, right? If you're going to partner with somebody, I think if you're going to the school dance, I think NVIDIA is probably the one to go with this, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
It seems to me, too, with this new administration coming in, which is pretty tech-savvy, it seems to me like getting driverless going on our public roads is going to move forward in a much faster way.
SPEAKER 06 :
And there are a lot of benefits. I mean, obviously, we're talking pulling it off is another piece, but there's a lot of benefits to having it, whether it's safety or other things, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, the CEO of Aurora said delivering one driverless truck will be monumental. Deploying thousands of driverless trucks will change the way we live. So there you go, Aurora. It's in our incubator portfolio on watch. And I own a little bit in my incubator portfolio. This is Bill Gunderson. Thank you for tuning in to today's Best Stocks Now, Best Inverse Funds Now show. Now, back to the second half of the show. Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
And welcome back here to the second half of today's Best Stocks Now show.
SPEAKER 05 :
And the market has gone even further south since we started the show. The NASDAQ is now down, let's see, the NASDAQ is down 243 points. That's what it gained yesterday in anticipation of Wang's speech. And now it's giving up all of that down 250. The Dow is still up 38, but the high-flying tech, is under pressure here today. Okay, there's a biotech in the news that I've got to bring your attention to. Well, it's up 11% now. It was up 50% this morning. Favorable mid-stage data in pancreatic cancer. That would be a big breakthrough.
SPEAKER 06 :
Huge one.
SPEAKER 05 :
Very big.
SPEAKER 06 :
That's one that's just tough. I mean, from a percentage survivability standpoint, that's one of the lowest.
SPEAKER 05 :
And that's IMRX, which is Immunering Corp. IMRX. I did add it to the app this morning. It's only an $80 million company. It was way up this morning. It's still up 12%. Okay, we also have a downgrade in Tesla today from Bank of America. There's news on Tesla every day. I would say Tesla's chart, you know, it got overcooked. There's no question about it. After the election of Donald Trump, it shot up to $488, almost $500 a share, hit all-time highs. It's down about $90 since then, and I could see some further downside just looking at the chart on Tesla. It's taken some of that fluff that it added there after the election is coming out of the stock. It's down 4% today. So that has a big impact on the NASDAQ. And, of course, the reversal in NVIDIA has a big impact on the NASDAQ. NVIDIA is now down 5%. uh... almost five percent on nvidia so that's a pretty big spill and that's a take in the nasdaq south now here's another collaboration Uber and NVIDIA collaborate for autonomous mobility, aimed at accelerating the deployment of AI-powered autonomous driving technology. This collaboration will leverage Uber's vast data from millions of daily trips. So think about that. Uber has the... a data bank of all these daily trips, you put that next to NVIDIA's advanced platforms, specifically the Cosmos and DGX cloud systems, And that should help bring, you know, fully autonomous to fruition. So that's a good collaboration there. Uber's down a little bit.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, and he hit him. Yeah, and see, the thing is, Uber was up in the pre-market.
SPEAKER 05 :
It still is. Actually, it's up about 3%. Is it?
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, yeah, it's up about 3% in the pre-market. And I was reading through some of those. I've got an interview recorded, too, of Jensen Wang from this morning that I haven't made it to yet. It was interesting. I think you talked about robotics in the last segment, and he said there was going to be, I forget what the number of robots that were going to be around. It was some crazy number, and then cars. He's talking about how many autonomous cars there will be.
SPEAKER 05 :
The numbers are pretty staggering. They're staggering. Elon says, and some people have said one of the most valuable assets that Tesla has is the humanoid robot technology, that everybody's going to have one in their kitchen. You know, before long. The other stock in the news... At least one in your lawn, right?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. I don't need it in the house. Put it outside. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know, that's the only thing. I just love getting on my little lawnmower and driving around. It clears my head.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, you know our work. You know, when we're... Especially on the financial planning side, right? I mean, you know, some of this stuff doesn't come to fruition for years, right? Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
And then, of course...
SPEAKER 06 :
When I do some yard work, you get that instant gratification, right? Or you wash your car or whatever. When you get done, you're like, it's done.
SPEAKER 05 :
Now, AMD, Jensen Wang's cousin, Dr. Lisa Su, they also had some announcements yesterday. That stock at least has stabilized. but it hasn't really gotten any kind of wind behind it.
SPEAKER 06 :
I think the PC market is still a headwind, I think, for that name, because they've got a lot of PC business as well. I mean, they're trying to make some inroads on the AI server side. The PC's really been their bread and butter over the last 10 years.
SPEAKER 05 :
They've pretty much put Intel where Intel is today, which is not a good spot. Okay, the rise of the machines. Here we go. There's a new sector. It's not new, but... Leaders, players are coming to fruition in the robotics sector. iRobot is definitely the first one. That's quite a while ago with the vacuum cleaner. And it does work. The cats, they hide. They don't know what that thing is coming at them. So iRobot was up big yesterday. iRobot has tried to merge with somebody. I can't remember.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't Amazon, was it?
SPEAKER 05 :
Maybe Amazon tried to buy them.
SPEAKER 06 :
Something like that.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. But there are other players in there, and I'm probably going to create a little sector. There's Nautilus Robotics, which is KITT, K-I-T-T. which is a small one. I mean, it's only $30 million in market cap. It's out of Webster, Texas. They are manufacturing a sustainable fleet of marine robotics and services with intelligent software, Nauticus Robotics, KITT, K-I-T-T, Obviously, Aurora Innovations is in the robotics. If you get some time out there, go to Aurora Innovations' websites and see the models of what they've got cooking. A lot of things, even the one that comes to your door with your Jersey Mike sandwich. Hold the hot relish off that, you know, if you've got stomach issues. But then there's another one, Rich Tech Robotics, RR. Rich Tech is starting to take off. They have advanced robotic technologies and automation for labor-intensive services. They're out of Las Vegas, Nevada. And then there's another one here, Microbot Medical. Sounds like this is an article in the making. I'm currently working on a quantum article. Put a little flesh on the bones of the one I wrote Friday for the newsletter. But there's Microbot Medical. And the robotics, well, look, we can't look past Intuitive Surgical. Oh, yeah. Which broke the mold. Da Vinci, right?
SPEAKER 06 :
Wasn't that the Da Vinci?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes, the robotic surgeon. Imagine how that has changed. And robotics have entered into a lot of other different things. in optometry, all kinds of different things.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, oddly enough, robots build the chips, the new chips that are going to power the next robots.
SPEAKER 05 :
I told my son-in-law, he's a dentist, you know, he's like in his third, fourth year as a dentist. I said, you're going to be raised to play a robot someday, Ray. Yeah. I don't know.
SPEAKER 06 :
I mean, all mouths seem a little bit different. So, yeah, you never know what's going on in there.
SPEAKER 05 :
I'm sure they're using a lot of... I know he took a measurement of one of my teeth and then made a copy of it with a 3D printer.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, the new molds. I mean, the new molding technology and some of the different x-rays on the radiology side for dental and just everywhere.
SPEAKER 01 :
I mean, they're using AI for...
SPEAKER 06 :
For colon, I saw a client telling me about a colonoscopy in terms of the technology, and as they go through the colon, you know, you've got people looking at the screen, right, trying to find a bad polyp, but also AIs in the background, right, and has all this database of what, say, a polyp right underneath the surface looks like and will actually catch, you know, maybe five of them, and the people looking at the screen may only have caught, like, three of them, so...
SPEAKER 05 :
I was sitting at Del Mar Racetrack in November at the Breeders' Cup, and the table next to me, they were discussing their picks, you know, and And the one guy had some kind of, he said, well, here's what AI picks. AI likes this horse. So, you know, look, so we'll have to see. How'd they do? I don't know. They left with sour looks on their face. I don't think they had any winners. There's a lot of variables in horse racing.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know that, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, now here's one more, and then we'll go to the break. A. Eva. Aeva Technologies, A-E-V-A, announced at CES its newest 4D LiDAR sensor built to meet the performance demands of self-autonomous driving level 3 and level 4. uh... so you could look also at a e v a so light so autonomous is made up of you know your your uh... software your sensors it's made up of hardware your cars uh... and it's definitely made with semiconductor chips which semiconductors pretty much paved uh... the road of the internet you know the internet highway is is paved with the semiconductors All right, we'll be right back, and we'll look underneath the mark at a little damage being done in the leaders today. And welcome back here to the final segment of today's Best Docs Now show. Well, hedge funds use hedging. They've been using hedging for years. Corporations hedge all the time. Airlines hedge against fuel costs. you know hedging the miners hedge against gold prices hedging is as old as the hills and twice as dusty I guess but hedging is available now more than ever to individuals and not only I mean is it useful for hedging but you know if you're running a little trading account on the side you can also catch some pretty big gains and Real quickly, hedging inverse funds are not meant to be long-term investments. That's all you've got to do. Look at a 10-year chart of the inverse NASDAQ. It looks like the road to hell just straight down almost for years. It's not a good thing. But... There are times, and when you get into an extreme volatile time like now, volatility also creates opportunities both on the upside and the downside with short-term stuff. And, you know, hedging can be used for tax strategies. Hedging can be used as protection against big gains. Hedging can be used to make money with short-term trading also. So I'm just looking at my – I have 74 that I track that are in my toolkit just in case. We have one, two, two that I can think of deployed right now. No, three, three deployed right now.
SPEAKER 06 :
PSQ, QID, and EPV. That's right. Europe.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, now, so I'm looking today, the biggest winner in the inverse space today, two times short NVIDIA. I don't know what happened to NVIDIA. Obviously, the news wasn't good enough, okay? That's the way the market looks at it. Now, it may recover tomorrow. A lot of times you get immediate reactions to news, and pretty soon things kind of settle down. But obviously, he did not wow the market enough. So two times short, NVIDIA is up 11.7% today. And if you have a large position in Nvidia that you don't want to sell, there's a one-time inverse Nvidia and a two-time inverse Nvidia. Two-times inverse Tesla today is up 8.9%. Two-times inverse Coinbase is up 7.2%. Then you take the semiconductor sector itself. ssg is inverse the semiconductors two times it's up 7.2 the fang index three times inverse i don't like the three times inverse myself use them very cautiously three times inverse fang is up 6.8 palantir bear palantir's underwater today Kathy Woods, two times short Kathy Woods, is up 6.7%. Bitcoin is obviously selling off today because ultra-short Bitcoin is up 5% today. Three times short internet stocks. Webs is up 4.9. So I'm just giving you some examples here of tools that are out there. I just look at every tool that is available to me. My database, Best Stocks Now database is closing in on 5,000 now. I might have added, I added about 10 this morning. as I find little stocks that have been overlooked, or new ones, or ones that rise to the surface that I've missed before. So I have 5,000, and every day, you know, it's shaken up. The deck is shuffled, and the cards are counted, and the stats are computed, and it comes out the next day. And it's not like there's massive changes. uh... from day to day uh... it's pretty much trends that are in place for quite some time but anyways everybody has an equal shot including the inverse funds and you know i think this is going to be a volatile year And that bodes well, or at least people should be informed, I think. They can be used in IRAs, you know, so you can't short stocks in IRAs, but you can in a 401k. Maybe use an ETF to hedge a little bit. So anyways, now let's look at the S&P 500 today. There are definitely some sectors taking on water. NVIDIA is going to have a conference call later today. and i just had a text from one of our associates saying maybe investors are getting out of the way of that conference call just in case something adverse i don't i wouldn't expect anything adverse to come from that but There's always a little bit of extra anxiety, I guess.
SPEAKER 06 :
It seems like, I don't know, when you look at the market, it seems like more of the market as a whole is kind of leading to those declines in NVIDIA and some of the other names because... When you look at the news, the news was good, and the market thought the news was good until about 30 minutes before the market opened.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, actually, about a half an hour into the trading, it did open positive. But I could see that the leaders were selling off. That's going to lead to the market turning south. The biggest winners in the S&P right now are Moderna is up 11.6%. Enphase up 6.5%. Micron kind of surprising is bucking the trend. I'm not a fan of Micron. Micron is up 4.8% today. Walgreens, I mean there's some really low quality stocks here. Devon Energy. that are leading the way. Now the damage today is being done to Palantir is down 5.9%. So the highest multiple, that's where that Hibs would come in. Hibs is three times inverse the high beta stocks. You've got Nvidia down 4.5%. I mean, nothing too bad. I mean, it's all contained within these uptrends so far. Tesla is down 3.3%. Super Micros down 3.1. Meta, which had a phenomenal day yesterday, just an unbelievable day, is down 2.8%. Broadcom down 2.6%. All right, well, there you go. Volatility, the big V, is definitely in the equation right now. If you need help handling the big V... Give us a call. Set up an appointment at 855-611-BEST. And if you want to take advantage, try to, of the Big V. It also creates opportunities. Get four free weeks with Bill during the day here at GuntersonCapital.com. The free trading trial for four weeks, live trading trial.
SPEAKER 03 :
of what we're doing here.
The Kim Munson Show takes listeners on a journey through today's pressing political and societal issues, discussing topics such as the proper role of government, climate change, and economic policies. With a thorough examination of recent legislative decisions and historical context, Kim highlights the importance of protecting freedoms and the dangers of excessive governmental control. Featuring discussions on how to navigate the rapid changes in our political landscape, this episode is an essential listen for those interested in protecting personal liberties.
SPEAKER 10 :
It's the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 08 :
That seems to me like government is establishing a religion.
SPEAKER 10 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 08 :
If you give people rights, women's rights, gay rights, whatever, there can't be equal rights if there are special rights.
SPEAKER 10 :
Today's current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 08 :
Surveys show that people still really prefer freedom over government force.
SPEAKER 10 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let's have a conversation.
SPEAKER 08 :
Indeed. Let's have a conversation. And welcome to the Kim Munson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You're each treasured. You're valued. You have purpose today. Strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. Thank you to the team. That's Producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Tuesday, Producer Joe. Happy Tuesday, Kim. And we've got another great show planned for you, so fasten your seatbelts. Check out our website. That is Kim Munson. That's M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. You can find recaps and podcasts of the show there. And what you do is just click on the picture of that particular day. It'll bring up a written summary as well as the show podcast. And sign up for our weekly email newsletter that comes out on Sundays. We normally only send one email each week. We don't want to... blast your email inbox. But you'll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent essays. You can email me at kim at kimmunson.com. Thank you to all of you who support us. We're an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something's a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And socialism is not about free stuff. Socialism ultimately has to come down to force, and it's not compassionate. Many times they try to couch this force in compassion, like capitalism. Excess, excess taxation, let's say, but it's not compassionate to take other people's stuff, whether or not it's their rights, their property, their freedom, livelihood, opportunities or lives. And force can obviously be a weapon, but it can be policy, unpredictable and excessive taxation. Fear, coercion, government-induced inflation, the World Economic Forum's agenda that plays into the globalist lease agenda using the United Nations, Colorado State Legislature, this Colorado governor, the World Health Organization. Land use codes can restrict your opportunity with your property. Zoning regulations, forced fees, conservation easements, etc. National Monument designations. We'll talk tomorrow with both Josh Lowenstein and Sean Pond about that. So remember, if something is a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. The show comes to you Monday through Friday, 6 to 8 a.m. The first hour is rebroadcast in the afternoon, 1 to 2. Second hour, 10 to 11 at night. And this is on all the KLZ platforms. That's KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM, the KLZ website, and the KLZ app. And the show comes to you again because of sponsors and all of your support. And I thank you for that. And I thank the Harris family for their goal sponsorship of the show. We are beginning our seventh year of solo broadcasting, which is hard to believe. So let's go ahead and jump into the things that we like to do. The first is our word of the day. And I have been actually getting into a system. When I see a word, I'm writing it down on the calendar and I have decided to do daily Bible reading. And it is amazing the number of words that you will see there or also our founding documents. So the word today is is superfluous that's spelled s-u-p-e-r-f-l-u-o-u-s and it could be exceeding what is sufficient or necessary or not needed unnecessary or obsolete marked by wastefulness And when you look at all the marbles that they are trying to put in front of Trump and his administration, and that's the Biden-Harris administration, the number of things that they are doing is clearly superfluous. So again, your challenge is to use the word superfluous in a sentence today. You will impress your friends and family when you do that. Our quote today is from Sun Tzu. He was a Chinese military general strategist, philosopher, and writer. And they didn't give me exact birthday and death, but it was during the Eastern Shu period, 771 to 256 BC. Sun Tzu is traditionally credited as the author of The Art of War, an influential work of military strategy that has affected both Western and East Asian philosophy and military thought. And he said this, victory is reserved for those who are willing to pay the price. And we are in this huge battle of ideas right now. And so it is important to engage in it, be willing to pay the price. And that is to engage in conversations with friends, family, colleagues about what is really occurring out there. And you need to make sure that you know what's going on. That's why we do the show, bring on these amazing guests so that you can get your brain around these ideas. This day in history, in 1790, during the French Revolution, a major riot breaks out in Versailles as people demand lower bread prices. So when the cost of food gets too high, people really pay attention. And my father, a farmer who passed on last year, said one of the ways to control the people is to control the food source. And when you see all of these different policies that are making food more and more expensive, for everyday people. Perfect example is right here in Colorado. And you can go to my website. We republished a piece that I had written back in 23 regarding the new cage-free restrictions on egg production here in Colorado. And the initial regulations that went into place, egg prices went up almost double. They're now up almost tripled. I guess it is. Yeah, up 200%. And a lot of that is because of this new cage-free egg regulations. Additionally, and Mary said that she'd been talking with a friend about these egg regulations regarding cage-free chickens. And her colleague was attributing this huge increase to the killing of flocks of chickens. Apparently over 2 million chickens have been killed here in Colorado because of, I have this in air quotes, the bird flu. It makes no sense to kill healthy chickens alone. because of the bird flu. You want to keep your flocks healthy. And the best way to do that is to make sure that you're not killing the chickens that have natural immunity. So this is really an assault upon our food source. And so check out my essay, which we republished and I did some updated commentary you can find that at kimmunson.com and you've got to see the image that zach created with the golden dome down here the capital of colorado as an egg and it's really really creative And so there's this continual assault upon our food supply. And eggs have typically been a great protein source in diets. And it's getting so expensive. Think about those young families just trying to keep it together. And because of all of these policies, they are creating higher and higher prices at the grocery store. And I just want to posit this question for you. If, in fact, there are those that care so much about chickens that we've passed this legislation regarding square footage and nesting and dust baths, a whole variety of things. Again, when we've got big problems here in Colorado, this is what this Colorado State Legislature has done. So care about chickens. They say they care about chickens. But then you have a little bit of bird flu and no problem killing them. And so somehow something doesn't match up here. So again, 1790, French Revolution, Major Raya breaks out in Versailles as people demand lower bread prices. In 1822, free American blacks establish a settlement on Providence Island off the coast of West Africa, becomes the city of Monrovia, Liberia. In 1942, World War II, the siege of Bataan in the Philippines starts. Americans and Filipino forces surrender in April. And, of course, the Bataan Death March was terrible. I remember seeing that movie when I was a kid, and it was really unbelievable. If people started to straggle or fall behind, they were just taken over to the side of the road and shot by the Japanese. Back in the 70s, there was this concern that the world was going the earth was going to get too cold to freeze. And of course, what was playing into that was some of those temperatures. And then we would like a little bit of warming, particularly 1971, negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit in Holly Lake, Arizona. Never thought I'd have that temperature and the word Arizona in the same sentence. But then the earth is warmed, which is a good thing because plants thrive and prosper. People do better when it's warmer. And so they were concerned about global warming. Well, then we didn't necessarily have warmer temperatures all the time. So now it was climate change. And that has been used to really try to destroy America. So 1999, though, President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial begins in the U.S. Senate after the House voted to impeach him for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. That's certainly down memory lane. A 2018 snowfalls in the Sahara Desert with 15 inches reported in northwestern Algeria. And then back in 2023, vaccine for bees against the American fool-brewed bacteria proved in the U.S. the first vaccine in the U.S. for any insect. I was not aware of that. I'm not sure we need to be vaccinating our insects. So anyway, that is this day in history. show comes to you because of our sponsors. This is going to be a big football weekend. Great place to watch the games would be Hooters Restaurants. They have great happy hour specials, great specials Monday through Friday for lunch as well. They have five locations, Loveland, Aurora, Lone Tree, Westminster, and Colorado Springs. How I got to know them, it's a very important story about freedom and free markets and capitalism and PBIs, politicians, bureaucrats, and interested parties that try to exert their idea of how life should be lived. And that is antithetical to really the American idea. And this whole thing came down when I was on city council 2012 to 2016. And that was before COVID. But I could see the danger when you started to have PBIs determine which businesses that they would determine could be in business, that could be essential, if you will, and those that couldn't. And so that's why it's so important to stand for freedom and capitalism, that businesses can compete in the free market. And so if you want that whole story, you can go to my website. That is KimMunson.com. And then, of course, for your insurance coverage, be sure and check out the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance team. They can help you with your home, your auto, your boat, renter's insurance. If you're a renter, do not forget renter's insurance. And give them a call at 303-795-8855 for a complimentary appointment. Because if you bundle your insurance coverage together, you may be able to to get a much better price. You won't know unless you call them. That number is 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
SPEAKER 04 :
I can't believe I just scratched that car. Find my insurance card.
SPEAKER 05 :
Dude, what do you have in this glove box? Ew, are these socks dirty?
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, forget about the socks. I need my insurance card.
SPEAKER 05 :
Just pull it up on the State Farm mobile app.
SPEAKER 04 :
But I can do that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, hey, I can do that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, it's called service. I can file a claim on here, too? Yeah, it's called service.
SPEAKER 03 :
Whoa, I can call my agent, too? It's called service.
SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
Focused and wise marketing is essential for your success, especially during tough economic times. If you love The Kim Munson Show, strive for excellence and understand the importance of engaging in the battle of ideas that is raging in America. Then talk with Kim about partnership, sponsorship opportunities. Email kim at kimmunson.com. Kim focuses on creating relationships with individuals and businesses that are tops in their fields. So they are the trusted experts listeners turn to when looking for products or services. Kim personally endorses each of her sponsors. Again, reach out to Kim at KimMunson.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
Welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Check out our website. That is Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter and email me at Kim at Kim Munson dot com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We're an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something's a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And Gammy had texted me this morning regarding the House Bill 1039 that was put into law last year, where all public schools must now implement a written policy outlining how staff will honor a student's request to use a name different than their legal name. And this is this whole pronoun game thing. And this plays into this whole transgender thing. agenda that is a huge attack upon our children. Colorado, I am so sorry to say, is at the forefront of pushing this agenda through this legislature, this governor. And our kids are not learning how to read and write and do arithmetic and cursive and civics. And this is so disruptive in the classroom. There are those kids that want to get some extra attention, and they're going to be playing this pronoun game. And teachers that really got into the profession because they cared about children are going to be forced into playing this game as well. This is a real problem here in Colorado. And so you need to know what's going on, and one of the ways to do that is to join us, the Colorado Union of Taxpayers. We will be looking at all of the legislation that is scheduled for hearing each week and taking positions. on pieces of legislation regarding property rights, taxes, school choice, TABOR. And so one of the first things to do is to be informed. You need the different tools in your toolbox, and this is one of those. And then you will be able to see the different bills that we're taking positions on something is an issue that you are concerned about, then adopt that bill and get active in this. And the Colorado Union of Taxpayers was founded in 1976. It's all volunteers been taking positions on legislation since 19, I guess, 77 was the first year. And when you see these people, these volunteers out and about, say thank you to them. This is the Colorado Union Taxpayers Board. Steve Dorman, Greg Golianski, Russ Haas, Bill Hamill, Rob Knuth, John Nelson, Wendy Warner, Marty Nielsen, Ramey Johnson, Mary Jansen, And Dave Evans and Corey Onusorg are going to be joining the board as well. We just have to vote on them to make that official this next meeting, which is next Monday night. But the dues are only $25 a year. So it's basically $2.08 a month. And you will be getting hours and hours. volunteer time of analysis on these things so be sure and join us you can do that by going to Colorado taxpayer org that's Colorado taxpayer org and join us there and then we will be having a legislative kickoff event on January 23rd at the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association and a number of legislators will be there we'd love to have you join us that cost on that's $10 and And tickets will go on sale next Monday. We'll probably have it in the newsletter this weekend. And I wish I could be in two places at the same time because the Center for American Values will be having an On Values presentation that night as well in Pueblo. And unfortunately, I've tried to be in two places at the same time, never successfully. But that is also something that would be great to attend. And we'll be getting more details for you on that as well. Headlines to run through. First thing yesterday, Congress formally certifies Trump's election win. And as certainly interesting that Kamala Harris as vice president, she was president of the Senate and she was the one that actually. made the announcement that certified and certified a Trump's election win. So certainly quite the interesting chain of events. Next thing, the judge denies Trump's plea to delay the sentencing, Friday's sentencing on his hush money trial. And this Judge Juan Merchan denied this request and And Trump's lawyers are likely to appeal this decision to a New York appeals court. And they continue to go after Trump. And unbelievable. And again, this whole hush money thing is is. is just really interesting how they continue to go after him. So here, let's just connect a dot. This day in history, 1999, President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial begins because he lied regarding his affair regarding Monica Lewinsky. And so just connect the dot on how people are treated a little bit differently. Next thing that is super interesting is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepped down as the Liberal Party. And the Daily, that was the headline from Time. And The Daily Wire says Pierre Polarev, my French is not great, torches Justin Trudeau as his political career goes down in flames. And again, this is The Daily Wire. And this conservative party leader, Pierre Polarev, said Canadians desperate to turn the page on this dark chapter in our history might be relieved today that Justin Trudeau is finally leaving. But what has really changed, he asked, every liberal MP in power today and every potential liberal leadership contender fighting for the top job helped Justin Trudeau break the country over the past nine years. He said all liberal politicians actively work to pass into law the job killing inflationary carbon tax attacks that carbon tax Carney endorsed in his book. all supported a law quadrupling the tax over the next five years, and all voted for or actively supported Trudeau's out-of-control spending, debt, and immigration. The conservative leader went on to say that Trudeau's policies have increased violent crime by 50%, gun crime by 116%, and hate crime by 250%. He said that Trudeau's party has dumped him because he has become deeply unpopular and unable to win an election with one coming up right around the corner. And certainly this Trudeau's policies have have really been detrimental for Canada, as the Biden Harris policies have been so detrimental to the United States. What we need to make sure is that we realize that it's not just that person. It is these policies that we really need to be watching. And again, Colorado is at the tip of the spear of so many of these radical activist extreme policies. And and so that is why we need to stay focused on these issues, not the personalities. We'll talk about the people pushing them, but it's the policies that we really need to stay on top of. So, again, I find this so interesting. And then with Trump talking about Canada becoming the 51st state. This is wild to me. So it's like, stay tuned to see what's happening. And then I saw a headline that Don Jr. was headed to Greenland. And of course, Trump has been talking about how important Greenland is. So this is super interesting. And so stay tuned on this. Then again, talking about marbles that Biden is trying to have in front of Trump and as he is coming into office and as Trump is leaving, is these national monument designations. And there's one out in California with thousands and thousands of acres. There's one here that will be proposed here in Colorado. and six other states, and we'll talk about that tomorrow. But all of these different marbles that is being thrown in front of Trump, and hopefully he can walk many of these things back because they're executive orders. But again, it's pretty unbelievable. But my friends, remember this. Remember this particular agenda. We've not talked about this yet, and this is USA Today. And one day ago, Biden awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and 17 others. George Soros has used his money to try to destroy America. So what a slap in the face to Americans that Biden would award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to George Soros, again, who has been trying to destroy our country. And Whoops, hold on here. I just had a little technical difficulty. Next thing I wanted to mention was this headline, J.K. Rowling, who is the author of the Harry Potter series. This is from the Daily Wire. She has come out really strong against this whole transgender movement. And this headline, and this is a piece by Katie Jurkovic, said this, J.K. Rowling, Rose Queer Eye Star, says he's culpable as dogs are performing trans surgeries on kids. And I hope from a legal standpoint that we really start to hold these doctors and these hospitals accountable. And in a post on Exxon Monday, the famed Harry Potter author reacted to a clip of Van Ness pushing transgender surgeries and puberty blockers for minors, which he claimed were safe and reversible. They're not. And she went on to say, Van Ness advocates for medical interventions on minors that are irreversible, may be deeply regretted, and carry a high chance of serious complications, Rowling wrote to her millions of followers. In my opinion, celebrity gender propagandists like Van Ness are as culpable as the doctors who've traded ethics for profit, she added. At this point, nobody can plead ignorance. Either they know and they don't care, or they're determined not to look at the evidence, which is just as deplorable. And then you can connect all of this right back to this text that Gammy sent me regarding this whole pronoun game that will be played in all Colorado schools because it is Colorado law. And they, too, are culpable for this problem. this destruction of our young people. And so stay tuned. We're going to continue to engage in this very important battle of ideas. And then one other thing, Boulder has a higher minimum wage. This is from CBS News, and it is putting strains on It is really difficult right now to be in the restaurant business, particularly here in Colorado and particularly in Boulder. It says Boulder voters approved the increase of a minimum wage in the city from $14.42 to $15.57 per hour. It went into effect January 1. And it says as the new year begins, Peter Waters, the Tiako restaurant owner, is... Hold on here just a second. He said he's taking a closer look at his budget. And so what you're going to be seeing is more and more automation. People will be losing their jobs. He said he went on to say we have about 50,000 labor hours a year. So a $1.10 increase is a quick $55,000 that we need to figure out how to adjust for. And what's going to happen is they're going to have to raise prices. People will not be able to go out and eat as often, so there'll be less business, and this is going to really put a strain on these restaurants, and ultimately many of them may close, taking away food choices for you. And again, it's terrible public policy. The people of Boulder apparently voted for this, and so stay tuned to see all of the consequences on this. If you are going to buy or sell a home or look at a new build, you're going to want to reach out to Karen Levine. She is a real professional, and she has a whole group of professionals that can help you get your house ready for sale, help you navigate all the things you have to in buying a new home. So be sure and reach out to Karen Levine.
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SPEAKER 15 :
Boson Law fights for clients who've been injured or family members who have lost a loved one due to the careless, reckless, or wrongful conduct of others. Whether injured in a car accident, suffered an injury due to a product or bad pharmaceutical drug, or need help fighting for medical care and benefits following an accident at work, don't go it alone and uninformed. Boston Law is the law firm you need in your corner. Time is of the essence with any personal injury claim. Call 303-999-9999 to schedule your complimentary consultation. That number again is 303-999-9999. Call now.
SPEAKER 02 :
You'd like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of The Kim Munson Show, but you can't remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim's website, kimmunson.com. That's Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N, dot com.
SPEAKER 08 :
and welcome back to the kim munson show be sure and check out our website that is kim munson m-o-n-s-o-n.com sign up for our weekly email newsletter you can email me at kim kimmunson.com as well thank you to all of you who support us we're an independent voice we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force force versus freedom something's a good idea you should not have to force people to do it so pleased to have on the line with me wade miller senior advisor with the center for renewing america back in the Washington DC area. Wade Miller, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 12 :
Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 08 :
It's been a while since we've talked, and a lot has happened. Donald Trump has been elected as our next president. The election has been certified. You at the Center for Renewing America have your fingers on the pulse of everything that's happening in Congress. Mike Johnson has been reelected as speaker. Give us updates. What's happening? What's the inside baseball on all this?
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, you know, now there's two things going on here. One, there's going to be a track of hearings and confirmations of the president's nominees to run all of the various agencies and departments. And so that, you know, I think the American people will expect the Senate to be doing that quickly. And actually taking that seriously. And then the second track in the House will be to get started on the president's agenda. And one of the things that a lot of people hear about is a process called budget reconciliation. So every single time there's a budget done, you can do what's called budget reconciliation. which is a budgetary vehicle, and in it you can put in policy reforms, but they have to have some sort of direct significant impact on inlays, taxes, inlays and outlays, so spending and taxes. And it can't be like you can't do something like, ban DEI probably or something like that. It has to have a budgetary impact directly as soon as you do it. And just because you spend money on it doesn't necessarily mean that – so there's a whole process called the birdbath that has to go through to make sure that it's all good. But the reason this is important is because a big part of what the president wants to get done, taxes, border, they can do a lot of that through budget reconciliation. And the reason that's important is because – In the Senate, that's a 50-vote threshold. So, you know, Republicans have, what is it, 53 Senate seats? Correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of votes in the Senate will require upwards of 60 because of the filibuster rule and just the different processes in the Senate. So even though bills will pass the House with, you know, roughly 218 votes often – the Senate will require a much higher threshold as a percentage of the body. So 50-50, 50% in the House and roughly 60% in the Senate is going to be the norm with the exception of budget reconciliation. So we can do that at 50% in the Senate. So there's a lot of expectations that we need to get a lot of what President Trump wants done in that package. And there's various debates on whether we do two budget reconciliation packages, and there's a reason we can do two. I won't bore the listeners into the details of that right now. But the reality is we can actually do two of them, but there's a debate about whether we should do it all in one bill or whether we should do it all in two bills. And there's dangers, upsides and downsides to both of those answers. If we do two bills, well, what happens if the moderates tank the border security one and only pass the tax one. So these are all questions that we're going to have to grapple with and figure out the best path forward and really make sure that we're pushing congressional leadership to get those things done.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and Wade Miller at the Center for Renewing America, your founder, Russ Vogt, has been tapped on the shoulder to serve in the Trump administration. And so that's a pretty big deal.
SPEAKER 12 :
It is. We're excited. He's going to be director of, uh, office of management budget, which is, has been described by many as kind of the beating heart of the executive branch because it basically, you know, for lack of a better description, it controls all the other branches by directing spending and administrative policy. So it's one of the more powerful positions that not a lot of people are often familiar with, but, uh, Russ is a friend of ours and obviously our boss, and we're very excited that he's going to be in this opportunity because there's just so much that you can do through OMB to help advance the president's agenda. If you want Trump to succeed, you really need OMB to be functioning properly and by someone who knows how to wield the power of OMB to get the president's agenda done.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and I would recommend that people check out your website. It's the Center for Renewing America, americarenewing.com. One of the things that people have been concerned about, and a little surprise, is that Trump is wanting to get rid of the debt limit. And, of course, we're so concerned about this unsustainable debt that we have. So speak to that, Wade Miller.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, so, you know, Obviously, as conservatives, we all are very concerned about the debt. And so the debt limit is a statutory ceiling on how much debt can be accrued by the United States. And, you know, we obviously I think a lot of conservatives like having that in place as a check to force Congress to wrangle with the idea of more spending and at least make them have to have that conversation. However, And it's not an insignificant or irrelevant concern of the president. The president has concerns that the debt ceiling will be used to essentially slow down his ability to enact his agenda and really undermine his entire presidency. And, you know, if properly done, the Democrat, there is something to that. So Democrats could basically block the increase of a debt ceiling, and once that happens, the Treasury will have to start to take out extraordinary measures to make sure that all of the interest payments are being made, and essentially the government could be shut down and a lot of things could – grind to a halt, which matters if you're really dedicated to a sweeping reform agenda because you need people in the office going through figuring out all of these efficiencies and workforce reductions. If the president in his mind has it that he is going to get to work here and actually start doing a lot of things to change the way the federal bureaucracy looks and functions, which is necessary if you want to get woke and weaponized, spending, then, uh, it's not an insignificant concern that the debt ceiling could be used by Democrats as a hurdle. And I think there's two schools of thoughts on this. And, but I think that, um, I think that there's, uh, you know, workarounds to this and we should, we should, uh, uh, look at all that, but, uh, Certainly in the context of what the president is going to do, it's not an unfounded concern that the debt ceiling could be weaponized by Democrats to sabotage the president's agenda.
SPEAKER 08 :
So spending did increase significantly in the last Trump administration. Of course, then it just blew the socks off it during the Biden-Harris administration. I had I had thought that perhaps what because the economy was really humming before the whole reaction to the to covid. And of course, shutting down our economy changed things significantly there. But I thought that perhaps Trump was looking at if he got that second term in 2020, that the economy would grow so much, the pie would become so much bigger, the tax revenues would go up and that we would be able to actually address this crisis. the deficits and also the huge debt. Of course, with the reaction to COVID, all that changed on that, Wade.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I agree. And the other variable there is we had Paul Ryan, who just refused to send over a bill that was a serious spending bill for the president to sign. And if you'll remember, the president threatened to veto on a couple of occasions spending bills when Republicans held both the House and the Senate in his first term, and they just wouldn't send him a good spending bill. And I think that one, and maybe this is just providence, but one of the benefits of the president, uh, you know, being denied the presidency in 2020 is that he really had a lot of time to sit down and understand what happened in this first administration to wrangle with how it was that the bureaucracy and, you know, uh, some people who were not in his administration for the right reasons or were committed to his, uh, agenda, how they kind of undermined a lot of what he wanted to get done. And one of those things is, uh, wrangling with woke and weaponized government and the vast amount of money that's being spent for those agencies to be woke and weaponized. And so I think that the point of that being is that I think that this go-around, the president is in a much different mindset of how to advance his agenda. And I think by tapping Russ' vote to run OMB, and to basically signal to him to take the gloves off and go do what needs to be done to fix this government so that it works for the American people. I think he's surrounded himself with a very different set of people. He's nominated a lot of very different-minded people than you would have expected from the first go-around. So I think that what you're going to see after January 20th is going to be a very vigorous and energetic administration in ways that people— did not see in 2016, 2017 and in his first administration.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and so I want to talk with you about Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, which is Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. So we'll do that when we come back. These are such important discussions. They occur because of our sponsors. And one of those great sponsors is John Boson with Boson Law.
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SPEAKER 11 :
All of Kim's sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Munson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That's Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
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SPEAKER 08 :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Check out our website. That's Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. And you can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We're an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Something's a good idea. You should not have to force people to do it. Do check out the USMC Memorial Foundation's website. That's usmcmemorialfoundation.org. And you can see the plans for the remodel of the Marine Memorial, the official memorials right here in Colorado. And make a contribution. It is so important that we honor those that have given their lives or been willing to give their lives for our freedom. That website is usmcmemorialfoundation.org. On the line with me is a senior advisor with the Center for Renewing America, Wade Miller. Wade, you're right there in where everything is happening. This whole doge, the Department of Government Efficiency that Trump has charged Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with changing things significantly with the bureaucracy. What what do you think about this? Are they going to be effective? What's that look like?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, I think in the main, it's going to be a very helpful entity to the degree that it is actually a government entity. Right now, it's called Department of Government Efficiency, but there's no actual real governmental entity that's recognized or funded by taxpayers. So right now, it's just kind of, for lack of a better explanation, a nonprofit organization. that's run by, uh, those two. Uh, and it's going to be, you know, there's going to be back and forth. There was recently a debate about H1B visas and, you know, the, the good, the upside, the downside. And, and, and then I think ultimately it started out kind of heated between a lot of the MAGA base and, uh, Elon and Vivek. Uh, and, but what it ended up to is kind of, uh, Elon, uh, kind of, uh, insisting that maybe there's a good compromise here. And I think that the compromise he proposed was actually a pretty good solution that we've actually called for ourselves in terms of H-1B reform. But overall, I think there's going to be a lot of agreement. And they come from a different perspective and point of view than a lot of the MAGA base. So at times, there's going to be some disagreement. But I think that they are committed to hearing that out. And I think the Department of Government Efficiency is going to be working with OMB at times. So my boss... Russ will also be able to speak into that debate and have conversations with them and align the debate in the direction it needs to go if necessary. And I think that they've established a pretty good talking relationship. So I think that that type of thing behind the scenes will be happening consistently when necessary. But, you know, you have Elon Musk, who has 200 something million followers on X because, of course, he owns X. And Vivek, who was a presidential candidate with also millions of followers. And I think between the two of them, not just the number of people they can speak to, but also combined they have a lot of money. And Vivek is the most – I think he's the richest person in the world right now. And so when Vivek says that you better do this or we might primary you next time, then I think that that's going to gain attention. So I think that there's going to be a willingness for a lot of Republican members to go along with a lot of these recommendations on that basis alone. But at the end of the day, I think it's important for people to remember that President Trump is the president, and we're not going to do things just because Elon and Vivek want to do them. We're going to do them if that's what the president or Congress wants to do. But I do think that it is in that a very good development. I think it's an interesting experiment. And I think that in the main, we should expect a lot of good to come out of it in terms of advocating for things like combating woke and weaponized government, securing the border, ending waste, fraud and abuse, that type of activity.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Wade Miller, we've talked about this woke and weaponized spending that is really sent out to try to, I think, control local, county and state governments and school districts as well. And I'd like to implement some kind of a doge here in Colorado at the local and the county and the state level. And I think one of the first things would be for us as Coloradans to demand that our governments stop taking all of this federal money. That would help with, I think, the spending problem, but also I think it would be a way for us to help gain control back of our communities. What do you think about that?
SPEAKER 12 :
100% agree. The federal government, in most respects, unless it's a constitutionally prescribed power, cannot compel states or localities, cities, municipalities, etc., to do things. So how do they go about doing it? Well, they just attach a lot of money to it. And if you're a small town and potentially there's $3 million attached to this one requirement— you know, that's a big chunk of your overall budget. So a lot of states and cities have been enticed over the years to accept all of this money. But with it comes requirements from the federal government that you have to do X, you have to do Y. And so I think that you're right. One way that we can get to, you know, kill two birds with one stone, we can go after kind of the woke and weaponized bureaucracy and we can start saving money at our state level and reasserting our own authorities over things, is to start just rejecting and denying a lot of these types of grants. Now, I do think that the federal government is going to be looking at a lot of these and to where it's legally possible ending a lot of this, because some of this happens through grants as well. And states apply for those grants, and then they get them. And a lot of these grants are for Some of them are for OK things, but there's clauses in there that demand that certain bad things have to be funded. So there's going to be a kind of a double edged effort here to rein that in and stop at one at the federal level. And I think that it's the efficacy of this of this all is improved if states and localities start their own parallel efforts here. to try to divorce themselves from federal government overreach and assert their sovereignty. Doesn't mean we're not a union, doesn't mean that there's not some cooperation on certain issues, but the federal government needs to stop telling states how to function. And I think that the way that this has been working, this cookie cutter, one size fits all solution where the federal government tries to solve things by making states do all of these various things, I think that's one of the things that's caused social division within our country. I think that, in other words, if you don't like the way that California is being run, you can just go to Texas or vice versa. And over the years, more and more, the federal government has been dictating more and more policy through the allure of grants and federal funding. So by eliminating that, you allow the states to become a pressure relief valve on differences of opinion. And you actually have a true laboratory of democracy in our republic where states get to experiment around with what works best. And the voters can look and see and see that California is on the downswing and move there or move to Texas or Florida or vice versa.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and Colorado is at the forefront, just like California, on many of these terrible policies. And so what's happened is over the last 15 years, we had been tops, probably in the top five or ten for economic growth with all of these terrible policies that are being played out here by this colorado state legislature and this governor we have moved to 41st from a recent report by the um lead school of business and so as we're seeing these terrible policies uh play out we are seeing people that are looking to other states to move to uh just because um just because of that to wade miller
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, and I've experienced that myself. I've been traveling to Colorado all of my adult life for various reasons for work and or vacations, and I've seen it firsthand. Denver used to be in my opinion, the nicest downtown in America for a large population. There's maybe some smaller towns with really nice little main streets that I love. But in terms of big cities, Denver used to be the nicest. I don't want to go to Denver. It's just so grimy and gross and it's not safe for children anymore. And it leaves us, those of us not from Colorado, wondering what the heck is happening here. And, you know, we're just looking from the outside aghast at how such a beautiful and wonderful state is being ruined one by one by all of these people who pretend to have the moral high ground. All these various debates that really don't possess moral high ground at all. And all they're effectively doing is destroying a beautiful state. It's mind boggling.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and we are working to reclaim that. So, Wade Miller, this is super fascinating. And again, that website is AmericaRenewing.com. And we have a minute left. How would you like to wrap this up?
SPEAKER 12 :
I think that the first 100 days, so the president gets put into office on January 20th. I think that for those of you that are excited about this, I think it's going to be better than you're anticipating. I think that the first 100 days are going to be extremely aggressive. There's going to be a lot to celebrate. And I think that the good news is. is that there's going to be so many things happening that the radical left is not going to be able to really stop and focus on any one of them. And I think that they're just going to be in kind of a daze at how much the president is doing in the first hundred days to undo their agenda and save America. So it's an exciting time.
SPEAKER 08 :
It really is an exciting historic time that that we're living right now. And I it's like fasten our seatbelt and it's going to be very exciting. Wade Miller, I thank you for all of the great work that you are doing at the Center for Renewing America. And I really appreciate you sharing the inside baseball with us this morning as well.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, thanks for having me on. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER 08 :
And our quote for the end of the show, I went to Sun Tzu, and as I talked about that we are in this battle of ideas, I thought this was such an excellent quote. And it's this, it is more important to outthink your enemy than to outfight him. So my friends today, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically and strive for high ideals. And like Superman, stand for truth, justice and the American way. My friends, you are not alone. God bless you. God bless America. And stay tuned for our number two. We're going to be talking with Natalie Minton, who is a great citizen. advocate on how we can use ACORA, which is the Colorado Open Records Act, on reclaiming our communities. And I think it's also going to be important so that we can really shed light on all of this federal grant money that Our school districts, our local governments, county and state have gotten addicted to. And as one of our listeners had just texted me, federal grants are equivalent to for the states are like bribes. And they're absolutely right. So stay tuned for our number two. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER 06 :
I will fight.
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.
SPEAKER 10 :
It's the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 08 :
That seems to me like government is establishing a religion.
SPEAKER 10 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 08 :
If you give people rights, women's rights, gay rights, whatever, there can't be equal rights if there are special rights.
SPEAKER 10 :
Today's current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 08 :
Surveys show that people still really prefer freedom over government force.
SPEAKER 10 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let's have a conversation.
SPEAKER 08 :
Indeed, let's have a conversation and welcome to our number two of the Kim Munson show. Thank you so much for joining us. You're each treasured, you're valued, you have purpose. Today's drive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. And thank you to the team. That's producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Tuesday, producer Joe. Happy Tuesday, Kim. And I learned a lot in that first hour with Wade Miller. They're right there on Capitol Hill. And there is so much that's happening right now in our country. It's pretty fascinating, Joe.
SPEAKER 07 :
It really is. There's some hope. I feel that at least.
SPEAKER 08 :
That is good. That's one of the first things is we want our young people to have hope. So that's a great thing. And that's why we do this show is to engage in this battle of ideas so that we can reclaim our communities, reclaim Colorado, reclaim our country. And we have a duty because America, the founders were always thinking about what they could pass on to the next generation. And it was liberty. And liberty is the responsible exercise of freedom. And so it is now our time to make sure that we engage in this battle of ideas so that we can do that. So check out the website. That is Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. That way you'll get first look at our upcoming guests and our most recent essays. You can email me at Kim at Kim Munson dot com. And that is my New Year's resolution. to be better about staying on top of my emails. And I thank you to all of you who support us. And the show comes to you on all the KLZ platforms, which is KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM, the KLZ website and the KLZ app. We're on live 6 to 8 AM, Monday through Friday. First hour is rebroadcast 1 to 2 in the afternoon. Second hour, 10 to 11 at night. again on all of those platforms. And we're searching for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through this lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something's a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And socialism is not about free stuff. That is just the carrot to get people to vote for it. And remember, government cannot give to someone that they have not first taken from someone else, either other citizens, neighbors, or in printing this money and taking on all this debt, passing that on to our children. And it's really immoral that we do that. They don't even have a voice. And so socialism, ultimately, you have to take something from one person to give to another. And it's such a bad idea that it ultimately comes down to force. Our word of the day is superfluous, and it is spelled S-U-P-E-R-F-L-U-O-U-S. It's an adjective, and it could be, number one, exceeding what is sufficient or necessary or not needed, something that's not needed or unnecessary. Second definition would be obsolete, marked by wastefulness, extravagant. And I would say that the whole Biden-Harris administration is superfluous, wasteful, extravagant in their spending. And your challenge is to use the word superfluous in a sentence today so you can impress your friends and family. Our quote of the day, I went to Sun Tzu, a Chinese military general strategist, philosopher, writer. He lived before the birth of Christ, and he's credited as the author of The Art of War. And this is his quote. He says, so victory in this battle of ideas means that we will do the mental work to understand the issues and that we will engage in this battle of ideas that is raging in our country colorado is at the tip of the spear and we have these important discussions because of our sponsors we are beginning our seventh year uh in um of solo broadcasting And I thank the Harris family for their goal sponsorship of the show. And I know each and every one of our sponsors personally highly recommend them. And if you've been injured, you should certainly reach out to John Boson and Boson Law. And we have John Boson on the line. Happy Tuesday, John Boson.
SPEAKER 14 :
Happy Tuesday, Kim. Seven years. Congratulations.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, thank you. And it's because of sponsors like you that we're doing this, so you know I so appreciate you. But I've got a new question for you, and I don't really know much about this drug Ozempic. And I saw a headline, I think yesterday, that there were a number of – movie stars, artists at the Golden Globes that have been using Ozempic. I guess, is it a weight loss thing? Or tell me about it.
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, it's a GLP-1. It's an artificial hormone that reduces the appetite, does other things. It was prescribed initially for diabetics. And then people learned pretty quickly that, hey, it has this side effect. You lose a lot of weight. And so, you know, the masses, everybody's looking for the quick fix. Started using it. Doctors started prescribing it specifically for weight loss. And then, yes, like you said, a lot of celebrities started to use it, started to promote it. Well, it so often happens. That quick fix, that easy route comes with some bad, often really bad, side effects. And that's the problem with these GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and others. Not everybody's affected by it the same way. Some people apparently, I say apparently because as time passes, we learn more and more, don't have any problems. But for those that do, it can be horrific. Stomach paralysis, intestinal blockages, other, well, there's a lot, there's a host of other side effects, some very rare, but the most common is problems with the stomach that people develop. And it can turn into something very serious. And so there's a lawsuit now against the different manufacturers of this artificial hormone with growing evidence that they knew before this thing was fully vetted and out there for everybody that there were going to be problems for a certain percentage of people that took it. And without this full disclosure, you know, they've got a lawsuit on their hands now for not educating, not making people aware of what they were aware of when they were aware of it. So we are pursuing those claims on behalf of people that took Ozempic or any of the other GLP-1 drugs.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. Did the FDA approve these drugs or these hormones, these artificial hormones?
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. They're out there. They're approved. Kim, as you know, I'm sure you know, we don't have, well, we're not without corruption in the government. Who knows what the FDA knew and didn't know and who was working for the FDA at the time the approval came and how deep was the digging? We don't know those things, not all those things, not yet. But like many pharmaceutical cases before COVID, there's a very, very strong likelihood that additional evidence is going to come to light that shows, hey, folks knew. They knew plenty. They knew way back when, and that's the basis for many of these lawsuits with or against pharmaceuticals, that they knew stuff that they should have disclosed, and because of the almighty dollar, said, no, we're going to sell a bunch more of this before it may. get taken off the market.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, so if someone has taken one of these, a Zympic or the other drugs, whatever the names are, and are experiencing these significant side effects, what should they do, John Boson?
SPEAKER 14 :
Call us at Boson Law at 303-999-9999, where we'll walk them through uh... the criteria and and what they need to do and and uh... determine if they have a claim that we can pursue on their behalf
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, and people, I know weight is such a big deal here in America, and there are healthy ways to lose weight. Actually, one of my grandparents said one of the great ways to lose weight is to exercise regularly. And then he said that the exercise that he liked to do was to push himself away from the table. And I thought, well, that is pretty good advice. But people, again, I think that many of them probably took this. They thought they were told it was safe, it was effective. And as you mentioned, there's what did they know and there may very well be some recourse for people. So again, what is that great number for Boson Law, John Boson?
SPEAKER 14 :
303-999-9999. I just tell folks out there all the time, be skeptical. Don't think that the easy path is the right path because 99% of the time it isn't. And these side effects and these problems... It seems almost inevitable. They always come to light six months, a year, two years after a drug has been out there, and it can be devastating for some folks that have some of the more harsh adverse effects.
SPEAKER 08 :
And that's, again, I think that's a good John Boson dadism as well, to be skeptical, to question. I think that's really important. So, John Boson, again, that number is 303-999-9999. If you're having side effects from these drugs, such as Ozempic, be sure and give Boson Law a call. We'll talk with you next week and get your weekly update then.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you, Kim. Have a great rest of the show.
SPEAKER 08 :
Most definitely. And I really do have great sponsors. Another great sponsor is the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team. And they know there are things that can keep you up at night, but it shouldn't be your insurance coverage. And so they are available by text or phone 24 hours a day. And that's really a great peace of mind. So give them a call, 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan Team is there.
SPEAKER 04 :
I can't believe I just scratched that car. Find my insurance card.
SPEAKER 05 :
Dude, what do you have in this glove box? Ew, are these socks dirty?
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, forget about the socks. I need my insurance card.
SPEAKER 05 :
Just pull it up on the State Farm mobile app.
SPEAKER 04 :
But I can do that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, hey, I can do that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep, it's called service. I can file a claim on here, too? Yeah, it's called service.
SPEAKER 03 :
Whoa, I can call my agent, too? It's called service.
SPEAKER 10 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
You'd like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of The Kim Munson Show, but you can't remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim's website, kimmunson.com. That's Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 08 :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We're an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something's a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And I did want to say thank you to the Harris family for their gold sponsorship of the show. We are beginning our seventh year of solo broadcasting, and it's because of these great sponsors. Pleased to have on the line with me Natalie Minton. She is really a citizen advocate. She has been a protector of TABOR, Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights, for many years. She served on the RTD board as a director, again, protecting people's pocketbooks and and she's just a wealth of knowledge on so many different issues. Welcome, Natalie Minton.
SPEAKER 16 :
Thank you, Kim. Glad to be here.
SPEAKER 08 :
And you have been a protector of TABOR, Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights, for many years, and it was voted on and put into the Constitution by the people of Colorado. What was that, 1992? Is that when that was? Yes.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yep. Yes.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. And the ink wasn't even dry before PBIs, those politicians, bureaucrats and interested parties went to work to undercut it and undermine it. Natalie Minton.
SPEAKER 16 :
That's correct. And they've been working on it for the last 30 plus years, whittling away, but we still have our Tabor and there is still a lot to protect.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, and we had a couple of really tough elections, though, this last November where some real stalwarts that have been protecting their citizens against the overreach of PBIs and protecting Tabor. And that was Jefferson County. And Arapahoe County, the voters got talked into, and I think using government money, to vote to give up Tabor and Jeffco and Arapahoe County and also eliminated some of their protections on property tax increases, correct?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, it was an absolutely disgusting display of government power manipulating the process. Really disgusting. Stealing democracy and allowing voters to have information before they cast their vote. So, yeah, that was a deep stab. Let me just put it that way.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, I know that it was. And so we've got to continue to work to reclaim Tabor. And you're doing great work on that. One of the ways to do that and one of the ways to hold our government accountable is through CORA, these Colorado Open Records Act requests. And Mary, one of our listeners last week wanted to know, does it cost something? And I thought, let's just do a real feature on CORA. So where should we begin with this, Natalie Minton?
SPEAKER 16 :
okay let's start with this first of all um cora stands for colorado open records act so when we reference cora we're specifically talking about doing a public information request on a colorado government i mentioned that just because sometimes i hear people say foia f-o-i-a foia would deal with the federal government so when we talk about core we're dealing with colorado governments and It's a law that's embedded within our regulations that we the people are allowed to request certain information from our government. And it's detailed out in state statutes. So it can be used on a state legislator to get information from them. It could be used on a regulatory body. It can be used on your city council, your regional transportation district, special district, school district. So that's where CORA applies. And it starts with one, first of all, obviously check the government's website, see if you could find the information yourself without going through a open records request. And if you can't, then you're allowed to send either using their format or portal, whatever they may offer, to submit that request to the government and say, hey, I checked your site. I can't find this info. Please provide me this information. Then the government, because of the laws that protect CORA, has a certain amount of time to respond. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of penalties if they don't comply, but in a lot of cases, they will. So just in the last year, I've done far more cores than I would like to talk about or that we have time to talk about. But to give examples, I wanted, over time, you said I mentioned I've been on the Regional Transportation District as a board director. Leading into that, I had requested RTT employees' salaries. And over years, I've continued to keep acquiring that information. I've done the same thing with school district. Recently, it was beginning of December, I said to RTD, all right, you don't publish the salaries online, give me an Excel spreadsheet. And it took roughly a month, along with a reminder for me as to when I'm going to get the information to get that. Now, that was far beyond the statutory time they're allowed to respond. So I could get upset about that, or I can just keep pushing forward, get the information I need. Ultimately, I hope to get as many of my CORAs accomplished without having to pay a fee. In RTD's case, they were good, even though they took roughly a couple weeks more than they should have. They did not charge me for that information. And they gave me the information I requested. So they get a three or a four star out of five for that.
SPEAKER 08 :
So just a question. What's the salaries of the top people at RTD?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, I can tell you this. After looking, yes, they have roughly 2,000 employees at RTD, just to make you aware. Maybe 2,300 employees, somewhere in there. Out of That amount of employees, over 430 of them make over $100,000 a year. So you're going to see our top general manager at RTD make an outrageous amount of money. I voted no on that contract, by the way. Making roughly $450,000 a year for our general manager of RTD, the Regional Transportation District. an outrageous amount of money, frankly.
SPEAKER 08 :
And also they get perks, probably, too. They probably maybe get a car, a car allowance, and they'll end up with a nice pension that's being paid for by the taxpayer as well, correct?
SPEAKER 16 :
She might get used to a car. I forget if that's in the contract, but there's usually some other benefits. Now, that would be like a top-tier employee that would get something like that. But let's just factor in regular benefits. And RTD has a quite beefy pension compared to the private sector. So whatever the salary would be, you need to really add a minimum of 25%, but 30% is a safer figure to add on to those salaries. So You know, at RTD, you've got general – I don't want to go on that one too far because I've got a lot of other examples. But it's eye-opening to think that maybe the government employees are earning less. I would – in the private sector, I would say no. Government employees – in the old days, it was government jobs. You got a little less, let's say, in the hourly net position. But your pension – made up for those things. Now we have the governments making more than the private sector and getting juicier benefits.
SPEAKER 07 :
And the private sector pays for it.
SPEAKER 16 :
And the private, that's right, exactly. So, you know, that's one example. The question was, how much can things cost? Well, here's another example. I've been looking into DEI lately. diversity, equity, inclusion, because this has become a big bandwagon for governments to jump on. And the end result is that we've got full-time employees, DEI employees. So the University of Colorado just put out a bid for a contractor to do DEI consulting. I put in this CORA, to get the contract for the DEI consultant. And it started in June of last year. I had to do a repeat.
SPEAKER 07 :
Whoops, did we lose her?
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, so I don't know what happened with our audio on that, so just hang in here because we really do have a cliffhanger on Natalie Minton trying to get that contract regarding DEI at the University of Colorado. So what I think we'll do is we will go to break, and we'll be back here in just a minute. But Lavaca Meat Company is located in Old Littleton at the corner of Maine and Nevada. And it really is a premium product, great protein source for your diet, and certainly that steakhouse experience at home.
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SPEAKER 15 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
If you would like to support the work of the Kim Munson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That's Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 08 :
And welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We're an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something's a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And do check out the USMC Memorial Foundation. It is so important that we honor our military, those that have given their lives, been willing to give their lives for our liberty. And a great thing to do would be to support the USMC Memorial Foundation as they are raising the money for the remodel of the Marine Memorial. More information, USMCMemorialFoundation.org. That is USMCMemorialFoundation.org. Talking with Natalie Minton, she is really a citizen advocate. She is a taxpayer watchdog. She is a former director on the RTD board, and she's an expert on CORA, Colorado Open Records Act, and how we can use this to learn about things so we can reclaim our rights. our local, our county, our state, and our school districts, these metropolitan districts, all of these different things. And we had a little challenge on the audio. And so we've got this cliffhanger that Natalie Minton said that she had been trying to get the contract for the University of Colorado's DEI consulting contract. And she said that she was working on that and then we lost her. So Natalie Minton, we've got this set up. So what happened?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, so far I still don't have a response. So I am getting a little bit frustrated with University of Colorado and why there's no response, but I'll continue to work on it. What prompted me to go into that is DEI has not been a fascination for me. I think it's a program that needs a lot of inspection because we've gotten away from our ground of hiring the best employee. That's what we should do when we have government positions. And DEI puts a big gray cloud over that, whether that's actually occurring. But as an example, I had to do a CORA on Jefferson County doing the same thing. How many DEI employees do we have? It turns out in Jeffco, we have four full-time employees. Now, note this is the county that was crying, saying, claiming they couldn't hire public safety officials. deputies. But yet we could hire four, we employ four DEI employees to the cost of roughly $350,000 a year plus benefits. So there's another example. Let me go back to how do people do ACORA and what you can encounter and how you get around some of the challenges. Because I think that's, I could give examples all day long, but So, with ACORA, when you go to the government's website, you're going to, first of all, I just always search public information request. And then usually I'm going to find a page on the government's website that directs me what their preferred method is as to how I submit a request. Some of those are fairly decent. You'll go into an electronic portal. You'll fill out your name. All you really need to fill out, because you're going to get an electronic response, you need to fill out your name and your email address, and then the scope or the subject matter you want. They may ask, why do you want the information? You don't need to tell them. They may ask, what is your position, your title, da, da, da. You don't need to tell them any of that stuff. All they need is your name and an email address to send it back to you. So some of the tricks the government will use to try to, what's the word I want to say, discourage people from asking for public information is that the government is allowed to charge money for a court request. So when you're framing what you're looking for, you don't really want a really big wide net. You do in a sense, but you also don't. You don't want to make it such a big, big ask that they're going to come back and say, that's $3,000 or $2,000 or $500. And trust me, they will. So you want to narrow your scope to what you are looking for. Now, um, In Jeffco's case, which is where I live, so I have more of those in some other counties, the sheriff's department wanted $1,100 from me to be able to look at their old newsletters. They claimed they were going to have like, I don't know, 20 hours or 30 hours, I forget what it was, of digging through their information to get those newsletters. Well, I didn't pay that. My alternative was When I get presented something like that, it's under Colorado law. I can say, get all those records, boxes, whatever they are, ready. I'm going to come in and I will do this labor that you're trying to charge me for. So you have the right to inspect records is the big picture there. Therefore, you're not paying them to dig through it. You're going in. Now, that'll really freak them out, which is okay with me. Because then they're getting the point that, hey, if you mess with me, I'm going to come back at you.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, Natalie, I just have to ask this question. And that is that it seems that... government records all of this information should be readily available to the public because these are elected representatives that hire staff obviously to they're supposed to be serving us the people and um and i kind of remember as the they were talking about these different charges for these open records this is information that should be readily available i think
SPEAKER 16 :
Oh, I agree 100%. There's two ways they're really backing up their claim that they need to charge money. One is they have to go and dig through the records. But you're right. We hire and we employ public information officers, PIOs. We employ and pay these people to provide us with information. But they will state, well, we've got labor and to cover our costs, we're allowed to charge you. Now, in Colorado... because of not a very good bill that got passed a few years ago. We are now, the government can charge us over $40 per hour for the research of these records. But the other thing they will charge us for, and this is what I find maybe a little more sickening, disgusting, is that they will charge us to redact records. So I had a, this last year, a CORA, I did end up paying for this one, $300, where I wanted a series of email exchanges. Now, these email exchanges, they were in Jeffco, they were about the ballot issue, and I wanted to know how they came about determining a certain number, the calculation of the Tabor refund, the property tax cap. They said, Ms. Minton, that's $300 because we've got to look through it all, and our legal staff needs to look through it and make sure we're not disclosing something we shouldn't. So what I paid for was a lawyer to black out parts of email exchanges and keep that information hidden. Now, that's disturbing because you come to realize the legal staff we have in many governments is not there to protect us. The legal staff is there to protect the government. That's their job. That's disturbing. So another thing, this is a thing I want to make sure I do talk about and don't forget, is that when they do say, It's going to take us 30 hours to go through all of these records. Well, in Colorado, under the part of the law where it says what you can charge people for, we get, as a public, the first hour of research is quote-unquote free. And I say that because obviously we're paying for it anyway through our taxes. You can break up these CORA requests. So that you try to accomplish each requester. So let's say, okay, I want emails between June and August. And they say, well, it's going to be $400. And we've got this amount of hours and they'll say it's, I don't know, whatever that breaks out 10 hours. I will go hunt up nine other people and say, okay, you're going to request for this period of days. You're doing this period of days. I'm doing this period of days on and on. And I've had to do that more and more frequently. And I've got a name for it now. I call it the Cora Club.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay. If people want to become part of your Cora Club, how can they do that, Natalie Minton?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, always looking for recruits. They can send an email to me at coloradoengaged.com. at gmail.com. And that's Colorado all spelled out. So coloradoengaged at gmail.com. If somebody wants to learn how to do a CORA, wants to be a helper when I'm doing a task, I would welcome their help and I will train them. I will say, here's the exact wording I want you to submit. I want you to send it to this email address. You're going to this URL link. That's where you're going to submit it. You'll get a response in three days that says, yep, we're working on it. So that is one way to get away from it, but get away from having to pay high-cost CORAs. And the government is learning that we're figuring out how to work around them. So what they have been doing over the last few years is trying to make government safer, a bigger wall, a thicker wall, a higher wall on keeping us away from the information. So we have to be as equally or more aggressive in trying to assert our rights. There's another bill rumored to be coming up in this session, the legislative session, that will be a rewrite of what was attempted last year. and where they want to extend the amount of time they have to respond and the costs continue to go up because it's driven by um the inflation basically the consumer price index so we continue to see the cost go up so the more we have to fight back and we're going to have to fight this bill that's going to go through the state capitol and Say, hey, you guys, you have a communications engagement public information officer for half of the departments within the government agency, and you're telling me it's more important that this person be posting Twitter filler crap, sorry, or Facebook ads or whatever instead of just responding to the public about questions.
SPEAKER 07 :
Good point, Natalie.
SPEAKER 16 :
Good point. So with all of that, back to the tricks. First, try to make sure you're just asking for what you need and you're not just saying, well, I want every email that ever was sent between the state and the state. Narrow your focus. So this is the city of Lakewood. Somebody needs to do a CORA on their payroll. I have the specific list of all the things that you wanted in those columns in the spreadsheets. Happy to share it with people if they want to do a payroll request in their county or their city. Ask, how many DEI employees you've got that are doing what? I've got these little templates that people can use. And I'm not going to claim to be like attempting to like lead up this whole thing. Please trust me on that. I have way too many other things to do. But I'm glad to help when I can and I appreciate help. for things I'm trying to accomplish. So Quora Club, it's becoming more common, people helping one another submit Quora so that we're not paying hundreds of dollars for public information. Because what's really disturbing, really, really disturbing, frustrating, you can't even, I will try, you know we're on the air so I can't use certain words, but it's really frustrating when you go and you pay 100 or 200 or 300 or $1,000 for public records and what they send back to you has a bunch of black ink over it because they redacted it. That is totally frustrating.
SPEAKER 08 :
That doesn't seem right. That doesn't seem transparent.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, no, and they're giving legal advice and I'm trying to figure out what did the lawyer tell? I mean, how did they completely destroy democracy because they were trying to hide what's in a ballot issue? And then they black out what the lawyer said. So again, going back to try to avoid paying one penny, not even one penny, because God only knows what you're going to get back. And to pay $400 and you get this all blacked out email. And that's, come on, that's horrible.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, so Natalie, if people want more information or want to become part of the Quora Club, that email is coloradoengaged at gmail.com. We're going to continue this discussion with Natalie Minton, and it is so important that we do so. We get two because of our sponsors, and one of those is Lorne Levy for Everything Mortgages.
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SPEAKER 15 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
And welcome back to the Kim Munson Show. Check out our website. That is Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter and you can email me at Kim at Kim Munson dot com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We're an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Something's a good idea. You should not have to force people to do it. I had mentioned in the last hour that on January 23rd, the Colorado Union of Taxpayers will be hosting a a legislative kickoff event at the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association. Tickets are $10. They will be going on sale this weekend, and we would love to have you join us. Another competing event, the Center for American Values in Pueblo, and that website is AmericanValueCenter.org. We'll be having an On Values presentation as well. We're going to be getting more details on that as well. So it's going to be um great evening i've tried to be in two places at the same time never successfully but those are two great things to do and again that website is americanvaluecenter.org we have natalie minton on the line she is really an advocate for you the citizen she has probably saved each of us thousands of dollars with uh all that she has done And she's a real protector of TABOR, Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights. She served on the RTD board as a director. We're talking about CORA requests. I've got some text messages that I want to get over to you and ask you about. But let's button up CORA. What else should people know? This has really been great information. I think people still might be a little scared. They're like, ah, what if I put in a CORA request and I come back with this big price tag? And I think people might be a little reticent to try a core request. That shouldn't stop them, right?
SPEAKER 16 :
That should not. So let's say you're asking for two months of emails. They come back, say that's $500. You say, okay, I want these few days. Start there. Go from there. Find a buddy if you need to. You can revise your core. You're not locked into that. They will demand the payment before they even process it. So don't worry about that. Put your CORAs in. It's our government. They always say, the government says, we want more people involved. Okay, well, that's getting involved. So don't be worried about it. Try it out.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. So next thing, this is coming in from one of our listeners, Holly. She said this, it is my understanding that Jefferson County voted to give Tabor up. And she said her guess is the public had no idea what they were voting for or they would not have voted that way. I think she's right. But Natalie, you were on this. And actually, I think it was what Ian Silvestri, who's the husband of Congresswoman Brittany Patterson, his consulting firm got a pretty cushy contract to talk and being paid for by the taxpayers to talk people into voting to give up Tabor, right? Am I connecting that dot correctly?
SPEAKER 16 :
You are. He was a consultant hired to frame the ballot question, do the polling, find out the key words that the voters would be persuaded by. End of the day, the county's stole the election because they did not inform voters what they were voting on. And voters were misled very clearly. In any election, there should be, where it's a Tabor question, there should be a fiscal note that tells you what it is, what the dollar amount. They did not have that. So But there was an example of CORA. I knew because I was following the county government, listening to their study sessions, which is where you go, you really want to know what's going on. You go to the study session. By the time it gets to the board meeting, 90% of the conversation already occurred. So it's kind of, you know, that's tough. It's keeping up with government. But the CORA is what I had to submit to get Silveri's juicy contract for and find the details of what he was tasked to do, which included finding donors, finding the stakeholders. So there was an example of where the CORA was necessary, and I had to do multiple ones. And there's more I need. I need Ian's email exchanges between him and the county manager. That's where I could use some CORA helpers on that. So, yes, to answer that question, we voted to give up one of the CAPs. We still have a big chunk of Tabor left, so let me be clear about that. So what's the next question you've got, if I answered that one all right?
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. This listener once said, I really hope that Natalie will run for office again in 2026. Jefferson County needs her.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, there's a lot of governments where I would be very, very good elected. representative to fight for taxpayers. Thank you to whoever said that.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. And the next question, how can we demand to have an audit of every county in the state of all the money coming in and going out? The government closed 16 schools and they're saying they still don't have enough money. Did they lay those employees off? Are they still paying them? Did they relocate them? So there's a lot in that question.
SPEAKER 16 :
All right, so my big answer, best answer on that one is in every elected body in Colorado, we need an elected auditor. Some people may realize the city and county of Denver has an elected auditor. We don't have an elected auditor in Lakewood. We don't have an elected auditor in Jeffco. We don't have an elected auditor in Dougco, in Arapahoe, et cetera. Some things that will help us on a fundamental basis, a foundational basis. One, every government needs to publish its check register online. That will help us sort out a lot of things without having to do a CORA. We need our published finances online. I'm not talking about the budget. I'm talking about the check register, which includes purchasing cards. Two, we need elected auditors, people who will respond to us, the people. Again, going back to the lawyers that we pay for in government agencies, they're there to protect the body of the government, not us. An elected auditor will represent us. I mean, can you imagine? I mean, that's one of the jobs I would love to have, elected auditor. I would be Rip Warren, five star. But those are the kind of things we need to win the government. Like Jeffco Schools, it just closed yesterday. 17, 18 schools. Where is the money going for these? And that's where the government, we just need more transparency in government overall. And an elected auditor would help us with that. Now, how are we going to get an elected auditor? Through the petition process. That's a whole other episode. Because All of the very best things in law, honestly, that I can think of, like the top five, were things that were put in by citizen initiative or open records. CORA, that wasn't the government saying, hey, we're going to create a law where you can ask us for records. No, that took a citizen initiative to put it into place. The same with elected auditor. We would have to do it by citizen power. We're tired of you saying, oh, you have an annual audit. That annual audit is a bunch of fluff. It's just making sure things are in the right column and this and that, but it doesn't actually say, are you spending money properly? Why do we have four DEI employees full-time, and then you make a claim you can't hire a sheriff's deputy? Come on, that's baloney.
SPEAKER 08 :
So, Natalie, one of the things that I would really like to know is how much federal money, grants, each governmental entity is receiving. Is there an easy way to find that out?
SPEAKER 16 :
Is there an easy way? No. It takes a little bit of work. So that's where narrowing it. Let's say it's – oh, jeez. I mean, the bigger the government body you get, the more grants are going to be there. I mean, the Fed says, good God, I hope the presidential administration closes down some of this junk money floating around because it's all borrowed money. I've done those. And it intermingles. Let me just say this. When I talked about CORA versus FOIA, that's where you have an overlap now. because in one case I didn't get the info from I forget what the thing was RTD maybe I could not get the info locally so I just had to go to the feds and say hey doing a FOIA and I want to know all the grants that came into this agency and they usually have like an identity code or something and you say I want it all for this specific body and it took like I think that one took like six weeks or eight weeks it was a while but I got what I wanted
SPEAKER 08 :
That's awesome. And then we've got a question that just came in and there's not going to be time to answer it, but it's probably a whole nother show. It says, how can a county or municipality vote to ignore a state amendment? And that's a really good question. And we don't have time to really answer that, Natalie, but maybe give us 30 seconds.
SPEAKER 16 :
I would need a lot more specifics on that as to ignore what amendment.
SPEAKER 07 :
Tabor, Colorado's Taxpayers Bill of Rights.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, that still would probably need some more. We'd have to drill down into some more details to really answer.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, well, we will get you back on the show. Natalie Minton, thank you. Thank you for the thousands of dollars that you've saved each and every one of us. I so appreciate it.
SPEAKER 16 :
well you're welcome i'm glad to do it and and i hope people uh first one thing i don't want to forget is i do a lot of videos on free state colorado that's free state colorado if people go to free state colorado the website freestatecolorado.com i do a lot of videos with brandon work We do those on YouTube as a podcast. And I do a lot of training, not only like Cora, but property tax. It's great.
SPEAKER 08 :
It's great stuff. And Natalie, we're out of time. The quote for the end of the show is from Sun Tzu. It says it's more important to outthink your enemy than to outfight him. And so, my friends, remember, you're not alone. God bless you and God bless America.
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.
You face three enemies in your spiritual life: the world, your flesh, and the devil. You live in the devil’s world, and it is full of temptations, illusions, and false promises. The world offers you security and happiness, but it can’t deliver. “The world is passing away; and also, its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:17). Your flesh, the sin nature, tempts you in your areas of strength and weakness. Spiritual growth counters the temptations. Satan’s objective is to avoid going to the Lake of Fire. He is trying to create a utopia on Earth through organized religion and internationalism. His tactics are beyond our comprehension, so we must consistently learn and apply God’s World, or we will fall victim to his plan. “So that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes” (2 Cor 2:11).
Download Transcript: https://rhem.pub/your-enemies-0aa324
Your Enemies
Transcript of FLOT Line Episode 1011 aired on January 5, 2025
Good morning and welcome to The FLOT Line. I’m your host Rick Hughes and for the next few
minutes, stick around. It will be about 30 minutes of motivation, inspiration, education and all of
it done without any solicitation. That’s right, we’re not going to ask you for money. We’re not
going to beg you to buy a book. We’re not going to do anything like that. We just want to give
you accurate information that will help you verify and identify the plan of God for your life if in
fact you are even interested. If you are, you can orient and adjust to the plan, it’s really up to you.
My job is to be accurate, to get it right, not to do some con job on you but to give you the
information so you can decide for yourself. We’re into the New Year now, 2025, and we’re
pressing on. I am so very grateful that God has giving me the opportunity to speak to you this
morning. We broadcast The FLOT Line radio show all across 50 states and in the Philippines as
well. Many years ago, maybe you weren’t even born at that time but I bet a lot of you were, in
1970 to 1974 there was a comedian on television by the name of Flip Wilson. Flip was a black
man who would often dress up as a woman called Geraldine. He was very famous for saying,
“The devil made me do it.” Maybe you remember this. I'm afraid that many people claim the
same thing today, the devil made you do it and this actually might not be true. The first thing we
need to remember is that Christians actually have three sources of temptation: the world; the
flesh; and yes of course, the devil. Let's take a look at these three this morning so we can actually
determine who it is that gives us so much trouble in our daily lives. Let’s start with the lure of the
world. Listen to Romans 12:2 where it says,
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that
which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Do not be conformed means don't try to fit in, doing
what everybody else does. You don't have to be conformed to this world but be transformed.
How does Paul say this happens to a Christian? By the renewing of his mind, changing the way
that he thinks. Remember, you’ve heard me say, “God gave you two ends, one to sit with and one
to think with. Success in life depends on which one you use. Heads you win, tails you lose.” The
Christian life is lived in your head, where you think. This is where your soul is. The mentality of
your soul is in your brain and this is where you live the Christian life. It overflows into your
body and the things you do as a result of the decisions you make and the things that you learn.
You are supposed to have some wisdom, insight, discernment and understanding so you don't get
suckered every time you turn around. Again,
“Do not be conformed to this world
[don’t try to fit
in]
, but be transformed so that
[in order that, this is a purpose clause in the Greek New
Testament]
you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and
perfect.”
On our next radio show we’re going to deal with this, how God has designed you for
service. Listen to 1 John 2:17,
“The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who
does the will of God lives forever.”
The world that is one of our sources of temptation is just
temporary. It’s passing away, and the lusts that go along with it. This means the world offers up
1011-Your-Enemies-transcript.pdf
temptations and tries to get you to follow a certain lifestyle. The only one who is going to abide
[live] forever is the one who does the will of God. Can you tell me what the will of God is? I can
tell you. John 6:40,
“For this is the will of My
Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and
believes in Him will have eternal life.”
This is what the Lord Jesus Christ said. The will of God
is for you to believe that Jesus Christ is His anointed Son and that He went to the cross and paid
for your sins. They buried Him and thought it was over with. They thought He was dead but He
was not. He walked out alive three days later. He's alive today and the great news is He will
come and live in you,
“Christ in you the hope of glory”
(Colossians 1:27). In Titus 2:11-12,
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny
ungodliness and worldly desires
[lusts]
and to live sensibly
[soberly]
, righteously and godly in
the present age.”
I could do a long study on the words soberly, righteously and godly. I probably
should, but I don't have time today. These three verses I just read to you, Romans 12:2, 1 John
2:17 and Titus 2:11-12 all identify the world as a system that has great influence over individuals
like us. Its influence is actually an illusion that promises something it cannot deliver. What is it?
The world offers you happiness and security but it can't deliver these. If an individual seeks
happiness and security in the world, he’s going to be sadly mistaken because this person will be
forced to conform to a certain image. Remember, don't be conformed to this world. If you're
looking for what the world offers you, you’ll have to conform to the image of the world in order
to fit in and be accepted. The sad reality is the world offers only a mirage. It's not really what you
think it is. It’s like a watering hole in the desert. Somebody's dying of thirst and he looks over the
sand dune and sees an oasis full of water. He goes running over there and it’s not there. It’s just
an illusion. This is the way the world is. It can't give you what it’s offering you. The illusion I'm
referring to is called the cosmos diabolicus. This is a title that we use for the devil’s world. Any
Christian caught up in this system lives in a state of confusion and actually begins to mimic the
human viewpoint thinking of the unbeliever. If a Christian gets into the world and starts
following the trends of the world, he is going to act like a person who is not even a Christian. It
may even be impossible for you to tell him from a non-Christian since they will both have the
same objectives, happiness and security. They can’t get it. They try. They try marriage. They try
winning the lottery. They try making money. They try getting the right job, getting the right
home, getting the right automobile but nothing gives them the security, the fulfillment and the
peace that knowing God does. It’s called the peace that passes understanding. I know the first
night after I had accepted Christ when I went to bed, there was the greatest peace in my life that
night because I knew God loved me. I knew God had forgiven me and I knew I was going to
heaven. What a wonderful thought that was. What you think determines how you live. As they
say, a thought can make us or break us because what we really are is what we are thinking.
“For
as he thinks within himself, so he is”
(Proverbs 23:7). Today in your car, in your home, on the
way to church, sitting around at the table or wherever you are, you actually are what you think,
what’s in your brain, what’s in your memory center, what’s in your stream of consciousness.
John warns us about cosmos diabolicus in 1 John 2:15-16,
“Do not love the world
[the cosmos]
1011-Your-Enemies-transcript.pdf
nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all
that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is
not from the Father, but is from the world.”
In other words, it’s all an illusion. It’s not what you
think it is. One of our big enemies is overcoming the lure, the temptation and the projections the
world offers you. It comes everyday on television. It comes everyday in the newspaper and
magazines. “Buy this and you’ll be happy. Do this and you’ll be happy.” Here’s what I learned a
long time ago about happiness. Unhappy people take their unhappiness with them wherever they
go. Did you know this? If you’re unhappy in New York, you’ll be unhappy in Los Angeles. If
you’re unhappy in Tennessee, you’ll be unhappy in Mississippi. I saw this a lot in schools. Kids
swapping school. “If I’m unhappy in this school, I’ll go to the other school. I’ll be happy over
there.” No you won’t because the issue isn’t what people do. It’s what you do and what you
think. Stop loving the cosmos. Stop loving what the world throws up. It’s not true. If you’re
going to be a spiritually mature believer, you have to have enough Bible doctrine in your soul to
handle the success that may come your way in the cosmos. It’s okay to be successful but not to
get trapped in a frantic search for happiness because this is what happens. An immature believer
that doesn’t have very much doctrine in his soul may very well get caught up in the search for
success and recognition and wind up following the trends of the times so he can be accepted. The
result is that fellowship with God is broken and the Holy Spirit is quenched and grieved. The end
result is he suffers the loss of reward and recognition in the eternal state. The world is a very
dangerous place. We live in the cosmos diabolicus, the devil’s world and it is full of temptations,
full of illusions and full of promises it can’t give you. If you don’t learn to recognize this, Satan’s
not going to worry about you. Why would Satan worry about you? Why would the devil even be
concerned about you if you can’t overcome the lure of the world? What about the flesh? This is
us. What does the Bible say about this? Let’s take a look at it. The flesh is the term used for the
sin nature. The sin nature has an area of strength and it has an area of weakness. People that are
not Christians can be good people. This can lead you to being good sometimes and other times
you being not so good, you being bad or disobedient. Sometimes it might even seem like there
are two of you living inside of there, the good guy and the bad guy. Sometimes you feel like a
nut and sometimes you don’t. You know what I’m talking about. You want to do the right thing
but you inevitably do the wrong thing. Why do you do the wrong thing? Because you have a sin
nature living inside of you. You will always have this sin nature until you get to heaven and get a
resurrection body minus the sin nature because it won’t be a body related to Adam anymore. It
will be a body related to Christ. The Biblical documentation for the sin nature I’m talking about
is found in Romans 5:12,
“Therefore, just as through one man
[Adam]
sin
[the sin nature]
entered into the world, and death
[spiritual death]
through sin, and so death
[spiritual death]
spread to all men, because all sinned.”
What Adam gave you is spiritual death because you are
related to Adam. The minute you were born, Adam’s original sin was imputed to you. You were
born physically alive but spiritually dead. This is why John 3:7 says,
“You must be born again.”
It's a spiritual birth. You can’t have fellowship with God without having a spiritual birth. The
1011-Your-Enemies-transcript.pdf
bottom line is you’re going to be born twice or you’re going to die twice. The first birthday is
your physical birthday. The second birthday is your spiritual birthday. The first death is your
physical death. The second death is death in the Lake of Fire, Revelation 20:15-16. It’s called the
second death. It’s up to you. You’re either going to be born twice or you’re going to die twice
depending on whatever your decision is. You have a sin nature. You know you do. Your’s may be
refined. You may hide it a lot. You might not let people see what’s going on inside of you but it’s
there. Your area of weakness may not be the same as mine or visa versa, but it’s there. When
your sin nature throws up a temptation, here’s what happens. The sin nature says, “Beep, beep,
beep, beep, temptation, temptation, temptation,” and then your volition as part of your soul must
respond by saying yes or no. The sin nature throws up the temptation and your volition goes,
“Oh-oh, what do I do? What do I do? Yes, do it.” Your volition is the source of the sin but the sin
nature is the source of the temptation. You are a product of your decisions. You decide. You don’t
have to do it but you decide to do it and you do it. A lot of times we mistakenly give credit to the
devil for the bad things we do. It’s just like ole Geraldine on The Flip Wilson Show, “The devil
made me do it.” Again, I caution you, why in the world would Satan worry about you when you
can’t get victory over the world and you can’t get victory over the sin nature. Sometimes the sin
nature is called the flesh in the Bible. The Greek word used for this is
sarx.
It means flesh and it
emphasizes the location of your sin nature. Where is it? It’s in the cell structure of your body
because the sin nature is related to biological life. This is why it’s called the flesh in Galatians
5:16,
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”
The sin
nature is in your body. When you get a new body, you heard me say, no more sin nature so
remember this. Sometimes the Scripture refers to the sin nature as the old man. Ephesians 4:22,
“That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self
[the old man]
, which
is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.”
The old man is capable of
manufacturing sin in three areas. Mental attitude sins, you don’t have to get out of your chair to
sin. If you’re a football fan and your team isn’t winning and you’re angry and cussing and
yelling and screaming, you’re sinning. You’re still in your easy chair drinking your Coca Cola,
eating your chips and sinning because your team isn’t winning. You are capable of
manufacturing sin in your mind. You can sin with what you say. These are the sins of the tongue,
gossiping, maligning, criticizing, and lying. Then there are the overt sins like murder, stealing,
fornication, adultery or whatever. Thank goodness when we get a resurrection body, we won’t
have this sin nature anymore. It’s a wonderful thing. In 1 John 3:2,
“Beloved, now we are
children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears,
we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”
No more sin nature for you and no
more sin nature for me once we get to heaven, once we get to know the Lord Jesus Christ face-
to-face. You hear me talking about your spiritual life and growing spiritually, getting under the
ministry of a well-qualified pastor, because it helps you identify the things that trigger your sin
nature lust patterns because we don’t all lust for the same thing. Everybody doesn’t have the
same trend. What is lust? The best I can define it for you is it’s the overwhelming desire for
1011-Your-Enemies-transcript.pdf
something. It’s a passionate desire, an elicit uncontrolled overwhelming desire which originates
from the sin nature and gains the cooperation of your volition. That's right, your volition has to
agree. The sin nature can’t make you sin but it can tempt you. Only your volition can make you
sin, you choose to do it. Lust is the overwhelming desire for something and the lust pattern can
include power lust. Do you want to know where this is? Look at politicians. Some of them have
been in office for 50 years, 40 years, 30 years. What in the world are they doing besides getting
rich and making money? They go in broke and they wind up leaving millionaires. Power lust
means they want to be in power. They want to be in charge. They want to run the show. Then
there’s pleasure lust found in the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:4 talks about,
“Lovers of pleasure rather
than lovers of God.”
Pleasure lust is a destroyer of honor. It is the destroyer of virtue and
integrity through sin and perpetual carnality in your life. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing
wrong with having pleasure as long as the pleasure does not involve sinful activity. I used to get
a lot of pleasure out of going bass fishing. I can’t do it anymore. I’ve gotten a little too old to get
in and out of the boat like I used to but I loved to bass fish. I didn’t sin. It wasn’t a sin to catch a
bass. It wasn’t a sin to go fishing. It brought me a lot of pleasure, a lot of solitude, a lot of
happiness. There is nothing wrong with pleasure as long as the pleasure doesn’t involve sinful
activity. The pleasure of the moment is not worth the displeasure of God. There's power lust,
pleasure lust, sexual lust, approbation lust. Let me explain this one to you. I remember the
illustration about the little girl who was 15 years old who came to church pregnant. An 80 year
old woman saw her and began to criticize her to all of her little friends, “Look at that. That’s just
a shame. They ought not to let her come in here like that,” yada, yada, yada, yada. This is the
same person who gets great pleasure because she puts the flowers up at the pulpit every Sunday
morning. She can’t wait to hear the preacher say, “Mrs. Smith, thank you for these wonderful
flowers my dear. You’re so faithful to put these wonderful flowers up.” She says, “Yes, I know I
am.” She lives for the approbation of the pastor. Approbation means you live to be congratulated.
You live to get attention. The little girl we’re using in the illustration had sexual lust. Yes, she
committed adultery. Yes, she got pregnant but she didn’t have approbation lust. They are two
different things. Don’t look at someone else and say, “I don’t sin because I don’t do that.” You
just may have a bigger sin. Then there’s monetary lust. I used to have a friend who you could
trust with your wife but you couldn’t trust him with your money. He’d steal it from you. I have
some friends today who are serving time in the penitentiary because unfortunately they followed
the lust pattern of the flesh in the money issue. They got into trouble for it and they are
incarcerated today. Then there’s chemical lust like drug addiction. One of the most subtle lusts of
all time is called crusader lust and this is what I call Christian activism. It includes things like
vigilante activities, civil disobedience, criminality, paramilitary, social engineering, refusing to
pay taxes, terrorism and that sort of stuff. Just remember this, God didn’t send you to straighten
out the devil’s world. He sent you to replicate and re-present the Lord Jesus Christ, to lift Him
up because He said,
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself”
(John
12:32). If you get into this crusader lust, Christian activism, and you’re going to straighten
1011-Your-Enemies-transcript.pdf
everybody out, tell everybody how they’re suppose to live and what the Bible says, if they’re not
interested, then quit preaching at them. I see this all the time on TV and social media and
Christians preaching on the street corner. I guess it’s okay if people are interested but if they’re
not interested, quit trying to beat them over the head with it. Leave them alone. I always like to
say, “If you want to go to hell and you want to reject Jesus Christ, have a nice day,” and move on
down the road. Shake the dust off your feet. There are better times to speak to better people who
are interested than wasting time with someone who wants to argue with you. There is crusader
lust, chemical lust, monetary lust, approbation lust, sexual lust, pleasure lust and this isn’t all of
them. There are a lot of them and lust divorces us from reality and causes us to have unrealistic
expectations. This eliminates us understanding and using the problem-solving devices in our life.
Lust can only be overcome through spiritual momentum in your life. By this, I mean spiritual
growth, advancing to spiritual adulthood, growing spiritually, learning God's Word and applying
God’s Word. You heard me use the word LAG, learn it, apply it and glorify God as a result. Let’s
move to the third issue now, the world, the flesh and the devil. It’s the one you’ve been waiting
on, the devil made you do it, right? This origin of the devil is found in Scripture. I’m going to
give you some principles so you understand it. 1. He was the highest ranking of all angels in
eternity past and he is the ruler of all fallen angels. We call them demons today. 2. He is the most
perfect and most beautiful creature ever created from the hand of God. Ezekiel 28:12,
“You had
the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”
This is Satan, aka Lucifer as he was
known then. 3. He is superior in genius, superior in beauty, superior in personality, superior in
persuasiveness and he is invisible. People think he has a pitchfork and a red epidermis, forked
tail and forked ears. This isn’t what Satan looks like, I promise you. He’s a fallen angel. He’s
beautiful. He’s intelligent, smarter than us. He was the chief of angels. His name was Lucifer,
otherwise known as the Bright and Morning Star. He was the most spiritual being that ever
existed. This is why even as a fallen angel he can still transform himself into an angel of light. In
2 Corinthians 11:14,
“No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”
A lot of
people get tricked. A lot of people get confused in churches thinking they’re following God’s will
when actually they’ve got an angel of light preaching Scripture to them. He tells them, “If you
want to be saved, you’ve got to give up drinking, give up smoking, go out on the street corner
and do this and do that. The only thing you have to do to be saved is,
“Believe in the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved”
(Acts 16:31). In the book of Isaiah his fall from heaven is described.
Isaiah 14:12,
“How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You
have been cut down to the earth.”
He was kicked out of heaven because of his sin. Thus, he is a
created being. He is not omnipresent like God. He is limited to time and space. He is not
omniscient like God, he can’t read your thoughts. He has many fallen angels that he controls and
they are known as demons. The Apostle Paul taught us that they have ranks like military
organizations. Ephesians 6:10-12 says,
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His
might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of
the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers
[principalities,
1011-Your-Enemies-transcript.pdf
demons]
, against the powers
[demons]
, against the world forces of this darkness
[demons]
,
against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places
[demons]
.”
This whole demon
military organization is designed to defeat you. Satan's objective is to avoid going to the Lake of
Fire. He’s been sentenced and condemned to the Lake of Fire for his rebellion in heaven in
eternity past. The only way for him to get out of this is to win his appeal using us as witnesses
against the prosecution. If he can prove that God is unjust in sentencing him to the Lake of Fire,
his hope is that he can escape the appointment with the Lake of Fire. He is appointed to go there,
Revelation 20:10,
“And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and
night forever and ever.”
He tried to vindicate himself through Job. He will try to use our failures
to vindicate himself as well. He will try to delay his judgment by creating utopia on earth and
trying to prove that he is equal to God by running the show down here. To do this he needs
organized religion and global control through internationalism. We are told in 2 Corinthians 2:11
not to be stupid,
“So that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of
his schemes.”
Wake up dear friend, don’t let Satan use your weaknesses to vindicate himself.
Here’s the big news. It’s not about you. His tactics are beyond our comprehension so we must
learn and we must apply God’s Word daily or we will fall victim to his plan. The world, the flesh,
and the devil. There you have it. These are your enemies. Remember this. I hope you’ll come
back next week, same time, same place. We will continue on with a study on service to God.
Until then this is your host Rick Hughes saying thank you for listening to The FLOT Line
John Rush brings together industry leaders to dissect the complex world of finance and economics. As Christmas approaches, Kurt Rogers offers insider advice on navigating credit card usage and understanding debt-to-income ratios, crucial for anyone considering mortgage adjustments. Later, David Strzeski breaks down the facade of recent job reports, exposing discrepancies and discussing the gravity of government employment trends. Engage with this episode to better understand the interplay between personal finance decisions and broader economic policies, all while prepping your finances for the festive season.
SPEAKER 14 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 04 :
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 14 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 07 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did.
SPEAKER 06 :
Get a job first. You haven't made everybody equal.
SPEAKER 16 :
You've made them the same, and there's a big difference.
SPEAKER 11 :
Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 06 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind? It's Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, welcome back. Out number three, Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Time for our Monday Mortgage Minute. Kurt Rogers from Affordable Interest Mortgage. Kurt, welcome, sir. How are you? I'm doing just fine. John, how are you? I'm good. It's a little different weather outside today than we had yesterday, but still good. So as we head down this stretch into Christmas, I was kind of previewing this before you came on, really trying to let people know that, A, we were going to talk to you, and B, I was going to ask you, As we head into Christmas and people will be looking at all sorts of different things regarding gifts and presents and their finances and so on, how important is it for folks that may be looking to do something mortgage-wise in the next six months after the holidays? How important is it for them to really watch what they do credit card-wise?
SPEAKER 15 :
Right now, you and I have kind of had this conversation on the side, but right now people can actually, by going out at Christmas time, they'll open up a lot of credit cards to be able to take care of Christmas.
SPEAKER 13 :
Right.
SPEAKER 15 :
If you don't do that correctly, that can be very costly in five to six months down the road because it can affect your credit score. having too many credit cards with too high of balances will drive your score down.
SPEAKER 12 :
So in other words, don't be tempted by that freebie deal that, hey, if you get a credit card today, you get X amount off. Just sign here.
SPEAKER 15 :
Don't do that. Now, use the cards you have. Call the credit card company. Ask them to raise the limit. But don't go out and get a new one just to save maybe 10% or 20% because it's going to affect your score and cost you more.
SPEAKER 12 :
And for those of you listening, that's especially true. I mean, I think it's true across the board, Kurt, but especially if you're looking at a move or you're upsizing, downsizing. In other words, if you're looking at doing something different mortgage-wise, again, in the next six months, I would not do any of that.
SPEAKER 15 :
And I agree with that. But also remember, whatever you're going to put on your credit cards, that's going to increase your payments, your monthly payments. True. So if you're thinking about buying a house... and you're increasing those payments, you've got to start thinking about what's my debt-to-income ratio. Will I still qualify if I want to buy a house or refinance?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, my thought would be if you're really in that world, Kurt, and that's something you're thinking of doing in the next six months, and I know sometimes it's hard to not do, but I would forego or make Christmas very light and let everybody in your family know what your plan is over the next six months, and that's just part of what we have to do for Christmas.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, because if you're looking at, like you said, if you want to refinance or purchase in six months and you don't make it because of something you did here that you could have corrected, if you want to know what those numbers are, what your debt-to-income ratio needs to be, and how to calculate it, it's very simple. They can just call me, and I can just tell them how to do it for themselves so they have an idea of what they're putting themselves into.
SPEAKER 12 :
Great. You take over KLZ tomorrow, noon to one, for Haystack Help Radio. What are you doing tomorrow, Kurt?
SPEAKER 15 :
We're going to be answering questions just like this. We've had quite a few of the listeners call in and say, well, what happens if I do this? How can I do that? Different things. So we're going to be talking about those tomorrow.
SPEAKER 12 :
Perfect. Kurt, as always, I appreciate you, sir. Thanks, John. You bet. Have a great night. Kurt Rogers, Affordable Interest Mortgage, 720-895-0500.
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SPEAKER 08 :
This is Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 12 :
We are back. As I said last hour, David Strzeski joining us now, Sound Planning Group. David, how are you, sir? Welcome. Hey, doing fantastic, John. How about yourself? Good. Merry Christmas to you. I don't know what I'll talk to you before then, so I hope you have a great Christmas. Talk to us about the latest jobs report, which might not look as rosy as the numbers actually say.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, you know, these jobs numbers come out, and, of course, we get this headline figure. And so everyone gets excited. It makes all the news reports. And it said we had 227,000 positive jobs in the month of October. Sounds amazing. However, if you look at the household survey, as in you call people's houses and you say, hey, do you have a job, yes or no? We lost 355,000 jobs last month.
SPEAKER 12 :
Okay, so how can there be so much discrepancy between the two?
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, so if you're just looking at the ADP jobs report, you could have two part-time jobs and be counted twice on that report, as I just got hired twice. But you really only have the equivalent of one full-time job, and those aren't even good jobs. So full-time jobs, part-time jobs are all counted the same in that government statistic. When you get down to the actual what is happening in the private sector, though, This is where it's different. And if you look at private sectors, they've been doing big layoffs here for the last nine months straight. And so last year, the number we had was 1.2 million were looking for work. Now we're looking at 1.7 million unemployed. So that's 500,000 more Americans that are still looking for work. And by the way, there's plenty that have stopped looking.
SPEAKER 12 :
But the Fed says everything's great, David.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, they also say that they're federal and a place of reserve. Oh, yeah. Good point. Good point.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, you know, and I wanted to bring this up with you specifically because, A, you watch these numbers and, you know, I do as well. And I also know, despite what a lot of Most people think that unemployment is done through reporting of employers and ADP and paychecks and companies like that, and nothing could be farther from the truth. They do exactly what you said a moment ago. They literally go out and poll. X amount of Americans, and it's a pretty big job. It's still, in my opinion, David, pretty antiquated, but that's how they actually do it. They do not go off of those numbers. Now, some of the hiring numbers, they will take what ADP and some of the others say, but keep in mind, as you know, David, ADP doesn't service every single business out there.
SPEAKER 05 :
Correct. Correct. And here's the interesting thing, John. We're having fewer people actually filling out these surveys or completing them. And so record low numbers actually in participation right now. So it's not even like a robust thing that we should be really paying attention to. This is very anemic, actually. So much so that if you'll remember, in March every year, they give you the official number of how many jobs were there and not after the seasonally adjusted stuff is out of there. But we only get it once a year. Jobs were revised down by 818,000 for the 12 months prior. 818,000. Tell me another job that you can have that you miss your official numbers so significantly. I mean, we're looking at almost like more than a third. And you still keep your job. You're still credible. You're still whatever. I just don't see this.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, and here's a question for you, and this has been kind of in the back of my mind, and I don't know, I'm not privy to this information, but it would seem like, David, that they want some of these numbers now. To look better than what they are, because that's a little bit of a boost for the Democrats and Joe Biden himself. Yet after Trump gets inaugurated, my anticipation is you'll see the real numbers and what those things actually look like once Trump enters office, because then it'll all be blamed on him.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, there's no question, and this is not even an opinion, that NBER, which is the organization that officially says that there's recessions or not, are very, very liberal. In fact, I believe 100% of them were appointed by Obama. And so, yeah, they've given us some very interesting government numbers here where we see that actually government hiring has far exceeded private sector hiring in these numbers. Unreal. You know, they get revised down so significantly, and we make, you know, not a big deal of it. So Wall Street's complicit for not making a big enough deal of it. And just going along as the Pied Piper would. No offense, David.
SPEAKER 12 :
A lot of those are in the same camp, you know, politically speaking. And I just know, because a lot of traders and a lot of folks on Wall Street are very liberal.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. Well, sure.
SPEAKER 12 :
Which, by the way, side note, David, makes no sense to me.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think there's a lot of them that are just... They vote based upon a dollar and not necessarily ideals and some of the same reasons why you or I might do it as we're raising kids or families and we're part of communities in different ways. Good point. Wall Street serves Wall Street. D.C. serves D.C. Both sides of the aisle have their challenges, no question. I think that we, the people, are the ones that really actually have the voice, though. And what's awesome is that we're starting to get it back. And I feel like I have more of a voice right now. Agreed. You know, this this this department of let's cut some.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, you know, and I'm glad you're going. I was going to go there anyways. You beat me to it. Doge Department of Government Efficiency. OK, let's talk for a moment. You mentioned a moment ago about the fact that government right now is hiring more than the private sector. And it is the data shows that. So we get Doge going and you get Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy that basically say, hey, guys, guess what? We're not going to spend some of the money in some of these areas we once were. In fact, some of you that have jobs now probably ought to be looking for a different job because you may not have this job any further. If, in fact, they get some of these things done, which, by the way, I believe they will, what effect will that have economically on us? Or will it?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, you know, good question. I think that there will be a, you know, I'll say this. Are... uh ecosystem is very unhealthy right now correct so this so so we need to start with that as a premise correct the second thing is to say how do you fix it well if your outgo exceeds your income your upkeep is going to be your downfall we've got so many people 14 400 turning 65 literally, in the year 2024. The biggest group of baby boomers turning 65 is in the year 2024. Now, we have all these boomers going into Social Security and Medicare. What's going to happen with our spending? These organizations that we've been paying into for all these years, well, guess what? We're paying the Pied Piper now, and we're living longer than ever before. And so we have some significant challenges. What will be the issue, though, when we start cutting? Well, there'll be people that will certainly... believe that they are disadvantaged and disenfranchised. And I'm sure the lawsuits will come and there'll be a lot of crazy stuff. I hope, though, that we can, as a nation, have a real conversation about some things and say, you know what, does it make sense the way that we're running this? Would anyone run their household like this? Because if this isn't the way that we'd run our household, why would we, the people, run our government like this? That's the biggest thing that tells me that it's not actually our government. Right, right. I agree.
SPEAKER 12 :
And by the way, I agree with what you just said a moment ago. I do think there's going to have to be some really staunch, hard conversations along those lines. My fear is, and it's a wholesome fear, David, is that... What you just said, while that makes sense to you and I, you know, about families and spending and so on, the typical government worker, I'm not sure, comprehends what you and I just said along those lines because I don't think they look at life the same way you and I do. There are some that do, and I've got some that listen to this program that very much are in that same camp and agree with what you and I are saying. But I'm fearful that there's far too many that don't. That, to your point earlier— We'll balk at any type of cuts and the lawsuits will come flying.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and, you know, if you really want to incite riots and everything, why don't we tell everybody that people are evil and, you know, and all this other stuff like like they've alienated President Trump, you know, for all these years. And then there's people shooting at him, you know, three times. That's not a big deal. Holy smokes. We are divided right now. This is the opportunity where we can heal. And we can, as a nation, you know what, when cuts come, if I was the person getting some cuts taken away from me, some of them taken away from me that I really needed, or even that it was excessive and expensive, but man, I was really benefiting from it, man, I would be hard. I don't think that there's an easy way to do that. Now, there is some ways to just cut some jobs for people that aren't willing to show up. Well, that's easy, okay? But there are some real hard conversations we've got to have. And
SPEAKER 12 :
And really quick, and I've mentioned this before on the program, and see if I'm correct in my thinking, but first thing I would do is, number one, if you've got folks that are getting close to retirement in the governmental systems, well, just whatever you need to do to encourage that, you're still going to save money on down the road when it comes to payroll, that retirement they're going to get no matter what. So my number one thought is take some of those elderly government workers, let's encourage them to move on, and that becomes really easy at that point. next thing i would look at is if you've worked in government for five years or less uh no offense you don't have a lot going for you anyways you don't have a lot of stake in the game we're going to cut you as well and then lastly david i think the way you get to thin the herd is you move the agencies in a lot of cases themselves and through that move you'll have some attrition no matter what because some of those people just won't move if you take an agency by the way that's in And you move it to Colorado, for example, some of those folks are just going to say, yeah, no pound sand. I'm staying where I'm at. And I think you'd have pretty good grounds to just say, well, you know, we offered you the job. We said that we would even pay some of your moving expenses to go. You're the one that decided to stay. You no longer have a job.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. Yeah, you know, I don't know. There's going to be a big national conversation for sure. And it'll be great to find some efficiency. I'm very much a ready aim fire. I feel like a lot of the, you know, that which, you know, came down these last four years, you know, by executive order. even the state of Washington, where I'm at, by executive order, is just absolutely insane.
SPEAKER 12 :
Just kill some of that stuff right off the bat. To me, that's easy stuff. That's a low-hanging fruit. Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right. But, you know, we've got to get our nation back to work. So it's supply-side economics that are going to do the things that are going to get us back – and hustling and doing the things that we're really good at. You know, it's the entrepreneur spirit. I think inflation's here, though, and so we got some real hard stuff that's going on. I like what you were just talking about with the guest earlier about people's budgets and not overspending and, you know, adding a little extra credit line instead of getting a different credit card. That was a great tip. People need to understand if their outgo exceeds their income, their upkeep will be their downfall. Same problem as Uncle Sam's. You are responsible for yourself. People have to understand that there's no nation that's going to come and rescue us if we fall apart, okay? Now, here's the interesting thing about credit cards, and this is actually really scary. Unsecured lines of credit, actually. And if people just say that they're done with it, well, those are... Those are gone if you file bankruptcy. So I think that we're probably going to see a lot of carnage coming, although a lot of good things. But there's a lot of carnage coming as different industries and people and sectors start to fall apart as our economy changes here, ultimately for the best. But when you go from one thing to the next, we just have to understand they ebb and they flow.
SPEAKER 12 :
That's right. No, you are 100% correct. And my advice to folks is, number one, I guess maybe because I've been one of those entrepreneurs the majority of my – well, all my adult life, actually, David. I mean, I've been self-employed since 1986, so I wasn't very old when I started. And the reality is when you're self-employed, there's always – and I know folks – I've read even books that say, you know, don't have a plan B because you don't have a plan B. You've got to make plan A work. Well, while I agree with that premise, I think it's very foolish to not have some alternative that, hey, if all of this goes south, I can still go do X. No, that's not my main plan, and I'm not going to work towards that. But I do have a relief valve, if you would, that's out there. And by the way, David, most people don't think that way.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, and most people need the education right now. So think about this. We need the right education because there are certain industries that are just not going to work. AI is going to take certain things out very easily, especially if you jack up minimum wage to $15 an hour. That's right. So you're going to see big shifts and changes. So become employable. Become a key inside of the organizations that you're working at. Yep. Be that entrepreneur and create the next stuff because there's so many opportunities and things out there for people to be doing and to be taking advantage of. But this is definitely not for the faint of heart. And as we're changing, I just hope that real conversations can happen. People can actually look one another in the eyes and remember that we are the United States after all, not the divided states. And so let's bring our united ideas together, even though they might sound different. and I guarantee you we're going to find some harmony. We've been doing it for 250 years. We can continue to do it. We just need the right leadership.
SPEAKER 12 :
Fully agree with you, David, as always. Appreciate you very much. How do folks find you and follow you?
SPEAKER 05 :
Hey, myspg.com is our website. We've got a number of things that are going on here. I've got some classes that are going to be coming out in the first month of the year online, so people that are more interested in getting information on Medicare and Social Security and retirement planning. I'll call this the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2.0. I'm just in the process of finishing up this class as Trump is going to reignite that, and it is literally the single greatest opportunity in our lifetimes to reduce or eliminate taxes on our retirement dollars.
SPEAKER 12 :
David, as always, appreciate you, sir. Have a great Christmas. Hey, pleasure's mine, John. You bet. Appreciate you very much. David Strazeski again, Sound Planning Group. And Golden Eagle Financial, Al Smith, he ties right into David because locally, if you want to sit down and have a conversation with somebody that can help you face-to-face with all of your financial planning needs, and that includes everything from, hey, do I have the right life insurance? And is that working well for me? And what should I be doing in these other areas? And you may be somebody that doesn't want to mess with anything along those lines. You're not a day trader. You're not into that. You want somebody to help you along the way. Al can do all of that for you. Golden Eagle Financial. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
No need to worry at all, I'll call High Five to this. Call High Five.
SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
Now, back to Rush to Reason, presented by High Five Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, where every call ends with a high five.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. You guys hear me talk about them periodically, and that's our Colorado Public Employees Retirement Fund. That's what PARA stands for. And I've talked about this over the course of literally the past, what have I been on air now, Charlie, 11 years or so now, and I've talked about it from almost day one because it's been a problem that entire time. And when I say problem, I mean underfunded. Now, it doesn't mean that those that are on payroll right now are not going to get their checks and get paid, but as time goes by, the liability part of the fund continues to grow, and it's not being offset well enough. Right now, and by the way, the reason this is so important is because it's a public-funded retirement account, and when I mean publicly-funded, Yes, the teachers and those that are participating in it, they fund it to an extent, but it's guaranteed by you, the taxpayer. So if something happens and it becomes insolvent, we're on the hook. We, as in taxpayers, are on the hook right now. The fund is basically short. It's got unfunded debts to its members of $27.5 billion. Not million, billion.
SPEAKER 1 :
$27.5.
SPEAKER 12 :
And what's happened here of late, and the reason why I brought this up, is there's some articles out there. Colorado Sun actually picked this one up, whereby there was a board member, a trustee, by the name of Scott Smith, who raised some awareness about to some of these things and even encouraged teachers and administrators inside of the Paris system to bring whatever concerns they've got to board meetings, which you would think would be the appropriate thing to do. Well, he got censured and basically reprimanded for doing that. In other words, this is a board that doesn't want to be transparent. This is a board that doesn't care what its members actually think. This is a board that feels it's above the law. That no matter what they do, it's good enough and it doesn't make any difference what anybody else thinks and don't question me about it. And I didn't realize that this had become such a big deal, but there's even been some board meetings to where Scott Smith had invited some folks to come, and they spent way longer, I guess, airing their concerns to the point that the board meeting, wow, went too long. Ask me if I care on that one, by the way. This is your job, para-members. I don't care that your meeting went long. I don't care that 50 people showed up to express their concerns. Good for them. It's their money that you're supposed to be watching over. Key word here, you're a board trustee, meaning you are accountable and responsible for the money those people have put in. Do your dang job. And yet you're mad at a person like Scott for inviting people to come in and air their grievances. That's what they're supposed to do, and it's what you should be doing regularly. You guys are a bunch of clowns. Literally, clowns. You are not above the law. And I, as a taxpayer, am backing up your fund. I, as much as the people that are there, that are contributing, have a right to express grievances. I'm a taxpayer. I fund what you won't, what you fail to do. And there's been all sorts of conversation throughout the past decade or more about how they're looking at their actuaries as far as how much money they'll actually be making in the future interest-wise to replace the money in the fund. And where I'm going with that is they were using numbers that were 8%, 10%, 12% returns that they have not met. A lot of years, they don't come close to meeting what their expectations were. Therefore, not making as much money on the fund as they should. Therefore, it gets short. That's where this $27.5 billion figure comes from. In my opinion, that whole board needs replaced. The trustees need replaced. They're a bunch of jokers. If you're one of them, by the way, shame on you. Shame on you. You should be doing a better job with the money that's been entrusted to you. And I don't care what your business of that meeting is. If there are people there that want to speak to you about what's going on, you should be listening. Shame on you. I don't care what your business is. You can do that business someplace else for that matter. Get your ducks in a row prior to the meeting. By the way, as you guys all probably know by now, I have sat through many a board meeting, through various organizations, and I will tell you that 90% of what goes on in a board meeting is wasted time. Could have been done outside of the meeting very easily and just bring a synopsis to the meeting and everybody there doesn't have to argue over something stupid. I've been in church board meetings where you argued about the paint color of a wall, and I'm not exaggerating. No one cares at the end of the day. Sorry, there's better things to talk about. I guarantee you there are some of these things that go on in these meetings that if I were there listening and or running the meeting, they would not take near as much time as they do. And yes, I've ran many a meeting in my day, as you probably already know. Not bragging, but I know how to run a meeting, and they shouldn't take that long. But I will say this when it comes to public comment. If you want to limit public comment to a certain amount of minutes per person, I get that. You need to give everybody ample time to be able to speak. And if you want to limit that to five minutes a person, okay, fine. I'm okay with that. But to just shut them down to where they're not allowed to speak at all and or get mad at a particular board member because they instituted that, that's a bunch of garbage. Shame on you. These are unelected governmental officials. And check me on that, Charlie. I don't believe para folks are elected. Double check me to make sure. But I'm pretty sure they're appointed. But double check me on that. I've never voted for a paraperson. Let's just say that. Now, internally, maybe in their own system, they get voted for. But by the way, given the fact this is a public fund that I, as a taxpayer, am backing up, these should be voted positions. Elected positions, I mean. We should vote for these people. I'm guessing they're appointed. Appointed. That's what I thought. Charlie just said appointed by the governor, confirmed by the Senate. 16 people. Which, frankly, is eight too many. You don't need a board of 16 people. You can't make decisions. There's too many people. That's twice as many as there should be. And I don't know how many come from the public versus come from the private and so on. Yeah. And what are they paid? I don't know. In fact, Charlie, thank you for asking. One of the things that that this Scott individual, Scott Smith, complained about was there's a lack of transparency on the para website as to what goes on, including some of the things even Charlie and I are talking about. You should be able to go to the para website and find everything I just said. What's the budget? By the way, a synopsis of the budget. Where are they at with their liabilities and or the fund itself? How is it functioning? How is it performing? And so on. And by the way, I don't want the details. I want a synopsis. An accurate synopsis of what's going on. There should be minutes to each meeting, which the way I understood in this particular article, those don't exist. Those should be public. From what I understand, none of that is on the website and should be. This is one of those I call rogue boards that runs amok and really isn't accountable. And the reason why it upsets people like myself is because if this thing runs amok, we're on the hook for it. By law, by law in Colorado, we as taxpayers have to fund this. If it comes up short... All of you that are listening to pay Colorado taxes, you're on the hook for this. And I don't think most people really understand what I'm talking about because it's not talked about in the news and in public near enough. It's just something that's assumed that, oh, if I put in 30% of my paycheck as a government worker, then I'm going to get that back someday. I've got a guaranteed contribution with a defined benefit, and that's how I'm going to make this work. Actually, it's not even a defined contribution. It's a defined benefit, which that needs changed. I think some of the new people coming in, it's a defined contribution. But in the past, it's been a defined benefit. And there are some folks out there right now that are pulling from Para way more than they probably should have been because in the past, I don't know if it's still the way it is today. I believe it is, though. In the past, let's say you were a teacher and you made, I don't know, you've been there long enough and maybe you're even an administrator and you're making $100,000 a year. Use round numbers. I believe Para paid you 80% of that figure when you retired. Now, the way that worked, though, is it was based upon the last two years you worked earnings. So let's say you put in 30 years. And let's say you made, you know, towards the end there, you were starting to make upwards of $100,000. Well, guess what you could go do? You could go drive a school bus for two seasons, add to your 120, or add to your 100. Maybe you could go make as a bus driver another 30. You did that for two years. You now made 130, and you got 80% of that. Follow where I'm going with this? That's part of the system, by the way, that needs to be fixed because you shouldn't be able to double dip like that. But a lot of folks did. and are now making that money in retirement guaranteed from PERA on the backs of taxpayers. Because remember, they didn't put that much in. Those last two years, they didn't contribute as much as what they should have, but yet the defined benefit says they still get the money. That's the problem with the system and also partly why they're underfunded by $27.5 billion. So I wanted to bring that to your attention. I talk about PERA a lot, and a lot of you that are inside the system probably should follow this closely now. On the same token, you're going to get your money no matter what because we as taxpayers have to fund it no matter what. But it's an important thing for taxpayers in Colorado to know where this is because it could very much affect – us as taxpayers on down the road if this thing continues to go haywire, which it already is. So I'll keep you guys abreast of that, but that's a synopsis of what's going on inside of PARA and the Board of Trustees, which, by the way, sounds like kangaroo court to me, and it's run by a bunch of scoundrels. And I'll just say that straight up. So Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning is coming up next. If you've got any problems with your furnace, not working correctly, it's cold, you want to replace it, you need to tune up, whatever it is, give Cub Creek a call today. Find them at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
All right, Dr. Scott Faulkner is next. And don't forget, he's got some stem cell specials as we go through this Christmas time of the year. Two days, December 13th and 14th only. Give him a call today, 303-663-6990.
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SPEAKER 12 :
Flesh Law Firm is next, and if you've got any problems, accidents, and from what I understand, some of the roads around town right now are getting a little bit slick, so please be careful when you're out driving around. And if you find yourself in any kind of an accident, you need some representation, give Kevin a call today, 303-806-8886.
SPEAKER 07 :
Here's why you need personal injury attorney Kevin Flesch on your side. He understands the way the jury thinks. In the context of a personal injury case, you've been hurt by someone else's negligence. The idea is that you're going to try to recover so that you can get back to where you were just prior to that incident occurring. What that really means from a jurist's perspective is that you're going to be asking them to award you money. So when we talk about fairness, we're talking about six people that you don't know. Those six people view the evidence and make a unanimous decision that will decide what the fair value is. When you're the one who's hurt, you have a good idea of what you think it's worth. The question is, can you persuade those other individuals whom you don't know and were witnesses to believe that's what the case is worth? Kevin Flesch understands the way the jury thinks. Call now for a free consultation, 303-806-8886.
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SPEAKER 14 :
This isn't Rage Radio. This is Real Relatable Radio. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Not in my notes, but Charlie just reminded me of something that I can throw in here for the last six, seven minutes we have of the show. More FEC reports coming out on the Harris campaign and what she actually spent money on and who some of that money went to. Some of them, like, was it Beyonce, Charlie? What was the number? 185K to stand there. Yeah, it's to the management company, but we know how that works. She didn't do a thing. She stood there. In fact, people were mad because she didn't sing. But yet she earned $185,000 to basically stand up there and endorse Kamala Harris, Oprah Winfrey, her company, Harpo Productions. Million bucks for a video that they produced. Was it an hour? How long was the video, Charlie? I've got to look up how long the video was or what all went on there, but let me just tell you this. Knowing what I know about some of what goes on there, a million dollars is heavily, heavily, heavily inflated by probably an extra zero, and even that is being very generous. In other words, $100,000 is being very generous. It's borderline... In my opinion, borderline money laundering, depending upon what those actual individuals did back to the campaign, you have to wonder what's going on here. I mean, basically, at the end of the day, if I were a donor, I would be 90 minutes. Thank you, Charlie, 90 minutes. Yeah, a million bucks, far too much. And if I were a donor, I'd be hot because my money was wasted. That money really went to pad the pockets of a lot of celebrities is really what happened. And in turn, got their endorsements for Kamala Harris by doing so. If you were or you are a donor on that side, I would be extremely, extremely upset at what happened there. Again, more and more is going to come out on where the actual money was spent. There are claims now. Initially, they thought she spent about a billion dollars, but I think the number now, Charlie, is up to like 1.6, I want to say. $1.5, $1.6 billion that she alone in 90 days spent, and she's still short. What, was it $50 million she's short, Charlie, I want to say, or $20 million? $20 million she's short. And again, who knows if that's even the actual number at this point. Sounds like they don't have anybody that really knows how to add. A lot of fleecing went on there. I mean, in other words, a lot of people had their hand in the till, quote, unquote, and extracted money out of good donors that really did believe in her cause. I mean, those are the people that I really feel sorry for. There's a lot of people out there that really believed in the cause, and I would have to believe, unless I'm completely wrong and the left is just this ignorant, I've got to believe this affects future fundraising. The more of this comes out, and the more they find how she literally wasted their money on a campaign that was, no matter what somebody on the left says, was dismal at best. How do you justify spending $1.6 billion? And you're still $20 million short, by the way. And then you find out some of the things I just mentioned a moment ago, and this is the tip of the iceberg. I think you're going to see a lot more money wasted than just that. I mean, some of the airtime that she even purchased was absolutely ludicrous, some of the money that she spent. And again, you're going to see more and more come out. And by law, just like here with our own Colorado GOP, you'll find out because you can't hide that stuff. If you do, you're going to jail. Well, maybe not as a Democrat, but a Republican sure would. So it'll continue to come out. We'll find out exactly where some of the money was spent. But, again, if I were a donor, I would be extremely mad over the way that money was spent and handled because there's a lot of wealthy people already. I mean, keep in mind, Oprah's a billionaire. If Oprah really believed in her candidate and in her country that she felt so, you know, how should I say this, Charlie, burdened to help out, She should have done that for free for a donation to the campaign and not taken the million dollars. Tells you how greedy people like Oprah really are. Now, Oprah will claim, well, I didn't know anything about you. You liar. Yeah, you did. I know a million dollars to a billionaire isn't a lot. But it's still enough to pay attention to what's going on. And somebody in that organization would have said, hey, Oprah, guess what? Guess what the Harris campaign is asking us to do? By the way, how much do you think we ought to charge? Here's our first thought. What do you think? Trust me, folks. Those conversations take place. As much as Oprah wants to sound like she doesn't know, she is a liar. Flat out liar. If she says she doesn't know, she's lying. Period. And there's nobody on the left that can defend that. And here's how I know. I'm a business owner. I know how these things work. I know the communication that happens inside of a business, and Oprah isn't that removed from that large of a deal that she wouldn't know what's going on. Period. And I also know that Oprah's not dumb, and she didn't get to where she's at today by not knowing what's going on in her own company. I'll give her credit where credit's due. But her to come out now and play dumb, shame on you, Oprah. You should know better than that. You're not going to get by with playing dumb. So Veteran Windows and Doors is next. Entry doors right now, 40% off. Free labor to install. Give Dave a call today. Find him at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 14 :
Suck it up, buttercup. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, somebody just texted that the donors to the Harris campaign need to get a message telling them this is how Marxism works. Grow up. Yeah, can't argue that one, by the way. Great text message. I appreciate that. Yeah, you're not wrong. Let me just say that. You are not wrong. And really quick, somebody texted in, too. Who do I have that's a sponsor for the reverse mortgages? That is Bruce Simmons. American Liberty Mortgage. You can find Bruce at klzradio.com. Just look for Bruce Simmons. That's American Liberty Mortgage. And if you heard that via text or if you heard that answer to the text, please tell me you did. Otherwise, I'll text you back. But thank you, by the way, guys, for all the text messages. Have a great night. Be safe out there in the snow. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
